DIY Pottery Barn Nailhead trim Headboard

Have you ever caught yourself browsing at this Ballard Designs upholstered headboard here or how about this Pottery Barn upholstered headboard here? But then you remember that thing called money? Because if I bought one of these... well let's just say I would have a very happy husband among other things! So... I decided to browse Pinterest & Google for some ideas for a cheaper version of these beds for people like us... who really don't have too much to spend.

If you haven't started following me on Pinterest, you can follow me here! A few days ago, I saw this DIY project on "Our Vintage Home." You can find their tutorial here! I love her home and she did such a great job with this headboard! Here's my version...hope y'all enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: This is NOT a perfect bed. So if you are going to point out all the imperfections, just don't. I'm just happy I saved HUNDREDS of dollars by doing this myself!

Ok! Let's begin! Here's what you'll need:

-3/4 inch thick piece of Plywood. Ask Lowe's or Home Depot to cut it to size for you. For my bed, I did a queen size which is 60 inches or 5 feet wide. I wanted the bed to be 4 foot tall so I simply told the sales person that I wanted a 5'x4' cut on my plywood. :-)

- 3 1x4's. Over at Our Vintage Home, she used 1x3's but I choose 1x4's because I wanted my supports a bit wider but it really doesn't matter!

- Staple Gun

-Screws (20)

-Drill

-Clamp

-Twine (Optional)

-Measuring Tape

-Saw (Hand saw, any kind really!)

-Fabric of your choosing (Measurements depend on your bed size)

-Nail heads (Optional)

-Scissors

-Hammer

-Pencil

-Quilt Batting (Found at your local JoAnn's or Hobby Lobby, measurements depend on your bed size)

Depending on what size bed you have, here are the measurements for those sizes: 

I tried to snap a quick photo of some of my major supplies. Here is the plywood I had Lowe's cut and my 1x4's laying on my garage floor. Please ignore my pumpkins, dog toy & ugly first coat on my beautiful desk. Seriously, ignore it people!

The first thing that I did was line up two of my 1x4's on the ends of the plywood. I have a marking pencil from Lowe's to mark my ends. You can sort of see where I marked. I marked in two places. Where the bottom of the plywood hits the support boards & where I was going to cut which is the second line. That line represents the bottom of the legs.

My hubby decided to take a few photos of me marking my wood. Like that new dresser to the right? I need to start working on her...she is going to be so pretty and will be available in my shop!

Ok. Now this is just the way I did it but I took (6) screws for each side of the supports and drilled them in zig zag style. I recommend a drill for this portion. Make sure to line up each 1x4 to the sides & top & bottom of the plywood. It's simple people. Just make it even and clamp it!

I use a small clamp when I am drilling or gluing any pieces of wood together. This is optional but I strongly recommend it because it will make cutting & drilling a heck of a lot easier :-) Whenever you drill your screws into the wood, there should be NO spaces where you can see in-between the two pieces. Notice in the below picture there is no spaces in-between these two pieces of wood. It should be seamless as shown. 

After you have marked and drilled each side, this will bring you to your sawing. It doesn't matter what kind of saw you use as long as you can cut wood with it! Cut at the line that you drew earlier which will be at whatever height you want your bed to sit at. Remember, I wanted mine at 4ft as shown.

You will take your last 1x4 and repeat these steps. Measure the 1x4 to fit seamless in-between your other two 1x4's as shown. Cut on your lines & drill into place. This is what it should look like below.

This is what quilt batting looks like. I opted for something thin because I wanted to make sure my railhead trim would go through it. I simply bought 6ft of it to ensure that I would have plenty to work with. It left about 6 inches on each side to staple to the back of my headboard.

Notice in the picture below, I used scissors to cut ONLY to the bottom of the plywood so I could staple this batting back. I cut the excess on the actual leg off. It will be covered with fabric later.

Here's another picture my husband snapped of me stapling the batting to the headboard. It doesn't have to be perfect people! I know I look rough, it was 9pm at night :-) PS, I am using an electric staple/nail gun. You can find it here! I found it on the Clearance rack that day at Lowe's for $20! I'll take it! It makes things a TON easier when upholstering furniture & also building furniture. I highly recommend it as well but please use with caution because they can be dangerous! If you're not using it, make sure to always turn the on switch off just in case! :-)

Here's a photo of my fabric because it needed ironing BAD! And my boys watching all that I do. They are so nosey :P This is a drop cloth for painting also from Lowe's. But you could use ANY fabric for this project! Endless possibilities as I always say!

