makeover Archives - Spoonful of Imagination

Cheap lamp to Industrial Beauty

January 21, 2015 By Erica Deuel Leave a Comment

Today, I have a funny little tale about a lamp.

Before I get to the lamp, I must say it started with an empty room. We moved into this house, and we had a blank slate. We’ve been tackling it little by little and rooms are coming together. The living room has been one of the slowest rooms since we left our old couch and loveseat in Georgia. This room needed seating.

So, a couch was added.

A gallery wall was added.

Yet, it was missing something.

This room needed a lamp. One that could sit on the edge of that couch.

It’s no secret one of my favorite things to do is to embroider (especially at night while talking to my boo). I needed a lamp next to the couch to make that possible. There is not much space between the couch and the doorway for a table, so it needed to be a floor lamp.

The only lamp we had on hand was a cheap plastic shade lamp, so I put it there for the time being. It got the job done, but it didn’t look right.

I felt like it was trying to take over my gallery wall or at least be apart of it. The big white shades were distracting. I wanted something that did the job, but maybe a little more aesthetically. This lamp had to go.

Then I fell in love with a lamp in a store front here in our little town. I thought it was a perfect match. After weeks of trying to get to the store, I finally got in only to find out that the lamp was not for sale. So sad.

I left determined to create my own. Why did I not think of that first? I wanted an industrial type lamp. To me, a wire shade was more subtle than a stark white. I found several shades on-line that would work, but ended up buying two from Lowes. Instead of getting rid of my current lamp, I was going to revamp it.

I came home with new shades and light bulbs excited to try the switch.

It was that easy. They were a perfect fit. Immediately I knew it was the right lamp. I didn’t have to get rid of it after all. The recycled lamp gave off light, yet it did not look like an addition to my gallery wall, but if it did-I would be ok with that.

I like the wire look better. I think these two shades and clear light bulbs immediately turned a cheap lamp into a fun piece that will be talked about.

Do you like metal and the industrial look too? If this idea is something you would like to try let me give two fair warnings.

1. Taking the shade off creates a light that is not softened. It may feel harsh because it is so bright. To help offset this, you could get a lower wattage bulb, a vintage yellow bulb, or only use one of the lights at a time.

2. The metal shade is a lot heavier than the plastic shade. So, the lower light kind of stays in the down “reading-light” position you see. My Caleb says it looks like a wilted flower because if you try to reposition it higher-it just falls. This was ok for me, since it is the perfect height to read a book or embroider.

If these two features don’t bother you, you will love the light as much as me!

I think the handmade lamp perfectly compliments my colorful, art filled wall.

As someone who loves to create, why did I not think of making my own lamp from the very beginning? I guess sometimes the slow process allows us to experience some things along the way. I hope you get to imagine and try something new this week!

Dreaming Big (my boys bedroom plans)

January 14, 2015 By Erica Deuel 1 Comment

There are moments as a mom when I sit back and just watch my kids through different eyes. Do you ever do that? Sit and watch how they talk, their little quirks, and try to burn it all in your memory forever?

When I can quiet the to do lists and tasks playing over and over in my brain, I have a much more free heart to savor these miracles in my care. They really are masterpieces.

I love how Caleb just hungers to be near and talk to me. He will come in the room literally just to tell me something. He notices the small things and confidently gives out compliments. He has a bold aggressive spirit that just wants to succeed and do it on his own. When he pours himself into something, he is relentless and can succeed at anything. He’s so smart and self teaches himself daily. I often wonder why we ever bother doing school. Most days, he will finish my explanation of a lesson for me.

I love how J loves to give really big tight hugs. In his eyes, a hug doesn’t count unless it feels like I am pulling him up with me when I stand. He is stubborn, and when my stubbornness meets his-it usually produces some pretty epic fails. He reminds me the heart battle is more important than the issue at hand. He is hilarious and often smirks and says the most witty things. He is as slow as a snail unless it is for something he wants.

I love how Reagan often tilts her head to the side as she talks. She slurs some words and I hunger on those remains of her young-innocent toddler days. She is independent and fierce. She has enough sass to make any grown adult feel self conscious. She giggles with her huge locks of curls thrown behind her. She is gorgeous and has the most beautiful roll out of bed look I’ve ever seen. She loves to have her back scratched and I find myself doing it as often as she’s in arms reach because it is about the only way she will let me hold her.

My kids are rocks. I think of this past year and how we turned their whole world upside-down with becoming foster care parents. They had to share their parents, lives, home, schedule, things and life in a new way. They not only accepted it, they embraced and did it with us. It was a team effort and I could not be prouder. We then sold their home and moved them away from all their family and friends. It’s been a big 12 months, and now I want to create such special places for them.

