This is so easy it almost doesn’t even deserve a post. Almost.

Start with your not so beautiful shinny brass item. In my case it was an $8.00 thrift store lamp inspired by this.

Use Grecian Gold Rub-N-Buff. DO NOT USE Antique Gold. Its really peachy and looks completely foreign on the brass. You can get it at most craft stores like Michaels.

With an old T Shirt rub it on to your piece,  it doesn’t have to be perfect!

Ta Da! You are done!

So much better right?!

Love  Your  Guts,  Mandi

The post The Secret To Tarnish Brass In One Easy Step! appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

I cant wait to share with you guys the next installment of Dylan’s room! Check out her new Wooden Openwork Cube Pendant Light.

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I was super inspired by this light from Restoration Hardware. And set out to totally knock it off…but it was WAY more complicated than I thought it would be. And you guys know I never give up on a project fail so after thinking about it for a few hours  I decided to do something that had the same vibe but was simple enough to actually execute.

First you want to make your cube. I used 3/4 Square Dowel from Home Depot for this fun light. I used 25 feet. Cut your dowel into 4 long pieces (mine were 15”) and short pieces (to figure out the length you need just subtract the width of 2 dowels from the end, so ours was 13.5”)

You are going to make 2 squares that look like this:

We used our nail gun and finishing nails. If you don’t have a small compressor with a nail gun I TOTALLY recommend getting one, we use ours so much!!

Nail through the ends of the long pieces into the short ones.

Doesn’t my husband have cute hands?

Then when you have made your 2 squares you are going to connect them with the 4 remaining pieces.

After you have constructed your cube you are going to put in your cross pieces. Cut the ends at 45 degree angles.

We made it so the edges were on the top and bottom of each square. Also does anyone want to explain to me why the grass on our lawn is dead but its alive and kicking in the cracks in our driveway?

Make sure that all of your pieces are going the same direction. You can tell if you did it right if you get X’s when you look at any side straight on.

For the pendant light I used one that I found at Home Depot on MASSIVE clearance. It was $10.88! Crazy!

I did this next step backwards so DO AS I SAY NOT AS I DO! To be able to suspend the cube on the pendant light we needed something to hold it in place. I had some rubber washers from a light kit that we cut in 1/2 and put it on. Do this and THEN paint. Because you can get some scratching if you do it the other way.

Then its time to install your light. There are lots of videos on youtube on exactly how to do this by licensed elecricians. It is really easy but can be a little nerve wracking if you have never done electrical work before.

Notice our cube isnt on yet.

You need to drill a hole in one corner. This was probably the hardest part of the whole shebang.

We started by drilling into the corner

We drilled the hole bigger than neseccary so that it would sit level. If you have a small hole then there isnt going to be room for error if its not perfect. And lets face it, its not going to be perfect. SO  make you hole bigger than you need. Ok?

We also ended up pulling one of the pieces of wood apart so that we could get it on the pendant. We just used a smallish screw to reattach it.

I stained the wood with Minwax Natural 209. (if you haven’t been here for long you should know that I am OBSESSED with light wood. Its my fave!)

And then you are done!

Don’t you love the impact that it has?!

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Its industrial-ish frame work totally shows off the pendant and Edison bulb (you can buy them at Home Depot or Lowes!)  Its modern, raw, warmish, and industrial all in one big beautiful package!

And don’t be scared to try this! Its not as scary as you would think! And the best part? I spent $45 on the whole thing.

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Voting for the Homies Best DIY Blog ends tomorrow at midnight! Right now I am in 6th place (yay!) but it is SUPER close. If you liked this project I would love a vote!

The registration is SIMPLE! Click the link, scroll to the bottom of the Nomination List and you will see a spot to register (if you don’t already have an account with Apartment Therapy) you can sign up with an email or FB. Then you will go back to the post and click the VOTE button next to Vintage Revivals. It will take you less than 2 minutes!   I pinky promise! Thanks guys!!

Love  Your  Guts,  Mandi

The post Openwork Cube Pendant Light appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

Don’t hate me when I tell you this…I have had this project done since January. BUT I couldn’t show it to you because I had to redo Dylan’s room to do it justice! We’ve all seen the cute kitchen play sets from repurposed crap (I super love this one from YHL)

We arent really a kitchen type family, BUT we are a dress up type family.