Here's a photo after I started stapling my fabric on. Notice I did the same thing with my fabric as I did with my batting. I simply cut it to staple it on the back of my headboard. I pulled the excess fabric that is sitting on the leg over and stapled it to the back as well. Try to do this as neatly as possibly with lightly folding over edges to get a seamless look.

Here's an updated picture with batting & fabric done. I was SO excited at this point but exhausted! Be sure to be able to give a couple of hours to this project! The hardest part in my opinion is coming up!

I purchased all of my supplies from Lowe's or had them in my home. The nailheads I found in the nail section, imagine that! I wanted to make sure I had enough of them so I think I bought around 6 packs of them. Each pack contains 25 nail heads. I still have 3.5 left over but better to be safe than sorry!

I measured 4 inches from each corner at top and bottom of the headboard & marked it with my carpentry pencil. I lightly hammered two nail heads into each marking and wrapped my twine at each end so I sort of had a "guide" like "Our Vintage Home" did it. I must suck because mine did NOT come out perfect but that's ok because... I still saved HUNDREDS of dollars and that is so much more worth it than a few nailheads not being perfectly even :-) HEHE.

I did this all around the headboard. I didn't bother to do the bottom of the headboard because my mattress was going to cover it and the comforter. Yours probably will to but do it if you would like....

Drumroll please....

Here's the final result and I am in LOVE! I want to make a million of them. But we only have 3 bedrooms. And I feel guilty for already wanting to try a new fabric :-)

So what do you think of my custom headboard tutorial? I literally saved HUNDREDS of dollars and it feels so good. If you didn't catch my tips before, here are the measurements for most beds. 

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment below or if you try this! Follow me on FB here!

Linking back to Thrifty Decor Chick! Check her website out by clicking thrifty decor chick :)

XOXO,
Ally

Burlap Rosette Video Tutorial

Hey y'all! 

I've gotten a few emails, messages & comments to do some video tutorials on certain things such as how to make burlap rosettes, how to make a paper wreath, how to distress, etc. 

I decided tonight to first do the burlap rosette tutorial on video. I really hope that this helps at least one person understand how to make rosettes or any project a little easier for you! 

Here's what you'll need even though I'll break it down in the tutorial.

-Burlap

-Hot Glue Gun

-Scissors

I feel so dorky doing videos and I am trying to learn how to edit them to look all fancy and cool like everyone else's. For now, they will be simple :-)

On a different topic, here are two furniture redo's that I have posted on Facebook in the past few days. They are for sale and are available now!

You can find my shop on Facebook here to purchase any of these chairs. Enjoy the video and let me know what you think! Thanks y'all!

XOXO,

Ally

How to: Use a spaghetti sauce jar to make a soap dispenser

Hey y'all! 

As many of you know, here lately I've been trying to be proactive and knock some things off my Pinterest "to do" list, AKA my "DIY" pin board. You can find it here! Be sure to click "Follow All" so you can follow me on Pinterest and keep up with my latest blog posts and pins.

One of the DIY that I have had pinned forever was to make a soap dispenser out of a mason jar. Well I have PLENTY of mason jars... but blonde ole' me threw away all the lids whenever we moved into this house because I didn't think we'd ever need them -_-

I figured I would just wait a little bit and do this project once the glass ware went back on sale the next time I went to Hobby Lobby. Did I mention that I was cooking spaghetti tonight? DURH! I always use "Classico" sauces and save the jars because they are Mason Jars! So, no $ spent there.

The first step is obvious. Use your spaghetti sauce. And it was delicious :-) I washed out the jar after I used all my sauce until it was clean.

The second step is simply to get the label off. Rubbing alcohol works wonders. I had Windex Multi-Surface on hand so I simply saturated the label with it... let it sit for 5 minutes and started to rub it off.

*TIP* If you do are doing a few of these soap dispensers, run the jars through a dishwasher. Take out while dishwasher is in "drying" stage. This will be when the label is the softest and easiest to take off.

Step number three is to paint your first coat on your jar. I used my Valspar Color Samples... I love these little things. This little container of paint goes a long way and they have the cutest colors! I am totally LOVING their fall line right now! You have to check it out!

Now here is the part that I didn't take a picture of. Go me! I also painted the lid in these pictures but you can't see it. I used a drill bit on a drill to drill the hole in the center of the lid for the soap dispenser top. If you don't have a drill bit, try a knife or scissors. Make the hole as big as you think for the tube. Most soap dispenser tops will cover your hole if it isn't perfect anyways. Mine did. I just added soap and she's done! Are you ready for the final result? Drumroll please...

