A Little Lamp Revamp

Hey friends!

Thanks for being patient with us as we revamped things a bit over here!

In my effort to 'love doing laundry' I decided that my newly painted laundry room needed a little lamp!  I rescued this little lamp over a year ago from someone's goodwill box and it has been waiting for a good coat of paint ever since.

I started by taking off the shade and covering the cord and top with tape.

Then, I gave her 2 coats of spray paint... That conveniently matched my new gray cabinets... Whoop!

My color of choice...

While it was drying I started destructing my shade.

We get lots of questions about recovering lamp shades.  I have found that each shade is so different that it is almost impossible to tell you the right way to do it.  I actually started this project with one idea in mind but as I destructed the shade that plan changed.

I pulled my trim off first.

Now my liner was glued over the shade cover so I pulled it off next.  If you plan to make a new liner save  this so you have your pattern.  I did another detailed shade cover HERE.

After both layers of fabric were removed I was left with this.  I was halfway tempted to use it just like this because I love the look of that metal! Not the brass though...

This is where my plan changed and I pulled out the jute!

I bought the 4 ply jute at Hobby Lobby for $2.99 and this shade took about 1/3 roll.... That's $1 if you missed the math :-)

Pulled out old trusty and got to gluing.  I only added a drop of glue to the metal every 5-6 wraps and it held perfect.  I also kept the top and bottom metal exposed to shanty it up a bit but if yours isn't cute you can cover it too.

I did cover that ugly brass clip with one more small piece of jute across the top.  Beginning to end this took me about 5 minutes.  My paint wasn't even dry when I got done.

Here it is all put back together.

 And in her new home....

Does it make me run in there grinning about laundry?? We're getting there ;-)

I think it shows great with my sign though....

Want your own laundry sign??

Make sure to check out our Say It On The Wall giveaway HERE!  You have until Saturday to enter!

Owl Art and a Giveaway!!!

So, I was recently asked to try out this product.

I use blue tape on just about everything so I agreed to give it a try.

This is ScotchBlue's New Painter's Tape Edge-Lock.
I have always had trouble with paint leaking through my blue tape in the past but this tape has the new Edge-Lock Line Protector.

Sounds good... But does it really work?

I have had a project idea in my head for sometime now and knew this would be the perfect project to try my new tape on.

I started by cutting a 1x12x4 piece of white pine into 3 even squares.  If you don't have a saw, you can have Lowe's or Home Depot cut it for you!

After cutting my wood I used a dark mahogany stain with a foam brush to stain each of my pieces.  I let the stain soak for about 15 minutes and then wiped off the excess.

Here they are dry...

Now is where the new ScotchBlue Edge-Lock came into the picture.

I decided the best test for this mighty blue tape was some spray paint!

I lined the edges of my boards with my blue tape.  I lined the tape up with the sides to keep my lines straight.  I then took a second line of tape to cover my edges.

A bit closer...

Now the fun part!

I sprayed each board with my red spray paint.

After letting the spray paint dry I started removing my tape.

The results...

It passed my test for sure!!  Those look pretty straight to me!!!

Woohoo!! How great is that??  I did all three boards without any leaking at all.

I love this tape!

Want to see the rest of it?

Do you like them?  I made them for my little lady's nursery!  I'll show you guys how to make the owls in another post.

You will love this stuff!

For me, there was a very clear difference between ScotchBlue Edge-Lock and the other guys.

If you are looking for painter's tape that TRULY gives you a perfect edge... This is the tape for you!

Want to try some yourself?!?

ScotchBlue will be giving 8 of our readers their own roll of ScotchBlue Edge-Lock to try out!

How do you win?

You can have 3 entries...

1. Leave me a comment here!

2. Follow ScotchBlue on Facebook and leave me a comment letting me know!

3. Follow ScotchBlue on Twitter and leave another comment!

Pretty simple!

Now... Let's hear those comments!

New Year... New Table!!

This happens to me... Every year.

I move a few things around to make room for my Christmas tree and I end up really liking the new setup.  The only problem with this is that it leaves a hole.  Now I needed a table. Typically I know someone looking to get rid of one I can revamp but this year that wasn't the case.  After looking at the hole for more than 24 hours I decided it was time to go visit Miss Ana White.

You may remember her site from Ashley's entertainment center.  I remember stumbling upon Ana's blog when she had about 100 followers.  I immediately thought... This gal is going to be big.  I was right... She's huge!  She offers free plans to create your own furniture that is very similar to what you can find at PB and other stores.  I have never built from her site before but I was ready to give it a go.

I found her plan for a simple bookcase and knew it would be perfect with baskets for the space I am trying to fill.  I will tell you how I made mine... I basically copied her plan exactly.

I bought my wood.  I changed that up a bit because I can't fit 12 footers in my car.  Here is what I bought...

4 ~ 1x12x4

4 ~ 1x2x8

1~ 24"x36" bead board wainscoting

That's it.

I cut my pieces to the sizes she specified on the plans.

I started by making the box.  I drew a line the width of a 1x2 to mark where I would attach my bottom shelf.

I used Gorilla Wood Glue to assemble this and it worked perfectly.

Just add a line to your side piece and attach your bottom shelf first.

This was my first experience with my new brad nailer.  I purchased mine super cheap at Northern Tool.  I LOVE it.  It makes me want to put a nail in everything... for real.

I nailed the first shelf in place and then attached the other side using the same method.

I added a line of Gorilla Wood Glue to each side of my middle shelf and positioned it inside my box.  I used my brad nailer to attach the sides to the shelf.

Now I was ready for my leg pieces.  I cut the pieces according to Ana's plan and used a line of glue and my brad nailer to attach the each piece.

Here is the base of the leg.

Ready for my trim pieces...

I measured the space between the legs and used glue and my nail gun to attach the trim.

After adding all 4 trim pieces I attached my top.  I cut my 1x12 according to Ana's plan and used the glue and nail gun again to attach it.

Top attached...

Ana's plans call for plywood I think but I opted for the bead board wainscoting because I like the look so much better.  It dresses it up a bit. I cut it and attached it with glue and the nail gun.

This is where I was supposed to be finished.  I thought it was perfect but missing just a little something.  I had some leftover trim from a previous project in my scrap pile.  I thought it would look perfect on my new little table.  I cut with my saw and attached it with glue and the nail gun.

So cute... Right??  My last step was to caulk all my nail holes.  I let the caulk dry and then sanded the whole thing before I painted it.

Want to see it all finished?? Me too... But I only managed to get one coat on today so I will share that with you tomorrow!  I think you will love it.

Some advice now that I have built one of Ana's plans...

~ I will never build without my brad nailer again.  I seriously finished this baby in less than a couple hours and that is why.  It's an inexpensive "must" for those of you looking to build.  I LOVE it.

~ Your cuts must be perfect for everything to look good.  If you have Lowe's or Home Depot cut your pieces make sure to measure them before leaving the store!

~ Caulk covers up lots of mistakes (whoop!)

~It really is soooo easy and fun!  I think using the tools makes it so much easier so borrow your hubby's if you need to!

Hope that helps!!  I will be back tomorrow with it all finished up.  I can't wait to show you guys.

Have a great New Year's Eve!! I will be spending mine at home watching something on HGTV or Lifetime... Please don't be jealous :-)

~Whitney