DIY: Sunburst Mirror Clock

It's finally done!

Over the weekend, I finished up a project that I was so excited to make - I was finally able to get our sunburst clock up on the wall!  You may remember this clock from the Family Room design plan, and I believe that I told you that it was inspired by some mid-century style mirrors that I had come across. I have seen some people recreate the mirrors, but I wanted to take it one step further and make mine into a clock.  We used to have a clock up on that wall, but the style matched my parents furniture more than it matches ours, so we took it down when we were prepping the walls for painting.  Ever since then, you know, back in December, we have constantly been looking at that wall for the time, so we knew that we had to get a clock back up there soon.

Now, this project wasn't very difficult, but there were a lot of steps, so this post will almost be picture overload. Sorry, I'm not sorry! 

The first thing that I did was decide how large I wanted the clock to be.  I wanted it to be a statement piece on that large purple wall, so I thought that three feet in diameter would be perfect. I bought a 12" craft mirror from Hobby Lobby, as I didn't want something expensive since I would be gluing things to it and drilling a hole in the center.  

I also picked up some wooden dowels in two different diameters, so that the sunburst clock had some depth. I chose to go with 1/4" and 3/8" diameters, and bought the 4' dowels so I could get as many sticks out of each dowel as possible.  Using just a wire cutter, although you could use a hack saw too, I cut the dowels into lengths of 13", 12", and 11" making sure I had the same amount of each length and width.  I chose the lengths because I wanted the dowels to extend to a maximum of 12" from the side of the mirror, and I needed approximately 1" for securing the dowel to the backside of the mirror.  Make sure that you take that into consideration when cutting your lengths, as you don't want to end up with a smaller size clock than you anticipated.

After cutting the dowels, lay out the dowels in a pattern of your choice, keeping in mind that you may have some that are both different sizes and thicknesses. I started with one of the dowels and placed each one of those in a space on the outside of the mirror. I then followed that by a different size dowel until I used all of the sticks in a consistent pattern around the mirror.  I didn't follow any of the directions that others have online, and only did what I liked, so you should do what you feel looks good. 

Once all of my dowels were in place, I did, however, do some simple calculations to figure out how much space I should have between each dowel. Using the diameter of the mirror, 12", I used a circumference calculator online to determine that I was working with 37.67" and then divided that by 30, which is the number of dowels I had, and got 1.25" between each one. If you want to be picky about placement, like me, you can do these same calculations, but if you don't want to, you can always just eye it. 

After being satisfied with how the clock looked, I wrote down the pattern of the dowels, then I took them down into the basement to my spray painting station and coated them with some silver metallic spray paint. Don't forget that the best method of spray painting is in light layers and not thick coats, so you may want to put three or more layers of spray paint on the dowels in order to get them evenly covered.

While I was waiting for the dowels to dry between layers of spray paint, I started to prep for drilling the hole in the center of my mirror for the clock mechanism.  First, in order to protect the glass surface of your mirror, prop it up on a soft, but raised item. As you can see in the photos below, I used some cleaning cloths I had and supported the mirror on them, while at the same time, leaving the center unsupported, that way the drill bit wouldn't hit the towels or the work surface when it finally cut through the glass. 

Without having the proper tools to find the center of my mirror, I used a technique I found online, where you draw three lines of equal length that intersect with two edges of the circle, then draw a line perpendicular to that first one at the center point of the original line.  The perpendicular lines will intersect each other at the center spot of your circle, or in this case, your mirror. Make sure to do this on the back of the mirror, as you likely won't have much success drawing on the front side without using a pen or marker that would leave permanent marks.

You may remember that I purchased a glass drill bit, and I showed you how to drill a hole in a wine bottle for all of those neat projects you may have in mind.  I used my 1/2" drill bit for this project since the post of my clock mechanism was slightly larger than the 1/4" bit that I also own.

Applying a medium amount of pressure, I began drilling a hole in the center of the mirror.  Make sure that your drill is is a level position and don't apply too much pressure, as you don't want your mirror to shatter. Once you have an indentation made in the back of the mirror, begin adding a few drops of water to the surface of the mirror where the drill bit is making the hole. This will help the glass drill smoothly instead of chipping or cracking when you are drilling. If the water begins to dry out, you should continue to add more, just a few drops at a time.  

