Bucket-Pouf! DIY Upholstered Ottoman.

Dorm Room Series Post 2

A few weeks ago, I bought a chair. An adorable, pink, vintage, wingback chair.

But first, a little history. Last semester, I was planning on majoring in Interior Design. The farther along I got in my classes, the more I realized that I was interested in more than simply decorating. Because of this change, I made the decision to transfer universities and switch to a Housing Studies Major.
How does that have anything to do with an ottoman? Well, I was assigned to a single room. And I bought a chair. And I wanted an ottoman. So I made one!

I was inspired by the ottomans made from 5 gal buckets, like this one, but it wasn't quite the size I wanted.

More pretty inspiration!

Hmm... Garbage Can. Stool. Bucket?

Cost being a big factor in this project, I ended up purchasing this 17 gallon bucket at 

Walmart for about $5! 

Ideally, I would have found something that didn't taper, but I can handle it for the price tag. 

Next step was the fabric store, at which I bought a small bag of quilt batting, a piece of 2" foam, and white fur fabric. All for 50% off! 

So then! Stuff I did! 

First, I cut off of the rim of the bucket with a box cutter.

Next, I cut the foam to the size of the bucket bottom/top.

Uh, so now I just covered it with batting? Not too complicated. 

Note the use of duct-tape... I'm quite professional. 

Then, I cut out a rounded piece of the fabric and tacked it down around the top.

Things got a little hairy.. 

Haha. I'm so punny :) jk

(And fashionable. Obviously.)

Finally, I wrapped the rest of the exposed batting with fabric, folded down the raw edges, and tacked it down.

The whole project took me about an hour to complete, and looks perfect in my room!

♥

From Ikea to Urban Outfitters. {Cat face clock tutorial}

Dorm Room Series Post 1

Let's get one thing straight. I'm a little strange.

I frequently drool over www.UrbanOutfitters.com, and recently fell in love with a quirky clock!

Yeah. A cat face :)

But at a price tag of $50? $*%# no. Just, no.

How about a price tag of $1.99?
Well, here is my version of the whimsical cat face clock.

Here is what I did.

Behold! The IKEA Rusch!

All right. Ready to create your own clock zoo? 

Mind you, I don't really expect this to last very long. 

Maybe I'll put actual effort into a different one later.

For inquiring minds, here is what I did.

          1. Find picture on internet. The higher the resolution, the better. Try searching for "large" images,             if using Google.

          2. Copy picture into Microsoft Word.

          3. Enlarge picture as much as possible. 

          4. Print out picture.

          5. Cut out face of your kitty, puppy, armadillo etc. 

                   Whatever turns your crank.

          6. Glue onto flat, sturdy, non-corrugated cardboard.

                   (I just used a simple glue stick. Again, not exactly high quality here.)

          7. Cut the cardboard to the size of the paper. Set clock face aside for now. 

                  

Time for the fun part! Disassembling the clock! 

I really didn't know what I was doing at this point. 

          

          8. I started by removing the clear plastic that covered the clock face.

          9. Then, I took off the clock mechanism, to keep it safe.

          10. On the back of the clock, there is a part that protrudes from the rest. Take some kind of knife           (I used a pocket knife) and cut if off. See below if you do not understand what I mean.

          Back to kitty. 

          11. Next thing, I punched a hole in the cardboard/paper where I wanted the hands to come                     through. 

          12. Then, I taped the cardboard to the remaining part of the clock and reassembled the                             hands/battery mechanism.

Tada! 

Eventually, I hope to create a high-quality wooden clock. But for now, 

this one hangs adorably on my dorm room wall! Not bad for $2?

♥

Comments and questions are always appreciated!

So, sometimes things don't turn out the way I plan...

{I wrote this post during the summer, when I had nothing to do. Deciding to publish, since I still have nothing to write about!}

Ok. Not just sometimes. All the freeekin' time. 

Just look at this collage-type picture I put together as the original plan for my bathroom.

