Good Housekeeping Double Feature!

Just a quick hello, at the end of a long week, to share some exciting news....

I had a double feature on  Good Houekeeping!

YAY!!

Be sure to check out all 10 of these fun kids rooms.

10 Super-Fun Themes for Creative Kids' Rooms

Here are my two rooms in this fun list of spaces...

Sports Themed Bedroom

Love this football room. Such a simple treatment, with big results. Find the full How-to HERE.

Room Designed by Dy Lynne Decor

Room Painted by ME

Camp Out Bedroom

This room is my sons old bedroom that I designed, and painted. 

The tent and the campfire are all handmade. Check out the How-To for each here...

Camping Inspired Bedroom

How-To Camping Tent Bed

Campfire Set How-To

Hope it's warming up wherever you are.....Have a great weekend!

Custom Made Turquoise & Gold Nightstand

I want to start off by announcing the Cutting Edge Stencil Give Away Winner

Congrats to "Nicki P"

If you missed out on this months "Giveaway", don't worry....

We have another fun one coming up next month!!

For today's How-To I want to show you a fun project in the Girls Modern DIY Room Makeover.

Custom Made Turquoise & Gold Nightstand

This fun table is super simple to make, and totally customizable! 

All you need is a few basic pieces, and a great combo of paint colors. 

Here are the supplies. 

*A Round 1"x18" Stain Grade Wood Panel. I picked up this one at Lowe's for $11.

*3 Waddell 21" Traditional Wood Table Legs. From Lowe's for $5 each.

*3 Angled Top Table Leg Plates. Under $6 for all three.

*Measuring Tape

*Electric Screw Driver

*Paints/Stains

The wood top is a pre-made piece that Lowe's sells. They come in several shapes and sizes, so you'll have lots of options for any style table. I like that the wood is stain grade, and the edges are finished. You can cut your own, but for $11 it's worth it to skip that part. 

I prefer the angle plates here, because the legs will spread outwards, not straight down. If your making a coffee table, or something not as girly, you could go with a flat plate.

The legs come in several styles. At the top there is a screw, so they can attach to the plates.

These were still a bit long for me, so I chopped a bit off the bottom. I measured one, then lined the rest up to mark them at the same spot. They are small, so either a hand saw or an electric saw will work well.

Here is what the angle of the plate looks like. It just pushes the leg out ever so slightly.  

You can see how the leg has the screw at the top. 

You'll  need to measure out the three plates on the back. I set the screw holes around 1"-1.5" away from the edge. You can use 4 if you don't want it to be so dainty looking.

Screw the plate into place. The screws come in the plate package.

Attach the legs. 

Could that be any simpler??

Next comes the paint. 

The options are endless here....Though I do love the metal colored band around the edges. You could mix in gold with pinks, or coppers with neutral tones. You could even do a tone-on-tone here, and stick in the same color palette. Adding glitter just to the edges with some glitter glue instead of paint, would be a fun way to glam it up as well.

You don't need very much paint here. 

I just used the sample size of paint. Which are under $3. 

Brush it on in the direction of the grain. 

Don't worry about the edges if you'll be painting them a different color. 

I used this gold paint, which is very rich in color, and only required one coat. It is on the pricey side. You can use tubes of acrylic paint from your local craft store as well, and for under $2 a bottle. 

The easiest way to get a good sharp edge, is to have your brush be about as thick, or thicker than your table width. Don't tape the top.  The fresh paint WILL pull off if you put tape on it. You'll have to hand do his part. Don't worry about getting it on the top, you can touch that up later. 

For the legs, I went with a washed out grey tone. The same color was n some of the fabric, and I didn't want them to have a painted look.  

Wearing gloves, dip a rag in the stain. 

Wipe it on each of the legs, making sure to saturate the seams and indentions. 

It is always best too wipe in the direction of the grain.

You could add more coats, if your color isn't dark enough. Let them dry for 12-24 hours in between coats. 

Here is the final product...

Simple, yet a good pop of color. 

I just love the mix of turquoise and gold. 

Check out the rest of the How-To's from this room.....

Girl's Modern DIY Room Makeover

Arrow Wall Stencil How-To

Pink Upholstered Headboard

Painted Laundry Basket, Painted Mirror

How-To: Pink Upholstered Headboard

Hey all, I hope you are staying warm wherever you are. We keep getting cold snaps down here, between 70 degree days, and I'm SO over it. So I can only imagine, that those of you who are getting dumped on with all  that snow, have had enough!! Time for a vacation to a warmer spot, right?

So a quick reminder, the giveaway end this Sunday...So be sure to sign up!

It's super simple, just click the "Use your email" button below. Don't worry, we don't distribute your email address, and I promise we wont spam you:) 

There are 4 ways to enter, the more entries the better your odds!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now on to more DIY projects......

I have been getting a ton of questions on the headboard so I wanted to show you the how-to for that first. 

I took tons of pictures to walk you through it. Problem is, I usually end up working on projects at night, (in my only free time) so the picture may be a bit dark and hard to see, so bear with me.

