Living Room Decorating Ideas {Hidden Books}

A few weeks back, I took a poll of my Facebook fans to find out what they do to hide ugly books on their bookshelves.  They had such great ideas, so I credit them for inspiring this one!

I really do hate the look of books on my bookshelf.  All different colors, sizes, and types.  Makes me cringe every time I look at it.
I had to do something.

After staring for awhile and considering have a large bonfire in my backyard to just burn them all {librarians, don't hate}, I found a solution.  Hidden books!

I'm hiding all those hideous covers behind ones I LOVE using magazine files!  I bought twenty five white cardboard magazine files from IKEA (also here on Amazon for those unfortunate souls without an IKEA).  They were cheeeeaaap... which is why I bought them.  In case my project failed miserably.

But, I'm actually really happy with the strength of the boxes.  And since my plan is to hide ALL of my books, I definitely didn't want to spend $10/file!

Look how sweet they look all lined up and pretty.  I'm so happy with the results.

Want to make some, too?

exacto knife, thrifted books with colored spines, glue gun, and magazine file

I bought all my books at thrift stores and tore off the covers to get to the beautiful spines.  There are some LOVELY ones hidden back there just waiting to be shown off!

Demolishing your books {close your eyes, English professors}:

I save the book pages for future crafts {one that I will reveal at the end of this post}.

To cover the magazine file, you will need your books to look like this:

So, cut off either the front, back, or both to create the look you need.  {I measured my books against the magazine file before cutting to make sure they would all fit across the back.}

Using a glue gun, attach the first book cover to the side of the magazine file.

Then glue down the edge of the spine.

Repeat this glue gun action for all your spines until your magazine file is covered.

In love.

But, don't worry.  I didn't throw away much from this project.  Here are three stacks of book pages used for decoration.  Did you know Pottery Barn was selling this?!  Probably for major $$$, too.

And I glued some of the leftover book covers together for some wall art in my bedroom.

Nothing went to waste.

5 minute christmas tree skirt {diy}

For the last few years, my Christmas Tree has been naked.  While it has been adorned with lights and ornaments, it's been missing a SKIRT!  I've gone looking a few times hoping to purchase one, but they are so darn expensive!  And the ones I fall in love with aren't there at the after Christmas sales.

So, I had to do it myself.  But, isn't that so much more fun?!

I took an oval table cloth that I found at the local thrift store and turned it into a tree skirt in less than 5 minutes!

Remember this picture post from the BLB Facebook wall?  Here is what I used from my awesome thrift store finds last week!

Find an oval or circle table cloth so the edges are already hemmed for you!  Fold it in half.

Then in half again.

Take a CD or something circular you can trace and make a small circle to cut out on the corner.

Open it up and hem the raw edges (if you want to - it's fine to leave it open since most tree skirt openings are not seen).

Wrap it around your tree and admire it.  I love that it is white and that it bunches around the tree.  It reminds me of snow!

But, I also happened to find a sweet lace tree skirt during my adventures at the thrift store (see picture up top).  While I LOVE that it looks like a ginormous doily, it was a little too small for my big tree.  But it sure does look lovely layered on top of my homemade one!

A little embellishment from a sweater I found while searching for one of those "ugly Christmas sweaters", and I was done!

Not bad, right?  And much cheaper than the ones Target sells!

 

BLB of the day:

The Maggie

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a gift for you

I wish that I could give every one of you faithful readers a special gift this Christmas season.  To let you know how thankful I am for you.  But honestly, I just have no idea how many of you are actually out there.

Sure, my blog statistics give me some idea of the "reach" of this blog, but honestly, sometimes it feels pretty lonely and pretty quiet around here.  {cue crickets}

And sometimes I get pretty down when I feel like I'm writing to a wall.  {cue violin}

So, to stir things up a little around here, I'm going to give away TWO sets of my handmade bibs.  I've been cleaning and purging around here lately and these bibs just aren't getting the use that they should (we have WAY TOO MANY).  They've each been used just a handful of times and have absolutely no stains or discoloration to them.

If you've been around this blog for awhile, you've seen the tutorial for these bibs.  They were also featured over at A Little Tipsy with Michelle.  They are repurposed from child sized t-shirts and lined with super soft minky.  They wash like a dream and look even cuter on.

The first set is for girls only.  It's full of pinks and teals, frills and rhinestones, and Hello Kitty.

Here's a close up of all the bibs included in this gift set.

 Then let's not forget about the boys!  Here is their set full of plaid, buttons, trouble, and fun!

And the close up.

All you have to do to win one of these sets is to comment below on this blog post telling me which set you'd like to win. 

I'll draw TWO winners on Thursday morning (12-1-11) and announce it here on the blog!  Merry Christmas!

BLB of the day:

The Lunch Bag

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Labor Day BBQ - DIY Projects!

Remember these?

The chairs I found inspiration for on Pinterest?

Well I finished them up just in time for our Labor Day BBQ.

Here was the set up when all was said and done.

That is my back yard.

I don't think I've ever shown it here before.

I LOVE the hanging grape vines.

It might be my favorite part about this old house.

But I've been needing a picnic table under it for an entire year.

Has anyone seen the prices on those things?!

