Cheap & Chic... & Crafty - DIY Wall Art

A few weekends ago, Megan of Buffalo Hearts and I decided to get crafty and take on this fun DIY art project that I had seen on Nifty Thrifty Goodwill, and she had seen elsewhere.  (I guess you could say this is a popular project, so I hope it's new to you!)

The first step (and possibly the hardest, especially if you're a little, picky, perfectionist, like myself) is to find the right art to cover, AND, at the right price.  Be on the look-out when you're thrifting.  Unfortunately, as we learned, this isn't the type of project you can just decide to do one day.  We went to about 4 different thrift stores and would have done more had we not been tired and hungry.  (And in desperate need of Purel.)  Megan was able to settle on a piece of art, and I did end up finding something in the end, but the store refused to sell it to me because it was not priced.  ← dumb policy, IMO.

I picked up my piece later in the week, and we continued the project the following weekend.

Step 2:  Purchase your letters and paint.  Again, not as easy as it seems.  First we checked the hardware store, Home Depot, for home address letters.  This particular Home Depot didn't carry letters that were standalone.  The only letters they carried were in a square.  So we checked the craft store, Joann's.  There we found really small letters - about 2 inches max, and finally, in the kids section, found these foam letters, which were actually slightly too big.



Yeah, just call me Goldilocks.

Paint can be purchased at the hardware store (interior paint), craft store (acrylic) or any art supply store (acrylic).

Note:  I looked for a painting and letters with a saying/quote/lyric already in mind, but Megan found her painting and letters AND THEN chose a saying/quote/lyric to fit.  Either way is up to you.

Step 3:  Arrange your letters and then stick them onto your painting.  Because the letters we purchased were so large, I had to cut mine down to fit.  (Megan's idea = genius!)

 

Step 3:  Paint over your painting.  Choose a color that will have the most contrast with the background painting.  We chose white.  Megan's art was more of a photograph than a painting, so the picture started to bleed through the white paint, appearing pink.  She had to switch to gold paint - she's not a fan of pink.

Step 4:  Wait.  Once your paint dries, you will probably need to apply a second coat. Then wait some more.

Step 5:  Peel off your letters.  Be very careful to not pull up large strings of paint with your letters.  Do this step    v   e   r   y      s   l   o   w   l   y.


Step 6:  Admire your handywork!

We also took some fun graffiti wall outfit photos!

And some pics of my dog, looking nice and sweet...

...and quite frightening.  (She makes this face a lot.  She "smiles" (i.e. shows her teeth) and then sneezes.)

I also got to play with Megan's fancy, schmancy camera, and now, consequently, have camera envy.  If anyone wants to donate to the C&C camera fund, I accept PayPal and personal checks. 

Cheap & Chic... & Creative - Furniture Face Lift

This weekend I finally had the time to get to one of the many projects I've lined up for myself and I wanted to share the results with you!

A couple months ago I spotted this record cabinet in an alley (i.e. trash) and thought it would be the perfect piece for added kitchen storage.

Ewwwwww!

It was dingy, kinda smelly, and the finish was bubbled on the top.  One door is missing the brass puller thing, but I don't mind it's imperfections.

I'm sure this cabinet isn't solid wood, but it's still sturdier than the cheap crap you can purchase at Target for $40 and it was free!  I knew this cabinet had potential to be something pretty cute and very convenient.  All it took was some sanding and a bright coat (or two) of paint.

Lovely!

This can be used for storage (books, records, knick-knacks) in ANY room.  Even the BF, who made icky faces when I brought it home, is happy with the results.  This makeover cost a little over $25 (brush was $8, sand paper was around $2-3 and the paint was $15) but you can do it for less.  I purchased 1 quart of paint, but this job could have easily been done with a couple 8 oz. sample sizes (about $3 each).  You may not need to sand your furniture if the finish is smooth.

It goes to show that virtually any piece of furniture can be salvaged with a fresh coat of paint.

Cheap & Chic... & Creative - DIY Jewelry

Recently I took a trip to my local JoAnn's for some jewelry supplies.  Two of my necklaces broke (in the same week, grrrr) and I wanted to pick up some supplies to fix them.  While there, I noticed some chains on clearance, so I picked out a few different types and thought I could figure out how to put them together later.  Later was this past weekend and I'm pretty happy with what I've done.  Check it out!

Here are the supplies:

Most of the chains were $0.50/piece.  The last one on the right was $2.97.

My inspiration piece:

You may remember this necklace from this post.  I paid a big chunk of change for this piece.

And the final product:

I also used a gold necklace that I purchased at PayHalf for $6 and I ended up not using a silver chain that was purchased for $0.50.  That brings the total for this necklace to $9.97+tax.

In the interest of full disclosure, I will admit that this necklace was a pain in the you-know-what to put together.  There was some math, along with frustration and acknowledgment of understanding for the high price-tag for my inspiration piece.

However, in the end, it was worth the frustration and I would definitely do it again.  I still have my remaining $0.50 chain to work with and I think this will be my inspiration for my next piece:

Cheap & Chic... & Creative - Get Organized!

You may have heard about my little problem... my shoe problem.  Well the real problem was that I had so many shoes, and nowhere to put them!

You're probably thinking, easy fix - shoe rack.  Well, I have another problem.  I have limited space.  (Jeez, I'm just full of problems!)

Shoe racks are about 12 inches deep and my shoes are only about 7 inches long, so that's 5 inches of unused space... and I can't afford it.  Unless you go the "over-the-door" route.  I'm not a fan for several reasons, but mostly because although my shoes are cheap, I don't treat them as such.  I don't want to shove them into bags.  Then there's the "shoe carousel", which doesn't work for boots or booties, and again, I don't want to shove my shoes onto metal prongs.

I like to store my shoes in or around my closet, and with all the clothes I have, that leaves very little space.

Here's my solution - DVD shelfs!  They're about 6 inches deep, so my size 7 shoes hang over a little bit, but to me, that's better than 5 inches of unused space.  Plus, they're cheap and I think they look nicer.  Most shoe racks/shelves are white plastic unless you have the extra $ to spend on a nice one.

Here's the first one I did.  (Sorry for the poor picture quality.)  I picked up 2 of these for $10 each on Craigslist.  They're actually pretty sturdy.  They have 5 adjustable shelves, plus the shelf on the bottom and the top, for a total of 7 shelves.  Each shelf fits about 2.5 pairs of shoes, for a total of 17.5 shoes.  I keep high boots on the top shelf, along with some shoe boxes and a purse.  The first shelf is a bit short, so I keep some clutches there.  This is just on the inside of my closet, next to the door, as you can see.  My original plan was to decoupage the inside back of the shelf with pictures of amazing, unattainable shoes, but I haven't had the time yet.

Pretty soon after I got my first DVD shelf, I ran out of room on it.  So I had to get another, and I was already utilizing the second of the set with actual DVDs.  So I ordered this from Amazon.com.

The only downside to this, is that it only works with shoes that have a heel - no wedges.  What I've done is I've used the bar on the back (which is higher than the small shelf in front) and I've put the heel of the shoes behind it.  It's hard to explain, think of a shoe store display.  As you can see, this fits 15 pairs of shoes (5 shelves X 3 pairs/shelf).  I've put this in the space just outside of my closet door, but the door can open all the way (it just doesn't bang into the wall).

Do you have any space/organizing conundrums you'd like my help with?  Send them my way - cheapandchicinchicago@gmail.com!