diy Spiral Staircase - Part 1:

This past Thursday I was headed to Home Depot to pick up some supplies for my stairs.  You have heard me say before how much I hate my current stairs!  I first tried to fix them up by painting the spindles...you can read about that here. 

So on Thursday, I was going to paint the steps with some Porch and Patio Floor Paint, and then put bead-board on the back of each step.  It was actually going to look pretty good...well,...good enough.

My Mom was with me, and she suggested that maybe we go look at Spiral Staircases instead.  

I have always wanted a spiral staircase!  I've even hinted around from time-to-time how "spiral staircases" would be a GREAT big 3-0 birthday present!  hee hee

We showed up to the Showroom, and boy!!!...did we get lucky!!!

They were soon going to be relocating their Store, and so they discounted their showroom pieces to 50% off!

To my surprise, my Mom handed me over her credit card!

Happy EARLY Birthday to ME!!!  =)

Since this was on a whim, we didn't really have time to plan out exactly what we were going to do with them.  

I actually helped the guy disassemble it, since he was the only one working that day.  My husband was able to show up a few hours later, and help load it  into his truck, and 5 hours later, we arrived back home!

We just so happened to be on Spring Break, so that very next day we began the installation process!

Funny thing is, I had JUST made a blog post about a little tweaking going on in my Living Room, where I had added a few more curtains...

...and just 2 day's later my Living Room looked like THIS!

From then on, we started running into problems...

After cutting into the ceiling and flooring, we ran into a bunch of wires on the one side of the hole, and a gas pipe right in the middle of the hole!

At this point, (if it were ME) I would have called it quits, given up, and waited until I had enough money saved up to hire someone to do it for me!  LOL

...but my Dad had a plan!!!

The wires were basically there to stay, but my Dad was able to cut the gas pipe (after turning off the gas), and plugging it back up!  That side of the gas pipe lead to the dryer, but since we have an electric dryer, we didn't really need the gas anyways.

...and at the end of Day 1, it looked like THIS!...

Day 2 looked a little like this...

I love this picture, because you can see the light that will now shine through from the 2nd floor window...

On this day we worked on installing the landing.  This thing weighed a TON, and I had to hold it up while my Dad bolted it in!  I was so worried my fingers were going to get smashed in between the landing and the floor!  Either that, or I was going to lose my balance, and fall through the hole!  Eeek!  Just thinking back to that moment makes my hands start sweating again!

By the end of Day 2, we also had the steps aligned, and the spindles on!

On Day 3 we worked on more of the framing, and finalizing the hole!

Since we didn't have time to work on the upstairs railing, we had to board up the hole so that no one would fall through!

Monday came along, which meant back to work...back to school!

The night before, we realized we weren't going to have enough railing for the layout of our hole design.

So I drove back down to the Iron Shop, and they loaded me up with more railing pieces.

I had to figure out the hole measurements on my own...and, while it was all covered up with boards!

I was quite proud of my drawing...

So I sent the picture to my Dad, and a few minutes later he sent me back this...

LOL  

The railing pieces we were given were just extra he had back in stock, so we were given those for FREE!

The problem with that was...we had to work with what we had...which proved to be a small challenge.

As you can see, until we get some more proper hardware, and my Dad gets creative with some welding, we had to tape up different sections.

I'm also ordering a Banister Guard made by KidKusion KidSafe to wrap around the spindles.  

So in the meantime, we have this all blocked off from the kids, but here's what it's looking like at the moment...

Tomorrow my husband & I will be working on the Handrail and the design that goes in between the railing spindles.

Be sure to check back!

There's a lot involved in this whole project!  Still LOTS to do!

~ Jenny xoxo

Curb-side Treasures & a little Tweaking...

Today when I was coming home from the park, I spotted some curb-side treasures!  ;-)

Check this out!

This was actually a dresser with a built in radio, record player, and speaker.

Everything was damaged, but the dresser part of it was beautiful, and definitely has potential!

Front:

Inside:

Back:

It took a little while to figure out how to disassemble everything...

I can't WAIT to show y'all the plans I have for this beauty!

Stay tuned! ;-)

Later on I got tired of starring at this back wall of windows...

I originally had 2 curtains up on the wall, but after living with it like that for a while, I finally decided that it needed more!

Before:

After:

What do you think?

~ Jenny xoxo

Chandelier upgrade...

After painting the Kitchen & Dining Room, the brass chandelier and maroon-colored shades had to go!!!

So the first thing on the agenda was to spray paint the chandelier! 

This is the Spray Paint I used...

Rust-oleum Universal Satin Paint & Primer In One

 

Neither one of us knows anything about electrical work, and that would include taking down a chandelier from the ceiling!

So for us, it was just easier to spray paint it while it was still hanging from the ceiling.  I would highly recommend taking it down though, and painting it in an open, well ventilated area...like maybe outside!

