I love DIY

I don't know why, but in the last year or so I have become addicted to DIY projects. Making something yourself, or re-doing something gives me so many more options. I'm not limited to the curtain choices available at bed bath and beyond. I can go to the fabric store, pick out fabric I love, and make curtains myself.

Sean is not the biggest fan of DIY. Probably because he never really experienced it before meeting me. I grew up with parents who always have some sort of DIY project going on. Actually they usually have about 10 going on at the same time. They never hired people to paint the walls in the house, they did it themselves. My dad built most of our house because he could. I think my love of DIY came from my parents.

Moving to a new place this summer really triggered my inner DIYer. Even though we are renting, we are allowed to make customizations, like painting and hanging whatever we want on the walls. This made me super excited! I painted an accent wall in our bedroom and in the office to start. Then I painted the back splash in the kitchen. Then I painted an accent wall in the dining room.

 I think it's super cute and adds a lot of color!


My latest DIY project started because of Pinterest. Yes, I admit it, I have a Pinterest addiction. I ran across a picture of a lamp shade someone had covered with fun fabric. I decided that would be a good project. I wanted some new lamps our bedroom because the lamps we have are super tiny and just look funny sitting next to a king size bed. So last weekend when Sean was out golfing I decided to go to Goodwill, just to see what they had. Those lamps were NOT attractive, but some of them had some great shapes. So I called my Mom to ask if I could spray paint the lamps. She said she didn't know why not. So I went a little crazy and bought 4 lamps. 3 of them had lamp shades. I also found 2 really cool shaped candlesticks. I got all of it for like $35! I took them home and when Sean got home and I showed him the stuff, he thought I was NUTS! So in order to show him the potential. I grabbed a can of white spray paint that we had and quickly sprayed the ugliest of the lamps. It was a tall lamp probably from the 70's it had a brass base then a long dark wooden "stem". Its like the lamps that Grandma has had at her house for years. Sean (and I must admit, myself) were pleasantly surprised at how much white spray paint improved the lamp. So Sean and I went to the fabric store and bought fabric for the shades and then went to buy spray paint for the lamps, and the candlesticks. I must say, everything turned out way better than I expected. 

Here is the before picture.

Here is the previously blue lamp. The previously pink one looks the same. They are the new bedside table lamps

This was the lamp that was previously yellow. I used a metallic silver spray paint.

I haven't finished the lamp shade for the tall lamp, but it is silver as well. The candlesticks are also silver.

I will post pics when I finish the tall lamp and when I figure out where to put the candlesticks.