DIY // CHANDELIER TRANSFORMATION

Well, hello there, sugarpies! How goes it? I am currently mid-Diet Mt. Dew and listening to some very loud Megan Trainor and burning a fabulous pomegranate & cedar candle. Now, doesn't that just sound like the loveliest thing ever? 

Anyhoozle. I had a love/hate relationship with the chandelier that came with our dining room. It was like, "Oooooh, look at the chandelier! It's so sparkly and chandelier-y! Who wouldn't love this chandelier?" But, what I think I meant was, "Thank God it's not commercial/generic/warm toned/all-the-things-I-don't-love."

The longer it hung there, the more I tired of seeing the dead bugs who were stuck down in the hardware. Not what I'm trying to look at while I eat. And it was just so .... clear. Plus, the more I saw all these magical beaded chandies online, the deeper in love I fell. Cause, you know, my style is kinda Jungalow, pattern-mix, old-meets-new, happy jumble-ation. You do know what I mean, right? {If you are like, 'What in the blue blazes is she talkin' about?' you can check out my decor obsessions on Pinterest.} 'Kay, good. And these peeps? Love 'em!

Justina Blakeney - The Jungalow

 Edie Wadsworth - Life in Grace

Jamie Meares - i suwannee/Furbish

 So, here is what I was workin' with before:

 The thought of destroying it felt wrong for about two minutes. But, once I got some fresh bright spray paint on the scene, all doubts were GONE. 

At first, I was going to keep the octopus arms and just paint it and add some beading, but I kinda felt like I was poohing out on what I really wanted. But, once I dropped a few of the arms and broke them, that decision was made for me. Don't you just love when that happens? So, here's what I was left with: 

Since the chandelier originally had five small bulbs, we had to change out the socket in order to accommodate two bulbs in the center. I also painted all the "guts" white because I knew that you would be able to see through the beading a little bit. After a bit of brainstorming, and time on Pinterest, I decided to upcycle an ugly lamp shade I already had for the beading portion of the project. I ordered my beads from Shipwreck Beads. To be honest, I just did some measuring and guessing and guessing and measuring and then some finger crossing about how many beads to order. This whole project was 1500 of the natural colored beads, and 150 of the teal ones, and I only had a dab left of each when I was done. 

I opted to use wire (I used floral wire, but beading wire would be thinner and more flexible). To me, this was the more sane method, because I could create a loop on each end, and keep the beads from coming back off and getting all over the place, and generally causing me to lose my ever-loving mind. 

 I would do ten strands or so, and then wrap them onto the upside down lampshade frame as I went. For the first strand, I just decided on a pattern with the green beads and made sure I'd have enough to complete as many strands as I needed. (1 strand = 3 natural, 1 teal, 17 natural, 1 teal, 3 natural, for example)

Using wire as opposed to string also allowed me to just wrap the ends instead of having to tie a million times.

Once I was done with the beading, I knew I wanted to wrap something around it to hide the exposed wire ends. I had originally planned to use the natural twine featured in the photo above, but once I got to this stage, I wanted something a little more colorful. So, I took some old fabric I had (green with daisies), and cut it into long strips about 1" wide, and just wrapped them around until all the wire was hidden. I just tied the fabric strips off as inconspicuously as possible.

 Once I was satisfied with how the lamp shade looked, I used the same wire to attach the inside of the shade to the metal disc with the circular holes in it (shown in the third photo). This part took some trial and error, because you want to make sure that it's level and not hanging lopsided.

These wires are the primary support for the lamp shade. However, to add some green color pop to the top portion, I tied some strips from the lamp shade frame to the chandelier trunk, as seen below. And, then, finally(!!), the finished project:

I paid about $40 for beads. 

I think we paid less than $5 for the new bulb sockets.

I already had:

 - wire

 - fabric

 - dangling crystals

 - lamp shade frame

 - white spray paint

 - blue spray paint

 - bulbs

I say, win! I am still not tired of staring at it. And it's so much more 'us'! You have to feel comfortable in your space, folks! I think some peeps thought I was nuts for "ruining" the chandelier, but I couldn't stand the sight of it one more day. You gotta do you at yo' own house, y'all! 

Have you done a chandelier DIY? Please share a link below!!! I'd love to see!

WEEKENDING | A DATE, THRIFTING & SOME BLOGGY FRIENDS

How was your weekend? Splendid, I hope. Mine was pretty fab. I requested a date night from Hubs, so we decided to venture out on Friday. Friends, I spent real time on my hair and make up, and wore my most favoritest perfume. After realizing our spot was booked until 9:00 due to Restaurant Week {totally forgot about that}, we headed over to Mellow Mushroom. It's one of my faves because they have gluten free beer and pizza. So, we put our name in, headed over to grab a drink while we waited, and were told that they were out of my gluten free beer. What. The. What, y'all. Sooooo, we placed a take out order, hit the Teeter, and headed home to the couch for snuggle clothes and some Downton catch up time. {We are only in season 4. I totally wonder what they are doing when I go to bed at night. Then, I realize: a) it's only a TV show and b) even so, I am a whole season behind}

Saturday I hit up a local Habitat ReStore for a shopping field trip. I heard these shugs were going to be there, and yes, I can attest, they do exist in real life. {Y'all ever creep on people follow people's blogs/instas and start to feel like you know them IRL?} Anyhoo, these two were totally sweet and down to earth. "Let's get a picture. We love Instafriends!" You can check Jennifer out here and Cheryl out here. I recommend!

