Hellooooooo!! Guys. Good news. We survived the move! Its a little overwhelming to move, travel, celebrate 2 birthdays and stay on top of life. Do you know what sounds so great right now? Just being whelmed. Not overwhelmed, not underwhelmed, just whelmed.

Are you ready to start checking off all of the projects from Aspyn’s house?

My favorite project is the Wooden Dowel chairs. I hunted for months trying to find the perfect pair of chairs that were a little boho, and a lot awesome and just came up short over and over. It was MADDENING! Then I found these chairs at Urban Outfitters. Um. Hello perfection. Also, totally DIYable.(<—-has anyone trademarked that? cause I got dibs!)

Looking at the picture its so plainly a handful of dowels that I had to try it. Also I’ve been wanting to buy a drill press and this was the perfect project. (This is the one I got BTW)

To make this project you’ll need:

(2) 1 1/4″ wooden dowels cut to 24″
*these are the front vertical pieces
(2) 1 1/4″ wooden dowels cut to 30 1/2″
*these are the back vertical pieces
(2) 1 1/4″ wooden dowels cut to 23 1/2″
*these are the seat cross pieces
(4) 2″ wooden dowels cut to 24″ 
*these will be the arms and seat pieces
(1) 2″ wooden dowel cut to 26 1/2″
*this is the top piece
(1) 3/4″ wooden dowel cut to 24″
*this is the back leg cross piece

Rope (you’ll need about 40′ per chair)
1/4″ Rope Clamp Set

Drill Press
1 1/4″ Forstner Drill Bit
3/4″ Forstner Drill Bit
Wood Glue
Screws
Drill

The most important thing that you can do to ensure that your project is done right is to build a jig to hold your dowels, that way they won’t rotate and misalign your holes. Now if we’re really being honest, I’m sure that there is a perfectly simple and correct way to create a jig for something like this. I just have no idea what that is. So this is what we came up with.

I spaced 2 pieces of scrap wood out on a larger piece so that the dowel fit snug inside them. Then I marked where the dead center was between the 2 boards. That way I could center the laser on the mark and after it was centered, add the dowel. Because the laser was already centered, I knew that we were drilling into the right spot on the dowel.

Drilling the holes is the hardest part, so in an effort to make it as absolutely easy as possible, I’ve got a few diagrams with measurements for your cute face.

The seat piece is the most complicated of the bunch because you have to rotate the dowel 1/4 turn to drill the second set of holes. The easiest way we found to do this (and keep it accurate) is to drill the holes that go all the way through and then put a dowel in one side (it doesn’t have to be a big one, just something that you can put a level on) rotate the dowel 1/4 turn and use a small level to make sure that its even. Then drill the second set of holes.

Once you’ve got everything assembled to this point you’re just going to connect the cross pieces. Just a heads up, depending on how accurately you drilled the 1/2 holes your measurements may vary just a little. I recommend cutting the cross pieces at 23.5″ and assembling. See if your chair is square, if its not you might need to trim your cross pieces down a little.

If you’re having a hard time getting your dowels into the holes, tape a piece of sandpaper on the end of a drill bit and ream the hole a little to smooth the edges and make it a little bit bigger.

A rubber mallet is kind of your best friend for getting everything lined up without damaging the wood. One you’ve dry fit everything and its looking fab, put wood glue in the joints, and place a few screws in the underside of the joints to secure everything in place.

You’ve got a few options when it comes to creating something that you can actually sit on. The chair from Urban used leather straps but I wanted to change things up a little so I used rope.

I started in the bottom left corner and wrapped it along the seat, then moved on to the back. I ended the rope back where I started and used a few rope clamps to secure it.

It is surprisingly comfortable just with the rope if you’re loving that Aussie/nautical look.

To make the cushions I found a fantastically worn leather couch on Craigslist and skinned it. I used this tutorial for a hidden zipper pillow.

If you make this project I want to see! I’m itching to make a 2 seater bench, wouldn’t that be the cutest?!

The post DIY Urban Outfitters Inspired Wooden Dowel + Leather Chair appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

This peg board wall treatment is perfect for any house! Because the wooden pegs are interchangeable you can mix, match, and customize to your hearts content, its the decor equivalent of the 80’s staple Units! This oversized pegboard can be used as shelves, to hang art, and as a place to store you backpack and purses. This pegboard is one of the projects I created in Aspyn Ovard’s house, you can see the entire makeover here!