Crazy.

So, thanks to Pinterest, I found a table made out of an old door.

These old doors are very easy to come by in the neighborhood.

Most of our houses were built in the 1940s.

So, I brought one up from our neighbor's basement, sanded the thing down, cut some 4 by 4 legs, screwed them on and now have a really awesome table to eat at!

I'm still contemplating painting it.
Definitely at least need to put an outdoor clear finish on it to save it from rotting.

But those chairs.
Everyone loved those chairs.

They were one of the easiest projects I've done to date.
Cheap chairs.
A little spray paint.
{Definitely recommend Rustoleum for this project}
And you have a satisfying, colorful backyard for cheap!

Laid this blanket out for the little ones to eat at.

 

I made it in college out of old men's suitcoats I found at Goodwill.

The Better Life Bag I'm working on today:

 The Cyndi

Basket Design {Painted Baskets with Kryon Dual Spray Paint}

I have a massive white wall in our living room/play room that desperately needed some art.

But, who has tons of money to spend on something large and extravagant?

Not me!

{nor do I really want to commit to something large, expensive, and extravagant}

You've seen me do it before {at a different house},

so I decided to bring it back in a whole new way.

I'm a little addicted to baskets.

I use them to organize EVERYTHING

and now I use them to decorate.

I got these baskets at the thrift store for about $1 each or less.

I was looking for ones of different sizes and different shapes that would make a nice mural on the wall.

Before I started spraying painting them with the NEW Krylon Dual Paint and Primer in ONE, I decided to try a lay out on the wall using wrapping paper.

I like doing this because I can easily see what the baskets will look like arranged up there without having to nail and re-nail as I rearrange!

This can be done for pictures frames as well!

1. Find some wrapping paper or butcher paper.

2. Place the baskets upside down and trace around them.

3. Cut them out and use tack or tape to arrange them in a pattern you like.

4. THEN once you like your pattern, nail a little nail into each wallpaper piece.

Tear the wallpaper pieces away and hang your baskets!

Easy and fool-proof.

Now it was time to spray paint with these new cans I was sent to try out.

5. I laid the baskets out smallest to largest upside down.

6. Painted the backs of the baskets in alternating spray paint colors.

7. When they were dry, I flipped them over and painted the front.

The Krylon Dual Spray Paint was really easy to use and gave great coverage.

And who doesn't love a 2-in-1 product {primer AND paint}?!

Can't go wrong there.

Even if you're not SURE you need primer... this can will take all the guess work out.

I've heard you can get it a Walmart now... and for about the same price as a regular can of Krylon.

Look at how much CUTER those plain, brown, boring baskets are!

Now, here comes the fun part.

{well, I suppose spray painting them was fun, but this is the truly rewarding part... and less sweaty.}

Putting them up!

Since I already had my nails in the wall {thanks to my pre-planning}, I just hung them up!

They took up a great amount of "white wall" like I was hoping.

A little addition of a wooden "S" makes it even cuter {stands for "Smith", of course}!

You're grabbing your keys to run out to the thrift store now, aren't you?

Just so you're prepared, here's a supply list:
Baskets
Wrapping paper
Pencil
Tape
Nails
Krylon Dual Spray Paint

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Krylon sent me the new Dual Paint to try out. Check out their latest promotion, The Dual Duel, where Krylon is looking to find The Ultimate Restorer. To win this title, enter your spray paint restoration project and encourage friends and family to vote for your project as their favorite for their chance to win too.

Izze Bottle Vase Tutorial... Reuse those bottles!

First of all, can I just say how much I love you {my lovely reader}!

Your comments on yesterday's post touched my heart.

You all felt so similar to me.

I wish we could sit together over a cup of coffee to share our hearts and struggles over this.

I suppose the forum of this blog will have to do... for now.

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Saturday in Hamtramck, MI was

"Clean Sweep Day"

Everyone in the city was outside cleaning up the streets.

It brought together so many different walks of life.

I love this city.

We moved here to make a difference and I really feel that we can and are.

{even in small ways}

It was a beautiful day to walk around the city.

Little Bug's gloves didn't fit.

I wish I had thought to bring mittens for him from winter.

This was the only piece of trash I let him pick up with his bare hands.

He spent most of the time here... leaning forward and begging to be let out.

She, of course, never even laid eyes on a piece of trash.

We can across so many empty glass bottles on our little clean up adventure.

I got inspired to share a little tutorial I've had up my sleeve.

Neil and I LOVE Izzes.

So I had a few of those glass bottles laying around the house.

They really are shaped perfectly for vases, so off the labels came.

I poured in a little of that colored rice I bragged about yesterday.

And topped them off with flower pinwheels from Target's Dollar section.

{don't you LOVE that place?!}



But I wasn't satisfied with how it looked.

So, I dumped out the rice, made a bunch of solid green colored rice, filled them up, and liked that look better.

{makes it look like my dollar section flowers are actually growing out of grass!}

 
But it was still missing something.

And it was my husband that came to the rescue.

"Why not use the twist off Izze lid as decoration?!"

he said.

Genius.

Here's how I spiffed them up!

Done!

Turns out it is a great baby entertainer, too!