I absolutely adore how it turned out! This would be cute in a small wide mouth mason as well! I plan on doing this for all of our restrooms in our home. Different colors would be cute too! I see a shabby pink for a little girls room or a bright blue for a boys bathroom. Endless possibilities! This is just the plain paint but I decided (of course as my husband says) to distress it just a little to give it some character.... so now here is final result numero dos!

The finish on top of my soap dispenser matches my sink faucet so that is why I choose this one. I think an oil bronzed top would look amazing and I plan to do that one next for our master bathroom.

So, what do you think? Are you going to try this DIY? And did I mention that this project costs me $0. Absolutely nothing! Hopefully it goes this well for you, I would love to hear about it!

XOXO,
Ally

Fall home tour

Happy Thursday!

Hey y'all! I hope I find everyone well here who reads this. I wanted to first get off my chest something very personal and that has happened to me recently. I wasn't/haven't talked about it much because it's scary to me but I realized that more than a couple of people read this blog (I hope) and if I can just make someone else feel better who might be going through the same thing, then it's worth it to talk about it. 

I got a phone call two days ago from my dad. The same ole, same ole how ya doing, what are ya doing, where are ya going, yada yada yada. Love you dad ;-) But then at the end of the conversation my dad tells me he needs to tell me something... Now, if you know me you know how much I worry over everything, cry over spilled milk, give myself a panic attack over ice-cream, you get the picture? I'm a worry wart, a stressing sally, an obsessive compulsive woman. Period. My mom has been going to the doctor for a little while now for various health problems including some that are hereditary that I have as well. That's a completely different story. Well my mom had shoulder surgery awhile ago from getting hurt at work. For a normal X-ray of her shoulder, something popped up in her neck that concerned the doctors enough to take a second look. After many doctor visits, scans and X-rays later... my mom gets a phone call and the doctor says...

You have cancer.

Wait, what? Cancer? That's a death sentence. What kind? How long has it been there? How big is it? What stage is it? Where do we go from here? What is going to happen? Is my mom going to live?

All of those questions + 1,000 others were running through my head. Dad explained that it was thyroid cancer and that they would just need to remove my moms thyroid completely and possibly while removing it, look to see if her lymph nodes need to be taken out as well & if the cancer has spread. 

Deep breathe, Ally. At this point, of course I am in shock and can't stop crying because I have no clue about any of this. When most people hear the word cancer, they automatically think of death. I did...and it was scary. I need my mom. I need her everyday. She has too much to live for. She is only 43. Too young to have any problems like this. If you knew my mom, it wouldn't surprise you that none of this upset her. She was actually "annoyed" by it because she would have to miss work. She wanted to hurry up with the surgeries and the whole process just so she could get back to work. She kept reassuring me it was "nothing" and she would be fine. She's a strong woman. But also very stubborn.

I've heard from various people that even though every cancer is bad, this is the cancer you want...because they can get it all out. That is a good thing but that doesn't mean it's going to be a walk in the park. My mom is going to be on medicine for the rest of her life. And there are so many side effects. If her dosage is too high, it can cause many problems such as massive panic attacks, irritability, susceptible to depression easily and more cravings. If the dosage is too low, she will constantly be tired, fatigued and just feeling lousy. Although all of these seem tiny compared to loosing life, it is still going to be a daily battle for her to get up the morning. 

My dad is a commercial fisherman in North Carolina. He is self employed. He works in the heat everyday and in the winter, he works in the freezing cold. But he has to do it. And he always has to provide for our family. I can't ever express how much respect I have for him...and my mom. They are the two most hard working people I've ever met. And I know that's where I get my motivation from. Dad fell yesterday and broke his foot so now he will be out of work for at least 2-4 weeks and will be getting a cast on his foot as well. Cancer and a broken foot. What a couple of days right? 

The giveaway that is coming up on Home by Ally is in honor of my mom and her cancer because more people need to realize it CAN happen! I never thought even in the "best" cancer scenario that my mom would have it but she does! Let's wake up people... and tell your loved ones you love them. Don't let your spouse walk out the door mad. Be kind to strangers. Help a child. Just live RIGHT so you don't have regrets and won't want to do anything over. Life is just TOO short not to love each other...right.