The entryway wall in Apsyn’s was HUGE. Its tall and wide and dwarfed anything she tried to put there. Do you ever feel like that in your house? Nothing like a 4×4 piece of art looking like a postage stamp to deflate your decor dreams. If you’ve got a huge space to fill but are wondering exactly how to pull it off, this pegboard project is for you!

How To Build A Wooden Peg Board Wall

To build this project you’ll need:

(1) 4’x8’x1/2″ sheet of plywood per panel
(1) 4’x8′ sheet of normal peg board (total)
(4) 1″x2″x3.5′ per panel
1″ wooden dowels

Tools You’ll Need:

1″ Forstner Drill Bit
Drill
Nail Gun
Level
Philips Head Screwdriver
You can see all of my tool recommendations here!

Step 1: Deciding On Spacing

Start by figuring out the spacing of your holes, you can do them as close together, or as far apart as you want! I figured that my holes needed to be 6″ apart to get the look I wanted.

Step 2: Centering Your Holes

To center them on the plywood I divided my 6″ length by 2 and started there. This meant that my first and last row of holes are 3″ from the edge.

One thing to be aware of is that the template peg board might measure weird. Notice in the picture below that the hole is marked on the 3rd hole but my tape measure is over hanging 1/2″. That is because for some reason the pegboard isn’t exactly 4′, its closer to 3′ 11″ so I had a 1/2″ allowance that I needed to accommodate. You’ll take this into account when you’re marking your sheets of plywood.

I went through and circle-marked every 6th hole horizontally and vertically with a marker. This gave my my 6″ spacing that I wanted.

Step 3: Stack All Of Your Plywood

There are a few important things to know.

1. Stack your wood so that it is all face up. When the drill bit punches through the back it can damage the veneer and its not so cute.
2. Put some wood or an extra piece of plywood underneath to raise up your wood so that you don’t have to worry about accidentally drilling into the ground and ruining your bit.
   *If you’re making something that needs both sides visible, use a sheet of plywood. It will reduce the punch out significantly.

Step 4: Mark Where You’re Going to Drill

Once our wood was stacked and the hole guide was placed (remember your 1/2″ allowance that we talked about earlier!) Court and I each took a Philips head screwdriver and marked each spot by tapping on the end of the screwdriver with a hammer. Don’t be afraid to give it a good whack! The whole point of this is to mark the plywood so that it’s unmistakeable where your hole needs to be!

When you take it off it will look like this:

See all the little puncture marks?

Step 5: Make A Jig

The hardest part of this project is making sure that your drill stays at a 90 degree angle while you are drilling your holes. This tool from Rockler looks FREAKING BRILLIANT. Unfortunately we didn’t have one and had to make a guide ourselves. We used a few different sizes of scrap wood and created a corner pocket that guided the drill straight down.

The longer pieces stabilized it so that it couldn’t wiggle side to side, and the vertical pieces were the actual guide. This is an easy jig to make!

Step 6: Drilling The Holes For Your Peg Board

One thing that we learned after damaging the wood a little was that we needed to carefully “peel off” the first layer of veneer before you go full throttle with the drill. The Forstner Drill Bit will do this for you, you just have to very slowly turn it to lift up the top layer. You can see in the pictures below what that looks like. Once we did that we didn’t have any problems with the wood splitting on the front.

Installing Your Wooden Peg Board

Installing your boards onto the wall is really simple but you will need at least 2 people.

You’ll need (4) 1″x2″ pieces of wood cut down to 3.5 feet per panel.

Step 1: Install The Support Boards

Determine the height of your installed peg board. If possible, have one person hold the board in that spot while the other one marks on the wall, where support boards can go without being seen through the holes.

Find where your studs are on the wall and mount the 1×2’s into as many as you can (most of the ones we installed had 3 studs behind them) make sure you’re using a level!

Step 2: Attach the Pegboard

Attach the pegboard using small head cabinet screws or high quality finishing nails. We used 4 nails per 1×2 and they are great because they almost disappear. I used little bit of wood putty to hide them completely. The nails will be strong enough to hold the peg board.

You can frame out the sides of the plywood, or leave them open like I did, whatever suits your style!

Making Pegs for Pegboard

The length of your 1″ dowels depends on the width of your shelves. The shelves we used were 8″ deep so the pegs we made were 11″ long that way they could fit into the hole, against the wall, and be a little longer than the depth of the shelves.

Peg Board Shelves

If you want to use your peg board shelves for home decor, I wouldn’t recommend going shorter than 8″. That makes it a little hard to use standard size decor on them!