When I think of how I want to design their bedrooms, I know I want to incorporate so many elements that just make them feel special, valued, loved, and excited. I want to create a space that has them dreaming, creating, playing and of course imagining.

I hinted that I had huge plans for my boys bedroom when I shared their chalkboard wall. Today, I want to share a first for me. I want to let you see the mess in my head. Here are my ideas for their room…

1. Caleb is obsessed with sports. We didn’t end up finding a house with a basement, so we knew he would need a basketball hoop in his room instead. He saw one he liked at Walmart, but it would have been like the third or forth one we have had. The little plastic hoop breaks so quickly. Matt’s parents found this one for Caleb for Christmas, and he loves it. At any one moment, I can have a sweaty boy running and jumping…even with a snow covered driveway.

2. I think I mentioned in our new home tour, that the boys’ room was the previous owner’s office. They have lots of different lighting and places to add a fun industrial take on those light fixtures. These lights I saw online, but we will figure out a DIY version because the $489 price tag was a little steep for us.

3. You may remember my boys had Transformer decals in their last bedroom. Their newest phase is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, so we decided together we had to have their two favorites turtles for their room. Whenever they dress up or play turtles they always pick their favorite, Raphael and Donatello. For as much as I loath posters, I adore RoomMate decals!

4. There is never enough accent walls and patterns in my house. I want the walls to be as inspirational as the things placed on them. It’s a blank canvas waiting to be transformed. I am so excited to use this Royal Designs Studio stencil in their room.

5. Now, my J loves animals. They have a special place in his heart. When he is outdoors his stubbornness melts and he is the sweetest thing. I have to figure out a way get some nature in his room. We might do some plants and get their fish tank going again, but I also want to hang some stuffed animals on the wall (as you will see in a picture below inspired me) like this sweet moose.

6. We love the simple look of this stuffed bear I made. So adding some simple designs with bold patterns are a must.

7. Again, I want this first winter living in what I call North Mountain (for all you Frozen fanatics, you know what I mean), to be awesome. I want to be proactive in getting that little boy energy out, so they don’t get in trouble swinging from chandeliers. I love the idea of figuring out a way/space to add a climbing wall and I found these rocks.

Now, let me show you one of the funnest bunk beds I have ever seen. When I saw this picture from The Hut, I knew we needed to use it to inspire our boys’ beds. Matt is going to build the boys a bunk bed, and I love the tree house, simplicity and fun of this bed. What a fun way to also have a spacial nook in a room that you share!? We might need two of these.

I am also planning to create a little wall gallery with some of their art or things that I have already made them. We are going to hang up their batman board game.

We definitely need to hang this Batman felt garland back up. It was above Caleb’s red dresser in their last room and looked awesome.

I painted this sign years ago. It’s funny I showed it on our very first blog. This project alone started me dreaming of this blog now. So, cool to still have it. I’m forever thankful I didn’t sell it.

I still like the hanging basket we had above J’s dresser too.

I love the idea of this felt pennant, but I would want it to say “be wild”.

As you can see, we have lots of projects and are definitely dreaming big. Why not!? We only live once. There will be lots of love put into these projects, and I will take you on the journey with us. It will be fun to see if the final reveal has some or any of these elements.

Do you have or know a little boy that would like this room too? Please feel free to share this post. I’d also love it, if you pinned it to one of your Pinterest boards! Inspiring others to dream big will always be one of my favorites things about this blog.

I hope and pray you can imagine and create this week. We all might not have a full day to create or start the kind of project that a tree house bed requires, but maybe we can find an hour. Carve an hour out of your schedule or mark it on your schedule, before it is claimed for you. I will too.

Disclosure: This post does include affiliate links, but all feelings and opinions are my own.

Create an Outdoor Patio Space You Love

October 7, 2014 By Erica Deuel Leave a Comment

This is the best time of year to be outside in my book. I literally find myself wanting to take a picture every day of the clouds. You know I love fall, so I won’t gush too much. Something key to enjoying the outdoors is having a comfortable space to watch the kids, relax, sit, and just be.

We have been trying to sell our house for about two months now. The other week, before an open house, I literally had an idea to do a makeover under our deck. It was one of those ideas that once it came, I had a hard time wondering why I hadn’t thought of it before. I vaguely remember searching pinterest pictures for under the deck patio makeovers when we bought our house, but then life happened. That makeover never happened till now, and it needed it. Here was the before.

Pretty plain right? Not a mess, but definitely not inviting. We have had amazing feedback on our house. If there is a complaint it is the size of the backyard. I am hoping this little makeover helps it sell.

Since the idea came to me late in the day, I had about 24 hours to fix it up. I’m telling you, I used a lot of spraypaint, and did it in about 8 hours off and on.

