DIY Chalkboard Easel Re-Do

It's snowing! We haven't had much snow around here this winter (this is our second round of snow) so it's pretty exciting!

Here's a picture of my little sisters making a snowman:

We found an old chalkboard easel next to a pre-school's dumpster. After we had painted it, my dad said he had seen it somewhere. What do you know, he had passed by the pre- school earlier, seen the chalkboard and decided to pass it up. 

Cookie Mix in a Snowman Jar

Yesterday, we made chocolate chip cookie mix in a jar for a teacher. It turned out really cute, but we made it at night and the lighting was terrible, so I made another one for our neighbors, that I can show you. I got the recipe on Pinterest, and the idea was a collaboration of wits at our house. We turned the jar into a snowman.

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.

DIY Wall Art

 I like finding old frames at garage sales even if they themselves are ugly, or even if the picture featured inside is blah. If the structure is good, then you probably have something to work with. A few months ago, we re-decorated my friend's room around a Paris/Travel theme. It was a lot of fun and one of the things we did was take her horrible old dresser and turned it into a beautiful vintage work of art. It was and ugly light blonde color, and we painted a creamy off-white, with dark, distressed edges. Then we mod podged old music sheets on top. Back to the frame we needed to re-do. We did another frame with music sheets and wanted to have something relatively matching.

How to Age Books

We have some old medical books and encyclopedias from an auction and nothing to do with them. They looked ugly on the shelf, and took up space for no reason. So, we were looking for something to make a sort of pedestal for a planter that was simple and free (other than supplies that we already had). My mom thought to put books underneath, but not nice books that could get ruined. She found the old medical books and remembered that everything looks better with a coat of paint. So that's 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):

Dining Room Decor

As I stated in my last post, we have a lot of past projects and no documentation of any sort to show how we did any of it. So I'll just have to show you the "after" and explain.

The first thing I'll show you is the dining room. We have about three projects that went on in there.
One is an old table that someone left on the side of the road. Really banged up, and oh did I mention it's made up of random parts? It used to be dark and kind of reddish. So I won't keep you waiting any longer. Here She is....TA DA!

What's the Point?

My mom is actually the one who got into blogs. Every morning, after taking my siblings to school, is her hour(sometimes two) to browse blogs and get new ideas. That is actually how our great over-all house re-do came into being.

We always have been into art. I guess that is where it really started. But lately (since we started browsing blogs) and even before, my mom has liked junk. On the side of the road, in actual junkyards, you name it. After we find our treasures is when our vast knowledge of DIY comes into effect. We usually have an idea right away when we see something now, because of bloggers out there who put their techniques out there for anyone and everyone who has a passion for all things old, broken, and last (but certainly not least), vintage. A really quick shout out to bloggers out there, you are appreciated!

About Me

Hi, I'm Emily, a young college student/artist. I love decorating, re-decorating, and re-purposing. My mom and I re-do unwanted furniture and pallets in our spare time. The best stuff is free stuff, and you can make anything out of nothing with a little bit of creativity.

Here are some things about me:

 -I run a shop on Etsy called Namely Original. I make Name Art and Chalkboard Signs.

 -I'm the oldest of nine kids. 

 -I live a small town in Missouri.

 -I play the violin.

 Thanks for stopping by!