How to Pick a Thrift Store Lamp

Almost every single lamp I own in my apartment has been thrifted in some form or fashion.   The one next to my bed is an old brass/brass look alike lamp I bought at SAM (Spring Assistant Ministry), which I highly suggest, and sprayed painted oil rubbed bronze with a burlap lampshade on it.  It is probably one of my favorite lamps I have ever done.  I have a wooden one I found at Goodwill and have repainted and have it on my desk and then the ones in my living room were old brass lamps my parents had in their bed room and gave to me to spray paint again oil rubbed bronze.  To be honest I am not wild about the ones in my living room but hey they were free.  This post is about how to pick a good thrift store lamp and how to redo them so they fit your style and save you money! 

 Like I said I rarely buy a lamp from an actual store unless its a good price and well worth it.  Here is how I pick my lamps when I go to a thrift store.  

 1. Do not worry about what color it is or how it looks right now! You are going to paint it and add a new lamp shade not one those old accordion style one that it most likely comes with, YUCK!!! A great example of this is this lamp right here.  It is a way outdated hunter green lamp but that does not matter! You are not buying these lamps for their color! 

2.  Look at the shape!!! The one above might be hideous but it has a decent shape and might look good once its painted.  I have bought several lamps in the past few years that people are like umm Maegen that is hideous and I am like oh I know that's why I love it!!! The uglier, the better it is the cheaper it is ;) Here is a great example of UGLY, UGLY lamps but ones with good shape.  

They cost me about twenty bucks together! 

 This is how they turned out!!! Much, MUCH better! One and a half cans of oil rubbed bronze and they are 100% better! 

3. SIZE!!! Now a days the bigger the better! The pictures above give a great example of how a big base will look really good especially when its the only thing on an end table or night stand. 

Here is a bad example for size and shape.  They will not really add anything to your home decor.  

 4. Lamp Shades! I rarely, I mean rarely buy a lamp shade at a thrift store.  I believe I have only ever bought one except for the ones the lamps might come with.  Yes you can try and recover lampshades but in my experience that is harder than people on Pinterest make it look! Mines have come apart because of the heat and well frankly a small lamp shade will run you about ten bucks and you do not have to fuss with the recovering process! Now if you want to know where I buy my lamp shades the answer would be it depends. If I want a burlap lamp shade my new favorite store is Kirklands they sell three different colors online so you have to pay for shipping unless you are lucky like I was and get free shipping.  They run about 15 bucks and are a great size! Here is a picture of one of them on my new lamp. 

Other stores I like for lamp shades would be Target and World Market. Depending on the one you like you are looking at around 10-30 dollars a piece.  Let's face it the most expensive part to any lamp is the lamp shade.  So shop around! Use coupons! Do your research! And if you are really brave then try and recover one.  

Now that I have given you my tips on how to pick a lamp let me give you a few tips on how to spray paint them! 

1. Be patient! Yes anyone who knows me, knows I am not patient.  I swear that's the hardest part for me when doing any project! Here is an example of me not being patient and what happens.  

 2. Buy a good spray paint! Kylon works well and so does Rustoleum.  Now I would suggest a gloss or high gloss finish for your lamps.  They look better with a glossy finish and don't look like you did it your self.  

3. Use short fluid movements when you spray paint.  Be sure to not concentrate in one area too long or you will get runs like the one above.  I suggest 3-4 light coats for it to be fully coated.  

4. Once a coat dries tilt your lamp so you can get a different angle on it and cover every single spot.  Trust me NOTHING is more frustrating than thinking your finished painting your lamp, in the heat of Texas summer, to find out you missed some spots because of not getting every angle! 

5. If you are working with a glass or porcelain lamp base be sure to lightly sand it with sandpaper that is at least 180 or 220 grit. The finer the better you do not want to leave marks but just to scuff it up so the paint will stick.  You might also want to use a primer for the porcelain but for my glass one I did not need it. Be sure you wipe it down again before you paint it or else you will have a mess on your hands. 

6. If you want to be sure you don't get any overspray on your cords or the part where you screw the light bulb in cover it up with painters tape.

7. Do not be afraid to use color! I love colored lamps they add a pop of color to a room and if done right are a great accent piece! 

WHEEWWW That had to be the longest post I have written to date! I hope you find all these tips to be helpful and informative.  Do not be disappointed if you do not find the type of lamp you are looking for at the first thrift shop you come to, keep searching  you will find a gem eventually! Happy thrifting!  (Cue Thrift Shop by Macklemore, "I'm going to pop some tags I've got only twenty dollars in my pocket")

 

Bathroom Update!!

