Old Door Headboard

Ever since we upgraded to a king size bed we have not gotten a headboard.  First off I am not sure why they are sooooooooooooo much more expensive than queen size ones.  They are not that much wider.  Anyway, a while back I had originally planned on making an upholstered headboard.  I bought fabric and batting but holy smokes the foam was so expensive, I kept putting it off.  I have seen many DIY headboards out of old doors and after looking into we decided that was the way to go.  We bought an old door and some molding and then Chris got to work.  

He sanded down the door, cut it down some, attached the molding and then primed it with black primer.  I then painted it with the leftover paint from our coffee table and added a deeper blue and added calcium carbonate to make it chalk paint.  First I took an old candle and rubbed it along a lot of the edges so I could distress it better. After 2 coats of paint had dried, i first started sanding with a brown paper bag, then I went through with fine, medium, and course grit sandpaper in random areas so that the distressing did not look too uniform.  After I was done sanding I glazed the heck out of it so that it would really get into the cracks.  We finished it with Annie Sloan wax and it turned out perfect!

We mounted it to the wall and that was a little tricky cause the window sills were in the way, but it makes a huge impact in our room.  Now our mismatched lamps and nightstands look crappy... i se another project in our future:)

Ok, enough with the jibjab here are some pics.

I unfortunately don't have a before pic. It was a dirty white door.

This is after I finished sanding.

A close up of the molding after sanding.

This is after it was glazed.

A close up, Glazed and waxed

Mounted on the wall in our room:)

Coffee Table Redo!

So like almost every redo I forgot to take greta pics before or even during.  I bought this coffee table at a shop solid wood for like $80 bucks 3 years ago.  It has been a great table but it just need that something extra.  With all the stuff I do for my Salty Sisters Junk Business you would think I would have a really great house... Wrong... I feel like its very vanilla... so this is the table top.

and this is the base... I think it is some mexican antique reproduction thing, but it was solid wood and very sturdy.

I made chalk paint in turquoise... Now this isn't chalkboard paint, this stuff just has a nice chalky finish and it distresses very well.  1 part calcium Carbonate, 2 parts paint and a dash of water.  This is after i sanded the edges.

This is after glazing with a dark glaze.

Chris staining the boards that he thoroughly distressed 

Boards drying

close up of the details

It turned out great and we are so excited about our joint masterpiece!

It still need waxing and sealing.

Just a note on the wood.  We did not go cheap on the lumber cause we wanted to showcase it so the table top wood cost about $50 from a specialty lumber yard.

Enjoy!  now onto our headboard project:)

Halloween Wrap-Up

This was another successful Halloween!  Being one of my favorite holidays I try not to spare any details:)  But alas it is over and time to move on to new projects.

Esmeralda was a hit this year and even had a fellow witch, Mandy, to conjure with!  She brought her own broom and has the best witch laugh!

So here are some pics of the night!!

 This is my neighbor, The Beautiful Mia, as a jellyfish!

Let's stop for a second and talk about Mia's awesomeness! I helped her assemble her umbrella, we used a clear umbrella, cut even strips of bubble wrap, used clear and iridescent plastic gift wrap shreds, and this really awesome silver decomesh tubing.  With some super hot, hot glue, we stuck it all together.

What really makes the outfit is Mia's fabulous gagaesque twist!  The white wig and the glittery mask were so fun.  Her dress was from a bargain bin at a theatrical shop, and the chiffon was so pretty flowing as she walked!  Best costume hands down!

Of course we did get a little inspiration from Martha:)

I love this picture so I edited it 3 times!  Why is dry ice so darn cool?  I have no idea but it sure gave off the impression that I had real magic! hahaha!

This night time version shows how the cauldron looks lit up in the dark.

You take grape vine wreaths, and set a glass bowl inside filled with orange Halloween lights, and then stuff yellow tissue paper in the cracks.  It was pretty great.

 The table was pretty difficult to shoot with my standard camera, there is just so much going on it's difficult to show all the details.

But, I can kinda list how I put a lot of it together.

