projects x 3

we completed a couple of projects around the house that we're pretty thrilled about, so thought i'd post to document and share. none are my original ideas, but that's why i follow blogs, right? tons of inspiration! and this just created a whole new rush of ideas for things to do over the summer!

first - a gold leaf pen transformed a cherry wood frame. it's not even really a "project", but just thought i'd mention it in case anyone needed some instant gold sparkle in their life! the pen was from michael's, the idea was from genius jenny at little green notebook.

 

second- dresser redo! i've been meaning to do something with my ikea dresser since i bought it 6 years ago. better late than never right? i found this tutorial and recreated it using the same source for brass ring pulls and the same paint & stain tones. the picture doesn't do it justice, but i don't think you would know it was from ikea. it's all boughie & grown up now! i posted the picture of the closeup to show that it's not black like it looks in the bottom left shot. it's a dark walnut stain. came out pretty well i think! and given all our other ikea furniture, it's nice to have one less ikea looking piece. after varnish and drawer liners, it'll be good to go.

third- we recently moved david's studio back into the bedroom. it's a perfect spot for it, but the huge wall it was against was definitely missing something. my beautiful but flowery mirror wasn't working well with his techy computer & music gear. so another lgn project i had saved for an occasion just like this came to fruition. david took this picture at sunset at the top of the rockefeller building in nyc while we were visiting in the fall of 2008. i'd highly recommend this project for big impact, low cost art. the end result is awesome, but we did run into some annoyances that we'll fix the next time. here are my tips. print the large picture at fedex first and measure those dimensions (ours is 48 x 35.5). at the art store (we went to sam flax), tell the nice people at the back to cut your foam board to exactly your picture's dimensions. if you choose to paint the sides (it's definitely an unexpected artsy touch) paint them before mounting your picture. then mount the picture, stick on the hanging strips, hang and voila. now pat yourself on the back.