This little light of mine

I first saw it sitting on a picnic table on the side of the road in Delaware. I didn’t bother to stop as it was several blocks from where we were headed but I thought about it several times that day. On the way home that night, I fully anticipated that this yard sale was packed up and sold out, but what did I see when we slowly cruised by… the lonely lamp with a “free to a good home” sign propped up beside it. Well I had no intention of leaving this little shiner out in the cold, oh no, I had big plans for it the minute I laid my DIY eyes on it. I’ve started looking at décor and furniture more for their shape than current color or appearance because it’s just so flippin’ easy and fun to change!

Step 1: Remove and save all hardware. The electrical cord to this lamp looked so old that I didn’t even bother plugging it in to see if it still worked (I was honestly scared that it might burn my house down!) Next, I removed all hardware and put it in a plastic bag in case my lamp kit didn’t have the necessary parts.

Step 2: Bath time. Although the previous owner’s home was beautiful, this lamp was probably living in a dusty attic or scary basement. I simply filled up my sink with soap and water and gave the lamp a good scrub down.

Step 3: Prime & Paint. Easy peasy lemon squeezy is all I have to say about that.

Step 4: Assemble the lamp kit. I bought this handy-dandy lamp kit from Lowes for $10 and it was a cinch to assemble. I started by feeding the original screw through the bottom of the lamp base (see, I told you it was important to save your parts!) I then attached the top screw and fed the new electrical cord through it.

Next was the electric socket and although it looks a little intimidating, all I had to do was hook the two electrical ends around the screws and tighten the screws with a screw driver.

The last step is adding a light bulb and lamp shade and of course asking someone for a Clark Griswold drum roll. (Any Christmas Vacation fans in the house?)

• - Lamp: $0 from yard sale
• - Lamp Kit: $10 from Lowes
• Lamp Shade: $20 from Lowes

Total: $30

Note: Dear Lowes, Please start selling silver lamp kits. Gold fixtures are so 10 years ago. Thanks. Love, Jamie.

Happy 4th!

Hey there, Happy 4th! How was your holiday weekend? Ours was full of fireworks, sunshine, grilling out and of course some DIY projects. I desperately needed to start on several projects so I don’t turn into a furniture hoarder. My side of the garage (honestly, there is a line down the middle) is quickly getting full of furniture – I’m calling it my “DIY Queue”. So on Saturday I started the hard, sweaty, make your back hurt prep phases on several pieces. On weekends like this that are very “preppy”, I like to squeeze in some instant gratification projects (i.e. cut trees down and make new pillows).

The first project of the weekend was a little unconventional but what a workout! When the builder of this house cleared the plot, he strangely left 3 trees in the middle of the yard. Although oddly placed, they looked fine until they recently started sporting dead limbs all over, so we decided to chop those suckers down. Please re-read that sentence and focus on the “we”. I can rock a power tool as good as anyone else but this gal’s not operating a chain saw – not-gonna-happen. I still have a lot to learn and with all of the clumsy things JD sees me do on a daily hourly basis, he knew he had to literally man up to this one. I also think Bo wouldn’t mind the extra room to you know… do his biz.

Special shout out to my hottie of a hubby who worked this chain saw like it was his job. I’m not sure how he knows how to do every project in the DIY book, but he does and I dig it. He’s been such an awesome teacher!


I’m amazed at how big the yard looks now!

After hauling all of the chopped trees into the woods, it was time to get clean. Unfortunately I’m not talking about myself, although I was covered in sap. As clean as primer can make a piece of furniture feel, at the end of the day you will still know there’s mildew, funk or dirt living underneath and that just creeps me out. Chances are if you bought the furniture from an antique store or yard sale it probably needs a good bath! Soap and water usually does the job, but I’m really loving Zep Fast505 Industrial Cleaner. It was a cinch to clean the Adirondack chairs and wicker table – I was even able to catch a few rays in the process, but after it hit 95 degrees, I was ready for some inside projects!

