Then using a straight edge, I used a level, I continued the lines from the treads and risers onto my skirt.

 

 

 

Easy peasy so far. You might notice that some of my steps don't quite reach the skirt, don't worry too much about that. Once all your steps are marked you need to cut those little triangles out.

 

 

Now for the word painting. After you cut all the triangles out your skirt will actually fit into the voids above the steps, although not perfectly. There will be gaps in some spots and none in others. As disappointing as this may sound, you will need to re-trace and cut your stair notches. To do that I used my trusty level again, but this time I laid it on its side so that I would be marking my skirt about an inch above my steps. Once you've re-traced your treads and risers and cut along the new lines your skirt should fit like a glove. The last steps for cutting your skirt is to rip some of the height off, and cut the top and bottom ends off. I marked the height of my skirts at 3" above the old tread so they would all be consistent. At the top of the stairs I cut the riser so it would sit flush with the exsisting floor, and at the bottom of the stairs I cut it perpendicular to the floor about an inch and a half in front of the bottom riser. Hopefully that description helps, but if your still confused just leave me a comment with your question below.

 

 

This is an almost finished skirt. You can see I still have to cut the top (flush with the flooring) and bottom (perpendicular to the floor) bits off, but the height has been cut.

 

 

Moving on to the risers. Since one side of the staircase is open I was excited to skip the measuring part. I took the railing down to make things a little easier, and to add an element of danger! Dunt dunt dunnnnn.

 

 

Then I placed my riser material in its future home...

 

 

And marked my cut line from the back. My plan for this ugliness is to make a skirt but for under the stairs (like this). I figure I will need to install the skirt and risers before I start to trace my steps and cut this other skirt, so that's where I'm at for now.

 

I'm hoping for some decent weather (not freezing or windy) so I can finish painting these pieces this weekend. Also, we ordered the treads last week and they should be here by Monday evening. I've got a little more figuring out to do with these new treads (some of which will require some help from my dad), but I'm hopeful I don't 1) ruin them and 2) it doesn't take forever.

 

Nikki Kelly

 

Look out Crate and Barrel, I copied your Christmas tree ornament display thingy. Don't worry, I still love you anyway.

 

As soon as I saw the original at my local C&B I instantly thought I could make one myself. So I pinned it for later and quickly forgot about it. It only came back on my radar while we were finalizing our Xmas shopping. See, we usually get Matt's mom one of those fancy Swarovski crystal snowflake ornaments for Xmas and I thought this would be a nice way to display them. So with two days to spare I started this last minute project. The supply list is pretty short; a 1x2x8" board, 2 small dowels, and some stain. I already had some poly, nails and screws.

To make the triangle I cut the angles at the top of my tree, both of which are 45 degree angles, on a miter saw. Then, I laid my bottom piece along the bottom and used a t-square thing to level it out based on the inner and top most points. Once it looked good I marked my cut lines and ended up with this.

 

 

Now that my tree shape was established I needed to plan out where the ornaments would rest. I eyeballed this process as well by laying a dowel, tracing it with a pencil, and using ornaments to help figure out spacing. Once I knew where I wanted my dowels to cross I marked the center of my boards.

 

 

To drill my holes I started out with my drill perpendicular to the board like so.

 

 

But once the hole was started I repositioned my drill so that it was roughly at the same angle as my lines were. I started with a smaller drill bit and then bumped up to the one that was closest to my dowel size.

 

 

Now that all my holes were drilled at roughly the same angles I slid my dowels in and marked my cut lines.

 

 

After cutting my dowels and glueing them into place I secured the first two pieces of my triangle together with some wood glue and two shots from my nail gun. After that my base was somehow a little smaller than what I started out with. No problem, I just lined one side up so it was flush with the side and marked where I needed to cut on the other end.

 

 

With the board cut to the correct size I attached it to the rest of the tree with screws up from the bottom, that way you won't see them. Now for ornament placement. I used our dremel tool to create little notches in the dowels to indicate where you should hang ornaments, and to keep them from sliding to one side or the other if they happen to be on hooks. The dremel notches were not exactly pretty, so I smoothed them out with some sand paper wrapped around some scrap dowel.

 

 

Now sand, stain, poly and add a little base and you're left with this!

 

 

I need to make one for our house now.

 

 

Oh, and how many of you had a Miley on your tree this year?

 

Nikki Kelly

 

Last week I was working on cleaning up the studio because, well, this was happening!

 

 

That woman sitting on the floor with the camera is Hellen and she is a photographer for the Denver Post (aaaaaahhh!). She came over this weekend to shoot some pictures for an article about Ikea Hacking! It's in the paper to-day (I am literally bursting with excitement) if you happen to be in Denver. But if not, here is the online version. Anyway, while I was cleaning up my room I was wishing that a few more things were done in here. Countertops and some sort of window treatment to start off with, and since I didn't have anything that I could make into a countertop lying around I chose to work on the latter. What a sad little barren basement window.

