A few weeks ago, Katie (from Bower Power) and Sherry (from Young House Love) issued the Spring Pinterest Challenge. The idea was to post this last week, but better late than never right? Right. The whole concept of the Pinterest Challenge is going beyond pinning and moving toward the doing. This came at the perfect time because I have what seems like a bajillion things that I’ve pinned recently where I think, “I so want to do that!” but… never do. So, it’s on. Like Donkey Kong.

The last time we were able to jump in on the challenge, we made these super cute Clothespin Herb Planters. This time around, we’re taking this opportunity to do a Pinterest project we’ve had our eye on for a few months – yes, “we” as in even Greg, haha. I showed him a few photos of various DIY sunburst mirrors on Pinterest and he said, “Huh, that’s cool. We should try that.” So, try we shall! After some pinning here and pinning there, we came up with a good set of photos to gain inspiration from…

Size & Shape: We really like the size and shape of this DIY mirror made from shims. The different length in the “rays” really help give it a lot of fun texture. Source. Color: While we love the idea of a gold sunburst mirror, we think a dark wood stain would look better with the rest of our decor. That, and dark wood makes my heart go pitter patter. Source. Mirror: Rather than gluing a mirror on the front with an un finished edge, we want to find a small round mirror with a simple frame to make the finished product look more, well, finished. Source.

Now that we have a game plan, we gathered all of our supplies:

• Shims (4 packs, 42 count, 12″ shims and 9 packs, 14 count, 8″ shims)
• Wood Glue (I used Gorilla Wood Glue, but any wood glue would do)
• Liquid Nails
• Painter’s Tape
• Stain (Special Walnut by Minwax)
• Foam Brush
• 12″x12″ Sheet of Plywood
• Picture Hanging Hardware (or a D-Ring)
• A 9 (ish)” Mirror (I used one from this set of mirrors from Target)
• A Stack of Books (or anything flat and heavy)

Starting with the 8″ shims first, I gathered 7 at a time, put a small line of wood glue between each one and shaped the cluster into a “ray”, like shown above. I found it a lot easier to put the wood glue on between the shims then shape it into a cluster, rather than trying to shape it as I glued.

Once the cluster was the right length (about 12″ long), I held it together really tight and wrapped a piece of paper tape around them to hold it together while the glue set. For the longer clusters, I switched over to painter’s tape because it was stronger and thicker.

I did the same process for the 12″ shims, but instead used 9 shims in each cluster and positioned them in a more random order – just like our first inspiration photo. I made sure the first and last shim were the same height and the third and seventh shim were the two tallest. Other than that, I kept things pretty random to have some variance between clusters. Oh, and I made 17 of each size, 34 total.

I let the wood pieces dry overnight with the tape on them. The next morning, I took the tape off and laid the clusters out on a piece of craft paper on the kitchen counter. This process proved to be a little tedious at times, so I called on Greg and his good puzzle-working skills to put it together. Using wood glue, we glued the pieces together, keeping them lined up to make sure the entire frame was an even circle. After the complete circle was glued, Greg stuck in a few 8″ shims from the other direction to fill in the gaps here and there. The glue was totally dripping in this photo because I asked Greg to hold it a second while I took a photo, haha.

For the next step in the process, we took the now dry frame outside. By the way, it’s super important to make sure the frame is completely dry before you try to move it. First of all, stain is stinky and I’ve had a history of spilling stain. Yeah, not good. Since the stain was mainly going on the rough, unfinished edges of the shims, it soaked right in.

Let’s back up a second because I forgot to take a photo when Greg was actually doing this step. Before we stained it, Greg glued on a 12″ piece of plywood that he cut into a circle – okay, more like an amoeba – to serve as the backing for the mirror. Then, I had to exude every bit of grown-up patience I had in me and wait for the glue to dry. I kept wanting to turn it over to see the mirror in hole, but ended up letting it sit overnight so it would be nice and firm before I picked it up. Greg put some heavy books on top of it to make sure it would dry nice and flat. Once that was done, we attached a D-ring with the screw that came with it.

Once the frame was dry, Greg sprayed a few light coats of gloss exterior varnish. He actually started out using a satin finish varnish, but it made the mirror a little lack luster and dull. So, for the second and third coat, he switched to gloss finish varnish. Even though the varnish is clear, this really helped even out the texture of the shims and made it look more store-bought rather than DIY. He also coated the back of the frame to prevent any future rotting from the outdoor humidity.

Now, the mirror. Finally! We put some Liquid Nails on the back of the mirror and placed in the middle of the frame, making sure it was equal distance from each side, and set a stack of heavy books on top. And let it dry. Again. So. Much. Drying Time.