I LOVE how these shelves turned out. They are massive and such a statement! Perfect if you’ve got some big walls to fill!

Aspyn’s entryway is so massive its kind of hard to tell how high everything is. For reference, the round mirror on the middle section is eye level for someone that is approx 5’5″.

If you make this pegboard project I want to see it!

You can check out the rest of Aspyn’s room house overhaul here!

The post Giant Wooden Peg Board DIY! appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

Hey guys!! Man am I excited to finally share Aspyn’s Living Room and Entryway makeover with you!!

If you’re new to the block, welcome! For the last little while I’ve been working on a space makeover for youtuber Aspyn Ovard. She lives in the same smallish town that I do and it was a really exciting challenge to update her builder grade space into something totally her. This is what it looked like before:

This is what it looks like now:

The jumping off point was the couch, her request was something pink and the Emil from Article was absolutely perfect (and its a killer price point!!) When you’re decorating with a show stopping couch (especially if its an exciting color) you have to remember that its the star of the show. Everything else is wonderful and amazing, but not the star of the show. Also, every time I say star of the show I think of Wild Hearts Cant Be Broken.

SIDENOTE: HAVE YOU ENTERED THE GIVEAWAY FOR A COUCH OF YOUR CHOICE FROM ARTICLE?!! Get the details here!!

The vintage credenza was a killer score at the thrift store ($50!) and is listing on 1st Dibs for over $800. ??

Here’s a tip for all of you novice thrifters, sometimes in the context of a thrift store surrounded by bad couches and florescent lighting things don’t look that great. You may wonder if it actually is something worth buying. My advice if you find something that sparks a little hint of potential in your heart, is to find the markings on it and do a little googling. See if there is any info on it out in the real world away from the thrift store smell and people with shifty eyes just waiting for you to walk away from it. (I’m usually one of those people with shifty eyes BTW.)

Can we just for a second talk about the chairs!?! Oh my gosh I LOVE them. LOVE LOVE LOVE. For months I hunted for a pair of chairs and came up empty handed. I found loads of great single chairs but a pair was just so dang elusive! About 3 weeks before I was wrapping up the makeover I found a pair of blue velvet ones on FB marketplace but they were in dire need of a reupholstery job and my guy Mark (the same one who did the couch in my living room) was booked until the new year. Which meant they were a no go and are now in great company with the 300 other chairs in my storage units. #itsfine #hoarder

One late night inspiration hunting session later and I decided that these guys from Urban Outfitters were TOTALLY DIY friendly, all I needed was a drill press (yay for new tools!) luckily so many of you agreed.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BNUYVYuF6U2/?taken-by=vintagerevivals

I love how they turned out. Instead of using leather straps, I used cotton rope and sort of love it 100x more.

The cushions are from an old rescued couch that got skinned and sewn together. As great as new leather is, there is just something so much better about worn in slouchy leather. After 2 years my couch is just getting to the worn in perfection stage and I’m happy to hurdle right over that process as often as I can.

Ok, lets talk about the wall treatment. Aspyn wanted the colors to be muted and the couch was taking up most of our color budget, so it was time to embrace textures. Plank walls are an easy DIY, but they’re kind of so easy that you see them everywhere and they all look the same. Which we just couldn’t have. Everytime I look at this wall it reminds me of a cool scandinavian house in the mountains. It just feels right. The pattern is so simple but has such a punch of texture.

K lets just have a heart to heart about the lights for a sec can we? The hanging light is something that I have been DYING to do for months and just never got around to it. So picture this, you’re walking around the thrift store and see a whole bunch of bad, gross, and otherwise quite unsavory lampshades. You say to yourself, “Sad. No one will ever love them.” Then you see me, running like a crazy person (with my shifty eyes) and hoarding them all for myself. For what reason?! To make lights just like this!! Stay tuned for the tutorial, and start snatching up those lamp shades cause everyone is going to want this in their house.

The previous ceiling light was of the bosom variety and you know how I feel about those. Boob lights are BAD. Making lights is one of my favorite things, so of course I had to make something modern and super on trend. Tutorial coming for this bad boy too, and the best part is that it will cost you less than you think.

The rug is where Aspyn and I have a difference of opinion, I absolutely love the vintage boho vibe that it’s putting down, she’s wanting something a little more modern, so we’re on the hunt for one thats less old world and more geometric. Rugs are such a fantastic way to totally change the vibe of a space, swapping this one out is going to cut out the boho by at least 68% ;). If you’re looking for a massive rug at a mind-blowing price you are going to DIE when you see this.

