much ado about cotton

Cotton fabric that is! On Monday I purchased three yards of cotton fabric from JoAnn's. I'd been searching high and low for the perfect fabric that looked like a burlap/grain sack mix, but I wanted a cotton--I like the texture of cotton better. The fabric doesn't have a special name, but it can be found with the utility fabrics and it's $3.99/yard. I set about making my pillows for the living room, as well as accessorizing.

My first project was this DIY French grain sack pillow. I will be doing a tutorial on this just as soon as I buy a zipper and get it sewn in!



Then I set about making my "No. 19" pillow, using this tutorial on YouTube by CraftyGemini. I wanted to make and envelope pillow since I'm lacking in the zipper department. Her video saved my sanity as all the other tutorials out there s-u-c-k-e-d-! But as you can see, I managed!





As soon as I can find my iron-on transfer paper, I'll be adding my graphic. But I can't decide if I want to do it in black or brown. And I'm also worried it's going to look a little nekkid. I guess we'll see.



And last but not least, I made a runner for our coffee table (don't mind the fact that it's pushed up against the wall).





I'm still playing around with the coffee table vignette.



I had been planning on ordering a galvanized metal tray from Jamali Garden. Unfortunately, they have a $50 minimum order charge, and if you don't fulfill it there's a $10 surcharge. My tray was going to be $12 with $13 shipping. Now, $25 was already feeling kind of steep but add in that surcharge and $35?! No thank you! Of course, now that I see the runner on the table, I'm thinking I might want a nice wooden tray instead. I need something to warm it up, especially with my cool blue and green books and my little white bird (recognize him? he's my Tuesday Morning bird!).

Guess I'm on the hunt again!

time for a giveaway!

I made this little goal in my head for when I'd hold the next giveaway here. When I reached 100 followers, or when my visit counter reached 20,000 hits. I wasn't sure which would come first, but...



It was my visits! I only installed the counter in November, so I've been getting an average of 4,000 hits per month! That's not bad for a little blog that does no advertising and basically it's just the inner workings of my machinations!

So I figured, this giveaway would come with a few prizes, a few ways to win, and a few ways to learn more about your nutty host here at Two Nuts in a Shell. This is how it's going to go down:

PRIZES:
Layla at Flowering Tree Botanicals on Etsy has been kind enough to let me offer some of her amazing bath bombs as part of the prize package!



You'll want some of these fabulous fizzy creations to help you relax after you've done all the hard work with your $50 Home Depot gift card.



WAYS TO WIN:
Leave a comment on this post, after you've visited Layla's shop, and tell me which scent of bath bombs you'd like--you're getting five (5) of them, so don't be afraid to wander outside your comfort zone!

If you're a follower, or become a follower, there will be a separate drawing for you, in which you'll be able to win some extra bath bombs and a $25 Home Depot gift card! That means if you happen to be the Grand Prize Winner and the Followers winner, you'll get $75 to Home Depot and a whole lot of fizzies!

BONUS:
Let get a little Q&A going on in here! I've never had an "ask anything" op on my blog, so now's the time! Leave them in the comments, e-mail them to me, just be polite. I am a lady, after all. And hey, if you have one about Jason too pass it along!

WHO'S ELIGIBLE:
U.S. Residents only.

CONTEST DATES:
The contest will run from today, Tuesday March 9 until Tuesday March 16, midnight Pacific Standard Time.

THE FINE PRINT:
The lovely and talented Random.org will be our judge and select the winner. Winner's choices are restricted to bath bombs only. Bath bomb preferences cannot be guaranteed due to ever changing stock. Prizes will be delivered via UPS and will be insured. A signature upon delivery will be required.

Good luck!

Please remember that I employ comment monitoring, so please don't be alarmed if your comments don't show up right away!

don't you love when that happens?

You know what I'm talking about: when those little design dilemmas fix themselves without much work on your part? Yeah, don't you just love when that happens?

After I finished shooting the wall unit, I dove right into filling up some of those cubes by shopping the house and deciding what I might need to buy. And since I was ordering things, I went ahead and started to order the zinc tray I've been wanting for the coffee table. Thankfully, I had the foresight to group the items together that would accommodate the 11"x20" tray. Once I was happy with their layout, I got out my Home Depot yardstick and measured. This is what I started with:


(The Ella Canister from Pottery Barn is holding narcissus bulbs and river rocks.)

