DIY Monochromatic 3 Dimensional Art

Remember this hint from the Roadside Rescue Blog?

I do love finding treasures in the trash. Two weeks ago on my way to work there it was. A giant framed art piece leaning against a trash can waiting for the truck to whisk it off to the landfill. If you know me at all, you know that I stopped and jammed it into the back seat of my car. I did not have an idea what I wanted to do with this piece. I already have a huge chalkboard and recently made a paint chip piece from another large framed print. I knew something would come to me if I would just be patient. While looking through Pinterest, ran across this artwork for sale.

 

Truly Madly Deeply
I loved it. Our master bedroom is a little lacking in artwork. Something like this piece would be amazing, but $515.00 plus shipping is way out of my comfort zone. I thought the idea of a monochromatic piece above our bed would be restful. I have  been happily married to my best friend for over thirty years. I think that the words from the Savage Garden song just fits in our room. I knew that I had found inspiration for the rescued art piece.
I developed a plan.  Use the frame and hopefully the print, look for letters that are the correct size, map it out, glue it down, paint it then ta-dah.  Oh how I wish things went this well for me...

The plan worked perfectly until I priced out the letters. It cost $40.00 for the letters and spray paint- and that was with a coupon! I was thrilled to find that the print in the frame was glued to hardboard and was stapled into place. I really thought this would go quickly until I discovered the frame was not painted, it was covered with a sort of wallpaper like stuff that had to come off. After I determined that the frame was solid wood and worth the effort, I peeled off the paper that came off easily then got busy with a wire brush on the parts that did not come off easily. Two hours later the frame was clean.

 

As I got ready to put the letters down I recruited the math teacher that lives at my house to help. No way did I want to mess up a $40.00 project.  I have whole pieces of furniture that didn't cost that much!  He mapped it out for me with a ruler. I carefully drew a pencil outline around each letter before I started gluing the letters down one by one with E6000 I already had on hand.

After the glue down process, I applied weight to the whole thing in order to make sure they were stuck to the board completly.
Next I had to fill in the holes in the bottom of some of the letters with painter's putty. It had the nerve to turn coolish this week so I did not get the chance to spray paint the picture for a few days. It was torture to see it sitting there not painted, but I have been feeling a little under the weather so being in the unheated garage was out.
Finally, Friday after work the stars and planets aligned.  Low humidity, no wind and warm enough to paint. I chose Krylon Ivory in a satin finish.

It looked pretty rough afte the first can of paint.  Why oh why do I think I can get away without priming?

 

Sooo after a trip to the store for spray primer and more paint...grrr.

 I ended up with this beauty.  I just couldn't seem to get the picture taken straight, but you have to trust me, it is straight and square.  As soon as I finish the bedroom, I will show it to you on the wall. I love it.

Milk Glass Lamp

As I have been assembling the supplies for my bedroom make the city house, I ran across a milk glass lamp.  I paid $5.00 for the lamp, shade and all.  It wasn't in great shape but It will provide me with an opportunity to bring in my milk glass. 

I just wasn't crazy about the finish on the wood and the faux metal parts were super scratched and tarnished.  The bedroom is going to be gray, yellow, white and black.  I know that the bedside lamp is going to be yellow, so I decided to paint the wood gray and the "metal" (plastic) black. 

Sanded and ready for paint.

Lamps are not complicated.  They are all made from a metal rod with electrical wire running through them connected to a socket.  Any lamp can be taken apart and put back together.  My advice is to take pictures as you go so you can reassemble.  Above you an see all the parts from this lamp.

I really like the gray color. It came from the Garagemahal.  I

I wanted to make the lampshade colorful.  I purchased 1 yard of fabric for $6.00 at Hancock's Fabric. I took the pleated part of the shade that came with the lamp  off.  There was a smooth plastic shade under the pleating. 

I looked up how to cover a lampshade with fabric.  There were several sites. 

 Here is one of the easiest to follow videos.

I followed the directions exactly as stated.  I drew out the pattern on some gift wrap then cut that out and put the pattern on the fabric.  after I cut out the fabric I sprayed everything with spray adhesive.  Hubby helped hold the lampshade while I smoothed out the fabric.  I touched everything up with hot glue.

