All posts tagged diy

our home: bathroom style on the cheap

by Megan on May 16, 2013 in our home, style a room with No comments

On our latest apartment adventure, we set out to add some color and style to our bland, boring master bathroom. Every apartment we’ve lived in has had the basic bathroom features that are just bland enough to please everyone. Beige counters, basic cabinets and hardware, nothing fancy. But a room you spend your early mornings and late nights in should be at least a little pretty, right? Why can’t I brush my teeth and look at something colorful and happy? Of course, we don’t have the freedom (or resources) to go with a bathroom remodel, so I wanted to add just a few apartment friendly touches to spruce things up a bit.

The easiest thing you can do? Add art. On the two walls that were big enough for frames, we added some color with free art! I cut an old floral print down to size for the frame by the vanity and, adjacent to the shower, I added some super easy paint chip art. We bought the two white frames from IKEA for $5.00 each. The great thing about them is that they are pretty thin, so they don’t stick out from the wall very much, and they are also plastic. Perfect to protect our DIY art from humidity, but it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if the frames somehow got damaged.

One of the most exciting upgrades was buying new towels! We replaced all of our bath and hand towels with these fluffy ones in sky blue, navy, and white. They are also from IKEA and the quality is actually pretty amazing. Plus the colors lend to a more spa like feel and don’t clash with the cabinetry and wall color that we can’t change.

We also upped our bathroom organization! We bought these awesome corner shower shelves from Target that just suction cup right to the wall. We’re over a month in and they haven’t budged. Plus, the people that make them are smart enough to have slits in the bottoms, so they stay pretty clean as well! No fuss, no muss! (By the way, what it muss??)

And on the counter, I put my extensive collection of glass vessels by turning a square vase and glass votive into storage for cotton balls and q-tips. Totally free and it is worlds better than having packages of bath supplies cluttering up the vanity.

No, it’s not the fanciest makeover. Nor the most impressive. But, hey! We’re not trying to win a beauty contest here! The goal right now is cheap and making, what will hopefully be, our last apartment stylish without spending a ton of dough. (But when we get a house, oh man, y’all better be prepared for the paint and projects to be flying!)

What are some other inexpensive ways to freshen up a bathroom? Share ideas for storage and style below!!

our home: master bath updates

by Megan on April 3, 2013 in create, our home with No comments

Wow, so it’s been a while right? It turns out getting back into the swing of things after a one week vacation is totally harder than it seems. But I’m back now and I’m ready for a lot of new projects and fun stuff on Two Live Colorfully!

Before we left for Oregon, we had been working on sprucing up our master bath. The before was pretty bland.

We’re not quite done yet, but we did finally get some new towels and I made some fun paint chip art to liven things up!

We bought our towels from IKEA and they are surprisingly luxurious! We probably stood in the towel section of the store for a good 30 minutes trying to decide what colors to get. Of course, in the end, we went with the three colors that were right next to each other! Two fun royal blue, spa blue, and crisp white to balance out the colors.

I also grabbed a few of these NYTTJA frames for both bathrooms. They are thin, light weight, and the front is plastic, so I thought they’d be perfect to stand up to the moisture and steam from showering.

As for the art, I just raided the paint chip section of Wal-Mart, cut each chip into a square and then used double sided tape to attach them to white paper. It took less than 20 minutes and I love the way it looks! We had some pink paint chip art in the bedroom of our last apartment and I just think it’s a really fun look. It kind of reminds me of a photo that’s been blown up and each square is a pixel. Pretty cool and 100% free.

