A Modern Twist on the Old

I have always had a love for furniture. I could spend hours at the furniture store checking out every last piece. My favorite by far though is reviving old furniture into a newer more updated look. With some spray paint or stain and the right upholstery fabric you can revive any piece of furniture. I bought this cherry settee sanded it lightly and spray painted it gold. Went to my favorite craft store…. Hobby Lobby, and found some fun pink and gold zebra print upholstery fabric, padding and upholstery tacks to finish off the look.

When upholstering, start stapling from the center edge of your fabric in both directions and work your way out, pulling the fabric taut as you go. You can use regular polyester or cotton fabrics for a simple chair seat cushion but for a larger more used piece of furniture I recommend using a true upholstery fabric for lasting durability.

So if you have an old piece of furniture you are contemplating putting out to pasture try reviving it!

If you have a home improvement question you want answered, feel free to contact me.

  

Cherry settee condition when I bought it.

After I spray painted it with Rustoleum gold paint.

During the reupholstering process. 

Voila!  Finished product for my daughter Ava's room.

 I don 't know which I love more, the instant gratification of spray (chalk) painting furniture or reupholstering furniture and seeing the awesome, clean finished product. Either way I am blessed to get to do both!

Laus Deo,

Paula Schnoor-Comes

Paschnoor@yahoo.com

Washi think of my stand?

I am on a continual search for interesting ways to organize my office and craft items. Recently I needed a way to display and store my Washi Tape and ribbon. After a quick scan at the Hardware store I decided the best and least expensive way was to use galvanized pipe. It is easy to assemble, has a great industrial look, and it takes spray paint like a dream.

Items Needed to make a Washi Tape stand:

3 -Pieces of 6" long by 1/2" diameter threaded pipe

1 - Floor flange that fits a 1/2" diameter

2 - End caps 1/2" each

1- T with all three ends to fit 1/2" diameter

1 - Can of spray paint- Rustoleum is my favorite

You will find all of these parts in the plumbing department. There are several bins of parts which can make finding the correct part overwhelming. A helpful hint is to stay with the same color coded packages when shopping. For instance all the 1/2" diameter parts have a magenta color block on the packaging. All the 1" diameter parts have a green color block on the packaging and so on.

Assemble your Washi Tape holder like shown in the picture below. Tighten everything (except the two end caps) by hand as tight as possible. You don't need to tighten with a wrench unless you want to.  I like to keep the end caps loose on the structure prior to painting so that I can spray paint the threads a bit. Give it two coats of paint and let dry overnight. Your Washi Tape stand is then ready to use.

If you have crafting questions feel free to e-mail me at Paschnoor@yahoo.com.

Laus Deo,

Paula Schnoor-Comes

Valentines Hand Print Tin

I try to recycle and find new uses for various things we end up with around the house.  For instance we have a plethora of candy tins from Valentine’s day, Christmas and Easter. I recently kept a heart shaped candy tin my husband gave me in hopes that I would find a new use for it. Three months later, I did! I used Plaster of Paris and mixed it with water in a bowl until it was a cake batter consistency and all the lumps were out. I poured it evenly into the candy tin and tapped it on the counter to bring all the air bubbles to the surface. I let it set for 5-7 minutes so some of the water would evaporate letting the plaster set-up. Then my daughter Sophi placed her hands carefully in the plaster and I pressed each finger firmly in the tin. To add a little extra pizzazz I used red food coloring while the plaster was still wet and dripped a few drops of it in random places to look like flowers. I wrote her name and date in the corner with a toothpick and let it dry over night. Voila! The perfect gift for Daddy!

Happy Crafting, 

Paula

The Weekend Make-Over!

Now don’t get too excited ladies it’s for your garage door!

Our garage doors were in serious need of a facelift. They looked faded and worn out, the only issue was they were in great condition. We looked around at several garage door companies and contemplated replacing them, but what a waste of perfectly good doors! For months we agonized whether to replace the steel doors or just live with them the way they were. I even secretly wished the kids would throw a ball or ride their scooter or bike into them and make a huge dent, so we would have the decision made for us. No such luck…. Finally, I decided to give them a make-over. I am so happy I did, I just wish we would have done it months ago!  Now, would be the time the kids will ride their scooters into the doors damaging them….

Wash down your garage doors with dish soap and water and make sure any grease and dirt are removed.  Following the manufacturer’s instructions use a Bondo product to fill in any dents in the trim or the garage doors and sand until smooth. Next paint on a good all purpose exterior primer from your local home improvement store coating the door and any trim you want painted well. Let this dry over night. The next day roll on two coats of exterior paint color or a coordinating color to your house and let that also dry over night. The final step is my favorite, adding garage door hardware. Measure and install the handles and straps. The make-over is complete, it easily took 10 years off my doors…. Now if I could only take 10 years off my face!

Before

 After

Happy Renovating!

Check out my latest craze on Etsy at https://www.etsy.com/listing/492968336/dog-window-seat-pet-bed?ref=listing-shop-header-2

Princess Coco Chanel Vonfluffenpaws sporting her custom made Christmas attire.  I know I know... what it up with that name? We thought it would be cute to have a big name for a little teeny tiny dog. Coco is 4 lbs.

Here it is laid out flat. This probably took me a total of two hours to make.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/479974470/adorable-dog-pet-harness-pleated-dress?ref=shop_home_active_4

Loving all things puppy!

I recently made this window seat bed for my fur baby Coco. She's too small to be able to loom out the window. ;)

https://www.etsy.com/listing/492968336/dog-window-seat-pet-bed?ref=pr_shop

Easter Apothecary

                                                                Eggcelent Nest

I must admit that lately I have had a bit of an obsession with apothecary jars. I love to display them and have enjoyed changing the items in them seasonally. At Christmas I had candy canes, mini presents and mini Christmas tree bulbs in my three jars. At Halloween glittery skulls, skeleton bones and ghoulish eyeballs.  Now that spring is around the corner I have turned my focus back to these clear beauties for the perfect spring items to place in my jars.  After some brainstorming I decided to make a robin's nest  for one of my jars.

I used brown excelsior I had laying around the craft room for the nest inside the jar.  I painted three  wooden eggs in an acrylic Robin's egg blue paint color. Depending on the thickness of your paint you may need two coats. Be sure to paint the entire egg with even strokes and let dry. I then used a nickel size of  brown acrylic paint in my paint tray mixed with just a drop or two of water mixed together to make my brown paint a bit runny. Next I took my small craft paint brush and dipped it in the brown paint and used my thumb to flick the bristles of the brush to splatter paint onto the eggs over my kitchen sink to get the speckled effect.  I let them dry then placed them inside my nest inside the jar.

Outside of the fact that the Robin's that would have laid these eggs would be a freakishly large species due to the size of my wooden eggs... the nest and eggs look very convincing and springy. Now, what to do with my other two jars?

Laus Deo,

Paula Schnoor-Comes

 Unpainted wooden eggs from Hobby Lobby.

 A mixture of blue acrylic paint to get the right shade of blue.

 Eggs all snug in their nest. :)

Voila! The finished product. I just love Easter!