ugly mis-matched frames

How do you make your wall look like an adult decorated it rather than a middleschooler? My husband and I got all our mis-matched frames (wooden, stained, plastic, metal, glass- everything) and we painted them a pale blue, painted the mats white, and had wedding pictures developed in black and white. We took down everything above the couch and made a collage. WE LOVE IT. When you paint the frames- the first coat will not paint very well. It will seem as though it is not working... blotchy. Let it dry, and your second coat will stick really well, and look great. I chose the matte finish, because I have a country shabby chic look to my home, but you can obviously do whatever finish you'd like. I would suggest doing all ONE color, or each a different color, not one the same. It needs to be unified, a package. This makes it look like you bought an expensive pack of frames. Martha Stewart gave a great suggestion for hanging frames. You stencil your frames onto brown grocery bags, cut them out, and tape them on the wall, in the arrangement you want. Then tack the nails, then hang the pics, then pull off the taped papers behind. It saved me from nailing a million holes, and moving a ton of pictures. This way I only had to move paper and tape. Much easier.

ugly shelf turned cute

Ugly shelf from value village for 2 dollars. painted it, added pink glass knobs to match my bedroom furniture. Now i have a cute accent for my bedroom that was super cheap.


This was an ugly brown cupboard/shelf, and I accidentally deleted the stupid before pic. I painted it, added the glass knob, and gave it to my mom for mother's day.

Ugly apartment curtains

Now what do we do about those ugly apartment curtains? Take them down, put them under your bed, and put them back up before me you move! I found some really cool fabric that actually looked really ugly by itself, but it was the same color as the green in my accent pillows, and had really cool texture, sort of a linen, silk dupioni feel. I knew it would look perfect but there wasn't enough on the bolt of fabric. I thought I'd take the cream color from my couch and make a wide cream border to make up for the missing fabric. I tried to find a cream in the same texture as the green so it would flow better. Ideally I would have a cute black rod and clips, but I couldn't take down the apartment rod, so I had to adjust my ideas to the curtain rod provided. Also ideally I wouldn't have the cream against the cream wall, but - you can't paint apartment walls, and it's only the border, so I thought I could get away with it. If you are going to do a color against the same color, I suggest only doing a border or piping or trim, nothing too large, or it will just disappear.

Slip Covers

My parents were kind enough to give me their couches for free. Problem being: a little outdated and fabric worn. Slip covers from pottery barn are well over a thousand dollars. So I purchased some 60 wide fabric at $3.97 a yard. Something plain (tiny ticking, beige and cream), and I spent more money on the accent pillows. I made piping for everything- pillows and slip cover. Ticking makes everything look more professional, rather than home-made. Sewing a cover for each individual cushion helps too (in making it more professional looking). The slip covers zip on and off on each back side corner to wash. Same with cushions. As for a pattern, the best way to make it fit is to make it yourself. I looked into patterns at the store but they were big and baggy. To make a pattern I bought muslin fabric and tacked it to the couch, drawing around all the edges adding an inch for sewing seams for a snug fit.

New bedroom

Here is my new bed set. I made the 2 shams, 2 pillows, duvet cover, quilt and bench. I still need to make a bed skirt.

Here is a coffee table I got for 4 dollars at a garage sale. I'd always wanted a bench at the end of my bed but they're always atleast 50 dollars. My friend Sue suggested turning it into a bench. I painted the table, put padding on the top, covered it with fabric, and staple gunned the fabric to teh bottom. Totally easy, totally cute.

Now that I have cute bedding, I needed to remodel my ugly furniture. I found this top half of a hutch at Value Village, so I painted it and fastened it to a dresser the same width. I would have loved to paint it white, BUT my walls are white, (and since I live in an apt. can't paint the walls) so I painted the hutch a color, light green to match my bedding. But first- painted it white.

Would have been totally cute just white, but it disappears with the white walls.
So, I wanted it to look as shabby chic as I could so I bought some glass knobs from ebay.I also did a nightstand. I found the lamp at value village for 99 cents, and I covered the lamp shade with my quilt fabric.
I'd love to paint the rest of my furniture, but my husband doesn't want me to. One thing that at a time. I need to clean my room, and take a picture of the whole room now.