Mini DIYs: Toy Animal Hooks and Agate Drawer Pulls (and a Give Away!!)

Have you guys heard of Sugru before? It is a moldable glue that sticks to pretty much anything and cures just by exposing it to the air! It's as easy to use as playdough or air-dry clay before it curies, and turns into flexible rubber overnight.

It's a DIYer's dream because you can fix, make or improve basically anything with Sugru. They have just launched two new kits that make home hacks easy and fun. The Sugru Starter Kit comes with a mini-booklet of ten cool home hacks, along with five packs of Sugru in a cute little tin. (a cute gift idea!)

The Sugru Kit Guide, comes with five packs of Sugru, the same mini-booklet and tin, plus all the accessories you need to complete the ten hacks!

I tried a few of the projects from their guide around our house over the weekend. I made some little hooks for Evie's room using Sugru to attach plastic toy animals to the side of her bookshelf.

It's so easy to do - you just put a good-sized ball of Sugru on the toy animal feet and press them firmly on to the surface you want to attach them, and then just tape the toy in place on the wall while the Sugru cures overnight. 

Super cute, right? Evie was ALL about them!

I loved this idea from the Kit to make hooks with Sugru in my kitchen by my range to hold my phone so I can listen to music or podcasts and reference online recipes while I cook without getting my phone dirty. Sugru bonds great to brick and ceramics, so you won't need a drill!

I love that you can repair broken low-voltage USB charger cords (under 24 volts) with Sugru! We had quite a few of these that needed to be fixed. :) 

You can do it a little thinner than I did, but I liked the idea of building in a little handle to pull making it easier to use.

Probably my favorite Sugru project that we tried was making these one-of-a-kind pulls using screws and agate slices.

The trick is to find screws with a flat top and a nut for tightening on the back of your drawer and use Sugru to attach them to the agate slices. Sugru is great for sticking to awkward surfaces, like these super glossy pieces of polished stone!

Claire was really loving these pulls so I'm thinking these new pulls might have to make their way to her nightstands! 

There are a million ways to use this cool product! And great news - Sugru is giving away Sugru Kits to four readers today! And one of those winners will also get a $100 Amazon voucher. Just check out the Sugru site and pick your favorite project and leave a comment here. (Open to readers world-wide!). The winners will emailed next week. Good luck!

And thank you to Sugru for sponsoring this post!

Photo Ledges and Never Ending Love for Martha

It was Michael's birthday this last weekend. He loves books more than just about anything (evidence), so we squeezed in a few stops to his favorite antique and used books stores as part of his b-day celebration. 

I know. We're party animals, what can I say? 

While he was browsing the smarty pants sections, I found some cool, new-to-me art and design books. (I'm excited to share some of them with you in a couple of Book Club posts!) One of my favorite finds was a set of three books from Martha Stewart. They were published in the 90s (almost 20 years ago!!), but they feel incredibly fresh to me. I had to scan in this page to share with you. Girlfriend was DIYing picture ledges while I was still in high school.

I've been wanting to make a similar photo ledge wall in our house. We've been here for a few years now, and I'm ready to switch some things up a little, including taking down the gallery wall. I love having a place to share my favorite art finds, but I'm craving something more personal in here. I would love to print out and frame more family photos - mostly just candid shots.

We did something like this in my mom's formal living room. We printed out old wedding portraits of our family members and baby pictures of the grandkids. And then we used two rows of two IKEA picture ledges and just caulked the seam in the middle.

I'd love to figure out a great low bookshelf or long wall-mounted credenza for underneath the ledges that I'm hoping to make for my living room. I moved the formerly red (also formerly white) and now pale mint credenza up to the studio, and I am missing having a big anchor piece in the room. I'll have to figure something out there. I also bought a new rug that arrives this week and I'm going to paint our coffee table and do a few other quick-fixes. I'm most excited about this picture ledge project though! These are a few of my inspiration images:

Can you even believe that Martha image though? There are so many goodies in that book series that I'd never seen before!

Why Don't You... Gold Leaf All The Things.

I am as crazy as ever over gold leaf! I know it can feel like an intimidating project, but metallic leaf is actually a breeze to use! I've got a good little stockpile of different colors and kinds put aside and I'm itching to tackle a couple of the projects I've seen floating around the web (elaborate list below!).