There are 2 card tables with a black plastic Halloween themed table cloth.  Then I put Halloween orange lights on the table and then draped gray creepy cloth over everything.  The tower is just a metal home decor accent that I covered with orange lights and gray and black creepy cloth and hung a skeleton.  I have a black wire tree with caged crow lights,  a stack of old books, skulls of varying sizes a bird cage with crows, potted green plants, spiders, rats, and silver pumpkins.  I used old wine and liquor bottles stuffed with corks and rags with moss and stuff, and I printed some free labels from the internet.  And I have a couple of glass jars and bottles that I stacked around.  I made a faux candy apple and put it in a cloche and made a tag that said poison apple.  I used candle sticks to give height to skulls and other props and I shoved spanish moss all around.

Then of Course you cant have a witch's potion table without some real live ingredients.

Eyeballs:  Plasic eyes and grapes with a splash of water

Bullfrog kidneys:  Kidney beans

Ogre snot: slime mad from glue water and borax

Zombie brains:  cold sticky linguine

Shrunken head soup: mini skulls in water

Crusty Scabs:  Craisins

 Brains and Ogre snot

I lay a piece of cheese cloth over the bowls and then I rip holes,  the cloth is transparent so you can kinda see through it, but it's not as obvious.

I have all the kids put their hands in each bowl and then I pause for a minute before I bring out a cauldron of candy.  If they don't want to touch the goo I have them scream as loud as they can for their candy.

My script runs along the lines of 'I need little children's fingers to mix the ingredients for my potions!"

When I hear them coming I proclaim " I smell children, they smell delicious.. I mean so lovely"

When They are hesitant I say things like " don't worry I don't actually eat children on Halloween Night!"

When they don't want to touch the ogre snot I say "oh but it's fabulous for your skin!"

And when they don't want to touch the crusty scabs I say "oh come on!  Everybody picks their own scabs!"

It's all pretty gross but the kids really love it!  The parent's enjoy it too!

Until next year my pretties!

Photo Transfer Tutorial

Came across this great photo tutorial at Delia Creates and I decided to try it out myself.  Please go to Delia Creates to get more detailed instructions but here's a little run down of how it goes.

Supplies:

8x10 Picture (Printed off your laser jet printer)

Artist Gel Medium

8x10 Canvas

Spray bottle with water

Paint optional

Here's what you do...

If you want a colored background, paint the canvas your color and let it dry... if not, skip this step.

With a paint brush or a foam brush cover the canvas with the gel medium.

While it is still wet carefully place your picture face down on the canvas.

Rub the paper picture until you have removed all the air bubbles.

Wait for gel to completely dry this could take 4 hours or more so be patient.

When everything is dry spray the paper with the water and start to rub off all the paper.  This is REALLY messy, wet paper chunks everywhere!

Keep rubbing until all the paper is gone and only the image remains.  Try not to rub to long in one spot or you will take off the image too.

This image was done without painting the background

This one was painted blue before transferring the image 

This technique leaves a great distressed finish.

Enjoy!

Inside Havana

Just picked up this GREAT photography book at Magnolia Style in Hyde Park.  I fingered through the pages the other day and decided not to get it, but that dang book has been on my mind ever since.  So first thing this morning I popped in and bought it.

It's called Inside Havana by Andrew Moore.  The images are just beautiful and I am hoping to maybe find out where some of the pictures were taken and pop by to check those spaces out!

Book Cover

A Parlor in Matanzas

Dilapidated Ballet School

These are just a couple of the stunning images from this gorgeous book.

Jeff and Lee at Magnolia were so gracious showing me some of their other photography books about Cuba.  If you haven't been by the shop, swing by and check it out.  They have gorgeous art work, home decor and the light fixtures are to die for!

Check out Magnolia Style website HERE.

Meet Ung Drill

Meet Ung Drill.  Many of you may already know Ung Drill but for those of you who don't here it is!  This is one of the most commonly use decorative pieces from Ikea that I have ever seen.  Everywhere I look it seems to be incorporated in every design scheme.  And at $29, who wouldn't?  It comes in basic black but take a look at the other ideas people have had for this gorgeous staple.  

If you click on the picture it should send you to the site I found it on:)  Enjoy!