Wednesday, June 1, 2011

I'm back

It has been quite awhile since my last post and a lot has happened since then. I've changed my blog name, for one. I just felt like I needed something that better described what this blog is for me, an escape from the "real world".

I have been waiting to have something worthy of blogging about, but the longer I wait the more things seem to be pointless to spend time writing about. So, I've just decided that it is time to just go for it. Even if it is meaningless and even if my blog is not read by a single person. I'm not doing this for fame or fortune (not sure why anyone would?), but simply because it is something I enjoy doing.

With that said, my husband and I have been putting our garage to some good use. We have been working on many building projects lately. One of our recent ones has been pretty spectacular (is that okay for me to say about our own work?).
Almost a year ago I found these closet doors at a garage sale for 10 bucks. Of course I asked my husband if I could get them and he looked
at me like I was insane. "What on earth are you going to do with those?" They took up a ton of space, which we didn't have, but I promised that I would put them to good use... once I figured out what to do with them. Unfortunately, until recently, this is where they sat taking up space in our spare room at our tiny apartment.

Catching Summer Fireflies - UpCycled Quart Sized Art Blue Ball Mason Jar Pendant Lighting Fixture
Via BootsNGus on etsy
Well here we are a year later, living in a different home and I found a use for them. But, before I tell you about what we did with them I have to tell you about these amazing ball jar sconces that I had found on etsy... unfortunately I can not find them or the person that made them any more, but here is something similar. This person doesn't make sconces but they do have some pretty awesome lights they have made out of ball jars.
Sometimes when I find things, etsy or otherwise, I think "I could totally make that." So then I set out to find the supplies to make things myself. Even though I would love to support some of these people, I don't have $90 to spend on a light... especially not if I need two of them. Is that terrible of me? I promise I have never tried to sell anything that I have made that is a copy of someone else. Plus, the ones for sale are probably better quality than mine.

Anyways, at some point I decide that these doors were going to become a headboard, and after I found these amazing sconces I realized the combo would be gorgeous. My lovely husband even said he could install them and put in some switches on each side so we could each have our own lamps :). I figured the hard part would be finding the supplies to make these sconces, but that was surprisingly easy. About six months ago I found these suckers at Lowe's.... FOR 5 BUCKS!! All we did was replace the glass jars it came with for ball jars.

The rest was pretty easy... remove door handles and hinges, patch with wood filler, attach all doors with 1x4's, sand, prime, paint, have husband install electrical, carry up our lovely staircase, put bulbs in, voila! Awesome headboard, piece of cake :)





Painted in Valspar Shark Loop blue.


I also made some simple throw pillows for some color.

Before....


After!


Ahh I love it! Ignore the ugly un-styled night stands. Those are getting replaced. The whole room is in the process of being transformed, but I am happy with the results thus far.
And of course here is a close up of the sconces...





I love the way this turned out, and it has given me the motivation I need to finish the rest of the room. I'll blog about that soon, I promise!