Halloween Decorating ideas 2013

I had a great time decorating this year.  Earlier I posted some unique ideas on adding different colors to your Halloween décor.  This year I added in some blue pumpkins and dressed up some of last years interior decor.

OUTSIDE- Here is my front porch  and little cemetery.  I threw in some blue painted pumpkins this year.  (Dollar Tree pumpkins that I painted that is!)  I mixed in some glittered black and painted gold and white pumpkins.  I love to add sparkly picks to the stem part of some of my pumpkins so I randomly placed a few of them in the design.  The black birdcage is filled with a gold and black pumpkin and there is a large spider and crow making themselves at home.

I also added some purple and green foliage and a couple purple pansies.  Added the wreath....(tutorial in previous post), and VIOLA! Anytime you add some natural elements to you holiday décor, it freshens it up an adds a certain amount of beauty that cannot be duplicated with faux plants. Grab inexpensive plants and intermix them and you will be amazed at the difference!   Oh~  I did add my staple cemetery and witch as well!  Still have a few things to do....

Create an instant cemetery in your flower garden!  It's the perfect place to put those creepy headstones and ghoulish figures!

This was a new addition this year.  I love the way it turned out!  I grabbed the ideas several years ago off of the internet.

INSIDE-

I put these skeletons together last year.  I just adhered the skeleton heads to some old candle sticks that I picked up at an estate sale.  This year I added burlap collars to them by gathering some burlap and gluing it on the top of the candlesticks.  I also added some vintage looking cone hats.  I used some cute scrapbook paper to create the cone and added a strip of packaging paper to the rim.  I folded the packaging paper in an accordion style to create some texture and then added an orange sparkly spider to the front!

My porcelain skeleton got to dress up this year too!

As for the cloche over the witch image...I couldn't find it this year!  So I used a vintage mason jar instead.  I just turned it upside down and put the print inside the jar.

Here's my semi-homemade chandelier again.  See here for how I upscaled this little beauty!

 This was my project today.  I just cut out some vintage sillhouetts with vinyl and put them on the battery operated candles. I LOVE them!

More tomorrow!

DIY Farmhouse bed!

I thought I would share with you one of the projects that I built recently!  This wonderful king size farmhouse bed!  What do you think?  It really wasn't too bad.  I got my plans from Ana White.  She has made it REALLY easy to build her DIY furniture!  She supplies the shopping list, cut list and instructions. I modified the plan when I found another version on her site from someone else who built the same bed.  Here is her link-

I wanted cubbies for storage and also wanted to access the space under the bed between the cubbies. So here is what I did~

I first build 2 sets of cubbies.  Each one is 16" deep x 15" Tall x 80" Long.
I added 1" trim to the front of the cubby to finish the edges which made the depth 17". I attached the bottom trim flush with the inside of the cubby so it raised the height to about 15 1/2".  (Visit the site and this will all make sense!)

Next I built the headboard and the foot board.  I attached the center board of the foot board to the posts with top hinges and a latch at the bottom so that I could open it to access the middle of the bed. 

Finally (After painting everything!) I screwed the headboard and foot board to the cubbies.  I used L brackets in some place to make it even more secure.  I didn't want the bed to move or squeak AT ALL!  :)

Be aware that when you follow Ana's plans she turned her king size bed on its side and so the dimensions are not exactly accurate for a typical king size bed.  READ all of the directions before you begin your project.

The overall cost was about $400 or so.  About 1/4 of what it would have cost me to buy one!  And...I know it is done right and with solid wood. 

Here are the cubbies!  I bought regular old Steralite storage bins from Target and slip covered them with canvas. I wanted BIG bins so this was my best option. 

I simply laid the tote on top of the fabric (one side at a time) and cut each piece about 2 inches bigger than that actual size to allow for the seam.  The exception was at the top.  I wanted the fabric to fold over the top so I added about 5" to the height and used the finished edge of the fabric.

As you can see there is a lip around the top of the bin. Once I sewed the four sides together I pulled the slipcover over the bin (Inside out) and I folded the fabric at the corners and pinned it so that it would fit snug and not fall off of the bin.  I then stitched the mitered corners.  I had to be careful to not sew it too tight because I had to be able to pull it over the bin. Next, I simply adhered Velcro to the bin and the underside of the fabric to attach it. I glued the Velcro to the bin with E6000 glue and held it down with masking tape until it dried. I stitched the Velcro to the fabric.  It's not going anywhere!  I am super happy with the finished project!  I think I will be adding some sort of vintage print to the front of the slip covers at some point but that is another project for another day!

Vintage skull vignette for Halloween!

Well, I didn't get to upload this design when I wanted because my laptop is broken but better late than never...right?  Take a look at this Halloween décor!

I found the spooky chandelier at Ross!  It is meant for votive candles but of course I had to transform it!  I didn't want to mess with candles or even battery operated ones so I added a string of Halloween lights that I picked up at Fred Meyers and zip tied the wire to the chandelier with black zip ties.  I hot-glued the bottom of the light socket to the candle platform so that the bulbs would stand up straight.  Because there were 10 spots for candles and 7 lights, I opted to add the skulls to the top section of the fixture.  I hid the extra 2 light sockets under the skulls! East peasy!  A spooky addition to my vignette.

On the table I placed my ceramic skeleton on a black cake stand,  Next to it is a vintage typewriter and a stack of books with a mini lamp and glass cloche.  Under the cloche I put a printout of a vintage witch that I found online.  I embellished the table with a creepy cloth and crow!  Super easy and fun for Halloween! Check back tomorrow for another Halloween décor idea!

