Japanese Bath Salt Wall Art

One of the things on my list to get done in my bathroom was to hang some wall art around my window. As I've mentioned before I love my Japanese bath salts and since I think the packaging designs on them are cool, I thought that framing a few of them would be fun.

I bought four inexpensive 11" x 14" frames from Meijer and picked out four bath salts that had packaging in blue/green/teal colors that worked well together and I liked. I made a slit on the back of each package, careful to make sure I didn't cut the front, and poured the bath salts into plastic sandwich bags to save for later. I'm definitely not one to waste bath salts!

I cut pieces of white watercolor paper to the size of the frame openings and used double stick tape to attach the bath salt packaging to the paper. After slipping the papers into the frames and hanging them on the wall my project was complete. You can't really see it in the pictures but the texture of the watercolor paper makes a nice contrast with the shiny bath salt packages. This was a super easy way to add some personal wall art to my bathroom and it makes me smile to see them hanging up.

If you are interested, check out the rest of my bathroom posts here: Bathroom Blog Posts

Organizing My Bathroom Built-in Shelves

With my many projects (hanging wallpaper and painting the built-in, adding shelves and organizing the built-in cabinet and hanging a mirror on the wall) completed there was only one thing left for me to finish up in this corner of the bathroom; organize the built-in shelves. After all of the more mundane things this was definitely the fun part for me.

On the left side of my top shelf I have a large glass canister from Target for storing my packets of Japanese bath salts. Previously I had them in a wire basket but they kept slipping out so I got this canister instead and moved the basket to my craft room for storing fabric. Japan has a strong bathing culture and going to hot springs (onsen) for bathing is very popular. When I was living in Japan it was well known among my friends that I loved going to onsen so I got lots of bath salt packets with minerals from different famous onsen for going away presents.

Next to my bath salts I have a glass bubble filled with shells and sand that my sister gave to me for Christmas one year. On the right side I have a photo that I took of Dogo Onsen (one of the oldest hot spring baths in Japan) in a teal faux alligator frame that I picked up on sale at Papyrus years ago. Next to the frame I have a little muslin bag of bath salts that I bought in Bath, England. It originally had a royal blue ribbon on it so I swapped it out for a teal one. My last item on the top shelf is a new standing mirror at I picked up at HomeGoods this past week. I've been wanting to get a mirror like that for a while and decided that as a reward to myself for my bathroom progress I would get it.

On my second from the top shelf I rolled up my extra hand towels and stacked them up on the left side. The right side has a wire basket from Target with extra rolls of toilet paper in it and a little starfish.

On the left side of my second from the bottom shelf I have an old glass canister whose lid I spray painted silver. I have it filled with cotton balls next to a little teal ceramic jar that was a thrift store find. On the right side I have another photo of Dogo Onsen in a white reclaimed wood frame that I picked up at an art fair on the Mornington Peninsula in Australia. I also printed out an Alicia Keys quote, "If I want to be alone, some place I can write, I can read, I can pray, I can cry, I can do whatever I want - I go to the bathroom,” that I used for a previous blog post and put it in another teal frame that I bought at the same time as the one on the top shelf. Last but not least I have a little fish shaped pumice stone. 

On my bottom shelf I have another wire basket from Target with my extra wash cloths folded up in it. I also tucked in a conch shell that my paternal grandfather gave me years ago when I was a little girl. On the right side I have a glass canister filled with white coral that I picked up on a beach in the USVI when visiting my sister. In a smaller glass and chrome container from HomeGoods I have my cotton swabs and for fun I have a little wooden frog I got on another one of my trips to the Caribbean with my sister. 

It feels so nice to have this part of the bathroom all organized and finished now. Almost all of the items I already had and my only new purchases were the large glass container for my bath salts, the standing mirror and the little container for my cotton swabs. I love that everything on the shelves either has some functional bathroom purpose or has a special memory for me. With just a few small things that I've done, this corner of my bathroom now looks a lot more polished and finished than it did just a month ago. Now if only I could get some motivation to finish up my bathtub...

If you are interested, check out the rest of my bathroom posts here: Bathroom Blog Posts

Spray Paint Tips & Tricks

On Saturday morning I found this cute little terra cotta vase for only a dollar at the Ann Arbor ReUse Center. It was a little too eighties for my taste (it was even marked 1982 on the bottom) in its original condition, but I love how it turned out after I gave it a quick make over with matte black spray paint. I think it will look great in my bathroom once I get everything finished and put back together.

I love using spray paint to transform things that are a little bit worn or outdated. It is so easy and has such a big impact. I thought for fun I'd share a few of my pointers for getting a great spray paint finish. Most of them are common sense, but I've learned the hard way from trying to hurry the process that they are vital. Happy painting!

