Hang and Enjoy!

I love some holiday decorations that can stay out longer than a month! This Burlap and Fabric Spring Wreath comes out just before St. Patrick’s Day and hangs around until April or May. With the natural texture of the burlap and the spring colors of green and white, it reminds me that longer days and vegetable gardens are just around the corner. Read on for directions on how to make your own burlap and fabric spring wreath.

First you need to collect some scrap burlap. I had mine left over from making my mother-in-law burlap cornices for her master bedroom. Cur the burlap into 2″ strips.

2″ Strips of Burlap

Next take a plain straw wreath with the plastic wrap still on.

Straw Wreath with Pastic Wrap Still On

Now start by glueing one end of the burlap strip to your wreath, and continuing to wrap around. Choose a “front” and a “back” side, and make sure all your strips start and stop on the “back”.

Continue Wrapping Burlap

Next choose some fabrics in coordinating colors to match your theme. I chose variations of white and green for a St. Patrick’s Day and general “Spring” look. I cut several strips about 1 1 /2″ wide of each of the fabrics.

Strips of Coordinating Fabrics

Then I used each strip to make a fabric rosette. If you don’t know the ever-important skill, check out this fabric flower tutorial.

Fabric Flowers Attached to Wreath

Then just attach the rosettes to your burlap wreath in a helter skelter manner using your hot glue gun…like this:

Attach Rosettes Randomly

Lastly I added a few strips of fabric as rings around the opposite part of the wreath. This just added a little more color and interest to the wreath. Kind of its masculine side Just tie a knot and cut off the tails as short as you can.

Tie the Fabric into Rings

This is what the finished product looked like.

Burlap and Fabric DIY Spring Wreath

Upcycled Brass 5 Arm Chandelier

 Let’s talk chandeliers. With all the DIYers out there, and designers not afraid to use a pop of color in any space, it’s not surprise we’re seeing more and more demand for painted chandeliers in our Etsy shop. I’ve had a ton of comments and messages over the year asking me where I find my brass chandeliers, either new or old, to give a facelift.

Painted Brass Chandelier in Green Apple

Well, there are all kinds of places to find old chandeliers with a ton of personality and charm. Just keep your eyes open, and up to the ceiling in many cases for vintage chandeliers at:

Thrift Shops
Habitat for Humanity ReStore
Flea Markets
Craigslist
Garage Sales
Sometimes Ebay (if you can find Free Shipping).

If you buy a standard brass chandeleir this way you can find great prices in the $5-$20+ range depending on the size and scale of the chandelier, and well, depending on how eager the former owner is to “de-brass” their ceiling lights.

In my Etsy shop I have chosen to pay more per chandelier and buy them new. There are a lot of reasons I do this.

Smaller Diva Pink Chandelier

1. I am not a licesenced electrician, and I often don’t know if there is a code problem or bad wiring in an old chandelier. New chandeliers come pre-wired, with safe and current building materials. That sure is great piece of mind to have, especially when hanging one of these fixtures in your home where the most important people in your life sleep at night.

2. I like to buy multiple chandeliers at once. When I find a good price it is not uncommon to see a semi-truck pull up outside of my suburban home and offload a dozen or more chandeliers at once. To find this many used chandeliers I would have to spend a lot of time and miles on the road visiting flea markets and other sales. Although I don’t mind flea market shopping, I just don’t want to depend on this for my source of fixtures.

3. FREE Shipping By the time you drive around and find even 1 perfect chandelier, you’ve probably upped the price if you were to include gas costs, and payment for your time. And since time is money around this shop – the ease of online ordering and free shipping can’t be beat.

So you may ask – What does a new brass chandelier cost?

Well, I’ve found them anywhere from $15 – $35 for a standard 5 or 6 arm brass chandelier. Here’s an example of some current offerings from Lighting Direct, a reliable source I have used many times.

Forte Lighting Brass Five Light Chandelier

This one is currently on sale for $33.65. Get 10% off with code “colorme10″ for a final price of $30.30 for this versatile lighting piece. Share the order with a friend, or order 2 for yourself and get FREE Shipping as well! Can’t beat that deal, all from the comfort of your home!

Forte Lighting  6 Light  Chandelier

This one is on sale for $36.23. Use code “colorme10″ to get 10% off, and you have yourself a brand new 6-light brass chandelier for $32.

Need somthing smaller for a powder room, bathroom, closet, or office? Check out this little gem. Slightly more expnsive, but still a great buy.

