Apartment Therapy's Renovation Diary // Trial and Error

It's that time again - time for our latest Apartment Therapy Renovation Diary update.  This week we're wiring new lights and switches...and trying to pass an electrical inspection.  How many times do you think it'll take us to pass?

 Stay tuned next week where we tackle drywall - oh what a difference covered walls make!

DIY // Faceted Table Lamp

What is a 9+ month pregnant lady who suffers from constant false labor pains to do to keep her from going crazy?  Fold a thousand little fortune tellers of course. 

This waiting around for baby to arrive is literally the worst part of pregnancy.  I've always had contractions and some days they're just little annoyances and other days they're pretty strong and regular and then all just up and disappear.  Most.Annoying.Thing.Ever.  To keep from obsessing over every little sign of labor I set out to give a basic table lamp a fun textural update - inspired by this faceted pendant light project.

You'll need to make a crap ton of fortune teller origamis for this project.  To start, you'll need square pieces of paper.  Save your pennies and forget about buying origami paper - you can make your own out of cheap copy paper.  I created (4) 4.25" squares from one sheet of paper.  The easiest way to make this size is to cut off 2.5" from the long end of a piece of basic 8.5x11" copy paper - leaving an 8.5" square.  Fold into fourths and cut - leaving four 4.25" squares. 

Apartment Therapy's Renovation Diary // Refueling the Fire

We're chugging along on this mudroom renovation.  Check out our latest installment on Apartment Therapy's Renovation Diary.

I love looking back at this renovation project - it's amazing how it all came together and how much family played a part in the whole process.

Curb Appeal // How to Paint Your Home's Exterior

You know that house - the one that's right in the middle of some big outdoor project but then is stuck in limbo for one reason or another and there it sits unfinished for months on end. We were that house.

At the end of June, I started painting the exterior - knocked out 5 of 7 walls with a roller and brush and had only two left.  Mind you, they were the two sides of the house that were tallest and required a much taller ladder than this pregnant lady was comfortable climbing. So, the last little bit was saved for the hubs who, unfortunately, hightailed it to Alaska before the job could be finished leaving it half painted for 4 months.

Don't worry - it wasn't left in this literal half-painted state. I did get the entire front finished (with help from my brother on the extra high parts.)

With the arrival of the baby right around the corner and the fact that fall is in full-force we knew we had to get this job finished. Fortunately we had all our go-to painting supplies on hand and even more fortunate - our neighbors had a paint sprayer leftover from their house painting project - so we were able to bust out the last two walls in no time.

DIY Monogrammed Tote Bag

I love screenprinted tote bags, but I'm just too lazy to try out the whole DIY screenprinting thing, myself.  It seems so labor intensive and intimidating.  So, instead I created this easy handpainted version for my son Luke that's pretty much just as awesome.

You'll need:

1 // Tote bag
2 // Fabric Paint
3 // Small Paint Brush
4 // Circle template
5 // Pencil