No Spend Challenge Link Party

Way back at the beginning of the month I announced I was going to challenge myself to spend no money on home decor items, but rather source my house, rethink and repurpose what I already have.  I threw the challenge out to my readers to see if they could do the same.  So are you ready to see if I succeeded?

I DID IT!  

I will admit that I had to buy some glue sticks at the dollar store for my final No Spend Project {see below}, but other than that I created all of my projects with items and tools I already had!  I have to say it was much easier than I had thought!  Yesterday however... I was on a crazy mission to source fabrics and items for my master bedroom {see my room for The One Room Challenge}.  

For my last no spend project Laura from the Beauty & the Beard asked me to do a no spend project for Valentines Day.  Now I am not a huge Valentines day fan {which she didn't know} but I thought the challenge to make something that was not over the top cutesy and free was perfect!  

Here is a sneak peak:

After you link up be sure to visit Laura's blog Beauty & the Beard to see my project and check out all of her Valentines Day ideas!  She is so very talented!

So lets recap all of my No Spend Projects:

I had so many more ideas... just not enough time!  

Now it is time to see all of yours!  Hopefully this will be full of inspiration and none of us will have to spend any money on home decor projects for a while!  

Here are the rules to the link party:

- please link up any project that fits with in the rules of the challenge.

- Please only link up actual post, no giveaways or Etsy stores.

- Link up as many projects as you would like!  The more links the more inspiration for everyone!

- Please include this button somewhere within the post linked.

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.savvydesignwest.com/p/no-spend-challenge.html" title="Living Savvy"><img src="http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb391/savvydesign/Designer%20Blogs/Buttons/NoSpendButton.jpg" alt="Living Savvy" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

The party will be open till Monday February 6th... so if you still would like to take the challenge you still have time!

Thanks for participating!

How To: Mercury Glass... No Spend Challenge

It is almost the end of the month!  And to be quite honest... I {well the hubs} gets paid today so it is the beginning of my fiscal February month.  The debit card might get a little worn out today!  Ha!  

Over the weekend I worked on my chairs for the One Room Challenge, but I also managed to do a few more No Spend Projects too!  

Now I will admit that the one materials needed for this project is typically not something that most of us have laying around the house.  Way back in October, when Hobby Lobby opened in my neck of the woods, I finally found the Looking Glass spray paint and immediately bought 2 cans!  I wasn't quite sure what I would do with it so it just sat there, until now!  

After reading a little bit online {Martha and Design Sponge had a few good tips} I assembled my tools and set up out in the garage.  You will need a glass vase, a water bottle, and some acrylic paint.

I taped off the vase just so there was not any over spray on the outside.

First spray the inside with water, just so the water starts to bead {not dripping} then immediately spray the mercury glass paint in a very thin layer.  I know it sounds weird, but trust me!  It sprays out very thin, not like most spray paints.  It was sort of weird trying to spray the inside of the vase!

After you spray the first coat turn upside down and allow the paint to drip out.  Wait for a bit to let the coat dry {it was about 60 degrees out, so I let it dry for about 5-10 minutes} then apply another coat.  Repeat until you are happy with the coverage.  

Once the spray paint is mostly dry take your acrylic paint and add some highlights to the inside of the vase. If you would like to have some more color showing through take a wet paper bowl and wipe off some of the mercury glass paint and then add in some color.  I think the next time I will use some white and gold.

I made the mistake of rushing to put flowers in it like 10 minutes after I was finished with the project and that was a big mistake.  Some of the paint washed off... so I would recommend waiting a few hours before you try to use the vase.  I also read that you should insert another cup inside the vase to hold the water... I would assume not to ruin the finish.. duh!  {do I ever listen?} So after racking every cabinet in my house for something that would fit in the vase I finally used one of my boys take and toss sippy cups.  It was yellow and you could see the color coming through so I gave it a quick spray of black.

I had some fun playing with where I wanted it to go.  In the end it landed on my mantel.  I love it!  Look out glass vases... I am coming for you!!

