Keeping up with the Gourdashians

It's harvest time for Thanksgiving table centerpieces!

Repurposed Vintage Frame Turned Corkboard

I know, I know! It's been forever! But I have excuses. I've been busy. I'm grateful to have been working, and to have more auditions to go to, since it's prime in the middle of episodic season. But that doesn't mean I haven't been prettifying our home. I mean, let's be totally clear here. What's a weekend without some spray paint and a hot glue gun?

A few years ago, when I first moved to LA, I passed by a yard sale and bought this cool vintage wooden picture frame for $2. Here it is on the mantle at my former bachelorette pad:

That's the best pic I have of it, unfortunately. It was a nice dark wood, but my favorite thing about it was the curvature of the top. I don't know what it was...an old frame for a painting, perhaps, or something that had some kind of religious icon in it? Who knows. The shape seems to point to that. It was hard to find mirror to fit it or glass to turn it back into a picture frame, but the empty frame thing works for me as decor, so I kept it.

For years, it sat on my mantlepiece and then in our new office, alone and always a little sad-looking. Earlier this year, in an attempt to make it pop against our charcoal grey wall in our office, I painted it white.

Here it was in our pre-madeover office, earlier this year...

Still blah, right? This summer, as part of Apartment Therapy's room renovation challenge, I decided to tackle the dreary, cluttered office by organizing, downsizing, and injecting a little bit of color. I needed a cork board to help me tidy up my desk and to also serve as sort of a mood board, but found that most commercially available ones were both ugly and expensive.

Solution? Make my own and ombre that sucka with color! I bought a sheet of cork board from Amazon, traced the outline of the frame onto it with chalk, and cut it to size using a razor.

Then I used painters tape to divide the board into sections.

Took out some good ol' Martha Stewart craft paint...

And, using a sponge brush, did about three coats in each section.

I lifted up the tape while the paint was still wet, then waited for it to dry before filling in the other sections since I'd need to retape to get hard edges.

Meanwhile, while the paint was drying, I took that old frame outside and gave it a good ol' coat of my favorite Midas Touch.

A few swift coats and everything I touch is GOOOOOLD!

Then, to create a solid backing, I cut a piece of cardboard to fit the back of the board and hot glue gunned that sucker to the frame. I also used a staple gun for good measure.

Don't my nails look like the Enchantment Under the Sea dance from Back to the Future?

To spice up my push pins, I played around some more with the glue gun and whatever little doodads I had lying around. I'll do a future post on how to make cute push pins.

And ta da! A useful corkboard, a happy, repurposed frame, and a bright pop of color into our office.

Here it is again, from before:

...to after:

Weekend DIY: Updated Terracotta Planter

This is where a little boredom and a lot of spray paint will get you.

Problem: A boring ol' terracotta pot, the kind you get from Home Depot for like $7.

I'm tired of seeing my plants in these pots, so I decided to play around and give it an update based on my last experiment with leftover bottles.

Given a free afternoon and some leftover spray paint, here's what I did. First, a coat of white spray paint. Then some painter's tape and some sides to an old audition to create some diagnoal stripes:

And a few swipes with my beloved gold Rust-o-leum spray paint...

Peel off the tape and voila! A brighter, more modern pot!

Planted this baby into his new home...

And gave him a good drink to help him settle in.

Aaaah. That's the stuff.

DIY Repurposed Bottle Vase

Sometimes I just have too much time on my hands. Last weekend I was spray painting some frames, so I thought I'd play with an empty Calvados liquor bottle I had lying around from an Apple party (Apple TV +Apple liquor + Apples to Apples = NONTSTOP FUN) a few weeks back.

The original bottle looked something like this:

I washed out the bottle and removed the label, then spray painted it all white. After it dried, I covered half with painters tape, and sprayed the bottom half gold:

Let that dry, then removed the tape. Ta da!

A single flower vase repurposed from an old liquor bottle!

My inspiration was this Nate Berkus for Target bowl:

Less gloss, but free and a fun random project. And now I have a skinny vase, to match my cocaine and speed salt and pepper shakers.

Goldmember Part 2: DIY Gilded Magazine Rack

Off the tails of yesterday's post about how I'm basically Austin Powers' Goldmember, here's another Midas touch transformation I did of a cheap shabby-chic chickenwire magazine rack that I found at Home Goods.

Here's the original:

Very industrial Returns to Oz steampunk, no? Cool but not my style. Laid it out in the garden...

Did a quick spray primer with my favorite, Rustoleum, to make the paint stick.

Two coats of Rustoleum's shiny gooooold:

Oops, missed a spot!

Ta da! Left it outside for 48 hours to dry...

And found a temporary spot next to the new office couch just in order to stop the cats from scratching. The office is in mid-renovation after my last shame-sesh. Updates soon, I promise!

Who dares to disturb my slumber?

I plan on actually nailing this to the wall and maybe making it into a little in/out box over my desk, or a hers/his, once the office is finished remodeling. Because gold makes even going through the mail a fancy affair!

DIY Gilded Plant Stand

Why are plant stands so damn expensive?

A regular run-of-the-mill one from Home Depot will run you up to $100, about the same price as a cool mid-century one off of Etsy. It's a damn holder for plants, people. It doesn't do anything, except sit there.

Rather than shell out a hundred buckaroos for an inanimate object that I don't even like the aesthetics of, I decided to upgrade a cheapo one from Amazon. Like our old friend  Pepe Le Pew says, there ain't nothin' that some good ol' spray paint can't solve.

The original, made of wire-metal painted green, for $20:

I decided on gold to go along with that whole gilded Hollywood Regency thang that I've been into ever since I moved to LA and Craigslisted that amazing mid-century regency glass table (shown here at my old apartment).

First, a nice coat of Rust-Oleum primer, just to make it stick. Probably didn't need it, but just in case.

A quick two coats made this baby look shabby chic...

Or maybe just shabby. Next, the Midas Touch! Ooooh yeahhhh....

I got super excited when this spray paint can arrived in my mail. Did you know at most art and hardware stores you have to get someone to retrieve spray paint out of locked cabinets, I guess to deter graffiti? Seems dumb when you can just buy it online. Pretty much I want to paint everything gold now. All our planters? Gold. Our television? Gold. Two kitties? Gold! Speaking of kitties, someone was very disappointed he was not allowed outside while I was painting.

How come I'm never allowed to go outside and breathe paint fumes!

Next, two coats of gold spray paint in light strokes. This proved a little difficult because the plant stand was so thin and wiry and so much of the paint just went into the air. But I managed it without too much dripping.

24 hours outside to dry...

...and ta da! A gilded regency-style plant stand!

Now our dining nook is a full-on tropical jungle. Monkeys welcome.

Ruh roh. I've got the Midas OCD Touch. What else can I turn gold?
Which reminds me of one of my all-time favorite movies, which I used to watch on repeat with my old pal Ayana. This is basically me.