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I can’t even with this cloud themed nursery.. I am so excited to share it with you that I am literally shaking as I type this. I have planned this nursery idea for 4 months now and it is finally complete! For this room, the inspiration was definitely from Suleiman’s namesake, Prophet Suleiman AS who is prominently mentioned in the Quran. I wanted something to encompass the wisdom and strength symbolized in the name and the theme that kept coming to mind was the Asmaan/Sky. So I went with a cloud theme for this nursery and added my favourite element in a space – a mood vibe!

If you are thinking about replacing your trim, trying a board and batten project, or making a trimmed out feature wall, this post is for you! I’m giving out my best caulking tips to take your DIY project to the next level!

Today, I’m talking about one of my best friends as a DIYer: caulk! It gives any trim or moulding project a finished, professional look and hides any mistakes or imperfections.  Did you cut that last piece of trim a little too short?  Or is the wall not quite straight, leaving an unsightly gap behind your moulding? Put some caulk in it and suddenly everything looks perfect! It takes a project from blah to stunning, and it’s so affordable and easy once you get the hang of it.   

How to use a caulking gun

Everything is easier when you have the right tools, and caulking is no exception.  If you plan to do any caulking at all, a gun is worth the small investment it will cost you. It gives you more control during application, and makes opening and handling the tube much easier.

A caulking gun has several different components. The first is this little blade that you can see moving in the video when I tilt the gun toward you.  That’s the blade that cuts the top off the caulking tube. Then we have a little stick that is used to poke a hole in the top of the caulking tube after the tip is cut off.  You can also use a nail, but this stick is right on your caulking gun. And then there’s a lever that locks the gun in place.  So when you pull the trigger on the gun, it pushes the caulk out by moving the back of the gun forward. I don’t know what any of the technical terms for these parts are, because I’m a DIYer and not a professional! But you can see how useful this tool will be for your next caulking project. 

Caulking Gun Tips

1. Start by sliding the tip of the tube into the hole on the side of the gun, and squeeze the trigger to move the blade and slice the top off.  
2. Then, use your stick to puncture a hole in the tip.This stick is especially important for when you are using the caulk for a second time, and need to punch through the dried caulk to use it again.  
3. Next, put the caulking tube into the gun. Slide it into the channel, and then push the metal piece at the back forward until the tube is sitting flush with the front of the gun with no extra space. 
4. Lastly, twist the metal lever so the hook part is facing up, which will lock the lever in place.  As you can see from the video, I’ve successfully loaded the gun following these steps! 

5 Caulking Tips for beginners

1. Make sure you cut the tube properly.

When you are slicing off the top of the caulking tube, make sure you do not cut too much of it.  The wider the tip, the wider the bead of caulk that comes out. The rule is : the smaller the bead the better for trim and moulding projects.  When you’re filling small cracks to prepare for painting, you only want a 1/16 inch opening in the tube. For larger cracks, just put in an additional line of caulk instead of cutting the hole in the tube bigger. You also want to try and cut the tip at a 45 degree angle, as that will also help with ease of application.  

2. Use tape to start.

Taping the line you want to caulk is a great little hack (thank you Colleen of LemonThistle!) to use until you are more comfortable with a caulking gun. Tape both the wall and the baseboard, leaving a small gap for your caulk to go into the seam. Once you’ve applied it in the crack between the two tape lines, smooth it with your fingertip, not like you’re squishing it into the gap but just so that it’s flattened slightly against the wall.  Then, peel back the tape to get a nice, crisp line. This method is time-consuming, but it WILL help you get a straight line until you feel more confident about your caulk gun skills!  

3. Start with a clean surface

It is absolutely necessary that you make sure your surface is clean and dry before you start caulking. Make sure there is no old caulk, rust, flaking paint, dirt, etc anywhere near where your line of caulk is going to go. Using rubbing alcohol will help remove any residue and/or debris. By starting with a clean surface, the caulk will bond to the surface and stand the test of time!

4. Choose the right product for the job

Just like using a caulking gun will make things easier for you, so will using the right caulk product for the job.  In the video, I’m demonstrating with ALEX FLEX^® Premium Molding & Trim Acrylic Latex Siliconized Sealant.  This product is formulated specifically for filling gaps and holes in trim and moulding, which is what we as DIYers will be doing most of the time! It is important to read labels and make sure you get the right thing for what you want to do since there are SO many different products out there.  This is what I used to seal the trim against the wall for my dining room project and my hallway board and batten transformation,  and I am very happy with the results.  

