Category: DIY Decor & Crafts

Un Homme & Une Femme

Published on by Our Humble Abode30 Comments

As I mentioned yesterday, the main bathroom isn’t finished, but that’s not stopping me from working on finishing touches.  I could resist making art for the back wall.  A large piece of art at that.  For bathrooms, I try to stay away from anything with eyes, because that just seems creepy to me.  Who wants to feel watched while doing your private business anyway?  So, I thought up bathroom appropriate art, but nothing felt perfect.  I didn’t want anything frilly.  Nothing too fancy.  Nothing to compete with the patterned shower curtain.  But something bold, simple, and most importantly, fun.  Then, it came to me.  Why not make an over sized version of the classic man/woman signs to mark commercial bathrooms?  It’s bold.  It’s simple.  It’s fun.  And bonus, it was easy to make. 

 

I started with a 2 foot by 3 foot frame I had sitting in the basement.  For my background, I painted a large piece of paper I had on hand navy blue.  An internet search gave me photos of the signs, so I made a design in Photoshop, printed it to plain paper, and used the designs as a template.  Then, I cut a man and a woman from card stock.  A few piece of rolled tape on the back held my people in place.  Popping it in the frame instantly made it look more chic and cheeky than the standard bathroom sign.

It certainly adds a dose of fun to the bathroom.  Best of all, it cost me under five bucks for materials!

Would it be too much to hang one of each of these vases over the toilet?

In other breaking bathroom news, Ben grouted the shower.  Crisp white grout is nice to see.  Once we, ah hem, Ben installs the faucet set, we can shower in here.  Yippee skippy. 

One of these days, I should wash that mirror.

So there ya have it, cheap, funny, eyeless bathroom art.  What do you think?  Too commercial feeling?  Just the right amount of kitsch to add personality to the space?  What do you have on your bathroom walls?

Bow & Arrows

Published on by Our Humble Abode17 Comments

After deciding to paint the backs of the entertainment center yellow, I decided to add pops of yellow in the living room to tie everything together.  My first focus, pillows.  Redesigning the blog inspired a  pattern.  Flipped and repeating arrows.

Of course, I had to make the design.  In Photoshop, I altered the background design for a more suitable stencil.  Enlarging, beefing up the lines and shortening the overall design gave me a good base.

I opened a new page, copied, pasted, and rotated the arrow design 45 degrees.  To make a repeating design, I duplicated my arrow layer and flipped it horizontally.  When I like the placement, I merged my two arrows together and duplicated that layer, this time flipping the design vertically to make this design:

Printing to plain paper gave me my template.  I had transparency sheets on hand, but you can pick up a package at an office supply store.  Taping the template to the underside of my clear sheet made cutting a crisp design quick and easy.

Once I finished cutting my stencil, I gathered my fabric supplies; yellow duck cloth, fabric paint, a foam brush, paint tray, and my new stencil.

I’d suggest marking both the center of your fabric and the center of the stencil.  Making reference points for a repeating pattern would be a good idea, too.  Eyeballing this design wasn’t difficult, but a more intricate design might be.  So, remember that when making a stencil.  Then, starting at the center, I worked my way toward the edges.

Fortunately, the fabric paint dried quickly, but I did cut the edges of my stencil to make overlapping easy.

After the paint completely dried (about 20 minutes later) I cut two pieces of yellow fabric to make an envelope closure style pillow.  Now we’ve got a completely custom pillow on the couch.

Time to start thinking about curtains, but that could be an entirely different post.  So many options, so little time.  What have you stenciled recently?  Walls?  Pillows?  Maybe you’ve been sewing?  Whatcha making?  Or are you starting curtain planning?  Let’s discuss.

Festive Flair

Published on by Our Humble Abode4 Comments

Sorry this is last-minute, but that’s how my mind works these days.  Tomorrow, we’re planning to have a small barbecue at our house.  So I’ve been brainstorming cheap and easy ways to add festive flair to the table.  Here’s a super quick rundown of what’s going on.

Traditional red, white, and blue with sparkle.  I borrowed the coral utensil caddy from the bathroom to carry the silverware and a few candles hold down the center.  Due to time constraints and little hands, I set only one place, but it shows what I had in mind.  A white vinyl place mat at the bottom with an 11 by 17 sparkler print on top to add color.  Our every day white dishes mix with everything.  We don’t have fun colored glasses, so I filled a clear glass with a cold red drink and topped it with a festive stirrer.  A napkin on the side held together with a sparkler-esque pipe cleaner ring adds more bling.

To make the drink stirrer, I cut a piece of aluminum foil into a three-inch wide strip.  Then I folded the bottom over to stiffen the base.  Cut lines, without going completely through.  Add a piece of tape to one end and wrap the foil around a bamboo skewer, securing with tape at the other end.

For each pipe cleaner napkin ring you’ll need two sticks.  First cut one cleaner into 4 pieces.  It’s better if they aren’t perfect.

Group the cut pieces together and wrap the long pipe cleaner around the bundle once.

Wrap the pipe cleaners around your napkin and twist around to secure the ends.  Fluff up the spikes and you’re done.

Add a sweet touch to dessert plates with powdered sugar.  Make a star template from paper and dust with sugar.  To add a touch of blue, I made a paper flag.  Use the flags as cute accents, place markers, or as drink stirrer.

