End Table Makeover

Here is the before shot of my $20 Craig's List find.

And here is the after.

Lots of lessons learned on this one. Biggest lesson...if there are oil paint roses on a piece of furniture, no amount of Kiehls is going to cover it up. Sand those puppies off first, then prime. I would also LOVE to replace the pulls, but the screw are stripped and we cannot get them off. Any ideas?

I painted it three different colors before I went with this celery. I like it with my pillows. I think if I told my sweet husband I had to go back to Home Depot one more time he might ban me from projects forever, again.

Chevron Tutorial Recall + the deer

First things first. Thank you to whoever commented about the contact paper ruining their walls. I forgot to mention a very important detail. Both walls I have applied this technique to have been lath and plaster, NOT drywall. I am understanding from a few comments that this may not work so well on drywall. I would believe them and steer clear. Damaged drywall is a waaaay bigger deal than painting where you were not supposed to. PLEASE don't ruin your walls by doing this tutorial. I will feel SO terrible.

I will say that the birds I did in my last house were up for two years and were easy to peel off when we were ready to move. So if you do have lath and plasters walls, you should be good to go.

Secondly, some people have asked about the deer head. Along with chevron, I was very big on the animal heads this past summer. I love, love, love this Etsy shop, but they were all out of my price range. So after looking everywhere, and even pricing a form and antlers for a major DIY attempt, I found this guy on Ebay for $25...

He is made of resin and the best part is, his antlers are detachable. So spray painting just the head was super easy.

For about $30 total, I think he's just as good as, if not better, than the Z Gallery version and almost 1/8th the price. I wish I could find the Ebay dealer, but I didn't see them when I looked. If you like it, I would check Ebay every now and then and see if they re-post them. My search was "deer head"

And to wrap this very wordy blog post up, please do not put contact paper on your drywall!

Can my conscious be clear now?

Tutorial: Contact Paper Chevron Wall

Like many city dwellers, we live in an apartment where we are not allowed to paint. At first, I was a little thrown off about what I could do to make the apartment unique and fun without painting. During that same time I had been searching high and low (unsuccessfully) for a navy blue chevron fabric to use for pillows on my sofa. This past fall I was on a big chevron kick. Then the idea came to me... I'll do a chevron on the wall with contact paper! The entire process was very easy, 1 hour start to finish.

Materials:

• 1 roll of contact paper
• ruler
• measuring tape
• scissors
• pencil
• painters tape
• exacto blade
• optional: architectural triangle

Steps:

1. Measure the width of your wall.
2. Roll out contact paper to that length, add 2 inches.
3. Contact paper is gridded on the back, so if even if you do not have a triangle, you can figure it out. The triangle made it VERY easy. I aligned it with the bottom of the paper and drew one triangle. Then I took my quilting ruler (you could use a regular ruler) and drew a parallel triangle.

 

4. Cut out your first chevron and tape, centered, on your wall. Leave the extra inch in the crack of the wall on each side.

 

 5. To apply to the wall, peel one triangle at a time, ripping the paper off of the backside and smoothing to wall. This is the part that takes a little patience. Once you get it smooth, take your exacto blade, score both ends in the corner, and peel off excess contact paper.

6. Once you get your first one on the wall, measure from the bottom points to where you would like your next row to start. Measure every point and mark with a pencil. This is how you will align your next row.

7. Do the same for the rest of the wall.

 

 Two people would have made this project easier.

This four legged person was very unhelpful.

 

Don't they look super excited to be sitting next to their new chevron wall. The deer is excited. Good Luck! Happy Chevroning

UPDATE: I should have mentioned that in both houses I have tried this in (I did birds in my last house), the walls are lath and plaster, not drywall. Some people have commented that this does not do so well on drywall, so please proceed with caution!! The birds were up for two years and peeled off no problem when we sold the house.

Also, BIG thanks to Design*Sponge for featuring this tutorial! That made my day.