Spray Paint Tips & Tricks
- Before you start make sure to lay down newspaper or plastic that extends far beyond the object you are spray painting. Just a little breeze can send the paint flying and leave a little halo on the ground around your newspaper or plastic
- Make sure your surface is clean and properly prepared (you can use a deglosser on glossy surfaces) so that you can get the best adhesion
- Use a primer before spray painting bare wood
- Don't try to cover everything in one coat or you risk drips
- Several light coats holding the can about 10" away from the object gives a nice, drip free finish
- After thoroughly dried, flip the object over and spray again to make sure to get any parts that couldn't be reached right side up
- Don't touch the object until it is completely dried so you don't smudge the finish 

Making a Bathroom Rug from Towels

This weekend I decided that I needed to get cracking on my long list of items to finish up my bathroom. Since I still had black thread on my sewing machine from making my laptop sleeve, I thought making my bathroom rug would be the perfect place to start.

I have some black in my bathroom with the liner bar tile in my shower and the black ceramic light fixtures so when I stumbled upon a solitary black and white damask towel at HomeGoods I thought it would be perfect for turning into a rug for my bathroom. It was a bit smaller than I wanted, though so I decided to add a black border with two black towels that I picked up from Target. I had priced out buying black terry cloth from a fabric store but buying the bath towels instead turned out to be cheaper.

To start, I trimmed off the binding on the damask towel with my rotary cutter.  The towel was a little puckered on the end so I made sure to trim that part off as well so I was left with a flat rectangle with straight edges. I then cut each of the black towels into two 14" long strips.

I took one of the black strips and pinned it, with the right sides together, to one of the long sides of the damask towel. After stitching the pieces together I pressed the seam flat and repeated the same steps on the other side of the damask towel with another strip of black. I decided on using a 5/8" seam since the material was so bulky.

With the two sides sewn on, I trimmed off the excess black towel so it was even with the damask towel on both ends. On each of the ends I attached another piece of black towel like mentioned above and then trimmed the ends so I was left with a large black rectangle framing the damask pattern. To finish the edges I simply turned the salvage under and sewed it in place with a seam 1/4" from the edge.

I like how the rug turned out and since it is made from towels it is soft under my feet and I can simply throw it in the wash to clean it. It was also great for my budget costly only about $12 to make. Now I need to tackle a few more projects... 

If you are interested, check out how my master bathroom renovation finally turned out: Master Bathroom Renovation Recap

Wire Nail Michigan Map Art

My friend, Pam, is moving from Michigan to Minnesota this week. I love having her live down the street from me and although I am excited and happy for her I am sad for me and really going to miss her.

I wanted to make her something to remind her of the Mitten State and all of her friends and family here as a going away present. After thinking about it for a bit I came up with this idea to make a map of Michigan with wire nails and embroidery thread.

To start, I took a 12" x 12" piece of 1/4" plywood and spray painted it black. I then downloaded a map of Michigan from the internet and resized the image so it was approximately 8" x 8". I taped the paper to my plywood and then hammered wire nails (3/4 x 18 size) into the plywood following the map outlines. Due to the spacing I used some of the map detail was inevitably lost (sorry, Old Mission Peninsula!) but it still is unmistakably the Mitten State.

Once I had completed the wire nail outline I gently ripped the paper from around the nails. I think the nails alone look pretty neat and may use that for another project sometime. 

With the paper removed it was time to start adding the embroidery thread. I tied a knot on one of the nails and then started looping the thread around each nail. I learned the hard way that you have to keep the thread taut at all times otherwise you run the risk of the thread coming off the last few nails. I went around the outline three times with the thread before tying it off. I dabbed a little Fray Check on the knots to make sure they wouldn't come undone and then snipped the tails once the Fray Check had dried.

Pam really enjoyed the gift and I like how it turned out so much that I think I am going to make something for my house using some sort of variation of this.  

DIY Draft Stopper

There are many things that I love about living in a house that is over a hundred years old, but drafts aren't one of them. With winter here I thought that making a draft stopper for my front door would help keep a bit of the chill out of the house.

To start I used my rotary cutter to trim some fabric to 9" wide and a few inches wider than my door frame. I used outdoor fabric because I wanted something durable and I chose a subtle pattern that I thought would be fun but not too distracting in my entryway.

I folded the fabric lengthwise with right sides together and then sewed it shut, leaving a small opening at the top. I clipped the salvage at the corners, pressed open the seams and, pulling the stopper through the opening, turned it right side out. 

I chose a fine grain kitty litter to fill my draft stopper since it is heavy, compact, and inexpensive. To fill it I made a funnel with a piece of cardstock and poured the kitty litter into the stopper. I made a bit of a mess and I think if I did this again I would decant the kitty litter into something smaller, like a pitcher, to pour it into the stopper.

After filling up the draft stopper as much as I could I used a blind stitch to close up the opening and then placed it under my front door. Now my entryway is a little bit cozier.

P.S. If you are curious, the item hanging from my door knob is a wooden cow bell that I bought in Cambodia this past summer. I love the sound it makes when I open and close my front door.

Plans for my Master Bathroom

As part of my New Year's resolution to get projects finished up at my house I thought that I would tackle my master bathroom first since there isn't too much to do and it would be an easy first step.