International Lighting Brass Five Light Chandelier

his one is on sale for $38.00 and with your 10% discount will be less than $35 all togehter.

Custom Lighting for Under $50

Purple Black and White Halloween Mantel

Who doesn’t love that magic month of October?! I surely do. Here in Alabama it’s already feeling just a little cooler in the evenings and morning, meaning three months of holidays are right around the corner! I’m flaunting a new black, purple, and white Halloween Mantel this year.

Some things are repurposed from my year-round mantel – like the chunky candlesticks and mini vases. Then I collected a shiny and purple items to accessorize.

Repurpsed Decor

Although, I gotta admit, it is hard for a skull to be scary when it sparkles.

Purple Sparkle Skull

I used my new Silhouette Came to cut out the sihouette halloween banners on black cardstock, put them over purple glittle cardstock, and attached them to some help cording I had left over from past projects. Gives a little more pizazz to the mantel.

Halloween Pennant Banner

While I was at it with the cameo I cut out some fun vinyl decals for around the house.

A spider web at the back window.

Halloween Window Spider Web

A crow on the side window…which took my boston terrier 3 days to quit staring at, ha!

Crow Silhouette in the Window

And a curious mouse on the baseboard.

Cuious Rat Silhouette

For my little living room gallery wall I added a spider hanging from a picture, and crow perched on top of another, and the little rats down below. Super easy way to add some Halloween flair to your existing decorations without much work at all.

Vinyl Wall Decals from Silhouette Cameo

And last I have a buffet by the front entry with a few more random Halloween decorations in black, purple, and silver. The spider web runner was a find from HomeGoods. Love how Halloween effortlessly works with my modern black and white home!

Halloween Buffet Decorations

These little owls have so much personality.

Halloween Owls

And of course some easy chalkboard pumpkins I whipped up last year. Just take a regular ol’ orange pumpkin and prime it gray, then top with spray chalkboard paint. Kids love to play with these too! Just hand ‘em a piece of chalk and let them create their own custom jack o’lantern.

Chalkboard Pumpkins

Hopefully your family is starting to get into the holiday spirit too!!

In the meantime, I just wanted to share this inspiring post with ya’ll. It is the Top 15 Happily Ever Afters, a fabulous collection of fun and funky furniture that got a little DIY ticket to a new life.

Here are a few of my favorite pieces from the remodel list:

I love this redo!  Nothing brings a restored piece from old and classic to new and modern like a fresh coat of red laquer paint.  I wouldn’t mind dropping my keys on this guy when I came home every day.  Not to mention the fun geometiric print painted on the wall now.  What a difference it makes in the before and after pictures! See the full post here.

I’m pretty excited about this next project too. Lamps, espeically designer ones can be so dang expensive. Every once in a while you’ll get lucky and find a piece with good bones at HomeGoods or some place similarly affordable, but more often than not you’ll have to take it to the next level to get a funky piece for cheap. This DIY Vase Turned Lamp project is one I plan to take on this month!  (Now I’ve said it so I have to do it )  Get a good laugh to as you read about UsedEverywhere’s adventures with electricity.

Want to buy a lamp like this without all of the DIYing and Base hunting?  Lamps Plus has them in EVERY color of the rainbow for $169.

And lastly this fabulous kelly green table makeover. Do we see a trend in fun funky accent furniture around the house? I think so! See the full tutorial here. I love all the classic whites, crystal, and wood used around this colorful piece.  Provides a nice balance between over the top color and the more traditional.

So how did I come across such a colorful collection of furniture redo’s? Well it just so happens that my Chevron Chair project made the list of funky re-do’s.   Don’t forget to check out that tutorial too if you haven’t already!

There are more tutorials worth checking out in the Top 15 Happily Ever Afters, so get on over there to see the full list!

x1024.jpg” alt=”Boy’s Nursery” width=”320″ height=”390″ /> Here’s just a few nurseries I’ve done corncies for lately. This first one belongs to Ginnie, who contacted me for a cornice to finish off her funky nursery. I love that Ginnie wasn’t afraid to use a little color in her space and really go for a fun, inspired space.  Thank you, Ginnie!  It was a pleasure working with you!

The funky fabric featured on the cornice is this space is Michael Miller Lagoon Ring Dot Turquoise, available from fabric.com.

This next client contacted me about doing some nursery accessories in a combination of yellow, gray, and white fabric. Remember I did a post on rugs for this colorway recently?  Well I was tickled to get to do the project with her. The pairing of vintage style art and sconces and the modern color combo really sets this space apart.  Great job, Erinn Nick on your modern vintage nursery, thank you for letting me be a part it!

