DIY Christmas Decorations

Tis the Season! I thought I'd do a quick post on how to make a barn wood Christmas sign, and share a link to how to make a super cute burlap Christmas tree from Made by Mags! What two things go together better than barn wood and burlap?

First I'll share how to make a Burlap Christmas Tree! Check out what Mags at Made by Mags put together here! It looks so easy and simple to make! I can't wait to add these to my Christmas collection!

Now I'll show you step-by-step how to make a barn wood sign. This is easy to make, and the best part it was FREE! I had a few scraps of barn wood left over from our wall, so I thought I'd make a vintage looking sign. The boards were already cut a perfect size, so I just went to my paint stockpile, found some red and white paint and was ready to get started!

First I had to decide which words I wanted to use on my sign. I chose Merry, Noel, Peace and Joy.  I already had letter stencils, so I pulled out my letters for my words and was ready to begin.

I painted two boards red, and set them aside to dry.

Next, I took the cut out letters from the stencil and laid them out on the non-painted boards. I tried using hairspray to hold the letters down, but the wood was too rough, so they didn't adhere like they usually do with hairspray. So, I just had to hold them in place with my hand. I painted the board white, and went over the top of each letter in order to create the stencil.

Next, I used the same white paint to stencil the words on my red pieces of wood that had dried.

At this point your sign should look like this:

Now it's time to attach your sign together. Take a scrap piece of barn wood if you have it, and cut it to the height of your sign. You will need two pieces - one for the left side and one for the right side. Find some screws or nails that will pass through both pieces of wood without popping out in front. Check your screw or nail lengths by holding it up like this:

Simply screw in four screws on each side (one in each of the sign's boards).

The last step I did is optional. I flipped my sign back over and used my orbital sander to rough it up a bit. I just wanted it to have a real vintage and distressed look to it. You could even add a glaze or wax to it to make it even more distressed.

There you have it! In a single afternoon, you can have some great Christmas decorations for your home. The final resting place for my sign actually ended up on my front porch. It's great for indoor and outdoor use.

Check back next week, because I will show you how to make wreaths and a front porch Christmas tree for FREE!

Merry Christmas!

A Few {Light} Changes

I was out shopping at Marshall's one day, actually looking for a light fixture for a friend. But, of course in my quest for others, I happened upon a fabulous find for myself. (I might need to work on not being so selfish in my shopping endeavors!)

J and I had been talking about sprucing up our living room for a while, but just hadn't taken the first steps to doing anything about it. We really have what most people call a "Great Room". It's just one large open space that counts as living room, eating area and kitchen. It's perfect for making the space seem large, but it causes a bit of a decorating dilemma having to marry all three spaces together.

In my trip to Marshall's I found 3 metal baskets that had a hole in the bottom. Something clicked in my mind, and I thought these would make PERFECT light fixtures for above our bar area. After a little burlap addition, they were perfect! It was the start to our Great Room make over. Who knew a little burlap ribbon from Hobby Lobby (my biggest obsession right now) and $12 baskets from Marshall's would cause such a chain reaction? J probably wishes he had told me to return those baskets!

How I Made Them

It was extremely easy! All I did was take the Burlap Ribbon found in rolls at Hobby Lobby and wove it into the basket. I secured the ends together with a little hot glue, and that's all it took! I believe it only took 2 rolls to do all three baskets. If you wait for the ribbon to go on sale at 50% off, you only pay $5 for 2 rolls! That means these are extremely affordable light fixtures that make a huge statement in your home.

I really wanted to replace the light kits with an oil rubbed bronze to go with the baskets a little better, but we have vaulted ceilings. That means we would have to borrow scaffolding to take the lights down, which is a big project. For now, I promised my husband I would live with our nickle light kits.

This is just the beginning! We have plans for under the bar area, a fireplace make-over and an entirely new wall for our living room. I'm getting tired just thinking about all of the work that we're doing!

Here are a few before pictures to give you an idea of what we're starting...

Our fireplace BEFORE...

This gives you an idea of our wall.

Our entry wall.

See how boring and blah they look? Nothing a few scraps of wood and paint can't fix! I'll reveal our wall make-overs next week.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend. Happy November!

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