Easy Canopy Crown

Today I thought I'd show you another project from my guest/craft room.
But first, I'll show you the inspiration behind it.
This photo is from an issue of Flea Market Style magazine - the one published by Better Homes and Gardens, not the one of the same name by Ki Nasseur (which I also love!)

This is from an old issue of Country Living, from a feature called, "Double Wide".

Here's how I merged the two ideas together to create a very inexpensive and easy canopy crown.

The actual base, or crown was a curved shelf that I purchased at Goodwill.

It originally came from Home Goods (still had the sticker attached), and looked a little bit too shiny and new for the look I had in mind. So I dry brushed it with a little white paint, still allowing much of the gold and dark highlights to show through.

To make the curtain rod, I took a simple wire hanger (one of the sturdy ones) and nipped the hook off.

Next I measured the length of the curved section and nipped the coat hanger wire about 1 1/2 inches longer. Then I took needle-nose pliers to make a curl at each end. Afterward, I shaped the metal into a gentle curve to roughly match up with the curve in the shelf.

There was a lip in my shelf which I used to secure the rod, so after shaping, I did a quick check to make sure it would fit.

I had some gorgeous old net lace curtains stashed and decided to use them for my canopy, so I just threaded them onto the wire "rod". If you don't have curtains that will work, you could just as easily use a length of fabric or lace hemmed to create a channel for the rod.

Then I slipped the shirred curtains and wire under the lip on my shelf.

After I hung it up, I decided it was just too dark for the room, so down it came.

I repainted it, this time using a somewhat heavier coat of paint. For the first coat I used the "Cafe au Lait" shade that I'd painted 3 of the walls of the room with, and afterward, dry brushed on a little more white.

Much better!

So I re-shirred the curtains onto the wire and hung the crown again.

As you can see, I hung a little gold tassel in the center for some added interest.

And there you have it.
Quick, easy and under $5.00!

Until next time,
Sheilla

I'm linking up with "White Wednesday" at Faded Charm. Come on over and check things out at Kathleen's fantastic blog!

Great Giveaway at Cottage Hill

Lindy's really out done herself with this fabulous bird pillow!


Visit her blog for details on how to win it!

Until next time,
Sheilla

Bargain Find Redos

This week has flown by! I can't believe it's already time for another Show and Tell Friday. Today I'd like to show you a couple of my bargain finds and how I dressed them up.


First up, a red chair that I recently nabbed at Goodwill for $3.00. This is how it looked when I bought it.


There were a few cracks in the seat, so I filled them in with wood putty.


Next, I gave the chair a thorough sanding.


It was during the sanding that I encountered a small problem. Once of the screw holes was almost completely stripped and would no longer hold a screw. Since this is a pretty common problem, I thought I'd share my solution with you. I simply took a toothpick and bent it in half as shown.


Next, I inserted it into the hole.


Once fully inserted, the screw went in quite securely.


Next, I painted the chair black.


Here it is after I painted it.


To jazz it up a little, I painted the shield-shaped grove with white.


Then, I made a stencil and added a fleur de lis to the back.


And now for what just might be my best bargain of all time...a vintage cardboard wardrobe that I picked up at a yard sale for the grand sum of $2.00! I've actually had this piece for a while...long before I started blogging so I don't have photos of it in it's original brown color. The photo below shows it after its first redo, with blue trim and floral wallpaper panels.


That look worked well for the room as it was decorated at the time.


But it was due for a bit of a facelift. To bring it more in step with my updated scheme, I painted the trim black and decoupaged pages from an old dictionary that I found in a freebie pile to the panels.


It was a very simple change, but I think it gives the wardrobe a completely different character.


Here are my two bargain pieces with a bookcase that I'm using in my currently-in-progress redesigned guest/craft room.

I love finding bargains like these and fixing them up as one of a kind accents. I hope you've enjoyed my little tale. Happy bargain hunting!

Until next time,
Sheilla

Be sure to check out "Show and Tell Friday" at Cindy's Romantic Home. Lots of great ideas to discover!

Artist Profile: Jennifer Molley Wilson

Today it is my privilege to introduce to you a very talented emerging phototgraphic artist, and someone it is my pleasure to call "friend", Jennifer Molley Wilson. Because it's White Wednesday, I'm selecting some of her works in white to share with you. Jennifer has an amazing gift for taking the ordinary to an extraordinary level.

Click on any photo to enlarge.

Her camera is the Apple iPhone 3GS, using the Hipstamatic 175 iPhone Camera App


All elements are photographed just as they are found.

It goes against her artistic message
to rearrange objects
that have already been posed by serendipity.


In keeping with this artistic
message no photographs are edited or retouched.

She is fascinated by the precision born from randomness

The objects that gather in some forgotten corner.

The fading facade of a forlorn past.

These are the images she is compelled to preserve

Jennifer will soon be exibiting her work in a new artist coop/gallery in Bristol, Tennessee, with plans to expand into the Asheville, North Carolina galleries in the near future.
To see more of her work, you can visit her online gallery.
To purchase, you may contact the artist directly at jennifermolleywilson@gmail.com.
Jennifer is very quickly becoming one of my favorite artists!
I hope you've enjoyed this little photo tour as much as I've enjoyed sharing it with you.

Until next time,
Sheilla

I'm linking up with "White Wednesday" at Faded Charm. Come on over and check things out at Kathleen's gorgeous blog!

Recycled Dresser Mirror

Work is underway in my guest/sewing room. I am finally reclaiming my lost space that had devolved into a storage heap! While doing some rearranging, I moved a dresser that formerly occupied that room to the living room. Since it was placed under a window, I couldn't use the mirror that had been on top.



I decided to repurpose it as a wall mirror in the guest/sewing room, but felt it was lacking something when I hung it up. I decided what it was missing was a shelf underneath, so I decided to build one using some materials I had on hand...a 3/4 inch thick board, and some cheesy plastic brackets that I found at Goodwill a while back.



To start, I measured and cut the board to about eight inches longer than the length of the bottom edge of the mirror.



Then I sanded the rough sides of the board as well as rounded down the edges to make a bit of a softer line.



This is how it looked when I finished sanding.



Next I painted the board and brackets. When painting the brackets, I left a little bit of the underlying gold showing through for a more aged look.



Here it is all put together. It was painful for me to share this photo...you can see in the mirror reflection the mess I'm still working through to reclaim the room.



Here are a couple of detail shots. First, the top of the mirror.



And where the shelf and mirror join.



All in all, not too bad for a freebie project, don't you think? Work on the room is going slowly because of some extra hours at my job, but it is coming along. I'll have lots of innexpensive project ideas coming out of this re-do, so I hope you'll check in with me again soon.

Until next time,
Sheilla

This post is shared on "Show and Tell Friday" at Cindy's gorgeous blog, My Romantic Home. You should check it out....lots of great ideas to discover! My apologies Cindy! Due to a cut and paste error, I am late in crediting your party! So sorry!!!