Let's see. The mirror is similar?! Everything else is different. 

I feel like I never end up with that I originally plan to do.

And does this chair...... Look like this one?

 Kinda? Not really?

Well, that was the original goal. And the goal during the process. 

So the point is, things never turn out the way I expect them to. 

Or I plan them to turn out. 

That is what happened to my little desk makeover. When I saw this little beauty in the dump, I knew it was until-death-do-us-part. But relationships can be tricky. 

Sadly, this relationship is not being worked on. This desk currently is sitting in cabin at a
 closed summer camp. In Canada. See ya' next year, table!!
If you weren't thrown away. Definite possibility. 

♥

There's this place.. called college?

It’s finally happened! I am now a college freshman. Currently, I am taking the basic first year program for design students. At my university, all design students apply for specific majors before sophomore year. Therefore, I will not be doing much with Interior Design this year. Sad stuff. Still, I have a dorm room for little projects! Luckily my roommate and I have very similar tastes.

If I choose to stick with the design college, I will apply to Interior Design, Industrial Design and Integrated Studio Arts. I am also considering majors in Communication Studies, Religions Studies and Advertising!

So, what have I been up to, you may ask? Learning principles of design basically. We have completed one of three projects in my design studio class; here is me presenting it! [I got an A… Just sayin’…]

The project was to create a poster concerning an issue; using words and pictures chosen by the professors. We used montage method, which is basically cut-and-paste. Hopefully my message is obvious. There are still changes I am going to make to this poster, since it's going into my portfolio. 

Here is my rough draft, or second-to-last iteration.

It’s fun to see how projects and ideas develop, as more time is spend on them. Here are a few of the first iterations I did. These were a way to get our ideas out of our heads quickly, so we didn't spend very much time on them.

    

My current project is a collaborative with three other students to create a collapsible “passageway”. Once this project is farther along, I’ll post photos.

Little projects and peaks at my dorm room coming soon! Keep checking back! Love y’all!

                                       ♥

Whooohh!! That's a lot of pageviews.

Sooooooooooooooo, I was planning to do a fun post when my blog reached 1000 pageviews. Sadly, that milestone passed before my eyes too quickly to mention it at all!

Instead, today I celebrate:

Yeah. You read that correctly. 3000. I jumped from 850 views to over 3000 in 2 days!

It's all thanks the following. The most exciting thing that has ever happened on my blog. Mandi!

WooooowwhhhooO!!! (Nope, I'm not sure what that sound is either)

Or, at least I thought it was the most exciting thing. Until this:

See it? See it? See it? 

Best. Day. Ever. 

Am I allowed to print this out and frame it? 

(I'm pretty sure this was my exact expression. Thanks Google Images!)

Thanks to all y'all in the bloggy world for visiting and showing your support! 

Look What I Found Friday!

I remember when Mandi {Vintage Revivals} would post "Look What I Found Friday" on her blog. They were always some of my favorite posts, due to the fact that they simply displayed a picture of something she (or someone else) had found and are planning to "revive". Its just like when I walk into a thrift store and see all the sad little furnitures and think about what I could do to them if I chose to adopt! (That was a strange sentence)

Now, technically I did find this on a Friday. I just didn't pick it up or do anything with it on that particular Friday. So, I am officially saying that it counts and I can title steal the post title.

I found this lovely little gem in....... umm... the dump.
Yup, I was on a run (well, mainly a walk because I am lazy) and made it all the way to the dump, which is about a mile from the camp I am working at this summer. Being adventurous, I walked around the fence and examined the piles of crap. It was fun :D I felt dangerous. Is that sad that is the most daring thing I have done in a while? Sneaking into a dump to look at old garbage? Well, I kinda think so. Sadly, I did not want to carry a desk down the road for a mile. Instead, my devilish self stashed it in the woods next to the dump entrance.

The next day, I was a bit more ambitious. Yup. I carried a desk from a dump down a road for a mile.

Without further ado:

Check back in a few days to see the makeover!