A Quick Look: Counter made of books

Over the long labor day weekend I breakfasted out then went for a brisk walk down the street that was lined with cute little stores. I walked into a Co-Op/Vintage store and saw this amazing counter supported by countless books.  The books are glued and nailed together, some books were cut to achieve the proper height, the book are pushed up against a wooden structure that creates the frame of the counter while a wooden countertop serves on top.  A very unique and smart way to make use of old books!

DIY: Paint it "Trash" bucket

Found an old-school metal bucket in the backyard and decided to convert it into a trash can (there is a lack of trash cans in the house and a few rooms can definitely use one, especially the office).  While I probably could have used the metal bucket as-is I decided it was a great opportunity to have some fun with it.

I decided to paint the word "TRASH" on the metal bucket so that everyone would know that this old metal bucket sitting on the floor wasn't just any old metal bucket but an old metal trash bucket!  I know pretty useless right?  But hey, it looks super cute now, plus it goes really well with my orange office!

Things you will need:

1.  An old metal bucket (or any metal bucket)
2.  Alphabet stencils (I went to Blick, a store that I rightfully call "a little piece of heaven" and purchased plastic alphabet stencils for a mere $3.00, they're reusable too which just makes my day!)
3.  Pencil (not a mechanical pencil, the lead will just break once you try to trace the letters on metal)
4.  Acrylic paint (any color of your choice, I chose orange to match the orange office)
5.  Paint brush(s) (the smaller brushes seemed to work the best for me)

What you need to do:

First step:  Trace the letters of the stencils across your metal bucket to make the word or words you wish to make, suggestions?  "Basura", "Toss it here", "Don't be a litterbug", "Rubbish", "Garbage" etc. etc.  Get creative, think outside of the square and in the circle, your letters don't have to go straight across you see?  How about staggering or going diagonally.

Second step:  Paint the letters in with your color choice.  Take your time, take a break if you need to, don't feel like you need to rush through it, it is only a trash can after all.  I found it easier to trace the edges first since that was the most difficult to do and then filled it in with slow, long strokes.

Third step:  Create a textured coat over the first coat which will not only make it look even cooler but the color even brighter.  As you can see from the picture below, the "S" only has the first coat of paint, once I put the textured second coat of paint it will look brighter and more funky like the "A" next to it.  Create the texture by using the same color paint, dab the tip of your brush into the paint and dab away, add as much or as little texture that pleases you.  Keep in mind that you don't have to wait for the paint to dry to do this texturing step, you can wait for the paint to dry if you'd like though but allowing the first coat of paint to dry doesn't really change the final look.

And you're done!  Now you've got an awesome trash bucket for your equally awesome but now more awesome room.

A closet pole in lieu of a shower pole

Upon moving into our newly renovated home we realized we had planned the master bathroom tub to be too long in length, for two months my husband and I showered in the guest bathroom for we looked high and low and was unable to find a shower curtain rod long enough for our master bathroom tub.  We then moved on to thinking about more creative options, wires and even ceiling hanging rod options, of course all of these were not actual shower curtain rods but possible ideas of what could work.  After two months of no shower curtain rod my sister came to visit one day and when she inquired about the curtain-less tub I told her our conundrum, and she, with a mere blink of an eye said to me, "why don't you just use one of those long wooden closet poles?"  I was of course happy and at the same time completely dumb-founded that we hadn't thought of it.  The next week my husband and I made a trip to our local Home Depot where we bought a pole for $10 and a pack of rubber caps for $2.00.

We measured out the length of the wall and cut the wood to the proper length with a handsaw, popped rubber caps on the end and hung it up, we both took a shower in the master bathroom that night and we really could not have been more excited about it.

There is the concern that the wooden rod will warp into a condition that will eventually deem it unusable due to moisture, whether this will actually happen or not I have no idea but it beats not being able to use the tub at all.  The thought that coating the wood with a paint seal did occur to me, this may possibly help it from not being affected by the moisture.  Other than this moisture concern on the wood the closet rod worked beautifully, not just mechanically but aesthetically as well.  The natural wood color of the closet rod goes perfectly with the other natural wood colors in the bathroom and ended up tying the bathroom decor  nicely together, something I did not expect and a very pleasant surprise.  

The wooden rod seems to have other advantages when compared to all other shower curtain rods, it is not only cheaper than purchasing an actual shower curtain rod but can also be painted to a color of your liking, naturally this would require a little bit more work than purchasing a shower curtain rod but it would be an original, your original, with this in mind painting and sealing doesn't seem half bad does it?