Continue drilling into the back of the mirror, gradually adding pressure so you eventually get the size hole you need for the post of the clock mechanism. This may take up to a half hour, depending on how thick your mirror is, how sharp your glass bit is, and how much pressure you are applying when drilling. Once the hole fits the clock mechanism, you can drill slightly on the front side of the mirror just to make sure that the hole is smooth and free of sharp glass shards, but this step is optional, and slightly chancy since the clock mechanism will likely cover any areas in question. 

Once you are done drilling, you are ready to attach the smaller mirrors to the spray painted dowels. I bought small mirrors that were 1/2", 3/4", and 1" in diameter just to add some depth to the dowels.  I laid out the dowels in the pattern that I determined earlier, and then placed the small mirrors below the dowels in order to determine the pattern for those.  

Once you have your layout finished, attach the small mirrors to the dowels. I used Gorilla Glue to do this, but I didn't realize how much the glue bubbles and expands, so if you use this, proceed with caution, because you might end up with some of the mirrors stuck to your work surface, or glue stuck to the front side of the mirrors. If you are looking for alternative adhesives, try silicone, and even though I haven't tried it, hot glue from a glue gun may also work. For actually attaching them I found it easiest to place the small mirror face down, put a small drop of glue on the back, and then place the dowel on top. This allowed me to move the dowels as the glue was drying, in case they began to slide off off center. 

After the glue dries, you are ready to attach the dowels to the back side of the large mirror. Since I struggled with the Gorilla Glue, I used silicone for this step. To make sure that I had the spacing of the dowels set correctly, I placed them all on the back of the mirror, leaving an inch on the back side of the mirror, and was able to move them around until I had an even placement of 1.25" between each one. Once they were in place, I then used the silicone tube in the caulk gun and placed a thick bead of silicone over the dowels.

Using a small craft paint brush, I spread the silicone around each of the dowels so they would be secured onto the mirror. In the picture below, you can see how the top left corner has just the bead of silicone over the dowels, where the rest of the back of the mirror already shows the silicone spread around the base of each stick.  

Let the silicone dry and once you are confident that the dowels are secure in place, you can attach the clock mechanism. Each mechanism will probably be slightly different than the other, but mine was very simple. 

Slide the post through the hole you drilled in the mirror, then on the part that shows through the front side of the mirror attach the washer and the nut and twist it until it's tight. Don't over-tighten the nut, because you don't want to crack the mirror after you have gotten this far! 

Finally, attach the clock hands, and if your mechanism came with one, pop on the little cap that keeps the clock hands on the post.  

Lastly, clean off the front sides of all the mirrors with your favorite glass cleaner, and then hang your masterpiece up on the wall!! 

Ta-da! I am very happy with the way that this project came out, however there are a few things I think I would have liked to change. It turns out that these clock hands are just a little too small for the size of the clock face, so it does look a little strange.  Maybe I will try to find some different ones, because changing out the clock mechanism should be easy as long as the post hole can remain the same size.  The other thing that kind of irks me is how small the clock looks on the wall! I can't believe that a clock with a three foot diameter could look so small. I thought that would be plenty big enough, but it does look kind of lost up there. Maybe this is just an opportunity to put some picture frames with my favorite digital art prints in them on each side of it.


What are your thoughts? Do you love this clock? Does this make you want to create your own in your own style? Should I put pictures on either side to help the wall feel fuller?

Christmas Without a Tree? No Problem!

This year, we will not be getting a Christmas Tree.  And it's not because Dylan was fired from lighting it last year, which he was, by the way. It's because with the chance that we will be having our floors refinished this month, setting up a Christmas Tree would be silly when it would just need to be taken down or moved somewhere else.

So, I'm here to talk with you about how you can decorate for Christmas without setting up a Christmas Tree.  Before we lived in a house, Dylan and I only decorated minimally and never had a tree in any of our apartments.  So for those of you who are also living in spaces where you either don't have a tree, don't want a tree, or legally can't have a tree, here are some great ideas on how you can spruce up your home for the holidays - no pun intended!

Decorate your Front Door. 

You can buy an outdoor spotlight to illuminate your front door from any hardware store.  The spotlight can just be stuck in the lawn and an outdoor extension cord could be run to provide power.  A spotlight would be perfect if you were going to put a wreath on your front door.

