WOW, IT'S BEEN A WHILE, BUT I'M BACK!

OMG, it has been a while.  I remember always being told to not start a blog if you don't plan on posting regularly, but hey, life happens sometimes.

I am so happy to have recently opened my own alteration shop in Toronto!  Avenue Rd. and Wilson.
called Styles by Samuele.

Let me take you in, and have a look.
       
This is my spring display.

My Change Room.  This is a floating change room made by none other than moi....
Fabric on the outside and the walls inside are also fabric.  Constructed of small one
inch posts.

This is from the inside of the shop before I opened.  I have an old sewing machine, that
still works in the front window.

My little sitting area.

SO SIMPLE, DIY SUBWAY ART WITH TUTORIAL

I am so excited to share this art with you!  I have wanted to do this for so long.
I love this type of art!

I see them everywhere, and you can write anything that you like.

There are many ways that you can make this type of artwork.  I have seen them done by creating it on the computer and printing it out.  Stenciling it.  Free hand.  So many ways.

Of course, I chose the most time consuming one......lol
But so worth it, I think.

Take a look, and try one out.  You will love it.

My Kitchen

It goes perfectly in the corner of my kitchen.

These are subway stops in the city.

HERE IS HOW TO DO IT.

Get yourself a board the size that you want the art to be.  I had this 1/8inch board on hand and thought I would use this.  My board size is approx. 36 inches by 14 inches.   I used black acrylic paint.  One coat was enough for my board. 

I picked a font and a font size that I liked and printed the letters on plain old white paper.

Cut out all my letters that I needed.

Decide on spacing and measure and mark where you want to place the letters.
I used scotch tape to mark my line.  I did not want to mark the black paint.

I traced the letters on blank paper, and started cutting my little heart out. 

A lot of cutting!  But think of it as relaxing, and mindless.....lol

Podged the letters on.  I tried to evenly space them as best I could.  Continued on, and voila!  Done.
When I completed the whole thing, I put a layer of podge all over to seal it.  I used a matte finish.

My board is so thin that I could not screw in any hooks to hang it.  So I decided to put in these screws and I screwed it right to the wall.  I was going to paint them black to blend in with the background, but I think they look pretty cool the way they are.  So I left them.

So what do you guys think?

This post linked up to 

http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/2012/09/transformation-thursday-no-168.html

http://intheoldroad.blogspot.ca/

BEDROOM MAKEOVER, WITH MANY DIY PROJECTS

I have finally finished my bedroom makeover!  Take a look.

My vintage table turned bench.  What do you think?  How did it turn out?

I reupholstered this classic chair.  Gave it a funky fabric.

I love to display pictures in different ways.  These are on the floor.  Who said pictures need to be on walls.

I am so super excited with my new wall decor.  Can anyone guess what that is on the wall?

A closer view.

Inside I decided to purchase some inexpensive mirrored picture frames from the dollar store, and added some colour in it.  That is a sheet of paper from Michael's that is used for scrapbooking.  I love the pop of colour that it provides for my bedroom.

The LOVE wall decor was a DIY podge project.  Four pieces of wood, painted them white, and printed some letters from the computer, and put them on.  Easy peasy.

Here is my rug.  The rug that I wanted was way too expensive.  So I got myself some very luxurious......
faux fur....lol.  I folded and stitched the edges by hand.  No sewing machine necessary.

I didn't want to take a flip on it, so I added a strip of non skid material all the way around.

My ensuite bathroom in the background.

This is my padded headboard that I created a number of years ago.  They are six separate panels, and they are held together with wood straps in the back, and hung on the wall.

DIYed the curtain panels with tabs on the top, from a veleveteen type fabric.

This pillow is pure luxury, so no one can use it.....lol  It is made from an old mink stole which I turned into a really nice pillow, but NO ONE, can use it.

Yup, fake flowers....

No my bathroom ensuite is not blue.  There is a skylight in it, and I guess the flash from my camera and the skylight created a blue hue.

My fab. wasili chair.

Ok, now I will tell you what that decor on the wall really is.
Here is a picture.

It is my rubber door mat!

  I really wanted to put some ceiling medallions on the wall, but I needed a lot of them, and it would have cost me way too much.  I had just been to the Home Depot, and saw a medallion that had a design that looked just like my door mat.  When I got home and stepped on it, I thought, hey I am going to use this.


I cut the center piece out, which gave me two pieces to work with.

I primed and painted it white, and was ready to hang.

These are the frames that I bought.  Two dollars each at the dollar store.

My sheet of paper.  They have so many different patterns and colours, that you can decorate for very little.
I picked a very rich deep red print of roses.  Very sexy and romantic.

Here they are ready to be hung.

This post has been linked to

    ;

http://www.homemadeginger.com/p/about-me.html

http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/2012/08/transformation-thursday-no-167.html

http://intheoldroad.blogspot.ca/

http://homestoriesatoz.com/tutorials/tutorials-tips-link-party-82.html

MY VINTAGE TABLE MAKEOVER

I am in the process of updating my bedroom, and was thinking of putting a bench at the foot of the bed.  Oh, I have seen them at the high end stores anywhere from $1000 to $2000, but who wants to spend that kind of money?  Nope, not me.  I found this amazing coffee table at the vintage shop, that was just wanting to come home with me. 

Here it is looking like it had better days.....lol

First, I removed the legs, and sanded.  I really hate doing this, because I need to get to the fun part.....lol  A very important step in doing a good job.

I also sanded the sides of the table, as that is the only section that I will be painting.

Used an all purpose primer for the legs and the sides of the table.

                                 All done!

I used a spray adhesive to hold down the foam that I am going to put on the table.

I used a one inch foam for the top.

I added batting to the top of the foam so you can get a really nice smooth curved edge.

 Wrapped my fabric, and used my staple gun to adhere it.

For the corners, which is an area that has excess fabric, I gathered it and stapled it, making it look as neat as possible, and putting in as many staples as you need to.
Cut the fabric close to the stapled edge.  You can add some cord to the underneath, to give you a nice finished edge, though you will not be seeing this anyway.  

 Here it is, all done!  The top part anyway. 

Check back, and I am hoping to get this baby into my bedroom by the end of the week.

I have created a rug from faux fur....and some wall decorations that y'all will be laughing when I tell you what I used.  Promise, you will laugh, or think I have completely lost my marbles.....yup that's me, kooky.