Category Archives: the boy’s nest

cocktails anyone?

This post is definitely long overdue, but for our last Anniversary [we're talking October here people] I did some thrifting to find Derek his very own decanter set.

We’ve both always hated the look of lots of liqueur bottles with misc. labels and whatnot. So I wanted to class it up a bit and find unique and vintage glass decanters. We set a small budget for exchanging gifts, so I knew I’d have to do some hardcore thrifting/craigslisting/garage sale-ing to find exactly what I was looking for. There are a lot of glass decaters out there, but it’s hard to find them with the rubber stoppers [or cork] still intact. So after months and months of hunting I finally found a complete set.

I went with lots of different shapes and sizes so that he wouldn’t be limited to a certain look whenever he needed to add to his collection. This way any decanter we come across in our future thrifting excursions will fit right in. I scored that crocodile tray at HomeGoods for $20. I love the scale of it, and it definitely holds all of the decanters with room to grow.

Overall I spent a total of $45 for the decanters, which proves that thrifting and patience pay off considering one decanter at Pottery Barn $30, and doesn’t have half the character. What’s fun about each of these is some have countries of origin and dates on the bottom of the bottle. I can just imagine someone’s grandfather using these in the 50s while smoking inside and wearing a fabulous suit with a skinny tie. Okay yes, I watch too much Mad Men.

However, right now these babies are taking up some valuable real estate on Derek’s kitchen counter, so I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect bar cart to complete the set. Here are some of my favorites..

We came across a couple on Saturday when we hit up our favorite resale shops, but Derek said they looked like bird cages. I can’t win with this guy sometimes. Needless to say, the search is on! If any of you come across a cool bar cart, let me know :)

Images from apartment therapy, this is glamorous, welcome to heardmont, style redux, belle maison, lifestyle maven, bellissimo style, secretly fancy, name 5 things, and high street market

we’re seeing stripes

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I know that you’re expecting to see a post about my dipped dining room chairs, but I’m having technical difficulties which I’ll elaborate more on later. So while I’m literally waiting for paint to dry, I decided to get started on a project for Derek’s living room. His windows are just about floor to ceiling height and require 106″ drapery panels, which are impossible to find so I decided to make him some custom panels which ended up being much cheaper and the perfect length.

So I went to Hobby Lobby knowing that the fabric wasn’t on sale so that I could use my 40% off coupon on one whole GIANT cut of fabric. Six yards to be exact. I chose a white “twill” which was really more of a canvas texture than a twill, but whatever. The fabric was $6.00/yd so with my coupon it came out to about $33. It was 54″ wide so I knew that I could cut it in half to create 4 panel total [cut in half lengthwise and widthwise]. Derek decided that he wanted wide grey horizontal stripes to add some oomph so I also snagged some grey latex paint at Lowes for $8.

YOU WILL NEED

fabric [or pre-made drapery if your windows aren't freakishly tall]

interior latex paint [in the color of your choice]

painters tape

measuring tape

pencil

small paint roller

drapery ring clips [unless you're using pre-made drapery panels]

First I laid out the entire yardage of fabric and folded it in half lengthwise and cut it to create two 109″ panels. I then folded down the top and bottoms 1.5″ each because I knew that I would be hemming it and I didn’t want that part to mess with my striping calculations, and each panel needed to be 106″. So I ironed the two folds and laid each panel on the floor to begin measuring.

Because each panel needed to be 106″ tall I calculated that that there would be 10 stripes that were 10.5″ tall which gave me an extra 1″ at the top for the ring clips. So I measured out every 10.5″ on both sides of the panel to lay down the tape evenly.

I was really nervous about the tape not being straight since it tends to get wavy the longer it is, but Derek the genius decided that if we both pull an end really tight and stuck it down like a plumb line it would be straight. Plus this big 54″ panel would end up being cut in half to create two panels, so you really would’t notice if the stripes were a little off.

Sidenote: When placing the tape it’s important to remember that the white stripe will have the tape placed on the inside of the marks, while the colored stripe will have the tape placed on the outside of the marks so that they are the same size. I kind of struggled with this part and had to redo the second panels because I had the tape on the wrong sides. Ooops. We also marked the portions that would be white with a piece of tape to so that it was obvious which stripes wouldn’t be painted.

You’ll want to do two coats of paint. I got a little excited with the first panel and did one coat and peeled the tape up and then in the morning when the sun was out I realized that it definitely needed an extra coat. So we put tape back down and I applied the second coat. You live and you learn! Must. Have. Two. Coats.

This is my tape removing method. Derek thought it was absolutely ridiculous, but it seemed logical to me. The socks were to keep my feet from sticking to the plastic drop cloth. Aren’t they snazzy? Thanks Edwina! You want to peel the tape while the paint is still wet so that you don’t peel up the paint with it after it dries.

I was really surprised with how clean the stripes were. Usually when I use painters tape the paint seeps a little, and with fabric I was extra nervous, but I did smash it down until my fingers burned so that probably had something to do with it?

