Date Night… and a Coffee Table?

So, it’s been no secret that as far as my dating life goes, it’s been kind of non-existent for most of this blog. Call it too busy when I was in school or too busy when I was launching a business or just being gun-shy, I’ve just not been very sure-footed in this part of my life. Or rather, I’ve been really unsure of how to handle it blog-wise. I feel like no matter how little or how often I might bring up such things, it’s always going to be clumsily done, and that makes me kind of self-conscious about it.

Also? Not all dudes can handle a line like, “Ok, let’s do dinner at my place? I have to build a coffee table first, but I’m also in the mood for pizza.”

Or, “When was the last time you had a tetanus shot? Just curious. There might be a nail on the new rug in my living room and I can’t find it.”

Anyway, relationships can be a tricky situation to talk about when you put the rest of your life out on a blog. Not that I think I’m very important or that you guys care to gossip about a small-time DIY blogger (pshh, why, when the internet is overflowing with warmer tea), but I suppose it’s just that one can never be too careful when it’s someone else’s life you’re talking about, and I hate the idea of oversharing about a person whose permanence in my life is still new, ya know? And when the simple nature of DIY blogs is that most aren’t single like I am, I kind of have to figure out for myself where those boundaries are. In short: dating and DIY can be weird.

Also, being single automatically makes you sound like Taylor Swift if you start talking about every guy you date. And if a relationship goes poorly, blogging about your ex being a sociopath or his laughably tacky birthday gift can sound super off-topic (not that I’ve done that, coughcough).

But when you are literally building a coffee table not for yourself, but for the guy you’re dating to make it easier on nights when you’re both working on the computer (we both do freelance work at night sometimes, and selling my living room furniture has left little space for stashing coffee or food), it’s hard not to chuckle at myself that I’m building furniture for relationship reasons.

So, that’s how I spent part of my week. Building a coffee table for a boy. Ha.

More on this later, though. Because I still need to route it, stain it, and it’s not even the permanent table I want in this room (but finding a piece with enough character will take time, and this was a decent use of scrap wood). All I can say for now is that it’s heavy and the reason you only saw part of the living room last week:

Also new this week: I did lots of updates to the blog’s homepage, and I’ve been working on getting the site more organized for you guys (more to come, just FYI… I’ve decided not to do a big new redesign launch but to just make tweaks as I go, so if for some reason something looks weird, try clearing your browser cache and it should refresh… or reach out to me if something is broken and I’ll get on it asap). I simultaneously hope that it will be both noticeably better and not noticeable at all.

Oh! And other news… I’m adding a contributor to the blog who used to work at the magazine for me (her introduction is on its way!) as well possibly adding some more recipes to the site… a handful of my own “lazy gal” recipes from when I studied abroad (fair warning: do NOT expect these to be complex or healthy), and some from the dude who will soon have his own coffee table.

As per yuzh, we’ll wing it and see how it goes. Cheers, friends. Hope you’re all having an awesome week!

The post Date Night… and a Coffee Table? appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

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from The Ugly Duckling House http://www.uglyducklinghouse.com/date-night-coffee-table/

Currently, the best buy on the market in electric garage door openers is the 8550W

Is your garage opener starting to feel its age? Could this be the time for you to change it? But which garage door opener model … Read More

The post Currently, the best buy on the market in electric garage door openers is the 8550W appeared first on Garaga Garage Door Blog.

from Garaga Garage Door Blog http://www.garaga.com/blog/en/currently-best-buy-market-electric-garage-door-openers-8550w/

Charlie Turns Six!

Finding an Extra Large Rug I Love… and Can Afford

Timeless Home Decor Trends – Is There Such a Thing?

Today, I’ve got a bit of an unusual post for this blog: a guest contributor!

Over the last 7 years of blogging, I have let maybe 3 or 4 contributors come and share something about themselves on the blog. And it’s not because there aren’t other amazing DIYers out there, or that I wouldn’t love to have a regular contributor or two sharing their cool DIY projects with you guys (I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, so more on that later). It’s because working alone on this blog has always been a juggling act — planning and actually doing the projects on my to-do list, writing about them, editing photos, getting the behind-the-blog business to operate smoothly, maintaining the site, managing the finances of it, and of course, dealing with lots of emails — it’s minutes here and minutes there, and then there’s no more time in the day for new stuff (and duh, Charlie needs a walk or two).

And for those of you who aren’t familiar with the behind-the-scenes stuff with blogs, “guest post” requests are WAY TOO OFTEN nothing more than thinly veiled attempts for spamming you guys with marketing content. And since all of us are smarter than that, I got annoyed, frustrated at sorting through them, and just stopped taking guest post requests altogether. But here’s the not-so-fun-part of that: any blogger could easily tell you that my policy has solved nothing, because spammers love to follow up on emails no one wanted to even read the first time. My inbox still stays full, unless I pen a response somewhere along the lines of “to be 100% honest, I would rather eat rusty nails than publish this for you.”

But then, on a very rare day when just the right sunlight comes through the window and I’ve had enough coffee to not hate email, I will find a real post worth sharing. And this is one of those things. A reader-slash-interior-designer named Ruth Stolerman reached out about a recent project she did for a children’s bedroom. She does really fun, custom murals for her clients, and offered to share some of her secrets for a DIY tutorial, for no other reason than you guys might enjoy seeing how they’re made.