I ordered a really cool macrame piece from amazon handmade and didn’t get it on time so I took my 3 day old ponytail to Joann and got the supplies to make my own. I love the two tone colors and the swagged piece.

Lets talk about the entryway shall we? Aspen’s entryway is HUGE. The ceilings are tall and the wall is expansive. Its just this giant massive blank space that dwarfed anything that got near it. We’re talking a huge piece of art looking like a postage stamp type dilemma. Walls like this can be the downfall of all of your decorating plans because its just so much space to cover, what do you do with it?!

I decided to break it up and maximize its size all at the same time by adding a trio of oversized pegboards. These are full 4×8 sheets of birch ply that we drilled 1″ holes into. It looks freaking AMAZING and was a really easy project (tutorial coming soon!!) The pegs are interchangeable and can be used and adjusted depending on the way it is staged.

On the other side of the entryway I put another amazing vintage find. Originally it was beige but after a coat of flat white spray paint it is absolutely perfect for the space!

The lights are a quick DIY with the lamp cord from the VR shop and basic pull chain ceramic ceiling sockets + metal junction boxes.

Ok, thats enough chit chat, here are some more pictures for you to look at!

So what do you think?! Turned out pretty fantastic!! You can see the full dining room + kitchen reveal here!

The post Aspyn’s Living Room Makeover Reveal! appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

STOP EVERYTHING. I’m about to let you in on the best furniture secret that I’ve shared in a loooooong time.

Are you ready?!!? (I’m not overselling this in any way, pinky promise)

Article.

If you love high quality on trend furniture (especially upholstery!) at a really great price point Article is your dream store. Every person in my life who even remotely brought up the topic of furniture has received the Article sermon. I am a BELIEVER!!!

Our journey started out when I was hunting for a couch for Aspyn’s house. I really wanted to do something a little outside of the norm and decided a pink couch would be magical. I mean, you guys know I love a good statement couch.

And look at these:

You know what else I love? A leather couch with a nod to some modern vintage roots.

For Aspyns’ we decided on the Emil in Rose Quartz. It is the perfect shade of warm blush!!

Here’s a little teaser of her living room, check back Monday for the full reveal!!

Now for the REALLY fun part, here is how to enter to win the Article Sofa of your choice:

1. Make sure you’re following both Vintage Revivals and Article on Instagram
2. Head over to Article.com and drool over their selection (make sure you watch your keyboard though, I hear that drool is bad for it.)
3. Comment on THIS INSTAGRAM POST with the Sofa you’ll pick when you win.

Winner will be chosen next Friday! THIS GIVEAWAY IS OPEN TO CANADIANS!!!!!!!!!!

The post Shopping for the Perfect Sofa + FREE COUCH GIVEAWAY!!!! appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

You guys! I’m so excited to share this fun dining room makeover with you!! Before you keep scrolling I want you to close your eyes (I mean, not really ‘cause you have to read, but pretend to close your eyes.)

Picture Home Depot (just go with me on this). Picture all of the things that Home Depot is known for. Now buckle your seatbelt ‘cause you’re about to be blown away.

I’ve had the pleasure of teaming up with Youtube darling Aspyn Ovard for a complete overhaul of her house.

When we started out with not a lot. If you remember, her house is a new build and you could tell. In other words it was very basic and very empty. Her style is young, fresh, and a little mixed bohemian. I wanted the space to feel clean, eclectic, nothing super structured, formal, or traditional. Full of life, yet still calm. Tall order? Maybe.

Are you ready to see it now? EEEEE! This is my favorite part!!

Have you ever dug into the furniture that Home Depot has on their site? YOU. GUYS. They have an entire sister company called Home Decorators Collection and it is SO good!! In fact, everything in this room makeover is from Home Depot!! I know what you’re thinking. The Midcentury table? YES! The Modern Wire chairs? YES! That KILLER rug?!?!! YESSSSSS!!! (Don’t worry, I’ll link everything below!)

We took a few hours at the beginning and tiled the backsplash with basic white subway tile that your local Home Depot will have in stock (remember how I’m currently obsessed with that?) It immediately took the builder basic feel away. This is a great post all about choosing the right grout color for your project!

The next project of the space was the Sharpie wall. Who doesn’t love a project that looks like custom wallpaper but only cost $8.00?

Then it was time to decorate. Aspyn’s house is like so many others. It’s got an open floorplan and the dining room is part of the kitchen so I feel like loads of you can take this makeover and plop it right into your own home. It can be little overwhelming to decorate a space especially if you are a first time homeowner like Aspyn, I mean where do you even start?!

