Chevron Lamp {Cupcakes and Cashmere}

Hello all! I hope you are all enjoying the weekend so far! I wanted to share with you another GoingOutChic collaboration for the Cupcakes and Cashmere themed tutorials I did.  I showed you the Cupcakes, Cashmere and Cutlery tutorial about a month ago.  Check out my Chevron lamp tutorial!

I wanted  a cute, soft yet fun lamp that reflected my style and would add a nice "pop" to a space. Chevron is so popular right now, but I wanted to give the sharp geometric lines a softer side.

Here are the materials I used for this project:

-Krylon Indoor/Outdoor spray paint in Ballet Slipper

-Frog Tape

-Tape measure

-Xacto Knife

-Stenciling brush/sponge

I used a drum shade from Target (size medium)

I found this great base from Target as well (size medium)

First step was to tape a strip the whole way around the shade to use as a guide for where I wanted my chevron points to be. This kept everything nice and even.  I measure my line about 2.5" from the base.  I measured this strip the whole way around to make sure everything was lined up equally. 

I then started to tape my chevron stripes. I overlapped the pieces of tape, and gently cut the excess with an Xacto knife.  I used that strip from the first step to make sure everything was even.

Whew! This took me awhile...a lot of taping and re-taping, but I finally got everything lined up and looking sharp.

Then I started painting.  I decided to use the spray paint with a stenciling brush. I thought the watery wet spray paint, used with the stenciling brush would give the chevron stripes a softer look. 

I sprayed the paint onto the plate, then dabbed the stencil brush lightly into the paint. I then dabbed the brush in between the lines, making sure to keep the paint light around the tape lines so it wouldn't bleed too much.

Here it is completed. I let it dry about 80% of the way before I pulled the tape off. The paint did dry very quickly on the fabric shade.

This part was exciting yet nerve wracking!  I got to see how the lines turned out!

Here it is completed!

The lines are a bit rough, and not perfect, which is what I wanted to give it a softer look.

What do you think?  Are you planning on tackling any projects like this? If so and you have questions, please let me know if I can help! 

Have an AMAZING weekend!

A Design Freak-O-Zoid

That's what I believe I am. Technical term? Probably not, but it's gotta be some sort of disorder.  When you can't fall asleep at night, because you're designing rooms in your head and thinking of side tables and spray painting lampshades, you know you've got it bad. Remember I told you that we are moving to Lancaster? Well we just signed the lease to an apartment in the city, where my brother and sister-in-law live now! They are in the process of purchasing a house, and we are scooting right in after them, into their amazing city apartment. It's beyond precious and I have always loved it from the first time I saw it! Lot's of old city charm to it. Anyways, I've been decorating it in my head at night before I fall asleep. Trying to figure out if I should paint some of the things I have, and if so what color, where to put what into which room?  So I thought I would share with you my plans for the living room. (These ideas are subject to change a few times but nonetheless.)

This is about what I think the color is in the entry and living room. Could be a bit lighter but this is just a guess. I do really like it though. 

This color is called Peppercorn by Sherwin Williams

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I am thinking for the living room and entry, I want to do accents of white and coral.  Check out some of these examples.

Have the striped pillows already! And I'm loving the floral arrangement.

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The color on the walls here is similar to the walls in the apartment, and I'm loving the gold, coral and white. Including this awesome chevron rug!

 

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I would love to find a hutch at a garage sale and paint the back of it in a bold coral, or even find a neat coral wallpaper for the back of it. Extra storage, and awesome decor! Double whammy.

 

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These curtains are insane, and I love the pop of green with the desk and vases.

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Um, chic much? I'm loving that white buffet table under the mirror.

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I know it's a shower curtain, but I would love some coral ikat curtains for the living room.

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I think so as to not make it all look repetitive in color, I may try to bring in this minty sort of green into the space

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As for furniture.  Everything we have in our current apartment has either been given to us, or we purchased it from Craigslist. The only new item we have is our bed frame and mattress.  We have been really blessed by with not having to purchase any furniture other than a few $50 Craigslist finds. 

The one new thing we would love to purchase for our new apartment would be a new sofa set.  The sofa we have now is great, but we find it a bit uncomfortable to sit on because it's a sofa bed.  My plan for that bad boy, is to move it into the office space and use it for guests and extra seating in that room because I still really like it.

I've been snooping on Ikea's website and found some things that catch my fancy. 

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Yes,  I know they are white, but they are slip covered so they can be washed.  They have a grey color as well but I like how crisp the white is. Down the road, I could purchase new slip covers from Ikea in a different color if I decide someday that little kids and white sofa's don't mix.  This is just one option, I'm not sold on them yet, and I may find something way cheaper on a memorial day sale or something at a furniture store, but this is what's floating around in my head for now.

So what do you think of the coral theme?  Do you have any plans of switching up color themes in your rooms?  Anything big furniture purchases you plan to make in the near future?

Sea Fan Fancies!

Hello darlings! Sorry for neglecting the blog all last week.  I was out of town and didn't get the chance to sit down and get my blogging on.  And, my old MacBook is on the fritz. The battery is now completely zonked. Which means I am now forced to be tethered to a wall.  I have dreams of grandeur, of becoming the proud owner of a huge Mac Desktop someday.  Anywho, remember the sea fans I bought at Black Dog Salvage? Well before my trip last week, I finished the project I had in mind for those bad boys.

Here are the sea fans in their O'natural state. They had a purplish tint to them.

 

First, I painted the "shadow boxes" I bought for this project.  They are actually T-Shirt display boxes that I  we, bought from Micheal's craft store. I had two coupons so I drug my hubby along to make two separate purchases because at Micheal's, they have a policy of only one coupon per customer.  I needed two.  The frames were originally around $10.00 each and they were on sale, plus the coupons we used brought them down to $4 a piece. Steal!!!! 

I forgot to take a before picture, but the frames are plastic and they were black. 

I used Krylon Brushed metallic satin Nickle on them and gave them about 3 coats each.

Then came the sea fans. I choose Krlon metallic in Brilliant Gold.

They required about 5 coats to really get the gold look I wanted. 

 Here is the finished frame.

And the finished sea fans

To get the sea fans to attach to the back of the frame, I spray painted two push pins gold and attached them to the back of the frame. 

 I also got this green paper at Micheal's for $0.59 a piece! Cheap!!!!

 

 And here is the finished product!!!

I put them right by the front door.  It was an empty space that needed something! 

 This cat loves to sleep here!

 (I ended up moving the push pin down to the base of the fan, so it wouldn't be so noticeable)

I love the way the gold and green look together, but I already have plans of switching up the colors to maybe white sea fans and light blue paper. Or even a cool ikat fabric behind them!  

So altogether, this project cost $10.59 per frame.  Not too shabby eh? And I love the fact that I can change it out with each place we live.

Speaking of each place we live... my hubby and I will be moving soon back to Lancaster PA! We are very excited to be closer to friends and family, and I personally can't wait to get into our new place and start decorating!!!! So if the blog posts in the next few weeks start to slow down (even more so than they have been) it's because we are trying to orchestrate a big move.