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Hey - 


Today, I am posting over at Remodelaholic!  You can check the post out here.


Also, you can check out my post over at Knock-Off Decor!  You can check that post out here.


Hope everyone is having a great day.  I know I am; school is out for the summer!!

Knock-Off Pottery Barn Clock

Wow!  I got so many e-mails asking about my clock that I just decided to do a quick post on how I made it.  I actually followed a tutorial over at Alchemy Junk.  She had some great inspiration photos and directions on how to make a piece of brand new plywood look like weathered Pottery Barn wood!

A few times, I had to "figure things out" like you always do when following a tutorial.  I snapped some pictures of those steps to add to Alchemy Junk's tutorial.  Here is what I did:


I got Home Depot to cut me a piece of plywood to create a 35" x 35" square.  They give you two cuts for free, so that was perfect.  It also left me with a scrap piece large enough for me to make another clock for a friend if she was DYING to have one!


I bought a $1.00 brush to do some white washing (which I have never done before) as Alchemy Junk suggested.

I used my left over kitchen paint in creamy white to prime the wood and my leftover trim paint to white wash it.  As you can see, I just watered down the paint until it dripped off the brush.  This gave it a two toned look!

I literally used one of Rusty's knives to bore out some holes and cracks.  I even made sure to scrape up the edges and corners some.  If I had to do it over again, I would have picked a crappier piece of wood and distressed it even more!!

Alchemy Junk said she used paint chips to cut out her stencils.  I bought a $1 utility knife and tried that, but the chips weren't big enough for my numbers.  Then I tried card stock, and within one number, the edges were all soggy and the paint leaked under.  I finally dug up some of this plastic scrapbook paper and cut some stencils out of it.  It worked perfectly!!!  I literally just played around with the fonts and sizes and printed out some samples.  I decided on a size and font and cut out the X, V and I.  I would say GO BIG!!

I then traced the XII, III, VI and IX to make sure everything lined up.  I used a pretty dried out black Sharpie to do this.  I did try using a stencil sponge brush and the Valspar Antiquing Glaze from Lowe's, but the edges still bled under.  I resorted to filling them in with a small craft brush and loved the look MUCH better!

The spacing is another thing I had to figure out.  I could eyeball every other numeral I put in except for the VII and VIII.  I think it was because they took up the most space.  I mean, there is a ton of space between the I and II but hardly any space between the VII and VIII.  I got a little nervous here.  What I came up with is uber technical...As you see above, I ripped a sheet of paper in half.  I traced the tops of the numerals for VII and VIII and placed them on the clock for me to eyeball and move around.  Once I positioned them with the right amount of spacing, I just put the stencil on top of the V, held it in place and pulled the paper pattern out.  Make sure to connect the tops and bottoms of your numerals when stenciling and paint them together when painting.

After I filled in every numeral with the Valspar Antiquing Glaze (if you mess up, you can totally wipe the whole numeral away and start over!), the clock looked bold and sharp as in the top image.  I took a palm sander and started to sand away.  In the second picture, the VI and VII have been sanded some.  See the difference?  I think I sanded the whole clock once, swept it off, stepped back and sanded it again.  I hit up corners and edges again.  I even think it would look nice if you went back over it with some more antiquing glaze all over or in the corners.

Right now, I am loving it on my mantle.  I also measured in the exact size of an empty spot on my dining room wall.  I can't wait to try it there.  Rusty keeps staring at it and criticizing the fact that the numerals are upside down towards the bottom.  I showed him the PB picture, but he still doesn't buy it.  Now, I text him a picture of every clock I see with Roman numerals to show him that I haven't found one with upright numerals yet, so I am NOT the only crazy one!!


Question:  Do you think I need to buy a clock kit and add hands?


Check out my Projects Page to see my other knock-offs like the Pottery Barn Hundi Lantern, Pottery Barn Jewelry Holder, West Elm Curtains.