 

 

At first I thought about sewing a simple pair of curtains that I could hang in there with a little tension rod and then call it done. But that's so easy, if I had really wanted to do that I probably would have done it by now. On to further brainstorming... I knew I didn't want to block the small amount of light I actually do get in there, but I wanted something to soften that little box of a window. That's when I remembered this post from Kara's blog about a backdrop she made for a wedding. It's pretty awesome looking. Hers is made out of receipt rolls, but I wanted to use some fabric I had left over from who knows what. I also picked up a little more fabric, some starch, and a piece of foam core board for under $7.

 

 

Even though I was using fabric instead of paper, I still wanted that paper-y quality in my loops. After ripping the fabric into 2-3" strips I ironed them with lots and lots of starch.

 

 

Once they were all crispy I turned to the foam core board. I cut it so that it would be thicker on the side of the window that doesn't open. I wanted more loops on the left side (the side that doesn't open) and fewer and shorter loops on the right so that I could still open it easily. Once I had my shape cut out I started glueing the fabric strips to it.

 

 

Once the front was covered with fabric I put it in my window with a few screws to hold it in place.

 

 

 

At this point my window treatment reminded me of all the spooky movies where the curtains are all torn up and stringy, but not for long. Using some hot glue I started creating loops with my fabric. This part was more visual than technique, just step back and look at the balance now and then and you'll be fine.

 

 

After getting the first row looped and glued I just kept adding strips and loops to fill the left side in more until I was happy with how it looked.

 

 

 

 

I love how it looks like something you'd find in an Anthropologie! In fact, I wouldn't mind if my little room ended up like that at all. They really do have the best displays. Ok, I'm off to buy 50 copies of today's newspaper and show them to everyone. O__O

 

Nikki Kelly

Well, I was finally able to upload pictures of these little plant stands Matt made last week without accidentally deleting them! In my defense, the import button and the delete button are right next to each other AND it doesn't ask you if you're sure you want to delete the pictures. Come on iPad, you're supposed to know what I'm thinking even when I tell you the opposite. Anyway, if you remember back when we bought a big old beam to make two mantles from I mentioned that we had quite a bit more than we needed. It turned out to be a good thing for two reasons. First, cutting through a 4" beam with a saw that only cuts 2-3" deep is tricky. Secondly, these cute little plant stands!

 

 

They were really quite easy and you could pretty much make them out of any decent sized chunk of wood you've got lying around. Sadly I took no "in progress" pictures. Not a one! But since they are so easy, I don't think they're really necessary.

Step 1: Cut a hole in a box Sand your chunk of wood.

Step 2: Seal your chunk of wood.

Step 3: Put legs on your chunk of wood.

We used some Polycrylic that we already had to seal the wood and we picked up two different sizes of CAPITA legs from IKEA to vary their elevations.

 

 

I think Barbara approves of the addition to her favorite spot. Now she can feel like an exotic jungle cat while she snoozes ontop of a heat vent. Treats n' snoozin!

 

 

Later this week: more cats (I went to a cat show and a big cat sanctuary) and crafty fun times at IKEA! So make sure to check back for that.

 

Nikki Kelly

 

It's an antler! With necklaces and rings on it! And silver leafed points! I love it! It was, however, quite a long time between conception and execution. The problem is that antler sheds are not exactly easy to find for a reasonable price. I have literally been on the lookout for some cheap antlers since last fall. I found some smaller mounted antlers (with a chunk of scull still attached = gross) for around $40 at the antique mall, and there were some single sheds there too but they were usually $20. I even discovered a Native American craft store in town that had some for around the same price. So instead of spending $20 an antler, I just told a couple of people that I was looking for antlers. After months with no antlers falling into my lap Ali (BFF) came through with an antler she picked up at an estate sale. I think she said it was something like $3. Here's her cat Doc in between trying to eat it. Dummy.


Now that I had an antler, its on to the actual doing of the project! Here's my stuff; tape, silver leaf, spray adhesive, grocery bag*, picture hanging hardware*, Polycrylic*. (*not in picture)


I taped off the the antler so I could just spray the points and then stabbed them through a grocery bag like this. The grocery bag is just so I didn't have to tape off the whole antler.


After a quick shot of spray adhesive on all the points (outside) I started applying the silver leaf. If you've ever used these leaf products you are probably aware that they're messy. If not, now you do. That's why this picture is so terrible. There were silver flecks floating around the air every time I moved, so once I got the points lightly covered I stepped back outside to dust off the rest with a crappy blush brush from Forever 21. I also slapped a light coat of Polycrylic over the whole antler to protect the silver leaf and bring out some color in the antler.


While I failed to take pictures of the other outdoor activities, here's one that I did get. If you are like me and don't want creepy dried up deer marrow dust inside you house then just do your antler drilling outside. To pick the placement of my hardware I just laid the antler on its back on the table and put it close to where the antler was resting naturally and low enough so I couldn't see the hardware from the front. Don't over think this part, it doesn't really matter that much.


