Upcycled Resin Coasters

Last summer my boyfriend and I took a quick weekend trip to Las Vegas and while we were there we stayed at the newly renovated SLS Hotel which was once the Sahara Hotel many years ago. When we went last summer the hotel had only been open for a few weeks and while it wasn't on the main stretch of Las Vegas Blvd among all the hub-bub, or an uber fancy hotel at that, for the price, we weren't opposed to staying somewhere new and decided to give it a shot.

For those of you that don't know, because I certainly didn't, the SLS is a boutique style hotel with hotels in any major cities around the country such as Beverly Hills and Miami, and as of last summer, Las Vegas. What I didn't know about the hotel brand, but thoroughly enjoyed, is that their mascot is a super cute monkey. All throughout the hotel room they had notepads, laundry bags, pens, all adorned with their monkey mascot. How very cute and chic all at the same time.

All weekend long I snapped pictures of the hotel décor (all bloggers do this right?), the chandeliers, the bathrooms, the monkey paraphernalia, and by the end of the short stay, I had fallen hard for this monkey. Weird, I know. He was totally cute (and he's totally a he), while still being very chic and gave off that Hollywood Regency vibe which I totally love. As we were packing up and as our weekend was ending, I desperately wanted to bring a little piece of the SLS back home so I gathered up all the free monkey emblazoned notepads, pens, and laundry bags. Yes. Yes, I totally did. #dontjudge

My boyfriend...the man I love so much because he doesn't even bat an eye as I'm greedily shoveling all the monkey trinkets into my bag, points at the mini bar and says "you forgot the coasters". Coasters!!! Holy jackpot Batman! I snatched those up in a hot second and man...I'm sure I did! They're the shining star of today's totally rad DIY that I schemed up.

Since our trip to the SLS last summer I've been hoarding these coasters like they were gold just waiting for the perfect opportunity to use them some way, somehow. I refrained from using them right away because I knew that with them being made out of the same material as your standard cheap-o bar coasters, they'd be ruined and water stained in no time. If I wanted to keep them intact, I'd have to brainstorm up a more permanent solution.

My ah-ha moment came after perusing the aisles of Home Depot. I've always been fascinated with resin for its clear yet solid finish but have always been a little hesitant to give it a try. Until now! I knew that using resin to seal, protect, while still being able to enjoy the adorable monkey figure on the coasters was the perfect permanent solution I was looking for. I picked up some resin (this kit actually) and gathered the rest of my supplies. Luckily I had everything else I needed on hand so the upfront cost was minimal.

Here are all the supplies I used to complete this project:

I decided that the monkey coasters needed some additional backing...mainly to beef it up so that the painters tape had something more to adhere to. My original thought was to back them with cork, and I still might do that, but I couldn't find any plain cork coasters that didn't cost an outrageous amount of money (seriously...it's only cork people!) and I was too impatient to order something online and wait for it to arrive. #patience is not a virtue

My solution came during my recent coffee table organizational effort. I found these old Halloween themed cardboard coasters which were water stained and instead of tossing them, I knew I could use them to beef up my cutie monkey coasters.

To adhere the Halloween coasters to the monkey coasters, I used Aleen's tacky spray glue and sprayed a good amount on the Halloween design (the backside is just plain white) then just placed the monkey coaster, monkey side up, right on top of the glue and allowed the glue to take hold.



After the glue had taken hold, I wrapped each coaster with blue painters tape. I did wrap the coasters in such a way that there was an overhang of tape on the bottom of the coaster that I then folded down. The painters tape will act as a barrier for the resin and allow the same to take form.

Next, I mixed up a batch of resin according to the directions on the box. All kits may vary so follow the directions on the kit you have before moving on to the next step.

With the resin mixed, I placed all my coasters on a cookie sheet in case there was any leakage and poured the resin into each form. I did my best to make sure each coaster was the same thickness but it was hard to be accurate so I just eyeballed it. While I poured the resin a few air bubbles formed at the top of the surface but the directions in the kit suggested blowing lightly on the surface to eliminate the bubbles.

Once the resin was poured the hardest part was waiting the full 24 hour cure time before I could see how they turned out!

After waiting the allotted cure time, they were almost done! To finish them off, I took a fine grit sand paper and lightly sanded the edges to get rid of the inconsistencies of height from my pour.

Ready to see how they turned out?

