Scrapbook Headboard

Okay, I know it's not totally original and you can find a million different ways to do a headboard on Pinterest, but I've been trying to decide how I wanted to go about making an inexpensive one to change up our room. Initially I was going to cover plywood or foam board in fabric. But like many of my plans, that changed.

 

I found foam board when I was at the dollar store, for you guessed it, $1 a piece. I bought six because I wasn't sure how big it would need to be and I bought it on a whim. When I was at Joann's I looked at fabric and decided it would be a little more expensive and I'd have to wait in the cutting line. So I explored the scrapbook paper aisle and found some really pretty paper (plus it was on sale 3 for 99 cents). I bought 40 pieces of paper (5 each of 8 different patterns).

I held the foam board above my bed when I got home and realized I'd only need four of the foam board pieces. I taped the four pieces together. I then tried different methods of gluing the pieces on.

First, I tried mod podge. This was my first time really using this so I didn't know what to expect. I learned it's not that great for bigger pieces of paper. They got too wet and had air bubbles when they dried, plus it made the foam board curl.

I had to pull off, and waste, two pieces of paper and try again; luckily I had more paper than I needed.

Second, I tried spray adhesive. This worked well enough but it was messy because of overspray and I needed to use it outdoors and seeing that I was working on this at 10 p.m. I didn't really want to keep running out in the dark. Also, the spray adhesive didn't allow me to position the papers easily.

I finally settled on the old tried and true glue stick. I know this doesn't always hold permanently so I may have to go back and fix it occasionally but it worked the best for what I had because it didn't curl the foam board and didn't leave air bubbles. I could also reposition the paper when I needed to. (It came in handy later because I could pull the paper off a little to hide the nails to hang up the board).

I glued down all of my pieces. I had to use an exacto knife to trim off a little of the side of the board because the paper didn't go right to the side. I used a black paint marker to paint the sides of the white foam board.

I hung the board up on my wall by using several small nails. The board isn't very heavy so you don't have to go crazy, but I wanted to make sure to secure each individual foam board so they didn't decide to let gravity take over.

Overall, I'm personally pretty pleased with the results. (Just wish my phone was taking better pictures). Of course, I'll have to see how it holds up.

Think Outside the Box-Crafty Area Rug

 I have been looking for an area rug for my living room for several months. I've found many I like, however, I'm not willing to part with $400 for an 8x10. Not to mention the rug gripper I'd need to add to it.

I have been trying to think outside the box and get crafty. Of course I did a pinterest search. I initially thought I'd refurbish an old rug I have rolled in the closet. Once I rolled it out I realized it was a lot smaller than I remembered (probably only a 5x7). Then I thought I'd find some rubber or a rug pad with more stability and add fabric. I wasn't sold on this because I didn't think it would be very comfortable to lay on.

I found a pin where someone had made a tall twin bed out of stacked pieces of foam covered in fabric. It could be used as seating or pulled down as individual beds for sleepovers. I thought, why can't I do this for my rug. I could do 4x4 foam pieces with a 1/2 inch thickness. I could cover the foam with fabric and use spray adhesive, then they could either be stacked in the corner or laid out. Or you could pull one out to sit on. I went to Joann's today and found out that foam is really pricey! $11 for a yard! And I needed about 9-12 yards. $120+ just for the foam wasn't going to cut it for this project, especially since I didn't know how it would work out.

I wandered around Joann's but couldn't come up with anything that was in my budget. I left and took a trip to Walmart and wandered. Then I found this:

 

And it's not a rug from Walmart, because I couldn't even find something reasonable there that matched my decor. I actually found this in the bathroom decor aisle. It's comprised of 4 extra large/thick bath towels. I wasn't going to purchase them because I thought that's crazy; towels on my floor. But the more I thought about it I realized you see rugs made from all sorts of materials and really with the pattern and thickness of these it wasn't much different than rugs I've seen. I bought four at $13 a piece and when I got home I sewed them together. (Probably a 30 minute project, even though I still need to do a little hand sewing around the edge).

 

Not only was it in my budget but think how easy it will be to clean! Plus it's easy to move around and store if I want a break. Hopefully no one else will realize it's made from towels; except for all of you that I just told.

 Just think outside the box.

Tybee Dresser

For the last couple of years we have had a dresser sitting in our garage; the sister of a dresser I already refinished. I figured it was time to do something with it or get rid of it. So over the last couple of weekends I refinished it.

My inspiration was an older, weather-worn house on Tybee Island. As well as the wrought iron in Savannah.

Following my inspiration I white-washed the dresser and used handles and pulls that had a wrought iron look. This is the dresser before (minus the drawers):

I stripped off the old stain. I first tried to use an orange stripping agent called Citrusstrip. It did not work well. While it is great that it stays wet for a long time, it came off in wet, tarry, clumps and clung to the dresser. I spent a lot of time just getting the stripper agent off the dresser after I had already stripped the stain. After that fiasco, I used Jasco Paint and Epoxy Remover to clean up some left-over stain. It cleans up much better than the Citrusstrip.

