Tag: <span>DIY</span>

vintage ski entrance designIt’s amazing what a production a wedding is and as much as people tell you that, you never really believe them until you are up to your eyeballs in escort cards and welcome bags. Truth be told, I love this stuff. From flower arrangements to place settings to lighting schemes, wedding design is a ton like home design but done in one big bang and in the prettiest dress you’ll ever own.

(Above) Entrance to Wonderland
Like a family crest, two crossed skis is the emblem of the Howard family—or has been ever since Mike found this slate sign at yard sale with their surname emblazoned on it. Planning a winter wedding, we knew this somehow had to be incorporated into our scheme. We ultimately glorified it by flanking two life-size antique skis and our framed initials on either side; this was the first thing guests saw when they entered the tent. There is nothing like the power of a little creativity and fishing line.
birch place card holdersPlace Card Craftiness
To keep with our winter woodland theme, we tucked our escort cards into homemade birch-log holders and laid them out on a bed of moss. The process of doing this was a little more than we bargained for but if you ever feel crazy enough to try this yourself—start with 6-8-foot long logs, cut them to the depth of your table, then cut slits at a 45-degree angle about six inches apart for a legible and eye-pleasing display.

table numbers as symbolsNon-Number Table Numbers
For table numbers, we figured 1-15 was a little expected, and giving each table some cutesy name was pretty played out too, so we had the bright idea (still proud of this one) to give each table a vintage winter icon (snowshoes, mitten, sled, goggles, ice skate, bota and more). So if your escort card had an old chair lift on it, you would look for the table that had the matching chair lift sign. No numbers or words needed. To do this, we worked with our amazing stationer Regas NY to create sketches with just the right old-school VT vibe.

wedding-tent-lightingCeiling of Chandeliers
Most people pick their wedding florist for their skill with flowers…ours we picked for her amazing collection of antiques. I always had this dream to bedeck a reception room with glittering vintage lanterns and chandeliers and Nancy Murray of A School House Garden had a whole barn-full of them to fulfill my bridal dreams. This is no easy feat in a canvas tent but under the lining she built an impressive network of cables to seamlessly string about 70 French-wire lanterns, five-arm crystal chandeliers, and glass beaded votive holders throughout the tent.

winter wedding floral designBudding Blooms
And not to downplay Nancy’s florist capabilities–she is beyond talented and achieved exactly what we were looking for: tons of texture, the perfect palette (crisp greens, rich purples, and winter whites) and arrangements that felt sophisticated yet completely natural.

-custom designed cookie wedding favorsMade with Love
I wouldn’t have thought to do this but the element of surprise and amazingly sweet (and delicious!) gesture made the cookie favors one of my favorite additions to our tables. Mike’s best friend Tushar and his wife Ana own the Hokulani Bake Shop in Hawaii and the night before their flight from Honolulu to Vermont they baked 175 cookies and decorated them with the same tree-carved heart motif from our invitations.

wedding-white-ski guest-bookSki Guest Book
Instead of having friends and family sign a guest book, we put out a pair of all-white skis we found at a backcountry ski shop in Rochester, VT. They were said to be military skis from WWII to help camouflage soldiers during snow combat. Without bindings or markings, this quirky clean slate had guest book written all over them. We put out a few Sharpies and friends wrote us well wishes on skis that we’ll put up on display–someday when we have a Vermont house of our own.

Projects

DIY window-valance-finishedAfter a year of thinking about my guest bedroom valance project, it finally came to fruition. Why did it take so long? Because it took me forever to convince Mike that this über-DIY project was feasible. The plan was to build a window valance out of wood, wallpaper it to match our accent wall, and secure it to the inside of the window. Easy? We were about to find out.

measuring for a window valance
Measurements
What helped kick-start this project into action was that we happened to find two pieces of discarded 50” wide x 14” tall wood–dimensions that were basically valance size. The height was perfect and the width just needed to be trimmed down a bit.

To make the window seem larger, we measured so the panel width would extend 3” beyond the window frame on each side, making the total 40” wide. Now it just needed a way to connect to the wall. The answer was create a short table-like structure to sit over the top of the window frame. Five-inch side boards would hopefully act as a base for a sturdy rectangular valance.

valance-ideas-saw

Building the Wooden Structure
We broke out the circular saw and cut our three pieces of wood (the front panel, and the two identical five-inch side pieces). We checked to see if they lined up properly then sanded them until they were smooth.

Now we were ready for assembly. We ran a bead of wood glue where the side panels met the front but for the ultimate stability, we screwed four L-brackets on the inside of the valance.

