A RUSTIC DIY CHALKBOARD FOR THE KITCHEN...

Hello and happy Monday!  How was your weekend?  Long and relaxing I hope.

Sorry I didn't get back with you last week as promised to show you what this picture at the end of my last post was all about...






Did you guess that I was going to make a chalkboard?

I saw Dear Lillie's huge chalkboard in her kitchen and knew that a similar one (only much smaller) would be perfect in mine, huh huh, though her kitchen is WAY more beautiful and bigger than mine.





So I bought a 2' x 4' piece of 1/4" plywood, a 1" x 4" 10 foot long and a quart of chalkboard paint. I had everything cut to size at the store (Lowes).  The 1x4 was cut into 4 pieces...2 20" long pieces and 2 40" long pieces.  I had the plywood cut to a 22" x 35" rectangle.  Hope that made since.

I simply glued and stapled the 1x4 together to make my frame.  I sanded and painted the plywood with chalkboard paint and once it was dry nailed it to the back of the frame.  Super easy!  I didn't even stain the frame.  My 1x4 was naturally pretty dark so I left it natural.

So are you ready to see my Dear Lillie copycat chalkboard?

I will certainly be able to keep better track of my grocery list and appointments with this.

The cost for everything was around $20.00.  Most of that was for the chalkboard paint itself ($10) but I have a ton of it left over for other projects so really this project was very inexpensive.  Cheaper even than buying a smaller chalkboard at Staples or Hobby Lobby and mine has a much chunkier frame than the any store bought one, which I like.

So do you like my homemade chalkboard?  Do you like it enough to make your own?  Go ahead and make one.  You know you need one...somewhere!

Have a great day!

ONE DIY QUEEN SIZE BUTTON TUFTED HEADBOARD FOR UNDER $25...

Happy Monday y'all!

Well I managed to finish the button tufted headboard for sis over the weekend. YAY!!

Though it is not perfect, it's good enough for us and I think it's super cute.  The best part...I spent less than $25.00 to make this myself.  That beats spending upwards of $300.00 for one any day, right?

Cost breakdown:

$7.65 for one 4'x8' Utility board
$2.00 for foam mattress at yardsale
$1.00 for fabric at thriftstore
$5.50 for buttons, upholstery thread and needles
$3.00 for screws
$0.00 for partial frame from an old headboard

I will admit that this was not a one person job.  I did everything myself...

until it was time to do the tufting....

The headboard was just WAY too long and too tall for my arms to reach both sides of the headboard at the same time to thread the button on, pull the thread through and staple everything down, so the hubs helped (that's why there's more wrinkles than there should be.  He didn't pull the fabric taught like I showed him), but I didn't complain because he was a really good sport to spend his free time on Saturday afternoon helping me when he would have rather been doing something else.

Secretly though I think he enjoyed working with me on this project and I enjoyed having him there to help. He's my sweetie!

And with that this room makeover has officially begun.  Now I'm ready to order some new curtains and bedding for this room.

I'm thinking the Ferle curtains from Ikea would be nice...

and I am loving this ruffle bedding...

I think it would be perfect.  I can't wait until I have saved enough pennies to order everything.  Of course you can be sure that I will keep you updated.


In other news, now that the headboard is done, I am working on a little project for the kitchen.  Can you guess what it will be?...

I hope to be back later this week with all the details.  See you then!

DREAMING OF AN UPHOLSTERED BUTTON TUFTED HEADBOARD...

Hello! How's your summer going?  BUSY?  Mine too...hence the lack of posts as of late.

About a year ago I showed you sis's room....








Other than a few minor changes I thought I was just about DONE with her room.  However, after living with it for a while, there are some things that we both decided needs to be changed.  Well pretty much all of it needs to be changed!

I don't like all the orange though it's sis's favorite color.  She doesn't like the picture over her bed and neither of us like the hand painted striped curtains. We like the design of them and in pictures they look GOOD but they are too stiff and look a little (maybe a lot) blotchy in real life.  Not quite the feel we were wanting.

Anyway, I envision a gray and white room with soft flowing curtains, ruffled bedding and most of all NO orange! I also envision a gorgeous, TALL button tufted headboard somewhat like this one...

Wow, is that not a GORGEOUS room?

Well as you know, upholstered, button tufted headboards can be EXPENSIVE...EXtreeeemely expensive so I have decided to make one. Surprised? Probably NOT!

A few months ago when my in-laws bought their new house they gave us their like new queen size bed for sis.  They didn't have room for it and she NEEDED a new bed, so it was a win, win situation! The bed came with a not so pretty fake oak, pressed board headboard.  I knew we would NOT be using that. However, I figured I could use part of it to make the tall white tufted headboard I had been dreaming of.

I disassembled the old headboard keeping only the frame...

then screwed a large piece of utility board that I got for $7.65 at Lowe's to the frame.

I had the handy dandy saw operator man at Lowe's make a cut for me at 65.5"...(the width of a queen size headboard) so I didn't even have to mess with digging my saw out once I got home.

Yes, I know you do all your projects in the middle of the living room floor too, don't you? Hehe.

Next, though this step is VERY HARD to see, I measured and drilled my holes for the button tufts...

Mine is not going to have quite the amount of tufting as the one in the gorgeous room above, but I think it will turn out fine.

For the padding I used a foam mattress I found last weekend at our pastors yardsale for $2.00.  What a great find and at the right time no less.  I love when that happens.  It lets me know this project was meant to me.

Have I ever told you how much I love my electric stapler? Well, I do!  I bought mine at Lowes when I was upholstering the loveseat in the living room and let me just tell you, I will NEVER be without one again!  It's beats the heck out of using a manual, hand hurting, hard to operate one any day....

And that's where I stopped...FOR NOW....

I have the perfect white fabric that I found a month or so ago for a dollar at a local thrift store and will be tackling the tufting an upholstery over the weekend...that is IF I can get the buttons I need tonight.

I hope to be able to show you the finished headboard next week. Wish me luck!

What projects have you been working on lately?  Have you ever made your own headboard?

Have a fabulous weekend! Ciao!