I had an old bench and chair sitting in my basement gifted from a friend who knew I could do something with them. I used a beautiful color of Rustoleum spray paint and went to town on them. It took less than two cans of paint with a few light layers drying complete between each coat.

Please forgive me for not wearing a mask, we were outside and it was quick light coats, but you should wear a mask. Let’s not even mention that I’m doing this in my PJ’s… thanks!

I ran a couple of errands to get some supplies. My goal was to brighten up the space and make it feel warm for less. I started with two outdoor rugs from Five and Below. I went for the pink and love it. I placed them next to each other to create one larger rug and it worked great.

Next, we made a coffee table. I got cement blocks at Home Depot. It was my work out for day to load those in the van and then unload them and carry them around to the back yard. Matt helped make me make a simple top. He picked some different width boards we had lying around and braced them together with two boards screwed in below. Next, he he did a light/quick spray paint over the boards using a different color on each board. Then he did a light coat of stain over it and quickly wiped it off. I love how the stain muted the colors a little bit and blended them together.

I had a log that I had taken from my parents’ wood pile sitting in the garage. My initial idea was to create a little wood log end table with it, like the one I did for Reagan’s nightstand, but it worked great for this makeover project. Matt was excited to see it leave the garage as well. Win, win! I brushed two coats of polyurethane on it, used a table top from Home Depot (that I spray-painted lime green) and laid it on top. It was a simple and cheap end table!

I bought a few plain boring planters, primed them, and then spray painted the bottom half hot pink. I intended to go back and paint the tops black, but I forgot about that until seeing these pictures. 🙂 Opps!

Mums do a lot to make a space feel happy and friendly. I love the color they add as well! Next, I bought a few hanging plants on clearance at Wal-mart for $2.50 each. Matt rigged up an old yellow chain, and we hung them up from our deck. If you are wanting some fun white lights for outdoors, run to Wal-mart. I bought four boxes for $5.00 each. They are fun, white lights that can be used indoors or outdoors. I want to go back and get more. They are in the Christmas section. I’m not being paid to say this at all. What a great deal though, right!? My last set of white lights I bought for Reagan’s room were easily $12-$15. I got sidetracked 🙂 back to my makeover.

I found this cute kitchen rug at Wal-Mart as well. You might remember I bought a few when I made my carpet bag. This one I decided to use outside. I sprayed a couple of coats of Rustoleum’s waterproof spray on it (letting it dry completely between each coat).

I’ve made a lot of wreath’s, but this cute one for $3.00 at Target got me. It was cheap, cute, and I don’t care if it gets rained on and ruined. It didn’t take me any time.

We are loving our new area. It is so bright and cheerful. It’s a much better seat to enjoy looking out at the woods and watching my kids play.

Of course this makeover got me thinking bigger. I’d love to put a big wall art to hang above the bench and some metal sheets to cover the under deck to make it waterproof. Hopefully though someone else will fall in love with this house (including this area) and I will be blessed to not have to keep creating at this house.

We were pretty sad that no one at the open house fell in love with this space and gave us an offer. I know God has a plan, and we are trying to persevere until we know it. What is the craziest thing you have ever done to sell a house? Did you ever makeover a space quickly too!?

I hope I can keep these flowers alive until the house sells. Otherwise everything else created here, can go with us to Indiana. I did this in a about 8 hours with four kids in tow. You can do so much more than you think, if you just go for it.

Would you have gone bold and bright with the colors too!? I walk outside and the colors just make me smile. When a space does that to you, I think it’s a good sign you accomplished what you set out to do.

Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope you have a great day and get to use you imagination this week!

Disclosure: There is an amazon affiliate link in this post. I was not paid anything buy Walmart or Rustoluem for this post. I truly just want to spell out where I got everything, so you can make a space you love for less too!

DIY Plank Wall

October 1, 2013 By Erica Deuel 13 Comments

I am not a professional decorator in the slightest bit. Walking in a store and trying to pick out items for a specific room and putting them all together stresses me out. What about you!? However, I do love to craft, so that takes over in my decor. I usually start with a project that begins to give the room character and I just keep adding (and sometimes subtract) until it feels done.

I have one goal when I work on a room – I try to make it my favorite space in the house. I want to walk in every one of my rooms in our house and be able to think to myself “this is my favorite room.” If that is the case, then I feel my house will be warm and welcoming all over.

Currently, the room in makeover mode has been our foster care bedroom. I showed you the dresser I made over, and today I want to show you how we planked a wall. I wanted a fun accent wall, yet did not want to do another chalkboard wall like we did in Reagan’s room and our boys’ bedroom. While at the Haven Conference this past summer I got to experience a hands on workshop for planking a wall. I also met some kind people representing PureBond Plywood and learned a lot about their product. My mind was made up, a plank wall was exactly what this bedroom needed.