The resin changed the color of the coaster over all from a creamy white to an almost coffee stained brown but I don't mind. I love it so much more! We keep the coasters in this ceramic jar that sits on our coffee table. Perfect for easy access!

So we've determined that they look good, but do they work good?

They do! As the glass sweats, the coaster collects the water instead of it spilling over onto the table. I'm so happy with this little DIY and so glad I snagged those free coasters from the mini bar!

Isn't my little monkey friend the cutest?

Pretty simple right? Now....what else can I use resin for?! Decisions, decisions.

Pom Pom Trimmed Curtains

 

 

For me, when it comes to decorating, a room is never done...done as in I'm madly in love with every little thang and I've checked everything off the decorating to-do list. Often times when working on a room, I finish a DIY, bring in new accessories or rearrange some existing ones and suddenly a whole new slew of ideas flood my brain and before I know it, I'm ready to re-design the whole room all over again. That's where I'm currently at with the master bedroom. It's a problem, I know. I just can't help myself! It's a good and bad problem to have. At times it's hard to quiet the voices in my head and ignore the urge to re-do what has already been done. Ugh! The life of an over-active creative mind.

 

That's why I'm here today...to explain. You see...the voices won out. Remember these? My beloved DIY curtains that I slaved over for 6 hours? 

 

 

Gone. Dunzo. My decorating ADD struck again and I just had to change them. The result? These beauties:

 

 

Another DIY / Ikea / gros-grain ribbon collab, but I think they work much better in this space. The Greek Key curtains were a labor of love and for the money spent, were truly beautiful...but after slaving away for 6 hours to produce these bad boys and living with them for a few weeks, I had one of those it's me, not you conversations with the curtains and ultimately took them down. The problem? Our bedroom windows are just too small to really showcase the Greek Key detailing I worked so hard to make. These curtains would've looked stellar on a larger window, where they wouldn't be scrunched up in a corner or half covered up by a longer dresser thus loosing all the gorgeousness of the Greek Key detailing. As much as I loved them, they really do require a bigger window to shine and in this apartment, we just don't have that. So for now, they're nicely folded and tucked away and I quickly moved onto plan B.

 

Plan B curtains follow most of the same steps as the ones I outlined in this previous post. Once again, I used the Vivan curtain panels in white from Ikea and let me just say...I don't know if Ikea is planning to discontinue these or if everyone is suddenly DIY-ing curtains using these but in the land of Ikea where all things are plentiful, these were not. Picture me...overly excited about this awesome curtain DIY that I cant wait to tackle, beelining it through Ikea towards all the flowing white drapery, only to discover that my bargain white curtains were NO. WHERE. TO. BE. FOUND!

 

How can this be? These curtains are an Ikea staple! I made several more passes through the white curtain section only to frantically realize that nope, my eyes hadn't fooled me. The curtains were gone. I immediately tried to rethink my DIY but knew none of the other options would come close to the price point that the Vivan curtains did. Stupid me. Stupid brain for hating on the old curtains. Ugh. I had to have these curtains. I tried tracking down an Ikea employee in a desperate attempt to unearth the curtains that I just knew had to be in the store somewhere but finding an Ikea employee is like looking for water in the desert so I did the next best thing...pulled out my phone in hopes I could just order the drapes online. While I was online, I checked stock for the store I was in just out of curiosity and saw that they had 6 packs on hand. Just 6! Armed with the info that they had 6 somewhere in that colossal store, I began rifling through the displays and bins until behold...I found 3 packages. I only needed 2 but after the whole ordeal, I bought all 3 and went on my merry way.

 

After I got home with my loot I re-measured from the top of the curtain rod all the way down to the floor (90"), added 1" for seam allowance, added 1" to account for the space at the very top of my curtain to where the rod rest in the rod pocket, and cut my curtains to length (92") for an overall finished length of 91".

 

Using my very best friend, Heat N Bond Hem Tape, I cut a piece of hem tape the width of my raw edge, laid the hem tape paper side up along the raw edge and ran the iron over the entire length of the tape along the raw edge.

 

 

Once the tape has cooled down, remove the paper backing and discard.

 

 

Fold the raw edge upwards and once again using the iron, pass over the entire length of the fold. Allow the ironed fold to cool and the glue to take hold.

 

 

 

With the curtains now hemmed, it's time to add the embellishments!

