The little girls have at least a dozen jewelry boxes.  They’re all small and mostly covered in Disney Princesses or ballerinas.

At some point, I picked up 2 bigger jewelry boxes at GoodWill, figuring that I could update them for the girls when they grew out of princesses.  oooooo – that’s kinda sad.  I know they will eventually not want to use a princess jewelry box, but I seriously did not have to just write that.  ouch.

The boxes sat on a shelf with a bunch of other projects that are waiting to be tackled.

I have stared at that shelf of projects every time I start a Search.  You know the Search – you’re trying to style a table, mantel, shelf, etc., and you wander from room to room looking for something, ANYthing new or different to add interest or height to the arrangement…

How is it that I’ve stared at that shelf for nearly a year before I realized how perfectly the boxes would serve that purpose??

Maybe because one of them looked like this…

Yikes!  Blue Naugahyde.

I had always planned to cover it with fabric, but now I wanted both boxes to have a similar look.  Chalk paint sticks to anything, right???   I found out that it definitely sticks to Naugahyde!

Both boxes got 2 coats of ASCP Old White, a little Minwax Dark Walnut stain, and lots of sanding.

The wooden box is on my winter mantel.

The blue box was the perfect size to hold a dish full of pretty flowers.

I don’t even want to think about how many other jewelry boxes at GoodWill that I’ve walked past.  They will be coming home with me from now on!

Much love –

Brenda

My mom is always getting rid of stuff.  Usually a very good thing for me – I love being the recipient of stuff!

The other day she gave me a big roll of jute upholstery webbing.  yay!

With it were instructions from an old BH&G magazine to make a simple wreath using the webbing.  I went right to work on that…

Soooooo easy!  I cut about 3-4 yards of webbing and wrapped it around a styrofoam wreath.

  (This footstool won the DIY club’s June contest, and I received so many awesome prizes from their sponsors!  A huge box of styrofoam wreaths, cones, balls, and blocks from Dow styrofoam crafts were just one of the prizes.  I was so excited to have one on hand – and for free!  I encourage everyone to enter that contest – it was great!)

Anyway – just wrap the webbing around the wreath.  I tried to pull it tight as I went, but I didn’t glue or pin anything until I was done wrapping.  Then I used a few of these floral pins to tack the ends in place.  (You really don’t need to tack it along the way, the webbing is pretty wide and stays in place.)

I trimmed the extra webbing to the length I wanted to use to hang it.  I didn’t fold it over into a loop because the webbing is really stiff, and it looked to bulky doubled over.

Then I made a bow to glue onto the wreath.  This was the hardest part!  The webbing just doesn’t want to be twisted and pulled.  It turned out ok.

Glue the bow at the top of the wreath, and hang!

New wreath, old door.  Perfection!  

Total cost – None!

The webbing is less than $1/yard at JoAnn’s, and most wreath forms this size are less than $5.  You can definitely make this wreath for less than $10 in about 10 minutes!  Give it a try!

Brenda

We have 2 dogs – our cute puggle Zoey (who frequently photobombs blog pics) and our big beast (very sweet beast) doberman Belle.  Both of these dogs have absolutely no manners when it comes to food that’s within their reach.  It drives me craaaazy!  I’ve been watching the Dog Whisperer lately and I’m determined to use some of his methods on my two little piggies.

What does that have to do with a wreath??

The little girls asked to string popcorn and cranberries for the tree.  I love the look, but I learned my lesson the hard way that popcorn garland is not a good idea when you share a house with 2 vulture-like doggies.

That’s how the idea of a popcorn wreath was born.  Here’s our version (as I’m sure there are others out there!)…

We popped the corn in a brown paper (lunch) bag in the microwave.  Add 1/4 cup of popcorn to the bag, fold the top over twice, and cook it for 2 minutes.  No oil necessary.

We covered a 10-inch wreath, and it took about 3/4 cup uncooked popcorn total.

Before you start covering the wreath with popcorn, attach a hanger to the back of the wreath.  The popcorn is fragile, and you don’t want to have to turn it over to attach a hanger when it’s done.  Mine isn’t fancy – I just doubled some wire, put hot glue on the ends, and poked it into the styrofoam.

I actually made one of these wreaths when we were at my mom’s on Thanksgiving.  For that one, I used a hot glue gun to attach all of the popcorn.  It worked well, but it wasn’t very kid-friendly.  If you don’t have any little helpers for this, the glue gun is probably your best option.  Just make sure to use it on low heat – if the glue is too hot it will melt the styrofoam.

