Fois Bois Book Case - the eternal diy project

Whew. This project. I thought it was going to take a Saturday afternoon - and it ended up taking two weeks. Whoops. 

I started with a basic bookcase that my dad made when I was about a year old. I took it with me to college and painted it yellow, which does not fit in with my current decorating scheme.

It all began with stripping the yellow paint.

After spending a million hours scraping old paint off while crying and sweating, it was ready for the new coat of paint. I painted the whole thing a basic light brown. I believe it is called "Hazelnut."

After the Hazelnut was all dry, I drew a basic fois bois pattern on a piece of contact paper and then started cutting. I didn't bother using any "negative" space in my drawing - I just spaced the contact paper out on the bookcase. This made for a nice stencil.

Then I painted two coats of dark brown paint, and topped the whole thing with a matte sealer. It probably would have been faster to use spray paint - but it is ILLEGAL in Chicago. Lame. 

And finally, two weeks later, here it is in my entry way (note the mail basket - very helpful!):

Only took two weeks. Sigh. 

I'm addicted

I found another paint-by-number to add to the collection. 

Zachary Trover - My Personal Hero

I want to tell you a story about an awesome artist. It's a little long, but bear with me. In June, I saw the work of Zachary Trover on Dude Craft.

Photo from the Too Hectic Shop

As soon as I saw the "Hectic Empire" print, I wanted it. Then it occurred to me that I had planned for my kitchen to be cowboy themed. Add the fact that Chris and I are big Star-Wars-loving nerds (I used to call my brother "rebel scum" during our childhood fights), and it put me over the edge - I ordered the print from Zachary's shop, Too Hectic.

a temporary hanging solution

Fast forward about a week and half. It had not been delivered, and I had not heard anything, so I sent Zachary an email asking if my print had been shipped. I was not worried until I got a response saying that he had shipped it the day I had placed the order, and "I could have hand delivered it to Chicago by now, so I'm a little nervous about it!"

Now, y'all should know - the Chicago postal system is terrible. I once lost a package for a good 3 months - they refused to redeliver it AND they refused to send it back to my grandma (and there was a DS game inside!) I had specifically given Zachary my address at work, which is usually more reliable than having things delivered to my apartment. So we decided to wait a little longer and see if it was delivered, and if it didn't arrive, Zachary offered to give me a refund, or to send me the very last print he had - one of his artist proofs.

my own cowboy Storm Trooper, hanging out in my kitchen

A few days later, it still hadn't arrived, and I emailed Zachary to tell him so, and he said he would send out the artist proof. And the very next day, two and half weeks after it had been shipped, the original print arrived, looking like it had been through an apocalypse. The tube was dented in two spots, but it was heavy-duty, so the print inside was unscathed. Zachary had not sent the replacement yet, so everything ended well!

I want to commend Zachary on his exemplary customer service in addition to his artistic talents. What could have been a terrible experience turned into a great one - he answered my emails at all times of the day, even at work, and offered a lot of different solutions. That, my friends, is how it should be done. If you want to order your own print, or one of his other awesome products, head to his shop here.

Reversible Bunting

Slowly, but surely, we've been decorating the house. I hung a bunch of pictures on the wall last week, which was pretty big.

On my list of "Decoration Projects": Fabric Bunting
I used vintage linens to make a reversible bunting. One side is bright colors, and one side is more mellow.
It took a surprisingly long time to cut out and sew and turn aallll those triangles. I used my rotary cutter for the first time, though, and now I want to cut little squares out of all the leftovers! Check out that naked sewing machine up there - I think it needs a matching cover.