There area some pretty cool gift ideas in the mix here. Or if you're like me and you get a little bored/stir crazy during the week between Christmas and New Years, there are some fun home project ideas here too. Most of these use leaf (which I think always ends up giving the best result), but there's also a little spray paint, leaf pen and Rub N Buff thrown in the mix here.

1) These gilded gift boxes from You Are My Fave are beautiful! She bought the wooden boxes at Michaels for only a dollar! Cheap and chic.

2) Dying over how expensive and legit this abstract gold stripey faux wallpaper looks from Patchwork and Co.

3) Jordan and her team always share the coolest project ideas, including this iPhone case DIY (from Oh Happy Day).

4) I love this twist on the painted-out vintage globe idea! From Love and Renovations.

5) This one's not a tutorial, but I think it would be easy to DIY something inspired by this Natural Curiosities art piece!

6) What's the surest way to make me love something lucite even more? Add a little gold leaf edging! From A Bubbly Life.

7) I want to make a whole wall of these leafed clipboards to help us stay organized. From My Fabuless Life.

8) Continuing on with the office supply theme, I'm LOVING this mouse pad tutorial from Lovely Indeed! Another great gift idea.

9) This one is FOR SURE happening at my house. I mean, wow!! Again, no tutorial, just pure inspiration here. I can't wait to find a beat up Eames shell chair on Craigslist and go to town!

10) This Hicks knock-off wall is an oldie, but such a goodie. I would love to recreate this in my girls bathroom. From Almost 40 year old Intern.

11) This little plate DIY would make an awesome present add-on. Who wouldn't want a pretty piece of jewelry and a really cool catch-all to hold it? From Homey Oh My.

12) Again, no tutorial, but this image from designer Stephen Knollenberg is a favorite. It seems like the beautiful art could be recreated on a big piece of watercolor paper? I love all the white space.

13) I love these high gloss gold terra-cotta pots! It seems like a little gold spray paint and a lot of spray lacquer could recreate the look?

14) I've seen a couple tutorial for gold leaf laurel crowns where you just spray paint real leaves and it looked really great! This door wreath is a similar idea and I wish I would have seen it before decorating for Christmas this year! Next year, I guess.

15) This gold leaf table lamp is completely amazing. I know IKEA used to sell a floor lamp (maybe a table version too?) in a really similar shape. I'd love to try and recreate this look!

16) How cool are these planters? I'm definitely wanting a version of the one on the right especially. I love the pink color too. From Hunt and Bow.

17) I'm crazy over the unexpected, artistic finish on this console! What a cool statement piece for an entry!

18) This pretty brushstroke balloon DIY was this inspiration for tomorrow's project that I'm excited to share! 

Alright friends, what great gold projects am I leaving out? Have you tackled anything you're extra proud of? I'd love to see it!

Kilim Rug Upholstered Furniture

Ever since this project that I did for Domino, I've been obsessed with upholstering furniture with flat woven rugs.

It's surprisingly easy to work with the thicker material (especially if you have this amazing staple gun) and it just looks so unique. Not to mention it is super hard-wearing and stain-resistant!

I'm in the middle of two different rug upholstery projects that I'm excited to share with you soon. I'm hoping to start a third rug upholstery project right away too, since hunching over is getting more and more tricky these days! I just need to find a good (and cheap) kilim to use. I found this curvy headboard for almost nothing at a junk store here locally and I think it would look so great in a pastel, washed out stripey kilim for one of the girls rooms. I'm thinking white linen for the welting.

When I first stumbled on the headboard, I thought of this super-cool ikat version that Amanda Nesbit used in this House Beautiful room makeover:

It's not quite the same as mine - but I like the concept of a really interesting ethic textile on the upholstery paired with pretty, simple bedding.

I'm sort of thinking of more of a stripe at this point for our curvy headboard, sort of like this one:

Costas Picadas

I've got some ideas up my sleeve, but in the meantime, here are some of my favorite inspiration images for kilim-upholstered furniture pieces.

source

Wisteria  //  Safavieh  //  Anthropologie

Barrington Blue

Fab.com  //  Andrew Martin

West Elm

Barrington Blue

Have you ever used a rug to upholster a bench or a chair? I'm thinking I have my work cut out for me with the curves of that headboard. It might end up being a job for my upholsterer, but I'm willing to try first. He gives me a deal when I've stripped off the old fabric for him anyway. :)

(PS I wish Wisteria still made that black and white settee. It was so pretty!!)