Me & Tom

I wanted my old black Toms to have a face lift. I was kind of nervous about touching them because they're not cheap, and there's no going back. But I finally worked up the nerves and just did it.



All you need is:
Shoes
Bleach pen
A lot of guts!

I was lost at first with such a blank canvas but after searching a few pictures online I finally found my inspiration. I tried to recreate that pattern on my shoes and improvised a little as well.



Once the bleach dried, I ran them under hot water with a towel and some dawn dish soap. I would recommend vinegar also but I haven't used vinegar on mine yet.

They've been a big hit with everyone so far so I may get to do a few more in the future!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every Girl Needs...

...A cute craft room!!

My spare room has been My "doom room" for the past two houses. I was ready to have an adorable craft office rather than a room full of boxes, stacks of bills and a heap of craft supplies. I needed it to be functionable (and cute) so I snagged some shelving from my in-laws and put the M.O.T.H to work, by asking sweetly of course!

 

Repin it on Pinterest! #miscalainey

I had this adorable lamp shade but no lamp so I had to improvise. Lamp shade... Vase.. Boom, Lamp! But it needed filled because when it was empty it was pretty obvious that I just set a lamp shade on a vase. I remembered that I had some seashells from the beaches in Haiti and figured I'd go nautical.

I have some more work to do in there but for now, it's a sneak peak at my two craft room charms.

 

 

How to Paint Formica

I love painting old furniture to give it a fresh look but when a friend asked me to paint a Formica coated dresser I was faced with a new challenge. All I had heard about Formica was to just say no and leave it be, but I was up for the challenge!
It is intimidating at first, but definitely possible.

It started white with white knobs but with some:

220 grit sandpaper

Some satin paint (I got away with a quart)


A can of polyurethane spray (clear, satin)

A foam roller*


And some super cute knobs



You're on a fast track to success. My first tip though is to be sure to pay attention to how the dresser was put together before you take it apart to paint it. I ended up with 2 extra screws and an upside down door! Thanks to some help it worked out in the end.

1. Take all the pieces apart. Doors, drawers, knobs, shelving, and keep the screws in a ziplock baggie.

2. Sand it, baby, sand it!

3. Wipe down with damp rag

4. Roll on first coat, paint will be slick and appear to not stick. Be patient.

5. Once dry, sand LIGHTLY as to not scratch off the paint.

6. Rewipe with damp cloth

7. Paint second coat ( repeat 5,6,7 until covered well).

8. Spray polyurethane (outside, with out inhaling too much) dry, and spray second coat within 2 hours.

9. Reassemble and voila!




Flair tip: Add decorative shelf liner for interior flair!


I hope it works out well for you!!

 

 

 

 

THE END  

 :)

And They Lived Happily Ever After

So we got a new house since I've last blogged. Then again, I've done a lot since I've last blogged. I'm working on getting better at remembering to put my projects and ideas into words- not something I excel at...
I love my living room- its so me! I'm still in the process of making the perfect throw pillows for the couch but they will come with due time.
And as for the kitchen, man oh man. I was never much of a chef-ista before hand and even now I've only gained the "-ista" part of that title but one day, when all my meals stop revolving around the theme of tacos, I'll be a mean cooking machine ;) I just can't leave a kitchen this nice and adorable empty and unplayed with! I'm pretty sure that's illegal somewhere. So I stocked up on cook books and hit the skillet. My long term goal is to trick my husband with taste buds of a five year old to eat gluten free and organic... It's tricky but I'm on a fast track to success! - more blogs on that to come.
My vintage suitcase collection holds the key to my heart. Easily said a that.
I thought I was pushing the feminine domination bar of decorating past the ceiling when I laid down this rug but the man of the house (MOTH) loves it! Hmp.. Who woulda thunk...
I have many more pictures to take and post but right now, I'm heading to my new fridge for some left- over taco lasagna!
More posts later :)

The Re-Upholstery Project

I have this dream of one day having my own take on a 'Friends' kitchen. I love that show so much and the kitchen is so bold and unique. I'm taking one step at a time to build my own bold statement kitchen. What I love doing all through out my house is mixing colors and patterns that most people would never dream of putting together, and making it work. So while I was shopping for new fabric for my chairs, I stuck with that same idea. I wandered around the fabric section of Hobby Lobby until I found 4 different fabrics that I loved together. My origional picks were pretty far outside of the box so for my husband's sake I  toned it down a bit. 

The lady who helped me was so puzzled at why I wanted these different fabrics, "You know these are different fabrics, right?" I told her my idea and she just stared at me, made me giggle a bit. So when I asked her to only cut me one chair's worth for each, I thought her brain would explode- I could just see her wheels turning.

This is what my chairs looked like before the make over. The suede was nice because it matched my couch and living room chair perfectly, but these chairs are in the kitchen, not the living room. So they needed to match my kitchen perfectly.

The finished product.. It's much more 'me' than the solid tan suede. I'm on the fast track to my perfect kitchen!

MMmmM Love it!

A few months ago I had this crazy idea to fill one wall in my house with Ms of all shapes, colors, textures, and fonts. So far I only found wood ones but I'm still on the hunt..

These are the one's I have up so far:

This one here is my favorite! It shows what a little craft paper, mod podge, and some elbow grease can do. After seeing this one finished I was tempted to do them all this way, but then I remembered how long it took to do.. Paint is looking bright in my future.

Tah- Dah!

But I'm not done yet... there are many more to add.

Good Luck Charlie.

A fun way to welcome Charlotte Chase Sjuts into this crazy world:

So of course I forgot to bring a camera with me to the shower, typical Lainey move. So when I got home I had to reinact the shower scene on my office desk. A few things are missing from the actual shower like food, the lovely wrapped presents and my paper pinwheel board, but I'll get a picture up of it I promise. It was the base of the shower.  

I made this shower for my sister- in-law's first baby. I had so much fun because I had been thinking of what I wanted to do for this shower for a long time, so to finally get to craft it all and see it come together was great!

These little cups were just bathroom cups, I used hot glue and a paper punch to jazz them up a little bit. We filled them with white-chocolate covered popcorn that my mother- in - law makes with pink and grey M&Ms it is so delicious!

Center pieces!! A paper pinwheel, a doiley butterfly, and a pink and orange elephant that was once blue, yes I destroyed it and made it cute and girly.

Everyone loves a good cake pop! The orange are confetti cake and the pink are strawberry cake. YUM! I had some leftover and I've been eating them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Chocolate covered pretzel sticks, topped with fun sprinkles. We also had salty snacks, a super cute cake, and fruit desert, it was one delicious feast.

& right here is where my picture of the paper pinwheel board will be :)

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