Pet Food Container

As most of you know, I have two fat cats who love to eat.  Therefore, I buy a lot of cat food.

Fergie.

Carly.

But I didn't know what to do with their large bag of food.  In my old apartment, I had a pantry and could hide it behind a closed door.  But in our new apartment, I don't have an extra cupboard or closet space in the kitchen, so the bag was left out, creating an eyesore.

Bag of catfood in plain sight.

Unfortunately, most of the pet food storage options out there aren't much more attractive, such as this.  And at over $50, no thank you.  I did eventually find a cute idea on etsy seen here.  I was tempted to buy one of these, but the $40 price tag made me think twice.  I searched high and low for a cute container I could use instead, but couldn't find anything attractive with a tight sealing lid.  I kept going back to the etsy idea, and realized that all I needed to make my own version was a bucket.

$4 bucket.

I made quick trip to Home Depot for a 5 gallon bucket and only spent about $3 for the bucket and another $1 and change for the lid.  Using a stencil and some leftover paint, I went about copying the etsy container.

Stenciling.

I had to wait for each letter to dry before proceeding to stencil the next, but the entire process was still fairly quick.  I even decided to freehand a cat paw in the bottom corner.

Done!

All I had left to do was fill her up!  The 5 gallon size perfectly fit the large size bags of food that I generally buy.  Purrfect!

Functional and cute!

Wedding Decor Repurposing

Well I've been married for over six months now!  Time to figure out what to do with all of my wedding decorations.  I constructed my own centerpieces and bouquets with faux calla lilies from Hobby Lobby, and my table numbers were made from picture frames purchased at ACMoore.  I successfully sold the table numbers on Craigslist and am trying to do the same with the centerpieces.

Wedding decor.

One thing that I have leftover is the faux floral petals that the flower girls used.  

Faux floral petals.

I decided to turn these into a piece of art, based on something that I saw in the nail salon while I was getting my nails done the day before my wedding!  I laid out the petals into a round floral shape on a wooden frame I had laying around.  It was extremely easy and looked great, so I decided to proceed. 

Flower petal layout.

 The fame was dirty, dingy, and faded so I decided to paint it (no surprise there).

Painting the frame black.

After the frame was dry, I glued down each petal in the same circular pattern using a hot glue gun.  I used a spare button as the center of my flower.

Done!

I also decided to keep my bouquet as a memento of my special day.

Wedding bouquet.

All I did was simply arrange the bouquet in an appropriately sized vase as seen below.

Flower artwork with bouquet in vase.

The bridesmaids bouquets are in similar vases placed around my living room.  The pops of coral look great as a spring accent!

Buffalo Home Show

In case you missed it, the Buffalo Home Show was the past two weekends.  It was filled with vendors offering the latest and greatest in hardwood flooring, tiles, kitchen & bath, landscaping, and a whole lot more.  Being a renter and not a home owner, I can't take advantage of most of the services offered, but it doesn't stop me from looking and dreaming about my future house.  

The main reason I attended the show was to see the Interior Design Association of WNY's White Room Challenge.  Six designers were given, you guessed it, a white room to design.  The inspiration they had to work with was a poster with the theme of Old Hollywood which can be seen here.  They also had to incorporate several design elements such as a metal lighting fixture and a small cube table, each designer using them very differently.

Room by Iola Designs.

The first room was designed by Laurel Swartz of Iola Designs.  It was a more contemporary take on Hollywood, getting inspiration from the set of the tv show Friends.  She cut the given light fixture in half to use as sconces on the wall and deconstructed the cube to serve as a coffee table.  I loved the wall color and moldings as well as the use of clean lines.  I wasn't a huge fan of the turquoise curtains against the wall color though.  That being said, I did end up voting for this room as my favorite.

Room by the Buffalo Plumbing Showroom.

The second room was a bathroom designed by the Buffalo Plumbing Showroom.  It was extremely luxurious.  I could only dream of ever having a bathroom this spacious and nice.  I liked how the given light fixture was turned into a chandelier.  This was probably my second favorite, being more traditional than the first room, but still very clean and fresh.

 

 

 

Room by Laura Fulciniti.

