After years of regrettable plant killing mistakes, I finally feel like I’ve learned enough to keep them alive (the obvious reward for this situation is to buy more plants!!). Which means…(you know what this means right?) I need more planters. Its like the gift that just keeps on giving.

I have the most beginner DIY friendly for those that are itching to use some power tools but aren’t ready to build anything massive yet. (Or if you don’t have tools, this is such a quick job I’m sure you can bribe your neighbor with cookies and they’ll totally do it for you)  Its kind of one of those projects that you cant screw up.

Find the full tutorial over on Home Depot’s blog The Apron here and get some of my favorite clean up tips here!

To enter the giveaway for a $200 Home Depot gift card, all you have to do is leave a comment below with your favorite type of plant! My current obsession? String of Pearls.

The post Wooden Disk Hanging Planter + $200 Home Depot Giveaway appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

Dudes! We are overhauling a 1972 Bell Travel Trailer! Follow the entire series from the beginning here!

What started out as an ugly duckling with a lot of potential (if you closed one eye and squinted the other) is fast becoming a swan. With as much work as the little Nugs needed, we have learned a lot (multiple times) so I thought it would be fun today to share 7 of the most necessary products to fix up a trailer, or really any space!

1. ScotchBlue Painter’s Tape. Lets just start off by acknowledging that ScotchBlue is the mothership when it comes to DIY support. Everything from help protecting the awesome floors from caulk, to getting a super sharp paint line, to taping off the outside pattern (eeeee!!) It is #1 on the list for a reason.

2. 3M Patch plus primer. We made a lot of small holes. We also had a lot of small holes to fill. Patch plus primer is hands down my favorite patching product, because it sands so smooth and doesn’t have a completely different sheen when you paint. The proof is in the pudding on this wall that we had to patch.

Can you believe that this is what that wall looks like now!?

3. 3M Advanced Abrasives  So maybe sandpaper should be my #1…hmmmm. Literally every.single.surface in this trailer has been sanded more than once. From the drywall, plaster, stucco and wood, to the floors. I’ve learned that a little 3M Patch plus primer and 3M Sandblaster Pro Advanced Abrasives can really fix just about anything

4. 3M Sanding and Fiberglass Respirator. So much sanding, so many unknown treasures on the walls. Taking care of our lungs is critical because let’s be honest, who wants lungs full of mold and sawdust? Not this girl.

5. Eye Protection. I had a pretty crazy experience while I was cutting the moulding for the cabinets. A piece of wood the size of a matchstick broke off of the piece that I was cutting and flew up and hit my eye. Or what would have been my eye had I not been wearing 3M Chemical Splash/Impact Goggles. I have never had that happen before, and I was so glad that I didn’t injure an eye and my sanity working on this thing. Sanity eventually comes back, right?

6. Hearing Protection. When in the presence of power tools (and children) ear muffs are crucial.

And last but not least #7. Court’s favorite thing to come out of the Nugget. 3M’s Auto Electrical Repair Kit. Update on this post he still wont let me use it.

Looking back through my computer to find the pictures for this post made me a little astonished at just how far this little trailer has come! Holy cow. I cant wait to see it when it’s all finished!

For more amazing ideas check out the 3M DIY Website!

And you will most definitely want to follow them on your favorite social media stomping ground:
3M DIY Pinterest
3M DIY Facebook
3M DIY Twitter

I am proud to be a 3M- sponsored blogger, and, as part of my responsibilities, I get the opportunity to evaluate products from 3M DIY. Opinions are my own and additional product used in the project were selected by me.

The post 7 Necessary Products for Restoring a Trailer (or Any Space for that Matter!) appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

Dudes! We are overhauling a 1972 Bell Travel Trailer! Follow the entire series from the beginning here!

Dun dun dun dun dun dun duuuuuuuun! I feel like these cabinets have been the biggest saga of my whole life. So many failed attempts, so much frustration,  but we finally came up with something that I LOVE. Taking a step back for a bit gave me a chance to see with a clear mind what I loved and didn’t love about what was going on. I came to this conclusion, I loved the handles. I loved the white. I loved the exposed hinges. I didn’t love all of the other things.

