COVERING BOOKS

I don't know about you but I have a TON of books lying around, most of them not being so attractive to look at. Not attractive enough to have on "display" that is. Easy fix! I just cover those baby's up! You know back in school when you had to cover your text books? My friends and I would always make our own covers and decorate them with stickers, beads, and the I love _________?? Who ever we had a "thing" for at the moment. Those were the days.. .this is the same concept.

I use wrapping paper, wall paper, card stock, you name it to cover books, even fabric. This is a great way to have you books handy for reading and also have them match your decor (look pretty). Its fast and easy to change these baby's out too. If you ever covered your own text books in school you can do this! If you don't know how here is a link to a VIDEO. Here are few of mine so you get the idea..

Most of these covers are card stock and wrapping paper. Super easy, and makes a HUGE difference. Well just thought I would share a trick on books, hope everyone has a great weekend! I am off on a long road trip, here is to hoping there is nobody in the backseat getting car sick..

THE FATE OF MY ASIAN SCREENS

Well I decided to build  for my grass cloth wall, I painted my Asian screens on Monday, only the trim which used to be black, it is now white. I did this with the intention of just using these for my grass cloth project, but after I painted them I just could not ruin them. I was really digging the side that is gold and black, and my sister came over as I was painting them and said to me "you aren't gonna cover that gold up are you?" I said yes... I am going to use them for my project instead of building.She looked at me like I was crazy and pleaded with me not to. So..I didn't.

I had to find a place for them, which was another task in itself, and finally decided on my bedroom. I think I will keep the trim around them white for now, it makes them "pop" a little more than the black did with the color of my bedroom walls.

I had my hubby cut off the tops off with the table saw, they used to look like this at the top..

Much better! I am starting on the building of the "wall" hopefully today (this evening). If it doesn't rain, wish me luck!

IKEA FIDDLE LEAF FIG TREE

Its almost that time again! Heading out of town for a San Fransisco Appointment soon, so that means, you guessed it, Ikea here I come! I know, I know most people (including my husband) aren't very exited about walking around a giant store, dodging a million people looking at house stuff, but I do! I dont go every time we are there but this time I HAVE to go...because.... I found out Ikea has fiddle leaf fig trees! And they are only $12.99!! Woot woot! I have priced these here locally and they want $75.00 for the same size plants. See thats why I love you Ikea, you are so nice to my pocket!

If I kill it, It wont be a huge blow to my wallet, so I am gonna give it a try.Wish me luck!

PROJECT TIME (EMPHASIS ON TIME)

I have been wanted to do THIS project ever since I seen it, I LOVE it, I Heart it, I wanna Marry it...:) It combines two things that I think are my favorite aspects in design, (texture and metal) . So when you put the two together...ahh there is no words for how much I like it, and this girl is super talented and creative, love all of her stuff, you have to check her blog out.

I got my main supplies already, now to just figure out if I wanna cut this beautiful, gorgeous wallpaper to make it fit on something that I ALREADY HAVE or build to accommodate the size of the wallpaper?? I would have to cut off about 10 inches of the paper if I choose to use what I already have. I am leaning to the more grass cloth the better, my hubbsters might just be a little busy this weekend..or I may just be inpatient and use what I got. Having a hard time deciding, what do you guys think? More grass cloth (building new) or use existing (less grass cloth)?

Have a great day!!

D.I.Y. FRAMED GOLD BIRD ART AND BRASS CHINOISERIE LAMPS

Hey there!! I did some switching out of wall art over the weekend, and the best part of all it was free! I have had these pictures saved on my computer of these gold leafed birds in black bamboo frames for a couple of years now, while cleaning up my photos I ran into them again.

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On a whim I decided to make my own, well I tried, they aren't as shiny as these but that's OK with me.
Here is how it did it:
First I needed some thick cardboard, so I looked around the house and found an empty hot pocket box..hey whatever works right? :) Don't be jealous of my luxury items..

I cut the box down so that I could get two pieces around the same size and just free handed the drawing of the birds.

Next I just cut them out with some scissors, and used gold rub and buff applied with a q-tip.

I let them dry for about 15 minutes then used two pieces of card stock flipped the paper over to the white back and taped the birds down. Again don't be jealous, simple is my thing, works for me. Maybe later I might use some linen or something like that, the super white back round makes the mats look dingy.

That's it, easy and free!

 These pictures retail for $287.00 a piece, wow! I say make your own, right? Oh and by the way,
 I switched out my lamps too! I have had  these lamps in the garage way too long! They don't match perfectly but again that's OK with me.. Maybe I will get lucky and find a match for this one..(my favorite of the two) we will see. See you next time!

 I entered remodelaholics link party here, for a feature chance...

 http://www.remodelaholic.com/2013/09/beautiful-fall-mantel-ideas/

MY $5.00 ASIAN DIVIDERS

A few towns away every year there is a big event that I look forward to, a town wide yard sale! Actually in another near by town last weekend they also had a town wide yard sale too, but was unable to go. 