I forgot to bring the wreath home with me, so my mom got a new wreath for her door.  Yay, mom! 

Since the little girls were helping me with this one, we used Tacky glue.

Dip each piece of popcorn in glue, and stick it to the wreath.  So simple!

Looks like two little girls ran from the hair brush this morning – wow!  Chloe  is sporting a black eye after a run-in with a reindeer yesterday.  She was helping set up the reindeer in the yard and the ‘daddy’ as she calls him, tipped over and bumped her eye.  Guess I’ll hold off on taking the Christmas card pictures for a week!

We added a bunch of layers – I wanted the top to be rounded, so we added more around the center of the wreath.

When you get to entire wreath covered, glue the cranberries randomly.  (I used the glue gun for this – I didn’t think craft glue would hold the berries.)  Keep adding popcorn so the wreath is more rounded, and the cranberries look like they’re nestled into the popcorn instead of just stuck on top of it.

Continue adding popcorn and cranberries until you’re happy with the shape.

Add a bow, and hang!

Hopefully Belle won’t try to jump up and grab it!  I’mhoping that she prefers her popcorn with butter. 

Much love –

Brenda

Hey there!

I used the title ‘Painted White Wood Floors’ for this post because I seriously used that exact phrase exactly 5007 times when I was searching for pictures and information before I attempted this project.  And because it sums up the project perfectly and simply!

When Kevin sanded and refinished our floors about 8? years ago, he did the living room, dining room, kitchen, and entry.  Big job.  Probably because it was such a big job, and because we were limited in time, and who knows why else, he left the small hallway and 2 bedrooms for another time.  As you all are probably familiar with, another time never came.  The floors that weren’t refinished were now really shabby.

A few months ago, when I made-over the office (one of the two aforementioned bedrooms), I painted the floors with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  I painted stripes using gray and Old White.  What I didn’t do was prime first.  I knew the ASCP would adhere to the floor, but I didn’t consider that the old wood stain would bleed through.  It did, and it made the Old White look old dirty.  I convinced myself that it wasn’t that bad and that it added to the worn and rustic look that I love.  (It didn’t take much convincing – I just really didn’t want to start over!!)

(This is a terrible picture – nice cords under the cabinet!  I didn’t have one of the finished striped floors before I moved the furniture back.  Go figure.)

Despite the dirty white, I loved the look of the finished floors – before the furniture was moved in.  It’s a small room, with one very bold and busy wallpapered wall, and the stripes just made everything feel frantic and crazy to me.  I distressed the edges of the stripes, thinking that it was the stark lines that were bothering me, but I still wasn’t happy.

I’m not sure where I first ran across a pic of ‘white painted wood floors’, (probably on Houzz – I’m addicted!) but once I saw them I couldn’t get the look out of my head!!!!  After stalking the internet for more pictures for a few months, I decided to go for it.  I had only one obstacle – my husband.  I’ve mentioned before that Kevin hates when I re-do something that I’ve already (just) done, so I sneakily waited until he had to travel for work, and then busted butt to have it all done before he got back.  Terrible, I know.  But very motivating!

Here are my partners-in-crime…

BIN shellac base primer: (I learned my lesson!  I used 2 coats.)

Sherwin Williams Porch and Floor Enamel: (It only comes in a satin finish?  Or maybe my store only had it in a satin finish?  Which feels weird to walk on, but I knew I would be using a poly over it, so no problem.  Also 2 coats.)

General Finishes High Performance Water Base Topcoat: (I think I used 3 coats.  It goes on very easily and dry time is only a few hours, so it doesn’t prolong project time too much.  If you’re painting your floor white, you have to use a poly on top.)

Finished floor… (the view from my bedroom – I love this!)

We still need to add a threshold between the kitchen floor and the painted floor.  I think it’ll make the transition look a little less abrupt.

I used a roller with an extender (no hands and knees painting!) for all 3 products.  It went so fast – I honestly couldn’t believe it!  I knew immediately that I made the right choice.  The white is so much more peaceful than the stripes.  And it’s bright – so it’s peaceful and cheery at the same time.  Love.

I’m having trouble choosing a rug for the space.  I want something very neutral – I’m thinking about a solid gray, but not too light.  I’ll get there…   eventually!  

Much love!

Brenda