IKEA Malm Dresser Hack (before and after)

I have been busy this month trying to finish up some of the projects on my to do list before school starts. As I was working on my daughters room, I decided to paint her dresser to give it a new look. Her IKEA MALM dresser was very functional but a little boring.

After a little bit of paint, some new knobs and overlays, it looks like a completely different piece of furniture. 

I ordered the overlays from here. There are so many options for different IKEA furniture, you can truly customize your own furniture and make it one of a kind. 

I found the knobs at home depot, I believe I paid about $30 for all 8.

If you want an approximate cost breakdown:

Dresser: $99.99

Overlays: $28.00

Paint: $16.00

Knobs: $30.00

Poly seal: $8.00 

Total: $181.99

Off course I already the dresser from a few years back, so it cost me $82 to refinish the dresser. 

I bought hi-gloss paint with built in primer at home depot, I used a small roller and gave it 2 coats. 

After the paint was dry, I sealed it with two coats of polyurethane, which I also applied with a small roller. 

The next day after my dresser was dry, I measured and drilled my holes and put in my hardware. Afterwards I superglued my overlays on. 

 Have you done any IKEA Hacks lately? Leave a link below, I would love to see your project :)

Thanks for visiting, 

Cutting Edge Stencil Review and Giveaway- CLOSED

Have I got a treat for you today! 

As you may know, I love stenciled walls! In fact I have stenciled 4 rooms in my house using cutting edge stencils! 

When Cutting Edge emailed me and asked if I could do a review and giveaway, I was so excited! 

I am one of those people who will get every penny for my dollar, I reused the Moroccan stencil 3 times! Just use different paint colors and you have a whole new room!

Here are a few ways I used the cutting edge stencils in my home:

The Moroccan Stencil:

In my living room, I did something very subtle. 

I used Sterling paint color by BEHR in flat all over the wall, for the stencil, I used the same color in high gloss. 

In my bathroom, I have the same wall color (Sterling by BEHR)

 and this time I used a very creamy white for the stencil :

DIY Large Chalkboard

I have wanted a large chalkboard for a few months now. I was just to lazy/tired to build one. 

It meant going to Home depot, buying supplies, getting the saw out, cutting, nailing, gluing, priming, painting. 

That just didn't sound very appealing to me being pregnant and all.

I  considered for a split second to buy one online, But I couldn't find anything for less then $100!

Then one day, I was browsing craigslist, and I found this mirror for $30.

I sent hubby to pick up the mirror and got started the next day. 

First thing first, I cleaned the mirror really well and taped off the frame. 

The Pantry

I have a mental list in my head of things I want to get done before baby #3 comes. The good thing is that the list is getting shorter, which means that we are getting things done (or I am forgetting things, who knows with this pregnancy brain of mine-- I actually have to make notes for myself so I don't forget things... ) Anyways, back to the pantry. 

One of the things on the list is: organize the pantry. Well I organize my pantry all the time, but its one of those things that gets messy so fast (like my husbands closet, I can organize and refold all his clothes and two days later, its back to being a mess!) Anyways, the pantry always gets messy because it is basically a big black hole! I get pantry envy whenever I see someone's big walk-in pantry.  Maybe one day I will have one of those in "our dream home".

Ok, back to the pantry, I can never see what is in it (especially in the very back) My hubby discussed on what to do about this, and finally decided that we would get slide out shelves, however after a few crazy high bids, we threw that idea out of the window! Then 8 months later, came along a guy who actually gave us a reasonable bid and we finally got our slide out shelves!

Now I don't have to get on my knees to see what we have, and the useless space in the back is actually being used now. :)

It feels so good to cross another thing off my list. 

Thanks for visiting,

Baby Burp Cloth Tutorial

I have been on a sewing for baby kick, I blame the nesting, plus the frugal me. 

I was planning on buying some cute burp cloths on Etsy.  But I was shocked at the price, I know that people gotta make their money and all, but this is such a simple and easy project, I just figured I would do it myself and show you how to make a few to!

My babies spit up alot. My Pediatricial said that is becuase I am over feeding them, but hey, I am nursing them. I nurse them on demand and as long as they want to. With my son, I just used recieiving blankets and cloth diaper prefolds. The receiving blankets were not thick enough so the spit up went right through and the prefolds where kinda ugly. So I decied to combine the two togehter. 

I bought a pack of Gerber prefold diapers from target. They were $12.99 for 10. Then I got 2 yards of flannel fabric. I got 4 different prints, so I got 1/2 a yard of each print. Flannel is so inexpensive. The total cost for 10 burp cloths was $24.99, thats $2.49 per burp cloth!

You can't beat that!

So lets get started!

Easy Envelope Pillows (tutorial)

I decided to change it up again in the living room by bringing in some color for the upcoming spring and summer months, and the most inexpensive way to do this is to add some flowers and new colorful pillows. 

Throw pillows cost a lot. Even at Home Goods or Marshall's you will pay at least $20 for a pillow. It's ridiculous!

I went to The fabric store and paid $40 for fabric which was enough for 10 pillows! You can't beat that!

This is the easiest thing you can sew. Even if you don't know how to sew, you can still make this, there are no zippers involved and all you need to do is sew straight lines. 

1 yard is enough for one 20 inch pillow.  Keep that in mind when buying your fabric. 

I prefer down pillows, because I like how "chopped" pillows look. 

But I have non down throw pillows to. After I recovered all of my old pillows, I went and bought down throw pillows at IKEA. The are only $6.99 each, Which is the cheapest I found in town:

There are two different ways I make pillows. One way is by cutting out one piece of fabric and the other is by cutting out 3 parts.

Here is the first way.

Use your old pillow case as a guide. You need to cut a piece of fabric that is 1/2 inch wider on each side and can overlap by 6 inches:

See, when I fold it over the pillow case, it overlaps by 6 inches:

Fold and iron the two ends:

Sew both of the ends:

Lay the fabric on a flat surface with the right side up. 

Bring one end up to the middle:

Then bring the other side towards the middle:

Use your old pillow case as a guide. Put it onto to make sure it is the same size.

Sew two of the edges.

After you have sewn the 2 seams, you need to finish the edges. 

You can serge them, zig zag stitch or use pinking shears like I do:

After this step you are done!

Put your pillow in and admire your work:

 The next way to make the pillow is for when you don't have enough fabric to go all the way around the pillow and you need to cut out pieces. 

1 yard of fabric was not quite big enough to go around the 20 inch IKEA pillow. 

DIY Milk Glass (vase makeover)

 I have never liked gold finishes before. But, lately it has been really growing on me. 

Gold jewelry, gold hardware, gold home decor. Please tell me I am not the only one.

 I wanted to bring in some gold into my bedroom. I had this vase I bought awhile back at a craft store, it was very cheap. 

I didn't like how you can see the stems of the plant, so I decided to paint it. 

However, I didn't just want to spray paint it. I wanted to the vase to have a milk glass look and have gold detail. Here is the before and after. 

It is a super easy and simple project. It you have some paint laying around, you can do this to. Either use an old vase, or pick some different vases at the thrift store and paint them all the same and group them together. 

Here is some inspiration I found online:

source

source

Ok, let me show you how I did this. 

I taped of the edge of the vase to make sure I didn't get any paint on it then I poured some white paint into the vase:

Swirl the paint. Add more paint if needed:

Make sure you covered the whole vase with paint:

Next, flip your vase over for the rest of the paint to drip out. 

(I made a little draining rack for it out of skewers)

I taped off the rest of the vase so I wouldn't get any spray paint on it. 

Next I sprayed the bottom of the vase with some gold spray paint I had laying around in the garage:

I didn't like this gold finish so I distressed it a bit with some metallic paints from Martha Stewart:

Take off the tape and clean of the edges:

Next let it dry for a few days before you put anything inside so you don't scratch the paint. 

hmm... Now I am thinking I should tape of the vase and create gold stripes... what do you think?

Thank you so much for visiting and I hope you all have a fabulous day!

Wooden Growth Chart DIY

Project cost: under $15.00

This project has been on my list to do for a sometime and I finally got around to doing it.

 I wanted a nice, sturdy growth chart where I can keep track of the kids height and something that looked good to display in the house. Not something that looks like it belongs in a nursery. 

I saw some wood growth charts online, but they all started at $50 and went up in price. I knew that it does not cost that much to make one. 

So I went to Home Depot and bought a wooden board. I believe it it 6ft long, 1 inch thick and 10 inches wide. It was around $9.25

The only other two things I bought was a paint pen for around $3.00 (at my grocery store) and a foam brush. 

I had stain and polyurethane from the time I refinished my night-stands. But you can get each for around $5 at home depot (for the small container) I used minwax stain in the color special walnut and semi gloss oil based polyurethane. (Which will bring this project for you to around $25.00)

Here is the outcome:

Change the Buttons!

I wasn't sure if  I should even share this tiny little project.. But maybe one of you can use this for inspiration, so here it goes. 

I bought this wool blend coat at the BP department at Nordstrom a few years back. Then a button fell off and I stopped wearing it. (plus I didn't really like the big plastic buttons) 

I finally got around to going to Joann's and picking up a few buttons. 

Ta Da!

Looks like a new coat!

Thanks so much for visiting.

Slow progress in the Master...

We started working on my master bedroom last fall, and we are still not done! 

We got a bed to sleep in and kinda stopped working on the room. Hopefully we will get it done soon, so I can share it with you guys. Because, let me tell you that it is quite a transformation. 

One of the things on the list, was a full length mirror. I finally found one that I liked that was within my $100 budget. I found this one at Home Goods.

I didn't like the color... So I painted to go with my room. Here is the before:

My two favorite metallic paints, they make a great combo!

And the after:

It goes well with my chandelier and it actually pops from the wall color now. 

I am still not sure if we are going to hang it or not. I like it like this, but am worried that the kids might push it, drop it... etc... 

Next on my list, find a arm chair, bench and some art work. Wish me luck!