Two little screws later and my antler was officially no longer a gross antler, but had transformed into a beautiful jewelry display!


See? I'm mostly a necklaces and rings type of girl, which, as you can see it holds both quite nicely.


Yay for DIY necklaces! As you can see I did in fact get around to fixing my bubble necklace, I used some tiger tail (thanks Lizzie!) and it worked like a charm.


My Swarovski inspired necklace with beads I got while we were in Ouray last summer.


My copper ring from Seattle.


My quartz ring from Santa Fe, and a bone ring Ali picked up for me in Europe. I think it's made from the bones of poorly behaved children (maybe, probably not).


Sea shell ring collection!


I don't have a ton of jewelry, but I just love the stuff I do have. Now I have a way to enjoy them even when I'm not wearing them.


What kinds of jewelry displays do you have/want in your room? Do you think antlers are gross? Do you have any that you want to get rid of? I'll take more!

Nikki Kelly

Oh, and because this project is just that awesome, I'm linking up here:


And at C.R.A.F.T. Monday Funday but I couldn't get the button to work.

Its that time again!

 

 

I think the first time I heard the word gabion I was watching an episode of Yard Crashers a couple of years ago. I instantly fell in love with them, but had no idea how I could work them into my life (aka tiny microscopic back yard). Originally they were built to give soldiers something to hide behind so as not to get shot. It seems pretty logical, large basket type thing, fill it with rocks, no bullet holes (as long as your standing behind it). Since I among battling in a rival gang dispute my gabion is a little more on the decorative side. Oh, and here is my inspiration (it looks like the listing is no longer available), and more gabion pins are on my outdoor board!

Here's mine! I love how it turned out, and that tiny succulent is just so adorable!

 

 

Ok, now that you've see the finished product, go grab a snack because there's a lot of pictures, and probably a lot of words to go with them! First you need tools and supplies.

• Hardware cloth (wire grid stuff)
• Needle nose pliers
• Dremmel tool with metal cutting disk (not completely necessary, but very helpful)
• Large-ish river rocks (check the aquarium section at the pet store)
• A plant or candle
• Gloves (I didn't use any, obviously)

I decided the size of my planter based on the size of container I wanted to put in it. You want a minimum of two squares between your plant and the end of your gabion. Once you've decided how big the top should be go ahead and cut your first piece of hardware cloth. I know in this picture I have a top and bottom piece that are cut the same way, but after working through this I would suggest leaving the fringe wires that go past the squares you need on the piece you use for the bottom. Just to help clarify, the four on the top are my side pieces, then the bottom row are top/bottom pieces and the long one is for the tube in the center.

 

 

After you cut out your pieces you'll need to put the sides together. I started by pre bending the fringe wire to make connecting them a little easier.

 

 

Line them up like so. Oh, and excuse my grimy fingers, I had been doing this a while already.

 

 

Once you have two sides lined up like this use your needle nose pliers to bend the fringe wires around the perpendicular wire and back onto itself.

 

 

Do that to connect all four side pieces. When you're done it will probably look a little off like this.

 

 

Don't worry, once you close up that last corner it will be nice and box shaped!

 

 

Now that you have the outside done you need to save room for your plant in the middle. Grab your long piece and your top piece.

 

 

Use the fringe wires to join your long piece end to end and mould it into cylinder.

 

 

Now center you top piece on your wire cylinder. To attach them together I started with the north east south and west intersections. Wherever the wire meets up with the circle I would cut and bend the fringe wire around.

 

 

 

 

The corners here were just a little bit inside of the circle. To leave myself enough wire to wrap with I used my pliers to break the bond that holds them together before wrapping them around the cylinder piece.

 

 

Tad a!

 

 

Now that you've got the top pece put together, insert it into the box and fold those little fringe wires around just like before. I noticed that the wires in the very corners of the box were in the way, so I just cut those off with my dremmel.

 

 

Now turn it over and fill it with some rocks.

 

 

Finally, you can close the gabion up with the bottom piece. I chose to pre bend two sides of the bottom piece because the fringe wires that were not bending around the perpendicular wire that they were attached to had a tendency to break off. Bending them ahead of time seemed to minimized that a lot.

 

 

Now drop a plant (or maybe a candle if your thumbs are of the darker variety) in there and admire your handy work.

 

 

 

I'm so excited for spring to get here already, I think this will be great in the back yard. Sadly our yard is filled with snow at the moment, so no outdoor shots. :(

 

 

 

Welp, this concludes my Pinterest Challenge (winter edition) project. What did you make this time around? Wanna see more pinspired projects? Oh, and be sure to go check out all the other Pinspired projects at Young House Love, Bower Power, The Remodeled Life, and Decor & the Dog.

 

Nikki Kelly