5. Apply caulk in short sections

If you take away just one of these caulking tips, pick this one! One thing that really gets in the way of a neat and tidy caulk job for beginners is trying to apply a long line of caulk all at once.  If you keep the sections short there is less chance of making a wavy or crooked line, as you will have more control over the gun and won’t have to move yourself as often to complete it. Doing 8-12 foot runs at a time will take practice, so be patient! It’s also much easier to fix mistakes in short sections, as they won’t start to dry before you’re ready to go back to them and check they are done correctly.  Another consideration is just how much work pulling the trigger and holding the gun steady really is! Shorter sections will give your muscles a chance to rest and won’t result in broken or crooked lines caused by fatigue in your trigger hand.  

How to apply perfect caulking:

First, a recap!  We’ve covered how to:

• Purchase the right product for the job
• Get the tube ready to use
• Work the caulking gun
• Clean and prep your caulking surface
• Tape the wall and trim for a straight-line hack
• Work only with small sections 

All that’s left now is to actually DO it! Here is how to apply perfect caulking:

1. Once you’ve got your caulk prepped and loaded into your gun, make sure you have a few damp paper towels ready and within reach. You will use them to keep your fingers damp, which will be helpful when smoothing down the fresh line of caulk you are about to apply.  
2. Now,  squeeze a line of caulk along your trim, about a foot or two long. It will be tempting to go slowly, but actually the faster you go the better! Speed will ensure an even and smooth application. 
3. As you get close to the end of the section, press the release lever on your gun to stop the caulk from coming out of the tube. 
4. Now, wet the tip of your index finger on the damp paper towel, then run it along the bead of caulk to smooth it flat. Your damp finger will slide easily on the line of the caulk and won’t make marks or dents in it. 
5. Finally, any extra caulk (there shouldn’t be much, since you made sure the hole was small when you cut the end of the tube!) can be wiped off on your paper towel.  Repeat on the next short length of trim until you’re done!

That’s it! Now you have all the caulking tips you need to give your trim DIYs a professional, finished look. Tag me @mintcandydesigns to show me your finished projects! 

It is time for a nursery update – and more importantly to talk about why I painted a dark ceiling!! I know you’ve been waiting for a colour update and what colours we chose. I was toying with the idea of painting a ceiling, and in this nursery I decided to go out of my comfort zone and paint the ceiling. This is something I have never done before!! I have never painted the ceiling in a project, let alone a dark ceiling!

This past week, I brought home some samples from Benjamin Moore and got to work with painting them on the wall. I brought home three colours. The colours are Thundercloud Gray (top), Province Blue (middle), and Providence (bottom).

I am sampling these different paint colours for a particular reason.

1. To choose the paint colour for the room including doors and baseboards
2. To choose a paint colour for the ceiling and I am leaning towards a dark ceiling!

You may be wondering,

But why would you want to paint a ceiling dark?

Well, here is what I have learned. The ceiling is the fifth wall in a room LITERALLY and is often neglected in most projects. In all the room makeovers and projects I have done before including the playroom, the rainbow room, and so on, I have never touched the ceiling paint.

Painting a dark ceiling is a simple yet dramatic way to add character to a room. Because it is often forgotten in a room makeover, adding a treatment or paint to a ceiling can not only elevate the room but add unique dimension that would otherwise be missing.

Now you may also be wondering,

Won’t a dark ceiling make a room feel and look smaller?!

Great point.. I also thought the exact same thing! Until I took the leap of faith and decided to paint the ceiling in the nursery a beautiful dark blue colour – Providence Blue by Benjamin Moore. We used the Regal Select Interior Paint in a flat finish for the ceiling which gave it a beautiful effect without being too glossy. The dark ceiling is in stark contrast to the lighter walls for which I chose Thundercloud Grey. I went with an eggshell finish for the walls and a semigloss finish for the baseboards and doors. Yes, I also painted the doors because this room has THREE doors and leaving them white would break up the colour too much and take away from the cloud effect I am going for!

