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Spruce up your bathroom without spending a fortune-DIY ideas!

Today I thought I'd post some cute ideas for adding a little charm to your bathroom without spending a pretty penny. I love these!

I think I'm going to make myself a mason jar shelf for cotton balls, Q-tips, etc like the upper right photo.....& when I do I'll show exactly how its done.  All you need is a piece of wood, some mason jars (they sell them at menards or you can order them online-or craiglist for some funky blue ones!) & radiator clamps (home depot.)

Photos from HGTV.com & Pinterest

Satin Nickel Refinished Vanity How To

My dad recently moved out of his home to downside to a condo downtown. He offered me a few pieces of (outdated) furniture, so of course I took them. However, wasn't thrilled with the 90's oak look of this piece. I decided to do a metallic classy & girly new look for it.

Here's how I did it:

I started by sanding the piece down with a medium grit sandpaper. Just a light sanding to get the primer to stick, nothing too major. After that of course washing it down with just water & a cloth or a light soapy water is perfect. Once it is dry you're ready to prime.

Here is what I used:

I used this oil based zinsser because it was what I had laying around. I used a small roller for the bigger sections and a brush for the more detailed parts. You could use a water based too- just remember the rule- Water over oil= fine, oil over water=no good!  You can see the product details of the primer HERE

I taped off the drawers behind the face because I'm not doing the insides.

Here is a photo of the vanity after I primed it. Notice that I taped off the mirrored sections before I primed because I am messy & I was going to have to do it anyway before spray painting.

Now, I let this sit for a couple days to make sure the primer fully cured before spray painting. Also the weather wasn't great and you want to make sure it is warm enough before spray painting (or really any painting- READ THE LABELS ON THE PAINT - generally it should be about 40 -50 degrees and dry outside if you are working outdoors.)

Ready to spray paint! I've read all kinds of tips on spray paint, but can never seem to get it perfect without seeing some shiny sections & some not so shiny (looks splotchy.) The biggest thing I can tell you is not to try to get full coverage the first round. Take even stroked back & forth and let it dry in between coats. The color I used was satin nickel in Rustoleum spray paint- details here. I bought it at home depot. I also used a clear coat gloss to help with the splotchiness- Rustoleum clear gloss in a can- see here, also from home depot. I could have used a poly or something of the sort but I like this stuff because it doesn't leave a yellow tint.

Last, I needed new knobs/handles. I found some cute plastic clear knobs for the top drawers in teh cabinet hardware section of home depot for the top drawers, and I decided to keep the other handles but just spray them white. They were cute & ornate but I was just not a fan of the bronze with the spray paint color I chose.

 And after waiting for everything to fully dry & attaching the new handles, it looks great! **Note- I did get a little excess spray paint on the mirrors, but all you need is a razor blade and it is not an issue to scrape off.

Here it is! My own little primping station. Would also be so cute for a little girl's room.

NOTE*** Ok I totally dropped the ball on taking a before pic of the stool and showing how I re-upholstered it. Next time, I promise! But basically - JoAnn Fabrics & an upholstery gun my boyfriend bought me off Amazon. Nothing too complex.

Roses & an Upholstery Stapler

Gotta love a boyfriend that understands my passions. This morning my boyfriend surprised me with roses & an upholstery stapler (ok, and McDonald's breakfast-he knows the way to my heart.) So far I LOVE this little tool, granted you need to have an air compressor to run it, but if you are serious about reupholstering furniture, this is a must.  SO much easier than a hand stapler.

Repurposed 100 year old wood made into wall art!

After recently renovating our house, we had some left over floor boards & lath (a thin, narrow strip of straight-grained wood used in old plaster walls.) They were just too cool to throw away, but admittedly they sat in the basement for quite awhile before I found a purpose for them. Anyway, I was feeling crafty yesterday so I started arranging them on a piece of plywood I had laying around to see what I could come up with.

Materials:
-small pieces of flooring, lath, or other types of wood
-construction adhesive & caulk gun (home depot or menards)
-plywood (cut to size of finished artwork)
-trim for the piece (I used a type of exterior house trim but you could really just use any kind of wood & paint it white or your desired color)
-saw of some type to cut down the wood (if you want-or you could just arrange & overlap to make it fit)

DIY Industrial Style Coffee Table

I saw a similar coffee table like this for sale somewhere online, I think maybe it was Etsy.  Anyway, they were asking like 900$ for it.  I showed it to my boyfriend and he reluctantly agreed that it wouldn't be that hard to make ourselves.

We got all of the supplies at Home Depot, and since I didn't really have a plan going into it we ended up in the gas piping aisle pretty much building the coffee table right there!  Honestly none of the workers cared, they were more interested and curious than anything.  By doing it this way, I could adjust the pieces to see exactly what height, width, etc I wanted it to be.  They didn't even make us take it apart when we paid for it......not only that but I'm pretty sure the cashier lady missed about half of the pieces when ringing it up, ha!

For the table top, I wanted to re-purpose some old wood....but didn't have any handy.  I ended up just using pine & buying some stain.  I roughed it up a bit too so it didn't look quite so "new." I lacquered the crap out of the top once the stain dried too (follow instructions on your jar of lacquer, you have to wait a few hours between coats- I probably put 4 or 5.)

I used two pieces of wood going perpendicular to the top pieces to put the carriage bolts into (carriage bolts also purchased at Home Depot.)

If you wanted, you could use a glass top or even a chunk of granite or marble for the top.  I absolutely love this top though because I don't worry about water stains or scratches because it just adds to the charm :)

Unique/Vintage Looking DIY wall decor

This is one of my fav projects so far, but admittedly not the easiest.  That said, it took me only two nights after work to complete.

I found these cute little different shaped jars at Michael's for 99 cents each.

I had a couple old frames from goodwill, and bought a couple more on sale at Michael's for like 3 bucks a piece.  I picked a few paint colors and painted the frames.  I did them sort of pastel, but you could do them brighter if you wanted.  Once they dried I sanded them a bit to add a rustic feel.

For the big mesh frame, I wanted to use an old screen door or something, but since I didn't have one I had to improvise.  I bought cheap wood from Home Depot and cut pieces for the frame (4 of each, because I sandwiched the chicken wire between two frames.)  I just used screws to make my frames.  To add the chicken wire (also purchased from Home Depot in a roll) I just used a staple gun, and wire clippers to cut off the extra.

I dry-brushed some white & grey paint to make it look a bit weathered.  I love how this turned out, and after I had all of the supplies it really wasn't that difficult!  I'm hanging this above our bead, but you could make any shape or size to fit a spot in your house.  So fun!