Make a bird mobile

I made my friend a birdy mobile from Spool. It contained a free pattern but virtually no instructions. The fabric birds are pretty easy to make.

I used different fabric for the bird belly and the bird backs.

The next step was to put the thing together. I attached the birds to the branches with toothpicks.

$15 vintage wood play pen (11.5"x11.5") from Craigslist. Painted it white, made bedding, and gave it to my niece.

Map Gallery Wall

I found an Encyclopedia Britannica World Atlas from 1969 at a thrift shop for $7. I purchased some Ribba frames from Ikea, which come with nice matts, and framed places I've visited.

CL Stool Makeover

I purchased this stool on Craigslist for $10.
under my desk.

First I primed:



Then I reupholstered the seat with some a piece of remnant fabric I got from Jo-Ann's Fabric and spray painted it. I think I had about 36"x42" but the fabric is home dec and came from a 54" bolt. I simply removed the staples from the padded seat, threw away the old fabric, and stapled on the fabric I wanted.

Club chairs

Here are what the club chairs look like now, stripped of their fabric:

Here's what they used to look like:

Reupholster

I purchased a sideboard from Craigslist for $120 and the seller threw in 2 chairs that had hideously ugly and stained upholstery.

Exhbit A- The before:

I first removed the seat from the chair frame and pulled off the fabric.
I went through a few layers of ugly, old, and dusty fabric and then glued a new cushion onto the seat with spray adhesive.

Then I added layered on the batting and upholstery fabric.

Finally, I pulled the fabric around and stapled it to the back of the chair. Here is the finished product:

Wall Stencil

Here is a Moroccan wall stencil I painted on my bathroom wall. I initially intended to paint the entire wall but it turns out that stenciling takes forever. After completing one stencil panel in one hour, I quickly changed my mind and decided to do a band of arches.

I used this stencil Royal Design Studio and three blue paints from Home Depot. The key to a good stencil is to use as little paint as possible. My first stencils had a lot of bleeding because I used too much paint. I'll just pretend that I was going for a "hand painted" look and leave it at that.