Also, the spray paint will settle to the ground, or on any surface.

In our case, we have tile, and all other surfaces are wipe-able.

For the main paint job, my husband stood on the opposite side of me holding a plastic tarp.  For the touch-up, I would do quick short sprays, and didn't need the tarp.

This is why I said it's better to do this outside!

This was just the FIRST pile of mess I swept up!

It took a few times of me mopping the floor to finally get all the black off!

The black paint turns into a dust once it settles.

But in the end, the clean-up really wasn't so bad.

Next step was to cover the maroon-colored shades...

I used Burlap Ribbon & the hot glue gun!  That's it!

TA DA!

An inexpensive upgrade to my chandelier!!!

Here's a picture with the lights off...

Thanks for looking!

~ Jenny xoxo

Up-Cycling a Glass Vase to a Table Lamp:

I am so excited to share with y'all this next project!

Oh. My. Goodness!

Seriously...y'all will be driving to a Goodwill Store ASAP when you see how cheap and easy this project can be...

...but yet...so rich and elegant!

Have you seen these?

They have some at Pottery Barn that range in price from $120 - $170!!!

Well, I'm going to show you how to make one for under $20.00 bucks!

((It may be more of less depending on your price for vase/lamp shade))

I found my glass vase from a Goodwill Store for $3.99.  You can also find lamp shades there as well, but I already had one on hand.

Supplies Needed:

(I bought my supplies from Lowes, so prices may vary)

- Gorilla Glue (dries white) $3.97

- Turn Knob Socket $4.28

- Lamp Cord $5.98

- 3 Washers $.14 cents each

First you're going to separate the socket, and drill a hole big enough to fit the cord through.  I used my electric drill and a drill bit...

For this next part, you can either read the included instructions.  Or if you're like me, and you're a very visual person and need pictures...proceed...

Separate the cord's two wires (it says with a razor blade or utility knife, but I just very carefully tore them apart.), and tie them into a Underwriter's Knot.
Hopefully you can kind of tell from the picture how to do so, if not...here's a great YouTube video tutorial I found...


How To Tie an Underwriter's Knot:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHRaRRWW34w

Next you need to strip the ends of the lamp cord just a smidge.

I read to use wire cutter/strippers (but I do not own those), instead I very carefully snipped away some of the installation with regular scissors.

Next step:  You will then need to unscrew the screws that are attached to the socket.  Wrap the wires around the screw, and then tighten back up.

Okay, on the instructions...it says the "neutral wire (ribbed) should be connected to the silver colored screw and the other wire should be connected to the brass colored screw on the socket"

So if you are clueless like ME...how are you supposed to know which wire is "neutral (ribbed)" ??!!

So I did my research (you're welcome), and here's one way of finding out...

"...connecting the hot wire to the hot terminal and the neutral wire to the neutral terminal.  The Hot Terminal will have a brass screw and the hot wire will be located on the side of the plug with the narrowest blade."

After the wires are wrapped, it'll look like this...

...and then just tighten the knot up a bit, and close it all back up...

A little side note:  Once I screwed on a bulb, and tried to plug it in the wall, it sparked!  After attempting this twice, I ended up taking this to Lowes to have it further inspected.  My socket ended up being defective, (which he said he's never seen a defective socket before!) but he said I did everything right.

Next Step:  I needed a flat base to be able to glue down to the vase.

I snipped off the bottom of the socket with some pliers, (or if you can find washers big enough to wrap around this piece, then you can skip this step)

Glue your 3 washers together with your Gorilla Glue, and glue down to the bottom of your vase...

Let this dry a little before adding your socket.

Once the washers have dried into place, glue the bottom of your socket to the washers.

Honestly, the washers are not really needed unless you find some big enough that wrap around the socket.  If you're going to end up snipping the end piece off anyways, then what really is the point in needing washers?

After gluing down the socket, stretch some tape across it to hold in place until it's dry.

Add your lamp shade and bulb, and there you have it!!!

This is now sitting in my Study. =)

I hope I didn't completely confuse y'all!  There are LOTS of websites and YouTube videos if you need help.  You can also get someone in Lighting at Lowes or Home Depot to help you.

Hope y'all have a blessed week!

~ Jenny xoxo

diy Chalkboards!!!!!!!!!!!!

My new favorite "must-have"...

Chalk Marker!!!

Seriously...I may never go back to box chalk again!

I used this on all of my chalkboards around the house...

Okay, Okay...I may have a small obsession with diy Chalkboards, but I promise my house doesn't look like I'm hoarding them!  Tee Hee

I only have 7...that's not too many, right?  ;-)

Alrighty, so here's a little tour of my display of Chalkboards...

Here's the Study...

Right outside the Study as you're walking to the Kitchen...

In the Kitchen...

Small Nook in the Dining Room...

...and out in the Living Room...

Thanks for looking!

~ Jenny xoxo