I was proud of how it turned out!  I also bought the fabric for the headboard.  $5.00 a yard for  2 1/2 yards of fabric.  $7.50 for a new headboard is not too bad.  I look forward to getting it together.



My Cheapo Ways

Eight years ago I was starting my second year as science specialist for our district.  I had spent my first year in the job convincing teachers that they could teach hands-on science, providing lessons, creating worksheets and handouts, making PowerPoints for the teachers to use.  It was the back to school staff development day for our district.  There were over 100 teachers in the cafeteria of one of our elementary schools. I asked the audience "What do you know about me?" I expected answers like you will help us... silly me.  From the back someone yelled out "You are cheap!" I laughed so hard I almost fell of the stage.  During the past year I had also looked for inexpensive ways to teach the science concepts.  I was that teacher that took in baby food jars, left over yarn, shoe boxes, coffee cans, etc.  My cabinets were jammed with things that could be used to teach the concepts but not cost money.  Let me be clear, I am NOT cheap!  I am frugal.  I have no problem spending money as long as it is something I REALLY want and it is on sale.

I hate to spend more money than necessary on things. My mom taught me well.  She is the ultimate reduce, reuse, recycle queen.  She washes out zip lock bags and reuses them.  I drive a fully paid for 6 1/2 year old car.  You have seen how I decorate my home.  I have several great suits from Goodwill and other resale shops.  I never pay full price unless that is the only option.

Last week I posted that I wanted to redecorate a bedroom in our home and my friends have already started helping me out.  One of my buddies called to let me know that there was yellow paint at Home Depot in the OOPS bin. ( the good Behr paint with primer- in a soft yellow color.)

 My social planner, Tanis, has gone to a garage sale with me, and one of my teachers brought me a Hancock's fabric coupon.

So far I have collected

•  two side tables- one free, one fifteen dollars

My fifteen dollar find.  Solid wood with lots of detail.

 

 My Free Find



• a bookcase- free (legs for the bookcase from the Habitat sale 2.50)
• A mirror- 2.00
• Yellow Behr Paint with prime- 15.00
• A huge valance that will be part of the headboard- free
• A milk glass lamp- 5.00 ( I am already redoing this.  You will see it soon.)
• A comforter and shams- 17.00

41.50 spent so far

I am on the lookout for gray or yellow and gray curtains, fabric for the headboard, throw pillows, and some white bedding.  I am not afraid to think outside the box.  Ideas are welcome.

If you have a lead on this stuff- I am all ears.

Mirror Mirror

I admit that I have a thing for old mirrors.  I really love the aged quality and light that they bring to a home.  On a recent resale shopping trip a mirror spoke to me, as mirrors often do.  It was rough.  At one time this mirror had been a beauty.  In the beginning I believe it was a gold plaster frame with some sort of decoration at the top.  It was hanging on a wall in the resale shop for $5.00  The mirror was scratched and one of the plaster roses was broken.  Someone had tried to fill in with wood filler where the top portion had been.  I had to have it.  After some negotiation I got the mirror for $2.00 and brought it to the Garagemahal for a make-over.  The first thing I did was try to repair the scratch on the mirror silvering.  I don't mind aging mirrors but this one had been scratched and left a streak across the glass where there was no mirror silver left.  I used Krylon Looking Glass paint.

It took several coats and it is still not perfect, but the scratch is not as noticable as before. 

I taped off the glass front of the mirror with blue tape carefully because I knew that even the blue tape would possibly take off more plaster.  I then covered the rest of the glass with newspaper.

After I covered everything with newspaper I sprayed clear satin sealer on the frame.  It was so fragile that I thought the thing would fall apart if I tried anything before I sealed it.

Next I gave the whole thing two coats of shiny gold paint. 

It looked better already.

Because I really did want to return the mirror to its aged appearance I used glaze mixed with a dark brown color to glaze the entire thing.  I let it set on the frame a lot longer than I normally do because I wanted to make sure I knocked down the shiny gold.

The frame is very fragile so I sprayed everything front and back with a spray sealer.  The plaster frame cannot afford to absorb any more moisture.  In our humid location I knew it would need all the help it could get.

I love the vintage quality of this frame in my bedroom.

 

Finished Product- The Glazed Furniture

Today Hubby and the soon-to-be-newly -weds got the furniture safely moved in to the apartment. I arrived in time to see the final results. We are pretty proud of our efforts.