Hanging Shelves - DIY Beach Series

This project doesn't get much easier and I LOVE the way it looks.  In fact, so far, this is my favorite project. 

Materials:

• 1'X2' Boards- I got mine at Home Depot.  They were in the shelf section.  They were already white so I loved that I didn't have to do any painting.  Each was $4.
• Rope- I got mine from Joann's in the home decor section.  I believe it was 3/4".   It came in a package and was about $13 for the whole pack.
• Cleats- Also from Home Depot.  These ones are about 6".  $3 each.
• Drill and drill bit the size you want. We did ours 1".

You'll probably do some adjusting based on how you want yours to look.
These are just general instructions.  I won't get too specific.  If you have questions about how we did ours, please ask!

Drill a hole at each corner.  I made them about an inch from each side. Slip the rope through and tie a knot at the bottoms

Drill the cleats into the wall. and hang the shelves by the rope.  You can just lay it over the cleats or you can do like we did and wrap it around a few times.  Mostly we did that because our rope was too long.  It ended up making it a little more stable so it doesn't sway so much.  We also considered putting something sticky on the back and attaching it to the wall so it wouldn't move around, but with the way we tied the rope, we decided it wasn't a big deal.

And that's it!!!

DIY Beach Bedroom Series: DIY Dollar Store Nautical Trash Basket

This is going to be a quick post.  The project is fairly self explanatory.  I've just included a couple pictures to help out.

Materials:
Waste paper basket from the dollar store. 
Twisted Jute (I got mine from Joann's in the craft section.  $4.99 originally, but I hardly ever buy anything at Joann's without a coupon!)
Hot glue gun and glue sticks (it took about 7 glue sticks for my basket)

First put one end of your jute through a hole at the bottom edge of your basket and glue securely.  Start wrapping the jute around the basket, gluing every couple inches.

Make your way to the top.  Tuck in the end at the top and glue down.

Start another end close to where you began, but now glue in a circle towards the center of the bottom of the basket.  Once you get to the center, tuck the end through the basket and glue down.  Ta-da!!

DIY Bedroom Series: $10 DIY Blanket Ladder

I love this ladder!  If you're anything like me, you have blankets everywhere cluttering up linen closets or piled in the corner of the room just taking up space.  I feel like we have blankets coming out of our ears.  Winter in Utah can be a little chilly, so we always need the blankets handy, but I hate having them on the floor.  Anyone else ever worried about spiders crawling out?  Seriously creepy.  Problem solved!  way to keep blankets off the ground and can also be a great way to display quilts, etc.  Plus, when you can make it for $10, what could be better?!

Materials:
As a perfect beginner project, the only tool you really need is a drill.  You'll also need wood, 2" screws, stain/paint of choice, and some brushes.

We purchased our wood at Home Depot.  We got a 16 foot 2x4 piece for $7.  We had them cut it right there at the store.  For this ladder we did two 5' pieces and four 18" pieces, however, when we do another one I think I'd prefer shortening the "rungs" to 15" and increasing the length by 6". 

Once you have all the pieces cut and you've made it home with all your supplies you'll need to decide where you want your rungs.  We started our first about 6" from the top and each one under that was 12" from the bottom edge of the rung.  We made the angle so that the corners of the rung were flush with the sides of the ladder.  Really you can do whatever angle you'd like.  It's not rocket science here! 

Mark the boards where you are going to place them.  Pre-drill holes with a bit that is comparable to the screws you're using. 

 

(Ours is marked twice because I had my husband lower the rungs a bit.  If you're lucky you might just only have to mark them once!)

 

Now, my husband screwed each rung to both sides first.  It may be easier to screw each rung into one side, then screw it into the other side.  I leave that up to you.

*Note:  I stained the ladder after it was all put together.  If you prefer, you can stain/paint it before it's screwed together. 

Once it's all put together, you really should sand it a little before staining, but being the lazy person I am, I didn't. 