So armed with the knowledge of love, the situation then became, finding a way to make the teeny handles a bigger part of the design. So that they didn’t look like an undersized afterthought like they did before.

Undersized afterthought just isn’t a good look. Not for outfit choices, and not for cabinets.

That is a fun visual.

My first few new ideas were to put something behind the knobs to make them seem bigger. Guess what? I was hating all of those things, and I couldn’t put my thumb on the reason. Then I had a come to Jesus with myself (and I wish I could have had it with the company that made the trailer.)

Literally every single door was a different size  (even the ones that were supposed to be the same!)  It was just adding unnecessary activity to the already small space. (Also, just to clarify because there were some questions on the old cabinet post, we hadn’t installed the tension locks on the doors so they weren’t shut completely tight, that is why they look so wonkfest.)

The solution was apparent. We had to make new doors.

Son of a #$(*.

Insert wailing and gnashing of teeth. Followed by standing up, brushing off my paint covered sweats, drying my eyes and telling myself to shut up and get back to work.

This is what square one looks like.

Before we could build, we needed to make some important adjustments so that we could remake doors that had the same measurements. The center board needed to be wider so that the doors on the left could be made smaller and not have a giant gap. We glued/nailed a new piece of wood in and widened the entire thing, instead of taking out the existing piece and moving it over (it was supporting the front of the countertop and honestly, who wants to find out what happens when that comes out? NOT ME.)

Then there was the ceremonial ritual of putty, sanding, more putty, more sanding and paint.

The doors themselves are made out of MDF because I wanted them completely texture free. We cut them down to size on the table saw and glory, they were SO much better.

So now that we were starting with an evenly spaced blank canvas, we can go back to the door design.

At this point I had given up on the idea of putting something behind the knob, I just wanted it to be part of the door.

I got this idea of using 1/2 round moulding to follow the outline of the door + knob and it just would not leave. I wasn’t 100% sure of it, and Court thought it was a horrible idea (his suggestion was to leave them plain and get new pulls) but I had to try it. Home Depot doesn’t sell 1/2 Round in store, but they do sell it online and I was super shocked at how inexpensive it was! So I ordered it and mocked one up. (Don’t mind the fridge door. It has a mind of it’s own.)

I didn’t hate it. Court didn’t love it. But I thought that it had some serious potential. So I decided to just go with it, and if we had to flip the doors around and use the other side for cabinet door build out #193094 then so be it. (Jumping a little ahead of myself but notice the piece that the top doors are resting on,  we used this to evenly space every gap. It is a lot easier to fill a few nail holes after the doors are installed than to get a divorce because YOU MOVED AGAIN!?! …

Because this design was full of freaky angles, a protractor was an absolute necessity. I started by figuring out the angles that I needed by measuring the diamond shaped back plate. Once I knew what angle I needed, I then divided it in 1/2 (because 2 pieces meet to make up the angle). Then (this is super important) remember that on a miter saw 90 degrees is 0, so you have to subtract the angle that you need from 90, and then set your blade there. For example, the center angle that goes around the pull is 125 degrees. Divide that by 2 and you get 62.5. 90-62.5 is 27.5, so you set your blade at 27.5.

I used a guide to mark 1 1/2” all the way around the door. Then I traced the diamond shaped back plate and marked 1 1/2” on the inside of that for our notch. This made it so that I could measure and line up each of the pieces of trim.

After they were glued on, we puttied, sanded, primed, and painted them. A screw driver worked best for getting the putty out of the hard to reach corners.

And while this was one of the most technical projects that I have done (it had to be PERFECT or else it would stand out like a sore thumb) I have to say that I am pretty proud of how great they turned out.

The one hiccup that I had was, when I designed the idea, I was using the lower cabinets as my template. I loved that there was a short piece on the outside before it notched in, and that was how I was anticipating all of the doors looking. When I started working on the cabinets that were shorter I found out that to keep the angles (and the 1 1/2” cushion around everything) that those small pieces just couldn’t exist. (It has to do with how teeny they would have to be and the fact that we were using 1/2 round).

One other small update was taking the tarnish off of the brass pulls. I am a huge fan of mixing metals but mixing this finish with the brighter brass on the lawyer shelves, just made them look like such an addition. And not in a good way. I used Brasso and an old washcloth to remove the tarnish and it worked like magic!

