Tag: decorating

How to give cork board a face lift

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Thank you to my cousin Courtney for requesting this DIY tutorial! Courtney is finishing up her freshman year of college in North Carolina and her friends are moving out of the dorms in May. She wanted to know some easy and inexpensive ways to decorate her new apartment. I think a lot of college students already own a cork board, so in this video I’ll show you a few ideas on how to give it a face lift with paint, fabric and rope.

Leave a comment below or post a photo on instagram and tag @likehearted to show other ways you have re-purposed your cork board.

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DIY: String Art

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String art is popping up in a lot of different places lately. It first became popular as decorative art in the late 60′s, but I love the modern twists on it these days. This simple craft can easily be customized to make unique art for your home. If for some reason you don’t feel like tackling this project on your own, you can purchase the one I made in the video on my Etsy Store. But I would really love to see what you all create, so instagram a photo and tag @likehearted!

Also, want to send a thank you to The Gentlemen Ether for new music in the video!

Other creative ways to utilize the craft: decorative signage for a wedding, table numbers or even a name sign for a nursery.

Photo Credits: I do, 6 Table Number, Harper Sign

Materials:

  • Wood

  • Yarn/String

  • 3/4” Nails (at least 2 boxes)

  • Download free font – Pacifico

Tools:

  • Hammer

  • Scissors

Total cost:  under $20

 Steps:

  1. Make a template on your computer of the word or shape you plan on using. I downloaded Pacifico and made the template in a word doc using a font size of 375.

  2. Cut out the template and align on wood board, use scotch tape to keep it in place.

  3. Begin to outline the word/shape with nails, placing them about 1/2” apart.

  4. To start threading tie one end of the string to a nail, then outline the word/shape. Wrapping around the nail head as you go.

  5. Tear away the paper template.

  6. Start wrapping the string around the nails creating a zigzag pattern. Continue to do this until you have filled in the entire word/shape.

  7. Secure end of string by tying a knot to a nail.

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How to Graywash Furniture

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I have a ranch style house and the decor can be described as modern rustic, with the primary colors being gray and white. I love Restoration Hardware, but it is totally out of my budget, so I mostly refer to the store for just inspiration. A lot of their living and dining pieces come in a Grey Acacia Finish (pictured below) and since I enjoy refinishing furniture I tried to take a stab at recreating the RH look. I think it is a handy painting technique to know how to do if you like rustic, shabby chic, vintage styles.

Restoration Hardware Inspiration

Grey Acacia Finish
Monastery Dining Table
Weathered Oak Gallery

The best part about the graywash technique is that it can be used on any type of wood furniture. In the video I did it on a frame to create accessory displays. I’ll do another post of how to create the accessory displays with chicken wire or twine.

Materials:

Tools:

Steps:

  1. If needed sand the frame to take away any varnish.

  2. To create the graywash – mix together 1 part gray paint and 1 part glaze.

  3. Use a bristle (chip) brush apply the gray paint to the frame. Use a different dry bristle (chip) brush to remove excess paint. Keeping with the rustic look the paint doesn’t need to fully cover the frame, just depends on how much of the oak wood you want to show through. Personally, I didn’t want much of the light wood to show through. Let is dry and apply second layer if needed.

  4. To really create the weathered look add a white glaze mixture: mix 1 part white paint to 1/4 part glaze. Using your regular paint brush paint on the white glaze mixture then remove excess with a damp rag. Continue this process until you achieve your desired look.

Graywash Steps

Sneak Peek – DIY Home Decor Tutorials coming this month!

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This past Wednesday I shot a series of tutorials on items to create for your home. I’m all about bargain shopping, recreating high end looks at affordable prices and giving a face lift to things you currently own. Hopefully you all will enjoy my ideas and it will give you inspiration to create something of your own. Subscribe to the channel to be one of the first to see the series, new videos up every Friday! 72905_10102357417812701_1201842327_n

DIY Rosette Necklace – Emerald Color of Year Inspiration

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Emerald is the Pantone color of the year (color swatch 17-5641 to be exact). The color is dripping into all fields: home décor, accessories, clothes, weddings, etc. If Emerald isn’t your thing, other shades of green are also in this season like Mint (big trend in bridal), Pistachio and Army Green. It’s about being on trend, so try something new on the green color wheel but it’s also about sticking to what you are comfortable with. The best thing about Emerald is that is looks great on blondes, red heads and brunettes. You can ease the color into your style by just painting your nails or go all out with a bright dress. My style is traditional with some drama/edge mixed in, so I’m more likely to work the color in with my accessories. In this tutorial I’ll show you how to make a rosette necklace using Emerald colored fabric for a standout accessory. Directions and materials needed are located at the bottom of the post.