As you can see, the contrast between the light walls and the dark ceiling, actually make the small room look bigger than what it is. It gives the illusion of a night sky with the dark ceiling and that is something I love!

So here we are.. with our paint choices!

TLDR version – I went with Thundercloud Gray for the walls and Providence Blue for the ceiling.

Next, we are going to be creating a framed mural on the wall right behind me!! Stay tuned for that!

And I am running a fun giveaway on Instagram to give ONE of you a paint makeover in partnership with Benjamin Moore! Check out my Instagram page for more details.

It’s here! The complete dining room tour with alll the sources for you! And I have a special discount code for you for some of the items! In case you missed it, you can find a detailed mood board for the dining room along with a detailed guide on how I installed the art deco picture frame moulding!

Paint Colour

We chose Heather Gray by Benjamin Moore for the walls and all the trim. I went with the Regal Select Interior line and a egg shell finish for the walls and a semi gloss finish for the baseboards and casing. This difference provides a subtle contrast on the walls and adds beautiful depth!

Lighting

I scored this candle style wheel chandelier from Wayfair for only $114!! It retails for over $300 but here is a Wayfair hack I recently discovered! If someone has purchased the item and returned it, there will be an option listed right beneath the price for you to purchase it as an :open box item” for a significant discount! Open box items are non refundable so it is a little bit of a gamble, but in my opinion it is totally worth it!

The sconces are a facebook marketplace find but I am linking similar ones here! I used the puck light hack popularized by Nesting Grace instead of hardwiring them and they work well for the purposes I wanted them – purely decor 🙂

Dining Table

Our dining table is an oldie from the Restoration Hardware Outlet. It is solid teak wood and quite a beautiful piece. We purchased it for a steal because there was water damage on it. You can purchase similar tables at Wayfair or Pottery Barn

Dining Chairs and Credenza

Both the chairs and credenza are from Article and such incredibly beautiful pieces! This is a new line by Article and they arrived assembled which was the cherry on the icing! The chairs are the Netro Dining Chair and the credenza is the Candra Black Sideboard.

Rug

The rug is from Boutique Rugs and is the Ganyangan Washable Rug and is actually so gorgeous!!

Boutique Rugs is offering you 62% off all rugs with discount code MINTCANDYDESIGNS62

Art

The large canvas art is a custom made piece that I recently created with a dropcloth and leftover paint! You can get the full tutorial here. The second piece of art is a framed duck print that is a vintage print that Shafi has owned for years.

Drapes

The drapes are the Sanela Room Darkening Velvet Curtains from Ikea and I extended them by asking my mom to sew on extra length onto the bottom of the curtains. Our ceilings are 10 ft high and the typical 98 inch curtain length wasn’t enough! The dark colour hides the seam where the extra length was stitched on.

Decor

All the decor is from Target! My cousin was recently visiting us from the US and him and his wife did a Target haul for me! All the items are from the Studio McGee Threshold line at Target!

Those are all the sources for the dining room! If you have any questions, make sure to leave them in the comments and I will be sure to answer <3

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The picture frame moulding in the dining room is finished! I can’t even tell you how I excited I am because the installed moulding has completely transformed the dining room. It took a complete 7 weeks for the dining room to get to this stage, so let’s celebrate!

I can’t believe I am actually planning a full room makeover for the new house!! Excitement level … 500!!!

In this home, the first room we will be making over is the dining room!! I polled my audience about which room they think I will be making over.. and the vast majority guessed either the primary ensuite or Liyana’s room. I am actually going to dedicate all my efforts in the next few months to having a completed main floor! Our main floor is comprised of an entryway, office, dining room and kitchen + living room combo. The kitchen is mostly finished albeit some appliances and bar stools – you can check that out here! I am still working on the living room and that will likely be next for us! But for now, we are focusing on the dining room.

Here are a few reasons why..

• We actually eat dinner in here every night as a family! In our old home, we never used our dining room.. but here we actually do which has been so nice!
• I can’t actually tackle our room for a makeover until the baby has moved out LOL
• I can’t actually tackle the nursery until the baby sleeps a bit better because right now it has a spare bed where Shafi and I rotate night shifts LOL

So we are sticking with the main floor of the house for now!

