The Dining Dillema

Our Dinning Room Table has had a number of quite dramatic transformations. We bought it at the Salvation Army right before getting married and knew that it would be our tester table to try out all kinds of finishes and other crafty things on. The poor things been sanded and painted, sanded and painted, sanded and primed and wallpapered and shellacked. Then scraped and sanded and primed again!

 

At one time it was clearly a high gloss black

After a failed attempt with wallpaper and modge podge we haven't mustered up the strength to fix our poor little table. And in all honesty there's not a whole lot of motivation to do so. It's been sitting in our second bedroom as a craft table/desk/catchall for things we don't know what to do with. It's been very handy! Now that we've got the King Size bed though our old bed now resides in the guest room. So our poor little table needed a new home. And since it would be ridiculous to put it in the dining room (lol) we decided to move it out onto the patio and create a little dining area out there.

We couldn't be happier with how cute it looks out there. Now granted the table still needs a face lift and we are using the cheapest WalMart chairs we could find... but you don't notice any of that when it's dusk and the lights are twinkling, the candles are glowing and you're dining on whatever goodness you handsome hubby made you.

Glowing Crafts

I thought I would brag again about my awesome husband. This is one of my favorite projects that he has made so far. It was very easy, cheap, and we plan on making more in the future. He made this in our last apartment, and it now hangs over our bed. It casts a really nice glow and you could use any kind of string to suit your style. He used regular ol' twine which gives a nice eathy and natural feel, but you could use any color of string! I've seen pictures where people have used yarn as well - lots of color possibilities with that route!

So what's the supplies list?

• Big store bought bouncy ball - gives a much better shape than just a balloon.
• Twine, or any other string of your choice
• Glue. Chad used a wood glue. Other places say you need fabric starch or tapioca starch. Nope. Nothing fancy here people.
• Vaseline
• Marker
• Lamp kit
• Container to dump all the glue in

How's it done?

• First mark your opening for the lamp kit on the top of your big ball. Chad also chose to leave an opening on the bottom.
• Rub vaseline all over the ball so that it can be removed easy once dry
• Get to work! Dip your twine/string/yarn/whatever into the glue, making sure to coat it well and then start drapping it all over the ball. Do as much or as little as you want for your desired effect! Make sure all the string has glue on it so that every part of it will harden. Chad went back when he was done and put more glue on certain areas.
• Let it dry for 24 hours. I don't think we waited this long, we are not patient people, especially when it comes to projects! Makes sure it is dry and hard though becore you remove the ball. Now you can either deflate you ball like normal people (then re-inflate if you want) or stab it dramatically like the crazies we are. Peel it away and wa-la!

*Pro Tip: DO NOT dump all the string/twine/whatev into a big container of glue thinking this will speed things up. This will result in a giant messy glob of stinginess that is not going to untangle for you... ever. Luckily we didn't have to learn this lesson the hard way!

Creative Curtains

Chad and I have been wanting to turn these tablecloths from Target into curtains for a long while now. Now that we have a window they will fit on we ran out and bought them!

This was the quickest and easiest project Chad and I have ever done, ever. Of course since it was us though we had a quick setback. We got our tablecloths home and the yellow that we loved was slightly orange in one of them. Boo. Back to Target we went to find a matching tablecloth. After that small setback we were back in business and 5 minutes later, BAM! Curtains done!

Before

After

Best Monday Craft Project ever. Chad and I love to decorate our home. Does anyone else have any fun home decorating projects they've been up to?