Operation goodbye green tile

Wouldn't it be nice to have a tub like this? 

Ohhhhh.

Or one like this? 

Ahhhhh.

Well in our master bathroom, we don't have either of those. Ha!

We have this one.

Don't get me wrong.

 I am very grateful to have a master bathroom (I grew up in a house with one full bath).

And it is nice to have such a spacious tub 

(I haven't used it yet but our dog Rosie has and she tells me it's lovely). 

But to be honest, I'm not crazy about the green tile.

So when I came across this blog post, I decided to give it a try and paint it.

And to be honest, it was a really easy project.

First, I bought this kit at Home Depot for less than $40.

It came with a solution to prep the surface, the paint, and rubber gloves.

After I wiped down the tile with the solution that came in the box, I taped off the parts I wanted to paint.

Then, I painted on the first coat.

A couple hours later I applied the second coat.

The bigger green tiles required more coats.

I think I did a total of four coats for this section which seems like a lot and tedious but it wasn't.

Spray painting the guest bathroom was way more annoying!

Here's how it all turned out:

One more look at the before & after:

Oh, and in case your wondering if I am planning on spray painting the gold faucets, my answer is no. 

Unlike the gold fixtures that were in the guest bathroom, these are in much better condition. While they wouldn't be my first choice (or second), they aren't tarnished or showing age. So, we are embracing the gold (for now) until it is time for a real bathroom re-do.

A couple of tips & reminders if you are planning on doing this yourself...

Open the windows, wear a face mask, and turn on a fan if you have one. 

This stuff has some serious fumes. Save your brain cells and ventilate the area.

Read the directions.

The paint kit gives very specific directions as to what type of paintbrush to use, how long to wait in between coats, etc. For optimal results, it is a good idea to follow the direction carefully.

Next up for this bathroom is painting (of the walls).

More. Painting. Joy.

Can you read my enthusiasm?

:)

-Caitlin

One votive holder three ways

We have about 20 of these glass votive holders from Ikea. 

Chris actually bought and filled them with candles lit up all around our first apartment the night he proposed.
So sweet!

Anyway, last week I decided to re-purpose a few of them.

I bought these small succulents from Home Depot and they fit perfectly in the votive holders. 

Since they are clear glass, I had to do something to them so that you wouldn't see the soil.

So, here's how I did the same votive holder three different ways:

1. Roped

Here I just used a glue gun and some rope. 

The banner on the front came in a gift tag package from Michael's.

2. Dipped

I spray painted this one white then dipped the rim in gold metallic paint.

To make sure there weren't any drip marks after I dipped it, I put it upside down on top of a wine bottle and allowed it to dry that way.

3. Wrapped

I wrapped the third votive holder in fabric I had using homemade mod podge (equal parts water and Elmer's glue). It was messy to do and didn't come out perfectly but that's okay. 

I wasn't going for perfection.

I had to restrain myself from doing more than three! 

Sometimes I can over do it.

:)

Is there anything you've re-purposed lately?

- Caitlin

Coasting.

The other day I decided to do a quick and easy DIY project by making some coasters using the Farrow & Ball wallpaper samples that came in the mail last week.

First, I cut the paper into squares just a little smaller than the tiles (less than $1 each at Home Depot) 

so that there would be a border.

Then, I used homemade mod podge (equal parts water and Elmer's glue) to adhere the paper to the tile.

Lastly, I added some felt pads to the bottom. 

These comes in sheets so that you can cover the entire bottom of the tile (which would probably look nicer and more finished) but I didn't have enough of that to cover all four so I used these dots instead.

Here they are in our living room:

Have a great weekend!

- Caitlin

So shady!

A couple weeks ago I posted about the window in the downstairs bathroom.

Originally I had hung these slat blinds but then decided they were too overwhelming for the window:

So with my mom's help, we made this pull shade:

Before I show you how we made it, 

here are a couple before & afters:

   

 

So, how exactly did we make it?

First, I purchased a $5 plain white roll up shade from Home Depot and had it cut to the width of the window.

Then, we unrolled it and cut the fabric to the size of the shade leaving a couple inches around the sides to fold.

Next, we used this spray adhesive to keep the fabric in place on the shade while we attached the edges.

We also trimmed the excess fabric and ironed the edges so that the folds were nice and crisp 

(careful when ironing as it is very easy to melt the plastic shade). 

I don't have pictures of this but my mom stitched the fabric folds to the shade using her sewing machine. 

If you don't know how to sew (like me) you can probably use fabric glue instead.

Lastly, I spray painted these handles white (they were originally gold) and glued them to the bottom of the shade as pulls.

Here it is again hung up:

This project probably would have been way easier using a solid or striped fabric.

Because it is a geometric pattern, it was difficult making sure that the fabric was centered on the shade and that the hem was straight. 

As for whether it actually goes up and down like a normal pull shade, my answer is yes and no. 

It doesn't have the exact same spring back ability but it still works.

I think this window treatment has more of a personality than the blinds that I originally used and was less expensive.

Thanks for stopping by!

- Caitlin