Our dining room is a decent sized room and has extra large windows, flanked on either side by two walls. Here is the actual plan drawing from the house builders. We actually paid the builder to get extended windows that are 8 feet wide and 8 ft tall! Because there is a house right next to ours, we extended these windows to ensure maximal light versus the standard window size. I highly recommend getting this upgrade with your builder if you are interested because extending windows afterwards is both expensive, time consuming and requires permitting. All the windows on our main floor have been extended and that is a structural upgrade we opted for!

Here is what the dining room looked like on moving day and is a pretty accurate representation of what it looks like currently!

Given that this is the first major space you see when you walk into the house, I do want it to have the most impact!

So like any aspiring designer, I started with creating a Pinterest board because why not hah! You can follow me on Pinterest here! You can immediately see that I am currently inspired by moulding work and tone on tone rooms – these are timeless and classic and that is the vibe I am going for in this home.

I took all that inspiration and created this moodboard! The whole room is actually inspired by this painting that Shafi has owned for over 20 years that has two mallard ducks. We recently found it while moving and that has really been the inspiration for the dining room!

I am so excited to bring this room to life over the next little while 🙂

Follow along on Instagram for more!!

Liyana is now a big sister and I wanted to do something special for her room, especially after we left her rainbow room in our previous house. I am two weeks post partum and there is no way I am doing a full room makeover at this point. Instead, I decided to give her a room update using decals. Decals (pronounced as dee-kalz in eastern canada) are essentially printed stickers that go on your wall and are not just easy to attach but also remove. I went with one of my favourite companies that I have purchased decals from before – Urban Walls. They are a Canadian brand and I have used their decals in Liyana’s toddler room.

I ordered the Eden Floral Wall Decals in a “reduced order” by Urban Walls. The decals come rolled up and arrived in record time after I placed the order – by the way not sponsored at all! I just love this company a lot!

And here we are – after 8 long weeks the Boho Rainbow Room we started working on for Liyana is finally complete!

This room started off looking like this back in 2016

Then in 2018, this room transitioned to a toddler room with a Montessori theme:

And now.. we are here! 6 years later, and a full room makeover later:

Rainbow Trim Accent Wall

We started working on this pastel rainbow trim accent wall for this boho rainbow room a few weeks ago and I shared all the paint colours in this blog post HERE. The gorgeous paint was sponsored by Benjamin Moore and the trim used on top to create some dimension was sponsored by Metrie: Interior Trim and Doors. All the specific details are shared in a previous blog post with a step-by-step tutorial on how to create this feature wall. I absolutely love the feature wall and it is easily customizable to be any colour for any taste preference.

An FAQ I received was how to make this wall a bit more masculine. I would pick some colours that go together in a different colour palette like shades of blues and greens and go with that. You can also look at colour shade cards and simply pick different shades that have already been coordinated for you by Benjamin Moore!

Nightstand and Decorative Items

The nightstand here was a furniture flip as well – I used one of the same colours as the wall and shared the full step-by-step tutorial in this blog post here. The lamp is an old Target find, and the wooden crate, faux succulent plant, and decorative ceramic heart are from Bouclair. The piece of art is a one-of-a-kind piece of art by yours truly. If you followed along on Instagram, you saw all the drama with this little piece of canvas that I had! I think it adds some character to the rainbow room 🙂

Bed and Bedding for Boho Rainbow Room

Next, I would love to share about the bed and bedding because I think they accent this room and the wall so perfectly. For the bed frame, I polled my Instagram audience at the onset of the One Room Challenge and the majority voted AGAINST this bed hah! I still went ahead with it and found this farmhouse style metal bedframe at Wayfair. The white bedding and pink pillows are from Ikea Canada. The lumbar pillow is a find from Bouclair.

The most frequently asked question about the bedding is about the quilt.