And, it got me thinking that I’d love to see more posts like this from readers who are proud of their work. So, I said yes. And she was super nice and sent me everything in a neat little package, and I managed to still get bogged down for months before getting it onto the blog. So I’m finally sharing it (with apologies to Ruth, of course). I hope you guys enjoy! *Affiliate links may be used in this post.*

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An Interior Designer’s Guide to Painting a Mural

I love painting murals for my clients – they’re great above a bed because lots of people worry about heavy artwork falling on them in their sleep. The key to a successful mural is planning. Before you get started, make sure you have a clear vision in your mind. Even if you would like to freestyle it, look at images that will help formulate an idea. I will walk you through a mural I just finished (see above) where we had a clear vision from the start. This mural is in a children’s bedroom and we decided I would paint a scene from the amazing Roald Dahl book, The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me.

Materials Needed:

• pencil
• paint brushes of various sizes
• a water glass to clean your brushes
• a palette or makeshift palette (plate, etc.)
• a kitchen towel
• cling wrap
• acrylic paint

I like to use acrylic paints because they dry quickly and are water resistant. If you make a mistake before the paint has dried, you can dab it with a damp towel and completely remove the error.

If you’re nervous then I would recommend sketching your ideas on pieces of paper in the size you want, which you can then use as a 1:1 guide. I just dove straight in but I have done quite a lot of these!

When you have finished planning, start off by painting your wall in the color you would like it to be, using the paint brand of your choice. Alternatively, just work with the wall color you’ve got!

Let any paint dry and wipe down the wall thoroughly so that you have a clean surface. If you have to use a little water for this, make sure the walls are dry before you begin. Don’t forget to move any furniture out of your way, or cover anything you might drip paint on.

Now, using a light pencil, mark out the rough area you would like to paint within to make sure your drawing doesn’t get too large or small. If you have done sketches, stick them on the wall using masking tape in the position that you would like them to be in, to make sure you like the layout. Copy or trace them on to the wall.

If you are copying an image, have it in front of you and start drawing. I started this mural in the bottom left hand corner because I wanted to be sure the image sat just above the duvet. Keep stepping back from your drawing throughout to make sure your dimensions are correct and that you are filling the allocated space in the right proportions.

Once you have finished drawing, it’s time to get your paint ready. I like to put kitchen towel on my palette and wet it slightly with water. This means that the acrylic paint doesn’t dry out too quickly and if you want to keep painting the next day you can Clingfilm the palette and it will stay damp. I then work round the edge of the palette with paints, going from light to dark, leaving as much of the palette untouched as possible. This way you can mix colors below easily to get the perfect shade. Don’t have your paints too close to each other or they will inevitably get muddled together as you go. Try to use a good range of colors; I decided I wanted a bit of blue in my painting so instead of using black to make the grey areas, I mixed blue and a little brown with some white.

It’s time to paint! If your image suits an outline, paint it in your color of choice using a thin brush. I like to paint from left to right as I use the wall to steady my painting hand and this avoids smudging.

Now it’s just painting by numbers. Pick one color to start with, I like picking a light color here because if your brushes aren’t 100% clean when you switch colors, there is less contamination going from light to dark. Paint all the areas in your color of choice first.

For your second color, just move to the next darkest color and do the same as you go on. If there are small details in your painting, wait until the paint is dry and add these last.

Keep adding colors one by one until your image is complete. Good luck, and happy painting!

Before

After

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Image credits: www.ruthstolerman.com

Thank you so, so much to Ruth for sharing her amazing work! And if you’d like to follow her, you can check out her work on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest.

P.S. If you’re a regular reader of this blog and want to show off your work, feel free to email me. I’m a sucker for a good before and after, and I’d be happy to share your story! (but if you spam me… see the rusty nail thing above…)

The post An Interior Designer’s Guide to Painting a Mural appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

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from The Ugly Duckling House http://www.uglyducklinghouse.com/an-interior-designers-guide-to-painting-a-wall-mural/

So Clever! A DIY Garden Trellis Made From Repurposed Materials

I’ve got a quick DIY idea for you guys today: a garden trellis made from a repurposed wooden bed frame!

These photos aren’t taken at my house, but rather when I was visiting a friend. With so many outdoor gardening projects on my to-do list lately, I guess my brain is just wired to look for them (kind of like whenever I work on molding projects; I find myself staring at people’s ceilings and windows to brainstorm!).

I spotted this on the side of the house and asked to take a few quick pics. Honestly, I think it’s pretty clever. I like how it repurposes something that would have likely been heading for a landfill. Clearly these are just getting started, but can you imagine them covered in flowering clematis?

This trellis looked like it was made from parts of a twin-size bed, but I think children’s bed frames would also be a good choice. A simple coat of opaque deck stain (it matches their front porch and rear deck stain) ties it together nicely and protects from the elements (when doing anything that leans against your siding like this, waterproofing is a wise move).

I guess it just goes to prove that I need to take more strolls around my neighborhood (and crash my friends’ places more often, too). Have you ever spied a clever repurpose project while out & about?

P.S. Don’t forget, there’s still a giveaway going on this week. Click here for the latest on my backyard garden and enter with a comment on the post for the chance to score some freebies!

The post So Clever! A DIY Garden Trellis Made From Repurposed Materials appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

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from The Ugly Duckling House http://www.uglyducklinghouse.com/diy-repurposed-garden-trellis/