 

When deciding what embellishments to add to the curtains, I knew from the last go around that anything horizontal wouldn't read well and we'd be right back to square one. After tossing a few ideas around, I finally decided on pom pom and gros-grain ribbon trim on the inner vertical edge for 2 reasons. Reason 1 - vertical embellishments would read well on our small windows and also help elongate the room by drawing the eye upwards (similar to this trick I mentioned here) and Reason 2 - I already had everything on hand minus the curtains...no extra money spent sounds like a win-win situation.

 

I originally purchased 10 yards of white pom pom trim from Amazon for the little one's bedroom curtains but after adding the tissue paper tassels, I thought the trim might be a tad overkill. I also scored a killer deal on black gros-grain ribbon when I made my first set of curtains and had plenty (still do) left over so it worked out perfectly.

 

With the hemmed curtains now ready, I needed to make sure I was embellishing the correct edges, so I identified the inner edge of each panel with a safety pin. Last thing I needed was to embellish 3 inner edges and 1 outer. That wouldn't have been fun. I wasn't quite sure how I was going to attach the pom pom trim at first but ended up hot gluing it to the backside of each inner edge. Worked like a charm. If you're handy with a sewing machine, I'm sure sewing it on would be just as easy but sewing is my Mom's thing so I opted for the quick and easy route. So far, I've had no issues with the hot glue holding up.

 

 

Next, I cut a length of ribbon and hem tape to match. The length of your ribbon should match the finished length of your hemmed curtain panel but I always add a little extra in case of error and because I wanted to wrap the ribbon around to the backside of the panel for a cleaner look. My finished curtain panels were 91" so I cut my ribbon and hem tape at 95". I adhered the hem tape to the ribbon the same way I adhered the tape to the raw edge of my panel.

 

Now...with your panel right side up, lay the ribbon, shiny side down, directly along the inner edge of your panel making sure to position your ribbon so that you have a tail at the top and bottom and run your iron along the entire length of the ribbon securing it to the edge. Allow to cool and for the glue to take hold before you flip your panel over and iron down the tails at the top and bottom. Repeat for all your remaining panels.

 

 

Next step? Hang up your curtains, stand back and admire your handiwork! Maybe do a little happy dance too...I sure did!

 

What do you think? Easy enough? I think so! I finished all 4 panels in about an hour and a half! Way faster than the 6 hours I spent on the first ones. Can't beat that!

 

 

I think these work so much better for this space while still giving the windows some needed pop. Now with these curtains finished I'm turning my focus to the 3rd, yes 3rd window in this room. We actually have a door/window that leads out onto out patio to the right of the of the dresser here which also needs some sort of window covering. I'm thinking a roman shade would work out great so hopefully I can brainstorm a design that will not only work, but match the new pom pom curtains! Wish me luck!



Pillow Talk

Hi again! Did you miss me? Sorry for the brief hiatus but I had to step away from the blog for a few days while I recovered from having my wisdom teeth removed and didn't think it best to write any posts while recovering from that not-so-fun experience. But...I'm back and all is well again! I was in the best of care and certainly can't complain about all the ice cream I got to eat without all the usual guilt!

 

Today I'm back and talking about my most favorite home accessory - throw pillows! Yep, you read that right...plain ol' boring pillows. No. Not true my friends. Throw pillows aren't plain or boring! They're utterly amazing. They're fluffy little squares of magic. I truly believe that pillows (and paint too) can do wonders to transform a room that only requires a very small investment of your time and/or money. Pillow are relatively inexpensive and for just a small investment, by changing out your throw pillows, you can change the entire look and feel of a room in a matter of seconds. Who doesn't love that?!

 

Whenever I'm in a decorating slump or look around me find that I'm starting to feel 'blah' about a space, the first thing I do is switch out the pillows. Doing this instantly brings life and a fresh vibe to a once stagnate room. I recently ordered some new pillows for the living room after finding that I was craving a change and a wanted to bring in some new colors so while I wait for them to arrive (and before I can show you), I thought I'd share with you some of my favorite pillows from the www that I'm crushing on at the moment & some I already own, because you know...I'm a pillow hoarder like that!

 

Take a look:

This bold black & white graphic Stockholm pillow comes from Ikea...insert and all for only $14.99 (currently on sale for $11.99 if you're an Ikea Family Member). You may recognize this pillow from my living room and I love-love-love it. Even with the new pillows coming in, I doubt these will be going anywhere any time soon! 