 For this ladder, I used Minwax Dark Walnut 2716.  It's what I had left over from a bench we made.  I truly do love the dark stain, but I think we'll make another ladder and this time paint it white, or if I get really ambitious I may try to give it more of the weathered look to fit in better with the beach theme.  I mean, really, you can never have too many of these hanging around!

Follow directions on your stain.  Again, with this project I was a little lazy.  I just used a foam brush to paint on the stain and then used an old rag to wipe it off.  I did two coats.  The second coat I left on for a few hours and then wiped it down.  I left the stain overnight before applying a coat of Minwax Polycrylic

.
Apply 2-3 coats.  Then you're done!!  Hopefully that was pretty clear.  If you have any questions, let me know!

DIY Beach Bedroom Series-DIY Pillows

My husband and I are finally getting around to doing something with our bedroom.  We both love the beach, but since we're not likely to get there anytime soon, we decided to make an attempt at a beach-themed bedroom.  It actually really all started with the headboard.  We wanted to make one but couldn't agree on what we wanted.  We scoured Pinterest high and low and came across picket fence headboards.  The beach-theme just naturally fell into place. 
We finished the headboard before I started the blog, so I don't have before and after pictures, but just imagine a very light tan wall and nothing where the headboard used to be.  Pretty bland....  I also don't have any pictures of what it looked like along the way, but it shouldn't be too hard to imagine.

Here's what it looks like now...

Not at all the finished product, but you get the idea.  I sent a picture of it to my mom when we finished it.  She said it looked whimsical..........Not what I was going for.  Hopfully with a few nautical accents it'll look better.


Anyway, onto what this post is really about.  The pillows!  I love me some accent pillows!
I saw some pillows at Ross that I could almost love.  If they hadn't been so boring and still rather expensive for our budget bedroom, I might have gotten them.  But what I did love, and what screamed beach decor, was the burlap trim around the edge of the pillow.  Since I have been in love with burlap as of late, I thought, "this is the perfect quick and easy DIY project for me."  Well...yes and no.  If this is a first project for you, it can easily be done.  Just pick the right material.  The blue and the grey/white fabrics are both from the home decor section at Joann's.  They were both easy to work with, not to mention they were 60% off plus an additional 15% on top of that.  I only needed a half yard of each, so it was only a few bucks for each fabric.  I already had pillow forms laying around.  I found a coral color I loved in the remnant section, which happened to be 75% off.  It was taffeta, but I could work with that.  So far, I was doing pretty good.  Now for the trim.  Here's a little tip...skip the trim section and look for the ribbon.  They have burlap ribbon that is way cheaper than the trim; however, they did have some burlap trim that I wanted to try on the coral pillow.  You can see it in the picture above.  It has decorative holes in it, that I think make it look a little more interesting.  If I was to do it over, though, I'd skip that too.  It was so hard to work with, especially on taffeta.  But it did give some nice contrast.

Step 1:
Figure out the size you'll need for your pillows.  If you're buying a pillow form the packaging will tell you what size it it.  Add about an inch to each side.  If you're using old pillows, take off the covering and lay it over your fabric.
 

Cut about an inch around each edge.  Turn right sides together.  Sew 1/2" seams around all edges, leaving a generous amount (I left about 10" but it depends on the size of your pillow) on one side open for stuffing the pillow inside.

When you turn the case right side out you want it about a half inch to an inch bigger than the pillow form.

You will be sewing the trim around the edge, so you will need this extra space.  It's easiest to sew the trim on without the pillow inside, so you'll sew the three edges first, stuff the pillow in and then sew the fourth edge with the pillow inside.

I bought ribbon that was about 2 1/2 inches wides, so I folded the two sides in and ironed it flat on a low setting.

Then I folded the ribbon in half and sewed to the edge of the pillow.

I also didn't try to do anything fancy with the corners.  Just straight lines on every edge.  When you get to the fourth edge it will be the same, just a little trickier, as you'll have the pillow inside. 

In the end, you'll have an awesome new pillow!  Good luck!!