This beautiful quilt is from a local company called Blockarma cofounded by Ashima and Anamika who have been working with Indian Artisans on hand block prints from last 20 years from India and last 5 years in Canada. This particular blanket is one of their most popular sellers and is hand block printed with this gorgeous floral pattern. It is perfect for spring/summer and to transition to fall. It is made with 100% pre washed cotton muslin and is SOOOO soft! It is also reversible which means you get TWO blankets in one. It is machine washable and comes pre washed which means no bleeding of colours! The size is a generous size and it can be used on a bed up to a king size! This blanket by Blockarma really added the warmth and feminine look I was looking for for this room and I absolutely love it! I will probably be sneaking it out to use in my room at some point 🙂

Boho Chair + Antique Vanity

Next to complete the boho vibes for this rainbow room, I added this gorgeous peacock chair that was actually gifted to me by Wendy of The K Wendy Home. She was recently moving and put this chair up on her Instagram page for grabs and I jumped on that opportunity!

The vanity was also a furniture flip – it is an original 1920’s piece that I found on facebook marketplace for a whopping $125 and painted in this gorgeous black paint by Behr. The hardware on it is all original and I simply used some good old Rub ‘n Buff to make it brass. The little stool is thrifted! Don’t we love it when things come together? This vanity is truly Liyana’s favourite piece in the room and I have been finding her spending hours here organizing her jewellery and things. She is such a girly girl and I absolutely adore it! This vintage piece take the boho rainbow room to the next level for a little girl. An FAQ I received was about my colour choice for the Vanity – and to be honest, I wanted to do a timeless colour that could go in ANY room should we move this piece around to any new room. The colour is timeless and will not need to be refinished again.

And last but not least, the piece that ties this WHOLE boho rainbow room together is this stunning rug by Loloi Rugs called the Jules Oriental Natural/Ocean Area Rug by Chris Loves Julia. The rug was gifted to me by Loloi Rugs and I am obsessed with the salmons, blues, and peaches which complement the rainbow wall so well. The rug is a flat pile rug and is easy to clean and maintain! I have multiple rugs from Loloi Rug and I love them all so much. I highly recommend them for any high traffic area and they add the perfect level of comfort and charm to a room.

And there you have it! All the details and the final reveal for the Boho Rainbow Room.

We all love rainbows right? My little girl who just turned 5 has been asking for a rainbow room for a year. Finally, for her fifth birthday, we agreed that we would add a DIY Rainbow wall to her bedroom.

There is so much amazing inspiration out there for rainbow bedroom walls in girls bedrooms including beautiful rainbow wall paper such as this one by Hey Sarah Darling, or this beautiful rainbow trim ceiling one by Lauren Burke, or this rainbow slat wall by my friend Holly.

I was inspired by all of these, and especially the rainbow trim ceiling wall by Lauren. I absolutely loved how she added dimension to a rainbow wall with half round trim and used muted pastels.

Step 1: Choose Rainbow Colours for the Bedroom Wall

I took that inspiration, and first created a mood board for the room featuring colours by Benjamin Moore. In particular, I chose colours from the Regal Select Interior Paint line in an ulti matte finish for the rainbow bedroom wall: Rosy Tan, Rose Bisque, Cinnamon n’ Spice, Light Salmon, Mohair, Blue Lace, and Galt Blue

Step 2: Tape Rainbow onto the wall to create the accent wall

Next, I decided that I wanted the rainbow wall to be centered to the bed I have purchased and after some quick math decided that the width of each colour would be 8 inches. I began to create the rainbow on the wall where the bed would be against. For this part of the project, I used a 2.5 inch paint tape by Frog Tape and that was the gap between the colours. I used a level to lightly draw the lines on to the wall and started with the middle line working my way out. This step is tedious, because you can only draw and tape one line at a time to ensure that your lines are level and that your gaps are even and the width of the tape.

Step 3: Get Painting!

This was honestly the most fun step! Here, I started with the middle colour which ended up being yellow after I moved around some colours. I used high density foam rollers and swapped the foam part out between colours and stored in in aluminum foil to keep the roller from drying. Hot tip: use paper plates to roll the paint in versus paint liners! It is way cheaper on your budget! Once I had completed one coat of paint, I did go in with a second coat of paint. To get clean edges at the ceiling and trim, I used my favourite angled brush by Wooster and I love the clean and finished look this particular brush gives.

Step 4: Paint Trim

I wanted to add some depth to the wall and the stripes. To do so, I used 5/16-in x 5/8-in x 8-ft Pine Wood Half Round Moulding by Metrie to add dimension to the rainbow accent wall. I painted 5 pieces of trim in each colour on a flat surface and trimmed them to size using my Dewalt Compund Miter Saw. You can also use a miter box or a hand saw at the store to cut to exact size as the height of your wall.