I did manage to go to the first one and ran into a lady who had some pretty neat things and her prices were unreal, so cheap! She had a large yard with a few trees near the front of her house that were kinda away from where she had her sale set up.I noticed that leaning up against this tree these were barely visible, but I have hawk eyes for cool stuff hehe, not really but I asked her if these where for sale? She said "yes they are you are the first person who has noticed them, under the tree is the only spot I had to lean them up against". 

I thought awesome its my lucky day! I then asked her how much she wanted for them and when she said $5.00 for both of them, I almost passed out... not really but that's how exiting it was.I whipped out a $5 and said SOLD! 

Here is the front, she said her grandmother owned them for a long time and that they were really old, this woman was probably in her 60's so that gave me an idea of how old they probably are. She also said that these were real silk paper, awesome! The back is different:

 

This side is a gold metallic with sort of a leaf or vine like print...

 

These are pretty massive in size and am not sure what I am going to do with them, or if I even think that they match my decor, but I just couldn't stop myself from buying them. I have tried to do a little research on them but have found notta. Has anyone ever seen anything similar?

SALLY HANSEN SALON EFFECTS NAIL POLISH STRIPS

Let me just start by saying I am in LOVE with this product! This is totally off topic of my typical DIY home decorating posts but I just couldn't help myself. I hardly ever paint my nails because I am ALWAYS doing projects, dishes, laundry and so many other things with my hands, so nail polish NEVER stays on for more than a day or two. Really a day or two that's it, until now! I was browsing through Rite-Aid in their clearance section and ran into these..

 I read the box where it says lasts up to 10 days, no drying time, easy application.I thought 10 days for me yea right. The price was $2.00, down from $9.99, since they were cheap I thought I will give them a try,what the heck. I got home followed the directions which is just peel stick,then file, super easy, and it took me about 15 minutes to apply the strips on both hands. I added a top coat for added protection which is something I would normally do even when using regular polish. Here are my nails after 9 days:

Still going strong! Seriously not a chip in sight! This after dishes, baths, banging my fingers doing projects, you name it. My nails usually look like I'm a mechanic that works on cars all day or something, I use my hands A LOT. I'm totally hooked now! I think they will last probably another 10 days. I can have pretty nails with no worries and I didn't pay a fortune for them at a nail salon. Aren't these a fun pattern too? They have so many patterns to choose from its crazy. Just wanted to let my fellow D.I.Y. bloggers and moms out there know about this product, because it really delivers what it says. I wasn't paid for this post, this is just something I discovered that really works! Anyone have any other nail products you know works? Have a great day!

COUCH SURFING

I  have posted about wanting a new couch a couple of times so this is no surprise, yep I still want new couches and I cant forget that I want them because of this,  I get a TON of emails from furniture websites, along with a lot of other stores, but the furniture ones always get me!  When it says in the email title SALE, 10-20% off, hurry only a few days left...they get me almost every single time.(Am I the only one?) I click that read button...This usually happens when I am waiting in the car for my son to get out of school trying to pass a little time, I get out my cell and start checking emails. I got an email from overstock about, you guessed it,surprise, a furniture sale! I opened it up and starting browsing the sofa sets and totally fell in LOVE with this set in particular...

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Nail heads and creamy lush fabric! GORGEOUS! There is only one set left in stock...bummer, I definitely don't have the cash for this at the moment...hopefully it is something they will restock. It will take me a WHILE to save for this, at $1699.00, but shipping would be free!

Here is another set that I thought was nice too..

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LOVE the button tufted back cushions, both of these sets got high ratings for comfort, durability and appearance. This set is also $1699.00, must be the magic number here. A girl can dream though, right? Anyone else pretend shopping for new furniture, did those emails get you too?  Have a great weekend!

PLAYING MUSICAL CHAIRS

Hope you had a great holiday weekend everyone! It has been SUPER hot here in California this last couple of weeks, so we played in the water this weekend just to keep cool!

Remember when I posted about thrift store shopping with my mother in law about a month ago?
I posted some pictures of our finds and I didn't tell you guys that I actually purchased the two chairs I talked about. I know sneaky me...I just couldn't help myself, the excuses I come up with to justify some of my erratic purchases, my hubby has heard them all I am sure! I will be selling the other chairs I had in the living room, so I guess that makes it ok, right? Here is where I put them..

Remember the Asian stool table thingy I called it? I painted it this yummy turquoise color and its new home is right in between these two chairs, Its the perfect scale for this here spot.I am going to be switching out the curtains in this room too, I have been fabric shopping, think I am gonna make my own. Now I just need to really buckle down and save some money to buy a good camera! I have been saying this forever, but its time! Am I the only one who is obsessed with chairs and switching furniture around, and not buying things you "need"? I gotta work on that...