Still on the list of things to do:

add some art on the opposite wall
frame out the mirror
style it up

What rooms have you been making progress with? And what are your favorite paint chip projects? I know there are some really neat ones out there!

make this: painted wooden easter eggs

by Megan on March 12, 2013 in celebrate, easter, make this with No comments

**Hey! We’re on vacation this week! So, we might be a little absent from social media and all that jazz, but you’ve still got four days of awesome posts coming up!! Have a fantastic week!**

Like St. Patrick’s day, I have never really been into decorating for Easter. The traditional pastels and frills aren’t really my style. But this year I decided to do a little branching out and do at least one Easter project. If you follow me on Pinterest, you’ll see that a lot of the Easter inspiration I pin is mostly different (and amazing) ways to decorate eggs. Long gone are the days of those crappy little color tablets and flimsy wire egg holders. There are so many neat things you can do!! But we’re not exactly in the position to go the traditional hard-boiled egg route either, so I adapted.

These hand painted wooden eggs turned out so adorable and can be used year after year! I found these wooden eggs at Michael’s for $1.99 each. I took home three.

I deliberated for a while about what sort of design I wanted to go with and in the end I decided on my current favorite color combo: metallic gold + any other color! I covered the eggs with a few coats of some fun pastels and then, after they dried, I went back and hand painted some fun designs.

I love that they are sort of imperfect. You can tell they are hand-painted and that gives them a little character. Plus, they totally have a casual vibe going on. No fussy, stuffy Easter bonnets needed here!

Also, a fun tip for painting polka dots! I dipped the end of a paper straw in gold paint and then used that to create a polka dot “stencil” of sorts. The straw gave me a gold dot outline, and then I just went back and filled them in. Again, they aren’t perfectly equal but I like it!

Next week, I’ll be sharing all of our Spring decor and you can see where these adorable little eggs ended up!

What’s your favorite way to decorate Easter eggs? Are you trying out any fun new techniques this year??

our home: video tour!!

by Megan on March 11, 2013 in our home, videos with No comments

**Hey! We’re on vacation this week! But don’t worry, we’ve still got four solid days of Two Live Colorfully awesome-ness! Enjoy!**

There has never been a video on this blog! What?! It’s time to break that streak. Today we’ve got our very first video, a tour of our apartment. Sometimes it’s hard to visualize a space, especially the layout, with just pictures. So, here you go! A full apartment tour just for you!

Projects mentioned (just in case you want the details):

Navy & white striped curtains (made from bedsheets!)
Gilded chair makeover
IKEA IVAR bookcase
DIY embroidery hoop mobiles (one of my favorite projects!)
Bright, flowery canvas art
Geometric bedroom art
Bleach pen designed curtains

make this: miny glitter birdhouse

by Megan on March 7, 2013 in create, make this with No comments

Today, I thought I’d share a quick little spring craft. With the exception of Christmas and Halloween, my holiday decorating mantra is “little touches.” I don’t go all out crazy, but I like to have fun seasonal accents around the apartment.

When I was at Michael’s last weekend, I saw these fun little wood bird houses for $0.50 and couldn’t resist grabbing one.

And, because I’m not huge into pastels, I decided to go with glitter. You know that saying about birds and shiny things? Well any bird tiny enough to live in this bird house would be smitten!!

Some Mod Podge and chunky gold glitter and we were in business.

Bam! Look at that bling! Once that dried, I used a bright pink craft paint to color the finish the rest of the house.

It looks super cute on our bookcase too. I’ve got a few more spring decor updates coming soon! Including some very pretty wooden Easter eggs, so make sure to stay tuned for that!

What kind of spring crafts are you working on? And what’s your holiday decorating philosophy? Do you go all out, add a few touches, or nothing at all?

our home: curtain update (when your husband is right!)

by Megan on March 1, 2013 in do it yourself, our home with 1 Comment

Let’s add a point to Josh’s side of the “design decisions” board, shall we? Last year, when I made these big, bold striped curtains, I thought one panel would be best because our living room window doesn’t have equal space on each side. (For more info and pictures on that project check out this post here!) Josh thought two panels would look better, but I convinced him that I knew what I was doing. Now, months later, I realized he was totally right.

Here’s what it looked like before:

Not bad or anything. In fact, it looked pretty good. But once we moved my pink computer desk in here, the one-paneled window looked really off kilter. Exhibit B:

So, last weekend, I decided it was time. I took down the curtain, sliced it right up the middle, “hemmed” the edges with iron-on hem tape, and put them back up.Bam! A pretty quick update that made a huge difference! Now it’s much more balanced and it frames out my pink desk perfectly. And, oh! Hello, gorgeous gold chair! Look at you and your fine self in your rightful spot!

