Welcome to the Dead & Breakfast Inn

Multi-post-splosin! I am both out of my mind AND really behind!

Our outdoor presence the last couple of Halloweens has been a little lack luster in the props department. We have our scary windows, but nothing else to really help the spook factor.

Continuing our new tradition from last year, we of course had our zombie hands and green lights.

(Image from last year)

This year, I found some inspiration that looked easy enough to make myself. The blog Daybreak Living had a post about this cool house with lots of outdoor decor. What caught my eye most was the sign post.

I knew that we had a yard light that had been ignored for a while, so I thought I could make use of it for this DIY challenge.

I removed Old Glory before attaching a scrap piece of wood to the light to make a temporary sign post. There was no other way of attaching it other than using zip ties, but this method seemed to work pretty well (I just knew it wouldn't hold much weight).

There was a small nub on the side of the light that I was able to hammer the piece of wood onto to hold it in place, too. I did have to make a hole for it first, though.

Then the wood was painted and attached. Next came the sign itself.

I purchased a $5 piece of pink 2x2 insulation foam from Home Depot and cut my shape into it. I then printed out my design for the words and laid it all out.

I attempted to use some wax paper to keep the pencil from going through the paper, but was less than successful. I ended up just being careful and tracing my words lightly after lining up the paper with the edges.

When it was completed, both sides had been dented with my lettering.

I then used a ballpoint pen to retrace them quickly so they were easier to access later.

The next parts of this sign making journey were inspired by a post that my friend Ann did. She gave me some tips and a step by step on how they created really cool realistic tombstones for her front yard. I used parts of her technique to complete the sign.

She had mentioned using a wood burning tool to carve in the letters (or any images) that you might want set into your foam. I used a wood burner and very carefully went over my words. I followed this up with a paint brush and a nice coat of white paint as a primer. I had been warned against using spray paint directly on the sign for fear that it would eat the foam, so I wanted to try to add a protective layer of an acrylic paint first.

I then proceeded with a stone texture spray that you can purchase at any hardware store. Casey had mentioned that it would probably work since I wanted to use a spray paint anyway, so I gave it a try on a piece of scrap before giving the sign a once over with it. It worked beautifully and gave me a very satisfactory look.

The only thing left were the words.

They were given some detailed attention with some black acrylic craft paint and a craft brush. Being inset already, they were not difficult to color in. This only took one coat.

Remember, all of these steps are for both sides since it's a swinging sign, but one side if you're making a tombstone.

As with many of my projects, this one did not need to be perfect. The imperfection of the letters and numbers gave this an old, worn feel that I was really jiving with. I covered the whole thing with three coats of clear spray poly on each side to help defend it from the weather.

I then used two small eyelet hooks and screwed them into the bottom of my wooden arm. The sign was hung with a couple of black zip ties (that took the form of a chain). This was nice because it was adjustable and it also kept the weight down.

When it was hung up, it really looked awesome.

I was a little fearful at first. What if the wind grabbed it? What if some neighborhood hoodlums decided to destroy it? What if the zip ties ate through the foam and dropped it?

Thankfully, none of those things happened. Here in Kentucky, we get some pretty big rain storms in the Fall, but the sign stood strong. I had a couple of compliments from the neighbors on it and it seemed to do really well all 30 days it was outside.

I feel like a lot of these techniques can be used for all kinds of Halloween projects, from creating a fake foam stone wall to some tombstones for your yard. You could get really skilled and probably pull off a pretty convincing wood grain, with the right paint job and wood burning pattern. The possibilities are endless!

Does this inspire you to open your own Dead & Breakfast next year? Hopefully so! Make your reservations today!

The Case of the Killer Plant

Yes, I know.

Halloween was Saturday and these posts are a bit late.

Yes.

But I didn't have any time to write posts during the spooky season because I was too busy creating new and fun things to hopefully inspire your next Halloween!

The first project for this year was probably my favorite. I had seen inspiration picture on Pinterest and thought that it looked both really easy and really spooky. This is the image that caught my eye from the Hometalk website.

Pretty cool, right? It was an awesome basic form, but I thought it needed a little sprucing up. I did some more image searches for reference and came across a couple of examples of desk top versions of the killer plant idea on the blog 102 Wicked Things to Do.

I used the same basic concept as the Hometalk one. I started with a $5 paper mache pumpkin from Jo Anns.

I sketched out the teeth and cut them out. I then painted it all green and the inside red. I found a stick in the backyard and attached the pumpkin with screws so it would stay on reliably. I then "rooted" it in an old flower pot with some expanding foam with rocks on the bottom as a counterweight. I covered the foam with Spanish moss from the dollar store.

It was looking okay, but I needed leaves. I ended up at Hobby Lobby where I found three large leaves that were a great canvas to add some fun color detail. I attached them with wire and by drilling holes in the "stem" and inserting them.