The inspired fabrics for the yellow, grey, and white bedroom are by Joel Dewberry’s designs for the Aviary 2 Line.

                                  
Aviary 2 Scrollwork Granite                      Aviary 2 Damask Granite

                                   
Aviary 2 Lattice Vintage Yellow             Aviary 2 Bloom Granite

And the paint color in case you are wondering is Cathedral Grey by Behr.

Rich Text Area Toolbar Bold (Ctrl + B) Italic (Ctrl + I) Strikethrough (Alt + Shift + D) Unordered list (Alt + Shift + U) Ordered list (Alt + Shift + O) Blockquote (Alt + Shift + Q) Align Left (Alt + Shift + L) Align Center (Alt + Shift + C) Align Right (Alt + Shift + R) Insert/edit link (Alt + Shift + A) Unlink (Alt + Shift + S) Insert More Tag (Alt + Shift + T) Toggle spellchecker (Alt + Shift + N) ▼ Toggle fullscreen mode (Alt + Shift + G) Show/Hide Kitchen Sink (Alt + Shift + Z) Format – Paragraph Paragraph ▼ Underline Align Full (Alt + Shift + J) Select text color ▼ Paste as Plain Text Paste from Word Remove formatting Insert custom character Outdent Indent Undo (Ctrl + Z) Redo (Ctrl + Y) Help (Alt + Shift + H) Here’s just a few nurseries I’ve done corncies for lately. This first one belongs to Ginnie, who contacted me for a cornice to finish off her funky nursery. I love that Ginnie wasn’t afraid to use a little color in her space and really go for a fun, inspired space.  Thank you, Ginnie!  It was a pleasure working with you! The funky fabric featured on the cornice is this space is Michael Miller Lagoon Ring Dot Turquoise , available from fabric.com.       This next client contacted me about doing some nursery accessories in a combination of yellow, gray, and white fabric. Remember I did a post on rugs for this colorway recently?  Well I was tickled to get to do the project with her. The pairing of vintage style art and sconces and the modern color combo really sets this space apart.  Great job, Erinn Nick on your modern vintage nursery, thank you for letting me be a part it!   The inspired fabrics for the yellow, grey, and white bedroom are by Joel Dewberry’s designs for the Aviary 2 Line.                                    Aviary 2 Scrollwork Granite                       Aviary 2 Damask Granite                                     Aviary 2 Lattice Vintage Yellow              Aviary 2 Bloom Granite And the paint color in case you are wondering is Cathedral Grey by Behr. Path : p  » a  » img. wp-image-1328 alignleft

Of course I just have one little piece in this room. My magnetic chalkboard in Diva Pink. For a full tutorial on how to make your own, check this tutorial.

Enjoy a few more photos from Melissa’s inspired pink, green and white bedroom!

And one sneak peek of a FUNKY dining room she did for another client. You’ll have to hop over to Melissa Lane Interior’s Blog to see more fabulous design and party ideas. Thank you Melissa for letting me feature you space over here at Simply Salvage!

***WINNER – Cindy Mansfield****

Tired of the same ol’ boring art and commercial prints available for your wall?  Create your own art with family photos, Facebook pictures, Instagram shots, well, just about anything!

Hello Gorgeous

I love anything with a modern vintage feel, and I think this chandy fits the bill. It’s pretty simple, a black wire outside with a single white glass textured globe on the inside, but I love it. I found this little gem for $60 on our Valentine’s Day getaway to the Georgia mountains. (Yes I drag my sweet husband flea market shopping every time we travel)….keep on reading for the before and after shots, and how we transformed this vintage swag light into a funky chandelier.

Here’s what our kitchen looked like before with the boring builder’s flat light fixture in place. Not too inspiring, is it.

Before - Builder's Light

It was kind of falling down itself, and if you looked really close you could see the ugly yellow insulation hanging out.

Sad Old Fixture

So I begged Mr. Salvage to pull down the old one and install the new one ASAP. He removed the outer globe, then the light bulbs, then pulled the whole fixture down by loosening just one nut.

Mr. Salvage Working Hard

The new fixture was originally wired to be a swag style, plug in fixture. We just chopped off the extra cord including the plug, added a basic copper ground wire, and painted the old bronze chain black to match the bowl. I found a brass canopy kit at Home Depot on clearance for $2.50 and painted that black as well…easy peasy.

Modern Vintage Chandelier

I love how it dressed up the space! What do you think?

Before and After Kitchen Lighting

I’m partying at: