Herbal Wedding

Incorporating herbs can be such a "fresh" and inexpensive way to add texture to your wedding. Here are a few ways to use them outside of your garden.

This bouquet has Ornamental oregano, lavender, rosemary, white kale, lavender hyacinth, flowering onions, white sweet pea, scented geranium, blue scabiosa, star of Bethlehem, and honey myrtle wrapped in ivory lace and a string of vintage pearls.

 Via Here

This next one could be a fun if you had the table number attached to it.

Via Here

loose tea is a great favor. Make your own loose tea or find it online.

via Bliss Wedding Market

This one is fantastic. It's SO simple but makes such a great statement. Use it at home, weddings, or corporate events. They are Terra Cotta pots spray painted silver. LOVE it!

via Martha Stewart

Enjoy!

Media Wine Bar

A few years ago I bought this media cart for my apartment. When we moved into our new place there wasn't a need for it. I thought about selling it but didn't want to get less than I paid for it as it was less than two years old and in great shape! So, I came up with this...A NEW WINE BAR!
I purchased two wood wine cubes that were 20"x20"...lucky me as the width of the cart was 40"

I headed to the hardware store again and found a piece of plywood to put on the top of the wine boxes to be used as a counter. The key to save some $$ is to get a piece that is nice on one side and can have knots on the other. We cut it down to a 16"x24" piece of wood...just enough to have a few inches on all sides.

I also picked up a piece of trim to add a little flare to the wine bar. We trimmed it to size glued and nailed it to the sides then finished sanding.

I then began my painting. I stared with an Ebony stain, realized that wasn't going to do the trick so went an picked up a black satin latex paint.

To finish it off I called up the metal specialty shop and had them cut me a piece of stainless steel to size. (the 16 only showed up when the flash went off on the camera...no clue that was there!)

Ta DA! Another finished product that gets a LOT of use in our place!

Design Board

I have a new favorite thing in our place, my new design board!

I found this amazing frame at a consignment shop around town for $30...little pricey for just a frame but I thought it was too pretty to pass up.

I went down to the hardware store and picked up a piece of 1/8" of MDF board and cut it to size. Then I took a piece of cork, cut it to size, and spray glued it to the wood. (you can find rolls of cork at the craft store)
Once that was secure I wrapped a piece of burlap around the board, lightly spray glued it to the cork.
A close up of the burlap

The finished project! I love it, so much that I can't decide what should be the first thing that should be hung on it!

Fresh Flowers

I love having fresh flowers in my house. To me they make the home feel that much warmer and the best part is that you too can create something just like mine. Here's how...

These flowers above are from Trader Joes and Fred Meyer. I took a bouquet of red roses ($9.99) and two packs of a green tone floral pack ($7.99 each). The idea is to find a variety pack of a solid color (tones of yellow, orange, pink, etc) then pair it with a solid color rose, daisy, sunflower. I take them out of their packaging and cut them down to the size of vase that I am using. You get a custom looking arrangement without the price tag of a florist.

here is another sampling of Duranleau Designs work...

Retro Chair Remodel

This summer I decided to take my parents old patio furniture and do a little remodel on it. These chairs were given to my parents by a friend many years ago. I remember painting them in High School as part of my chores to make some money for my drivers ed training. :)

As you can see that was a long time ago and it was time that they be brought back to life, again.

I ended up ripping the wicker seat portion out of the entire chair and sanding down all the worn off paint, cross by cross. Once I was done sanding I picked up 4 cans of brown spray paint and started to spray. Little did I know that all that spray painting would lead to a compressed nerve in my pointer finger. Click HERE to see what I found out...who knew!

Once the chairs were painted I needed something to sit on. I cut a piece of plywood into the shape of the seat, then picked up some 3" foam, and some outdoor canvas fabric. I cut the foam to the shape of the plywood and then sprayed the foam and plywood with spray adhesive. Once that was done I pulled the fabric around to the bottom of the plywood and stapled it all the way around.

Here is my finished product. There are actually two chairs but I was having a hard time photographing both on my 5x10' deck! They are really comfy too. Now I am just on the look out for one of thoes ceramic drum stools.

This Old Dresser

This is probably one of my favorite pieces in our place (so far). I found this dresser for $30 at a Goodwill store. I could see the charm written all over it.

I removed all of the hardware and sanded, and sanded, and sanded! Then I added about 3-4 coats of white lacquer paint and...

Isn't she pretty? I found some great glass nobs and spray painted the small key holes with sliver paint. Good as new!