You could also use string lights to go around your front door, bringing the attention to that one spot without going overboard and lighting every edge of your home in string lights. If you don't want to line your font door completely, you could always just light the sidelights. Last year, I used some Smycka sticks that I purchased from IKEA and put half of the bundle on each side of my front door, and strung lights through them.  I loved the way that this looked, and can't wait to set up this part of my decor again when the rain stops.

Make or buy a wreath to hang on your door using 3M Command Strips.  I made one a few years ago out of coffee filters, and it is so seasonal. It's big, white, and fluffy, and I love it. This year, I have it on my front door and it really pops against the purple. While this may not be the best wreath for all of you, I am able to use it here because the storm door protects it from the rain and snow.

If you don't have a storm door for protection, go with a wreath that is made of something other than coffee filters. You could use ornaments, or even go with a beautiful evergreen wreath that you can add a ribbon or some other accessories to.


Light your Entryway or Foliage.

If you have a railing or posts in front of your home, get some rope lighting and light it up!  The addition of even one string of rope lights could help bring the holidays to your space!  If you don't have any railings or posts, you could also use net lighting and go over some of the larger bushes in front of your home.  Rope lighting can also be wrapped around the trunks of some of the trees in front of your home.

Garland and lights for your Staircase.

If you have a staircase in your home, grab some garland, real or fake, and wrap it around the banister or railings.  This welcoming touch can help make guests feel that your entire home is open and cheerful. Adding some lights makes it look really pretty, and can even act as a nightlight for those little ones who may need to go downstairs in the middle of the night.

Do you have a gallery wall going up your stairs?  Take some holiday themed wrapping paper and place a cutout over a few of the pictures that you have hanging in your space to bring that little bit of holidays into your every-day decor.


Fireplaces and Mantles.

There's nothing better than decorating your fireplace or mantle around Christmastime.  If you're looking to bring in some holiday cheer, put a little greenery on your mantle - real or fake. In fact, if you're looking for some real greens, take a trip to a tree farm and take some of the clippings from the farm - they typically won't charge you for these, and while you may not be picking out a tree to bring home, you can still enjoy being outside at the tree farm.

Add some height to your mantle using pedestals with candles or tall tapered candles. If you have any goblets, use those, and if you'd like, you could even get some lighted branches and use some of those to add some light on top.  You may also want to add a wreath to the space above your mantle, or have it rest on the mantle if you are unable to hang it on the wall.  Lastly, if you have a mirror that you can put on your mantle, doing this will really help to make the space brighter and seem bigger, plus, if you add lights or candles to your mantle, the reflection of them in the mirror will look wonderful!

If you're not using your fireplace for an actual fire, place a beautiful vase of greens and berries in front, or place some battery-operated candles inside to give the illusion of a fire.

Finally, and probably the most popular way to decorate your mantle and fireplace for Christmas, is to hang stockings.  If you don't have any stockings, make your own. There are so many different patterns out there for sewing them and some for knitting and crocheting too, and these will not take long to make.  Hang them on your mantle using cup hooks or by using some of the stocking hangers that rest on top of the mantle so that you are not putting hooks or nails into your fireplace.

What other ideas do you have on how to decorate your home for Christmas without having a tree? Which of these ideas do you like the best?  If you don't celebrate Christmas, what do you celebrate and how do you decorate for the season?

DIY: Halloween Glowing Ghosts

Those of you not from New England probably have no idea what a Christmas Tree Shop is, but they are a great little chain store that has pretty much everything except clothing.  Their prices are really really inexpensive and they have the best season items around.  I went over to one of their stores a few weeks ago and was bombarded by Fall decor and Halloween decorations.

When I saw the bin of glow-sticks, I couldn't resist, especially because they were cheaper than Dollar Tree and they were only $0.79 each!  I bought twelve of them thinking that I could somehow get the glowy insides of the stick to illuminate jars that I could place on the sides of my walkway.  The problem with this was that 1. I didn't have any jars, and 2. What would happen if the jars blew over and broke on my walkway?

So, I came up with another idea.  Using some felt that I had leftover from a project a few years ago, I decided to make myself some glowing ghosts for my walkway.

I really hope that you enjoy these as much as I do!!

