Creative Juices Decor

What to do when your Christmas Present Breaks - the DIY way

I just love pretty breakable things and I just love my little 4 year old but the combination of the two don’t always bode well together……

I got this beautiful set of glittery red candle holders from a friend for Christmas. I still had them wrapped up in the box and my daughter decided to move the box off the table to, who knows where, and KABOOM!! The bottom of the box fell to the ground. (no, I did not take a picture of this……there is a time and a place for everything folks!) Smile

I – Couldn’t - Believe - It!

My new gift had all the stems broken and the only thing that kept the top together was that it was a broken mosaic in the first place!

~~I was super sweet and understanding~~ Angel

OK, I was VERY upset. My daughter said she was sorry and that I could just fix it with glue. That didn’t help me much at all. Baring teeth smile

My mother in law heard about the story and went out to buy me TWO more (the last two) that were left at the store (isn’t she sweet!!) She tried to have my daughter “buy” them from her (with a few bucks her daddy gave her) to replace the broken gift but when my Mother in Law showed my daughter the new holders she responded, Oh, mom already glued the old ones and they are good now!

That wasn’t the truth just yet…..although I did start to get creative and thought what odd and end piece do I have laying around that I could turn into candle holders.

I found an old decorative jar of pickled stuff (that was nearly impossible to get the veggies out of the jar!) and a candle holder I picked up for a buck at the thrift store)

I got out my trusty Oil Rubbed Bronze Rustoleum spray paint and painted everything to match. Next I broke off MORE of one of the stems and glued it on the top of the silver holder and the next I shoved in the bottle with glue of the old picked veggie jar.

VOILA – as good as new – right???!!!

At least a fun and creative solution:-)

I guess the moral of the story is that if you are a true DIYer you can never throw anything away…..you just have to figure out how to fix it again.

Oh, and it’s never worth getting mad over an accident Smile

I’m still learning…….

~ Creative Juices Decor ~

House Update– AMERICAN CLAY WALLS and Cabinets

As I’m writing this post I am dead tired and feel as if my arms might fall off.

For the last 12 days I have put in 75+ hours of applying American Clay to my home’s walls. It…..has……been…..insane.

The first day I worked on the house I was excited for about an hour and then I felt like bursting into tears realizing just HOW MUCH I had to get done! A true labor of love.

Two of those days I did have these beautiful ladies show up (one on Sunday and the other Monday) and help – it definitely made the day go by faster.

Don’t let the glamour make you think these two couldn’t work – they were awesome! I told one of them to come in her “grubbies” and she showed up in her PJ’s telling me they couldn’t think of what she could wear that would be classified as grubbies so she thought PJ’s would be the next best thing…..

I was just glad it was the weekend and not during the week when I’m sure all my rough and tough constructions workers would have enjoyed watching a cute little brown haired girl apply clay in her PJ’s!!!!

I on the other hand knew what true grubbies were and used them to the fullest! I was a complete MESS everyday.

I did hire a nice drywall friend to help when he could and my husband helped me on the weekend Smile

The walls though, (lets get back to the story!) look JUST how I had hoped. I love them……I’m sure I’ll just sit on my sofa and stare at the walls and smile….at least I better after all my HOURS of LABOR!

DURING: (each section HAND troweled on the walls)

And AFTER!!!!

Great Room Fireplace (mantle is not stained yet)

Master bedroom wall

Front Entry Half Wall

Arch Off of Kitchen

And for those that can see the dark wood behind that arch – YES, the doors and knotty alder cabinets just got installed!!!!! So exciting Smile

If you missed how I turned my front door into a Tuscan door you'll have to check it out!

Computer Desk and Wine Area (great combo, huh)

Pantry Door

I’ll brake this post down and show all you great DIYers just how I did it so that you can achieve this look in your own home. I ADORE American Clay and recommend it to anyone who loves beautiful, natural and textured walls! (They are completely “green” no VOC’s etc…..)

Hope you all had a GREAT Christmas! Till the next update!!!
~ Creative Juices Décor ~

It’s just so easy! Another thrift store lamp makeover

I’ll admit it, I think I have a problem. Every time I walk into a thrift store I see a million lamps that I want to take home and fix up. I should open my own lamp store at the rate I am going. I plan to give some of my fixed up lamps to my brother since he just bought a house. (I’m using that excuse so that it doesn’t look like I’m a hoarder.)

Anyway, I just want to show you how SIMPLE it is to turn an ugly lamp into a beauty. Tip number 1: NEVER judge a lamp by it’s color, just it’s shape. Here are two beauties I picked up.

FOR 4.00 EACH.

I also picked up these shades (they were pretty smudgy) for $2.00

YEP THAT IS $1.00 a piece!

All I did was take a metal primer and a fun textured paint , here is the simple process.

I even loved the lamps white! (that was the metal primer)

The lamp shades I spray painted a gold color. It worked better than I could have hoped for. It covered all the dirty smudges and went from a fairly stark linen white to a nice taupe. (Love it when things go my way!)