DIY- Headboard

Supplies-
Scissors
Spray Adhesive
Plywood (cut to size that you want your headboard to be)
Foam
Batting
Fabric
Staple gun with 1/2" staples
Thumb tacks or Nail Head Trim (<- highly recommend the nail head trim)

*Note- While these photos were taken, we were working on 2 different styles and sizes of headboards! So if they look a little different, that is why. :)

1. So as you can see, we started out with our plywood already assembled (Thanks Bill!!) He made a little frame out of wood and attached it to the plywood for Sara's headboard(she is mounting it on the wall) and mine has legs (because I am attaching it to my bed frame) so that the frame would sit flush against the wall. Next step is to cut your foam the size of the plywood. Because I was making a queen headboard, I didn't use an entire bed foam which came in handy when Sara's king sized headboard needed a little more than the average foam topper!

2. After the foam is cut, generously spray the headboard with the spray adhesive and lay the foam (with the design down) down onto the headboard. Apply pressure to make sure it has been glued well!

3. We wanted to move inside for the rest of the project, so we laid the batting on the table and then laied the headboard (foam side down) on top of the batting. Then went around the border stapling the batting on the back side to securely attach it. (My staple gun wasn't as powerful so we needed the hammer to make them flush with the wood and batting)

And this is what the front looked like once we were all done stapling it! Whoohoo!

4. Next, we did the same this as the batting, with the fabric. My advice to you would be to not pull the fabric to tight, because it will cause a bumpy appearance on the top and sides when you flip it over to check your work (which is something we did often).

5. The last step is to attach the nail head trim! We measured in about how far we want it to go around the perimeter and started hammering!The best part of the nail head trim is that you only nail in every 4 or 5 nail heads and it helps keep everything going straight! 

And Tada! This is right when we finished, still in the Kessler kitchen! We were so happy and proud! haha

6. When I brought it home, my handy dandy boyfriend Trevor helped me (aka did it) attached the posts to the bedframe! We just used whatever screws we had on hand that were big enough!

 And the finished product! Lucky for me, Trevor took down the curtains rod and curtains the day before I would want to take a bedroom photo, so when I have curtains again I will post a new photo!

And lastly I show you Sara's beautiful bedroom! (Left hers for last because if you saw it first you would think my bedroom was less cool.) This is before the headboard is even mounted and it looks AMAZING!. 

DIY - Dollar Tree Bird Feeder

Miss Meghan Marie found an image of the cutest bird bath made to look like a birds nest, so naturally we tried to remake it. The best part of this project, is we found all our materials at out local Dollar Tree! Since this was Meghan's project, I asked if she would write us a tutorial! Thanks Meghan, you doll!

Materials you need:

Wreath

Bowl

Fake Flowers

Twine

Glue Gun 

Scissors

1. Cut two 48 inches pieces of twine. Make a cross over the wreath with the twine. With the hot glue gun, glue the twine to the edges of the wreath. 

2. Turn the wreath over so the twine is now underneath the wreath. Take all four ends of the twine and tie it in a knot at the very top. (Make sure its even on all sides so the bird feeder isn't lop sided.) With the excess string above the knot, tie it into a loop so that you can hang it. 

3. Glue the flowers and leaves where ever you please to make it your own. 

4. Place your bowl inside the wreath, put in the bird seed, hang it up and enjoy!

Thank you Meghan!

Some hints I would add-

-If you want to hang it from your porch over hang or what not, have the string be a little longer. Ours are hanging from a shepherd hook in the yard.

- We did not attach the bowl to the wreath so we could fill up the bird feed easier. We will see if that was smart or not when the first bird lands on it!

"Sunday Funday" Pt 2 - Wooden Arrows

Since my artsy-fartsy bestie was in town, I took advantage of her talents and put her to work.

Wooden Arrows

Materials-
Wood
Paints
Paintbrushes (skinny and thick)

This is such and easy one, I can't wait!
  
Instructions-
1. Start off with your wood. Do you want the board painted? Paint it! Do you want to keep it natural? Do it. My only hint to you (if you're keeping it natural and not painting the wood) you have to do dark arrows. I did grey and yellow arrows on mine anddddddd you can't quite see them, so just keep that in mind! We painted two boards and kept one with no paint just to experiement.

2. After the boards have dried, we took them over to be lightly distressed (sanding) so they looked more fun and more 'natural.' Again, distressing is up to you on how you want it to look so start with the edges and corners and then make your way onto the flat surface.

 3. After the boards are painted and sanded, Meghan went to work on painting on the arrows. She made it look so effortless and easy, that punk. She just looked on good ol' Pinterest for different arrow designs and tada!

It is so nice having the sun to do these crafts! Not only do they dry quicker, but we can do them outside and not freeze and get our tan on! (Well, not quite yet)

"Sunday Funday" - Shabby Chic Shutters

Why are Sunday's the most fun days? Is it because (for most of us) we know its the last day of our freedom before we go back to work bright and early the next morning? Well for me, it was because my best friend Meghan was in town visiting us from Bellingham!
Meghan is my artistic friend and she came down with some plans for us. We started Sunday by sleeping in (is 8:30 considered sleeping in?) and then venturing to this store that my girlfriend Sara was telling me about, EarthWise. Basically it is a junk yard/ goodwill for DIYers. We wandered through all the old light fixtures, doors, mantles, and old tools and found some cute basic shutters and an interesting old cabinet door. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with each piece! First tutorial will be for our shutters. 

Shabby Chic Wooden Shutters

Materials-
Shutters
Screw Driver
Paint
Paintbrushes
Towel/rag
Sander (not necessary just really helpful)
220 Sandpaper
Chalk Board Spray Paint
Tape
Staple Gun
Fabric of any kind (I used Burlap)  
Chalk

1. Start out by taking the hardware off the shutter. Mine came with some hinges since they were originally put together as one piece, so I took that puppy apart. (I did not do this next, but I would also suggest removing the shutter stick. I later removed it because I made one as a mail holder and no mail would fit because the shutter stick split it in half!)

2. Next I took my sander to the whole surface except the actual shutter part. If I had already had spray paint at home I might have thought about doing the shutters too, but since I didn't, I just did the border around.

3. Once it is sanded to your liking, wipe the surface you wish to paint (very well). 
4. I whipped out 
my Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Old White, and went at it. One of the best parts about chalk paint is that it drys very quickly. So I did one coat of paint, and then moved on and did coats of paint on my other projects and by the time I was done with those, the first coat had dried and I did a second coat. The first coat isn't as important for all the streaks and brush marks to be out. And if you don't get it super smooth on your second coat, the sanding afterwards will help smooth it out a ton.

5. After the second coat dried, I took it over to my sander and sanded the corners and edges to get more of the distressed/older look, and lightly over the whole surface to smooth it out and to have some distressed parts throughout. 

6. After the distressing is done, whip it down again (the chalk paint makes a mess when you sand.)

7. Next, tape off a portion that you want to be the chalkboard. I chose the whole bottom portion because I wanted a bigger space to doodle. (As you can see from my photo, I was unable to locate my painting tape, so I settled for duct tape. I just kept making sure it was puckering up before I sprayed.)

8. After the portion is taped off, I sprayed in a sweeping motion and covered the whole space. Be careful not to let the product pool on the surface because that won't ever even out. In this case, it is a lot safer to go lighter and eventually do more coats then to accidentally spray to heavily. I ended up doing three coats (2 might have been enough).

9. After I was sure the chalkboard spray paint had dried onto the shutter, I ran my chalk all over the surface. I don't remember the reasoning for this, but this makes it so that what you write isn't permanent. It kind of activated the chalk paint to work as a chalk board. 

10. Last but not least, I added some fabric to the back so no mail would fall through! I just used my staple gun around the perimeter of the fabric. For my other shutter, I just painted the whole border white and use it as decor in my house! You have options people! 