All in all I am THRILLED with how everything is coming together over there. The new backsplash looks awesome, and the cabinets are full of the vintage-y charm that I was going for from the get go.

And Court? He loves them. In fact every time we talk about them he says and I quote “Those are the most legit thing you have ever made”. Which makes me happy and gives me a complex all at the same time.

The post The Nugget: Building Cabinets (again!) appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

You guys!! Today I am back with another hanging geometric himmeli planter! (The tutorial for the first one is here!)  Can you just picture how awesome they will be together?! Phew.

This planter is so simple to make, I pinky promise you can do it!

To make this planter you will need:

Brass Tubing (found here)
Pipe Cutter (can be found at Home Depot)
30 Gauge Floral Wire (can be found at Joann’s)
Leather Cord
Small Bowl
Glue Gun

Start by cutting your pipe (this is a little boring so spice things up with some Tim Riggins or something mmmkay?)

You will need:

(3) at 12”
(6) at 6”
(9) at 2”

Start by measuring 2 arms length of wire. Thread 3 of the 6” pieces onto it.

Connect the 2 ends of the wire by twisting them together.

Thread 2 more pieces of pipe onto the wire. Tuck in the little tail from your first triangle, it makes things nice and neat!

Connect them to one of the triangle elbows (doesn’t matter which one and this point!)  Twist your wire and thread it through the next piece so that it comes out on the tip of your shape.

Add 1 more piece and connect it with the tip on the opposite side.

This will make a 3D triangle.

Now take (2) 12” pieces and thread them onto your wire.

Connect them to one of the triangle corners.

Thread your wire through the pipe to the last corner of the triangle.

Add your last 12” piece, and join the wire at the top.

Now to make the little hanging guy on the bottom.

Take an arm’s length of wire and thread 4 pieces of 2” tubing onto it.

Twist the wire at the ends of the pipe together to make a square.

Add 2 pieces of tube onto your wire (make sure to tuck the tail in!)

Connect it at the opposite end.

Thread your wire through ONE of the pieces so that it is coming out at one of the disconnected elbows

Add one piece of pipe

Connect the tube to the next corner (horizontally!) and repeat for the other 2 pieces.

Feed the wire back through one piece so that it is coming out of the top and attach it to the bottom triangle point of the large planter piece.

Hanging your leather cording is really simple!

Measure the length that you want and feed one end through the top of the planter.

Fold it over and hot glue the end.

Using a second piece of leather, hot glue the tip underneath the fold that you just made.

Wrap it around the longer piece nice and even.

When you have wrapped it the desired length, trim your leather and hot glue the end down.

Tada! You are amazing! Give yourself a giant high five friend!! Plant your favorite succulent or fern inside the bowl and it just rests inside the triangle!

Check out the other posts in this series here!

The post DIY Geometric Hanging Brass Planter appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

You guys! Did you have the best 4th? I hope it was wonderful!!

I have made a few lifelong friends through this little blogging world and my girl Jill tops the list. She was my partner in shame when all humiliation broke loose on national television (ahem, Craft Wars). We have spend a few weeks together and I can always count on THE BEST stories being shared and never running out of things to talk about. I truly love her.

Jill has been completely overhauling the bathroom in her basement. I think we can all sympathize when a project that should (in our minds) take a few weeks, then turns into something much much more life sucking. Like 2 years later life sucking.

Here is what Jill’s bathroom looked like before she got started:

Not so awesome. Dark, dingy, (and in Jill’s mind) completely unacceptable.

So she did what any slightly sane hardcore DIYer would do. She completely transformed it into her dream bathroom.

It is amazing right?!! Like any good DIYer, she shared the good, the bad, and the ugly on her blog. You will most definitely want to head over and read all about the shenanigans. You can see the full reveal here (tons of great info in that post!)  While you are there give her a huge high five for seeing this thing through!

I am dying to know what your favorite part is. I think the countertops and the shower are to die for. The mirrors are just sooo good too. And the floors, love them. The whole thing is just perfection,  amazing job Jilly!!

