From Lame To Lamp!

Yesterday I finally accomplished something I've been putting off for months: recovering my boring lampshade. 


My first attempt at jazzing this lamp up was less than stellar...

So I found a beautifully patterned napkin at World Market for $3.99 and went to work.

Ironed it out...

Got my glue gun ready and my glue (that I mixed with a little water)...

Cut the edges of the napkin off because I just wanted a simple edge.

And, there are places that give great instructions but I just decided to wing it since my pattern didn't really have to match. It's probably also easier to cover a drum shade that doesn't taper at the top like mine. 

I just coated the shade with my glue-water mixture as I went along and smoothed it down.

Pins helped keep the edges down as it was drying.

I used the glue gun to fold the excess fabric under the shade.

Cutting notches in the fabric seemed to help the edges fold down cleaner. 

Since my fabric wasn't long enough I ended up having to adhere two different pieces to the lamp. I used the iron to iron down the edges that I folded over for a clean look and used the glue gun to secure it.

Not bad for my first lampshade attempt, right?

Here it is when it's on... 

And unfortunately the previous design still shines through but I just turn that around to the back and no one knows but me...

Whitewash This Project

It's that time of year again... time for the air conditioning to not work! I've been dreading this day all Spring long but secretly hoped that I was wrong. Nope. It's been about three to four hours since I've complained about it not working and now I've finally got someone here working on it (and he's more drenched in sweat than I am...). Makes me feel bad.


But I've been working on two projects today and one of which I'm saving for tomorrow. After debating for a while what to do with my picture frames from IKEA, I decided to take one (.66 cents each, I still can't believe it!) and whitewash it with acrylic paint. I wanted some of the wood grain to show through and it's a great way to insure that I can easily change the color down the road. 

After a minimal drying time I took some spare fabric from my other project and cut it for the frame. Cute, but it still needed a little something. 

Then, I remembered a quote on Pinterest that I pinned because it seemed to fit Russ and me so perfectly: 

I thought of typing and printing it out but ultimately laziness won and I just decided to freehand it. 

After practicing it with permanent marker and black pen. Pen was the clear winner because I liked the way it made the writing more delicate. 

I think it's adorable! And I'm done in time for Russ to get home so we can play the "What's different about this room?" game. He really hates that but I love to see what he notices and doesn't. We definitely are silly. 

Déjà vu

So yeah, this happened again last night. Now, in the span of about three months, both dumpsters have taken their turn being on fire. I'm glad it was a dumpster and not anything else but, still! I don't want anything on fire here!

Who is the moron who keeps putting flammable things in the dumpster and/or throwing their cigarettes into a bin full of trash?!

Charlottle Goods!

I got a few things on the Charlotte trip and I actually didn't end up spending that much money.

A cute and colorful muffin apron for $8

3 Frames- $1.99, Measuring spoons- $2.99, Spatula- .59

Plant tin- .79, Plant- $7.99 (Usually over $12 @ TJ Maxx!)

Despite needing one several times over the last two years, I still didn't have an ironing board. Couldn't pass this one up for the price!

Tabletop ironing board $4.99

Plant $3.99, Plant tin .79

Russ saw this pillow and immediately pointed it out to me because he knows it's so me.

Awesome Pillow $12.99

I got a long-lasting souvenir... a twisty bamboo!

Bamboo $2.99, Small green vase $3.99

I also stopped at Hobby Lobby and picked up this cute kitchen tin.

$6

And World Market...

Votive $1.99

This napkin is going to live another life as a lampshade...

Napkin $3.99

These are reusable ice... spheres. They've got distilled water in them and you freeze them to use instead of ice cubes that water down your drink!

24 for $4.99

I think I made out pretty well! :D

Hellllloooo Charlotte!

On Friday morning we set out for Charlotte, North Carolina for an overnight trip (after prepping the house for little Ian to stay home alone- I put out a new box for him, hid treats around the house, filled up his food bowls, set out his toys, turned on the TV...) and drove for about six hours. 

We had a loose itinerary but the first stop was...

Russ' favorite fast food restaurant. It's been about a year and a half since he went home and this location is the closest one to our house! 

After a little more driving we got our first glimpse of downtown Charlotte. Then we hit Charlotte traffic for a few miles because unfortunately there was some serious race happening (and before this, I had no clue this was race country because frankly, I try my hardest not to pay attention to anything related to Nascar or racing). 

I got an awesome deal on our Marriott room... on Priceline I bid $60 and won! Woo hoo for cheap rooms!

We did lots of driving and getting lost... because our GPS is old and needs to be updated.

And some shopping...

It was my first time in an Ikea store and it. was. awesome! I could live there forever. Russ felt differently, of course. 

Here's some awesome stuff I stumbled upon (excuse some of the quality of the pictures, I had to use my phone because of dead camera batteries...)

I'm in LOVE with this bookcase, I'd love to have something like that in my future house!

This kitchen is amazing!

"Russ, stand in my future office and I'll take a picture!"

"All these books are the same..." he said.

And since it was my first time in an Ikea store, the prices never ceased to amaze me. This awesome canvas was $149... what??!! I've seen things a quarter of that size cost more than that!

We thought these rear-end hooks were funny...

I thought the lights on the right looked like pierogies. 

This seemed like something my brother would have loved...

And I'll be back shortly with another post on what I ended up bringing home!