Dun dun dun dun!

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So cute right!?!

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So do you want to know how to bust it out?

Start with an ugly entertainment center (I found this one on Craigslist for $20)

After removing the unneseccary elements (doors, shelves etc.) it looked like this:

Also for those that are new, we have a rule at Vintage Revivals call Don’t Judge My Hoard. So please abide by it. Thankyousomuch.

The first step was to get the closet door attached. Bought a piece of ply and had it cut to the right size at the store. We originally used MDF but were concerned with the durability and switched to 3/4 plywood. A few of the pictures below show the MDF before we decided to switch.

We attached it with hinges (by we I mean Court)

Then I trimmed it out. (ALL BY MYSELF!) I used preprimed chair rail moulding. Just make sure before you head to Home Depot or Lowes that you measure EVERY SINGLE THING. Got it?

I used my trusty nail gun to attach it.

Notice the gaps in the moulding at the hinges. I needed a small cut out of it to accommodate them. This could be SUPER complicate if you want it to be. Or you could do it the easy Mandilicious way. Cut a piece that is the right height and then cut it skinnier so that it still lines up. Hold on let me just show you.

Then you just putty the seams! Awesome right?!

The paneling was pretty easy to install. You can have your home improvement store cut it the right size but you will most likely have to notch out some corners. Then just slide it in through the back.

Because we were installing lighting in it we needed a sturdy back piece. This we had cut to exact measurements to fit in that space. If you are doing this take this thickness into account when you are measuring for your inside panel pieces or else you will have to trim them.

Now its time to putty, caulk and paint! Make sure you clean it REALLY well before. Rough it up with 150 grit sandpaper and use Kilz to prime. I needed 2 cans of Kilz and 3 cans of Krylon White Gloss.

Oh and you need to make sure that your elements all fit in the space.

For lighting I used super cute Jelly Jar lights from Home Depot (they are like $8-$10 each). And because you are not hardwiring it you will need a cord with an outlet plug at the end (these are like $5-$8)

PICTURE

Drill a hole for your wire and screw in your crossbars.

You will just use wire nuts to connect the cord wire to the light wires

and after you screw the light in place you are done!

*If you are not familiar with electrical work you can always contact an electrician to help you! Also we used a SUPER low wattage bulb so that it doesn’t get too hot and have made my daughters aware that under no circumstances are they allowed to touch the lights.

I will be posting a tutorial later this week on how to paint the wood grain ply.

Once they were painted we attached them to the sides with short finishing nails.

The door was trimmed out once it was attached also.

We super lucked out with the mirror, there were small spots all along the edges that we could put screws. If you are using a mirror that doesn’t have this you could glue it on with Gorilla Glue and I think it would be fine.

I will be posting a tutorial for how to make 3D play makeup too!

You can see the other elements in Dylan’s Room Makeover Here. If you have any questions leave a comment and I will do my best to answer it there!!

If you liked this project I would love for you to vote Vintage Revivals for the Best DIY Blog over at Apartment Therapy. The top 6 become finalists and I am currently #7….And I am FREAKING out! You have to register with Apartment Therapy to be able to vote but it’s the easy 30 second FB kind! You guys are AMAZING!

Love Your Guts, Mandi

The post Dress Up Station From Old Entertainment Center appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

*If you are visiting Vintage Revivals for the first time today WELCOME! Right now I am in the middle of a bedroom overhaul and there is LOTS of great stuff coming up that I KNOW you wont want to miss,  so make sure you subscribe! Pick your poison to the right ——–> all are updated frequently! And I hope you will make yourself at home! We are like one big fat spray paintin’, thrift shoppin’ , color lovin’, doing things on the cheap, and feeding our kids cereal 4 nights a week, DIY family of AWESOMENESS in this corner of the net.

UPDATE:  Today’s Nate segment is LIVE! Check it out here!

Ok now on to the DIY fun. This is one of my FAVORITE projects to date. Seriously I am in LOVE.