The post Complete Bathroom Overhaul (You MUST See These Before and Afters!!) appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

Find me one person on this planet that doesn’t love a good sliding barn door. Go ahead. Its just not possible. They are like puppies. Impossible to resist.

The sliding door in Alicia’s Office was the first must have element that we decided on. Bi-fold doors were not her friend, and they aren’t yours either.

There are 2 main problems that people run into when lusting after a sliding barn door. 1. The hardware is expensive. 2. They are heavy. Like watch your toes if you want to keep them, heavy.

So after a late night brainstorm sesh I came up with the idea of a sliding screen. When I tell you this thing is light, I mean, me, the weakling with chicken arms can pick it up myself. Easily.

The secret is that behind that awesome fabric is just a frame. Nothing solid. When I say nothing solid, I don’t mean sturdy,  I just mean not full of wood and weight.

Here is what you see:

And here is a sketch of what it looks like behind the scenes.

Its like magic!

Now, no 2 houses are the same, so I am going to tell you exactly what you need to know to make your own, and custom fit it to your space.

To start you need 3 measurements.

The width of your wall (or how far you want your door to be able to slide) stud to stud.
The height of your ceiling.
The width of the closet opening.

Supplies you will need:

Tools:

Miter Saw (or chop box)
Drill
Stapler (doesn’t need to be fancy!)
Nail Gun with Finishing Nails

 

Supplies:

**When you are buying your lumber, get the length that is most compatible with your ceiling height. For example our ceilings were 8 feet high so I bought 8’ boards. But if your ceiling is 11’ high and you want the door to go all the way up, you will need to buy boards that are at least that long.

1×2’s  for the inner frame. For a door that measures 86×55 we used (10) 8 foot boards. These boards are extremely inexpensive (we are talking $2 each)  so it is better to buy an extra or 2 than to have to go back.

1×3’s in Premium Grade wood. This type of wood is located by the molding and is more expensive, but it is much nicer quality that building grade and it is going to show. For a door that measures  I bought two 8’ boards and two 6’ boards.

Fabric. I used an old table cloth and some clearance muslin from the fabric store. You can buy upholstery fabric (it usually comes in wider widths), a sheet, a table cloth, or a combo of all of them!

(3) Eyehooks

(2) 1.5” Fixed Rolling Casters

(2) 1/2×2”Pipe Nipples

(2) 90 degree 1/2” Elbows

(2) 1/2” Floor Flanges

(1) Length of 1/2” Conduit Pipe that is the same as your stud to stud measurement. You will most likely need to have this cut and threaded to the right length. Your friends at Home Depot will do this free of charge!

(8) 2” Hex bolts. These are going to attach the floor flanges to the wall. In all reality, 4 will connect to the studs and 4 will fill the other holes to make it look pretty. (Just keeping it real!)

Screws to build the inner frame work. We used Kreg pocket screws (without drilling the pocket holes) and they worked amazingly. Because of the way the threads are they don’t split the wood you are drilling into.

Ok! Here is how you do it!

Start by building the outside of the inner frame. You want your door to be at least 6 inches wider than the width of your closet (measurement #3) and be 10 inches shorter than your ceiling (this will give you a little bit of wiggle room during installation!)  When all is said and done, the door will sit about 6” below the ceiling, not 10”)

Drill a pilot hole into the first board. Using self drilling screws,  screw them together. It is a godsend to have 2 drills for this process. This is the technique that you will use for the entire build.

Once you have built your frame, you are going to attach cross pieces that run horizontally inside it. When you are measuring for these cuts, just make sure that you are measuring the inside of the frame,  Double check that they are level (its not like anyone will see them, but it will make your job easier down the road!)  We attached 4 boards, about 15 inches apart. Once again, unless you have someone living inside the closet you wont see these, so guestimations are a-ok with me!

Once you have attached your 4 cross pieces, you are going to attach vertical pieces inside them. If you guestimated the distance between your horizontal pieces just measure before you make these cuts. Stagger the vertical boards to give it more strength.

That is it for the inner frame! Pretty simple right?!

Next it is time to add your fabric. The design on my door has a large stripe in the center. So naturally it needed to be centered on the door. I marked the center point on the wood, and on the fabric, and lined those up before I started stapling (also make sure that your stripe is level!)