Here are my top picks for incorporating Emerald into your everyday style:

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How to make DIY Rosette Chain Necklace:

Materials:

  • ½ yard of fabric
  • 1 sheet of felt
  • Good Chain
  • 2 Large Gold Hoops

Tools:

  • Pilers
  • Scissors
  • Hot Glue Gun
  • Sharpie
  • 1 piece of 8.5 x 11 paper

Steps:

  1. Cut a strip of fabric about 1.5″ wide and 20″ long.  This makes a rosette about a 1.5” in diameter. The longer the fabric the bigger the rosette.
  2. Tie a knot at one end (if there is excess, trim off close to the knot).
  3. Tuck the knot back on itself and begin to roll the fabric around it, folding and twisting the fabric strip in, towards the center of the rosette. Keep folding and twisting in circles. Use a little dab of glue every now and then to secure the fabric twists.
  4. When you have a rosette of desired size, leave about 1” of fabric at the end and twist to underneath the rosette and secure with glue. For the rosette that is going to attach to the large gold hoop, loop the end through the hoop  and secure fabric strip with glue to the back of the rosette.
  5. Once you have made the amount of rosettes you want arrange them on a piece of paper and create a pattern by drawing  an outline of your rosettes. Cut out the pattern.
  6. Trace pattern onto felt and cut out along the inside of the edges.
  7. Dab glue underneath of your flowers and press heavily onto the felt.
  8. Attach the chain.

Tips:

  • Dont worry about the rough edges of the fabric, I think it adds a good texture to the rosette.
  • I bought the felt before I decided to use green fabric; I would suggest choosing a piece of felt close to the color of fabric you are using so that it is less noticeable.

DIY Chalkboard Platter

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Here is the last video from the first set of DIY entertaining tutorials – check out the many uses for a chalkboard platter. Warning: this was the very first one that we shot, so clearly I had some warming up to do! It got a little easier the second time around, I just reviewed the rough cuts of the wedding tutorials and can’t wait for you all to see them.

Materials:

Tools:

  • Paint Brush

Total cost: Under $20

Time: 20 minutes (minus drying time) 

Steps:

  1. Make sure the plate is clean and dry.
  2. Paint the inner edge of the plate. Be sure to follow the directions of the chalkboard paint you are using, The Martha Stewart chalkboard paint requires you to wait at least 1 hour before doing the second coat. 
  3. Write with the chalk to describe what you are displaying.

Various uses for the chalkboard platter:

  • Cheese Serving Plate
  • Beer (or your alcohol of choice) Tasting Platter
  • Perfume Display

Tip: 

  • Turn it into a housewarming gift by including cheese knives, a monogrammed dish towel and a chalkboard pen. I also like the idea of writing the last name of the new home owner on the bottom of the platter, for example “The Brown House Est. 2013.”

DIY Food Allergy Menu Cards

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I love hosting dinner parties but with food allergies on the rise it can often create a challenge for the host and the guest (I know from experience). If you are unsure, it’s not uncommon to ask your guests ahead of time if their diets have changed. Your guests will appreciate you going the extra mile to make them feel welcomed in your home. Check out my tutorial video on ways you can easily label the food for guests who have allergies. For more entertaining tips, subscribe to the Likeheared channel: http://www.youtube.com/iamlikehearted

Materials:

Total cost: Under $25 – $18 of this is for the Animal Stamps since I didn’t already own them

Time: 15 minutes

Steps:

  1. Make a key letting your guests know what the stamps stand for. For example, I used the cow stamp to mean “contains dairy.”
  2. For the the menu cards I used the “business cards” from Papersource, they are pre-cut and just the size I needed.
  3. Write out the dish name on a menu card with a sharpie.
  4. Use stamps with ink pad to tell what allergies are in the food.

Allergy Free Entertaining Tips:

  • Avoid cross contamination by using separate serving utensils with each dish.
  • Keep all food labels in case someone wants to double check the ingredients.
  • Ask guests to bring something other than food: bottle of wine, flowers or ice, that way you can control what food is served.

DIY Tissue Tassel Garland

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The Likehearted YouTube Channel is live! I had a blast being a content contributor and getting to share my craft ideas. I’m so grateful for the opportunity that Sitewire has given me, and the beautiful work Snapfactory did on the videos. It’s definitely nerve-racking being on camera for the first time but I’m really proud of the videos and hopefully you all enjoy them too!! More videos to come, so make sure to check out all the tutorials by subscribing to my channel: http://www.youtube.com/iamlikehearted.