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Thank you everyone for all of your amazing suggestions, you guys are genius’! The plan that I had for this mid century modern piece changed when I remembered this KILLER rug that I scored at Ross for $20 a few months ago (if you see something amazing BUY IT even if you don’t have anywhere for it at the moment, you never know when you will wish you had it!)  My SIL had it at her house and I totally had forgotten about it. Its like finding money in your pocket, except its one of a kind, perfect money that is super colorful and did I mention PERFECT!?! Love it when that happens!

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Because the rug is so bright and the pattern is crazy bold, a color on the dresser was just not going to happen.

Imagine my happiness when I stripped off the green paint and saw real wood underneath! I was so so excited about it.

If you are stripping stuff I totally recommend using Citristrip. It works great and doesn’t eat your flesh if you get some on it, so that’s a bonus…you know if you like your flesh.

There are a few methods to using Paint Stripper. The way that I use it, is to put a layer down and then cover it with plastic so it doesn’t dry out too fast.

After about 10 minutes I take it off and let the stripper turn from orange to white. When it is white then its ready to come off.

You can use a stripping tool or a putty knife to scrape the paint off. Once you have as much stripped as you can use a stripping pad (or old washcloth) doused in Paint Thinner to get the residue from the Citristrip and remaining spots of paint off.

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I painted the drawer fronts with Krylon White Gloss. I didn’t prime it because I wanted a really high gloss finish (If you use Kilz to prime it makes your piece have more of a satin finish FYI)

Then I put the hardware on.

A little trick when you are placing your hardware that has more than one hole is to line it up and press it firmly into the piece. It leaves a little mark so you know where to drill!

I thrifted an old dresser for $10.00 that was pretty beat up. In fact it hasn’t ever made it into the garage so its forever ruined. These knobs are the reason that I bought the ugly old thing, because they are AMAZING! (Don’t you agree?!)

And now just look how pretty it is.

Can you even believe this is the same piece?

And the best part is that this was such an easy DIY and a great way to add some modern flare to Dylan’s room. If you have an afternoon you can TOTALLY do this project!!

You can see all of the posts in this series here.

Here are the tutorials for the Faux Bois Lampshade and Faux Taxidermy Rhino.

And the last bit of business today. THANK YOU to who ever nominated me for The Homies over at Apartment Therapy! I have been nominated in the Best DIY Blog category (its new this year…I like to think that I inspired it…hahaha)    So if you feel so inclined I would love a vote! Sort of like a virtual slap on the butt for all my hard work. Thanks guys, you rock my world!

Love  Your  Guts,  Mandi

The post FREE Retro Dresser Redo & a $20 Rug appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

So we’ve all got them. Well most of us, some more than others. If you don’t have one guaranteed you have pinned a couple and just havent gotten the guts to do it.

What am I talking about? Striped Walls of course! I LOVE striped walls, they are such a great way to add interest to a room. But what happens when you don’t want stripes anymore?

Here is the problem. If you do stripes perfectly you have a clean crisp paint line. A paint line that doesn’t go away…

So.

I paid the genius guys over at Sherwin-Williams a visit and asked them what I needed to do to remedy this little situation.

Get ready to sand your heart out. I found that using a sanding block and doing it by hand was best. (I tried using an electric sander and it sort of melted and ate up the paint. (Yes, even with new sandpaper)  I think it was because of the heat.

I used 150 grit paper and went to town.

Now here is where there is a fine line (pun completely intended). If your walls are SUPER textured like mine you have 2 options. You can sand until the line is 100% gone (leaving no texture) or you can leave your texture (and a little line). I went for the little line with wall texture intact. Either way they are not going to be perfect unless you retexture them. Which I was NOT going to do.

Once your walls are sanded (6 hours later) its time to paint.

This is where you are going to make up for your little bit of line that is left. If you use a lower sheen paint it diminishes the shadows. Remember my herringbone ceiling? I had a TON of comments asking if it was even textured. SOOOOOO just for a fun comparison check this out:

Same texture. The difference is that the gray ceiling is Semi Gloss and the Herringbone is Flat. Crazy right?!

So by lowering your sheen you lower the shadows, which makes it not as noticeable.

I used Sherwin-Williams Super Paint in Satin.

