New Fan DIY Update

We obviously have BIG plans for our little home. With me doing my student teaching this fall that means that we have a limited budget for projects and home decor since we are paying for childcare and I’m not working. I knew that we would want to replace the fans in the house but I was planning on that being one of the last projects. Well when we moved in we discovered that our living room fan did not work, well it worked but only in reverse which is terrible for Texas summers. We were planning on replacing the fan with something to match our hardwood floors…another project that will be doing sometime in the distant future. Obviously we needed a functional fan so the hunt began for something beautiful, functional and budget friendly, this was obviously an impossible find. So we decided to look for a white fan that we could eventually move into our room or into little man’s room. We were still only finding fans that were decent and included a light kit for $100 or more. I decided to do some more searching and researching reviews and ended up finding a simple white fan with a light kit for $50, I was sold. Joel surprised me with it and I immediately opened up and started trying to think of ways to make it a little more beautiful. While I was brainstorming I saw our tv stand and lighting struck! I knew that a little lacy vinyl would really add a wow factor and tie in the gray tile in our fire place. I was sold!

Materials Needed

·         Vinyl

·         Cricut or Silhouette

·         Fan Blades

·         Squeegee or Credit Card

I started thumbing through my Paper Lace booklet I was not disappointed. I narrowed it down to 3 patterns and Joel and me decided on the same pattern and the crafting began. First, I cut a couple sample pieces on paper to figure out the sizing that I wanted, once I settled on a size I started cutting my vinyl. 

You will want to make sure that your blades are nice and clean :)

After all of the vinyl was cut I placed the vinyl on transfer paper so that it would transfer smoothly. This is extremely important with delicate or intricate vinyl. Then I measured where I would want to center the vinyl and marked where each piece would begin and end. This was to ensure that all of the blades would have the same placement and a very uniform look. Then I stuck the transfer paper to the blade and smoothed it out with a squeegee, if you don’t have one you can use a credit card. After this was done I removed the transfer paper and smoothed the vinyl over one more time with the squeegee. After repeating this process 5 times I was done and Joel assembled the fan! 

Measure and mark so that each blade has the same vinyl placement.

I truly cannot believe how much this simple inexpensive project has made such a beautiful HUGE impact in our living room. For under $5 it has made our fan go from drab to fab! So for $55 we have a functional and beautiful fan that really ties our living room together. 

I'm in LOVE this maybe my favorite project ever!

DIY Lampshade Love

 I've spent these past few weeks crafting working away between school, and helping my Mom out at her office until she finds some new people to hire. So my crafting & creating time has been limited non existent.  On Friday after I got home from work Mr. Carman went out on a guys night and left me the entire apartment to myself! I love having time to craft and he knew I really needed the break. He even got me a new glue gun since mine has mysteriously disappeared, I might have left it at the beach house? Anyway, I used this night free of responsibilities to show my lampshades in the living room some love.

 Now we've had these lamps for a little over a year, the brown went with our original bedroom decor. When I redid the bedroom I snagged the shades from the living room and swapped them out. Yes...I have the same lamps in two different rooms of our apartment. You see our apartment is quirky, we only have lights in the bathroom, dinning area, and kitchen. So we registered for lamps that emitted tons of light. Anyway, I have never been happy with the brown lampshades in the living room, but they worked and sorta kinda matched. This is what we started out with.

Not bad, definitely lacking the wow factor. 

Supplies

• Hot Glue Gun
• Fabric {I used 4 yards of burlap}
• Scissors
• Lampshade

 This entire project was  just at $12.00, for both lampshades... that's $6 a shade, so much cheaper than buying new ones.  I began by cutting my fabric into strips. I cut two inch strips, but you can change it to get the results that you want.

  After cutting them into strips go ahead and plug in your glue gun. Now you want to fold the fabric almost like an accordion.

  Then you want to put glue on the lampshade, I started at the top of the lampshade and worked piece by piece.

   Then you place your accorded  fabric on the lampshade. Continue repeating the process until you have completely covered your lampshade.

Tada rustic, and cute.

  Now it may not seem that wonderful to you, but to me it is beyond lovely. Here is a before and after shot, so that you can fully appreciate the difference.

  Amazing right? It's a little shabby a little modern. I just love the crackle base. I'm thinking about taking it apart and painting it. What do you guys think, I would love some input on this idea.

   Ahh so much cuter. I'm hoping to take a new full shot of the living room and update the our apartment tab. I am also hard at work brainstorming dinning area swag. Once again suggestions, or ideas welcome.

 

Fresh

    There's something about the sweetness that lingers in the summer air that leaves me with the desire for freshness. I decided to take advantage of the break in between summer classes that Joel has. The past week has been filled with sweet moments of enjoying each other, and enjoying being on the same schedule. I also decided that since he was home it was the perfect time to finish some old projects, respray my vases, and embark on a few new projects for our home. Joel thought that respraying the vases, would give me the opportunity to further explain my vase project.
   The vase project began when I needed a way to pull out the deep navy blue tones in our living room rug. I needed something that would add to the room, and not be overwhelming. I decided to look into purchasing some different blue vases, upon seeing the enormous price tag attached to them I knew that purchasing them was simply not an option. So I slept on it, and decided to go thrift storing for vases, and see what I could do with some spray paint and some vases. I decided that my investment would be low, so if I didn't like it, it wasn't a big deal. Now I did my vases long before I ever started my blog, or started reading them so I have no before pictures, sorry!

My collection with a fresh coat of paint.

I like the different textures, it really makes a difference when you put it all together .

Some of my favorite textured vases.

Non textured vases add interest with their shapes.

A textured and non textured vase, so you can get a good comparison.

You want to get vases with varying heights and depth as well.   

  When you go looking for vases, keep the color you want them to be in mind. It is easier to go darker for a vase, than to go lighter. However, if you find a dark green vases you adore but want it lighter don't worry. You should just apply a white base coat before you desired  color. Good luck, and happy hunting!
  I'm hoping to have a new post with some updates that we've done today and will be doing over this wonderful long weekend!