House Beautiful

Archive for the 'DIY' Category

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Big Tacky Plastic Clam Shell Re-Do: VOILA!

Published on January 30, 2012 in Before and After, Decor, DIY and Goodwill Hunting. 5 Comments

Purchased: January 2012

Where: Goodwill Store in Santa Monica

Price: $3

Size: 18″ x 12″

Thoughts: Why would anyone pay any kind of cheddar for a large, plastic, found-in-a-Big Lots-in-Naples-lookin’ clam shell?  Well, I’d been eyeing giant clam shells for quite some time to use as a lovely, natural accent piece in our apartment.  This summer I even participated in an epic, Saving Private Ryan-esque, hour-long haggle fest with some poor vendor at the Pasadena Flea Market.  He wanted $75 for a shell; I acted all hard, then pouted, then melodramatically stomped off, sulking to my visiting mom.  I guess these things are really, really rare (the clam shells… not my tantrums), so you’ve either got to fork over major dough for the real thing, or pay a good amount for a fake version like this one from Z Gallerie.  No thanks to both.

So this DIY was the easiest I’ve ever finished. First, I took it out back like Old Yeller and spray painted it white.  I made sure to leave the tiniest bit of the original blue color to seep through, giving it a slightly more bit of depth:

Then I went to town and filled it with darling little succulents just purchased at Home Depot.  PS, they’ve got some great cacti/succulents for those with a history of killing off regular plants.  Anywho, so I filled the shell, and…

VOILA!

My formerly cheap-a@@ looking tchotchke became a pretty miniature succulent garden that’s provided a nice organic touch to our place.  I love it.  And if I defy the odds and am the .001% of the population to kill the succulents, I’ll probably end up using it as either a magazine holder…

(via)

Or as a fruit basket on my kitchen table, to hold my new obsession, clementines:

(via)

The moral of the story?  As Steph’s pointed out a ton in her Goodwill Hunting posts, you gotta look in the most unexpected places for little gems to emerge.   Go to your Goodwills, go to rummage sales, go to Salvation Armys.  Put on your No Excuses overalls and slap some paint, some new knobs, or some new fabric on your find and there you go: a little dime piece that cost you a fraction of the fancier newer pieces out there in stores!

Jam out with your clams out, people.

Yours truly,

5 Comments

I Cheated.

Published on June 21, 2011 in Decor and DIY. 2 Comments

…cuz this photo, which has been a forever favorite of mine, is no where to be found for purchase.  I just SEE it and instantly feel calm, cool, and hear nothing but (you know – that noise you hear when you swim underwater).  Extinct or not, some version of this photo really needed to live somewhere in my apartment.  So I grabbed a canvas, some oil paint that I mixed up in an egg carton, a little paintbrush, and a 6-pack of Sam Adams, and took a stab at it.  Here’s how it went down (please forgive the fuzzy iPhone shots)…

THE SKETCH:

THE WATER:

Trying to make the reflections look realistic DIDN’T really shake out for me.  But I DID have a great time finger painting all the pretty shades of aqua.

THE SKIN PART:

The shadowing effect (see britches and wedgie) was a happy accident that occurred when I smeared the lead lines from the pencil into the wet paint.  And, whoops.  The poor girl’s feet look like flippers.

WHERE IT LANDED:

…on a blank, formerly dismal wall that is the 1st thing you see when you come into our apartment.  The little ditty isn’t perfect, but it was fun for my first painting stint since the 7th grade, and now I can’t wait to take a stab at it again.

Note:  Wait till paints and canvases go on sale at Michael’s (which is often…  I swear they’re on sale every time I walk in there).  They’re liberal with discounting and usually do about 30-40% off.  Also – don’t forget what you learned in 3rd grade!  If you have the primary colors (red, yellow & blue) and black and white, you can mix and get just about any color of the rainbow.  (I had a little trouble getting wacky colors like fuchsia and teal, so I sprang for those…  is it sprang or sprung?)

xoxo!

2 Comments