Hmm...not exactly what I'd pictured. The canister looked way too big and was taking up prime accessorizing space. So I removed it and replaced it with a few items I had sitting on my insanely cheap new Ralph Lauren cake stand. The mason jar is also holding a narcissus bulb (if anyone's keeping track, that's now four mason jars in our home).



Much better! I'd like to figure out how to prop my apple up a little higher so it's not the exact same size as the twig ball, but that's a project for another day. But now what to do with my vase? Well...I do have a big empty cube on the bottom of the wall unit.



Now I need to fill in all that extra space! I probably could have talked to my blooming flowers and heard myself echo in that cavern. After a quick post on my favorite Nest board--ahem! Decorating & Renovating, woot!--I had a plan (thanks Tarheel&Rebels!):

stack the vase on a few books to give it height

find some branches of some kind to fill in the vertical height

add a couple knickknacks

The books were easy, since we're total geek-tastic bookworms literary geniuses. The branches had to be store bought because unfortunately, living on the beach only nets you sand, seashells, and the odd palm frond (plus, our house is so new, we only have saplings in our yard). I bought two of these bundles from Save-On-Crafts so it will be a nice full bundle. However, I didn't like the idea of having their bare bottoms showing (pause for immature chuckling from yours truly), so I grabbed my galvanized tin bucket that I purchased on my last brainwashed shopping spree trip to Pottery Barn.


(Okay, so just imagine that bucket full of warm natural twigs.)

I've really been trying to use books that have some sort of meaning to them while decorating. I love these two. The Southern Mysteries book I bought when we were moving to North Carolina. The West Point book was the first book I ever bought Jason (for Christmas, from Tuesday Mornings!).



Now we're getting somewhere! But what of the knickknacks? I'm in pink puffy heart love with porcelain or milk glass figurines. But I didn't want to put anything too precious that close to the ground. On the very very rare occasion we have children in our house, I'd hate to think of the hellfire I might rain down on my friends if their precious baby broke my antique knickknack. (<--- we're definitely not ready for kids yet, can you tell?) Then I remembered something I'd recently seen on etsy.



Oh God, is that not shabby-chic scrumptious?! Maybe it's not everyone's style, but I love it (if you love it too, you can see it at Family Attic). The only problem is I have no place to put it. It's too large for the walls in our house (which are mostly lined with windows--not that I'm complaining). So I figured I'd make a small one for myself using some leftover wood scraps and modge podge.






(Find these fonts here and here--they're free!)

Isn't it cute? And didn't it fill in that front gap perfectly? All I did was paint a little 9.5"x2.5" piece of scrap wood with Rust-Oleum Heirloom White. Once it was dry I modge podged my little paper sign onto the wood (I find this is a great alternative if you don't want to buy vinyl letters, or can't afford a Cricut machine like moi). Once everything was dry, I distressed the corners, went over it with my Ralph Lauren glaze, and hot glued some wood dowels on the back. Easy peasy.

Now all I need is my twigs, my filigree cross, and to figure out what the heck I'm going to do with the top right cube, and I'll be set! And I'm open to suggestions! ;)

notice anything different?

The wall unit is done! I'd love to put that sentence in huge bold block letters, but I don't want to scare anyone off. But before we get into the afters, let's see the before and the durings.

Before. I love this piece but with its curved edges it was stuck in the 80's.



First things first, I turned the back side into the front by adding trim to the raw edges.



I closed up the open areas by adding a kick board and a top moulding.





Next came the primer and paint...





...and finally the bead board wall paper from Home Depot. Which brings us to the afters. You may or may not be able to tell from these photos, but I nixed the idea of using plywood as a solid backing for the bead board. Rather, I left the bottom of the bead board wall paper loose, so I could easily slide our cords around with out having to cut through anything. It wasn't until last night when we were reassembling everything that I realized how genius the bead board idea really was--no more ugly cords! I didn't even know how much I'd hated them until they were gone.





Mason jars make great bookends! ;)



I love this shot of our "Feckin' Book of Everything Irish." I'm finding books to be a great way to disperse multiple colors throughout the room.



It's still a little nekkid, but I'm working out what I want to include in all those cubbies. I just ordered this gorgeous filagree cross for the super tall cubby on the left.



And for the bottom left cubby, I'm really thinking I'd like some glavanized watering and milk cans to play off the zinc lid of my mason jar, as well as the zinc tray that will go on the coffee table. Something like these from Pottery Barn, but I'm hoping I can find them on the cheap (these are going between $14 and $50)!



Only a few things left and this room will finally be finished! As of right now, I'm on day 20 of Project Living Room (not including the week we spent in Las Vegas, and the week I spent in bed sick). It seems like it's (almost) all down hill from here!

One more time for the cheap seats in the back!



I'm linking up to:
Transformation Thursday @ The Shabby Chic Cottage
Power of Paint Party @ Domestically Speaking
Trash to Treasure Tuesday @ Reinvented
Project Parade @ The DIY Show-Off
I Made It Without My Hubby @ Shanty 2 Chic
Make Your Monday @ The Twice Remembered Cottage

Also, check out my tips and tricks for painting a big piece of furniture on the cheap in the TUTORIALS section (or by clicking here).

unglamorous glamour

My arms are covered in paint. I've somehow managed to get a blob on my forehead as well. I have dust smeared on my cheek, and my hair is scraped back into a ponytail--with lots of bits sticking out here and there. But these times when I am feeling most down and dirty and unglamourous in the midst of a DIY project is when Jason says I am at my cutest. The sheer determination on my face, the tiny swears that pop out of my mouth, and the great sighs I expel when I am finished for the day--to him they are the sights and sounds he's going to miss most when he leaves this month.

We're still around--the weekend was insanely busy! Friday we enjoyed the company of Nichole and one of Jason's Marines, Josh. The four of us went shopping which led to dinner, which led to our favorite country western club, which led to "breakfast." I think Jason and I finally tumbled into our bed at four a.m. Saturday morning! But it was one of the best nights we've had with friends in a long time. Saturday night my family had a dinner for Jason so everyone could see him off. Most of Sunday was spent sleeping (for me) while Jason played golf with another one of his Marines, Johnny.

Not much work was done to the wall unit, but I'm happy to say that yesterday and today have been spent making up for that! I'm hoping to move it inside tonight and apply the bead board wall paper tomorrow (I've already been preparing vignettes for some of the cubbies, so I can't wait to get it finished!).

And just so this post isn't completely devoid of photos, I'll leave you with this one: my new claddagh ring all the way from Ireland!

how to paint large pieces (without any fancy equipment)

If you're like us, then you're always on a budget when it comes to redecorating. Even the smallest things can add up here and there. That's why when I decided to tackle my biggest furniture revamp yet, I knew I had a challenge on my hands.



Now, most people would use a big fancy air compressor and attachable spray paint gun to paint a piece this big. If you have the ability, funds, or accessibility to one of these, go for it! However, when I started looking at renting one of these things, I discovered:
a.) The cost of renting the air compressor was $30 for one day. I knew I was probably going to need it for two.
b.) The local Home Depots don't rent the paint attachment. So I would have to purchase one separately for $45 (on the cheap end).
That meant it was going to cost $105 just to paint my wall unit! Um, no! That's money I can spend on accessorizing and building other pieces.

So instead, this is what I did:

SUPPLIES:

Spray primer (I use Rust-Oleum 2x Coverage)

Roll-on primer (I use Kilz, but if you're smarter than I am, you'll use a grey primer if you plan on painting a piece black!)

Spray paint in your chosen color (I use any number of black glossy spray paints for my projects, usually Krylon or Rust-Oleum)

Roll-on paint (for this project I used Behr Paint and Primer in a basic black--it only took 2 coats and I barely used a quarter gallon)

Foam roller, paint pan, step stool (if you have a big piece and you're a little shorty like yours truly)

Start by wiping down your piece (I forgot to do this prior, so I had to do it post primer, hence all the little dust balls on the wood). Using your spray primer, spray all the nooks, crannies, and corners of your piece. Don't get too heavy--you don't want drips and pooling. And don't worry about covering every surface--we're just trying to get into the places where a paint roller can't.





Pardon the messy, messy garage.



Once your spray primer has dried, prime the rest of piece like usual with your roll-on primer and foam roller. (Notice my little IKEA step stool--best $20 I ever spent.)



Let dry thoroughly.

Now, just repeat these steps with your chosen paint color!



And there you have it. A cheap, easy, and effective way to paint a large piece of furniture without all that fancy equipment!

To see how this piece turned out, check out this post.