I painted it with regular spray paint, but then realized that it wouldn't show up under the black lights that we had all around the house. I turned to florescent spray paint for the added color I was looking for.

Obviously not the colors I used, but the same brand and type for reference.

When it was finished, I was pretty impressed with myself.

Just life-like enough to make people hesitate, but fantastical and kind of goofy at the same time. I was pretty happy with how the leaves turned out, too, considering it mostly involved spray paint detail that I'm not used to doing.

I made the sign using Photoshop, then mounted it on a piece of cardboard to keep it stiff. It is hung with twine just draped over the teeth so it can be taken off for storage.

In the blacklight, it looks even cooler.

Using the florescent paint really helped him pop in the dark. There are no extra effects on the paper, though it is printed linen paper left over from our wedding.

Extra detail shots:

He ended up greeting people next to our bar for our Halloween party and the reactions were pretty wonderful.

Did you create any monsters of fancy or fancy monsters for your Halloween holiday? Let me know in the comments! I'd love to see pictures!

From Entertainment to Booze Containment

A phrase that Scott hears all the time around this house.

"I found this on the side of the road".

Sometimes it's little things and sometimes it doesn't work out. This was not one of those times.

This time turned into one of our coolest furniture pieces ever, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

About a month ago, Beth and I were driving back from one of our many shopping adventures when we saw an old TV carcass on the side of the road. We both saw it and while the words, "Did you see that?" left her mouth, I was already pulling a U-turn. Five minutes later, it was loaded into the car.

"Scott is going to kill me".

When we first picked it up, I didn't really have an immediate use for it. I thought it might be a pretty cool microwave stand with storage in the interior portion, but we wouldn't know until we got it home and took a good look at it. Once we had it out of the car, I began to doubt my original intention.

I decided that the only way to know would be to try it out. I gave it a "dry run". Anything would work better than the collapsible plastic table we've been using since we moved in two years ago.

Blingy.

I gave it a try.

Not quite. It wasn't wide enough for the wall and it seemed like it was awkwardly floating in the space.

This also happened to be the weekend that my parents came into town with the mantel, so we thought it over and decided that it would be much cooler as a retro TV bar instead. We would switch it out with the old bourbon bar and put the old one into the kitchen to hold the microwave and toaster oven. The end result for the TV would hopefully look something like this inspiration picture from a Redo, Recycle, Renew article online.

Honestly, Dad had half this project done before Mom and I even got home from picking a few things up from the store. The hardest/most expensive part of the project would be finding an old TV without the television actually mounted inside, and since I had found that for free, we were only a few steps from a cool mid century bar display.

We started by removing the backing and cleaning up the inside a little.

The speakers possibly still work, so we didn't cut the wires. Scott thinks he might want to try hooking them up to our old record player someday, so we just tucked the wires away where they wouldn't get damaged.

Dad measured the inside and used pine boards to make shelves. The two support slats in the back weren't removable, so he figured out a way to screw everything together once all the pieces were inside the TV itself. He refers to this as his "IKEA method" because all of the holes were pre-drilled and just needed to be attached.

Once everything was fitted, I took the shelves out again and stained them with a honey-colored gold stain. We thought that it would go with the honey color of the bourbon and the exterior colors of the original television shell. Once they were dry, they were brought back inside and reassembled back inside the TV again.

In the above picture, Dad is trying to make sure that the shelf height is correct before the shelves are stained. This is when Mom and I started working on the rear curtain. As a stand in, Dad used an old towel, but we thought that we could do a little better.

We used a tension rod and some upholstery fabric (seamed, with a curtain pocket on one end) to hang behind the shelves. We really liked the fabric in the inspiration photo, but we didn't expect to find the exact same fabric. I think it fits perfectly with the retro feel of the TV and gives a nod to the television test pattern.

When it was finished, we moved it into place. A little rearranging turned this:

Into this:

Since we were working on the mantel at the same time, you may recall the story in a previous post about the positional switch-a-roo that occurred between this guy and the fire place.

One more thing had to happen before I called this project completed. I found some lights around the house that had a dimmer and installed two of them into the "ceiling" of the interior of the bar. Now it has three light levels to choose from to really give it a fun, "working TV" glow.

Yes, I know some bottles are backwards and sideways. We aren't getting paid ad monies, ya know.

Overall, I'd say this is one of the coolest, most unique things we have in our house. It's a fun throwback to the times of I Love Lucy and Gunsmoke. A reminder of how far media has come in the last 60 years.

Most of all, it was yet another fun reason for me to tell Scott,

"I found this on the side of the road".

Let me know if you have any awesome furniture make overs and I might feature it on the blog!

Faux Fired Up

It all started with a text from my mom. She had found a mantel at her local Restore in Tennessee for around $66. The text was accompanied by this picture.

After asking some questions and thinking it over, I texted her to pick it up. This began a three week journey for this fireplace accoutrement, from Restore floor to our dining room.

