I’ve been on a crafting and decorating kick over the last few weeks, sparked by lots of vacation time! First up was some much-needed wall art in my living room. I love pixel art (like or ) and wanted a low-cost piece in my living room. I wanted it to be easily editable, so the pixels had to be relatively temporary and easy to remove. I went to Home Depot and grabbed paint chips in about a dozen different colors, intentionally choosing only a few chips of accent colors and lots of chips of the main blues and greens. Some of the differences between the colors were minimal, which is what I was aiming for, and they look pretty cool in person. I used Blu-Tack to adhere them to the wall and applied five at a time with a level to make sure it was all lined up!
Next up was a tablecloth for my gargantuan table. I knew I wouldn’t be able to easily (and cheaply) find fabric that would span the width of the tablecloth, so I decided to choose two different fabrics – one for a built-in runner and one for each side. The tablecloth was 9′ x 5′. I purchased 6 yards of muslin for the sides and 1 yard of the runner fabric. I split the runner fabric into thirds so they’d run the length of the tablecloth and sewed the ends together. I appended 3 yards of muslin to each side of the runner, and voila! Gargantuan table cloth with a built-in runner.
I always keep a solid stock of candy and chocolate in my apartment. I’ve used a cookie jar for the chocolate for years, but I’ve never found a good way to keep the candy looking organized. I went with mason jars and removable/restickable chalkboard labels (though they’re really just there for decoration, you obviously know what Sour Patch Kids look like!).
For more mason jar fun, I decided to update my bathroom and replace the existing generic soap dispenser with a mason jar. This took more elbow grease than anything else. I purchased the dispenser parts at Bed, Bath and Beyond for $3.99 (I couldn’t find any at Home Depot and stores online were less than helpful, this definitely took a lot of hunting!). Drill a hole in the top of the jar with a pair of scissors – it’ll take a while to get the size right for the dispenser. The hole was just right so I didn’t need to glue the dispenser parts to the lid. I purchased a really pretty soap refill (ginger!) and that’s it!
In the future, I may paint the top of the mason jar – but though it’s not clear in the picture, there’s a small decoration on the top of the lid that matches the color of the dispenser. I liked it enough that I decided to leave it. I might also try this again with a blue ball jar or paint the inside of the jar so it looks more like milk glass.
Last but not least, I finally moved my desk into my bedroom. I have been aching for natural light while I work since I moved into this apartment, but my office has no windows. The office will be turned into a guest bedroom and better storage. I’ve been reluctant to keep my computer in the same place as I sleep (much like I don’t want to have a TV in my bedroom) but already I feel so much better while I work. The natural light makes SUCH a big difference!