Project + Decor:: Staining an Ordinary Basket

Before

After

On Display

I've been hunting for a shallow basket to put near our front door and found this plain woven wood one on my last Treasure Hunt. It had the right shape but it was really blah and didn't go with our darker living room decor. But since it was plain wood and I had some left over stain from my antique window project this became an easy d-i-y decor piece. And I love how beautifully it turned out with the dark walnut stain.

Supplies::

Wooden basket made of natural unstained/painted wood

Wood stain (I used walnut)

Foam brush

How I did it::

1. Work on a surface that you don't care about getting stain on because it will leak through a lot! I did this on my work bench. I recommend working outside on a scrap piece of wood or thick cardboard. The stain will stain everything it touches.

2. Dip a foam brush very lightly in your stain. Instead of painting on the stain as you normally would a smooth surface, press the foam brush into the woven pieces to cover all of them, don't worry if it's a little thicker in some places than others, keep dabbing all over with the foam brush. It will pick up the excess where it needs to as it runs out of stain on the brush.

3. Let your basket dry for several days. It may still feel a little tacky but rub a clean rag over it to make sure nothing comes off. If not, it is ready for display!

Project + Decor:: Jewelry Display for less than $10

On display

I have some really adorable jewelry boxes I've gotten as gifts over the years (thanks sis for my latest hand carved one - it's my fave) but my jewelry collection has outgrown it's storage so I needed a new solution. I've seen the idea to display your jewelry in frames so I decided to tackle this simple project.

I found these frames on my latest Treasure Hunt for less than $1.50 for all three. With some left over spray paint from our bed frame and fabric from building our awesome West Elm style headboard I only needed to get a few simple supplies. For less than $10 I turned these old frames into a beautiful display with easy access to my favorite pieces I wear all the time.

Before

After

Supplies::
various wooden frames
white spray paint
scrap fabric - (you can use old clothes, linens, patterned contact paper, or scrapbook paper instead of buying new fabric)
cardboard, if your frames don't have backing in them - (you can pick up free boxes at beverage or grocery stores)
masking tape
staple gun (optional, see note on step 3)
brass cup hooks - (1 package of five 1/2 inch and 1 package of five 1/4 inch)
brass eye hooks - (1 package of seven)
string
ribbon
photo hangers or nails

How I made them:
1. Remove any backing from your frames, two of mine had cardboard and old fabric backings already, and spray paint white or color of choice.
2. Measure and cut cardboard for new backing. Cover with fabric and attach to back with masking tape.
3. Insert fabric covered cardboard as the new backing in the frames once the paint is dry. Secure in place.
Note: I had to replace the staple fasteners for the backing on one of my frames. I did this by holding a narrow flathead screwdriver where I wanted to place a new staple while I punched in a new staple with a staple gun. This kept the staple from being flush against the frame. Use the screwdriver to pry the staple out far enough so it can bend down and secure your cardboard.
4. Attach your cup hooks to the frames you want to hang necklaces and bracelets on.
I used the 1/2 inch cup hooks for necklaces on the short edge of my largest frame. By attaching them to the outside of the frame it gave them an extra inch to hang. I used the 1/4 inch cup hooks on the long inside edge of a smaller frame so that the bracelets would lay flat against the backing.
5. Attach eye hooks on the short inside edges on either side of the frames you want to hang earrings on.  Tie string or ribbon between them to make rows.  Position them so your longest pair of earrings will still be inside the frame and not dangling over the edge when you hang them. I used string on one frame and gold ribbon on the other.
6. Hang your frames using photo hangers or nails.
7. Hang your jewelry for a beautiful display!

Project + Decor:: Spray Paint Transformations, Picture Frame

Before

After

On dislplay

A simple spray paint transformation for this pressed flower frame easily turned it to a beautiful decor piece. It looks great on our recently updated bookshelf with the hand carved stash box I found at the thrift store on my Treasure Hunt this past weekend. For less than $8 and a little left over spray paint from another project, these two versatile decor items will be treasured for quite some time in our home.

Music Monday:: Unknown Mortal Orchestra

A new indie band to hit the scene this year with the perfect summer vibe and a great sense of humor. When the first cheeky line of this song caught my attention - "How can you love me, if you don't like me?" - I had to look up the rest of the lyrics. I quickly found almost all of them were different and almost all of them were wrong...and the band was behind the joke. Their self-titled debut album was released this June on Fat Possum Records. Enjoy!

Treasure Hunt:: Thrift Store Visions

Part of the excitement about thrift store shopping is finding an amazing piece in great condition. Like this yellow plate with a feathered, painted brown edge. It's going to make a great pop of color for a house plant base. And since I found a great little book on growing house plants, I plan to hunt for some more fun plates once I gain my long-awaited green thumb. So far, I've really struggled with this hobby.

Finding great pieces or total steals like my books is fun in it's own right, but real successful thrift store hunts take vision. Being able to imagine the beauties you can turn someone else's recycled wears into is part of the thrill. To everyone else, they pass these items by as trash but being able to see potential can get you some real steals. 

For example, the three frames were each under 50 cents and are going to make a beautiful jewelry display by my wardrobe station in our bedroom. This $2 basket is going to get a makeover as well and be used as a key catcher by our front door. The framed pressed flowers looks shabby with the brown frame they are currently in. But I don't even have to get a new frame. For less than $4 and a little spray paint transformation, this will make a nice orange and white accent that will fit great with the orange accents in our bedroom, or the bookshelf we just put in the office.

All of these items will be featured under our DIY posts this coming week so check back for the beautiful transformations from this Treasure Hunt.

What types of items have you transformed from your local thrift store or flea markets? 

Going Green:: No Impact Man

Wow! So we may be a little slow on the uptake in that we just saw this amazing documentary, No Impact Man, but better a little late than never. If you haven't seen it I highly recommend it. This one man (and his amazing wife and adorable daughter) take on the impossible task of transforming their consumptive Manhattan lives into a challenging no net impact alternate universe - something many of us can't even imagine - and he deeply inspired us that the "green" impacts we are currently making just aren't enough. Are yours?

Our small deeds...carrying our reusable bags, abandoning bottled water for reusable aluminum, recycling jars and other throw away packaging as useful household storage (toilet paper rolls make a rather crafty storage system - diy post coming soon!), getting on the no credit card mail list (mainly because they are just annoying and we live a credit card free, debt free life), reusing plastic bags for doggie cleanup, burning the paper grocery flyers in our backyard fire pit for kindling instead of throwing them away, shopping used at thrift stores, building some of our own furniture, barely ever eating fast food...etc. etc. Point is, we make an effort where we can but we are still learning. No Impact Man's experience taught us so much. And more importantly, he proves that if you just make the commitment to one thing at a time, you can make a vast difference.

While overall the changes No Impact Man makes are dramatic he does them in stages and not everyone will get to a zero net impact stage, but everyone can start at the beginning, one day at a time...I mean, who wouldn't want less junk mail? Who really needs to throw away all those Starbucks cups? (No one needs Starbucks at all...but that's just my crazy opinion because I don't like their coffee. Yeah, I said it!) Bottled water isn't even regulated by the FDA although somehow that doesn't bother any of you out there - you know who you are. Ok, enough controversy. If you like your Starbucks, I'm a coffee junkie so I still sympathize. The point of this post is to influence you to watch the documentary, do more than your doing to help our planet tomorrow than you are today, and to enlighten you to this wonderful source of inspiration sure to influence many more Going Green posts here at ahomebeautiful. So stay tuned and enjoy!

What are your unique ideas around the home for saving on waste? Share your repurposed and diy ideas (and blog links) in the comments for our readers. Thanks!

Around Town:: Yosemite

Yosemite isn't exactly around town...so maybe these posts will have to evolve into Around Town and Other Travels...I'd love that! But, Yosemite is completely relevant to living in Southern California to me and for now the Around Town posts because when I first moved here a friend (and Cali native) insisted that I was not a true Californian until I went to Yosemite. About five years or so ago now, I had accomplished what I thought qualified me as a resident...I had applied for my California drivers license, the new license plates were on my car, I officially changed my address...BUT my friend still insisted - and I trusted his opinion as an older and wiser local native - that all was not official until I witnessed the greatness that is Yosemite.

For my birthday this summer, my husband planned us an amazing trip to the famed Yosemite, visited by nearly 20 million people each year, and we became official Californian's. I had no idea there would be so many people there and it quickly erased all fear of seeing any bears! And then later, all fear aside, I was sad that we didn't see any bears...from the car window of course. We drove all over and saw lots of great sites from Yosemite Falls and Half Dome to the breathtaking Tuolumne Meadows and the gigantic Sequoia Groves. It was fantastic. If you can ever go, you must. It may have taken us both a while to get there but we now understand why we can truly call ourselves Californians. It was well worth the discovery.