So, I looooove Pinterest. A few years ago when "everyone" started joining Pinterest, I draaaaaged my feet about it. No way did I need another website addiction of the social media variety. But then I discovered what it's all about, and it has been one of my favorite things on the Internet since...well, ever. I love creativity and decorating and of course designing things, and Pinterest is the best place to put all of those wonderful things. And well, recipes. I am not a fan of cooking, so Pinterest helps make it more enjoyable for me.
I have also grown to looooove decorating the space where we live. That space is currently a two-bedroom apartment, and as such, I am limited on space and by the fact that the walls, ceilings, and floors are not actually mine. But I love home decor just the same.
That being said, our second bedroom has gone through some major transitions since we moved in almost exactly three years ago. It started out as strictly an office space with a GINORMOUS desk I bought from IKEA after we were first married. And then we wanted the room to function as a guestroom for family visiting from Michigan and for nieces to take naps in. But we also needed the room to house our printers, scanners, filing cabinet, etc. So in order to make this guestroom function in all of the above capacities, I turned to Pinterest to PIN some inspiration. Novel idea. ;) I found lots of ideas for putting a double bed and a crib and an office in the same space. But to make a long and boring story short, I got rid of the IKEA desk and was able to implement many of the ideas I had pinned. I wound up putting a wardrobe/armoire in one of the corners of the room. Doing so created a nasty dead space/hole, and the artist in me needed to hide and soften that corner to make it look more cozy, and intentional, and pleasing to the eye. I thought of hanging paper poms from the ceiling, searched for the best tutorial I could find, and pinned it to my office decor board for later.
My, oh, my, what a seemingly innocent thing to do. As with most people, I joined Pinterest just to keep personal pinboards
and didn't necessarily care if anyone else ever saw what I pinned on this or any other boards. But then when people started liking the things that I found, I thought that was actually pretty cool.
I found this link about one year ago, and it is now my most repinned pin I've ever pinned.
;) I'm sure other people are used to this, but me, not so much. I get
notified almost daily about someone else repinning or liking my pin,
which is definitely kind of exciting even if it doesn't actually mean anything or say anything about my curating skills.
The lady who wrote the tutorial is to be commended. It really is a good one. I mean, tissue paper poms are NOT rocket science, but if you're like me or the over 400 other people who liked or repinned my pin, you love the visuals and the step-by-step instructions, even if you don't actually NEED to be told how to make something you likely made in grade school. She has tips for the best ways to hang them and a great link for getting nice tissue paper in a wide variety of colors, which I used and was very impressed with as I just did not have any success finding shades of brown tissue paper at my local Party City or Target. As you can imagine, not many people use BROWN tissue paper for gift-wrapping. ;) You can see her tutorial here.
And just for fun, here's how my project turned out.
Four of the poms are four different shades of brown tissue paper and the fifth one is made out of pages from an old book. The last was by far the hardest pom to make as the paper was small and brittle, but I love the effect it created. I actually have a different lamp there now, but the space is filled in exactly the way I wanted it to be. I personally think it is a GREAT look for a room that functions as a pseudo-nursery and as a guestroom with an office in the large closet.
Showing posts with label tutorial. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tutorial. Show all posts
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Black, White, & Red All Over - Part 1
Original title, I know. ;o) I couldn't think of anything more fitting, though.
I LOVE my red, black, and white bathroom, but it has been hard to find bathroom decor in those colors. I chose red, black, and white after having seen a collection by Candie's at Kohl's in late 2007/early 2008. I never did actually buy anything from that collection, but I did like it. Since Nate really loves red, it was a perfect choice for us.
Annnnnnnyway. The bathroom has been like 95% done (as far as decorating and tweaking) for a few months now. Most of it has just been moved from our old house. But each room always seems to have a few things in limbo because of craft projects I want to do. I found this link on Pinterest for one of the last two things I wanted to make to finish it. Click [this link] to see the other project I made to finish my bathroom.
It's a mason jar match container. I love the versatility of mason jars in decorating. They just make everything look cooler. This is perfect for our bathroom as we like to use matches for a more natural air freshener. The reason for this is mostly that spray fragrances have bothered my allergies in the past and only seem to attempt to cover an odor rather than do away with it altogether, and besides, matches are cheaper. We all know how much I like cheaper!
It
is not my intention to replace the tutorial(s) that already exist by
other bloggers, but I did learn some things that I thought were worth
sharing.
Mason Jar Match Container
Need:
Strike Anywhere Matches
Small Mason Jar with Ring/Seal - clean (8 oz. jar, but any jar large enough for matches is fine.)
Sandpaper - black (I am fairly sure any grit will work, but I used 400. Nope. Find something that's more coarse. After doing this project, I discovered 400 was too fine.)
Hot Glue
Glue Gun
Scissors
Do:
1. Round up your stuff. This is the hardest, and I found it to be the most time-consuming part of the whole project. I already had a jar (with lid) that was formerly the home of a Bath and Body Works candle that had been used up. It is probably a 6 or 8 oz. jar and is a little more squatty than your typical jelly mason jar. So for me, that part was free! The sandpaper was kind of pricey as I limited myself to black to go with my bathroom. I only used a fraction of the package though, so overall, not a bad deal. I also already had the hot glue/glue gun and scissors.
2. Hunt down strike anywhere matches. This was so difficult that it gets its own step. I first checked my local Walmart, Target, Dollar Tree, Hobby Lobby, and Lowe's. Come to find out, they ALL sell matches but NONE of them sell strike anywhere matches, at least not in my area. You must use the strike anywhere variety as the regular strike-on-the-box type does not work. Trust me, I tried it. ;o)
I did a lot of searching online to see if they even still made these matches, and apparently they do. It seems they are common for people who do a lot of camping. Some Walmarts carry them in the grocery section (which is helpful to note which departments to search) as do some Lowe's. If you are looking for matches, the most likely sections are the barbeque/fireplace/grilling section which is probably part of a store's seasonal department, but they are also usually found in the kitchen section and occasionally with candles (though not usually).
There are all sorts of these matches on eBay for around $4 a box of 300 including shipping, but that was a bit more than I wanted to spend. I found a hint that they were sold at Ace Hardware as well as camping supply stores. So, I found my nearest Ace, asked an employee, and was out the door with them for $2 in under 5 minutes. Great experience, and I would definitely check your local Ace first if you can. They really are "the helpful place." Haha.
3. Remove the seal part of the lid from the jar and trace it on the back of a piece of sandpaper. Cut it out. Hot glue the sandpaper to the ring and then to the seal, making sure to press the sandpaper flat inside. I have found that when I need to replace the used sandpaper, it's pretty easy to pull the hot glue from the seal and ring.
4. Insert matches. You're done! It's that easy.
It's been fun to scrape up cute stuff for our bathroom, but now it is finally DONE. Now that it's finished, I need to take pictures to show the finished product.
Labels:
decorating,
homemaking,
simple living,
tutorial
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