Then I used my Ryobi Airstrike 18 gauge Brad Nailer to nail in the pieces onto each colour. The spacing between each trim piece was approximately 1.375 inches and I attempted to keep it consistent. However, since the trim is a wooden trim and given how hot it has been in Ontario this summer, the trim warped ever so slightly between painting, drying, and being subject to temperature changes. Once the trim pieces were nailed in, I filled the holes with Dap Canada Wood Filler, lightly sanded it by hand, and used a craft paint brush to touch up any spots.

Once that was all done, this is what the wall looks like!

Now we are going to work on the rest of the room and hopefully share it for the One Room Challenge Reveal next week! I have already worked on the nightstand for this space using the same colour from the rainbow wall. I can’t wait for it to all come together!

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Every DIY blogger has been making DIY fluted furniture since last year and I am a full year late to the trend. I decided to finally get on trend and make a DIY fluted nightstand with an old nightstand in the basement! I have seen some talented friends recreate the fluted/reeded look on a coffee table, ikea dresser, and even on an Ikea nightstand. I wanted to recreate the same fluted look on a nightstand that I have sitting in my basement from a few years ago. This was originally chalk painted in a beautiful gray, but over the years has worn down and ultimately ended up in the basement.

I decided to haul this shabby nightstand back up and DIY it to give it this fluted look that I so wanted for Liyana’s rainbow room that I am working on.

Now, here is the real problem. Every single piece of DIY fluted furniture I have seen has used trim work that is sold on Amazon by a particular brand. Given the recent trendiness of this style of furniture, the amazon seller has tripled the price. And given that I want to be as thrifty as possible, I am not spending $30 per piece of trim to makeover a nightstand.

Instead, I opted for a beautiful pine trim in a half round shape by Metrie that can be purchased at Lowes. I used a bit more than one piece of trim and I actually did not purchase this – it was gifted to me by them.

Step 1: Sand the Nightstand

To work on the nightstand to make it fluted, I first started by sanding the nightstand down. Since this piece had a layer of chalk paint on it, I had to sand it down quite a bit. You want to sand just enough to create a surface that will allow for the primer to adhere. That does not mean that you need to remove every single chip of previous paint!

Step 2: Cut the Fluted Trim for the Nightstand drawer

Next it’s time to start cutting. This measurement had to be precise—our drawer height was 5″ and I had only one drawer!

Most importantly, each piece had to be cut to exactly the same size. Here’s a neat trick to do this: make a stop block on your miter saw, using a scrap piece of wood and a clamp (the clamp came with our saw)

This eliminates the need to measure each time and will ensure they’re all exactly the same length—pretty cool, huh? It only took a few minutes to cut them all! It took me a grand total of five minutes to do this step!

Step 3: Glue or Nail the Trim

Since I am using a solid wood trim, I used our Ryobi AirStrike Brad Nailer with 3/4″ nails to nail each piece of trim in. Initially I had planned to glue each piece and clamp it down but it seemed way faster to nail the dang pieces of trim! I filled in the nail holes in a few minutes with this DAP Canada wood filler.

Step 4: Prime and Paint

Here, I used this Zinnser primer that came highly recommended. The thing with this primer is that a little goes a long way AND it dries fast! I used a small brush (this is my favourite brush!) to prime the nightstand. If you are priming a larger piece of furniture, you can also use a roller.

Once the primer is dry, I used the same brush to paint on my choice of colour. This is the beauty of sanding, priming, and painting a piece of furniture versus chalk painting (which I also lovee!!) – the world is your oasis in terms of colour choice. I am using the colour Rose Bisque by Benjamin Moore in the Regal Select Line in the Ulti Matte Finish. I will use the same exact colour on the walls of the room for a fun accent wall that I am working on so stay tuned for that.

Step 5: Attach Hardware

Next, to complete the DIY fluted nightstand, I attached the hardware. I had purchased these flat centre bar pulls from Wayfair for another project, and used one here! Since the trim was an exact measurement to the heigh of the drawer, I did sand the trim a tiny bit to accommodate the drawer pull fitting on top of the trim AND sliding into its spot.