I showed you last week how to make some very cute jewelry holders with clothes pin and a piece of wood(heres where DIY Jewelry Holder), now I just wanted to show you another way to use them.  

 

Use them to hang belts, scarfs, tights, tank tops, and spaghetti strap tops, you name it I am sure it will work! Like I said before I plan on making some plain ones for my closet for at my apartment to hold some of the things mentioned above.  I love the fact that I could store a pair of sunglasses on top of the clothes pin and I even hang some of my rings on them as well! Here are a few more pictures so you can get a better look at it! 

  

  That earring holder should be up on my etsy page within the week I have several to sell that are blue.  So if you are interested in one you can contact me but in the mean time check out my etsy page at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/powertoolsnhighheels?ref=si_shop

Happy Hump Day :) I am headed off to Austin to see my sister, a.k.a my cousin, Pegleg!! Watch out Austin trouble is coming to town! 

Cheap and Easy Magnetic Make Up Holder

If you are like me you have seen several different forms of how to put your make up on a magnetic board on pinterest about a million times. I kept thinking what a great idea but come on I do not have that much make up and where would I put it and why would I spend that much money on something that I might not even use. Finally I had, had it and decided I would come up with a cheap way to do this and give it a shoot but was in no hurry. The other day I went into Joann's for just a cupcake box for my new business, one of my many I have/had, and of course I walked out with way more than just that ONE cupcake box. How many of you have walked into Joann's, Hobby Lobby, or Michaels and come out with just what they went in for? Not many of you I am sure. Well as I was walking around I came across my solution to my make up issue! Remember I did not want to spend that much and I did not want it to be too much work. Something I didn't mention is when I go back up to school I have a medicine cabinet, that I never use, that causes a problem for this solution so I needed a way to hang it or adhere it to it without damaging the hideous mirror medicine cabinet. The joys of renting, right?!?!?! So as I was saying I came across this metal plates that come in several different colors and here in Texas cost $9.99.  I thought hmmm this could work so I whipped out my 40 % off coupon, btw Joann's is my absolute favorite place to shop because they have the best prices and the BEST coupon policies, and bought it. After my coupon this magnetic plate was only $5.99 I also picked up some 3M Velcro picture hanging strips and a pack of round magnets. I have to say I am pretty impressed with myself because it only cost me about ten bucks! So here is the DIY and final product of the project.

Items Needed: 

• Metal plate in any color from Joann's Fabric (it is used for organization) $5.99 after coupon
• A package of magnets (however many you need) 
• Glue gun 
• Glue for glue gun 
• 3M hanging strips   
  

  Optional: 

  Wire metal magnetic basket for tubed make up, brushes, and tools

 How To: 

1. Take your make up and attach a magnet or two depending upon size using your glue gun.  Best part of this is once you have used up your make up you can just peel it off and reattach it to your new one.  

 Yes I do not have much make up :( I don't really do much with my make up on a daily basis and even when I go out I only spend and extra like five minutes. 

2. Take your 3M hanging strips and place them on the back of the metal plate.  

 

 

3. Hang your metal plate up 

 

4. Place your make up on the metal plate and admire your handy work.   

 

 Use a magnetic basket to hold all your tools and things you don't want to add magnets too!

You can use a small magnet to hold your tweezers because the magnet attaches to the plate and then will hold your metal tweezers in place!

So as I promised a CHEAP and EASY magnetic make up holder.   Hope you love yours as much I love mine.  Please feel free to pin to pinterest and don't forget to favorite my blog to stay up to date on all my projects :) 

DIY Jewelry Holder

This is an easy and simple DIY project that makes organizing your jewelry easy and fun to look at! All you need to do is run out to your local Hobby Lobby or craft store and you can get all you need right there.  

Items needed: 

1 - board from the craft wood section the one I used was roughly 6"X36" (I had my dad cut mine down once I got home but I wish I had left it its original length) 

1- one package of wood clothes pin 

Glue Gun 

Glue for Glue Gun 

optional: 

Paint 

Stain 

How To: 

1. The first step is optional which is to paint or stain the board and the clothes pins you are going to use.  I pulled apart my clothes pins to stain them....BAD BAD IDEA!!! I nearly broke every single one of my nails trying to put them back together.  So I suggest that you keep them together and just stain or paint them like that.  Trust me it will be worth it in the long run. 

2. Now if you chose not to paint or stain your boards or clothes pins you can join in on this lovely DIY right now.  This step is so complicated you just won't be able to do it...ok I kid its so easy that even the kids I babysit could probably do it if I wasn't a perfectionist and it wasn't a glue gun we are using.  Take your glue gun and run a bead of glue down one part of the clothes pin then glue it to the board.  Be careful not to use too much or it will show once you place it on the board.  Repeat this step till all the desired clothes pin are attached to the board. 

3. Once you have have allowed them to dry ohhhh about 2 minutes you can then decide how you want to put it up on the wall.  I am a HUGE fan of 3m command strips and hooks.  I have used MANY, MANY of their products over the years because I am a renter and they are simple and easy to use and really do work! I used three 3M Command Velcro Strips to attach to my wall and waited the time they suggest before hanging up it up and hanging my jewelry up as well.  

 

4. Admire your handy work and send the pictures to all your friends...oh wait that's me hahaha 

 

Now my mom loved mine so much I have to make her one but she isn't going to use it for jewelry but to hang her scarves, leggins, and cami's instead.  I am going to make myself a few more as well for the same things at my apartment. 

So just in case you didn't get to see it enough the first time here it is again :) 

So there you go, simple and easy.

Dollar StoreBoot Forms

Do you have boots that look like this? 

Here's your solution!!!

I have seen several different types of boot forms to make your boots stand up and keep shape for a while now and have been wanting to make some but wants sure which type so I hadn't.  But today while I was out looking for something else for a different project, which failed miserably, I decided I was going to finally make them before I put my boots up for the year.  This is a very simple and CHEAP tutorial on how to make what I did.  All of the items can be found at the dollar store, my dollar store of choice is Dollar Tree.  

Items you will need: 

• A pool noodle (You can usually get about two pairs of boots out of one noodle give or take) 
• A pair of tall socks or knee highs (Optional)
• A bread knife 

Step 1: 

Stick the pool noodle in the boot and measure how tall you want it to be I liked my sticking just a little out but they do not have to.  

 Step Two: 

Cut the pool noodle using the bread knife. 

Step Three: 

You can stop here if you want and just leave it as is or, if you want to be fun like me, you can jazz them up a little.  To give them some color and make them fun take the sock and put it on the noodle. 

Once the sock is on and pulled tight you can tuck the remaining sock into the little hole at the end of the noodle, like so. That's the best part of this DIY, NO SEWING OR GLUING!!

Don't you just love my nail color...testing out golds to find the right one for my Aggie ring day coming up soon.  It's a BIG deal to get your ring here at Texas A&M. 

Step Four: 

Stick your new boot form into your boot and admire your handy work.  See it wasn't that hard now was it? 

I did all five pairs of my boots for less than 10 dollars and I couldn't be any happier with my results.  You could jazz them up even more if you wanted by adding a yarn pom poms or some ribbon but I was happy with just this and I am swamped with school work for classes so I decided not to do anything else.  If you add something else to it I would love to hear about it. Hope you enjoyed today's cheap and simple DIY. Now off to sleep for this tired college student!

Drop Cloth Curtains with Grommets

I know its been a while since I have posted been busy with school starting back up, hanging with my new roommate and everything else that comes along.  However I wanted to share with you a simple and CHEAP curtain idea.  I had been wanting curtains for my living room but just didn't the money to spend on curtains because of the length I needed, as stated in the previous post.  So I started to look on pinterest and saw people using drop cloths as curtains! I knew it would just look perfect! I do not like the look of curtains put up with either those rings with clips or a pocket for the rod to go through, I am obsessed with grommet curtains! I love the look they of them and how much more expensive they look as well.  I had recently finished the curtains my mother had started for me, to put up in my room, that has grommet for hanging.  She found a grommet kit that makes it so easy anyone can do it!  So I knew that was what I was going to do.

 Here it what you will need to make your curtains:

Ignore the rotary cutter I didn't end up needing it

• Two drop clothes ( Mine were around 10 dollars each and were 6ft X 9ft, you can find them at hardware stores like Lowes, which is where I got mine.) 
• Two curtain Grommet kits ( You can pick these up at Hobby Lobby for around $13 dollars each if I remember correctly, I used a 40% off coupon on both) 
• A sewing machine or If you want it to be a no sew project using Heat and Bond hemming tape
• Matching thread for machine 
• Ruler 

The best part of these simple curtains is that if your like me I used the entire drop cloth as is and the edges are already sewn for you so all you have to do is sew the top for the grommets to go!