I decided to first paint the dresser and drawers a dark brown paint I had left over from another project because I didn't want the light brown wood to show through the white-wash. I wanted a darker look. However, you could start white-washing right after taking off the old stain if you wanted.









After the brown was good and dry I mixed up my white-wash. I used some leftover white latex primer. I filled a solo cup half full with the white paint and then added in water to get a consistency I liked. I was able to do two coats on the dresser with only that small amount of paint. It is super runny so make sure you are working somewhere you don't mind getting messy. Follow the wood grain and make sure to get in any nooks. If you get water spots just go over with another coat later.

 I decided to save some money and use the old hardware. I bought a can of Rustoleum's Hammered look in black and painted the hardware. With two coats of white-wash and spray paint this is what I got:



 

"Homemade" Grease Stain Remover

I have a green New York and Company shirt made primarily of polyester. It's the type of shirt that shows every water spot and everything else. I thought I had done it in the other day as I got a grease stain right down the front. Go figure!

I washed it and it didn't come out so I figured I'd do a search online for a stain remover and if it didn't work, consider that the shirt had a good run. My online stain remover worked! I will file that one away for future use. Here's the trick:

A mixture of liquid dish detergent (Dawn) and baking soda. Use enough soap to make a paste and then put it on you garment (I don't know if it works for non-polyester garments), scrub it in with your nail. Let it sit for at least 10 minutes. Wash like normal.

Stain magically gone!

Installing a Screen Door

So I can't take much credit on this one because I didn't do much but help carry and open the box and lift the door into the frame.

My wonderful husband installed this screen door today and now we can have natural light and a breeze through the foyer.

If you are at least a little handy with powertools this isn't a bad project. The directions that came with the door were clear with a lot of pictures. (Larson is the manufacturer).
It may have helped that our front door and frame are pretty new so everything was nice and square.

We had most tools on hand. (electric drill, drill bits, pencil, tape). We only had to get a larger drill bit to help with the door handle installation. One great thing about this door is that you can install the hinges and door handles on whichever side you need.

This project can probably be completed in about half a day and you can enjoy more light and fresh air right away.

DIY Lessons Learned the Hard Way

Lesson: Don't be stingy with your resources unless you want to re-do your project!

You can see what my beautiful tiled floor looked like in the last post. This is what it looks like today:

About 5 months ago I posted about our DIY Tile laying adventures in "Go Ahead and Tile, Even if You're an Amateur." Well, I'm sure like most DIYer's you learn lessons the hard way. I'd like to share my lessons so you may not have to learn them yourself.

The tile job held up really well for several months. Then the dreaded humidity and heat hit. The grout started cracking and you could hear some of the tiles shift when you stepped on them. I tried to determine if there would be an easy fix such as re-grouting, but alas, the verdict was to try and pull the tile up and re-set it. The foyer has a bit of a dip in the flooring so we thought maybe the tile wasn't level.

I was able to break through the grout with a hammer and flat head screwdriver. Once I got one tile pulled up the other one's came up relatively easily. This has led me to believe that it isn't really about a dip in the floor but more about us being stingy and not using enough mortar. The tiles pulled up way too easy and several only showed mortar spots on half of the tile. Yep, not enough mortar. I only cracked one tile while trying to pull it up and luckily we had a few leftover tiles. Unfortunately, it's one that had to be cut for a corner, so I guess the water saw is coming back out.

Once we get the tile up we will be applying a lot of mortar and re-setting the tiles. I guess we will get more experience in grouting and sealing. Hopefully it looks as good or better the second time around!

Go Ahead and Tile, Even if You're an Amateur

It's the start of a new year, you're in the middle of painting and a million other projects, what should you do?  Tear up old tile in a foyer and re-tile even though you've never done it before!

While in Home Depot wandering for other items we looked at the tile and suddenly decided, "why not?" We already knew the general square footage of the room so we were able to determine how much we would need. We checked both Home Depot and Lowe's for tile before realizing Home Depot had  better prices for what we were looking for.

 

The old tile wasn't terrible, but it did look dirty to me and the grout was very stained. Even after several great scrubbings it still had some nicotine stain and just didn't feel fresh. It's one of the few areas in the house we hadn't touched.

  

The first step is to tear up the old tile. Remove all the base trim and the vents, and closet doors if you have them.  We didn't have a sledge hammer, which would have been beneficial so we took hammers, screwdrivers, and a crow bar to the floor. We first tried to tear up the grout to get to the tile, then just gave in and beat the crap out of the tile with the hammers. Once we were able to get open areas we were able to take the crowbar (my favorite tool) and lift up large pieces. You also have to remove the concrete board under the tile and the screws that hold the concrete board down. This process takes a lot longer than you would think, requires a lot of effort, and makes quite a dusty mess.

Close the doors to your other rooms!! And wear a face mask!!! Lessons learned.