And, I am pleased to inform y'all that the Habitat ReStore did not disappoint! I scored some Tobacco Leaf plates & mugs, some vintage books, a milk glass lamp, and a little something for Hubs' birthday next month. 

So - the Tobacco Leaf china - you see, I have a thing for tobacco because I'm from a tobacco county, and my family were tobacco farmers. I spotted this china awhile back, and fell in love with the colors and the design. So, you know. Natch, I had to buy them. I mean, five plates & five mugs for $15? Yes'm. Here's what I did:

I bought some plate hangers and arranged the plates above a painting I did of my great great uncle, Herman. It was painted from a picture my cousin had of Uncle Herman at the tobacco barn. The tobacco sticks on the left were my great granddaddy's, and the tobacco leaves were snatched {with permission} from a friend's tobacco field this past summer. I love mixing different textures, as well as combining old with new. If a piece in a space has a story or meaning, all the better!

Oh! I also scored some new light bulb covers. {I'm sure these have a more specific, appropriate name?} The one on the right is what came with the house when we bought it. These were a bit too curvy and feminine for me. I got four of the one pictured on the left for $2 each. Exciting stuff, friends!

Here is the lamp. I love, love, love me some milk glass. It's vintage, but still workable in a variety of spaces. I love solid white as well. Texture, without being too much. {Those books in the photo were purchased for 50 cents each, y'all! Books are your decor friend!!}

And here's what I did with the Tobacco Leaf mugs. I will use these, but you know me. I thought they were too pretty to hide. So, I got some cup hooks from the Davis General Store, and look how pretty they are just hangin' out. {Somebody needs to get to caulkin' up in that kitchen, don't they? Yikes.}

Here at the Davis Hizzle, we like to roast some nice, healthy vegetables after a night of gorging on beer and pizza. Life's all about balance, you know. We did potatoes, onions, carrots, and brussels sprouts with garlic powder, salt, pepper, olive oil, and some tumeric. {Is it pronounced TOOM-er-ic or too-MAIR-ic?}

Sunday we churched, painted, napped, laundered, you know. 

How was your weekend? What are your favorite thrift spots? Where do you have the most luck?

Crossland Studio in Charlotte

Owned by two brothers. If you're ever in Charlotte, you gotta check 'em out.

Basically, a magical salvage wonderland full of deliciously worn architectural bits to gussy up your house.
Or restaurant.
Or any space you want to look like total awesomeness.

Makes me happy.

Blogger Peeps: I'm so confused. I never used Google Reader - will y'all's blog posts still show up in my blog roll from my dashboard? I don't get it ...

HOOTY HOO!!

Me & the meemaw, Haze, went junkin' earlier this week and I found these lil fellas - $1.75 for the pair.

I have been searching for some smaller "creatures" that I like - deer, owls, etc. that I could spray paint white to go with my winter mantel, so I was supa excited to find these shugpies.

I just sprayed about three coats, and let em dry outside for several hours, then they were dry enough to bring in.

Easy and cheap.

You know how I luh dat!

And I love how they look on the mantel!

What treasures have you found lately?
Happy thrifting, shugs!

if there were gift cards for junk/antiques/flea markets

 it would so be my go-to request for every gift-giving occasion for the rest of time.

hope y'all are havin yourselves a FABulous friday.

as i mentioned before, yesterday {technically, since it's like what, 12:18 am?} was my junkin day!

whoo hooo!!

bobo totally gets my over-stimulation/excitement:

i actually got some stuff on my list!!

and i had some bad daddy's tater tots and dippin sauce, shit-tons of diet coke, and the frostin off a chocolate cupcake!

i came home and moved shiz around in preparation for our massive tree, whilst sippin on some cranberry & ginger sans jack. i am feelin straight up elf-tastic.

i will share the deets with you shugpies later after my hizzle is decorated like santa's headquarters and not lookin like this train wreckage:

but I am optimistic.

annnnnnd, I got some bomb specially-made gluten-free lasagna made by the MIL to fuel my overhaul.

thanksgivin's early this year, which means, more time to soak in the christmas magic!
we bout to be puttin on tha dog - christmas edition up in this piece, sugarpies.

yours truly,
SIB

wolfpack 6-pack

on saturday, i went junkin with the sis-in-law. i was really good, because even though i see all this crap and my head is overflowin with ideas of how gorgeous it would be stripped, and repainted and put in a huge entryway, i don't have a place to put any of it.

but - 

i did find these!

clearly, i love the stizzle, and so anything pack makes me excited.

and - random - hubs and i were born in 1983, and got married on the same day that the stizzle won this tournament. (no, we didn't plan the wedding around that, but i still enjoy that lil tidbit.)

red soda?

i see these types of things all the time - with the drink still in em. thirty year old soft drink.

mmmmmm.

as you can see below, the ingredients were limited.

whattup, cheraw? whooooop!

after reading those names, i thought, cozell. what a baller name. cozell mcqueen? even better. would be a great name for a dog. a bigger dog, like a lab. get him an nc stizzle dog jerzey with COZELL in huge letters.

 i say word.

and just look at that stache.

i <3 junkin.

whoop! whoop!

Beggars & Choosers

If vintage magic makes you feel like you have glitter in your veins, and you live anywhere near Pittsboro, NC, then you need to know about this:

Just take a look ...

Holy Monkey. If it hadn'ta been time for them to close up shop about 30 minutes after I arrived, then who knows what sort of damage could've been done. 

Anj, you were lucky this time.

*Give the store a call to check for hours before making the trip.