Airing My Dirty Laundry

I've done it in the guest bedroom.  In the laundry room.  At night.  Before I go to work.  And especially when I'm really nice and dirty.  What is it....my laundry of course!  My laundry has kicked my butt a million times.  I have used my garden tub for a dirty clothes basket before....for months.  I have piled all of the clean laundry in one room before and locked myself in until everything is folded.  I came out with about 11 dryer sheets representing, you count 'em, 11 loads of laundry...at once. 


People, I have NO shame!!!


I have come up with a trillion little gimmicks to try to keep it under control, but I always fail.  In fact, I would say that for the last 3 weeks, Rusty and I have been more successful than we have ever been about keeping our laundry under control!


What has worked for me?


I keep the lid to the washing machine open to dump in sweaty work out clothes and yard work clothes.  Yep, we strip right beside the washer!  On top of the dryer, I keep a laundry basket that we throw in the nicer, dryer clothes.  When the washer gets full, we start it. When the basket gets full we wash a load.  They normally get full around the same time.  Every three days maybe.  We wear nice work clothes and dirty up a pair of work out clothes each day.  I do a load of towels and sheets every two weeks, maybe.


Here is what I started doing:


I make one huge pile on the floor.  I even have to go through the bedroom and pick up all of the reject outfits that didn't look good that morning and rehang them.

I drape and tops that go on hangers over the back of a chair and all pants over the seat of the chair.  I have one chair for me and one chair for Rusty

I use my dining room table to make neat piles of folded clothes.  Again, my clothes go on the table on the side that my chair is on and Rusty's on the other side.

My little tip is to stack all clean socks in one big pile and match them up at the end.  I leave the extras loose to pair up in future piles.

Why fold at the table?  Because I get to watch the only TV in our house while doing it.  Who can turn down Nate?!  I fold during the shows and run around the house on the commercials.  Hey, it works for me.

It also helps to have your folded artwork on display when the hubs comes home.  He sees how hard you work and immediately feels like he needs to put this away.  It is an undeniable way to show the men they dirty up WAY more clothes than we do.  Plus, no one wants to eat dinner while staring your underwear and socks in the face!


What household chore KOs you every week?  Have you come up with any little gimmicks to show it who's boss?  If so, PLEASE SHARE!!!!  Happy folding :)


I'm linking to The Stories of A to Z.

May Mantlescape

This week, I decided it was finally time to rotate out the White Mantlescape in the living room to the mantle in my master bedroom.  This left me with an empty mantle that freaked me out every time I looked at it!  I didn't feel inspired at all and had no idea what the final product would end up looking like, but I knew I was going to place my newest Pottery Barn knock-off right in the middle.  Then I pulled lots of little things from around the house and stacked them all in one place, so I could start playing...

I came up with this:

A stack of hardback books from the thrift store with the covers ripped off.  I stack three and tied some twine around them.  A piece of driftwood from Lake Lanier that my friend gave me.  A white water pitcher from Ross with some left over flowers from a wreath project I did back last fall.  (I plan to fill this with my yard flowers as soon as I see blooms!)

A jar of lemons (fake) that I found at a yard sale for $2.50.  A finial from Homegoods, and an hourglass from the Kohl's clearance shelf.

I ended up with this, and stared at it for a whole week thinking something wasn't right.  It just didn't feel balanced.  I decided to trade out the glass hourglass for my ceramic rooster from Ross and felt it was just the right touch!

 The white rooster balanced the white water pitcher on the other side.

 Here is my final arrangement, and I love it.

Until I change it again!!  


What's on your mantle this month?

Vote For Me!!!!

Shut the front door and then shut the back door!!!

I made the top ten list for the Knock-It-Off Contest over at Seven-Thirty-Three Blog!!!  Here is the knock off project I entered:

What did I knock off?  These West Elm curtains! 

Here's how voting works:

• Click on the button to get to the contest page.
• Click the little star under the picture of my stenciled curtains.
• Sign onto every computer you have access to and vote again!
• Tweet and Facebook this to your Army!

Click this button to be directed to the contest for voting!

Voting runs through Friday, May 6th at Midnight!  There are Oh'Mazing prizes for the winner and 1st runner up.

Thanks for your support!  I actually won!!!