So, picture Josh doing a happy “I was right” jig. That should start your weekend off right!

Have you ever realized that someone else was totally right about a home project after the fact? Feel free to describe their happy dance below!!

make this: hula hoop frames (pinterest challenge time!!)

by Megan on February 27, 2013 in do it yourself, make this with 1 Comment

It’s Pinterest Challenge time!!! We’ve been working hard to finish up the bedroom and for this challenge I thought it was finally time to tackle the space above our dresser. Lately, I’ve been loving big round frames and mirrors, but the thing about large, circular mirrors? They are hella expensive.

And then I had a thought. Hula hoops are big.. and round… and frame-like. HULA HOOPS, PEOPLE!! I made frames out of hula hoops.

This project is pretty easy and very inexpensive. I picked up two hula hoops from the dollar store in two slightly different sizes.

Then, I also grabbed a can of Krylon Fusion spray paint in a dark gray. This stuff is made to cling to plastic surfaces which is awesome. There was no bubbling or anything, just a smooth finish. All I had to do was find the split on each hoop, slice the ribbon and unravel it, then pour out the little noisemakers on the inside (which in dollar store hula hoops, is apparently just rocks…). A couple of coats of spray paint and a few hours drying time and my large hoop was done.

To mix up the look, I used a dark charcoal yarn to wrap the smaller hoop. They are similar in color but different textures which looks really neat. Now what to put in the frames? I’ve been loving this quote that I found on Pinterest for a while and I decided to recreate it with a poster and a sharpie. It’s not perfect but it’s kind of got that charming DIY look.

Inside the large frame, I strung up some twine and some pretty card stock and photos with tiny clothespins. I’m thinking this is just a place holder until I can find something awesome and bold to go in it.

The hula hoops were $1.00 each, the spray paint was about $3.00, and all the art was made from materials I had at home, so for $5.00 we made a major statement over our dresser. The round frames balance out all the bold, geometric patterns we’ve got going on (check out our DIY geometric art here!)

The bedroom is practically done! We’ve got to find some awesome art to go in the large hoop frame and I’m thinking about possibly revamping our thrift store nightstands and then we’ll wrap this room up!

Wanna see what we made for the last Pinterest Challenge? Check out our bright, flowery canvas art!

What did you make for the Pinterest challenge? What’s the oddest thing you’ve used for a project? Can you beat hula hoops?? Share below!!

make this: geometric bedroom art

by Megan on February 15, 2013 in our home, style a room with 5 Comments

We’re still moving along in the bedroom and the progress is becoming noticeable! Yay!! Our primary focus right now is getting art up on the walls and adding some style.

Today, I want to share this fun geometric art project that we completed last weekend. I’ve been loving all the geometric-ness that’s been popping up around Pinterest lately, and this was an easy DIY-able idea that I found on The Red Thread (a blog you should definitely get friendly with). And this thing certainly packs a punch!

Now, in Lisa’s version, lots of colors works amazingly because her room is largely white. We’ve got a lot going on already with those curtains we snagged at IKEA last year. They are powerful and kind of command the room, so I decided our version would stick within that color scheme: purples, gray, and white.

I also went a little larger. I picked up three foam boards from the dollar store (instead of two) and secured them together vertically. It takes up a lot more visual space this way. I’m thinking of flanking it with some “chill” art above the nightstands would balance out the strictness of the geometric pattern and just about complete this side of the room.

It took about 2 hours and, because it’s all made on foam board, it was super easy to hang. I just used three velcro picture hanging strips (like these) at the top and used sticky tack to secure the bottom corners. Plus, knowing that what’s hanging over our heads at night is not super heavy let’s us sleep a little more peacefully, just in case it does come down. Which it won’t, but still.

