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.

Do you know what happens when you put up a Chandelier that has 23 lights in it?

They pretty much all go out at the same time.

Love  Your  Guts,  Mandi

The post Real Life Week: My Entryway appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

I just got back from SNAP and it was INCREDIBLE!! I loved every single second of it! I will be posting a recap soon (because I didn’t bring a camera and am at the mercy of everyone else to post their pictures!!)

One thing that I think gets us down a bunch as wives and mothers and bloggers and humans is that we feel like everyone else has their crap together and we are the only ones with lives that are not as we imagined.

So this week I am going to give you a peek into my life. And you should be warned that you might not think I am as legit as you did before you started this post.

And guess what? I am 10000000000% fine with that.

So lets get on with it shall we? Also you should notice that I am starting this series on Wed. not on Mon. because….my life is crazy.

When you think of my living room you probably think of this image:

Right now I am in the middle of an overhaul. ANd when I say in the middle I mean that I have had it planned out in my mind for 9 months and moved all of the old stuff out but havent been able to get it going because guess what? It’s a little daunting. When I start painting in here it has to extend into all of the hallways and my kitchen. Sounds fun right? Especially the 12 foot ceilings…

So.

This is what my living room looks like today:

Oh yes. Just soak that up for a minute.

Notice the gray wall paint? That’s because I never painted behind the faux fireplace when I was in the time crunch for Nate.

Also please notice the dust on the fan,  the ladder that has been there for 2 weeks, the paint on the wall and the banana peel on the rug. Who wants to come and live with me now?

Be back tomorrow with more (I hope your stomachs can take it.)

Love  Your  Guts,  Mandi

The post Real Life Week: My Living Room appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

I am totally aware that this post has nothing to do with Home Decor. But SERIOUSLY you guys are better than Google. So todays post is going to be a Q&A sesh about gardens. With me asking the questions.

This is part of our backyard:

Its not huge.

WHen you round the corner you see the garden area…

Which is huge, like 12×20.

I planted a garden 2 years ago and it was great,  some things did not do so good and some were out of control (nothing like leaving on vacay for a few days and coming back to zucchini the size of logs…)

The first question that I have relates to watering. There are sprinklers that cover this entire area (because when we put them down we werent sure where the garden was going to be)  Can I use those to water it? Or does it have to be a drip system or hand watering?

Question 2. When we had the garden 2 years ago I planted corn. It seemed like it was growing really really well and then when it came time to harvest all the ears were pretty much empty. Should I plant again and to see if they grow better this year?

Are the pants that you buy at a nursery better than ones that you would buy at like Home Depot or Lowes?

And last but not least, tell me all of your secrets. (of the garden variety thankyousomuch.)

I found this super great website this weekend that I spent HOURS on called Smart Gardener. It helps you plot out your garden and tells you lots of great info about growing stuff in your area. Do you guys have a site or book or info (other than the guys at Home Depot that you look to for info?)

Love  Your  Gardening  Guts,  Mandi

The post Do You Have A Garden? Cause I Need Your Smarts. appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

I have had this idea running through my head for a year and just never took the time to execute it. I love the art at Thrift Stores. Its quirky and strange and cheap and has a story to tell. Sort of like me!

Yesterday I went thrifting with one of my FAVORITE people in the world, Hailee (you might remember her from her Living Room Makeover and The Thrifting Adventures of Wanda and Sylvia)

I found a ton of great crap. Nothing huge furniture-wise just lots of small things, like those sweet books above for $1.00 each, and I am a little obsessed at how they are sun bleached ombre. I love them.

One of the things that I nabbed for $4.00 was this oil painting:

I have been looking for something that has texture in the picture and this wintery landscape was perfect, it had TONS of texture.

I gave it a few really light coats of Classic Gray. With this type of project you have to do REALLY light coats because you want to keep as much as the texture as possible, texture is your BFF right now.

After my paint dried I used just a basic white acrylic paint mixed with a glazing medium and glazed the picture.

For those that don’t know what that means, sit down my child and let me show you.

Cover the area with your glazing mixture. Make sure that you get in all the nooks and crannies and other such orifices.

With a damp cloth wipe it off in one direction.

Then with a damp cloth go back over and clean it up a little bit more, wiping in the same direction.

Let it dry and if you want it to be heavier go back over it again! (Just remember when you are doing something with such small details to be patient and just know that you might have to glaze it a few times!)

SO easy right? Now you are an official glazing genius!! Congrats!

Also, do you follow me on Facebook?

Cause if you don’t you are SERIOUSLY missing out on awesome stuff,  like this little happy nugget of thrift store awesomeness that I shared yesterday….

I mean, HOW could we not buy these?! Finding one was amazing but finding two?! A freakin miracle.

Love  Your  Guts,  Mandi

The post 15 Minute Art From A Thrift Store 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.

I remember when I started reading blogs. All Things Thrifty was my first and favorite, I totally used to wonder what it would be like if I ever met Brooke, and if she would let me walk through her house (now she is my best friend and her house is WAY more awesome in real life FYI).

I KNOW you know what I am talking about. Even if you wont admit it for fear of sounding like a stalker who might need to be committed or arrested depending on the level of stalkerdom…(its ok,  I wont judge you!)

