DIY Rustic Picture Frame

This week's project features some leftover wood from another project earlier this year. At the beginning of the summer, I redid a bench I found stashed in the woods at our house. (Click here for the post) Since I keep and reuse everything I can, I kept the old boards for some future project. The boards were the perfect shade of weathered grey. 

I decided to try to make a frame for a cool vintage print I got for my sons room. I have a miter saw now, and I hadn't tried out doing different angles. Perfect chance! 

Normally if I was going to do things correctly, I would have used pocket screws to secure the corners. However since a Kreg Jig is on my Christmas list and not in my garage (yet), I decided to use these inexpensive corner braces instead. (Hint: These are located by screen doors/door hardware. I wouldn't have found them if wasn't for the helpful Lowes associates!)

The process is fairly straightforward. You first need to measure the print and decide what size you want the frame to be. (My frame is only a half of an inch smaller than the print since the print goes pretty close to the edges) You need to cut the inside of the frame to fit those measurements. It can be helpful to draw out how the frame will look so you can see how the angles will work.  Before I started cutting, I took a wire bush to the boards to clean them up and add a bit of texture.

Once you have everything cut, you need to screw the brackets on each corner. Add a hanger to the top and you're done! I used a stapler to secure the print to the frame. I love how it adds to the really neat print, and it only cost me a couple dollars!

DIY Sunday: Rustic Barn Door Headboard

Happy Monday!

We are on a mission to finish up our bedroom remodel. It's a good thing we waited to work on the room, because a cool headboard just happen to fall into our laps. My husband's boss was tearing down a barn. Originally we went to look at the barn to see if we could salvage any of the barn wood to create a wood wall for my husband's man room. The siding on the barn ended up being too brittle to get off (it just fell apart), but we did spy a really cool door on the hay loft.

We did some real scientific measurements...meaning we used our feet and arms to eyeball how big it was. It turned out to be the perfect size for our king size bed.

We got the door back to our house with some work on my husband's part. Once we got the door propped up on some saw horses, it was time for me to clean it. I did some research on how to clean barn wood. I wanted to make sure I got the years of grime off the wood, but also keep the weathered patina. I decided to clean the wood with a stiff nylon brush (avoiding a wire brush since it would remove the weathered look). I used a grease fighting dish soap and a jet setting on the hose. The process ended up working out pretty well.

 

The final issue was getting the gigantic headboard into the house. The headboard was too big to fit up my stairs, so we had to strategically cut it so it would look whole once put back together. We used 2x4's screwed into the studs to mount the door to the wall.

My only regret is we couldn't fit the peak of the door into our room (it would have been too tall). We saved it and we're going to use it for a different project eventually.

Master bedroom has new linens, curtains, nightstands, paint and now a headboard. We're working on the finishing touches of board and batten around the room and then we'll be done.

Someone has been sleeping in my bed!

DIY Sunday: Skinny Hip Pant Fix

Happy Monday!

We had a wonderful, very full weekend. My daughter and I participated in our first Girl Scouts event, and I got to attend new leadership training. I am very excited about Girl Scouts. It's a great program that really lets girls learn leadership skills while having fun. Plus, they have a focus on outdoor activities and STEM which I fear is lacking for many girls today. I'm so excited to be involved in the program.

Since she had her first event Saturday, and I didn't get her uniform until Friday, that meant I got to spend Friday night sewing. It ended up being a good thing, because I had a couple of projects I was meaning to complete anyways. One of them is a collection of pants for my son.

I think there's quite a few parents out there than can sympathize with this problem. I have a tall skinny little boy. If something fits around the waist, it's probably 3 inches short on the pants and vis versa. Sweatpants and jeans with adjustable waists help, but every once in a while we get some free jeans or older PJ pants with worn out elastic, and they just fall off his tiny hips. (Lord. I wish I had that problem)

Fixing this is SUPER easy. And if you have a needle and thread, you don't even need a sewing machine! This is completely doable without one.

DIY Skinny Hip Fix

Supplies

Elastic (I like the no-roll kind)
Needle and Thread or Sewing Machine (I like to use a color that matches the pant, not the elastic)
Safety Pin
Small Sharp Scissors
Optional: Stitch Ripper

Directions

1. Cut a Small Slit

So, most waistbands of pants will already have a "pocket" for you to thread your elastic through. So, for jeans or other pants that button/zip on the front, on the one of the sides towards the front, cut a small slit on the inside of the waistband. Take care not to cut all the way through the pant. Just try to get that first layer. If you are working on some stretched out sweatpants or PJ pants, you may want to start in the back since your elastic is going to go all the way around.

2. Thread Elastic

Attach your safety pin to the elastic and thread it through the small slit you made. You should be able to thread all the way around to the other side (or with PJs and sweatpants, thread the whole way around).

You may run into obstacles. For example, on these Levi's, the patch that was sewn into the back of the jeans keeps you from threading all the way around. In that case, use your stitch ripper (or even small scissors) to cut away enough stitches so the safety pin can slide through. Don't remove the entire patch (unless you want to). You only need just a tiny space for the safety pin to slide through. Once you get to the other side, cut a tiny slit in the top layer of fabric for the safety pin to slide back out. Secure the safety pin and elastic to the side of the pants. (Or if you went all the way around connect the beginning and end of the elastic together with the safety pin)

3. Sew

You can either use a needle and thread or a sewing machine to attach your elastic. If you use a needle, make sure you have strong knots and really have at it. Make sure that elastic isn't going anywhere. If you have a sewing machine, use a zig zag stitch to secure the elastic.

If you're working on pants like jeans, you will secure the beginning of the elastic first. Remove the safety pin and place the elastic against the inside of the waist band and sew the elastic to the jean. Once it's sewn on, pull the other end of the elastic tight. Make the waistband as tight as you need it to be. Then secure the end of the elastic to the other side of the pants with a couple of stitches. Cut off the excess elastic.

If you're working on sweatpants or PJ pants, pull the elastic as tight as you need it and sew the two ends of the elastic together so it's making a circle of elastic. Cut off excess elastic when you're done sewing. Slide the elastic around so the piece you just finished sewing is inside of the waistband. That way it isn't visible and isn't scratching your kiddo.

So, there you go! A very easy and cheap way to make your pants fit those skinny boy hips. Of course this works for skinny girls too, but I always find that boy pants are usually assuming your little one is built like a brick house. :)