Materials:

Felt, preferably in white
Something Round to use as a template
Marker
Glow-Sticks
White Twist-ties
Heavy-duty wire
Scissors
Wire Cutters
Needle-nose Pliers

Directions:

Step 1 - Cut Your Felt.

Because you want the felt to cover the glow-sticks on all sides, you want your fabric to be long enough when around the stick.  Find something round that you can use as a template to make your circles, but make sure that the diameter is larger than the length of your glow-sticks, multiplied by two. I ended up using a Wok lid, which was the perfect size.  Depending on how long your glow-sticks are, you may be able to use a dinner plate or a mixing bowl.

Trace your circle onto the felt using your marker, then cut it out with a pair of scissors.

Step 2 - Make your Ghost.

Estimate where the center point of your felt circle is, and then place one end of your glow-stick in the center.  Gather the fabric around the top of the glow stick.

Secure the fabric around the glow-stick using a twist-tie, like you were making a little head for your ghost.  Twist it tightly so that the fabric stays put around the stick.

Step 3 - Make and Attach the Wire Stand.

Because I want to have these ghosts by my front walkway, I used a piece of heavy-duty wire to stick them into the ground.  My glow-sticks had a small hole in the bottom, so I wound some of the wire around the tip of my needle-nose pliers and then stuck that end into the end of the glow-stick, leaving the pointed end sticking out.

I used about 7" inches of wire, which was enough to make the coil and to stick it in the ground.

If your glow-sticks don't have a hole in the end to attach the wire, you can simply just coil the wire around the glow stick and still have enough left over for you to stick the wire in the ground.

Step 4 - Light 'Em Up!

Once you have your ghosts put together, you can feel free to use your marker to make little faces on them, or you can just leave them as they are. I chose not to make faces on mine because I can always use the felt circles for something later down the line.

Once you are done with your decorating, snap your glow-sticks to activate the neon lighting.

Step 5 - Light the Path.

If you have your ghosts all set and lit, bring them out to your walkway and stick the end of the wire into the ground near your path.  Fluff out the felt a little to make the ghosts look a little spooky, and then sit back and admire your work!

This whole project took me about 15 minutes, and couldn't have been more easy or fun.  So, you should do this for your front walkway, too!

Happy Halloween!!

I Buy a Lot of Rugs

Over the last few months, I have been collecting and purchasing items for when the time comes to decorate our house.  I figured that I would give you a preview of what I have purchased before they get discontinued, just in case you want to purchase them too!

One of the first things that I purchased was the rug for the Family Room, which I know that I have talked about before, but, I am so obsessed with this Surya rug.  It is so soft, and the color is amazing!  I purchased this rug after realizing that it was being discontinued, so the price had been slashed at an incredible discount. I was able to score the 8'x10' rug for $220, where it was originally listed at $770! Amazing, right?!?!?!?!

Surya Wilde rug in Boysenberry

Some of the sizes for this rug are still available from RugStudio, so you can still order this if you want it. Plus, it comes in other colors than the purple that I chose - normal colors, like brown, tan/camel, red, gray, and black.

The next thing that I purchased was some wallpaper.  You may be thinking that I'll be putting this on the walls in one of the rooms in our house, but you would be wrong.  I'm actually thinking of adding the wallpaper on the staircase, under the stair treads.  I think that having a little texture there would add something interesting to the staircase as your walking up it to the second floor.  I ended up choosing a bunch of different patterns from American Blinds and Wallpaper and More, got samples of those patterns, and ended up choosing one of them.

Anaglypta Vol X Pattern 437-RD80028 via American Blinds and Wallpaper and More

I think that this grass-like pattern will look really cool below the stair treads. It comes in white, but to help not see the actual grains in the wallpaper, you are supposed to paint over it once you have it installed.  I'm just going to stick with white so that it matches the rest of the trim work in the house.
Next, is another rug.  I had been looking for an outdoor rug for the sitting area in our backyard makeover for a long long time.  I was originally looking for a yellow Greek-key rug, but couldn't find one in the right shade of yellow or one that was approved for outdoor use.  I wanted to include it in my inspiration board for the backyard, but I just couldn't find one that I liked.  One day, while randomly browsing Target, I came across their outdoor section, and lo and behold, I found this rug.

