DIY Linen Memo Board + Fabric Pockets

Have you ever completed a project around your house and then realized it just didn't work for you? Yup, it's happened to me many a time. But my most recent victim was the DIY knock off Pottery Barn calendar I created a couple of years ago. It was such a great idea... velcro + laminated cardstock + ribbon... the perfect way to keep my household organized. Check out my tutorial here.

But sometimes, cute isn't useful. I looked at the calendar the other day and realized we hadn't updated it since... October. Hm. Maybe it wasn't really an efficient tool for our house! Time for an update.

Without much of a game plan, I ripped off all of the ribbon and Velcro pieces. Unfortunately, that peeled off a layer of cork board in many places. Wah. I knew then I had to cover it. Since I had already promised myself I wouldn't spend any money on this project, I hit up my scrap fabric stash for something lovely to cover the cork board with. How about some beautiful linen?!

I've seen so many wonderful tutorials where bloggers cover entire cork boards with fabric, but since I took the time originally to stain the wooden frame of the board, I decided not to cover the frame, but just the cork board itself. First, I painstakingly measured and cut the fabric to fit over the white cork board. It might not be painstaking for you, but I am terrible at measuring and cutting fabric. Don't forget to iron your fabric before you cut it!

 Next, I simply sprayed the board with adhesive (after covering the frame with painters tape- the over-spray on spray adhesive is a bear!) and slowly laid the fabric down. My suggestion is to only spray about half the board at a time, so you aren't working with one big sticky mess. Oh and yes, this crazy pregnant lady wore a mask while spraying aerosol : )

Because (ahem) my measurements weren't perfect, the next step for me was to tuck the fabric into the wooden trim of the cork board. A tiny flat head screwdriver did the trick perfectly.

You may still have to cut or trim the frayed edges (especially if you use a fabric like linen), but overall, I think the cork-to-fabric process looks pretty clean!

So far, I loved the board. But it needed a little something something, don't you think?

I ran (okay, more like waddled at 6.5 months pregnant) back over to my scrap fabric stash and decided to whip up a few fabric pockets on my sewing machine. Yes, folks. This makes my second project on the sewing machine. (The first being my DIY baby burp cloths). Call me a sewing pro.

All I really did was cut some fabric and then folded it in two, sewing a simple stitch along the edges. Of course, leave a gap at the top so you can actually put things in the pocket! You could probably use hem tape to make this as well, if you're not into sewing. Simply turn the fabric backwards (patterned sides facing each other) and iron the hem tape around the edges. Then fold inside-out and boom... you've got a no-sew pocket!

I'm pretty happy with my new memo board. And it's already got a lot more use out of it than the old calendar did. 

 

 

Yes, those are little pea pod ultrasounds up on the board! We've been storing them away in a drawer the last few months, so it feels great to get them up on the memo board for show. He's such a cutie.

 

I think it's the perfect addition to my office gallery wall, don't you? It's been awhile since I played with that wall (last thing I added was the DIY nailhead trim art), so it was time! Oh, and you'll notice that our beloved paper mache deer head is no longer on this wall... ol' Sally met her demise last month when she fell off the wall in the middle of the night. A DIY tragedy, for sure.

Updated any projects around your house lately?

DIY Nailhead Trim Art

Hi friends! I'm back today with another DIY art project (between my rustic wooden sign, my painters tape abstract art and my gallery wall, I'm all over the DIY art world lately, aren't I?!).

I actually made this little gal a few weeks ago, but forgot to share here on the old blog! I was looking for something to add to the gallery wall in my office. I've made the office whimsical and colorful (think: stripes and paper mache deer head), so I knew that had to be the direction with this piece as well. And inexpensive of course... you know I like to keep it el-cheapo around the Ten June house!

Ta-da. I made a little DIY nailhead trim art. Want to make one yourself? Here's how.

Supplies:

-blank canvas

-heavy stock scrapbook paper or gift wrap

-nailhead trim

-measuring tape

-pencil

Instructions: 

1. Wrap the canvas with the scrapbook paper or gift wrap as if you were wrapping a birthday gift, taping or stapling the paper in place on the back of the canvas. Crease the corners for a crisper look.

 

2. After measuring an outline onto the paper with a measuring tape and pencil, hammer the nailhead trim into place around the canvas. It’s much easier once you have penciled in a pattern to follow.

And that’s it, folks! Two simple steps. You could even create basic patterns with the nailhead trim across the canvas, such as a chevron or diamond pattern. This wall art is personalized, looks custom and will cost you less than $20 per piece. 

And now this little gal is looking fabulous in my office, dontcha think?

 Have you DIYed any wall art lately?

