Category: DIY

Never happens to you, right? Sure! Tell me another story.

Anyway, here’s what I’ve got going right now, in various stages of completion (or non-completion, depending on whether you’re a glass-half-full or a glass-half-empty type):

 

Tab #1: Shelf styling on multiple fronts

Remember back when I wrote about updating my living room and enumerated projects yet to complete? I even managed to complete ONE, but that was over a month ago, and you probably think I’ve been sitting on my hands since then. Not true.

BoHo Home

One of the projects involved installing shelves that wrap a dead corner in said living room, and after much haggling back and forth with the hubs about studs and bowed walls and what materials to use, I’m glad to say the shelves are finished. And you could even say they’re STYLED, since I’ve arranged four or five versions.

BoHo Home

Although “editor” is a job title I’ve held officially, I’m more practiced with words than with décor. I’m still working on styling these shelves—adding, taking away, rearranging, studying photos of shelves I like, then doing it all over again. One of these days I’ll settle on a look and do a full reveal.

I’m also making styling adjustments to bookcase shelving in my office and to a couple pieces in our master bedroom.

BoHo Home

This photo shows the most recent version I’ve shared, but we’ve been to hell and back a couple times since then. I had a lot of blue and white chinoiserie pottery in the bedroom, as well as a watercolor of a Chinese scene, that doesn’t really fit in there all that well since my spring refresh a few months back (see it HERE and HERE).

I moved it all to my office, sent the green temple jar from my office to the bedroom, pulled a few pieces out of storage for the bedroom, and bought a couple new pieces that I still may return.

Sigh!

Anyway, I liked the chinoiserie in the office just fine, I was satisfied with the arrangement across the top of the shelves, and I THOUGHT I was happy with the arrangement of the remaining shelves until I saw this photo…

…at which point I began moving everything hither and yon, yet AGAIN, to get this look.

BoHo Home

Here’s as far as I’ve gotten. I wore out somewhere around the halfway point, thanks to the effort it takes to move all those books. Notice I didn’t bother to clean up my other projects (which always seem to accumulate in my office) before photographing.

That’s sort of the point of this whole post, so try to think of it as literary transition, okay? You’ll surely figure out the reasons for the mess as we go along.

At least I made SOME progress.

BoHo Home

I like how the master bedroom armoire top is shaping up. I also like the ceramic knobs I added in place of smaller satin-nickel ones.

BoHo Home

And I like the looks of this end table (styling-wise) better than all attempts to date, but I’m still not completely happy with it.

BoHo Home

We did restore the table finish with the same products used on my dressing table. That nasty old spot on the top isn’t gone, but it is appreciably diminished.

So much for shelf-styling.

 

Tab #2: Lamp shade recovering

Was that a project I mentioned in my living-room posts? If not, I should have.

BoHo Home

I finally found and purchased the fabric for this project—it’s Pueblo Stripe in the teal colorway, from Carrie Bloomston’s Dreamer collection—as well as the twill tape for the inside edging. I still need to pick up some spray adhesive and fabric glue.

The fabric hunt was a bit annoying as I ran into an inhospitable seller on ebay who, when I inquired about the direction of the stripes, just said “I don’t know.”

“Could you check, please?” I asked politely.

No. All in the information available was IN the photo, she said. Only none of the information (basic stuff, c’mon!) was IN the single image posted. She also apparently made a mistake in listing the fabric, which she discovered when I asked my question and then raised the price! To top it all off, she blocked me from purchasing from her!! Have you ever been blocked on ebay? Me neither, until now.

Don’t buy from africaadorned09 or essie788 on ebay, K?

Before I forget, I found the Pueblo Stripe at VINESnIVYFABRICS on Etsy, and the seller was lovely to do business with. She answered all my questions about railroading and repeats and even sent additional photos. Can’t wait to get these shades done and show you. Maybe I’ll send a photo to africaadorned09 too.

 

Tab #3: Mirror wall

Did I even tell you about my hall of mirrors? My answer to brightening up a small, dark hallway.

BoHo Home

I’ve taken photos at various stages, thinking I’d go ahead and post, then didn’t. Something just didn’t feel finished, so I kept adding mirrors—mostly vintage, sourced on ebay and Etsy, mostly wood. Now that I have enough mirrors, something’s still missing for me. I decided I need to make some small but colorful boho tassels and hang them over the handles of those that are inverted. I think it will be a perfect finishing touch.

I’m also working on some additions to the opposite wall. When I brought the Chinese watercolor into my office, I moved the art that was there to this wall. But I plan to add some additional items to the arrangement, so more on that later.

 

Tab #4: Yarn wall-hanging

Tres Studio Blog

To fill the space left where the Chinese watercolor hung in our master bedroom, I want to do a simple yarn wall-hanging. Not necessarily exactly like this one, though I do plan to use a wooden dowel. I have all my supplies for this one. I just need to get busy.

 

Tab #5: Make-do makeover for my patio

Remember all my plans for my patio? Well, I’m partway there.

We finally got the rest of the furniture out Sunday and Monday, and bought and potted some plants and flowers. But that’s the same old faded coverings on everything.

You may recall from the same article, the puddle and the cracks that formed in the new concrete poured last fall. Well, thanks to all the rain central Indiana has been blessed with this spring, the concrete contractor is waaaaay behind. The REDO of our job isn’t on the schedule until JUNE.

We delayed so long in putting our furniture out BECAUSE we thought they’d be back anytime now. And we called and called and never got a called returned, until last Friday.

It won’t be fun moving all that stuff when they do finally show up to fix it, but the weather is just too beautiful right now not to have someplace to sit out and enjoy it. More on my plantings and sprucing up soon, I hope.

 

Tab #6: Painting my bomb vases

BoHo Home

I also mentioned this in my living-room project post, but all I’ve done with the vases since then is put flowers in them.

Here’s sort of what I WANT them to look like, paint-wise. Again, supplies are purchased; all I need to do is tape the vases off and spray away, easy-peasy!

Easier said than done.

Miscellany & et cetera

As if I didn’t have enough irons in the already rampaging fire that is my life, I also have…

• A vase-painting project in the works (got the vases, decided on technique, still need to practice).
• Plans (hopes? dreams?) to open an Etsy store and start selling on ebay.
• Two blog interview features in process—another Everyday Artist and the success story of an ebay seller/gallery owner in Lithuania. Both women are probably wondering if I’m dead or in jail, but don’t lose faith, Sandi and Egle! I WILL get your features done and posted!!
• Plans to make window treatments for my living room and office when I find the right fabric. (Damn that africaadorned09 on ebay!)
• Plans for a gallery wall in my husband’s office (don’t tell him).
• Probably a dozen or so more things I’ve forgotten but will recall in the middle of trying to finish up one of those listed.

If you want more, note that I do too…

More time in a day and more days. Wish I could clone myself. Also more money. Wish I could make some money doing this so I could hire staff. Wish you all would become FOLLOWERS, which might improve my chances of making money (and at NO cost to you, I might add)!! Here are all the ways you can follow me (the more you choose, the better):