It’s a paint and primer in one and literally covered the stripes in 2 coats. Which is FANTASTIC considering I was painting bright white over a dark gray. This is one coat in

The last trick to hide the stripes I made up. Which means that it may seem a little strange but I thought it worked pretty great. After the first coat of paint is on and dry, load your roller and press it into the line. Not rolling, just pushing it onto it. It gives it a little more texture than you would get from rolling. Then once that is completely dry do your second coat.

This was the spot on my wall that I was most concerned with because of the window and door placement. If there was a line on it you would see.

This is what it looked like when I was all done:

Turned out pretty great huh?

So now I am left with this giant white box. Its like Design Star in my house right now! I cant wait to show you guys Dylan’s new bed, its been sitting in my garage for MONTHS.

Oh and just for fun I found this SUPER awesome tool from Sherwin-Williams where you put your room size into a calculator and it tells you how much paint you need! Check it out here (it was right on for me!)

love  your  guts,  mandi

The post Undoing A DIY: How To Repaint A Striped Wall appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

Happy Friday!!

So I have a fun question for everyone today!!

See this cute green dresser?

I am working on redoing Dylan’s room at the moment (ok, for the last month or so) and I have this cute little dresser that I got for FREE! It was on the side of the road and my friend picked it up for me!

I LOVE the style of it and have some really great ring knobs that I am going to put on it. I want it to look way more modern than it does right now. That being said, I really REALLY want to paint it white.

I am loving white modern stuff right now. I am using these thrifted placemats and they are SUPER colorful…so I am wondering if I should use a color in them for the little dresser.

Which color would you choose?

The walls are going to be mostly white. All of the other elements are white, gold, and natural wood tones. I have about a million different things I want to do but I want to know what YOU would do!

Aaaaaaannnnnnnnnnndddddddddddddd go!

Love  Your  Guts,  Mandi

The post What Would You Do? appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

argh.

So are you ready for this awesomeness? My friends at Studio 5 emailed me a couple of weeks ago and asked if I would be up for a challenge. You know I couldn’t turn it down right?

What was the challenge?

Gumdrops.

I spent the next week and 1/2 brainstorming about what I could do with freakin gumdrops.

In my mind I pictured this super cool textured piece of ombre art.

After 6 hours of gluing, painting and repainting this is how it ended up.

Now. I am going to put up a disclaimer. IF I had started this project with more time I possibly could have made it work. And I spent $30 on gumdrops so…we’ll see what happens, maybe I will be able to salvage it. If I get inspired. Or not. My MIL suggested that I should use it as a doormat. Hahahaha!

So with about an hour before my project was due I came up with a simple solution. I refinished a thrifted gumball machine.

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Do you think I am lame? I know its not SUPER Mandilicious but I actually really love how cute it is. What do you think? (please be kind!)

And if you are in UT I am skyping the segment LIVE! (Channel 5 @ 11:00)

What would YOU have done?

Love  Your  Guts,  Mandi

The post What. The. Craft. Fail. appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

UPDATE: You can see the entire room reveal here!

I love custom lighting, don’t you? Like love love love it. When I was finishing up my Master Bedroom (that will be unveiled later this week) I needed lights for my nightstands. I knew that I wanted them to be symmetrical but the dilemma that I ran into is that I already had 2 symmetrical lamps on my dresser. It was just too matchy. Blech.

So I did what I always do. I thought about what the PERFECT light would look like if I could have exactly what I wanted. You do this don’t you? When you decorate you need to dream and feel the space. Then let your DIYing get to work.

I decided that I wanted to jump outside the lamp box after all I wanted LIGHTING, not a lamp.

I knew that if I was going to hang something in front of the window it needed to still let natural light in. So I went to my favorite store in the world Homegoods and bought 2 identical glass urns. Its sort of hard to understand how big they are. My head could easily fit inside on. And I have a big head…

If you wanted to do this with ones that didn’t match that would be totally awesome too, just make sure you have more than 2. So, it would be great above the counter in your kitchen where you have pendant lights….just saying.

I found 2 matching lights at Home Depot that were on MAD clearance (less than $10.00 each) that I used the hanging hardware from. I could have used the entire thing (Hardware, electrical etc.) but I wanted to use an Edison bulb and these lights had a FUNKY socket that only takes special bulbs with prongs…. So that was added cost and labor that most of you probably wont have to deal with.