Sharing with:
Between Naps on the Porch
Thrifty Decor Chick 
Home Stories A to Z

Like A Deer In Headlights

Deer Michelle,

It's official. You've officially taken a seat on the DIY crazy train. 

We thought you were nearing the edge when you decided to make your own jewelry out of hardware or when you decided to DIY David's anniversary gift. And you do like to put a coat of paint on everything in your house, from hallway mirrors to shelves.
So maybe it shouldn't have surprised us.

But did you seriously make a deer head out of paper mache? Fo real?

Love, 

DIYers Unanimous

I did. David has now threatened to take away my glue gun, but I actually made a paper mache deer head. And I love it. It all started when my sister-in-law, Kelly, sent me this article. She pointed out the adorable paper mached ketchup bottle vase (you know, like a normal person). I, on the other hand, couldn't get over the deer head. It got me thinking, so I started to do a little research on Pinterest.

After perusing "DIY deer heads" on Pinterest, I came up with so many inspiring options. I found lots of spray painted and paper versions, but I decided to go with making a paper mache creation. And in honor of the Pinterest Challenge with Sherry, Katie, Lana and Emily, I thought I'd share my DIY version of the deer head.

My sister says it looks kind of like a pitbull. David threw out that it resembled an ardvark.

As for me? I'm in love. And it found a perfect spot on my office gallery wall.

Whatcha need to make a paper mache deer head:

-newspaper

-waterbottle

-masking tape

-egg shaped foam ball

-wooden plaque

-scrapbook paper

-twigs

-craft paint

-pretty stuff to decorate

-a bit of crazy (or a glass of wine- I had both)

Just like the BHG article says, I made a little deer-like contraption out of a water bottle, masking tape and a foam egg. Ain't she pretty?

Then you go old school on your creation and slap some newspaper + Elmers glue + water on it.

Cover her in craft paint, jab in some sticks for antlers, hot glue to the plaque and... voila! Paper mache deer head. I still can't believe I made a paper mache deer head.

Ten points to whoever comes up with the best name for my new friend....

Sharing with: Thrifty Decor Chick, Making A House A Home, Young House Love, Bower Power

Office Wall Update

In case you hadn't heard, I'm snowed in. Georgia received a ton of snow/ice earlier in the week and we are taking our sweet time digging our way out. Lots of impassable roads, parking lots that look like ice skating rinks, cars ending up in ditches, etc.

We've done all the work we can do on our master bathroom up until the plumber comes (hopefully TODAY if he can slide his way here!!!). I used up the only two gallons of paint I had left in the house (more on that later!). I stalked visited all of my favorite blogs. And read each and every one of my work emails.
Oh, and I ate about forty-two bowls of chili. 

So what else is a girl to do?! 

Gussy up one of the walls in my office.

With the help of a magazine/mail holder from Ikea and a little switcharoo action with some of my favorite fun art from around the house (the Georgia print is from Jenna, the "I love you" print from Jen, and the photo of me and David was taken by my cousin, Kendall), I added some depth to this wall of my office.

Like my giant calendar/inspiration board? Here's the tutorial on it. 

And our stripes? Learn how to get those here.

And just for the full effect, here are a few more shots of the ol' office.

*****

I'll also be over at Megan's blog today, sharing some organization tips! Don't read Honey We're Home? CLICK! AS FAST AS YOU CAN! Her blog is FAB-U-LOUS! : )

Sharing with:
Thrifty Decor Chick
The Inspired Room

Coloring in the Lines

Good morning! How is it already Wednesday?! Considering Monday and Tuesday both consisted of twelve+ hour workdays for both me and David, I guess I shouldn't be complaining. Come on, weekend!

A few weeks ago, I read this post on The SoHo (a greaaat blog read, check it out!), which showed some beautiful pictures of color-coordinated books. Of course, my little brain started ticking and I just had to try this in my house. So... I did!

Here's my disjointed Ikea Expedit office bookshelf before the mini-overhaul.

And now, with the color-coded rainbow system.

The green books.

The red books.

The black books.

The blue books.

Don't you just love it! A quick and FREE way to add a little fun to the bookcase! It honestly just flows so much better than the unorganized, disjointed look from before. I'm super happy with the big impact we got from this quick little fix!

If you're wondering about the lovely stripes on our office walls, be sure and check out our stripe painting tutorial.

Linked to:
Between Naps On the Porch
Blue Cricket Design
The Girl Creative
Somewhat Simple
Fireflies and Jellybeans
The Shabby Chic Cottage
Tatertots and Jello
Just A Girl
Funky Junk Interiors

Feeling the Love: We're Featured!

Only a few short hours after we posted our striped office makeover yesterday, I had an email in my inbox from the one and only Cassity with the blog Remodelaholic.