Alright!  Tomorrow is the day to link up all of your No Spend Projects!  I have never hosted a link party before so I am pretty excited about it!  Please don't let me party alone!

I am anxious to see what everyone has done for no money!  

Happy Monday!

Spray Painters Anonymous... Client Project

Hello, my name is Tiffany and I am a spray paint addict!  Not only will I spray paint anything and everything in my house, but I will also direct clients to do so!  One of my current projects is a master bedroom that needed some refreshing.  We added some pillows and are working on window treatments, but the client didn't want to spend a lot of money... so out came the paint can.

For our first project we added some art above the bed.  The bed is VERY high, and bed frame is VERY bulky so we thought it needed something small but something that made a statement since it is what you see right from the doorway.

We picked up some ceiling medallions from the big box store and some mirrors from the craft store.  I painted the medallions the color of choice,

Added some liquid nails to hold the mirrors on.  I also glued some saw teeth on to hang them.

Simple and customized art!  Next my client found some things she had in her cabinets and gave them a face lift.

Those red metal boxes and red vase painted to accent the new color scheme!

We are in the home stretch for the room!  As I said we are working on window treatments, and possibly sourcing some additional storage pieces for her home office.  I also think we should paint the black round table grey.

I am sure you recognized the pillows... The client still loves them!  She says it makes her want to make her bed everyday!

If you would like me to freshen up a room in your house please contact me ~ Onsite and E design consultations available!

***

And now let us all repeat the Spray Painters Mantra:

Friends, help me source all the items I am searching for but can not find.

Give me the vision to think outside of the box and remember the can of spray paint,

and bless me with the patience to let each of the coats dry before I move on to the next step!

Cookies and coffee are in the back! =)

If you need support for your spray painting addiction and would like to "attended" a meeting 

please contact me:

Tiffany@savvydesignwest.com

We always love to know other addicts, and can always use more inspiration for our projects!

Client Project Update: Reupholstered Cane Barrel Chairs

A while back I posted about this client that had a brand new house, but not a lot of furniture to fill the spaces.  Since then we have done some sourcing and had many discussions about the design plan.  We have purchased a rug and sourced a sofa that both my client and her husband like.  We also took a trip to all of the local discount fabric store to see what we could find before we ordered fabric online.  It was jackpot city!  We scored so much fabric... everything under $10 a yard and some as low as $3 a yard!  It changed our design scheme just a little bit, but the savings was well worth it!  We were looking for fabric for window treatments {36 yards needed!}, fabric for an ottoman and pillows, and also fabric for 2 cane barrel chairs she inherited from her Grandmother.

Here is the before....

Though not as bad as my grandmothers original fabric, it was still somewhat dated!  

We decided NOT to paint out the brown frames because the sofa we ordered is an off white.  So I had to be very careful removing the staples without damaging the wood.  I used a towel to buffer my flat head screw driver.  

{BTW a reader sent me this link for a staple remover that is easy to use and affordable.  Thanks!}

I used all of the fabric pieces to make a pattern for my new fabric.

I reused the buttons by recovering them with matching fabric and a little fabric glue.  I used my professional button sizer {the lotion bottle} to make circles to cut.

Then snapped them back on.

As you can see I was too lazy to take the seat fabric off and decided to cover over it.

That meant that I would not have a pattern.  So I just winged it by measuring the width of the seat and trimming as I needed.

Again I used my very professional tool to stuff the fabric into the legs... I am sure they have a tool for that too on that website with the staple remover!

Turning the chair on it's back gave me a better angle to get the air gun in there.

Next I came inside to glue on the matching double bias welt {see tutorial for that here}.  

The client came by to pick them up and was so excited!  I have to say I love that fabric and it really popped on those chairs!

Here is some of the other fabrics that we plan on working into the room:

It will all come together really soon!

If you would like a FULL tutorial on how to reupholster a cane barrel chair check out the tutorial of my own chair!