Ideas For Decorating With Leftover Wallpaper

After my last visit to the Home Depot I came home with two beautiful wallpaper samples. Actually I wasn't even looking for wallpaper, I'm not really a fan, I'm way to lazy to put it on and I would be even lazier to eventually remove it. But as I was looking for new paint for my second bathroom, I spotted some beautiful wallpaper rolls in the corner of my eye. There were so many new and beautiful  designs to choose from. Finally I decided to ask a salesperson for a sample from some of them. It should be enough for a little decorating project, I thought of a lamp shade for the base I already have. I also did some research on the Internet for other ways to use wallpaper samples or leftovers. So many intelligent, surprising and beautiful ideas crossed my way that I decided to share them with you. Here are some of them:

Isn't it obvious why I chose the pictures above with loads of pink? No? Look at the calendar...

For more new, lovely, surprising, inexpensive and DIY-doable ideas please continue looking after the jump (click on 'Read more'):

Ideas For Decorating With Leftover Wallpaper

Thread rack from Ikea bathroom shelf

My digital camera is definitely dead, even rice 'spa' couldn't help. I went over my pictures on the computer and i found another little project that I completed two weeks ago. I needed some kind of a thread rack for my little sewing room, mainly for the large serger  thread cones. They needed desperately to be orderly stored. And as my daughter offered me her Ikea bathroom shelf named 'Songa' I was happy to accept it. It didn't need much work, the only thing that bothered me were the black metal supports - I wanted to spray paint them silver for better fit with my existing equipment. It took me no more then 10 minutes to prepare and to spray the supports. It was howewer rather tricky to spray paint each side of the support, they are so thin, nearly impossible to work precisely. Here is the end result:

I like it, it's installed directly over my work area, very easy to reach. I'll show you my little sewing room very soon, I have some things to finish this week in it. And then I would like to start next week to make some lovely things for my brand new Etsy shop, hopefully still in time for Christmas! There are allways people out there who do some 'last minute shopping'. I allready have the fabric and I'm working on the little collection of warm, wintery, snuggly...well, you have to wait till next week to see what am I preparing, sorry...

Thread rack from Ikea bathroom shelf

Recycled glas jars finished

My digital camera is taking a rest in a bag of rice since the 'swimming in the cup of coffee' accident. Battery and memory card sleep as well in it. I was told that rice could absorb the humidity and my camera might work again after all. We'll see...I'll wait till this afternoon to try it.
Since I already downloaded some photos from it before the accident  I'm able to give you a follow up on the blackboard spray paint project. This is the finished project with labels:

I was looking for this paint since I saw it on Sonia's post and I found it finally in a hardware store for 5,99$. Not so bad... I already had four big nice glass jars that I saved for a project initially meant to make a DIY version of the lovely Ikea 'Burken' jars:

Finally, I decided to combine both ideas and to make the jars as planed: silver spray paint the lids with addition of the blackboard spray labels. In the beginning of the project I wanted to prove (to myself?) how smart I am and I tried to treat the four jars at the same time with spray paint. As I started to elaborate the tactic to do so, I realised that I was on the way to fail miserably and to loose a great amount of time without getting neat results. What can I say, I couldn't hide it from you, I hope to spare you the embarrassment if the same idea should cross your mind.

 If you have an impression that I was a bit impatient, you're absolutely right. In the end, I got a nice result with masking tape. Didn't care to cover it all but it was not so difficult to handle. If there are some spills you can just wish them of with a sponge or cloth right away. Even if you not see it while it's still wet, don't worry, you can scrape it off using a knife or a cutter. Even if I like the result very much I still would like to add something on the lid for the more realistic 'Burken' effect. What could I use? Any ideas out there?

Recycled glas jars finished

On Color Again

I knew I needed an excuse before presenting the today's subject! And guess what? I found the perfect one:

Phew, I can proceed now, merci Monsieur Léger! This is exactly how I see it and feel it too. What I wanted to show you today is a glimpse on the November issue of Burdastyle. As you already know, I'm a hobby sewer, a very good one I must add, but more about it later. For practicly all my projects I only ever used German sewing magazines with patterns, Burda and Neue Mode (the latter is no more published). So even if I now live in North America, I wanted to feel the joy of receiving my Burda each month so I subscribed to it, more precisely: it was my DH's present for my birthday - he only wanted me to stop wining, really. So now I get to enjoy each month the newest Burda in German language. I received my November issue last week and as I was about to take it out from the envelope something shiny blended me. I couldn't believe my eyes: it was the most beautiful and the most kitschy (I love kitschy!) Burda cover ever! Everything was in red and gold, shiny and glossy, very smooth to touch. I stared at it for the moment, reluctant to open it, fearing that the beauty of it would vanish. Only after a minute or so of staring with my mouth open (I'm easy to impress) I came to my senses and could browse it. Ah, everything in red, plummy blue and purple...

Now I only have to find an occasion for wich I should make one of those fiery beauties. Any suggestions? Or maybe invitations? I'm waiting...