Materials:

Tools:

  • Scissors
  • Hot glue gun

Total cost: Under $10

Time: 2 hours

Steps:

  1. Fold one sheet of tissue paper in half width-wise, then fold it over length-wise.
  2. With your scissors, cut strips of fringe about 1/4 inch wide along the unfolded long edge of your folded tissue, leaving about 2 inches of uncut tissue at the folded edge.
  3. Unfold your paper and cut the tissue in the center, creating two halves. Set one aside.
  4. You should have a sheet of tissue with fringe on either side and a solid section down the center. Using the solid center section, begin to roll the tissue paper up, being careful to keep the fringe untangled.
  5. After the entire section is rolled, twist the center tightly. Then curl it in on itself to create a loop, and secure with a small dot of hot glue.
  6. For a finishing touch, place a small dot of hot glue under the loop and wrap twine around the base, secure with another dot of hot glue.  Trim the ends if desired, and string your tassel onto your cord.

Tips:

  • One sheet of tissue paper makes 2 tassels.
  • I suggest about 16 tassels for your average size garland = 8 sheets of paper.
  • To make tassels with longer fringe, during step 2 cut along the short edge of the unfolded tissue instead of the long edge.

Don’t have time to make your own? Purchase the one I made in the video on my Etsy shop.

Sucker for Stripes

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I’ve been in my house for almost a year and I’m at the point where I’m working on the finishing touches. I’m a sucker for stripes and never get tried of them, so after hanging my TV on the wall I thought they would be the perfect accent. After doing a bunch of research online for the best practices on painting stripes I decided to tackle the project and below is my take on it.

Materials:

  • Tape measure
  • Pencil
  • 3m painters tape
  • Level
  • Disposable roller and paint tray
  • Paint for your stripes (assuming you like the base color already on your wall)

Directions:

  1. Mark out the stripes – Measure the total height of your wall from bottom of your crown molding to the top of your baseboard. It’s best to use odd number of stripes. My total wall height was 90 inches, divide that by 7 = 12.8 inch stripes. If you want bigger stripes divide by 9, if you want smaller stripes divide by 5. Doing odd numbers gives you the ability to leave your base color as the top and bottom stripes, that way you don’t have to touch the crown molding or baseboards when painting. Cuts your time in half. Best tip I found, if you have “leftover” inches at the bottom, it is okay to make that stripe a little bigger, no one will notice! 
  2. Tape out the stripes – I have a nifty laser level but I went old school with this and used just a regular level (I think I just haven’t taken the time to learn how to use the laser level). Just guide the level along the wall as you tape. Tip: I used pieces of tape as “Do not paint” markers on the sections that were not to be painted white.
  3. Paint! Once the second coat of paint is on and the stripe is fully filled in, take the tape off. No need to wait until it is completely dry, otherwise the tape will be glued to the wall.

Use disposable rollers and painter tray, it will only cost you a few dollars and definitely better to just throw that away then taking the time to clean them. I have a bad habit of leaving wet paint on brushes, so I take all measures to prevent this. But it never fails because as I type this it makes me realize I forgot to wash the brush I used to paint the corners (picture me running to my shed to confirm this and immediately putting the brush into cleaner).

In case you are wondering, my base wall color is Benjamin Moore Abalone and for the stripes I just used leftover paint that my trim and ceilings are painted which is Dunn Edwards White (eggshell finish). I still have accessorizing to finish and to hide those cable cords but that will be done in time. I read a quote the other day that I loved and made me appreciate what I have done over the last year and not worry that everything isn’t complete yet…”A home takes time to grow and become personal.” -Sania Pell, stylist/writer

PREP:

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FINAL PRODUCT:

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Weekend Warrior Project # 3 – Side Chairs

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The “before” photo pretty much sums up this project. I instantly saw these diamonds in the rough and knew I had to have them. At $30 a piece it would be hard to pass them up.

BEFORE: Let me repeat, I got these for $30 A PIECE!!

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AFTER:

Here is how I did it:

  • The fabric I found at Joann – the week they had 40% off of designer fabric. For about 3 yards it costed  around $90.
  • I was lucky enough to have a family friend recover the cushions (all it cost me was a good bottle of white wine!).
  • I primed and painted the chairs with Rust-Oleum Painter’s Touch Ultra Cover 2x Coverage Primer/Paint in Dark Walnut (satin finish). Each chair took a can and a half, 3 cans needed in total.
  • Total cost of the project: about $170