Done! I had a hard time deciding where to hang it because I LOVE it so much! We ultimately decided on hanging it outside in the carport, over the love seat. That way, we’ll be able to enjoy it every time we come in and out of the house and we get to show it off easily when people come over, haha.

Even though it was totally unplanned, we really like the variation in tone between the short and long clusters. This ended up happening because the 8″ shims were a little smoother than the 12″ shims and didn’t soak up as much stain.

Yeah, I just had to throw in a detail shot. Since we’re planning on planking the carport ceiling, we’re excited to have it tie in with the wood of the new mirror.

Overall, we’re super happy with how it came out and really glad we had the Pinterest Challenge to put a fire under us and get it done. Now that we have this super nice wall decor to look at when we’re outside, we’re even more excited to get the rest of the carport finished.

Fact: I’ve been in a crafty mood lately. I’ve felt like breaking out the paint and finding an excuse to get my hands messy. Maybe it’s the weather getting warmer outside? I’m not sure. Anyway, we have a set of four coasters that a friend gave us when we got married (they’re cute, with a “B” on them), but when we were having a game night with some friends a few nights ago, I realized we didn’t have enough coasters to go around. Rather than going out the next day to pick up another set, I decided it was a perfect excuse to get my craft on.

The design inspiration behind the coasters, oddly enough, came from one of my favorite things on my desk: my mousepad. I love the simple, modern design and the ultra soft texture of the leather… and it smells really, really good, haha.

I found this can of gold spray paint at AC Moore for 99 pennies. At the time, I had no idea what I was going to use it for, but I thought, “Hey, I like gold. It’s only a buck. Why not?” When I got to the cashier, they ended up giving it to me for 50¢ because it didn’t have a top. Score!

For the coasters themselves, I picked up a pack of Tumbled Marble tile at Lowe’s for $3.95. I picked this particular tile out because it was a heavy, thick tile (perfect for coasters) and I thought the textured surface would give them some visual interest. Plus, you couldn’t beat the $3.95 (for all nine tiles!) price tag.

In an effort to “think Spring”, I picked out six fun, bright colors from my paint stash. Just in case you wanted to know, here’s a list of the exact colors: Gray Wolf, Geranium, Green Olive, Yellow Jacket, Love Bird, and Pool – all from the Martha Stewart Crafts line. This particular paint is guaranteed to adhere to everything from wood to glass to metal. It’s even indoor/outdoor and dishwasher safe. Yeah, it packs a pretty big punch for a craft paint, huh?

I started off by cleaning all of the tiles with a bit of alcohol making sure all of the “tile dust” was off – then took them outside and gave each tile several light coats of gold spray paint. As with any spray paint project, a few light coats give much better results than one heavy coat. One thing I love about metallic spray paint is that it dries super fast – so you don’t have to wait a long time between coats.

Next, I took a piece of cork tile left over from another project and cut it into squares just a tad smaller than the tile. Then, I attached each cork piece to the back of the tile with a few dabs of Liquid Nails.

Now, for the fun part… color! I gathered my paint supplies and some Scotch Blue Painter’s Tape and settled in at my desk for the latest episode of Once Upon A Time on Hulu.

I put a piece of Scotch Blue Painters Tape from corner to corner on each tile and painted away. I used the half inch painter’s tape that is specially formulated for freshly painted surfaces. The half inch width is perfect for small craft projects like this. Another thing to note, by putting the cork on before I did the detail painting, it made things a lot easier when it came to painting the edges because it wasn’t sitting directly on a flat surface. That was Greg’s idea. He’s a smarty pants.

I had to post this photo simply because I get giddy every time I pull back painter’s tape to find a nice, crisp line. #diynerd. A few more minutes of painting, plus an hour or two of drying time, and we had a whole new set of fun “modern rustic” coasters…

Aren’t these guys fun?! I love the metallic gold shimmer next to the satin finish of the bright colors. Since we have plenty to keep on hand in the living room, the green one has been staying put on my desk. Oh, and I had to include a photo of one in action…

Even though the process of this project was super simple, it was a lot of fun, and I love the modern flair of the final product. Craft paint, Liquid Nails, painter’s tape and an episode of Once Upon A Time… my kind of party.

For the past few weeks, we’ve been on the hunt for a lamp for the new foyer table. Everything we found was either too small, not the right material, or not the style we were looking for. I was laying in bed the other night, going through old photos on my cell phone when I stumbled on this photo of a lamp I spotted at Tuesday Morning way back in August…

Yeah, I take photos while I shop. I’m weird like that. The shade wouldn’t have worked for our style, but the base was to die for. It was big, chunky, looked kind of like reclaimed wood (my favorite material of all time), and was the perfect color. In other words, it was my dream lamp. Knowing things come and go through Tuesday Morning every week (just like Home Goods and TJ Maxx), I knew there was no possible way they would still have it almost eight months later. All hope was lost on the lamp of my dreams. Lesson officially learned.

