Hi, I’m Vanessa April 4, 2011

 

and I’m afraid of color.

Neutrals look good on me, dangit.

However, I’m craving color lately. Due the ol’ limited budget, I’m planning to feed this need by buying various cans of fun spraypaint at Ye Olde Home Depot.

I won’t bore you by showing you all the little things I keep finding to make teal (it’s a long list), but I just ran out of this color, finally:

And I’m in the process of trying to redo the guest room in black/white and teal for approximately no dollars (except the cost of bedding–which, YIKES). I have this idea that I’m going to make a headboard out of an old iron gate, or an old window or shutters, or something like that–but no luck just yet. However, I did just try to make some cheapo artwork, and I’m not sure I even like them enough to leave them on the wall. It sounded cute in my head, but I think I’m going to scrap them and start over with something else.

I started with this:

I tore up some brown paper bags for the background, sealed that with Mod Podge, and cut out the flowers. I ended up with this: 

 

Maybe if I had different, chunkier frames? Anyway, still working on that.

DIY Blue-tinted Mason Jars March 6, 2011

It is amazing what I can find to do when I’m avoiding doing all the work I brought home from school!

So, after my victory lap over the yogurt actually turning out, I wandered around  the house doing regular weekend housework things, and then I remembered that I’ve been wanting to make a soap dispenser out of one of those cool aqua Ball/Mason jars. I see these jars at the flea market all the time, and they can be pretty spendy for what they are. I mean, it’s an old jar, right?

Obviously, there’s not much to punching a hole in the lid for a soap pump, but I really wanted it to be blue and I wanted to make it RIGHT THEN. I did not, however, want to buy one or (actually) even leave my house to go look for a blue one. It’s hard to get me out of my pajamas on a Saturday night, apparently. I’m 80. Whatever.

Google and many people more crafty than I am told me that I could make my clear jars into aqua jars. Perfect! I gathered up my jars, my Mod Podge, and my random crafting supplies and got to experimenting.

Before I even got started, I was in trouble: no food coloring. Really? Okay. So I pondered for a moment and decided to do what our foremothers did when Publix was out of food coloring during the days of yore:

I used this.

Yes, I really did.

I haven’t made Koolaid in years, so there’s no telling how many moves ago I actually bought that, but I’m glad I did! Other than that one gross misstep in judgment, I pretty much followed the linked instructions. You water down the Mod Podge just a little, add the coloring, and swirl it around the inside of your jar to coat it. Then you bake the jars at 100-150 degrees for about 20 minutes. Just like with the yogurt, I put them in thinking that there was no way they were going to come out looking like the pictures, but there they were! Magic.

I read that you couldn’t get these jars wet (so soap dispenser, real flowers, etc.) would be out, so I also tried brushing the color onto the outside of one (don’t bother, it looked awful) and putting soap inside one made this way (the soap discolored it almost immediately). However, I sprayed the inside of one with clear acrylic sealer, and that seems to be doing the trick so far. For zero dollars, I’ll keep working on it! I’ll update you if it doesn’t work long-term.

Now, I just need to find some smaller jars to do this with. These were the larger ones–just what I had on hand.

ETA: Nope Guess what? It worked great for about 48 hours, then the soap/liquid made the blue tinting peel right off the jar. Oops! On the bright side, it peeled right off, so I can just brainstorm another method and try again. I’m currently living with the clear version on my bathroom counter. Life is short.

Done June 9, 2010

Just so I can feel like I actually got something done…

I love lists. I make them for everything and never make a decision without at least a mental pro/con list. I am that person who writes things on the list that I’ve already done just so I can cross them off. Yes, I DO have some issues. You don’t know the half of it.

Anyway, I made a list of what needs to be done on the main/upper floors and it has, I kid you not, about 27 things on it. I’m very close to being able to post before/after photos of those floors and please note that I am so very thankful that we have this place to rent, but there are just lots of small cosmetic things that need to be done and it wears on me over time when projects drag on.  The bottom floor just got gutted and I can’t even think about that just yet. Out of sight, out of mind. That NEVER works for me on anything, but I’m going to keep chanting it all the same. On the flip side, I am learning how to fix just about everything and hardly ever electrocute myself by flipping the wrong breaker.

Yesterday, I found myself thisclose to tears of frustration over a freakin’ lightswitch.  If you know me, you know you pretty much have to draw blood to get me to cry. I just don’t do it. The dumb switch worked fine until I put the new white (not almond–yay!) switch in, and it just WON’T WORK. No big deal, right? Problem-solve, Vanessa. No, I about lost it.

So, here’s a nonessential finished project.

Meet my free dresser I found on the side of the road. While you’re at it, kindly silence the voice that is now screaming inside my head that I am, in fact, turning into my mother. That is SO something she would do.

I know. It’s hideous, but I saw some potential and desperately needed some more storage. I figured if I hated it, I could trash it. See all those paint colors taped up there? Yeah, I didn’t use any of those.

Not bad for pressboard, right? I primed it and painted it a light gray (sorry for the crappy photos–I didn’t want to wait for this VERY LOUD storm to pass and give some light), spraypainted the existing hardware with Oil Rubbed Bronze paint (my new best friend), and added some new knobs where some were missing. You really can’t see that awful rose design much in real life. I may try to sand it down a little. This guy really, really needs some crisp white accessories (I think I just decided to paint that mirror white) to make it work, but I’m liking it for the moment.