Prepping the wood for wallpaper
We sanded the wooden structure one more time and gave it a coat of wallpaper primer to make sure the paper would adhere nicely to this unconventional surface.

window valance building ideas-wallpaperingWallpapering
At first it seemed like we had more than enough wallpaper to cover this tiny valance, but when we matched up the pattern we barely had paper to make it around the wood. With zero wiggle-room, we booked the wallpaper (the process of activating the paste to maximize stickiness), pasted it to the  primed wood, and cut the excess with a Xact-o knife–very carefully. After four hours of drying time, it was ready to hang.

Hanging the Valance
This part was a bit of a two-person juggling act, hence the lack of photos. The plan was to connect our valance to the wall with more of the trusty L-brackets, connecting from the inside of the valance to the outside of the window frame. To do this, we first held up the valance, making sure there it was centered and an inch from the ceiling, then we marked the spots where the four L-brackets would be the sturdiest and drilled into the wall.



Voila!
We have a window treatment that carries the bold pattern of our wallpaper around the room and gives our window a polished look! Now, I’ll admit that this project was definitely time consuming but I’m proud to say, it’s not that difficult to do and way cheaper than having a valance made.

Projects

silver wall sconceHanging by the front door of his former bachelor pad, Mike had sconces made of old terracotta roof tiles. They were definitely a bit rugged for my taste but I loved their simplicity–just a candleholder drilled into a found object. Then I started thinking, with that formula, a sconce could really be anything. For the best light and shadow, the material should be something reflective with an interesting outline and for drilling reasons, it’s got to be durable. I had a scalloped silver plate that was perfect, now I just needed to figure out the logistics of attaching the candleholder. After doing a good amount of brainstorming and research on Grand Brass Lamp Parts, I decided a candelabra arm was the closest to a ready-to-go candleholder (since welding wasn’t exactly an option).

sconce

So I took a trip to my favorite resource for outlandish decorating projects, Jamali Gardens, and found this inexpensive nickel-plated candelabra and an aluminum tray to practice on.

wall decor candelabra
Like many candelabras, the one I bought was made from two intersecting arms and fastened with the center candle. Once I separated the two arms, I took a hacksaw and cut it where the candleholder’s curve met the decorative center portion.

wall decor candelabra armThe next move was connecting the arm to the plate (this is where Mike’s skills come in). We drilled a hole into the plate and the arm nub and then with a screw, two washers, and a cap nut, we fastened them together.

a sconce as wall decorThis was our practice sconce but we were actually so pleased with it, that we’ve gone on to make a number of sconces out of these Jamali plates as wedding gifts.

bedroom wall sconceToday, the first few we made are hanging in our bedroom as a mix/match collection.

Projects

fool-proof plant ideasI adore having plants and flowers in the yard but tending to them is not how I’d like to spend my time. So my question this summer has become: How to have a pretty garden with the least amount of effort. And with a bit of research on resilient plants for east coast living, we may have just figured it out.

plant-ideas-beforeBefore
Our shared-yard had been neglected for over two years but, thankfully, the tenants before us structured a garden with lazy people in mind. They tiered the perimeter of the yard with wood and stone to make nice raised plant beds so even when the garden starts looking pretty chaotic, it still has decent structure. They also made the brilliant choice of buying the most self-sufficient, gorgeous, shade-loving plant: The Hosta. I know this photo looks a little grim but any lush green you see on the ground is all hosta.

With good structure and hearty plants on our mind, we headed to the nursery and started anew.

how to put up latticeHanging Lattice
We love that our former tenants placed lattice along the back wall but they fell a little short when it came to the sides. To cover the not-so-cute chain link fences we put up more lattice (that’s our lovely neighbor Bridget helping us secure the wood) and planted clematis to grow over it. Clematis has exotic, star-shaped flowers and vines that supposedly climb like crazy. So in a year or so, the hope is to see just a hint of lattice and a wall of fabulous foliage.

plant-ideas hostasAmazing Hostas
Knowing the kind of abuse the hostas can take, we naturally bought more. This time we planted Blue Cadet Hosta to get a little more color and height.

plant-ideas-lily-turfPromising Lily Turf
So our garden didn’t turn into a hosta farm, we decided to branch out with a bit of Lily Turf. These spunky grasses will supposedly spread out to make nice groundcover, grow violet-blue flowers in the summer and dark berries in the fall. We are banking on them being fairly independent in the future but for now we are watering them regularly.

Hydrangeas and beyond
In the front left of the yard and along the back wall, we planted white hydrangeas. Tall, wide, and packed with flower clusters, hydrangeas have presence. And in white, they should still provide a little shimmer at night.

I’ll report back at the end of summer with hopefully some progress to share but in the meantime, if anyone has any good gardening tips . . . we are all ears!

Projects