 

 

 

Halloween Features!

Hi everyone!  Starting tomorrow I will be featuring Halloween Decorating ideas! If you have any pictures of Halloween decor from years past or if you have already started decorating, send in your current photos!  Let's get decorating!

Halloween Decor Classes

It's that time of year again!  Halloween is just around the corner and I will be hosting my annual holiday decor classes.  This year we will be making an "All Hallows Eve" sign, a darling cupcake stand, a faux cupcake and you also get a black raven to go with the vignette!  Shoot me an email if you want to sign up.  The class will be held Friday, September 28th at 11am.  The cost is only $22.00.
designbykelli@gmail.com.  You can order the vinyl for the sign for $10.00 as well!

Kitchen Re-Do! Painted cabinets and more~

And now for the kitchen!  This is the before-

                                                                            Before




AFTER!



Glaze highlights all of the detailing in the cabinets

I made burlap roman shades.  YES, made them!  This gal has an easy DIY tutorial on how to make them yourself!  (Found her on Pinterest of course!) 


I added a simple valance on top of the Roman Shades,  No sew! I used the fusing tape and an iron to make this.  Super easy!

Lastly, I added some definitions to my glass canisters.  I love the way they turned out.  I must say however, I won't be selling these as the words are so small it is a nightmare to weed the negative parts of the vinyl out of the solid sheet!  If you just want the labels, ie. SUGAR, FLOUR etc.  No problem!  I can do that.  It' the little itty bitty words that were not fun!

This is always time consuming but well worth the effort!  It is actually a simple process. 

Here are some simple step by step instructions~

Quick glance guide-
1- Remove doors and hinges
2-Label doors
3-Clean doors and bases with TSP
4-Sand
5-Prime
6-Paint
7-Glaze
8-Seal
9- Hang

Detailed Instructions-

1-  Remove Each door and hinge ONE BY ONE.
 
2-  Label each door so that you know where it goes. 
(I know you may think that this is a silly step and your thinking- "Of course I will know where they will go"-      TRUST ME....label them.  It is much easier!  I wrote inside the hole where the hinge fits because  it provided enough room to write without it being covered with paint.  Another option is to use painters tape on the back side if you are not planning on painting the inside of the cupboard doors.)  I labeled them "U" for upper and then a #.  For example U1, U2 etc.  L for lower-

3.  Use "TSP" to clean the fronts of your doors and cabinet bases. This is an important step.  It will get all of the hidden grease and grime off of your cabinets.  It's there even if you don't see it! You can get this at your local hardware store.

4. Lightly sand or use a deglosser/liquid sander solution.  This will give the primer a better surface to stick to.  DON"T SKIP THIS STEP!  This is key to a good, long lasting finish.  I would recommend sanding over the liquid because it is a fail proof method.

5. Next prime.  I prefer "Gripper" brand primer as it is amazingly durable.  You can find it at Home Depot.  I cut into the grooves with a paint brush and then immediately roll over it with a smooth sponge roller.  This will prevent brush strokes and give a nice smooth finish.

6.  Time to paint!  Apply at least 2 coats of your paint in the same way you applied your primer.  Use a brush and then roll over it with a sponge roller.  BTW-  The paint people (at Home Depot) tried to tell me years ago when I started doing this not to use the sponge roller because it soaks up to much paint.  Don't listen to them.  :)  This is the only way to get the pro finish you want.  It doesn't soak up that much paint. 

7.  Lastly, if you want to glaze your cabinet doors, mix one part paint, (espresso)  to 2 parts glaze.  Brush the glaze over the doors where there are grooves.  I brushed mine over the beveled part of my doors.

Next, with a lint free cloth, rub away the glaze so that it leaves behind a rich dark color in the grooves of the door.   If you are picky like me, you can methodically pull your rag down one side of the groove and then the other to be sure the glaze leaves a nice straight (ish) line.

I ran a line of color around the edges of the doors as well even though there was no groove.  I just liked the look of it.  Again, I pulled the rag down both sides of the line to get an even line.  (If this seems confusing I basically wiped away the paint on each side of the line so that all that was left was a thin line.) You don't want it to be perfect because it is suppose to look a bit aged.  :)

8.  Last, (because I go a little over the top)  I applied a coat of glaze over the entire door to seal everything and protect the paint!  This makes it easier to clean and since your kitchen gets a lot of wear and tear, it is best to seal everything.

9. Once the cabinet bases and door are dry...(BE PATIENT,)  you get to hang them and admire all of your hard work!

Hand painted furniture tutorial!

I have been having way to much fun re-doing my kitchen and some furniture the last couple weeks!  I thought I would show the results!  First the cabinet-

I found the cabinet at an estate sale a couple weeks ago hiding in that back of someone's garage.  Of course it caught my eye and I convinced my hubby that I HAD to have it!  :) 

I brought it home and got to work!  After sanding, priming with "GRIPPER" primer and painting it, I distressed it with paint using an antiquing technique with paint!  I then rubbed it down with some burn sienna paint tint to give it an aged look.  I love how it turned out!  I will post the pics of the kitchen tomorrow! :)

Dorm Room Decor~

In honor of the many graduating seniors, I thought I would post some fun, inexpensive dorm decorating ideas.  I was able to share some of these ideas with some of my Young Women at our youth activity last night and it was a lot of fun!