Staple a few in the center area on opposite sides, and then switch to the top and bottom and staple there. By rotating where you are stapling, (this is the technique) and doing the whole thing at once  (as opposed to one whole side at a time) you will keep your pattern straight and help with bunching.

Trim off your excess. Just a side note here. I had a TON of excess fabric because it is easier to staple and then cut, than it is to measure, cut, and then staple, and then cut again. (You can see how much was left in the bottom of this picture!)

Once your fabric is on, it is time to attach the outer frame.

The outer frame is made out of the nice premium wood. Measure the short side of your door (top and bottom) and add 2” to that number. You are adding 2” to compensate for the width of the long sides . If you want you can miter your corners, but we didn’t, and it sort of looks awesome.

We used a piece of scrap 1×2” to fit the outer frame. By putting it on the front of the door, and then lining the outer wood flush with it, it gave us a 1” lip along the front.

Measure in 8” from each end, and 1 1/2” from the front of your door and mark. This is where your eyehooks are going to be placed. Drill a large pilot hole that goes through the outer and inner frames and screw the eye hooks into place.

Center your cute little fixed caster wheels on the bottom of your door. *Important little side note. You don’t want wheels that can turn and move. Your door will get wonky faster than you can say “I HAVE TO GO TO HOME DEPOT AGAIN!?!” So fixed guys are your friends. Got it?

To mount your door you will need a helper. Maybe two.

Start by marking where your studs are. Mark where the ENTIRE stud is. Both edges. I promise you will thank me later.

Start by assembling your advanced wall mounting device. Or brackets. Whichever you prefer.

*Just a friendly reminder, the fittings above are 3/4” because that is what I had on hand. You will be using 1/2”.

Put the pipe through the eyehooks and attach both ends of the pipe to the brackets.

Move the door into place.

Before you start attaching the hardware to the wall you need to make sure that the door is resting on the wheels. Not the eyehooks. The eyehooks guide it, but the wheels hold the weight. Make sense? Try to center the pipe in the eyehooks so that it is sort of floating there. It makes things quieter too!

Now this part is going to make you want to kiss me. Probably on the mouth. Its fine. Remember how you marked both sides of the stud? You are going to turn your floor flange until 2 of the holes are over the stud. Because pipe cutting and tightening are not an exact science (obviously you want it to be as tight as you can get it, but my husband can usually get a few more turns than I can) this leaves a little wiggle room. You just manipulate where the screw holes line up by turning the flange, as opposed to trying to cut the pipe 1/4” shorter. So smart right?! Pucker up!!

Mark where your holes need to be predrilled. Predrill (obvs) and then attach the brackets with hex bolts.

This is a FANTASTIC, inexpensive way to get the look of an on trend sliding door, without the cost, or the headache!

If you are wondering what it sounds like and see how easily it glides, check out this video. (Its near the end)

Need more awesome ideas? Check out the full room reveal here,  and the tutorials here!

The post How To Build A Lightweight Sliding Barn Door appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

You guys, this tutorial is an easy one! Get excited for amazing lighting!!

This little hang out corner of Macie’s Bedroom was just itching for a really great statement light. Keeping with the laid back boho theme of the room I thought that a bunch of swaggy lights would be perfect. I was totally inspired by these halo lights that my girls over at A Beautiful Mess created last year. But of course like all things that inspire, its fun to make it your own. And wood and brass? Best combo ever.

To make this light you will need:

(1) Brass Socket Cup

(1) Brass Gas Cap

(1) Brass Tube

(1) Porcelain Socket

Cord

(1) Embroidery Hoop

Button Plug (unless you are hard wiring it)

Glue

FYI: You can find some of the supplies at Home Depot. The brass tube can be found in the plumbing section but the longest length that it comes in is 4”,  if you want something longer you need to order it from Grand Brass. You can also buy the light sockets and plug at HD.

If you are ordering from Grand Brass you will need to um…tread lightly? Their website is really hard to use, so I have linked everything that I have used in the supply list. If you venture off of the beaten path make sure that you check the measurements of everything before you hit purchase. Otherwise you will end up with a few things that don’t fit together. Like me. Whoopsie.