When I first moved in, the room where my bathroom is seemed to have been used as a kitchen at some point since there were some remnants of plumbing sticking out of the wall and some remnants of tea kettle wallpaper. It was a great, nice sized space (10' x 10') with hardwood floors but there were no outlets and the horsehair plaster was crumbling off the walls and ceiling. The room is adjacent to the two tiny rooms that I combined to make my master bedroom so I decided to make it into my master bathroom.

The room required a complete renovation, tearing everything down to the studs, adding all new electrical, plumbing, and HVAC and refinishing the floors. I moved in the cast iron tub from the tiny upstairs bathroom and built a 3' x 5' walk in shower that I tiled with subway tile for a period look in keeping with my house. The built-in provides a nice storage space and also makes good use of the niche left after the chimney was boxed in. Having the built-in also allowed me to use a pedestal sink instead of having a vanity which I liked for having an open look in the bathroom. The lighting fixtures are vintage reproductions and I bought the antique glass shade for the overhead light on eBay. I wanted the bathroom to be be bright and cheery so I painted the room a fun teal color. One of my favorite parts about the bathroom is the wainscoting that goes around the room which I think adds a lot of charm. The pictures below show how my bathroom is currently, starting with the sink and going counter-clockwise around the room.

While I love how things have turned out in my master bathroom, I have a ton of small projects to finish up before I will feel like it is complete. Here's my current to-do list:

- Paint the outside of the tub teal (it is currently a light creamy yellow)
- Replace the cheap, temporary mirror with a medicine cabinet
- Add shelving to the inside of the built-in cabinet
- Jazz up the built-in with some color
- Make a wood vent cover to go over the ceiling fan (the plastic cover that came with the fan just doesn't fit in with the vintage look of the bathroom) 
- Make a rug to go in front of the bathtub
- Add some wall art and do some paint touch-ups

I'm still out of town right now, but I'm looking forward to start tackling some of these projects when I get home. 

Christmas Flowers

As a hostess gift for a Christmas Eve dinner I was attending I made this simple flower arrangement.

To begin, I bought green pom pom mums and a bag of cranberries at the grocery store. I wrapped a wide piece of coordinating green ribbon around a narrow glass vase, tucking under the end and using a glue gun to secure it. I then added a red ribbon over top which I tied into a bow in the front. 

After trimming the mums down to the desired length I arranged them in the vase. To add some extra color to the arrangement I then carefully added cranberries around the stems of the mums.

The arrangement turned out to be bright and festive and since I could make it with items from the grocery store and ribbons I had on hand it was easy and inexpensive as well.

Making the Easiest Bookshelf

After sharing a few items sitting on top of the bookshelf in my livingroom I thought I would share how I made the bookshelf itself.

For the shelves of the bookcase I bought two sets old bi-fold doors from my local recycle center for $5 each. I cleaned up the doors, removed the hinge and knob hardware and patched and painted over the holes left from the hardware. Alternately you could use wood boards but I opted for the cheaper route. 

To support the shelves I made columns of bricks. Colorwise the concrete bricks I bought didn't exactly fit in with my living room so I used some cream spray paint to get the color I wanted. As a tip, once you stack the bricks only three faces will show so you can conserve spray painting by only painting those faces.

For stability when building the bookcase it is important to stack the bricks in pairs, alternating the direction as you stack. It's also necessary to use some L-brackets to anchor the shelves to the walls and I wouldn't build it taller than I did (about halfway up the wall). 

All told, the project, not including paint drying time, took about an hour of hands on time and cost me about $35. Not too bad for a custom bookcase! 

To-ji Flea Market Treasures

On my recent trip to Japan I had a chance to do one of my favorite things while I am there, visit To-ji Flea Market in Kyoto.  I love poking around the market looking for interesting items and bargaining for deals.

Now that I am back in the US I am having fun incorporporating my newfound treasures into my home.

I have a display of items I have collected in my travels on a bookcase in my living room and the small abacus (¥500) I purchased made a great addition. It was pretty grungy when I got it but with a little cleaning it looks great while still retaining some of the patina it has acquired over time.

Once used by Japanese fisherman to keep fishing nets afloat, the glass fishing floats are now a popular item to see at flea markets. I bought five of them (¥400 each) at the market and had fun sifting through the box that was for sale, picking out the ones I wanted.  I love how each one uses slightly different twine and has a slightly different shade of pale turquoise.  To display them I stacked them inside a narrow glass canister that I bought at HomeGoods so it was easy to see each one individually.

My favorite find from my trip was an old milk bottle delivery box (¥2000). I love milk (As a kid, I dramatically declared "But milk is my life!" when we ran out at home one time) and the green and red printing match the colors of my kitchen. After cleaning up the delivery box I mounted on my kitchen wall and topped it with a small Japanese glass milk bottle I bought two years ago at the Osu flea market in Nagoya and a tiny Fiestaware pitcher I bought on eBay. A lot of the white paint has chipped off the delivery box so I am debating if I want to do some touch ups on the paint but for now I am happy with it.