If you need to rewire it, here is how you do it. If you don’t, hang tight through these next few steps!

You will need a hanging light kit and a socket.

I had 2” holes drilled in the bottom of the glass because I am an idiot. YOU DO NOT NEED HOLES THIS BIG!!!!!!! You only need a 1/2” hole to fit the small rod. This is how to drill through glass.

Take your socket and screw it onto the threaded rod then attach the hanging bar. (Normally this bar is used when you are attaching it to the ceiling but I needed something to keep the socket on since my hole was so dang big). BUT even if you have a small hole I would recommend doing this or something like it. The glass jars are really heavy and it helps distribute the weight a little better.

Then you are going to wire your socket. The instructions are very simple and included in the packaging. If you are concerned you can always hire an electrician. But you should be totally fine!

Once your socket is wired you have this:

With the cord coming out of the bottom, sorry I missed that in the shot!

Next you are simply going to put all of the components together. Super easy!

And make sure that it works before you hang it!

Don’t I have the best husband in the world?

I sort of wanted the vintage bulb to be the star of the show. You can buy bulbs like this at Home Depot or Lowes for around $10. Pretty pricy but SO worth it!!

And make sure to check out all of my other unique tutorials if you need more lighting ideas in the Project Graveyard!

The post How To Make A Custom Pendant Light appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

First off I need to apologize for any of you that have ever found your way into the Project Graveyard.  It was a sad sad place. BUT never fear! I have spent the last week getting it all ship shape and ready for action.

There are categories to organize it, so that it is easier to find what you are looking for. So head on over and click around,  don’t judge the pictures from my first few months blogging alrighty? And make sure that you let your cursor hover for a minute to see what pops up, some of the messages are pretty funny (considering I was writing them at 1 am)

Also if you notice something missing I would love to know, I need to still go back through all of my posts and make sure that I got everything!

I will be back on Monday giving away a FULL conference pass to SNAP!

The post Find Your Favorite Tutorials Easier! appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

Do you think of your Entryway as a room in your house? You should. It is the FIRST thing that people see when they come in your front door, it sets the entire mood for the rest of your space. I have spent the last week and 1/2 making over my Entryway and I am dying to show you!

This is what it looked like before the makeover:

I love it.

So let me give you the Mandilicious guided tour!

The hands down greatest thing in here is the tandem bicycle art. Do you remember a few weeks ago when I shared my list of 6 of my favorite blogs? Well on that list was Olson Ink. Jonathan is SO insanely talented that I knew he was the man for the job.

All I did was tell him that I wanted a tandem old school bike in cobalt and white. He came up with a 100% custom sketch (that I jumped for joy at!)  It was SO much better than anything that I could have dreamed up.

He painted it on a 8’x4’x1” plywood with a wood veneer. The wood was stained a light Honey Blonde color before he started painting. Then when he was all done he cut it into 5 sections.

Isn’t he amazing?! Crap. I don’t use a lot of art in my house because it feels so impersonal but to have something like this painted by one of your friends? Sheesh, it doesn’t get much better than that. And when Jonathan becomes rich and famous I will forever have a custom piece painted by him. (For those interested in having him paint something for you you can email him at jonathan.olson4 at hotmail dot com)

The credenza was a find that my Mother In Law found about a year ago. It was only $35.00 and she used it in my Sister in Law’s bedroom until we decided to change her room up. It had been sitting in the garage the last few months and I knew that it needed to come and live at my house! Not one thing has been changed on it,  sometimes you can really score a great piece that just needs a good wipe down! Its probably from the 50’s and I had a really hard time capturing the vibrancy of it. It is almost the exact same color as my kitchen table. It is made out of metal so its really industrial but, helllllllo its teal. Its like a combo made in mismatched heaven.

All of the books and odds and ends as well as the lamp were found thrifting. The cute little stool was a $10.00 Craigslist find and it gives it the raw industrial push that the space needed.

And then there is of course the Herringbone Ceiling. Oh how I love it. But it would not be as awesome without Octy the Purple Chandelier. Ol’ Octy is still one of the best thrifting finds I have ever happened across.

So what do you think?!

If you liked this makeover you will DIE over the before and afters of these room makeovers too!

The post Entryway Makeover Reveal appeared first on Vintage Revivals.