This Aztec inspired Lappijung Ruta lumbar pillow also from Ikea is a steal for just $10. $10 people! During my recent Ikea trip I picked up 2 of these for a space I'm currently re-working and I had to seriously stop myself from not buying more. The quality is fabulous for only $10. You won't regret buying these. 

This adorable pom pom pillow from H&M is just begging to come home with me & at only $17.95, what's not to love? 

H&M is killing it again in the pillow department! Case in point? This 2-toned metallic pillow. I'm also really digging this copper metallic pillow too. H&M...I love you.

 

 

 Etsy is another great go-to source for unique pillows in gorgeous designer fabrics and this shop has the most beautiful pillows ever. This watercolor abstract pillow is perfect for Spring!

 

 

 Another stunning pillow that I'm drooling over!

 

So? What do you think? Do you love these as much as I do? What pillows are you crushing on right now? Share with me your favorites so I can drool over them with you too! I cant wait to show you what pillows I chose to breathe some new life into our living room. Warning: they're stunning!

 

Garden Stool End Table

One of the things I love the most is when a project is easy, it takes very little time, and it requires very little moo-la. This past weekend I worked on a bunch of small projects that didn't take too much of my time and by the end of the weekend I felt like I had accomplished so much! Don't you love it when that happens?! I know I sure do.

 

Let's talk couches for a second, shall we?

 

 Did you know that the average couch measures anywhere from 6-8 feet long? Our couch measures just over 11 feet! That means our ginormous couch far surpasses the average by a third! When we moved into our previous apartment, the main wall was a whopping 16 feet long!!! Both the couches we had previously owned prior were worn, dated, and just looked disproportionate up against the massive wall. So...we went couch shopping, found a great no-interest for 16 months deal, and purchased this 11 foot beast. We paid it off in 12 months thanks to my financially smart guy and it really is the most comfortable couch in all the land. What we didn't anticipate or take into consideration (our bad) was if/when we ever moved (which we eventually did) and how this massive couch would dictate which apartments we could/could not live in.  Our apartment search was brutal. All because of a stupid couch. We looked at and had to turn down so many other apartment communities all because the main living area didn't have a space large enough to accommodate our couch. #lessonlearned

 

All in all everything worked out, as most things do, and we decided (settled?) on the apartment we're in now. Our couch barely fits along the main wall, but hey...it fits. Which brings me to the project I'm blogging about today.

 

The main wall in our current apartment is approx. 13 feet long. Our couch clocks in at a tad over 11 feet. Which means that on either end of the couch I have about a foot of space to work with, if that. Immediately after moving in and placing the couch, I realized that end tables just weren't going to work. Bummer dude. I tried shoving the couch to one side and having an end table on the other but then my OCD kicked in and I just wasn't having it. Out went the tables.

 

Last summer I was in HomeGoods and found myself in the garden section when I spotted the solution to all my problems. Garden stools. The new end table for small spaces. They're small, compact, they offer a flat surface albeit a small surface, but hey, beggars cant be choosers so into my cart it went and decided to give it a whirl. The only problem? It was green. Mean green.

 

See?

 

 

Didn't exactly go with my black, white, grey, navy color scheme I have going on. But nothing a couple new pillows with some green couldn't fix, right? Right!

 

Well...not so fast.

 

I searched. I scoured. I came up empty handed. There are a ton of pillow options out there but none that I absolutely loved that would help make this green little stool apart of the family. So it's sat here in the living room just waiting. Until now.

 

I'm working on the lamp situation too...in case you're wondering. No side tables, no table lamps = it's a hard life.

 

I found the perfect pillows but the green would have to go. Nothing a little spray paint cant fix! I tell ya, pillows and spray paint can solve just about any decorating dilemma! This mean green garden stool not only got a fresh coat of paint, it also got a tabletop! Wanna see?

I ordered a plain pine wood table top online because I couldn't find one the perfect size at any local hardware or hobby store. It cost me less than $10. I followed the same steps to stain the tabletop as I discussed in this previous blog post and it turned out great!

 

Once the top was stained in my favorite Walnut stain, the garden stool got a few coats of Rustoleum's Candy Pink in Gloss.

Originally my initial thought was to permanently adhere the table top to the garden stool but then I decided against it. If ever down the line I want to repaint the stool or actually use it in a garden some day, I'd be wishing for an easy way to remove the top and restore the stool to it's natural state. That's when I had my little light bulb moment and decided to attach the top using my forever favorite command adhesive strips.