I picked up these drapery ring clips at Home Depot for $7 for 7 rings. Seven? Really? Who wants an odd number of drapery clips? I had to buy three packages because I needed 16 [4 for each panel]. So I have a few extra for when I have a hankering to make more panels.

And voila! I still need to hem the sides but I needed to get them out of the way so they’re temporarily hanging for now until I can sew them this weekend. Four 106″ panels take up a lot of space! Also there is an extra grey stripe at the bottoms of each panel but the drapery rods need to be moved up above the molding, and I didn’t want them dragging on the ground so they’re pinned up for now.

And now for a nice moody night shot..

Derek just loves how they turned out, and I really love the instant coziness they created. His living room is starting to look like complete!

TOTAL COST

fabric – $33

paint – $8

painters tape – already had

drapery clips $21 [for 3 packs]

Total – $62

So two sets of 105″ drapery panels for $31 each.. you really can’t beat it! Have you ever painted drapery before? It was so easy and actually really fun!

oil paint is the new latex

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As I mentioned Monday, I surprised Derek with a new rug! Which meant that ~~my former bench~~ his coffee table was was looking a little lackluster. Derek suggested that we paint it white, and since I was feeling restless after an anticlimactic garage sale fest I jumped at the opportunity! Luckily I had just made a Lowe’s run to get paint for my dining room chairs and I had left it at Derek’s house so I had everything I needed. It was meant to be. Here is the table before in all of it’s haphazard glory:

Now why are the legs black while the top is left untouched? Here is the history of this coffee table: I originally bought it 4 years ago for $7 at My Sister’s Closet to use as a bench. It’s marked with “Lane” underneath and this sucker is heavy, but we didn’t need convincing. At $7 we were sold. My mom and I painted only the legs because we knew that we’d be upholstering the top so it wouldn’t matter. As I continued to move apartments, I no longer had room for a bench and Derek needed a coffee table so we took it apart and I gave it to him.

I love the simple lines of it and look at that joinery. Too bad we’re painting over you..

I’ve decided to paint my dining room chairs with oil paint, which I had never used before on furniture. I wanted to use oil because it’s durable, it’s supposed to apply easier, no sanding (usually) or priming, and it has a lacquer finish without leaving brushstrokes. Win win win. BUT I’ve been nervous to attempt it on my chairs because I fear the unknown. That being said.. Derek’s coffee table seemed like the perfect guinea pig! I chose Rustoleum oil based High Performance Protective Enamel in Gloss White, and I applied it with a regular 2″ brush. I prefer brushes over rollers because you can really get in those tight areas.

I didn’t prime or sand the table at all. The original finish was in amazing condition so I just wiped it down with some Mrs. Meyers all purpose cleaner and started painting.

Here is the first coat of paint. I kind of learned as I went and I quickly realized that you can seriously never have enough paint on your brush. The texture of oil paint is kind of like nail polish so you pool it on and it spreads to smooth perfection without leaving brush strokes! So honestly, I probably wouldn’t have had to do 2 coats if I would had used more paint on my first go around, but hey! You live and you learn.

It said to let it dry for 12 hours so I decided to take a nap while letting the sun do it’s work.

That evening, at about 3am I decided to give it another coat. I don’t recommend this. Not because I was tired but because painting in the dark with only a porch light is not ideal. I couldn’t see if there were drip marks or missed spots very well but I wanted to get that last coat on so that I could let it dry and off gas all night. But in the morning it was perfectly shiny and smooth and oh so white! It was kind of crazy what such a little change truly did for the space. We love hanging out in the living room now because it finally feels like it’s coming together.

See how shiny the finish is? Just like glass! The only downside to oil based paints is the clean up. You have to use mineral spirits which is nice and dangerous/toxic, but I read about soaking your brushes in warm vinegar as a natural alternative so we’ll see how that goes. Now that I feel comfortable using oil paint, it’s time to tackle all six of my dining room chairs. Yay! It’s supposed to be nice and cool this weekend so I’ll probably be on my patio listening to music and painting my heart out. It really is therapeutic for me. Is that weird? Have any of you painted furniture with oil based paint? Do you prefer latex? Do you have a secret way to clean oil brushes without turpentine? Do tell!

the chevron was actually his idea

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We’re back! This past week has been an absolute nightmare, but we really appreciate all of the support you guys have given us, and we’re super glad you didn’t leave us for some other blog during our week of absence. Now as promised we have a TON of new projects to share with you guys that we’re pretty excited about.

In case you didn’t know.. Derek’s birthday is next week and as a firm supporter of celebrating the entire month of one’s birth, I went furniture scrounging to find a little something for Derek’s new house. I hit up all of my favorite thrift stores in search of a mid-century credenza with sliding doors, as well as a couple side tables for his living room. Not just any side tables, these puppies have to be less than 15″ in diameter as not to obstruct the traffic flow. So as I searched, I came across this little guy at Goodwill for $8.99.

