faux coral

Inspired by this post I tried my hand at making my own faux coral and here is the result...

this plastic coral is actually from the Aquarium section at Walmart!

I just spray painted it  and even let a little of the paint chip 

for a more realistic effect

a cool tip to make it look more three dimensional, is to put grey spray primer underneath 

and then spray over that with a lighter colour

and voila!

Silver beaded Garland

I felt as though something was missing from my tree...yup the title gave it away, so off I went in search of some tree filler or as I like to call it garland. I found this 100 ft. one in silver at Walmart, bought it and didn't think twice that 100 ft. is a lot to unravel. One hour later in the midst of untangling my new garland I was about to give up, but I kept on and am truly happy with the results. I love my twinkling tree, oh and by the way I did not use all 100 ft. although you may see the leftover in a DIY some time in the future!

Kitchen island

So I was all happy and ready to begin making the kicthen island for my kitchen, I posted about it, got great feedback that I could attempt to make one myself and I was on my merry way.

I got to the Home Depot and went looking for the legs of the island, the ones I wanted were great, a little tall, but I was sure they could be cut down. Price tag $55 each leg! WTF! I thought by making my own island I was supposed to be saving $$$. So if you do the math that's $248 just for the legs, never mind the other materials like the wood and the table top. So I am afraid that this little project got axed.

Then G and I  (my man) went to Ikea for some fun, I hadn't been in a while and I came across the Utby island. I remember having had bookmarked it in my pictures folder a while back, just in case I could not find my ideal island...so I just decided to try it, what's the worst that could happen, I hate it and I return it. BTW a little known fact, I am notorious in my household for buying and trying things out like, carpets, blinds, etc, and then either returning or exchanging them until I find exactly what I want. G on the other hand thinks over all of his purchases, unlike G I am an impulse buyer! terrible for the pocket book, but I just feel like if I find something I love, I will make it work! ok I digress...

So I tried it, the utby table that is, and I loved it, it gives me way more room in the kitchen, and it doubles as extra counter space.

Now the issue was chairs, I really didn't like any at Ikea, and the ones I did like in general cost about $299 a chair, I couldn't in my right mind spend that much with Christmas just around the corner! so on a trip to Walmart the same day, to pick up household supplies, I came across some counter height stools, I hated hated hated the existing fabric on them, they were a taupe micro fibre, but I knew I had just the right fabric at home, so swipe and sold!

Without further adieu... here they are:

I will be buying 2 more stools without backs in a brown black wood colour so I can tuck them away under the island and have a better eye line. The backless stools will go on the right side and these will go on the left. I may also get backless stools that have a cushion which I was thinking of doing in a solid fabric...we'll see.

Next post: how I made my chalkboard frames...stay tuned.

Updates...

So I've changed a few small things in my bathroom, I still feel the colour just isn't quite right though...maybe a soft, silvery blue? Until I get the up the nerve to paint again (the paint is only 7 months old) here's what I've added/changed:

1. New framed photos
I took these while I was in Aruba and I thought they would be perfect for the bathroom, they have a very peaceful, serene and simplistic quality. I added some mattes that I found at Walmart, and they have a great little black border which really makes the pictures pop!

2. New accessories
I found some great bath sponges at Pier 1 and I couldn't resist! They remind me of a cluster of coral, only cheaper! so I added them to my apothecary jars, with my lovely bath bombs from Lush and voila instant update! Also I tried to keep everything in the jars the same colour so they wouldn't compete with each other, the neutrals are always so fresh looking in a bathroom.

3. Bath soaps, and salts
For the last touch update, I found some great looking bath products over at Winners and I couldn't stop myself, not only were they less expensive ( I love Winners!) but they are some simple, and I love that they can stand on their own as decorative accessories...also key is that they are neutrals just like my sponges and soaps, so they all work harmoniously together.