Jeans tabouret

Jeans is so great material and I love it, so many possibilities for creative ideas. This time, I gave a new look to an old and ugly tabouret (in one moment I even decided to through it away, but changed my mind refurbished it). No, I can sit on it, put my legs on it when resting, use pockets for mobile charger or journals.

An old version of tabouret

New look

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Vintage cupboard to cheer me up

This cupboard I put in my kitchen proofs that old furniture could and should be refurbished to improve our space and bring something original in our home.

And this is how the adventure started

This old cupboard belons to my family for decades - in good condition, but ugly. Decided to make something new.

First, of course, dismantled doors and metal parts.

Then sanding, sanding, sanding and cleaning the dust.

Priming is important step as well. I am priming and painting all sides, even back side.

 I decided to combine  three colors - white, black and red.  This plastic plate is cheap and very useful for painting, recommend to use - there is part to pour paint and part to drain roller or brush. 

I am using ruller for the majority of my work, brush just for corners. Look at this post to see how to chose rollers and brushes.

For the stripes and combining colors, use tapes.

And now, there are some details of the finished cupboard:

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Angels around us

I love angels and secretly hoping there is at least one taking care about me and helping me with all my issues. I don't particularly like the common image of angels, prefer some unusual ways to create them. Anyway, who can tell us for sure how the angels look like? I made these for the kitchen, with little magnets glued on the back.

Found some  interesting ones on the net.

Simple but lovely angels from this site.

For this adorable paper angel you can find tutorial.

These are my favourite, I found them (together with the tut) on the www.adventuresofadiymom.com.

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Alter Christmas door wreath

Holidays season is coming, time to wrap up the year (again, so soon), decorate home, make/buy gifts, bake cookies, hang  Christmas wreath on a door. Could it be a little bit different this year? Something original, upcycled, funny? I found some very awesome wreath on the net, see if you could use the idea.

This ideas I found here. I love the ties wreath, as tie originally comes from Croatia.

For this minimalistic wreath made from toilet paper roles, you can find tutorial how to make wreath.

This one is made from straw.

Easy to make, but very effective. Love it (found here.)

With the combination of various colors, this wreath is suitable for all seasons. Learn how to make it, it is fun.

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Decorate magnets

  Few plain magnets, a little bit of paint and creativity and you have personalized jewels on your (magnetic) board or fridge.  Too many things to remember, I decided at first to make a chalk board, then improved the idea and made magnetic chalk board (applied magnetic chalk board paint). Of course, needed magnets. The ones I had were just blue and unattractive, so needed to embellish them.

 Tutorial how I decorate magnets

Hints: 

You can paint  magnets with any paint or even nail polish, but if you would like to use napkins for decoration, it should be bright color.

I used two components resin to get depth and brilliance. Read product instructions carefully.

My  magnets photos

Board and my 'office' corner

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Vertical garden project journey - phase 1

Finally,  stars have set up properly for my vertical garden project. I found in the garage wooden box that  seems to be perfect. This is project that takes at least a month or two to be quite ready for the wall and I will regularly update photos. I am so eager to see how it will turn out. But, prior to planting, some preparations need to be done to protect wood and avoid wood decay.

Tutorial (and journey) to set up vertical garden

This is box 'before'. It looks pretty good and the  baffles could be removed. It might sound silly, but I discovered in the  last moment that this could be done (and was delighted, as this made my job much easier).

I cleaned it, sanded a little bit and then 'wax' with an old candle.

Applied one coat of white acrylic paint, left 20 minutes to dry and sanded again to distress it.

I also painted back of the box, I always take care about the sides that are not visible, as well.

To protect the wood from water and moisture, applied coat of transparent satin varnish for boats (I already had it on hand). Applied it inside and outside the box and left to dry - this is oil paint and it took almost  24 hours to dry.

And the protection efforts were not finished. I decided to use transparent adhesive foil for additional protection and incase the whole box. The foil I also already had, originaly it was bough for school books protection. I love the grid on the paper side, it is so much easier to measure and cut the foil.

So, I measured to foil and cut the corners (to 'create' the box  an put it inside the box.
Protected the buffles as well.

Box is now prepared and protected. More exciting part to follow.

Although this is going to be a vertical garden, I put some grit on the bottom for a drainage. First  couple of month (or until the plants spread around) the box will stay in horizontal position.

As planned to plant succulents, prepared a mix of 1/3 sand and 2/3 usual soil for flowers.

The box is now filled with soil. 

To avoid the soil to drift away, I fasten the metallic net onto the box.

Now, the best part - planting. I already have a lot of succulents - chose the smaller ones and planted them. I think I'll buy some additional on the green market, may be reddish or variegated.

What I learned? The meshes of the net were rather small, I had to use wooden stick for planting. It is better to use net with the bigger meshes. Some people used moss, may be this is even better, don't know.

At end, added soil and water sprayed my garden.

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