For those who, like me, enjoy those kind of things I prepared a teeny-weeny preview (in purple) of the December issue. Enjoy!

On Color Again

Cookbook Holder Solution

Today, as I was cooking my beloved Indian Carrot and Ginger soup, I used my improvised and simple cookbook holder. Actually, this isn't really a cookbook holder, it's rather a solution in the absence of it. There are so many models to find today, some even aren't so expensive, like this one I like :

Sleek and simple, only 14,99$ from http://www.organizeit-online.com/

But as it turns out, I have other priorities so I prefer this 1$ solution at the moment. I would like to say that I came up with it, but it wouldn't be true. I must have seen this one on the Internet very long time ago. So here it is working for me in my ugly kitchen:

All you need is a pants holder with clips! Works like a charm with not so thick cookbooks, individual pages / cards and magazines:

Simple to use, easy for storage. BTW, the recipe for my soup is from this German cookbook I love.

Just pay attention as you buy the pants holder: the clips should be rubber coated from the inside to prevent slipping. That's all! Oh, and the recipe for the soup, I'll give it to you tomorrow.

I found on the Internet some other very interesting ideas using the pants holder. I would like to share with you this one that Jean and Dylan from Ladies & Gentlemen Home posted last year as a beautiful solution for displaying art:

 

Be sure to visit their blog on ladiesandgentlemenhome.blogspot.com

Cookbook Holder Solution

Lovely November morning (for DIY post)

As I was preparing  my coffee this morning I couldn't help but wonder: is it possible to have such a long beautiful autumn, sunny and temperate even in November?  So I grabbed my camera and took a picture of my kitchen window bathing in the morning sun, with African violets still blooming.

So, and now back to work! I wanted to share with you an idea for reusing, or recycling, an unusual object. For quite some time now, i had in my shed an old utensil basket from my old dishwasher. It was in good shape and I stored some little things in it. Then, last weekend, as I was cooking in my all but practical and ergonomic kitchen, I reached for the olive oil bottle so clumsily that several bottles with oils, vinegars and sauces started moving very quickly, and in the same time, in the direction of my head. I must have used some cool move at that moment because somehow I managed, after wrestling with diverse bottles for several seconds, to save them from falling. On my head. I was furious at my kitchen even if it was entirely MY FAULT. And here is why: when we bought our fist home over 4 years ago, I didn't like the existing kitchen at all. Not one bit. But we bought the house because it had some nice features for our two teenagers and that was very important at the time. And even if I dreamed all my life of having a nice kitchen and hoped to get it with our first house, I said to myself: OK, calm  down, you can function in it for a while, see what is wrong with it and renovate later. And I did it. Except renovating, that part isn't done yet, I'm still in the dreaming phase because of  'peanuts'. And you should know: I really love cooking for my family, love making them happy when the smell of their favorite meal starts to spread from the kitchen and they come running to see when it'll be ready. Back to reality, there is not one day that I don't hate my kitchen, it is so small and very badly organized space wise. And the list goes on, it's very long, believe me. I'll save it for another post dedicated to my kitchen. See?! There is no stopping me when I start talking kitchen. Anyway, back to my DIY. Having survived the accident with my oil bottles, I started to think of a rapid solution for them. What you don't know: all these bottles were placed in the cupboard over my old integrated oven. And no, there was no other solution for them at the time. Last week, as I was finalizing some prewinter rearranging in my shed with my DH, I saw my old dishwasher basket and the light went on! Back in the house, I put my bottles in it - perfect! So I took some very simple loop screws and fixed it on the inside of the cabinet door beneath my stove without having to change it a bit. And without using any tools. Ta-da!!! Look at this smart, simple, free, practical, ecological, green solution:

This basket has a grip in the middle, very practical for cooking outside in the summer. Just grab and go, everything is ready. Here are some more pictures:

Lovely November morning (for DIY post)

Yellow Cure

Earlier this week I promised you another post on my severe case of color craving. I'm self medicating at the moment with the "moyens du bord" as my friends Quebecers say, meaning with the limited means at my disposal. In this case I brought home some nice branches from my autumn stroll and I used on them the rest of the yellow wall paint I had. Let me tell you one thing ( preferred sentence introduction of my DH, btw): painting those willowy branches slowly with a brush  dipped in sunny yellow paint was the best meditating activity I had in long time...

After two coats of paint, with the benefits of two free sessions of meditating, I put my yellow cure in the green guest room saving it for those cold, stormy winter days...

And if you're curios to know what the object in stripes is, you'll just have to ask me ;-)

Yellow Cure

Severe case of color craving...