And here is the finished DIY fluted nightstand!

I think it turned out really cute!

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Oh hey there! Hope you are having a wonderful day! I am FINALLY getting around to writing this blog post about the DIY Sponge Wall Powder Room Makeover t that took it from builder grade to fancy in just an evening! Now, I love the look of some gorgeous wallpaper in a bathroom but I don’t love the price tag attached to wallpapers and also the work that goes into installing them especially in a small crammed space like a powder room!

It is absolutely no secret that I love painting, and painting old furniture has become somewhat of a hobby. I almost exclusively use chalk paint to paint furniture and have painted over 20 pieces at this point with different brands. I thought it was time that I put down what I love and also don’t like about chalk paint – because let’s be real: It is NOT for everyone, and some people just hate it.

Let’s discuss the pro’s and con’s in the context of the things that matter when you are painting and some questions that I have been asked frequently:

Remember how I painted and upcycled these nightstands in my bedroom a few years ago with chalk paint? Well, today I am doing the same thing but with a slight twist. It shouldn’t surprise you when I say that I have this unhealthy obsession with thrifting items and upcycling them and giving them new life especially with paint. I mean, I have painted nightstands, antique school desks, thrifted frames… even vases to make into a lamp – so I can safely say that yes I am obsessed.

Here is a little bit of a backstory. My dad found these nightstands to upcycle at Salvation Army for $25 each! They are in amazing condition and have this beautiful detailing and brass pulls that are just screaming mid-century modern to me.

Please note this post is sponsored by Krazy Glue. All opinions and comments are my own.

I am not a board game person. I have a bunch lying around, scrabble being one of them, and we rarely ever play it. Today, I am showing you to up-cycle Scrabble Tiles into easy coasters with some Krazy Glue in under half an hour. These easy coasters make for a wonderful holiday gift that you can create in a budget! I am going to be making some of these easy DIY Scrabble Tile Coasters as Teacher’s gifts for Liyana.

You guys! Would you believe me if I told you that I actually I made a Copycat Pottery Table Lamp with an ugly brown vase with an even more hideous glaze?!?

These pottery lamps retail from $400- even a $1000! I am not even kidding.. Here is an inspiration pictures for your reference. McGee and Co has a similar version that retails for $400 USD.

Now, imagine if I told you that you did not need to spend hundreds of dollars to have these gorgeous lamps! Lets be real, I was never going to spend hundreds of dollars on a lamp. And you know how much I love converting thrifted finds into unique pieces and use them even for seasonal home decor.

I am going to transform this ugly $7.99 Vase from Value Village into something similar and create a Copycat Pottery Table Lamp!

There are a few steps to creating this look.

First, we have to give the ugly thrifted vase look like pottery.

For this step, we will need Black Spray paint, Brown Spray Paint, some Drydex spackle, and some wet dirt (optional)

We are going to start off with spray painting the vase brown.

Next we will wait till its semi-dry, and add a thin layer of Drydex Spackle.

Let that dry a bit, and add black spray paint. Rub with dirt while the spray paint is wet.

Repeat until satisfied with the look you want.

Now we are going to take the Copycat Pottery Vase into a Table Lamp.

Now, this part was 100% Inspired by Danielle at The Nest on Powell. She purchased a pottery vase from Home Depot and converted it into a lamp. I saw that a while ago, and had that filed in the back of my mind for when I saw a vase I could convert into a lamp.

For this part you will need: A bottle Lamp Kit, Small terracotta dish that covers the mouth of your vase (this will form the base of your bulb, masonry drill bit, lamp shade + harp.

First, we drilled a hole in the terracotta plate and the base of the vase.

Next we threaded the electrical cord through, and then attached the bottle lamp kit and the harp to the lamp base, and attached the shade.

And done! Isn’t that one heck of a before and after?!

All the supplies including the vase cost me roughly $60! Isn’t that a DIY!

If you liked this post, I would love for you to pin this image to your Pinterest boards!

Hellooo friends!!

I have been yapping about a Master Bath Makeover for weeks now, and I have been spending sooo much time on Pinterest, pinning all the inspo (come check that out here). So I thought I’d finally put together a mood board for y’all with all the different elements and colours that I am planning to use in the Master Bath.