The third room was a bedroom designed by Laura Fulciniti of Buffalo Paint & Wallpaper.  Hollywood luxury was again apparent in this room.  If I was single, my bedroom would certainly be pink and satin.  This was the winning room in the challenge!

Room by Erin Kent.

Erin Kent designed the fourth room.  It was another living room, this one being much more masculine than the first, and was done in a mid-century modern style.  Although not my personal taste, it is a classic design style.  I believe this is the room my husband voted for as his favorite.

Room by Rich Nashwinter.

The second bedroom, and the fifth of the rooms was designed by Rich Nashwinter.   A very nice, relaxing room, but other than the horizontal pieces of wood on the wall behind the bed, nothing really stuck out as being unique, original, or extremely eye-catching.

Room by White Orchard.

The sixth and final room was designed by Pamela Witte of White Orchard Home Furnishings.  I loved elements of this room, such as the butterfly wallpaper (I'm a sucker for anything with butterflies), the floral rug, and the Beatles poster turned into a window.  Overall the space was too traditional and way too busy for me.  I also wasn't crazy about how the cube table was turned into some sort of lighted faux fish tank seen on the left side of the photo. 

I love seeing how six different designers, given the same space, design elements, and inspirational image, can create six totally different rooms.  I stash my favorite ideas in the back of my mind until I can find some way to incorporate them into my own designs.

Bookcase Makeover

Time to sell another piece of furniture!  I found this beauty in the basement of my old apartment. Under all of the filth, you can see that someone actually spent a lot of time painting sunflowers on the sides and top, as well as polka dots on the front of the shelves. Interesting choice.

Bookcase before.

After some clean up, priming, and painting, this is what I was left with...

Better.

Better, but boring.  Although not really visible in the picture, the back of the bookcase has some cracks in it. It's still a study, solid wood piece, but I didn't want those cracks to be visible.  My solution was to add some wallpaper to the back of the bookcase.  It would hide those cracks and add some visual interest to the piece.  I picked up a roll of contact paper at the dollar store.  Then I cut some pieces of foam core to fit in each of the three sections of the bookcase.

Foam core cut to size.

I rolled out the contact paper and cut pieces about an inch bigger than the pieces of foam core.  I removed the protective backing and stuck the foam core down, making sure to smooth out any air bubbles.  I wrapped the excess around and stuck it to the back.

Back of foam core panel.

Front of foam core panel.

Once all three panels were complete, I added 3M adhesive squares to the back corners of the panels.  I laid the bookcase on it's back while I secured the panels to the inside so I could firmly press them down.  And here's how it turned out once all of the panels were in place...

Done!

Kitchen Curtains

After a couple months of living in our new apartment, I finally had time to tackle making curtains for my bare kitchen window.  

Kitchen window before.

I had already purchased fabric months ago.  (And by purchase I mean had to use a gift certificate I had earned while working at Calico Corners before it expired, so I really didn't spend a dime.) 

Fabulous fabric.

The French/Eiffel Tower theme works well with a picture I have hanging in the dining room that my brother took while in Paris and had blown up for me.

24" x 36" photograph.

I had never made curtains before, and barely know how to use a sewing machine, but I dove in head first. First, I measured the length (48" from the curtain rod to the sill) and width (60" across both) of my window.  I figured I would make each panel the full width of the fabric (around 52"), which is pretty standard.  This made for less cutting, and also gave some fullness to the curtains.  If I ever want to close them, there's enough width to the fabric to cover the windows.

The length was more of a guessing game.  I decided to add five inches the length of the window to accommodate my header and hem.  After I cut both panels to length, I folded over each side about a half inch and ironed them down before sewing them up.  For the top, I folded down a half inch to create a clean edge, then folded down another 2.5 inches before sewing in place, which left plenty of room to slide the curtain rod through.  I hung up the unhemmed panel to double check my length.  I was left with a fairly consistent half inch to hem so the curtains would fall right below the sill, covering the entire window, but not dragging on the counter top.

I don't have any pictures of my process on this one because I completed it several weeks ago.  But here's the after...

Curtains!

Different angle.

It's amazing how much homier and personal the kitchen feels now.  And check out my new fruit bowl with a fleur de lis on top.  Perfect accent!