What have you made for the 4th?  Favorite foods?  I love skewers.  What is more American than food on a stick?!?

We’re taking the day off tomorrow, but we’ll be back on Thursday.  Enjoy your day off, my fellow Americans.

Cut Out Map

Published on by Our Humble Abode16 Comments

Personal art is something I love having in my home and something I really enjoy making.  Last year, I made a cut out map of Savannah, Georgia, where Ben and I honeymooned.  Patricia from PVE and I traded art, and she requested a map cut out of New York.  Well, I’m at it again, this time with our home town.  It started when I decided to clear some of our junk from the basement.  After hanging the Savannah cut out in the living room, I looked around at our bare walls.  Specifically, these matching bare walls on either side of the dining room doors.

Wanting to prominently display my hard work, I decided to make the Savannah cut out a set.  I complied images from Google maps to map out our town.  After piecing the pages together in Photoshop, I adjusted the size until I had my design perfect.  To save ink, I made a street overlay, which is just a new layer that I trace the lines over.

If you want to make your own cut out, it would be easier to take your map to a print shop (even Kinkos, now FedEx Office), enlarge it to the size you want, and print it on plain paper.  Basically, I’m lazy and cheap, so it is easier for me to make the overlay, divide it into 8 by 10 print sheets and tape my papers together, like this:

I use that printed design as a template by taping the edges on top of my nice paper.  Then I cut.  And cut.  And cut some more until my fingers hurt and my hand cramps.  If that doesn’t make you want to try this, I don’t know what will.  Haha.

At first, the boys colored next to me while I worked.  When they get bored, I’ll take a break to play with the kids or clean up the house and come back to it.  Honestly, I don’t know how long this took because I worked on it when I felt like it and when if was convenient.  Maybe six hours total for a 14 by 18 design?

Once my design is completely cut out, I carefully peel back the template.  Because I already had one framed map, but not another frame to match, I bought two 22 by 28 inch plain wood frames from Hobby Lobby for 35 bucks thanks to a 50% off sale.  Not the prettiest frames, but spray paint can fix that.

While at HoLo, I bought two sheets of mat board to cut a new mat for each frame and a sheet of dark gray paper to back my map.  And here’s the newest art addition in our abode.

With Savannah flanking the other side of the doors.

Eventually we’ll need a dining table to make the space look more like a room.

For now, I can admire new art in a substantial frame and mat.

V loves to point out some of the roads and knows where our house (and the old house!) are.  Which means he approves of the art.

What art have you made lately?  Cut out designs?  Perhaps a painting?  Feel free to share, I’m always needing art.

Bag of Health

Published on by Our Humble Abode5 Comments

We’ve never had a bathroom that didn’t have drawer storage.  So, I’m working on a few ideas to make the main bathroom as functional as possible, sans drawers.  I’m still searching for the perfect baskets, but I decided to make a zippered bag to store first aid supplies.  To get started, I bought a yard of silver metallic ironing board cover (hey, it was cheap, durable, and shimmered) and a 12 inch blue zipper.

Knowing I want to fit all our first aid supplies in one bag, I cut two pieces of fabric 12 inches wide by 17 inches long.  Yes, this is going to be big.  Then, I placed my fabric on the table, right side up.  Lay the zipper over, face down, keeping the bottom edge of the zipper flush with the bottom edge of fabric.  Pin in place.

If you have a zipper foot for your sewing machine, now is the time to use it.  I thought I did, looked all over for it, and couldn’t find it.  Instead, I sewed the zipper on by hand.  Sew close to the zipper without running into it.

Once you’ve sewn one side on, add the second piece of fabric putting the right sides of the fabric together.  Sew along the zipper edge again.    When the fabric is folded over, right sides out, the zipper will have a nice clean edge.

Because I sewed this by hand, I went back over and added top stitching with my machine, following along the edge of the fabric for a straight line.

Now face right sides of the fabric together and pin along the bottom.

Sew along the edge, leaving a half-inch allowance.  Unzip your zipper few inches-this is crucial to turn it right sides out when you’re done.  Leave the fabric wrong side out.  Pin the edges and sew a straight line, a half-inch from the edge.  Do this to both sides.

If you were to turn it out right now, you’d have a flat bag.  To give it a boxy shape, pinch the corners together.

I found it easiest to put one finger in the corner of the bag, holding it upright, then flattening the point like this:

Your point will be perpendicular to the edge seam.  Pin the corners to hold in place.

For my first corner, I made a straight lone across and sewed along the line.

Then I measured my width and marked the three remaining corners at five inches, just like my first one.

After sewing all four corners, cut about a quarter-inch above.

Then fill your bag up with cosmetics, travel toiletries, or first aid supplies.

To make a different sized bag, keep this in mind:

  • The zipper length will determine how big the bag is from front to back.  I had a 12 inch zipper, so I cut my fabric 12 inches wide.  For an 8 inch zipper, cut your fabric 8 inches wide.
  • The length of the fabric will change how wide it is from side to side.  I cut my fabric at 17 inches, which is really wide.  For a size more like a regular cosmetic bag, cut the fabric between 8 and 12 inches.
  • For a boxier bag, widen your corners.  I pinned mine at 5 inches, which I think would be perfect for a cosmetic bag, but that can change.