{Revamp} your lamp!

Lamps are expensive, and anyone who knows me, knows I HATE spending money.  It drives Dan crazy because I will literally drive across the street to save 5 cents on a can of soup.  I get this from my mother. I am sure he secretly appreciates it.  So, after spending more than enough money on a wedding,  I am back to my frugal way of life.  I had the same bedside lamp since 2007, you know, the one from Target?!  This exact one. Works great, but I am married now (good excuse, huh), and I wanted grown up lamps.  So here is what I did....

I bought 2 of these...

and turned them into 2 of these...

following White House Black Shutters' directions on her website. 

One key step...don't forget to wipe down!  I forgot to do this on one of my lamps, and you could see the layer of dust on the bottom after I painted it!  I had to sand down, and redo...don't make the same mistake I did.

This project cost me around $40 for both lamps.  I bought the lamps for $15 off of Kijiji, and the two shades at Target for around $15 a piece, and the spray paint was around $7.  I used Rust-oleum Painter's Touch Semi-Gloss in Ivory Bisque.  It dried quickly, and went on smoothly (minus the dust mishap!

What have you "revamped" with paint??

--E

DIY Doormat

So, D and I recently tied the knot, and now my last name is Zaleski.  Zaleski.  Yep.  Totally Polish.  Totally unpronounceable by those who have never been exposed to it.  Even the DJ at our wedding couldn't get it right.  I can't imagine what will happen when I get back in the classroom.  Pretty sure I will be "Mrs. Z" to those cute little 6 and 7 year olds.

Zaleski.  Z.  Zed (to those Canadians).  It is the LAST letter of the alphabet.  My poor future children...they will forever be at the end of the line.  And poor us...I mean, think college graduations.  I pray they go to a small school because I might have to take a little nap between A-Y if it is a huge public institution.

Z.  Do you know how hard it is to find things that are monogrammed with a letter Z?  You know those cute block letters?  Have you ever seen a Z?  Nope.  What about those cute towels all my friends have in their bathrooms with their initial sewn perfectly?  Not the Zaleskis.




While I was back in Houston, I noticed a few friends had these great doormats from Bed, Bath, and Beyond.  I went to a few to scope it out.  Can you guess what happens next?  I didn't find one. UGH!  So, I decided to make my own.  Of course, HGTV, has decorations on how to make your own here.  I used this as a guide, and it was pretty simple, however I did have some variations.

Materials:

Sisal doormat

Square cardstock (HGTV had a circle around theirs, and used plates)

Initial Stencil

Sharpie

Acrylic Paint

Paint Brush

1.  I cut my cardstock to be 10x10 for the outer square, and traced on the mat with Sharpie

 after measuring equal distances from the sides and top so it would be centered. I was thinking the Sharpie would come out darker than what it did.  I thought I wouldn't be able to see it, but I could...

2.  I then cut the cardstock 9.5x9.5 for the inner square, and traced on the mat with Sharpie.

3.  I freehanded my Z on the remaining cardstock, and cut it out.  I traced it on the doormat with Sharpie.

4.  I then used black Acrylic paint and "colored" it in.  Don't be scared to get a good scoop of paint on your brush...it takes a lot!  After I got it all filled in, I went back with my paint brush and filled in some spots using a blotting motion.

Can you see the outline of my Z?  It is pretty light, but still there!

After filling it in with a blotting motion.

5.  Put on your doorstep!

See Sadie Cakes in the window??  Ha....I love her.

I am pretty happy with the result.  It was so much cheaper too!  I think I paid less than $10 for the doormat, and had all the other materials at home already. HOLLER!

--E