Bottle Brainstorm

Let me start by declaring, I am not a hoarder.  However - I have spied these bottles in my recycle bin lately, and can't stop thinking about them.  Ok, maybe that is a little hoarder-ish... but sometimes I see a bottle, or other everyday object, and it sticks in my head.  I think "there must be a way to re-use that!".  So, the bottle is from a coffee called "Chameleon" or something, and a friend of mine drinks a lot of them.  So many, that any given week I can count on a good 5 or 6 in our recycle bin.  Here's what caught my eye and sparked my interest:

That shape! It's so cute. It reminds me of the stubby little Red Stripe bottles, except these are clear. And don't immediately remind you of beer.  Much better!  Plus the label was a piece of cake to get off of it, which is another huge consideration when you're hoarding re-using bottles.  Nothing kills the fun like breaking out the acetone and scrubbing off bottle ink...

Now I need ideas! This is where you come in - what would you do with these? I mean, vase of course is the obvious one.. but I have so many at my disposal (no pun intended!) that I could really use a wide variety of ideas.  The first thing that comes to mind is the color dip look, which I love & see all around lately.  Stools, chopsticks, bottles... I love that the line isn't perfect, hence the dip. Plus I want to try dipping & then placing them upside down, for a sweet drip effect.  Example:

I'll have to play with dipping regular paint vs. chalk paint, the chalk paint sounds good since it sticks to everything.  The photo above is from the site, Mums Business, which has quite a few dipping tricks and ideas.

Do you have any bottles that you can't seem to throw out? What ideas do you have for re-using these beauties? Have a fantastic Thursday everyone!

P.S. - Yes, that was totally the new IKEA catalog in that shot up there, it finally came! I must be the last one to get it....

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And the winner is.....

Amanda C.! Congratulations to Amanda, she won the prize in my first giveaway, the cane back earring rack! I can't wait to see how she likes it.  I had a lot of fun with this giveaway, so keep an eye out - I am planning more!

 
Just so everyone knows, the winner was picked at random using random.org. Amanda:  I'll be emailing you, but if you don't hear from me or if it hops into your spam folder, please get in touch with me here so I can ship you your prize!

Keep in touch: Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter & Email.

Giveaway Closing Soon!

It's the LAST day for the giveaway, it will be closing tonight at midnight (EST) and I'll be picking a winner in the morning! Exciting! If you haven't entered yet, you can do it in the widget below.  Be sure to share with friends!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
In other news...

How To: Paper Dot Mobile

Mobiles are traditionally popular over cribs & in childrens rooms, but I have always thought they are so colorful and fun that they can (and should) be used anywhere in the house.  I love that they gently and quietly move in the breeze of the room.  I stumbled across a super cute paper mobile tutorial, and it inspired me to round up a few fun ideas & share them all with you. Whether over a crib or over a desk, these easy DIY mobiles bring a little fun wherever you need it:

Photo Credit: SmallShopStudio

Spotlight: Painters Tape Contest Finalists

Have you been following it?  If you're a reader of Design*Sponge, you've probably heard of the recent Painters Tape Contest.  What a clever idea, and I heard that they had so many entries.  Finally, the top 20 contestants came in, and they posted them recently. I can't even imagine having to choose, there were probably so many great ideas!  Here are my favorites:

Even of the four I'm showing you here, my absolute favorite is the white geometric wall.  I'm obsessed with that same pattern lately! Remember the canvas tutorial last week? Yep. I love it.  That ceramic pot is also amazing.  Look at that wall too! The deep blue alone was gorgeous, and the striking white shreds look so interesting.  Everything in that room, actually!

To see all 20 finalists, head to the fantastic Design Sponge:

Group 1

&

Group 2 

Speaking of contests... don't miss my first giveaway! Still time to enter, closes next Wednesday! a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway: Cane Back Earring Rack

Good Morning! So, this has been in the works for a bit, and I'm excited to announce it's ready. Just a little something to say thank you to all you lovely readers, contributors and newcomers. It's been, what, two years that I've been doing this now? Time flies!  I've wanted to do one of these for so long, and finally - here we are! So the prize for my first (of hopefully many!) giveaway is this upcycled earring rack:

What do you think? I had an adorable cane back chair, but it had one too many wobbles.  So I tore it apart, salvaged the pieces, and threw my thinking cap on. That was it, earring rack! What a perfect way to organize all your jewelry, right where you can see them.  Hand painted in Cozumel, Gold edges, distressed & lightly stained.  Sealed with a high gloss poly.  And, for those of you who don't wear earrings, this would make a great gift too! Entry is extrememlly easy, thanks to the awesome host Rafflecopter:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
So, big big thanks everyone for being such long time readers, and a big welcome to all our newbies!  I'll notify the winner next week, and get this shipped out right away. Anyone can enter, so why not share with your friends & family? Good luck everyone!

Spotlight: Vinyl Designs

Lately I've been thinking more and more how I'd like to get my hands on some vinyl cut designs to incorporate some reverse stencil images.  Essentially you lay a gorgeous vinyl sticker down, paint, and remove.  The look is amazing, but I don't have an vinyl cutter (yet!).  So after some googlin' I found these beauties:

Pinterest Picks: Back to School

For many families across the country, the school bells have gone a ringing.. the kids are back to school! It's a bittersweet time, sad that summer is ending - while a little glad the kids are back in class most of the day! Terrible I know.. with school starting up though it's the perfect time to completely reorganize and revamp the paperwork side of our homes.  Even if you aren't in school, having a desk or a set area to organize bills, files, mail and the like will keep things from taking over the rest of your house.  Admit it, we've all had that huge pile of papers at the unused end of a dining table.... I cannot be the only one. So, for today's Pinterest Picks we're going to scour ye olde pinterest for some new & clever ways to stash a desk in your house, where it won't take over your life.  As usual, remember that the following pictures are click-able to pin-able. First up, this petite floating desk:

Source: pinterest.com via Jesse on Pinterest

We're Under Attack!