How to make the curtains:

1. Iron the entire drop cloth.  This will take some time so put a movie in or watch TV while you do it.  I ironed mine while watching Burlesque ( Which if you haven't seen it you must! My roommate and I absolutely love it and sing songs from it all the time.)  

  

2. Next determine where you want your Grommets to be on the curtain.  The last time I did this I wasn't sure how far down from the top of the curtain I wanted them.  I learned from that and this time I made the pocket much larger and moved the grommets down by a few inches.  It all is what you want and what you like.  So eye ball it then measure the width you have set and make sure that's the size all the way down the curtain.  How to create this pocket/hem is by taking the top of the drop cloth and folding it over the length you have picked for the pocket.  Just like this.

Like I said make sure its the same width all the way down the curtain. 

3. Sew along the bottom of the pocket.  This is where you can use the heat and bond hemming tape if you prefer not to sew.  

4. Now that you have your pocket sewn you can lay out your grommets and figure out the spacing you want to you.  If you anything like me you will not figure this out mathematically you will do trial and error till you get something you like.

• Hint: You will want to use a EVEN number of grommets.  Once again learned this one the hard way as well! If you don't use a even number of grommets then it does not begin and end correctly and it lays all funny.  
• Hint 2: You want your first grommet and last grommet about 1 inch from the edge of either side of the curtain for it to look right. 

I used my yard stick to help me space them properly.

5. Trace the inside of each grommet or use the fancy little template they put in the packet.  I have done it both ways and the second time I just traced the inside of the grommet.  

Opps! See where I did this the first time. Had to re-space them luckily it was on the back so no one well ever know...well except y'all.

 6. Now cut out the center of each circle and your ready to start popping, more like snapping, the grommets into place!

 7. To attach the grommets you take the male side and place it on the back (which will be the front when your done) and then take the female side and place it on the front side and push HARD till you hear/feel them snap together.  If your having trouble getting them to snap or are seeing fabric when you snap them together, you might need to cut the hole a little larger.  The best part about these grommets is that they un-snap pretty easily if you need to readjust for some reason.  

8. Now your ready to put your curtains up and enjoy them with the satisfaction that they cost way less than if you had bought them in the stores!  

The lighting and the design of the room doesn't let me take a great shot of the curtains but here is one to show you how they look.  If you notice from the first shot to this one the room is a little different, i.e. I become bored with the arrangement of the room and moved somethings :)

Valentine's Decoration

Hey Redesigning followers! Now that the crazy rush of the holiday season is coming to an end its time to get ready for the next one...DUN DUN DUN... Valentine's Day! Some people love it, others hate it.  I am torn currently, but none the less I of course will decorate for it because come on it gives me the excuse to!  Well as we all know, money after the holidays and post holiday sales keeps us all a little strapped for cash.  Therefore I wanted  had to decorate for with as little money as possible and luckily I was able to do that! Instead of decorating the entire apartment (because I am not really feeling like it) I decided to just do my new wanna be mantle shelves.  I was able to decorate a majority of it for free with things I had already but I had to do a little bit more to fill spaces.

Here is the break down of what you see and their prices (if I can remember them):
Top shelf (left to right):

• Three mercury glass candle sticks - World Market After Christmas Sale for a whopping $1.30 each! 
• Bowl with birds nest made from moss and a spray painted bird - Under $5
• Embroidery hoop with a Bird Heart print cloth gift wrap piece what was given to me - Around $2 for the hoop
•  Three candles - Under $6
• The porcelain bird is being sold currently at Target for less than $3 if I remember correctly with the Valentine's Decorations I bought it in white so I could use it year round! 
• The pitcher was a gift from my mother :) - FREE

 Bottom Shelf:

• Vases from the Dollar Tree ( I am going to fill them with Pink, Red and white candies) 
• Plate from World Market - Clearance $2.99 with a Vinyl Sticker from my old dorm 
• Cute pink owl currently being sold at Khols - Under $6 when at 50% off 
• Heart Wreath - Target last year dollar section 
• Gift box with bow - Juicy Couture box that my mom brought back for me from New York - FREE
• Antique blue mason jars with wooden spools of thread and old cloths pins - total $13 dollars ( a STEAL) 
• Metal piece with flowers - $2.50 at a resale shop 
• Ribbon lights - Under $6 - LOTS AND LOTS of tying

This is the perfect time to look through your home/apartment and see what you have and try and make it work! I really think I didn't spend more than $25 dollars on actual Valentine's decorations most of it I had already or bought for a different purpose and made it work.  This is the time to be creative and remember to have fun!  And as always keep redesigning college!