What are your favorite DIY art projects? Do you like frames or canvases? Or made from something unexpected? Share below!!

make this: diy match strike votive

by Megan on February 13, 2013 in do it yourself, make this, recycle & repurpose with 3 Comments

Sometimes the best projects are quick and easy and today I’m sharing a fun one. In a never-ending effort to declutter our apartment (and make it purty!), I’m always looking for ways to decant things into pretty containers. For the most part, labels = lots and lots of visual clutter. So, I made this cute match strike votive.

Let me explain. I love me some candles. They immediately make me feel more relaxed and candle light makes everything look amazing, so you’ll find them everywhere in 816. What’s not pretty? Boxes of matches or those long lighters. So I turned some glass thrift store votives into a cute matches storage with an awesome twist! I put the striking texture on the bottom of the votive! Grab your match, strike, and bam! Your candle is lit. (Okay maybe it’s not that exciting but it’s still pretty cool.)

Here are the steps to this quick project!

Easy-peasy, lemon squeezy. It’s not a huge renovation or super crafty project, but it fixed a problem (removing the clutter of labels), made something a little more stylish (always the goal), and it is dang fun to just strike a match on the bottom of that glass. I’ve got three votives around the apartment for easy lightning quick candle lighting… you know, in case you need mood lighting stat!

What are your favorite quick and easy projects?

make this: gilded chair makeover

by Megan on February 6, 2013 in do it yourself, make this with 7 Comments

Grab your sand paper, staple guns, and spray paint because it’s makeover time!!! Don’t run away screaming though; we’re talking about a furniture makeover! (Unless you use sandpaper in your beauty routine, then more power to you.) But, today we’re going gold.

My obsession with gold is pretty new. For a long time I was against almost all shades of the metallic hue, but now, I can’t get enough of it. From brassy to champagne, it looks amazing in pretty much any space.

A few years ago, I picked up this fun chair from a thrift store for five dollars. It had such an awesome shape that I couldn’t resist. And, because I was still new at the whole furniture makeover concept, I decided to go crazy. I painted it purple and recovered the cushion in this fun, bold yellow fabric. It was a really fun addition to our previous apartment, but in 816 (our new place), we’ve toned down the decor just a bit. So, for the cost of two cans of metallic spray paint and a yard of fabric, we made over this crazy chair into a fabulous place to park it.

But enough stalling! No makeover story is complete with mid-transformation montage (a la every 90′s teen rom-com ever!) So, here’s what we did!

The first step is pretty much any furniture makeover, is sanding and primer. I found this awesome paint stripping sand paper and gave the chair a good scuffing (no dirty jokes here, please!). Then, after wiping it down with a wet cloth and letting it air dry, we moved on to priming.

Then, after wiping it down with a wet cloth and letting it air dry, we moved on to priming. Another benefit to priming when you’re going metallic is that it gives you a white base to build on. If I had just sprayed the gold over the purple, I probably would’ve ended up with a less vibrant gold or I would have had to do more coats. Just remember, white base = best!

I used Krylon’s metallic gold spray paint and it worked fantastically. Truth be told, one can would have done it, but I broke the seal on the second can for good measure. I’ve got a lot left, but what girl doesn’t want more metallic gold spray paint on hand? You know, for emergencies.

While the chair cured outside on our patio for several hours, I turned my attention to the cushion. No pictures here, because it was that easy, I removed the yellow fabric, and stapled the ikat fabric to the cushion. No piping or batting needed here! I would recommend going with a thicker fabric (mine is a duck fabric which is kind of like canvas). It tends to hold its shape and you can pull it very taught without distorting the pattern much.

And, here she is.

The blue fabric is such a perfect compliment to the gold, right? And I can’t help but show a photo of the back of the chair. The shape is so pretty and I just love it!

We’re moving along on my goal to get this apartment whipped into shape, and this lovely gal fits right in!

What are your thoughts on furniture makeovers? Worth the extra work or not? Do you have a favorite on of your own? Share below!

{I linked up at Home Stories A to Z!}

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