DIY Fabric Art

This is still keeping in line with decorating our dining area. The wall looked bare so we came up with an idea to incorporate the framed art I purchased in a local craft show, see post here. We wanted to pick out colors in different areas of the dining room so we decided to go with fabric art. This was so easy to put together, items for this fabric art include patterned fabric, staple gun and 1x2x8 furring strip wood.

1x2x8 furring wood

Cut to size and assemble (nail or screws will work)

Line frame up with fabric and staple together

I love the patterns

Dining area coming together.

DIY Farmhouse Dinning Table & Chairs

We have been using a dining table that my friend gave me shortly before she moved out of town for a few years now. I had the dining table in my apartment before we got married and moved into our house. We enhanced the table a little bit by sanding and staining the top and redressing the chairs with green outdoor fabric. I liked it for a while until we had to host Christmas last year and we did not have enough space to fit everyone. Also the metal frame was getting a little shaky so I started “pondering” a solution.

Our dinning table and chairs (Before)

At that time I was a DIY novice so the thought of building a dining table never crossed my mind. A lot of the tables that I liked were in the $1000-$2000 range and there was noooooo way we were going to pay that much for a dining table. After a couple of DIY projects we did around the house I joked about building a dining table and JT said “hey why not, if it doesn’t work out, we’ll toss it aside”. That’s how it started.

I follow a lot of DIY blogs and remembered reading about Ana White’s home building projects. Ana White has a “brag section” on her blog where people post what they did with her plans; I browsed around and started believing we could totally build our own table. We picked one we liked and modified it to fit our dining area and taste.

Wood shopping - we used untreated white wood

The table costs approximately $179 and about 43 hours spread over 3 weeks to complete.  Here is the cost break down

Dining Table
Wood	$ 85
Metal Brackets	$ 40
Spray Paint (4)	$ 20
Dark Walnut Stain	$  8
Polyurethane	$ 11
Kreg Screws	$ 15
Total	$ 179

Tools we used: Circular saw, jig saw, clamps, Kreg jig (for pocket holes), sander, metal brackets, wood glue, Kreg self-tapping screws

Work Table (old table top put to work)

We set the wood in the garage to acclimatize to our house before cutting

The arches (for the pedestals) were the easiest to cut thanks to the jig saw

JT putting the pedestals together (we used a lot of clamps for this project)

Pedestals fitted with base and bottom (caution...heavy)

Pedestals fitted with arches

Lining out table top (make sure both ends are even to attach to end pieces)

We used pocket holes and Kreg self-tapping screws for attachment, glue works but takes years to dry.

We lined out all the pieces to make sure pocket holes were rightly placed

Mario and Mason giving their approval

Metal brackets for additional supports to prevent bowing overtime. We got this idea here

Table top brought in to acclimatize to the humidity of the house (caution...HEAVY!!!!)

Sand sharp edges before staining

We stained to match our window bench / wine holder. Two coats with sanding in between (love the grain and knots)

The most challenging part of putting the table together is passing the stretcher bar through the pedestals. We couldn't have done it without extra muscles from my brother-in-love (JT's twin brother, who is an AWESOME photographer by the way). It took us almost two hours to attach it. The table top weighs more than 60 pounds so you know who wasn't doing the lifting.

BAM!!!! You were not expecting the antic white paint on the pedestals were you?

Table came out exactly how i imagined it would.

View from the bottom

Look at the beautiful details

Our “fancy” new dining table needed “new” chairs so here’s what we did to the chairs we already had. All we used were 1.5 yards of fabric and 3 cans of bronze spray paint.

Old Chairs

Before spray paint

After spray paint

Bronzed-out-million-dollar-looking chair

Dinner for Six!!!!!

We bought the head chairs from a local furniture store to give the dinning area an elegant look. This is by far the most exciting DIY to date. Thanks to JT for being the brawn behind my brains; I come up with these DIY ideas and he helps bring them to life.

Book Shelf to Shoe Shelf!!!!!

Girls love shoes and I have always wanted to make a shoe shelf after coming across one online many many years ago. 

JT and I  checked out garage and moving sales 3 weeks ago. He actually went online during the week to look for areas with the most moving sales and looked for descriptions of items matching what we wanted. We even went to the thrift stores in our area to look for something. 

We ended up getting this brown 5 shelf book case from a moving sale for $30 (WINNING !!!!!). The shelf barely fit in the car, JT had to drive with his face practically on the windshield.

 

Bargain book shelf

We took measurements and decided to add 4 extra shelves to the design to hold more shoes (flats and high-heels). JT suggested we add lights to the display and we planned on getting glass shelves to allow the light flow through better. That plan was nixed due to costs of buying and cutting the glass. Knowing us though, we will probably end up doing something with glass or acrylic someday.

The items used for this project are:

• 5 shelf book case (approx. 3 ft. wide by 6 ft. tall)
• 4 –11 inch by 34.375 inches pieces of wood
• 4 – 1 inch by 34.375 inches pieces of wood trim
• 2 cans – Spray Primer
• 1 quart – Yellow paint and primer
• 2 – Paint rollers
• Patterned gift wrap for back of shelf 
• Tacky spray to apply gift wrap to back
• Paint brush for corners and finishing
• Extra shelf holders               
• Tarp to protect the floors
• Wood glue to attach trim
• 5 LED lights
• Tension rod and 2 window shears

Step 1: Take off the backing 

Back off!!!

Step 2: Attach the trim to the 4 shelves with wood glue and let dry overnight

4 shelves and trim

Trim we got compared to existing trim 

 Step 3: Prime the shelves and shelf. We weren’t going to prime at first and bought the paint and primer already mixed but decided after testing a small area to spray primer on the entire thing.

  

All primed and ready to go

Step 4: Paint all the shelves and book case with yellow paint and allow to dry overnight. We got the paint in semi-gloss because we didn’t want the shelf to be too shiny.

Yellow Paint is on

 Step 5: Apply patterned paper to back of shelf

Supplies for the back

Black & White Pattern

 Step 6: Install LED lights

LED light kit

Lights installed

They work

Step 7: Add back

Back on, Lights on

Step 8: Add shoes

Shoe Shelf :)

 

Wedding bouquet and Shoes

 The shoe shelf can hold another row of shoes but this 1st row is very special to me. It holds my wedding bouquet and wedding plus traditionalengagement shoes. 

Step 9: Add tension rod and window sheers. The sheers will give us the option to cover up the shoes but so far they are just an accessory

Yellow Shoe Shelf

 I am so excited and in love with this, I get to see the shoes I have at once so getting ready is much easier now.

JT did most of the work even though the shoe case is mine. No, he doesn't get to put his own shoes on here!!!  Maybe someday we'll make him a display.