... or how else to explain my constant desire to see more bold colors around me and on me too. I have to say that even if I never really was I gray mouse in a large sense of the word, bold colors never were an option when choosing clothes for me, paint for my walls or even just little decoration objects like vases, pictures etc. The only exception to the rule was the wall we built in our new house in 2005 that I decided to paint gorgeous velvety dark red:

 I was literally in love with this wall for months because of its color and I looked forward to get home each day after work to enjoy it, my first wall in color ever! But then, about two years ago I suddenly, and irresponsibly, decided to buy a pink shirt for me. And I'm already a little far from twenties if you must know. Anyway, I surprised myself by this choice and apparently the people who know me were surprised too, judging by the comments of my children, my husband (are you sure you want to wear THIS color?), colleagues (hey, how surprising, looks nice on you, you should be wearing these colors more often...). And from this moment on I somehow started to by green, purple, red clothes and to mix them with my more neutral wardrobe (lots of black of course, brown and gray...no blue) And I could swear those colors changed not only my looks, they influenced my behavior also. I started to feel more perky, energized and, why not, younger too. And just when I thought it was over, it started to get over to my house. I suddenly found myself taking home loads of paint chip samples from hardware stores, looking trough inspirational pictures everywhere, from books through magazines to the Internet. And finally this week I started to treat my color deficiency with a heavy dose of bright, glossy cardinal red:

The color is of course even more beautiful than on the photo, I think I'm not so good yet with my camera and light. This is a little piece of furniture that I bought at Salvation Army for my entry area but it looked quite blah when I placed it against the, you guessed, beige wall. Originally it was grayish beige-white:

And as I looked around to find an idea I saw my new red love: Kitchen Aid mixer that my children gave me as present for my important (ahem) birthday. I knew instantly, it has to be red! I gave it two coats of paint and it became hot and sexy at once:

Not the best photo but I have to learn how to make good digital photos with a crappy camera...I'll let it dry one more day before adding a bowl for keys and change and other necessary stuff.

So, isn't it obvious that I have to continue the treatment with some other color doses? More about it in the tomorrow's post.

Viva la Color Revolution! 

Severe case of color craving...

Follow up: first Halloween costume

Remember the costume that I had to make for my colleague son's first Halloween? I didn't have a chance to see him in person but his mother sent me a photo and I find him a-do-ra-ble!!!

I'm really pleased with how the costume turned out and I sure hope I'll have the opportunity to make another for him (and his little sister?) next year. Congratulations Noah on your first "Boo!" experience!

Follow up: first Halloween costume

Blackboard spray paint labels DIY

Curiosity is my middle name, really. I love learning new things, that's why I love navigating the Blogger Sea: there are so many talented people out there! Just yesterday I stumbled upon Sonja's blog and  found the idea for my next craft project. She used blackboard spray paint to transform her tins and jars - simple and stunning! She was nice to allow me to present her work on my blog. Here is the picture of her storage cans with rewritable blackboard labels:

Lovely, isn't it? I can imagine it would look very nice on the glass jars also. Sonia had another idea for the glass jars:

 

 One thing is sure: I have to find this blackboard spray paint subito-presto, I have some very nice glass jars waiting behind my back...

You can find the instructions when you click on pictures, or find those and many other nice projects on her blog at craft-werk.blogspot.com. Enjoy!

Blackboard spray paint labels DIY

For the rainy Saturday afternoon

I love creating with my hands, it gives me enormous satisfaction to see the finished result. There is not much crafting and DIY that I don't like. Exceptions : crochet (plain ugly, in MHO, with place for exceptions but for some reason I can't stop thinking of those horrible crocheted bathroom sets), knitting (waaay to long to see the result). Surprisingly, I'm not a scrapbook girl either even if I enjoy seeing some of the work out there. And quilting is not my thing neither even if I like sewing very much (why would someone want to cut the fabric into pieces only to sew it back together? Quilto Mazo?) Sorry girls, I didn't mean to be mean, it's just that my (sometimes) twisted sense of humor can be persistent like a fat stain. Believe me, I know what it means to love to do something, I have several addictions of my own...
Where was I? Oh, I remember: i just wanted to show you some little things that I plan to do on this rainy Saturday afternoon (the fist snow is almost completely gone). Here is the picture of the things I found in different corners of my home and that deserve attention :

Some are new (Dollar store though, I'm born on the frugal side) some are trifted. I have 3 simple white frames for my main bathroom. I would like to find some cute prints or just photos for it. The clock was on my patio last sommer and the thing in it got warped, paper I suppose. Then I have 3 little cute trifted frames with angels, hearts and lines (sometimes I can't resist kitsch but I'm definitely not a shabby chic fan). Those demand some cute family pictures. There is also a lamp without shade, I have to think of something. Fabric? Paper? Wallpaper rest? We'll see... I'll post finished projects next week

For the rainy Saturday afternoon

Cute (and scarry, brrr...) Halloween decoration

When little French children await impatiently an event like Christmas or Halloween they often count time left in "dodos" - how many times they got to sleep till the day "X". Encore 3 dodos, encore 6 dodos... in our case, "encore 9 dodos" till Halloween. Well, there is plenty time left for both, parents and children to craft something scarry for this day. I stumbled upon a lovely Cathie Filian blog "How To Be Domestic" and found a cute little Halloween project just for you :

Cathy creates, produces and co-hosts the popular lifestyle show Creative Juice on DIY Network and HGTV. You can find her project, and many others, at this link : Halloween: extreme glitter skull

Happy crafting !

Cute (and scarry, brrr...) Halloween decoration