Start by taking the cap, pipe, cup, and socket end (the metal part of the socket)

Assemble them with the cap on one end, the socket on the other and the cup in the middle, with the open end facing the socket.

Thread your wire through the pipe.

Wire the white part of the socket.

Attach it to the metal part.

Wire your plug.

You can leave it like this and enjoy the crap out of it.

Or you can attach the halo (halo, halo.)

For this we are using the outer ring of the embroidery hoop (the one with the metal tabs)

Basically you are just going to glue the tabs to the brass pipe. To hold mine in place while the glue dried I wrapped it with a little piece of leather (of course it was leather), but you can be a patient soul and just hold it if you want.

Hang it up and let it dry (that way it will dry straight!)

Make 1, 5, or 32. It is amazing however you group them.

In Mace’s room, we had a light fixture that we removed and had a perfect spot to hardwire them. But if you don’t have that option it is still awesome!

The post DIY Wood and Brass Hanging Hoop Pendant Lights appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

So this tutorial is something that I wasn’t planning on posting until April (i know, its so far away.)  It is a project that I did for my nieces bedroom and because the makeover is for National Painting Week, it has to stay under wraps until then. But this project is just so good, I had to share it with you guys right away. Court was super stoked about hauling it back to my house (for the 4th time since it’s conception) so that I could shoot it.

The world is full of horrifyingly puffy leather couches. You know that you agree with me. I mean,  there is no saving grace for them, they are just offensively unaware. Poor things. Until now. I promise after seeing this project that you will never look at an ugly sofa the same again.

Last week I showed you an amazing Michael Arnoult chair that I scored on Craigslist. Studying the structure was completely awe inspiring. It was held together with a few screws and wooden dowels. That is it. The design was so basic, I knew that it could be a doable project. Luckily for you guys, I made all of the mistakes and now you get to benefit from my failures. What can I say, it’s what I do best.

Skinning a couch for a project is nothing new to me, remember when I made Leather Pillows? This is like that, but on steroids.

First things first you need a leather couch. The one that I used for this project was a sofa that I found at ReStore for $75. $75 may seem a bit steep for a couch that you only want for it’s skin, but have you ever priced leather? Hot dang that stuff is expensive. Make sure that the leather is in good condition,  the thicker the better. This stuff was fantastic.

Start by skinning your couch. Keep the pieces in as large of chunks as possible. (i.e. the entire back section,  the arms and sides etc.)  Put them aside.

Now is the fun building part.

For this project you will need:

(2) 2×2’s @ 34” long

(2) 2×2’s @ 28” long

(2) 1×4’s @ 46” long

(2) 1×2’s @ 24” long

(2) 1×3’s @ 25” long

(2) 1/2” Wooden Dowels @ 16” long

(2) 1/2” Wooden Dowels @ 5” long

(16) Screws. I used bolts like these (because I love the way they look!)

7 Yards of Upholstery Webbing (this can be found at Joann’s for $.75/yd)

The tools that you will need are:

Miter Saw

Jig Saw

Drill

1/2” Drill Bit

1/4” Drill bit (depending on the size of the screws that you use you may need to adjust the size of this bit,  it is used to drill pilot holes into the wood)

Stapler

Start by cutting your 1×3’s down to 24” with a 10 degree angle cut at each end. (see picture below)

The next step is cutting out the grooves that will hold the leather and the dowel. Probably the easiest way to do this would be to use a router, but I don’t have one and I am sure the majority of you lovely folks don’t have one either, so we figured out a way that you can cut this channel with a drill and a jig saw. If you have a router, feel free to use it’s guts out.

Measure 2” in from the end and 1” from the bottom and drill a hole with your 1/2” bit.

Using a straight edge measure 16” and drill another hole. Then mark 2 lines on the outsides of each hole.

Now you are going to take your jig saw and cut along the lines that you just drew.

After you have cut up one side, you are going to cut down the other. And you will have the perfect sized gap for your leather.

You are also going to repeat this on the 2x2x34’s for the back of your sling. They will need to be thicker, because the leather you are passing through is 2x thicker than the leather that you are passing through the seat and 6” long.

Now it is time to assemble.