Threshold Paper Stripe Warm Rug via Target

It's not exactly what I was looking for, but the colors were spot on with what I was looking to do outside, and the rug is dark for the most part, which means that it will actually look cleaner over time since the dirt won't show as much.  Plus, at only $60, it was hundreds of dollars cheaper than any other rug that I was finding, which is always a win-win!

And the last thing for now is yet another set of rugs! Surprise surprise, right? Not really, I know.  I've been looking for a few runners for the hallways on the first floor, so after looking for something with a pattern, I decided to just go with something plainer.  The hallways will be painted with vertical light green stripes, so I figured that staying with a solid color rug in the hallways would be a better idea than having too many patterns in one small space.

Cozy Solid Silver Shag Rug via Overstock.com

I found these great looking silver/light gray runners on Overstock.com and am hoping that they are going to look good in the space. I bought two different sizes since one hallway is longer than the other, but because of a sale that Overstock was having, plus a promo code, I only spent $105 on both, including shipping, which was actually free!  I am now thinking that they will really look nice against a darker wood floor, so I'm excited to see everything put together.

So, those are my most recent purchases, all of which are currently rolled up and being stored in the coat closet by the front door of the house.  I can't wait to get things into place and see everything put together. I am really hoping that my visions on paper and on my digital screens actually looks good in real life.

Have you made any awesome home decor purchases lately? Where are your favorite sites and stores to get a deal?

Jazzing up the Venue

After we chose our venue, I started googling it to try to see some inspirational wedding pictures.  I eventually came across a local photographer's blog that featured a bride who decided to spruce up the space a bit by adding some pillows around the reception area, and more specifically on the benches that are placed throughout the venue.

Pillows on Benches / Image via Michelle Amarante Photography

Since we will be using the benches for VIP seating during our ceremony, I figured that this would be a great opportunity to make some pillows to make them more comfortable.  

So, I went to my favorite fabric resource, and went looking for some heavier fabrics - ones that would last through the wedding, and could later be used in our house, but also matched the colors I picked for the wedding - orange, yellow, green, gray, and white.  I found so many that I loved, so I bought them....all of them!

Please ignore the turquoise one - not a wedding color / Screenshot of Fabric.com order

Once the fabrics came in, I went out to Joann's Fabrics to buy pillow inserts, and then got to work at my sewing machine.  I was going to be creative and do a bunch of different types of cases, envelope, pocket, sham, etc, but then I got lazy and decided to just do normal pillow cases.

And because I was so lazy, I didn't even really measure much. Here's what I did:

Step 1 - Lay out pillow inserts.

Pillow Inserts from Joann Fabric / Personal Picture

Closeup of Pillow Insert from Joann Fabric / Personal Picture

Step 2 - Decide which fabric will go on each pillow.

 Chosen Fabric on Each Pillow Insert / Personal Picture

Step 3 - Trace pillow insert onto folded fabric. No picture for this step - couldn't take one while tracing.  Sorry!

Step 4 - Pin on trace mark for sewing purposes. Make sure to leave part of one side open so you can turn the pillow case right side out and stuff it.   

Pinned Pillow Case - Note open side at bottom / Personal Picture

Step 5 - Straight sew pillow case on pins and along traced line.  Make sure to reverse stitch your beginning and ending spots to make sure that your stitching doesn't unravel.

Step 6 - Turn your pillow case right side out, and stuff with correct size pillow insert.

Step 7 - Fold under the edges of the fabric at the opening, and pin shut.  

Stuffed pillow case with opening pinned shut / Personal Picture

Step 8 - Hand-sew the opening so that it stays shut.  

Finished Pillows / Personal Picture

Finished Pillows - Dandelion Theme Fabric / Personal Picture

Finished Pillows - Suzani Theme Fabric / Personal Picture

Finished Pillows - Ozborne Theme Fabric / Personal Picture

And that's it, folks! So simple!  I probably made all of these pillows in less than two hours. The most time consuming part was the hand-sewing, and that was distracting because I was doing it while watching Hell's Kitchen and MasterChef.  

I hope that the guests enjoy these, but not too much, because I want to take them all home with me after the wedding.  Do you think I need to put a sign up that says don't take the pillows? Should I add some ribbon to them to tie them to the benches like the other bride did?