The next step is to make sure you have everything you need for the tile. The worker at Home Depot was really helpful. She was able to tell us everything we needed. You will need:

Hardibacker                     

Sponges (get several, for cleaning and de-hazing)

Tile                                   

Float

Mortar                              

Mesh Joint tape

Mixing bucket

Trowel                               

A tile saw or cutter (We used both a scorer/snapper and a wet saw)

Electric drill                       

Hardibacker screws

Sealer                               

 Grout (sanded or non-sanded; depends on your grout line size)

Grout bags

Spacers

You can see the sub-floor here as we started laying hardibacker. After you get to the sub floor make sure it's nice and clean and smooth. Then use hardibacker or a concrete base. You need this so that the tile will adhere and to level out the floor. We chose hardibacker because it has grids and is nice and sturdy. You will find a thin and a thick version at your home improvement store. The thin version is for flooring. This cost about $10 a piece. You can snap it into pieces that you need and you are supposed to leave a small space in between each piece and the walls. (Kyle really did all of this work).

You first mortar the hardibacker down and then screw it to the sub floor with special screws. (You can find these right by the hardibacker generally). Make sure you get the screws down in enough so that your tile will be level. 

After you lay the hardibacker you will use the mortar and a special mesh joint "tape" and  go over each crack in between the hardibacker pieces. Make sure to fill in any larger gaps with the mortar for tile support. The mortar starts to settle so make sure you use enough. You can get more in the tape when you lay the tile. You should let the mortar dry with the hardibacker for about a day before doing the next steps. (It took us about a month and half to finish this project so we really had no problems letting things cure).

Next comes the fun part of laying your tile. Decide what pattern you want. We laid the tiles out first before putting any mortar down to decide what pattern we wanted. We decided to go with an unaligned/off set pattern. We also decided to add in an accent. (Granted this was all decided when we were in the store well ahead of time).

We first put down all the tiles that did not need cut or scored. We started on one end and worked down. We decided ahead of time where the accents would make the most sense. The accents came in 12 x 12 pieces. We cut them in strips of 3's and 2's. To lay the tile first put down a coat of mortar. Use more than you think you need, this is something we learned as we had to go back and re-mortar a few pieces. Don't be stingy!  Smooth the mortar out (work in small sections at a time). Score the mortar by running the trowel using the teeth side at a 45 degree angle. Lay your tile and use the spacers to make sure you have consistent spacing. We did one row at a time and decided how we wanted to stagger the pieces as we went. After we had all of the big pieces down we went in and cut the pieces that needed fit in. We measured the pieces and marked with a pencil. The bigger easy cuts we did using a scoring/snap saw (you can get it for about $20).

To use this tool you have to be careful. Make sure you have everything lined up. Use consistent pressure to score the tile. When you get to the end make sure the presser piece (the part that snaps it) is right on the break line on the end. Press firmly but not too hard or you will break the whole tile. I found I was a bit better at this than Kyle because he would have a tendency to push to hard. (Nothing against him, he did the hardibacker well). This tool is not good for cutting off small pieces or doing corners but is good for taking several inches off.

We used a wet saw to cut the smaller pieces and to do the corner pieces (luckily we could borrow one from my dad, as they aren't super cheap).

And yes, I cut it in the bathtub, because this thing makes a mess. But it's a great tool and pretty easy to use.

After you have all your tile down and spaced appropriately let the mortar dry. When you are mortaring you may have to build up a few places if the flooring isn't exactly level. We had a few places that had humps (mainly near the closet).

The mortar needs to dry for about a day.

The next part is to do the grout. If you have a porous, unsealed tile you may need to seal it first to protect from grout stain. We had a porcelain tile that was pretty non-porous so we didn't have to do this step. Follow the directions on the grout bag and mix just little bits at a time. I used a grout bag and a the float. Take out all the spacers. Then take your grout bag and fill it to a level you can manage with grout that has a consistency of toothpaste. Put the grout through the empty grout lines. Then smooth it out with the float. If there is extra on the float put it in an empty grout space. Don't be worried about making too much of a mess because you can clean it up. After the grout is down for about thirty minutes you can carefully clean off the excess grout with a damp sponge, just watch the grout in the lines (follow your bag instructions). Grouting really didn't take that long and was one of the more enjoyable parts.

After you wipe with a damp sponge you will still see this haze from the grout. At about two hours you can remove the haze with a dry sponge. I used one with a special microfiber side. Just wipe over the tiles. Also make sure at this time you clean up grout going too far over tiles and check your corners.

Grout takes about 16 hours to dry.  The last step is to make sure your tile is very clean and seal it. I first wiped it down with a wet sponge, then after that dried swept it lightly. I could still feel some grit so I used a microfiber towel to wipe it off as I started the sealing process.

We used a spray sealer. You spray it generously over the tiles and grout and then spread it with a sponge. (Test this first to make sure it isn't going to change the color of your tile or grout, I tested the closet first). After five minutes, wipe of the excess sealant with a dry cloth or sponge. Let the sealant dry for 2-3 hours. If you have a porous surface you may have to do a second coat. Once the sealant is dry you are good to go.

 

 

Of course one project leads to another. We went to put the trim back up and realized it didn't look as great as we'd like.....