So, Matt and I took the PureBond Pledge and couldn’t be happier about it. This wood is unlike any plywood we have ever used before. PureBond hardwood plywood is a unique real wood product. It is environmentally friendly, formaldehyde free, and made right here in America. Matt was skeptical going into this project because he hates plywood, but we finished up this project planning our next PureBond project. Here’s a quick video on the project.

If you’d like more details and tips, you’ll find those after the video!

So if you are ready to give PureBond a try, go to The Home Depot and look for their signs around the finished lumber and paneling area. Be careful, there are other plywoods stacked around the PureBond products. We had the wrong wood on our cart at first, and once we found the right stuff, we could literally feel the difference in the wood. The best way to make sure you have PureBond wood is to look for their name stamped onto the edge of the wood.

For our wall, we bought four 4′ x 8′ boards that were 1/4″ thick. We had the guys at The Home Depot cut them in half so we could fit them in our mini van to get home. We decided to create 6″ planks so the next step was to measure our boards in 6″ strips and cut them on our Ryobi table saw.

After our boards were cut, we used a stud finder to locate the studs behind the drywall, and we snapped a chalk line where they were located. Since we were attaching the planks to the wall using 1 1/2″ finish nails, we wanted to nail directly into the studs as much as possible. With the studs chalked and a big stack of 6″ planks waiting, we were ready to start our wall.

We did not want our wall to have a uniformed pattern where every board and seam matched from wall-to-wall. We hammered one row of boards across the bottom of our wall. We then staggered boards up to create a stair step look. This created unique spacing for each row of boards as they were attached.

Going into it, it seemed like creating a plank wall was just nailing boards up onto a wall. It sounded easy. Once we got into it we realized it was like a huge puzzle that we were attaching to our wall. I would not say it was hard, but took a little more thought than we initially gave it from the start. We came up with three tips to help you create this wall with a little more ease.

1. Use a quarter to help space your boards. Instead of having the boards literally rest on top of each other, place a quarter in-between the boards as you hammer the top one in place. This will create a little space to help give your wall a uniformed depth and allow for some forgiveness when it comes to leveling the boards. As we found, it’s hard to perfectly cut dozens of 6″ strips. Combo the quarters with a level (next tip) to help keep the wall pretty square.

2. Use a level on every board to get as level as possible. Again with varying cuts you will need to work with your pieces to try and keep it level and square. (by the way, The Home Depot guys were willing to cut the strips but encouraged us to do it at home. They said that while their cuts are usually within 1/4″ of being correct their saws are rarely squared-up. At home most of our cuts ranged between right-on to 1/8″ off, with a handful of cuts that drifted 1/4″) When we had a board with a slight angle, we’d add the quarter to one end, and use a level to bring the other end up or down ever so slightly to keep the whole puzzle straight. BIGGEST THING to realize, once everything is pieced together and you back up from the wall you will not be able to see your 1/8″-1/4″ blemishes.

3. Label the wall and measured board when installing your end peices. We were working with 4ft planks on a 12 1/2ft wall. Depending on your planks, wall size and pattern you will most likely need to custom cut boards to fit the end of your rows. Having our saw downstairs in the shop meant measuring the boards, taking them downstairs to cut, and then bringing them back up and trying to find the right placement for each custom cut board. We saved some time and energy on figuring out where all the cut “puzzle pieces” go by writing a number on the wall with a corresponding number on the back of the measured board. So when we got back upstairs ready to nail the planks in place, it was as simple as matching up the numbers.

We love how the wall came out. The beautiful grain on the boards add so much character and charm to the room. Originally we were going to cover the boards with a light coat of paint and stain to give it the rustic look we love so much. However, the natural wood is stunning, so right now we are leaning towards finishing it with a natural stain or satin polyurethane to seal the wall and protect it from the little artists around here.

The crazy thing is, after all this I can say I accomplished my goal. I still have a number of things to hang on the wall and few accent pieces to go – but this room is currently my favorite room in the house! Seriously. I love it. The warmth of the daylight coming in on the natural wood has a peacefulness to it that makes me want to go in there and just hang out. I begin these projects stressed out and doubting myself. I’m learning though. If I can just find a spoonful of imagination to get it started and get me in my groove, the rest usually comes together pretty well.

Do you love to decorate or like me, is intimidating to get started? What’s your favorite space in your house and why?

If are in Atlanta and you’d like to hang out with me and some other ladies looking to craft together, make sure to check out my next SpoonfulLab. Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week.

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