Worked like a charm!



 

 

The pink may seem odd now, but it will when I show you the recent changes to the living room, it'll all make sense. My uber supportive boyfriend didn't even flinch a muscle at the pink. What a keeper!

 

 

The table is a lot more functional now than it ever was and can now hold drinks without the fear of them toppling over from sitting on an uneven surface. For a little over $10, this quick little DIY project solved our space issue just perfectly.

 

I always love finding ways to use things in unexpected ways or to use them in ways in which they weren't originally intended. This project personifies that to a "T"!

 

Did any of you purchase a giant couch and had to forgo end tables because of it? What did you do to solve that dilemma? Do tell!

DIY Tissue Paper Tassels

 

Today I'll be sharing with you a super duper inexpensive project for a room that you haven't seen on the blog yet with material you probably already have in your home. Cool, right?!

 

Let's not waste any time...let's get started!

 

If you haven't already guessed by reading the post title, today I'll be sharing with you how I made tissue paper tassels out of...you guessed it...tissue paper! Not only did I make tissue paper tassels, I turned them into a garland for a playful swag in Little Miss's room.

 

These tissue paper tassel garlands are so fun and spunky! They add a great pop of color, whimsy, and fun to kid spaces and would be so fun for birthday parties, baby showers, the list goes on and on! Oh, and did I mention how inexpensive they are to make? A few dollars...if that!!! This is my kind of DIY. Big impact on a space, small impact on the ol' pocketbook.

 

Here's what you'll need to re-create these cuties:

Tissue paper in as many or as few colors as you'd like

Scissors

Washi-Tape

String / Ribbon / Twine

 

I browsed a few different tutorials but this is what worked best for me and produced the results I liked the best.

 

For my garland I settled on 4 colors. White, yellow, pink, and orange. Little Miss is such a fun and sweet little girl with a bright, bold personality and her love for color (especially yellow) runs deep.

 

To start, take piece of tissue paper and fold it lengthwise (like a hot dog).

 

 Next, fold it width wise (like a hamburger...I'm starting to get hungry here...you?)

 Fold it again width wise so you end up with this:

 Now, with your folded edge up top, use your scissors and cut your fringe from the bottom up however thick/thin you like leaving approx. 2-3" up top, uncut.

 Once all your cuts have been made, unfold your tissue paper sheet and lay flat. Taking your scissors, cut down the middle crease to make so you are left with 2 fringed pieces.

 Take one fringed piece, open it up, and turn it so that the creased middle runs vertically. Be sure to untangle your fringe so it lays flat like so:

 

Now, starting from the bottom, begin rolling the middle section while making sure the fringe on both ends stays nice, neat, and untangled.

 

 Once you have rolled your middle section now it's time to twist the middle section until the twist reaches the top of the fringe cuts.

 Take your twisted middle and form a loop.

With the loop formed, twist the loop a few times...sorta like you're twisting a key to unlock a door.

 With the loop formed and twisted, cut off a length of washi-tape and wrap it around the base of the loop to secure it.

 And that's it! One sheet of tissue paper should make 2 tassels. I've seen some tutorials where one sheet makes 3 or 4 tassels but I tried that and the tassels were a little too wimpy for me. I prefer my tissue paper tassels to look fuller so the steps above is how I achieved that fullness.

 Follow the steps above to make all your tassels until you have enough to string them up and make a garland. The steps may be a bit tedious and repetitive, but for my 4 foot section where I plan to hang this garland, I needed 9 tassels and it took me about 45 mins to an hour from start to finish. Not too bad.

 

 

Once all my tassels had been made I used some simple twine I had on hand to string them up. I started by placing my middle tassel (a yellow one), knotted it into place, and worked my way out knotting the tassels into place about every 6 inches.

 

 

The polka dotted washi-tape is so fun and gives it that extra bit of playfulness. Plus washi-tape is just generally awesome, don't you agree? I found this polka-dotted design at our local dollar store. Score!

 

All in all, I think this project cost me about $5.

 

 

The garland is the perfect complement to the colorful and vibrant drapes and really just brings the fun factor up a notch.

 

These tassel garlands would be great for birthday parties, baby showers, and hey...obviously spaces for those little ones. The best part? They're dirt cheap to make! Love, love, love!!

Please tell me you adore these as much as I do!