DIY Nautical Wall Decor

We have been super busy this summer. My aunt and uncle asked us to decorate their new house, so we have been doing a lot of different projects. I think doing it yourself has a lot of benefits, the first one being is you get a one of a kind piece that fits the spot perfectly.
The first room we did was a nautical themed boy's room. This room was a lot of fun! We found some scrap pieces of plywood that were circles sitting around in their basement. My mom thought they had potential so we took them home and came up with an idea to make wall decor for the boy's room.

Making a Pallet Wood Sign

I guess spring is on it's way! There have been huge flocks of robins everywhere. I have never seen so many in my life. The other day I noticed that some of our little daffodils have bloomed. Everything will soon be GREEN! Spring  is such a beautiful time of the year!

 I know it's been a little while since you guys asked us to make a tutorial on how to make a pallet wood sign. I've finally got around to it! With family, and other activities keeping us busy, we've gotten ourselves motivated again and got working on the tutorial. 

Chippy Painted End Tables

We got two end tables at a garage sale for five dollars so we could get some practice painting. They have been sitting in our basement since last fall because we didn't know what to do with them. After looking for inspiration on different blogs, we decided to try chippy paint with Vaseline.

 

Distressed Coffee Table Tutorial

This table was probably our first big furniture re do. We fixed this table up before we even contemplated starting a blog. It would have posted sooner, but since the table was done before we had the blog, I didn't take very good pictures. Well actually they were horrible. We didn't think about taking better pictures for a while because we gifted the table to some friends who needed some furniture for their new apartment. And after that I forgot about it. I finally got over there the other day, and they graciously allowed me to photograph their coffee table (which turned out pretty lovely, if I do say so myself:)

How to Paint a Rocking Chair

On one of our trips to Goodwill, we found an old rocking chair that was really cute, but it was $35 and my mom didn't know if she wanted to spend that much. We asked about it and it just so happened to be on sale for $17.00. So of course she bought it. It has been sitting in our basement for about a month because we didn't know what to do with it. The wood was really scuffed up, so we didn't want to leave it. Then, we couldn't figure out a good color. We finally decided on a charcoal gray from Sherwin Williams called Seal Skin. The paint only cost us $6.00 because it was a sample quart.

Cork Board Re-Do

It is starting to look a lot like spring around here! We have been having 50 degree weather, and the bulbs are starting to peek out of the ground. I will most likely have some pictures of flowers as soon as they bloom.When I first started using my mom's camera, flowers were one of the first subjects that I photographed. My mom is really into gardening and we have tons of flower beds around our house. She has a lot of experience in gardening and will be doing some posts on the blog in the near future.

   My sister, Julia has been asking for a new cork board for her room for a little while, since the one she had, didn't match with her decor. We looked around and didn't end up getting anything because usually my mom doesn't just fork over money for stuff we don't really need. And what do you know she came home one day with a sad looking cork board she found on the side of the road. I'll show you the after first because afters are so much better!

DIY Valentine's Box

 We love to watch the birds on our porch, while we have breakfast. Lately we have had a lot of cardinals coming to our bird feeder. Yesterday one flew into the window and injured itself. We held it for a little bit until it could fly again, gave it some water since it had some blood around it's mouth and let it go when it was ready. It was a female, the males are a much brighter red.

Pallet Wood Doll Bed

For Christmas, we made a pallet wood doll bed for my little sisters. they love playing with baby dolls, our kitchen set complete with plastic food and appliances. The only thing they didn't have was a doll bed. We saw a bed at Wal-Mart, but it was cheap, plastic, and hot pink. So, the great doll bed conspiracy was born. Actually, the bed and blankets, pillows, and mattress were made while the girls were standing right there... but they didn't catch on about what it was or what it's for, probably because we are always working on something. Hence, the bed is still a surprise.

I don't have step by step instructions for how to make the bed because that is really up to you. But I can show you what ours turned out like and tell you what we did.

Living Room Decor & DIY Wood Staining

 We bought some couches from a resale shop. They looked good and the upholstery matched our other couches, but the color of the wood work was lighter than the other furniture in the living room. They actually came with palm tree pillows so we re-did those with varying shades of brown fabric from JoAnn's Fabrics. A year later we finally decided to do something about the wood. It does take a lot of time(about a week from start to finish) but it was well worth the time and effort.

Here is the before(of both couches):