To start your going to need a sheet of plywood. I had the guys at Lowe's cut this to size for me. Her bed is a double/full. I took the dimensions of her bed frame, 53" and added a few inches to each side. The headboard looks best when it appears bigger than the bed. For a queen, you could go with a 64" wide piece, and for a king, make it 80". For a twin, I would stick with 42" wide. 

The plywood was not going to be tall enough to just place on the floor. So I added two legs with some spare wood I had in the garage. You could use really any width above 6". It will be sturdier with a wider board. 

I measured out 9" on each leg, from bottom up, as the height to be mounted to the plywood. To determine the overall height of the headboard, it will really be a preference thing. This was for a teen, so it needed to be the same height for an adult. On a twin bed, for a child I would make the height lower. The scale of the room will also play an important part. 

 

I used wood screws to attach. Make sure you check the length of the screws to the thickness of the two pieces of wood together. You don't want them poking through the other side. 

 

Next, you will need to decide the shape of the headboard. My daughter was insistent that it not be a boring square shape. So I hand drew a notch off the corner. I ended up cutting it a bit differently that I drew it, but you'll need a starting point. 

Any sort of jigsaw, or reciprocating saw will work. It will need to turn edges, so something smaller works better. 

The cut.

To match the other side, just flip the spare piece over, and line it up on the corner.

Super simple. 

Though, you could get very elaborate with you cuts, and make it very ornate. 

The next step is padding the headboard. I purchased this roll of poly foam from Michael's during a sale. I got the foam and batting both 40% off 

I decided to take the foam 2.5" away from the edge. Take the pencil and mark all the way around.

Then with a serrated knife, I cut the foam. 

Adhere with a hot glue gun...YES, my favorite tool. This little guy has has helped make upholstery, Halloween costumes, crafts and more. If you don't have one....get one!!!

For the top piece I measure a long rectangle, going to the corner of my pencil marks. 

To cut the curves, hold a spare piece of foam up and run the knife through while holing it place. Watch out for your hand :) It doesn't have to be perfect, just use the staring and ending points of the pencil line to create the curve.  Always easier to take off  less, and go back for more.  It's harder to add foam on than take it off. 

The next stage is to add the batting. This helps smooth out the foam, and soften the edges. 

Lay the batting out flat on the floor, placing the headboard over. 

Start with one of the sides, pulling over the back. Using a staple gun flat on the surface, staple in several different areas. I put some right along the edge of the plywood, and some further in so the batting lays flat. 

Do one side, then the opposite side, making sure to pull from underneath to release any wrinkles. But not pulling so hard as to create creases. 

Then I staple the top, again pulling tautly. After stapling the bottom, I finish off the corners. 

Start in the middle, pulling straight back and stapling. 

Then, pull the piece to the right and left of the center straight back, and again staple. Do this all the way to the edge.  

Then I add a few staples closer to the edge of the plywood to hold it in place.

Repeat the process for the final fabric.  Going in the same pattern.

Here is what it should look like. 

Normally on a project like this, I would use a strip of tacks. With that you add one tack into a hole every 5-10 "faux tack" pieces. I had a box of tacks left over from a job, so I opted to use these instead. I will say that this way is cheaper, but leaves ALOT more room for error. 

Since adding the tacks right to the edge of the foam is tough, I added staples to help hold my fabric in place. I pushed the staple gun flat to the fabric, and slid it towards the foam edge. Then just added a staple every couple inches. This just gives you a smoother edge to add the tacks to. If you were using an strip of tacks, you could probably just go right over the staples and be fine. I decided to put the tacks just a hair in front of the staples, and then went in with flat pliers and pulled the staple straight out. The fabric and foam pop right back into place, and you can't even tell. 

I say that a strip is easier because you don't have to worry as much about lining each piece up straight. Once I was done with a hand full of tacks, I went back with the hammer, and nudged them into a straighter row.

Then I pulled out the staples. 

When attaching the headboard to the bed frame you can do it two ways.....You can mark, and drill holes through the legs of the headboard. Then add bolts and nuts, to keep in place. In this room, I just added some screws through the frame and leg. It does stick out a bit in the back,  but it is butted up against the wall. I used two screws on each leg. 

There ya go, super simple. Pardon the dark photos. 

Here's what it looked like in the room. 

The pillows, I custom made with fabric from Hobby Lobby. 

The how-to for this cute little table is coming soon.

If you haven't read the full room post, HERE, let me explain this room. 

This is in a temporary apartment, and we couldn't do things that were too permanent, or things that would be expensive to change later. 

This room was very budget friendly! 

The shape of the room is very awkward, which really dictated the layout and amount of furniture. It is also very small, but tall. So I had to stick with the white wall, since I didn't want to be repainting that later. I used pops of color, and simple treatments, to make this room feel homey and fun.  

The stencil wall treatment, was easy to do, and adds a fun touch to these boring walls. 

Find the How-To's Here.....

Girls Modern DIY Room Makeover

Arrow Stencil Wall

Custom Made Turquoise & Gold Nightstand

Painted Laundry Basket, Painted Mirror