We are going to start by attaching the front cross piece (1) 1x4x46 to the front legs (2) 2x2x2. Measure 12” from the ground and mark it. This is where the bottom of your 1×4 is going to sit.

Drill a pilot hole through the side of the legs into the 1×4. (Notice that we used some scrap wood to prop it up so that it was centered on the legs. Your scraps need to be 1/2” thick for this.

Then using a paddle bit, clear a spot for your screw to sit on the outside of the leg.

Then drive your screw into place.

Do this for both sides. Make sure that your board is level before screwing it in place.

Now you are going to repeat it for the backside with the legs that are 2x2x34. Measure 13” from the ground and mark. This is where the bottom of your 1×4 is going to be. Because of the slouchy style of this chair, you don’t want to put the back piece too high because it would be super painful if you rammed your spine into it. So keep the bottom at 13” and you wont have that problem! Here is a picture of the back piece, if it looks a little wonk it is because it is upside down.

Next you are going to attach the seat cross pieces. These are the ones that you cut the channels into. Measure 16 1/2” up from the ground. The bottom of your 1×3 will stop there. The angle of the seat goes back and connects to the back piece lower than the front.

Drill your screw into the wood in the same manner that you did above.

Repeat for the other side.

Because of the nature of this chair, you want to make sure that these cross pieces are completely secured or else they will turn under your weight when you sit on the bench. I wanted the front of the chair to look as clean as possible so we attached another screw on the back leg and put a few finishing nails in the front.

The arms attach 3” below the top of the leg. Make sure that you are using a level!

Give the whole thing a nice little rub down with 220 grit sand paper to soften the hard corners. I conditioned my wood with Danish Oil, to make it look nice and finished.

Now for the seat. Are you still with me?

Sewing the leather was admittedly the most frustrating thing of this entire project. My sewing machine is not fantastic, but it worked okay (there are a few spots that are not my finest workmanship but it’s fine.)  It did wonderfully well sewing 2 thicknesses’ of the leather, the part that I had trouble with was where the seams from the original couch were. Especially when it was doubled over (like the hem in the front)  So just keep in mind that you have to go really slow over those parts.

To sew leather you NEED leather needles. Like don’t even try this without them. Stock up, I went through 3 packages. You also need upholstery thread that matches your leather (as close as you can find)

Here is the basic cut guide and pattern. 3 large rectangles, sewn together just like they are pictured below.

The base of your seat needs to be 58”x17”

Start by sewing a hem on the front. You have just over 1/2” seam allowance in the cuts.

The leather from this part of my seat came from the back of the couch, in case you were wondering!

The measurement for the back of your seat is 44”x15”. I had to piece 2 different sections together to get something big enough for the back (notice the seam running down the center)

Center the back piece on your seat base with the right sides together and sew it together. You will want to go over it a few times to make sure that it is reinforced,  this seam is holding it all together.

Your top section will measure 54”x7”  I was running low on thick pieces so I used a second piece that was also 54”x7” along the back to strengthen it. If you have a piece that is wide enough (like 14”) you can just fold it over and you wont need a second piece.

To sew this one in place, put the right sides of the top and middle piece together (make sure it is centered!) and stitch it in place.

Then take your back piece and put right sides together with the top section. After it is sewn together fold it down and stitch along the very top of the middle piece to hold it in place.

To make pockets for your dowels, just fold over the edge and sew it down.

When we attached the leather I had a little bit of a complex about it over stretching. In order to sleep soundly at night and not have nightmares of teenagers ripping my amazing new bench,  I stapled a few rows of Upholstery Webbing between the wood and the leather.

Make sure to staple it on the sides and on the top. (Learned the hard way that it can pull through the staples if you just staple it along the top.)  I also doubled up the back row, because that is where most of the weight is.

Feed your leather through the grooves and slide the dowels into place. You my need help doing this if your leather is really tight.

You might want to run a line of hot glue along the edge of the webbing and attach it to the underside of the leather just to make sure it doesn’t poke out of the front.

Now all that is left is to sit back and enjoy the fact that you just made, literally, the coolest bench known to man.

And just because the before and after is SO good…

I cant wait for you guys to see it in Macie’s room!

If you have any questions, leave them below!!

