This little piggy got a makeover

Isn't he cute?! I found this gem in TJ Maxx last week and knew it had to come home with me. (I am always looking for interesting pieces to add to our home.) 

The trouble was he was bronze and blended in with my furniture. For $6.99 I thought I'd take the risk and paint it. So, this little piggy got a makeover using Krylon metallic silver spray paint. I'm satisfied with the result.

Moral of the story, if you like an item but aren't satisfied with the color, it's ok to update it! Instead of thinking "it wont work" think about how you can make it work! 

Sunday Spruce-Up

We had another really awesome weekend here in Iowa so most of it was spent outside either reading on the porch, taking the dog for a walk or working on a few outdoor projects.  Yesterday, I took the liberty to spruce up this start that hangs on the front of our house.

This star has seen it's better days!  It has made it through two re-locations and is at it's third home.  I felt it deserved a little facelift! :)

Re-painting is definitely the fun part in any project, but first you might want to remove the old paint that is flaking off.  The best way to do this is using a wire brush or if you don't have a wire brush, a grill brush works great too! 

I needed to make sure my new paint would stick and go on evenly so I used Valspar spray paint primer in white.  I let that dry for about 30 minutes.

I changed the color of my start completely!   Instead of going back to red, I used Valspar spray paint in Tropical Oasis.  This took two coats of spray paint.

Between coats of spray paint, I got a little distracted.  "Bam," our dog, decided to go tease our heifers.  See him on his back?  He had something that they were interested in...

Ok, back to the project!

Here is the new and improved star!

I think my next Sunday Spruce-Up might have to be washing the house!

Have a great week!

Monogrammed Wall Decor

Today is my final day of "Christmas Vacation" from work which adds up to a grand total of 11 days of vacation - it has been awesome! (It's going to be really tough to go back tomorrow.)  I worked on a lot of little projects around the house during vacation.  One of the bigger projects I worked on was a gallery wall in the dining room.  I am terrible at buying artwork because I never know where to find anything good so I had to make a few pieces to complete the wall. (I'll show you the completed wall toward the middle of the week)

One of the pieces of wall decor I made was this monogrammed canvas. 

This was an easy and fun project.  All you need for supplies is a woodchip letter and canvas.  You can find both a Hobby Lobby.  The sales sticker on the letter didn't come off very well so I had to use sand paper to smooth it out.

I had spray paint left over from my painted vases project that I re-purposed for this project.

When you paint the letter and the canvas, go back and forth in quick spirts of spray rather than in a continuous stream of spray paint until the object is covered.  This will prevent the paint from running and reduce the amount of time it will take for the items to dry.  You will have to give the canvas and the letter multiple coats of paint.

Once the paint is dry on everything, put glue on the back of the letter (tacky glue or hot glue) and center the letter on the canvas.  Let the glue dry and there you go - you have your monogrammed wall decor!

Make sure to check back here for another DIY wall decor idea and to see how the gallery wall comes together!

Good Luck!
Beth

Painted Vases

My DIY post for frosted wine glasses seemed to be a favorite amongst Design Your Dwelling readers and followers!  Since that post was such a success I thought I would pass along some DIY painted vase ideas to decorate your home or even give as a gift.

I made these vases for my sister as a Christmas gift.  They were so fun and so easy to make.  Below I'll give you instructions for how to make each one of them from left to right.

All of the vases I used I found at Walmart, Target or Hobby Lobby.

Frosted Stripe Vase

Supplies: vase, painters tape, frosted spray paint

1. Tape your design using the painters tape

2. Tip the vase upside down and spray with frosted glass spray paint

3. Let the vase dry completely

Tall White Vase

This vase looks great with a lit candle in it! :)

Supplies: vase, Christmas ribbon, white spray paint, glue dots

1. Attach the ribbon to the vase with a glude dot where the ribbon starts and ends.

2. Wrap your Christmas ribbon around the vase - I used the ribbon that you can curl with a scissor

3. Double check to make sure your ribbon is tight against the glass

4. Spray a light coat of paint in quick bursts, let dry completely

5. Repeat until the vase is evenly painted.

6. Let it dry completely

7. Remove the ribbon

Monogram Jar

I filled this jar with candy for my brother-in-law. 

Supplies: Glass jar, letter stencils, spray adhesive, spray paint

1. Spray the backside of your stencil with the spray ahesive. 
(I used Elmer's spray adhesive that I found at Hobby Lobby)

2. Place the stencil on the jar and hold for a few seconds so the glue adheres

3. Spray the paint in quick bursts

4. Let the paint dry completely

5. Repeat until the letter is evenly painted

6. Remove the stencil.  If you need to touch up the letter, Q-tips and nail polish remover work great

"Love" Vase

Supplies: Vase, spray paint, puff paint or hot glue gun

1. Spray a light coat of paint on the vase so the puff paint has something to adhere to

2. Write your word on the vase and let dry completely

3. Spray the vase with paint in quick bursts

4. Let the paint dry completly

5. Repeat until the vase is evenly painted

A tip that I learned the hard way is to spray your paint in quick bursts and let is dry completely before spraying again and continuing this until the vase is evenly covered.  If you spray the paint continuously until the vase is evenly covered, the paint with run and not dry completely.   Then, after the paint dried on all of the vases, I sprayed each one with a clear sealant that you can find at any craft store.  This will help protect the vase and keep the paint from chipping.  Do not scrub these vases or put them in the dishwasher.

It is amazing what you can do with spray paint and minimal supplies.  I like how these vases turned out.  I'll probably make a few for myself too!

Feel free to send questions if you have any.

Enjoy!

Beth