It reminded me of the Alvar Aalto stools [you've probably sees at Apple] that retail for $260 a pop so I had to get it. The top was a little scratched so I told Derek that I would paint it whatever color he wanted, as an early birthday gift. After throwing out ideas for what to do, we decided that I really only needed to paint the top because the legs were in perfect condition. And then the unexpected happened. He actually said “now don’t freak out.. but I think that a white chevron pattern would look really cool”. Yep. I almost died. Luckily we already had a half pint of Valspar gloss white laytex so I was ready to roll.

Here is everything I needed:

half pint of Valspar high gloss white latex paint
foam brush
2″ bristle brush
1″ painters tape
ruler [yes that's a scale because that's the only kind of ruler designers/architects have]
pencil
exact blade [not pictured]

To layout the chevron pattern I wanted, I first drew a 2″x2″ grid. 2″ because I wanted my stripes to be the width of the 1″ tape.

Then I just lined the tape up with the corners of the grid at right angles for the perfect zig-zag. I continued to line up the tape with each grid “corner” leaving a 1″ space between each stripe.

Then because we only wanted the pattern to be on the top of the table, I taped off the entire side of the table top in case any excess paint ran off the edge.

I used the foam brush to apply a couple thin coats of paint to sort of act as a primer before I really gobbed it on. This helps to get that coverage while creating a thin barrier so that the thicker paint applications won’t seep under the tape.

After two light coats with the foam brush, I switched to the bristle brush for thicker more even coats.

As you can see, Derek was there for moral support. After about 2 more thick coats we waited about 10 minutes and then started to peel off the tape, while the paint was still a little wet. You don’t want to wait for it to completely dry because you’ll risk peeling up the paint along with the tape. I slowly pulled up each piece of tape one by one using an xacto knife to score the edges making it much easier as the paint was drying really fast.

There were a couple spots where the paint seeped through but I was able to scrape it off with the knife or touch it up with a sharpie. Sneaky sneaky. Derek loved how it turned out, and I was really surprised at how easy it ended up being! This whole project took about 3 hours

TOTAL COST:
table – $9
paint – free
TOTAL – $9

If only all of our projects were this fast and inexpensive! Have any of you added a little pizazz to an otherwise boring piece of furniture? Tell us about it!

cfs

yet another way to hang photo galleries

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I know I know, we’ve really run you through the ringer on 1,001 ways to hang photo galleries. BUT we also just love trying out all of the different ways to find which are best and work for us. So far, although it takes a little longer than the whole wax paper shebang, this new way is my favorite. It’s not even an original idea, and you may be like “duhhh been there done that”, but we thought we’d share anyway! Plus we just loved how it turned out!

As you can see Derek had a very expansive yellow wall in his kitchen that was just dying for some attention. Being a photographer, he has a lot [I mean a LOT] of prints ~~just laying around~~ neatly organized on his computer waiting to be framed and hung. So he chose some of his favorites to be 8×10′s and ordered them from Ritzpix which only cost about $4.99 a pop,plus a coupon for 2 free 8×10′s [thanks Retailmenot!] And we were able to pick them up the next morning! Easy peasy.

Okay okay now for the new ~~never before seen~~ amazing way to hang photo galleries in a snap! First, you select the frames you want to use and then trace each frame onto scrap paper [I used trace paper.. that's designer speak for a huge roll of tracing paper left over from school] and cut them out. I don’t have a photo of me doing this, but just picture me and Derek’s mom tracing frames and cutting out the shapes. Oooohhh ahhhh.

Just like with the wax paper route, you’ll mark a dot where each nail hook is so that you know where to put your nails later on! Then start taping up your faux frames onto the wall. You can arrange them and rearrange them to your liking, until you’re finally happy with how they look not only as a group, but as an overall composition on your wall. Hint: I like to space out my frames about 2-3″ on all sides. Keep your spacing consistent so that it looks a lot more planned, than haphazard.

This is the arrangement we all agreed on. I usually choose more rectilinear arrangements, but with such a large wall, and not a lot of frames just yet, I felt like a random horizontal gallery was the way to go. I alternated horizontal frames with vertical and lowered the far right frame below the top of the far left frame to make it look more balanced [since the far left frame is larger]. This gives Derek the freedom to add frames as he wishes without feeling like it needs to fit within a box.

I actually had to flip them around when I taped them because the trace paper was wanting to curl up and this was easier than taping down all four corners. Plus since it was a random pattern it wouldn’t be the end of the world if a nail mark was moved 1/2″ to the right or left.

When you’re tracing each frame be sure to label what the image was so you know where each one goes, especially if you’re using a lot of similar frame sizes. I also marked the direction the frame went so that I could quickly identify which were to be hung vertical and which were horizontal.

Then nail right where you marked it on your faux frame paper. As you can see, Raul [the previous tenant] did not use this method ;) jk we love you!]

Once all your nails are in place you can just rip off your templates and start hanging! Luckily Derek’s parents were in town this weekend so we actually have photos of our projects. Usually we’re doing them simultaneously so we’re on our own for progress photos. Thanks Edwina!

And yes, my outfit matches the kitchen, and no I didn’t plan it.

This method seriously took less than 30 minutes, and it makes me want to buy a million more frames and cover his whole wall. I mean.. what?