Thanks for reading!
Let me know if you have any similar projects, or have any questions or comments!

xoxo,
Kaitlin

Headband Debut Ft. Miss Kirstin

Headbandz

I think I have found my new love... HEADBANDS. Not only are they so stinkin cute on, they are so fun to make and so perfect for a beginning sewing project!
Victoria and I ventured into the land of the unknown last night with my sewing machine. Let me fill you in on this sewing machine.. back in good ol' 2005 I took a home-ec style class and we sewed aprons and pillow. It was a blast! I loved it so much that during that quarter of school I sewed aprons as Christmas gifts for my grandparents. My parents {or Santa, I can't remember} got me a sewing machine for Christmas that year. But then the quarter ended and I am pretty sure I haven't used my sewing machine since then. So Mom and Dad! I'm finally using that expensive gift you got for me 10 years ago!
Luckily Sara's mom, Debbie, gave me a quick run through last week of how to do the bobbin and make the stitch go backwards and such. (Yes, I know- the basics haha) So we got out my scrap fabric & some old tee shirts and went to town! {maybe a little further down the road I will have a tutorial on how to make some yourselves}
These are just a few examples of some of the headbands! I can't wait to make more!

 

I also need some more headband models! If anyone is interested, let me know! :)

XOXO,

Kaitlin

Dresser Flip

On New Years Day, I was blessed to have a Thursday off work- it was glorious. I had been wanting to redo my drew dresser but I just hadn't had the time; but more importunately I needed help moving it out side!
(Side note, only 2 more weeks until I kick this knee scooter aside and can slowly start walking again- EEK!)

Here is the dresser-free 99! Thanks Erick!

So this post is going to walk you through how I did this particular dresser flip.

Materials:
Annie Sloan Chalk Paint
Paint Roller
Paint Brushes
Tape
Sander with a low grit and a high grit sandpaper
Wood Stain
Staining sponge
Gloves
Annie Sloan Dark Wax
Annie Sloan Clear Wax

Prep:
The best part of the Annie Sloan Paint is that is adheres to almost any surface and does not need to be pre-sanded. But I would take a damp towel and wipe down the surface to clean off any dust or messes that you wouldn't want to just cover with paint.



Instructions:
1.So first, after wiping down the surfaces, I pulled out the drawers and started painting with the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. I made sure to get all the sides of the front of the drawer and that's it. I did not go back onto the walls of the drawers. (It is okay if the paint looks a little patchy, this is just your first coat!)

2. While the drawers were drying with their first coat, I moved onto the body of the dresser. Since I am going to be staining the top, I taped off the top and started painting the sides with rollers and the front with a paint brush.

3. Time for a second coat!
(Luckily with chalk paint, it dries fairly quickly and since we are sanding it down after, it will sand out a lot of the paint brush strokes.)

Here is my sister, Kirstin, helping me sand!

4. Next I sanded the top of the dresser.(Note: I did this when the paint was already dried, I took a long lunch break.) I used my new Ryobi Corner Cat Sander (Thanks Mom and Dad!) and used the low grit first to smooth out the knicks and discolorations. (The dresser is over 20 years old, schweet!) After I got the dirty work done, I switched to the finer grit and finished off the top. I wiped that puppy down with a damp cloth, let it dry, then it was time to stain!

This is 3 coats of stain (and 3 days) later!

5. This is my first time staining with a staining pad, and let me tell ya- It made my life so much easier. I am starting to like staining more than painting! I dipped the corner of the staining pad into the stain just enough to get the corner of the pad to have some stain. I realized after that it might have been easier if I stained first then painted, buuuut I didn't so I did it this way. After I went around and stained the corners and the overhang, I stained the top. I let it dry for 5 minutes, then I wiped up the remaining stain. I let the stain dry over night in the garage.

6. After a few additional layers of stain had been added and dried, I got out my sander again so I could easily buff out the sides of the drawers and the drawer fronts. The next part, distressing, is your own personal preference! I usually do the all the edges and some random spots on the front here and there. After all the sanding that I want done is done, I wipe her down again.




7. After all the distressing is done with the sander, I wiped down all the surfaces and wiped out the drawers. You want everything to be cleaned of dust before you wax the surfaces! Start with the clear wax and apply to a sock (what I used) or to a rag or something similar. I went over all the surfaces with the clear wax, focusing on the spots that would be touched a lot or where it could be dinged or scratched. After I covered the entire surface with the clear wax I took the dark wax and applied a very small amount to the spots where I had already distressed with the sander. (Be careful, if you use too much of it, it can make the surface appear dirty)
The rest is up to your own discretion. Let the wax absorb and you're done! So thankful the rain subsided for just enough time for me to finish this bad boy!

This is the wax I used

If you guys were wondering where I got my Annie Sloan products, I have been shopping at Kristi's Country Store in Sumner, Wa!