I had wanted a mantel for our dining room since we had moved in. It didn't need to work, it just needed to be a traditional representation of what a dining room means. It tends to be a place where people gather around a fire/table and be together. I also liked how it gave a more official dining room feel to a room that was originally the living room. It had always needed a little help not feeling like an after thought of an area.

On Pinterest, of course, I had fallen in love with this image from the blog Bless'er House.

http://www.blesserhouse.com/2014/07/diy-faux-fireplace-entertainment-center_28.html

It was visually demanding, yet very airy in the room. I loved the stone surround, but especially the wood cuts in the center. It was a definite inspiration for what our new acquisition was to become.

Since Mom and Dad weren't going to be in town for a while, they ended up storing the mantel for us. I slowly started receiving text updates.

Would you like me to strip the paint off?

I might be able to get a coat of paint on it before we bring it to your place.

Suddenly, the mantel was being worked on and I was getting pictures. I am pretty sure she was having as much fun working on it as I would have.

Here she is using a heat gun to remove the old paint. The original paint job was chipping and needed to be completely redone. She tried stripper first, but the heat gun apparently worked best.

She was then able to scrap off the old paint with a metal putty knife. I wouldn't recommend a plastic one because it might melt.

When she really got going, she had taken off all of the original paint. In all, she said it took 16 hours! Never say I don't owe my mom!

She followed up with stainable wood putty, some sanding, and a coat of white paint. The next time I saw it was when their truck pulled into my driveway. It looked great already! There was still much to do to install it, though.

We brought it inside and set it where we wanted it. After giving it side glances overnight, Dad brought up the idea of adding a hearth to the bottom. This would both lift the mantel off the ground and away from the moulding, but also help complete framing around the interior portion (where the wood or fire would normally go).

Dad and Scott started with a simple frame with 2x4s.

Then they skinned it in some nicer plywood. We had purchased a 4x8 ft piece at Home Depot and ended up needing most of it for the entire project. Strips of it were cut to size to skin the hearth. They were then attached with wood glue and nails from our nail gun.

Dad scroll cut the sides from a template Mom drew to fit it against the moulding and we brought it in to take a look.

We thought it looked pretty good, so Mom and I put a couple of coats of white paint on it while the boys started work on the actual mantel itself.

First, they added about a 6 inch surround to the interior of the mantel. This would keep the wood pieces from being visually overwhelming and also help it feel more realistic. They did this using the same piece of plywood from earlier.

Then, they attached small pieces of 1x2 around the opening as spacers to set back the interior piece a little. This added some nice dimension to the over all look.

The interior was yet another piece of the plywood. I had painting it black before they installed it so it would be easier to work on later. When the structure was completed it looked like this.

Notice the stair stepping of the layers.

At this point, the mantel now weighed twice as much, but of course, we weren't done. We carried it inside and checked it in its place. We were chugging along nicely.

Spiffy

We brought it back outside and began working on the interior and finishing stages of the process. I painted the inside of the opening black to match the background. Then we were off to the woodpile.

Dad used this chainsaw and cut through a bunch of our branches that we have around for the fire pit. He eyeballed the size and was impressively accurate. For the smaller branches, he was able to set up a stop on our miter saw and get the same size every time.

While he cut, I began placing the pieces in the interior area of the mantel. After about 30 minutes, we had a very pleasing arrangement.

To attach all of the wood pieces, we had a very odd system (that worked really well!). Dad laid under the saw horses and I used a drill to drill a pilot hole from the top under each piece.

Then Mom came in and glued each piece down while Dad screwed in each log from the underneath so it didn't show. It looked a little something like this.

After about 20 minutes and my father being thoroughly covered in sawdust and glue, we were able to set the fireplace on end.

From behind, you can see alllllll the screws.

Of course, now that it was about 1,000 lbs, it was time to move it inside.

The hearth was first attached with L-brackets and anchors to the wall.

Then the mantel was attached using two screws with anchors as well.

It looked great! There was just one problem...

It was in the wrong place.

When this all began, I had measured the far wall to see if the two bookcases and the fireplace could all fit together. It seemed like the fireplace being centered would give that traditional vibe I was going for.

Unfortunately, numbers make fools of us all. I had measured and written down the wrong number. After living with the mantel on the side wall for a couple of days, my curiosity got the best of me and I remeasured. Sure enough, it would totally fit (with extra space) on the far wall.

I very sweetly told Scott that I had royally screwed up and he agreed to help me move it. The move, I must say, really helped cement this as one of my favorite house projects so far.

Much better!

What do you think, is it worth having an architectural piece if it doesn't work, or are fireplaces meant to be used, not just seen? I have to say, even though this guy will never heat our home, I'm already a big fan of how grand it makes the space feel. I can't wait to spook it up for Halloween and hang our stocking on it at Christmas!

PS-See the retro TV on the right? My Found TV Bourbon Bar Blog Post coming soon!