Also. If you loved this tutorial, I would be ever so grateful if you would please please pleeeeeeeeease hop over to the Homies Finals on Apartment Therapy and vote for Vintage Revivals for the Best DIY Blog. We are about 300 votes behind as of this morning and could use a boost!

The post Ugly Sofa Upcycled Into Leather Safari Sling Bench appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

So the other day I was hanging out at Tj Maxx looking at clothes and wishing that they were just fabric on a roll so that I could make something amazing out of them. This happens more frequently than I care to admit…

anyways…

I saw a pair of super cute tribal leggings and thought “Mands, that would be such a cute pillow. Or maybe a lampshade.” Then literally light from Heaven shone down on me I was like “WHAT?!?!?? LAMPSHADE!!! I could use the leggings to cover a lampshade!! Oh my gosh. Has anyone done this before? (insert quick Google search that came up empty) WHY has no one done this before?!” And then I skipped all the way to the checkout line.

I also rummaged through my underwear drawer for a few pair that I was willing to sacrifice for the sake of project mode. Because I am motivated like that.

You will need:

Small Lampshade (this one from Target is what I used and it is the perfect size!)

Tights or Leggings in the largest size that you can find (because lets be honest, xs is not realistically going to happen.) If you want some really cute on trend ones check out Forever 21, they have some fantastic patterns!

Hot glue gun

Scissors or Rotary Cutter

Colored lampshades are hard to come by. I mean, you can spray paint one, but have you ever seen what a spray painted lampshade looks like when the light is on? It is not good friends.

But tights/leggings? Freaking fantastic!

First cut the top of the leg off from the body (use the highest point possible to get maximum width!) put your tights over the lampshade.

Glue along the edge.

Trim the excess off the top leaving about 1/2” to work with that you can trim off later.

Glue along the edge.

Step back, pat yourself on the back because you my friend, are a genius.

So now that you know the process, let me give you the skinny on the leg huggers.

Nylon Tights work AMAZINGLY well. (You can find the tights that I used for $4.75 here the color is Hot Coral) They will stretch like the day is long. You might have a little bit of color variation where some is stretched tighter, but I think it looks cool. To combat it you could run a pencil or something long and skinny between the tights and the shade to loosen the grip up a little bit. To prevent running you need to cut it with a rotary cutter, so stretch it over your shade and mark where it needs to be cut. Then take it off the shade and cut it with a rotary cutter.

Cable knit tights work really well too. They have SO much stretch. In fact the reason that I decided to use these leggings, is because they get saggy after a few hours of wear, so I knew that there would be zero problem with the stretch.

Woven leggings are sort of like a Chinese finger trap. When I did this the first time, I measured the length of the lampshade and added 4” to it. After putting the bottom on and about 1/2 of the top,  I was having a hard time stretching the rest of it without denting the shade. It worked so much better the second time around. So learn from my mistakes and put them on the shade, glue the bottom edge down, then cut the excess off and glue the top edge down.

A few things that I learned:

Buy the largest size that you can find. I wouldnt go smaller than at least a medium.

Shop the stuff you already have. I mean, dont lie. Everyone has at one time or another bought some funky tights at Forever 21 that you were a little too scared to wear once you got them home and showed your husband. Those? Perfect for this project.

Can you even believe that this is such an easy fix for a boring/ugly lampshade? If Billy Mayes were alive and sold blog posts on infomercials he would be lovin this idea. (Did anyone else love that show as much as Court and I did?)

Make sure you check out the other posts in the Mandilicious Christmas series!

The post Turn Leggings Into A Lampshade! appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

This is so easy it almost doesn’t even deserve a post. Almost.

Start with your not so beautiful shinny brass item. In my case it was an $8.00 thrift store lamp inspired by this.

Use Grecian Gold Rub-N-Buff. DO NOT USE Antique Gold. Its really peachy and looks completely foreign on the brass. You can get it at most craft stores like Michaels.

With an old T Shirt rub it on to your piece,  it doesn’t have to be perfect!

Ta Da! You are done!

So much better right?!

Love  Your  Guts,  Mandi

The post The Secret To Tarnish Brass In One Easy Step! appeared first on Vintage Revivals.