So recently I’ve been feeling like something is missing from our living room. Everyday I look at it, sit in it and just feel like something’s not quite right. While browsing the aisles at Hancock Fabric last week it finally occurred to me what’s missing… COLOR! So I bought 2 yards of 2 different fabrics and made 5 pillows to add a much needed splash of color. I conveniently had 5 old throw pillows that I didn’t like anymore so they were the perfect filling.

After measuring the throw pillow, I cut 2 pieces of fabric adding 2 inches to all sides for the seam. I then simply pinned the two pieces of fabric together so they were facing. I say “simply” but Bo actually made this part a little difficult

I then sewed all 3 sides, flipped it inside out, stuffed the old pillow inside and then carefully sewed the last seam.

Sometime this summer I also plan to make a frame gallery over the sofa. Below is a rough sketch of my plan. I promise it will not be all pictures of Bo, although I think that would be a fabulous idea!

We ended this fabulous weekend with fireworks on Lake Anna! Happy 4th y’all

Mama Says

So there is a running joke in my family about the source of me and my sister’s trivial knowledge. My mom is a very smart lady and I typically trust that everything she says is fact. JD gets incredibly frustrated with me when we’re disagreeing about something and my response is, “Well, Mama said it’s true.” What “Mama says” is basically a Wikipedia shortcut right?

Well Mama…I’ve rebelled. You’ve always owned a Singer and recently suggested that I buy one for my first sewing machine. But as a millennial, consuming an unreal amount of information everday, I feel guilty when I don’t do my homework. So before making the purchase, I went straight to Amazon.com for the low down. I honestly was a little shocked with what I found… “700 people don’t agree with what Mama says?” The Brother CS6000i was the #1 recommended (basic) sewing machine and after reading 10 reviews, I was sold.

Should be here today! Let the pillow and panel makin’ begin…

Source: Amazon.com

PS: Thanks for all your wisdom Mom! It’s helped me more than you will know.

xoxo

Lead Ahead

I know eating lead paint chips can hurt kill you but until recently I didn’t know what limited exposure to lead paint could do to you. Google it and you will not want to come within 50 feet of the stuff. It’s kind of like using WebMD to search “headache” or “lower back pain”. Within 2 minutes, you’ve self diagnosed yourself with cancer and/or a brain tumor. All kidding aside, if you’re working with lead paint, definitely research it heavily and follow the EPA guidelines (which I think recommends hiring a professional)…says the DIYer 

Why all the lead paint chatter, you may be thinking?  I recently bought a very old (guessing early 1900′s) shutter from an antique shop and plan to strip it, paint it and turn it into wall art. The beauty in a good DIYer is that you can see the beauty in something even when people (or your husband) call it “junk”. Due to it’s age and appearance, I had a hunch this was lead paint but wanted to be certain, so I purchased a lead paint tester from Lowes for $26! Coming from the gal who will not spend over $30 for a DIY project, this was a lot.

As soon as I got home from Lowes, I suited up and tested this bad boy. Results were (drum roll please….) positive. whamp, whamp, whamp….

According to the instructions, if the swab on the tester or the paint chip turns pink or red then lead is present in the paint. This tester didn’t show the exact amount of lead present, but can one guess that pink is low and red is high? Any thoughts here? (As a disclaimer please do your own research/contact a professional for advice.)

The yellow/orange tester swab on the left is negative. The tester on the right is positive.

So now that the truth was on the table (or in this case shutter), it was time to get down to business. The research that I did, advised against chipping the paint as this causes dust, so I bought one can of Jasco Paint Remover (thinking it would do the job…).

Wearing very thick protective gloves and a face mask, I sprayed the remover liberally all over the shutter. I watched and waited for about 10 minutes, geeking out a little at how it kicked the paint’s butt. Scrapping the paint off had a major cool factor to me because I was totally one of the kids that put glue all over her hands in second grade just to be able to slowly peel it off. (Come on, admit it, you know you did it too!) The not-so-cool part was that the paint remover only took off two layers. Little did I know there were three plus layers of lead paint underneath it.

Needless to say, I’ll be back at Lowe’s tomorrow for another can or 5.