NOW! Onto...my fall home tour after I've gotten out the tissue box and I'm listening to violins ;-)

Here is our living room and small dining area that we never use.  I am loving the fall colors right now but I usually do different colors in here. Have I mentioned that I can't wait for Christmas? I've been looking for something for the left corner behind the table... but in no rush :-)

Here's another view of the small nook table. I redid this for the living room and I'm pretty much obsessed with anything that has a stained top. That mirror is made out of barn wood from North Dakota. Have I mentioned how much I hate that dining room fixture too? Talk about builder's grade.

I'm enjoying the process of turning this new house into our home. And we all need to remember that "Rome was not built in a day" as my mom would say. Hobby Lobby is still going to have that mirror next week and just because it's on clearance and it's cute doesn't mean you need it :-) Very good lessons that I am always RELEARNING :-(

That us in North Dakota outside of the animal shelter there. I think it was around the time we got our first pup :-) The small pumpkins are from Target and so are the candle holders. The moss is from Hobby Lobby and the photo frame is from TJMaxx. LOVE.

I found this cute, adorable, wonderful, AWESOME pillow at Marshalls about a week ago. I bought it just FOR fall. I LOVE the colors and the linen fabric. It's Ralph Lauren too, fabulous!

I love my little windsor chair in my living room. It's always nice to have additional seating besides the sofas. Do you have any other places in your living room to sit besides the sofas? A cute little Target pumpkin on top adds the perfect little touch of fall.

If you haven't visited Target lately, you're missing out! They have a new line out called "Threshold" and I believe I'm in LOVE with every item. Too bad we're not millionaires :-) Look for a tag like this...and I promise you will fall in love too! 

This tray is from the Threshold line. It was a chalk paint inside. UM, love! The candle is from Walmart for only $5 in their fall line! Pumpkin spice, my favorite! If only y'all could smell our house :-) We both love to read and have stacks of books that we probably need to get rid of at our next yardsale :-) These are specifically marriage inspiration books that I occasionally read and sometimes read with Ryan.         I don't think he listens.

1,001 things all happy couple should know about marriage

Married for life

A love that lasts

What I know now

They are all from the Hallmark collection except for the top one. I found that one at a gas station in ND but that one is actually my favorite!

And look at those two. Aren't they adorable? My boys. Winston is the miniature doxie and Tito who is a labradane. And yes, they are BEST friends.

Our home is FULL of doxie stuff. I am obsessed. Yes, I know we have another dog too. My husband reminds me all the time.

I added this small rope around my white vases and other miscellaneous items around the home. It has a very rustic, fall look and was only a couple of bucks at Lowe's! It instantly adds a cute touch to any plain vase, candle holder, etc.

I had this handmade while we were in North Dakota. I love it but now I wish I would have did brown lettering. What can I say, I'm OCD. But those are all the places that my husband and I have been in his career in the military. Well, I didn't go to Korea because it was a single tour! We got married in 2010 and some of these were before 2010 and before we were married! February will be 3 years for us! 

This is my entryway table. It has been uses. It has also been a TV stand for a short period of time. I love the character in this piece. It did have some rather boring hardware when I got it so I changed them out for something more vintage looking. The banner I made and use ALOT everywhere. I want to make a bigger one tonight that says FALL or Happy Fall Y'all to hang over my mirror in the living room. You can use banners anywhere for anything!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this iron gate I got from Ross a few weeks ago. Whenever you see something in a store and know you have to have it...so you grab it like a ninja and throw it in your cart like someone else is going to come after it. Yeah, I do it too. It's exciting though.

The barstools are from Ikea. And I used the same china & small pumpkins for my bar.

I like fall and somewhat get into it but ADORE Christmas and that's when I pull out a lot more decor. Here are little glass vases that are on our farmhouse table. They were only $8 each at Ross. I filled them with popcorn kernels and added little pumpkins to each too. See the little rope I told you about earlier, everywhere! The runner is from the new Threshold line too...LOVE!

Here's my buffet table with my old farmhouse window. I just added small pumpkins to each side, not too much. Just a small touch of fall.

Usuaully, I have fruit in those baskets. But I decided to fill them with pine cones for fall. I might change that soon to something a little brighter. They blend too much with the baskets. There are my "EAT" letters I got from Hobby Lobby and painted! I was thinking of putting these in my new Etsy shop, what do you think? They are sage green and distressed...I LOVE them! 

Here's a full view of the dining area and kitchen. Not my DREAM house... but we all work with what we have :-) Finally got my rug for under the farmhouse table as well, what do you think?