Attack of the spammers - wow! In the past few days I have had at least 50 comments published throughout the blog, that luckily google has recognized as spam - BUT not before notice of that post was sent to all of us!

If you've been receiving a million comment notifications, I'm sorry!  I got them too (a full inbox!?).  Rest assured though, I will be activating comment moderation.   It's bittersweet though, I know so many people (including me!) don't want to have to do the "captcha" or word verification, but with these crazy spammy robots out and about, we have no choice. 

So don't worry, the problem should be solved! Thanks for hanging in there, and thanks for letting me know it was happening!

-Jesse

Featured On: West Furniture Revival

Woot! The little roll top was featured! Head over to West Furniture Revival to check it out, looks like it was featured on Monday. Thanks Lauren! While you're there, browse around her blog - she has lots of great ideas, and definitely some inspiring pictures.  Happy Friday y'all!

Want to keep in touch? Here ya go: Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter & Email.

How To: Geometric Art

I've been wanting to write a tutorial for this for a while, and I finally took photos of the step by step for you all!  It's surprising how good this comes out, because while painting it you'll be thinking "I dunno about this..." but once that tape is removed? Boom! It's awesome. And so fun. I've had mine up in the house for a week, and it keeps catching my eye. And isn't that the point of art & home decor? To be pleasing to the eye? Sure, why not!

New String Art

I'm just finishing up another batch of string art orders, and thought I'd share since these are some new designs & color combos. I'm really liking the red with the dark walnut stain...these were all custom requests.

Eight Letter name sign, this was the last name of a recently married couple. Cute idea! Isn't the red on brown great? I may borrow those colors for a piece of furniture I'm working on....

This was a full on custom request, I didn't have an example to go off of - but the customer had asked if for the third tablet, some sort of nature themed design, hopefully with the moon, and there we have it. Love that red!

This was another of that persons set of 3, she requested a red bird on the dark walnut stain. Looks great, I wish I could see how they look in their living room!  All these are off to their homes, and everyone has said they are happy with them.  If you want to order a set for yourself, there are many examples in my etsy shop, or you can message me directly to discuss what you are looking for. Thanks for checking in!

Barn Red Bar Chairs

I am just finishing up the final touches on these lovely bar chairs that my sister picked up for me.  I believe these are called "Mission Style" and they will be for sale! I'm deciding whether or not to add some black upholstery tacks around the edge of the seats... maybe.  I was debating between red & teal, and while teal would look awesome... something about the style was saying "Barn Red" to me. 

How To: Paint Chip Calendar

Hello again! I hope everyone had a good weekend, gotta pack in outdoor activities while we still have summer, can you believe it's already August? Yep. I thought this tutorial would fit the changing of the months theme.  I recently came across this great calendar and had to share it.  I'm a big calendar person, I write everything down (thanks ma!) but I don't always like them showing in a room. Actually I never like them showing.  I usually stash them behind the door, or in a closet... which sometimes defeats the purpose of helping me remember things!  This is a spectacular, as well as simple, solution.  You can easily get any color you are looking for to match, complement or contrast any rooms decor. Plus changing colors as rooms change would be easy too, that's sustainability!

You can read the full tutorial (as well as tons of other awesome projects) on the blog, Cheltenham Road.

Arroyo Seco River Hike

I want to take a break here and fill you all in on what we did last weekend, and what you should do this weekend if you're in the area.  Down near Soledad & King City off 101, we went on one of the most amazing day hikes I've been on.  It was an excellent combination of hiking, swimming, and rock hopping. Talk about a core workout! This, was my first time on the Arroyo Seco river hike in beautiful California.  Now, I didn't bring a camera, phone, or anything that couldn't get wet - since there were many times we had to swim for quite a while, which meant a soaked backpack.  So I'm borrowing some photos from the wonderful internet, of the same hike. (Photo Credits at end of post) 

 Isn't is beautiful?

Pinterest Picks: Vertical Gardening

Going up? Vertical gardening can be a huge space saver, and thanks to pinterest - I've seen so many different wonderful ideas! I keep planning ahead to our *hopefully* next house, which has a lot of decking and a cement patio in the back.  Currently, we live in a place with a lot of yard, which - don't get me wrong, I love it - but I'm ready for a little container gardening! It seems like as soon as I am caught up with the weeds, they already need to be pulled again. So a little time off to actually garden will be fantastic, keep your  fingers crossed for me!  I won't go into the house buying adventure too much yet out of fear of jinxing it, but when it's safe I will spill it all. Get ready...

So in the spirit of patios & decks, I thought I'd toss around some of my favorite vertical gardening ideas for today's Pinterest Picks.  I really should consider getting a set blog schedule, so Pinterest Picks and other reoccurring posts would be on a reliable schedule, for now it's on an as-I-feel-like-it schedule, it's more fun that way! All the pictures you're about to see are also links to the pin, so you can pin your favorites too.  First up (and what sparked this theme) the wooly pocket:

Featured on: Fox News Magazine

Whoah, what a treat! I was recently approached by the editors of Fox News Magazine asking if they could feature my Ombre chair tutorial - of course I said yes! How flattering...  I hadn't realized they even had an online magazine, so I browsed around for a while, it's pretty nice!  I love the layout, especially.  Anyway, big thank you to Fox News Magazine for featuring me! Check it out here: Fox News Magazine: Ombre Chair