So I want to share something with you guys. For me decorating is not about the finished product. I mean, its AWESOME when a room is the way that you want. But what happens when you get a NEW idea? My house will NEVER be finished. I enjoy the process so much more than the final result. So although you may see beautiful pictures on my blog you can rest assured that if you came into my house today it does not look like that.

Why?

When I create a room I picture the feeling that I want from it and decide on a few key elements and then everything else just falls into place. Its very strange and really cool. I can see the room through a feeling, and I might be psychic. Just saying.

So when I have an awesome new room design and that is how I see the room in my mind everything that is in there at that point is unimportant to me.

Right now you would walk into my living room and see a very empty space. Very few things that were in the original room are moving on to the Southwest Modern design that I have pictured. SOOOO, I want them out! That way when I find new things  I can put them in. Its sort of like starting with a blank slate all over again. The stenciled walls that I spent days and days on are being painted over. The super cool faux fireplace that sort of put my blog on the map is being taken out (if anyone in St. George wants the cabinet doors from it email me!)  Vicki is being stripped and stained.

Some might find this wasteful and time consuming, to decorate and then change everything a year later. But for me decorating is my creative outlet, it calms me down when I am stressed, it makes me excited when I need some motivation, its something that I am so passionate about I could do it all the time. (What? I don’t do it ALL the time….just some of the time!)

When I started my blog I didn’t know what I was doing. AT ALL. A lot of the inspiration in blogland and trends that I saw influenced me. And that is GOOD! It gave me a starting point.

Now after a year and a half of projects I FINALLY feel like I have found my own voice and my own style. Its colorful, modern, thrifted, a little gilded, with natural elements in a clean way. Its lots of funky tchotchkes and random junk that makes me smile. Its all about bold patterns and using elements that scare me a little with their awesomeness. Its happy and random, somewhere that makes you comfortable and at the same time feel compelled to know more. Hopefully just like me.

And now I am really ready to decorate my house.

And now for a bit of Mandilicious motivation for you guys. When I am famous and people quote me all the time you can totally say that you saw the post that gave birth of this quote.

So I want to know, do you decorate for the final room, or do you decorate for the process? Do you feel like you have found your true style?

The post A Bizarre Decorating Quirk and How I Found My True Style. appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

My master bedroom has been “in the works” for a while. I started stenciling it in June,  and installing board and batten in September. One mistake that I think so many people do that  make things more complicated and frustrating is that they become so SET in a color palette or design scheme that they don’t let the room design flow organically. This room makeover is the PERFECT example of that.

Are you ready for the ultimate before and after?!! Here is the Before Before…Like from the MLS listing when we bought our house…:

Sick Nasty, right?!

If you want to see more of the NASTY MLS listing that I fell in love with you can click here.

This is what it looked like after we moved in and how things are in my real life and fixed it up a little…and by fixed up I mean got rid of that diseased carpet.

Originally the room was going to be Coral and Navy and Gold. That is it. Nothing else. I was struggling a little trying find fabric that matched the Coral Mirrored Dresser (Krylon Coral Isle). I had an impossible time trying to find something that was Navy AND Coral. Like IMPOSSIBLE. There was none.

So what is a girl to do? I went to the DI (Utah’s version of the Goodwill) and looked in the women’s clothing section. Did you know that you can find some really great fabric at the Thrift Store? Most long skirts or dresses have at least a yard or 2.

When I saw this skirt I KNEW it was perfect for the space. No it was not Coral and Navy. BUT it had Coral and Navy in it as well as a ton of other true bright colors. It was exactly what I needed to bring more life to the room.

So I made it into pillows!

(All of the other fabric for the pillows is from Joann’s and the pillow forms are basically stolen they were so cheap. The white duvet and fuchsia sheet are from Target. The green throw is from Homegoods.

Using this fabric TOTALLY opened up my entire color scheme which I LOVE!! The stencil is amazing right?! You can see a full tutorial on how to stencil your walls here.  If you have a large space to fill lining large pictures up is a great way to fill the space. And the coat of arms throws it off balance a little and makes it way more interesting.

Here is the before of that wall:

Did you notice that I spray painted my bed frame brass? I used Krylon Metallic in Brass.

On the opposite wall I used the mirror that used to hang in my entryway.

You guys know that I am OBSESSED with awesome frames and buy them any time I see one. I have accumulated quite the collection so I hung the board and batten so that I could show them off. Its like a mixture of a gallery wall and specimen art of awesomeness.

Here is a before of that wall..

I used basic white curtains from Ikea and hung them really high on the wall. This makes the windows seem much bigger. Just make sure if you do this that your curtains are long enough to touch or puddle on the floor. Personally, I love a good puddle.

I found the nightstands at Homegoods on clearance, and you can see the full tutorial on how to make the hanging pendant lights here.

And don’t you LOVE that giant horse head?! I found that at Homegoods also.

The before of this chair deserves an award. Don’t you think?

Now for some fun shots.

Pretty fab. Very colorful and COMPLETELY Mandilicious.

If you have any questions leave them in the comments,  hope you have a great weekend!

Linking to Thrifty Décor Chick

The post Master Bedroom Before and After 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.

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.