Here's the desk I redid in a neat way, you can find it here. I redid it AGAIN because we all know I love white. I just added a layer of white on top and gave it that chippy look. I love it even more now! How about you? What do you think of it?

Here's the paper wreath I made for only $3 from the Dollar Tree the other night. I did a tutorial, you can find it here! Super easy and super cute! Have you ever thought of hanging a wreath INSIDE of your door instead of just the outside? It's so plain right there and it was just what the door needed. I also carried the same style rug as my entry way rug as the one that is under the farmhouse table. What do you think of it? It's JUTE. I love jute and the way it looks. SO simple and pretty.

Well that's it for my fall home tour. I hope you enjoyed it! And let me know what you think! Hopefully once we can get our new furniture in, I can do a full home tour! Until next time...

XOXO,

Ally

HOW TO: Make a paper wreath!

Hey y'all! Happy hump day!

Today, I wanted to share with you how I made this paper wreath. It was SUPER easy and SUPER cheap, two of the things that I love the most. It's been a rough week over here so I would appreciate it if y'all could keep my family in your prayers! 

So here's the final result of my handmade paper wreath. I LOVE it. And I plan on making a few more for our house. Wreaths look good over windows, doors, etc. 

TIP: Wreaths don't just go on outside of front doors. Put one on a patio door or the INSIDE of your front door. Put one over a pretty mirror in your house... 

Ok! So, here's what you will need.

1. Cheap Wreath. I got mine at the Dollar Tree. Just don't get one of those stick ones because that would be super hard and that's not what I'm all about :-)

2. Any kind of paint brush. This is to "antique" your pages. You could also use paper towels!

3. Glue gun with extra glue sticks.

4. Dollar Tree books. I bought 2 because I plan on making 2 wreaths. You could easily use a whole book for one wreath though so beware! It is just a matter of how "fluffy" you want your wreath!

5. Coke. Or something to drink. Because you'll be here for a little bit.

6. Computer to distract you.

7. Stain or any kind of paint. You'll use this to antique the edges of the book.

8. Scissors just in case you need to cut any edges.

Wanna be friends? I promise, I am cool.

Ok, so as you can see below the FIRST step that I took was antiquing my pages. I simply held the book up and painted the edges of all of the paper. These page edges will be the ones that are facing out whenever your wreath is done.

It was late here and maybe I had too much caffeine because I was a little too excited to take a photo.

After your glue gun has been heated up and you have painted all the edges of your paper letting it dry for about 5 minutes, you're going to start tearing pages out of your book. I KNOW, OMG!

Haha... You can roll them ANYWAY you want. I did a couple of different rolls in my wreath because I didn't want it to be boring. HA.

Here's an example of a roll.

And below is another example of a roll that I did a lot. I didn't even roll this one. I just kinda pushed the pages together. Just be careful to not BEND or crease any pages, you don't want it to look "to finished." I did this first layer just like this all the way around the wreath.

As you can see, it looks like "crap, I don't know what I am doing" but it actually turns out pretty in the end! I promise! I am always doubting myself half way through projects but don't do that! Wait until the end to doubt yourself, haha. I kid.

Starting to come together below.... As you can see in the photo, I got more caffeine. And I also was not consistent in a certain roll. I did all of them because I didn't want to leave any out. And you're just LAYERING like a mad woman.

Now at this point, I still had the little donut hole in mine and if you want to leave that hole that is fine! But I didn't. I wanted it to be really full. SO I kept gluing in the middle until you couldn't see a hole!

TIP: Before it gets all full and pretty, if you plan to tie this ribbon up as a wreath in your home, go ahead and add your string around the wreath so it's easier to wrap around. You could also just add a small ribbon on the back in a hook position to hold it! Sorry, forgot to add this to the pictures! 

And here is the final result! Don't mind the crappy picture, it was midnight and I didn't have good light! But I love how it turned out! OH! And don't mind the rope holding it either. I need to go to Hobby Lobby and get more pretty burlap. Maybe my husband will do it.

What do y'all think of my handmade paper wreath? That's my awesome door I got from a lady in North Dakota who got it out of an old ND farmhouse. Pretty cool huh? I stuck the keys in there...they are from Hobby Lobby but don't tell anyone :-)

Let me know what you think of my handmade wreath that only cost me $3! And please feel free to link up yours if you try this! Thanks y'all for listening!

XOXO,

Ally