The day after I found the photo, Greg and I were out running some errands and decided to stop by Tuesday Morning to have a look around. Having had my oh-my-goodness-I-should-have-bought-that-lamp meltdown the night before, I made a beeline to the lamps section. Nothing really caught my eye but just as I was about to walk away, all the way in the back of the top shelf… THE lamp. I was in total disbelief and pretty much squealed like a 13-year-old on the front row at a One Direction concert. To make the find even sweeter, the lamp was originally $199, marked down to $150, then down to $95, then down to $65. That’s when the Hallelujah Chorus started playing.

When we got out to the car, I texted this photo of Greg holding the lamp in the air to my mom (who shares my love for interior design and good finds). Needless to say, Greg and I were two happy campers.

As soon as we got home, we sat her on the foyer table and switched out the lamp shade for a simple white drum shade (from Target). Even though the white drum shade was the right shape and looked better than the “leafy” one that came on it, it didn’t have the razzle dazzle we were looking for. We shopped around for colorful lamp shades, but everything we found was either the wrong size or shape. That’s when it dawned on me… make one!

I remembered seeing this awesome Ikat shower curtain from Target’s Threshold line (who, by the way, has really been hitting it out of the park lately!). I absolutely loved it, but we didn’t have need for a new shower curtain. My next thought was it would make great fabric for curtains or even throw pillows or… why not a lamp shade? It had to be done.

Because this particular shade isn’t tapered (the sides are completely straight), I didn’t have to worry about tracing the fabric perfectly to the shape of the shade. All I had to do was make sure the piece was about an inch and a half taller than the shade on both sides.

I left the shower curtain folded and marked the cut line with a fine point Sharpie. Then I cut the curtain while it was still folded. Leaving it folded made the cutting process a lot faster, less cumbersome and I only had to draw one short, straight line. There were a few little jagged edges here and there, but that didn’t matter because it would be on the inside of the shade.

The fabric had a few creases from being folded on the shelf, so I ran an iron over it a few times. I learned later that this step was so, so, so important. If you have crisp, flat fabric, it will make the process of applying the fabric to the shade much easier. After it was ironed, I cut the fabric to the length I needed for it to go around the shade once, plus an inch of overlap at the end.

In comes the Tacky Spray. I’ve never used this stuff before, so I was kind of very nervous about how I’d actually go about getting the fabric on the shade without any creases, wrinkles or glue puddles. Not wanting to get a fine mist of glue all over the kitchen, we took it outdoors and sprayed the outside of the lamp shade. And boy are we glad we did. It even made Greg’s shirt and arms a bit tacky (luckily, it washed right off!). After the shade was covered, we rushed it back in the kitchen to work on the clean, smooth countertop. The next part of the process had to happen fast. It took four hands, too, so in lieu of a photo, I drew up a little diagram…

Greg stood on one side of the kitchen peninsula and pulled the shower curtain fabric toward him, keeping it tight and straight. I pulled the other end of the fabric toward me and pressed the fabric on the shade as I rolled it toward Greg, while making sure I kept the fabric really taught and rubbing out any folds or bubbles along the way. I also made sure the finished edge ended up on the top to give the back of the shade a nice, professional, finished look.

After the shade was completely covered with fabric, we let it sit for about 10 minutes to give the glue a chance to settle. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to move the fabric when I went to fold down the edges.

When it came to the edges, Greg ran outside to spray a bit more of the glue along the inside edges of the shade and brought it back in for me to work on. Then, I simply pulled the excess fabric up and over the edge of the shade. Luckily, the Tacky Spray was pretty forgiving. If I didn’t pull the fabric quite taught enough, I was able to pull it back up and over the edge again, to make sure it was good and tight.

When I got to the metal frame, I cut a small slit in the fabric, a few centimeters from the edge, and folded it around the wire. A fold here, a fold there, and…

Ta da!!! Now, that’s a nice looking lamp if I do say so myself. I’m completely, head over heals in love with it.

So, thank you, Target for making ultra awesome shower curtains. Not only is the design awesome, the stiffness of the shower curtain fabric came in handy during the whole process. So, in my opinion, if you’re looking to cover a lampshade with fabric, I highly recommend shower curtains, haha.

We’re both really, really happy with how it turned out, and I love the look on people’s faces when I tell them the shade was covered with a shower curtain. Greg, who was completely skeptical about this to begin with, is a typical guy when it comes to decorating most of the time. But almost every time he walks through the foyer, he says something like, “That really does look good!”. That’s an A+ in my book!