Cassity has an amazing blog where she features all kinds of fun projects from home decor to home renovations to DIY projects, and, apparently.... Ten June office makeovers!! That's right- Cassity is featuring us on her amazing blog today! I have been reading Remodelaholic for awhile and I've always been incredibly impressed and inspired by all of the fun projects that Cassity features. Needless to say, there was some high-fiving and happy dancing at our house last night- we're pretty excited to have our little office featured! And for those of you who are wondering... OF COURSE David has rubbed it in my face that his first blog post ever gets featured! Men.... :)

Everyone go check out Remodelaholic today (and every day- it's a great read)!! And thanks again, Cassity!

Hoo-ray Stripes!

Hi friends! Usually I draft the posts but today I thought I'd let the hubby in on some blogging action. We've got a fun new project to share, so without further ado....

Hello out there- it's David, the other half of Ten June. So far, I've just watched over my lovely wife's shoulder as we got this blog on the road. But today, I decided I'd give it a shot myself and on what better a topic than the lovely stripes that we adorned our office walls with? And while no, this post has nothing to do with beer, I can say that yes, I'm a guy, so I had to start off my post with a little beer reference... Red Stripe Beer commercial anyone? It cracks me up every time. Hoo-ray for our stripes.

I have to post the disclaimer that we undertook this project pre-blogging and thus, we're sans mid-project pictures... so, with that said, I'll just have to describe it it for you.

If you recall from the "Before and Afters" in our House Tour, you will remember that all of the main room walls in the house were painted the same blah neutral color. Here's our office "before."

Just like all of the other neutral wall colors in the house, we decided right after moving in that this color had to go. We decided on a darker neutral in Olympic's Dusty Trail. As we painted the living room and hall, we contemplated what to do with the office. We knew that we loved the Dusty Trail color, but we also wanted something that would stand out and make the office a fun and inviting space. Michelle came across a stripe painting tutorial at Young House Love (our favorite go-to blog), and boom - we found what we were looking for. So we went for it- contrasting stripes with our beloved Dusty Trail and its complementary cousin Off White. We chose the complementary stripe color from the same paint sample chip as Dusty Trail to ensure a proper hue match. YHL suggests that you paint from two colors that are close in tone, but we wanted more of contrast and so we chose the darkest and lightest colors on the paint chip's spectrum.

So on to the fun part - the STRIPES. In preparation for the stripes, we painted the entire room in Olympic's Off White to establish a clean slate. Once the base was on the wall, the fun/hours of math/re-taping four million times to get a straight line/are-we-going-crazy-because-we're-trying-to-paint-horizontal-stripes-on-the-wall began.

We decided that we wanted to have an odd number of stripes so that the darker Dusty Trail would contrast against the white crown moulding at the top of the wall and the base board at the bottom of the wall. It took us awhile visualizing the stripes to help us to decide on the number that we wanted - turns out 9 was our lucky number. We divided our wall height by 9 and marked a light pencil notch on the wall at each measurement point.

Then I experimented with a couple of methods to set out our game plan for the stripes (taping paper to the wall? way too complicated. using a laser leveler? not accurate enough) and found that a good ol' fashioned tape measure was the best way to go. Michelle and I laid out the stripes by measuring from the ceiling down to the floor every three feet or so. The reason for this was to allow for shorter tape runs (trying to run a wall's length of painters tape gets a little messy) and to allow for "checks" for the proper dimensions of the stripes. I'm not going to lie- it was kind of difficult to remember which stripe was being painted and whether the tape had to go above or below the mark. When you're taping, you have to tape above the stripe line and below the stripe line and it ends up a little hairy looking (ie. like you've completely mismeasured the entire thing).

After a couple of hours of measuring and taping the walls, it was time to start rolling. As the paint went up, the stripes became visible and the effect we were looking for was coming to fruition. I'll point out a key step to the process - tape removal. It is crucial that the tape be removed while the paint is still wet to ensure clean, crisp stripes. Otherwise, as the paint dries, it will bleed under the tape. And yes, we learned that the hard way.

After all that work, we were really excited with the results. Here are the stripes, in their glory.

As you can see, the process was fairly easy and offers all kinds of character to brighten up a space.
 

We like the fact that the stripes peak through the view from our living room. We definitely got the fun character we were looking for. Cheers to Mic for her great idea!

 

So there we have it! David's first blog post ever and our amaaaazing office makeover. In the words of David, hoo-ray stripes!

Linking to:

The Girl Creative

C.R.A.F.T.

Making the World Cuter

Between Naps on the Porch

Skip to My Lou

Blue Cricket Design

Trendy Treehouse

And featured on Remodelaholic!