Pinspiration.

Images that are inspiring us...painted or not.

What's your inspiration today?

DIY Covered Bench.

My friend Nicole donated her old piano bench to The Painted Pear (thank you!).

I was really excited about it because, this bench in particular, presented so many possibilities.....

Would it become a bench in our brand-new reading nook? An end table? A seat at the end of our bed? In our walk-in closet?
I couldn't make up my mind.....Couldn't pick a paint color.

I had Jamie cut a new base for the cushion and fix up the bench joints so it was nice and solid.
And I still couldn't make up my mind.....

Later that week, we were grocery shopping and I found a $5 white jersey knit, super soft t-shirt with a tiny chocolate brown stripe, and I loved it! So cozy and warm, it was begging to become a cushion.

I sprayed the bench a glossy chocolate brown and, with the help of my mother, covered the cushion with the tee.
It's not perfect. Jersey knit is actually a bit too stretchy for upholstering. I think, at some point, it will need to be covered again with a more structured fabric.

But for now, it has somehow become our coffee table, with lots of room underneath for books, magazines and remote controls (oh, and toys! Of course!) and the soft cushy top is being loved up by the little ones.

What could be better than a *bed* right in front of your favorite movie?

Nothing.

Have a Great Week!

DIY Mercury Glass Lamps?

I was inspired by these Pottery Barn (very expensive!) lamps and THIS DIY tutorial called Why Buy What You Can Make?

The premise is simple: take cheap and/or second hand glass lamps, spray them with water, then coat with Krylon Looking Glass Spray Paint. Finally, give them a light sand. Paint will easily flake/sand away from areas covered with water droplets, leaving you with Mercury Glass replica.

I decided to give it a go.

First of all, glass lamps are hard to find.

Second of all, I wasn't exactly sure what they meant? Did the glass have to be clear or was it just a matter of being made of glass?

I did my best at my local second-hand shop and found one metallic lamp and one made of a white glass. $12 spent, total.



I covered the cords and the tops with bags, held in place with painter's tape.



I took them outside (very warm winter day!) and I sprayed them with water and then spray paint.
Krylon Spray Paints are usually sold at Walmart. Our Walmart didn't have Looking Glass Spray paint, so I opted instead to get a can of silver metallic paint and a can of nickel metallic paint.

You can see that the coat is quite thick and opaque. Not at all the reflective look I was hoping for. This is pre-sanding, of course.




Once I started to sand, I noticed two things:

1. The White Glass Lamp was not going to work. With white bits showing through, it just looked like a bad, peeling paint job. That lamp will be kept and used again, in another room!



2. The gold metallic lamp was going to work. Though I wasn't getting the Mercury Glass look I had hoped for, I ended up with a tarnished/antiqued silver look that I love. Perfect for our bedroom which, in the end, will combine lots of weathered wood, silver and white.







I topped it off with a new burlap shade ($12.99).

Now all I have to do is find an un-matching, matching lamp that I can spray for the other night stand!
Have a great weekend!

Purple is For Boys Too.....

Our entire bedroom has been designed around THESE curtains.



Naturally, when I needed a nice dark color for Jamie's dresser, I chose purple. Not the greens or the orange, no! I picked the purple.

I'm really pleased with how masculine and rich the purple is.....I think it's a perfect compliment to the beer books and iron and leather that usually fall upon it's surface........thankfully, Jamie likes it too.

{No before pics this week. Boo! Jamie forgot to take them. Don't worry, I gave him a piece of my mind.}

Next week, DIY Mercury Glass Lamps!

The Make-Up Table.

From "forgotten in neighbour's garage" to Fabulous!

Before.

Half-way.

Wah-la!

We really love the color of this piece but I can't quite figure out if I love the color of it in our space......Which means it may get painted again.

Which, Jamie says, is breaking his heart.

But hey! Sometimes, when you take chances, mistakes happen. And then those mistakes need to be fixed.......by Jamie.

Hope your week is a colorful one!