Tag Archives: basket

I’ve got the Pow-AH!

Posted in Decorating Fun by

Remember that part in the movie when Glinda the Good Witch tells Dorothy that she had the power all along?  Well, as suggested by the title of this post, I totally feel like that.   Reason? All of my bathroom tweaks this week were free.  Everything that I needed was already here, residing in our house this whole time.  I simply wasn’t utilizing them to their full potential.

Some of you may remember that my newfound wave of bathroom inspiration started with me tearing out our side-splash.   And now we’re moving on to the toilet area.   Last we looked, the area above the toilet looked like this…

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Don’t get me wrong… in my opinion, it was a vast improvement from the builder-basic-blank-slate it started from, but it still wasn’t quite there.   My favorite part of the room is definitely the red breadbox-turned-toilet-paper-storage (of which I still owe you a tutorial), but from this view it felt kind of like a random box screwed to the wall…

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It needed to be accessorized.  Grounded, if you will.  Obviously, I didn’t want to put anything on top since that’s how it opens…

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But, below was just screaming for some love. So, I went through my stash o’ stuff and came up with this basket….

The gold tone of the bamboo clashed with the rest of the room, so I gave it the ole’ oil-rubbed bronze spray paint treatment.

A few towels later and here we go….

You can see that I also changed out the artwork.  This is the Lerkil picture from Ikea.   I’d purchased it several months ago for a different project (which I hadn’t gotten around to), but thought I’d give it a try in this room.  It’s simple and graphic and most importantly, the right scale for the space.  It’s tall and slim and the thickness of the canvas (3 1/4″!) helps blend the depth of the breadbox so it doesn’t seem to protrude quite as oddly…


BAM! Breadbox is blended.

To me, it now looks like it belongs.   And as much as I liked the pop of green from the previous artwork, I’m really digging the more muted color scheme with simple pops of red and aqua.    I’ll admit… I’m considering repainting the room with a slightly brighter aqua paint, but I haven’t fully decided yet.   It needs to marinate a bit more in my head.

In any case, I’m really happy with the direction this room is going.  Especially since we started here…

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If you’re new and would like to catch up on the rest of our bathroom makeover, here are the links:

Anyways, I’ve got one more post in store for this week with yet another tweak.  So, come back and join the fun!  🙂

A basketcase! A basketcase, I tell ya!!

Posted in Arts and Crafts by

No, literally, a basket-case. It’s a suitcase that’s a basket. See???

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Obviously this pic was taken in No Mans Land.  Our resident dumping-ground.  Anyways, it’s Spring-cleaning time at Joey’s parents house and Mac no longer needed these suitcase baskets, so I was more than happy to take them off her hands. Woo-hoo for neat, free stuff!!

They’re casual but cool. And I like ’em. I thought they’d be a neat texture for under the sofa table. The only problem was that they were a lighter, more yellow tone than we currently have going at our house.  So, (cracks knuckles) I decided to change that. I picked up a can of this glorious stuff for 12 bucks at the store…

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Polyshades. A stained finish plus poly requiring only a light sanding to rough up the surface. NOT requiring that every trace of varnish be removed (And angels sang). Where were you, polyshades, when I was refinishing our eight dollar chairs? I definitely would’ve saved myself some grief if I’d known about this product then. For sure.

Anyways, the only parts of the basketcases with a glossy finish were the handles and trim, so I gave them a light sanding with 220 grit sandpaper. Then, I applied one coat with a brush…

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And the following day, I applied another…

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It’s hard to tell the difference in tone in these pics because of the lighting change (I applied the first coat in the evening and the second the following morning when it was light and bright with lots of shadows), but just trust me when I say that there was a significant increase in richness with the second coat.  Here’s what we started with for reference…

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…And dunzo. Shortest tutorial ever, eh? It was that easy. I definitely recommend applying this stuff outside as it’s pretty fumey, but aside from that I have no other notes. It was straight forward and easy to use. I let the basketcases sit outside for a good day and then brought them in and put them to work. And here they are in action….

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Their actual color is definitely closer to the farther pics… the close-up shot makes them appear way more yellow than they are in real life.  I have to say, I smile every time I see them.   They add some great natural texture to contrast the sleek metal-encased succulents. And I love that they aren’t just another basket. They have interest and detail. And the new rich tone goes SO much better with our coffee table and media cabinet. Plus, they provide additional storage!  Three cheers for that!! Now, if only the perfect chair for the head of our table would enter my life… Then, this area would be pretty complete (for now, anyways).