Their original table was cute and simple but a little small for the space and the wood tone was too similar to the flooring. I swapped it out with the Conrad dining room table from Home Depot. I love the midcentury modern style and that the finish is a little warmer than the previous table but still staying on the slightly desaturated side with the antique natural mango wood finish. (Oh yes, and this heirloom piece is currently on sale for $399!!)

Because I upped the table size, it now comfortable fits 6 instead of closely sitting 4 which is perfect for entertaining!

The chairs are killer! I love brass, but I’m kind of really digging chrome lately and these pushed me over the edge!

Let’s just have a heart to heart about this rug. Guys. It’s amazing, right? One of the easiest mistakes to make when you’re decorating a dining room is the rug size. Large rugs are more expensive, but if a huge kilim is out of your budget try to layer a large and inexpensive one underneath it (sisal works great for this!) I really wanted a large sheepskin but wasn’t able to track one down (like that’s ever stopped me) so I ordered this flokati off of Home Decorators Collection and made my own by cutting the shape out.

I wanted the table decor to be something that was pretty and collected and easy to move so I put these bottles on a vintage wooden platter.

Aspyn previously had some stools at the island, but they sort of just blended in with the cabinets and countertop situation so I swapped them out for these stackable aluminum stools.

Speaking of aluminum, I added these spun aluminum lights above the island. I’m really loving the juxtaposition that’s happening in this space with the uber modern shapes and finishes and the relaxed slouchy style of others.

The back wall needed something large and simple to break up the wall pattern and finish everything off. I waited and hunted for weeks and just couldn’t find anything that was right so at the last minute (‘cause that’s how we roll) I called my friend Tyler and asked him if he had a picture of the tips of the mountains in St. George. I had it blown up and then mounted it on a simple 4×4 sheet of plywood from The Home Depot. It’s pretty perfect right!? Just the right amount of white space. You can snag it in the Vintage Revivals Shop here!

The last thing that the space needed was some plant love. If your house is lacking something and you can’t put your finger on it, chances are you need a plant friend or 2. Home Depot is the best place to buy plants, especially if you have a black thumb because they will return them for a year!! Granted it’s a little shameful to take in a pot of dirt but I promise they don’t get judgy about it.

Here’s a quick guide to all things dining room:

1| 2| 3| 4| rel=”nofollow”5| 6| 7|

So tell me, were you surprised that everything came from Home Depot?!

The post Aspyn’s Dining Room Makeover REVEAL! appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

YAY FOR BIG PROJECTS!! I’ve got a major overhaul in the works and I can finally spill the beans on it! I’ve been itching to get my hands on a new project and its happening now! My creativity seems like its coming back (thank goodness) and I am ready to start putting all of the ideas that are spinning around in my head to work!

So who is the lucky victim? The worlds most adorable Youtuber that happens to live in St. George named Aspyn. (My reader demographic is a little bit older than her viewers, so you may not know who she is but ask the teen in your life and I’ll bet 1/2 of my storage unit full of treasures that they know who she is.) The best part is that Ivie now actually realizes how cool her mother is. I mean, I’ve been trying to tell her for years but she just didn’t get it. #thanksaspyn

I was itching for a new project and sent her an email about possibly doing a room makeover. When I went over to her house to check it out I was SO happy because I feel like she and her cute husband are in the situation that loads of people are in. Your house isn’t horrible, your flooring isn’t horrible, everything is fairly on trend, but its just plain. Thankfully you’re not starting at square -10 like we were, but there isn’t much happening for whatever reason and its just “meh”.

How do you add personality to a space that is sort of a sea of nothingness? That just happens to be my specialty. You can start small with throw pillows and art, but throw pillows and art are just a tiny factor in the equation of making a house incredible. There is so much more that can happen!!

So whats the plan? Well, originally we were going to just do the living room but the space is connected with the kitchen/dining area and so that needed to be done too…and while we were at it the massive entryway could use a little bit of Vintage Revivals lovin’ too so I added that to the mix.

The entire space is going to be absolutely full of budget DIY projects. Remember those $8 chairs I scored at the thrift store? This is where they are going to live. Aspyn’s style is mellow, she’s not a big bold color sort of girl, so there will be loads of white and natural wood and just a few places with some muted color (like the couch!!!) We’re doing a Sharpie wall and I’ve got a fun idea for some killer shelves that I need some leather for so I might be skinning a couch in the near future…

If you’re new here from Camp Aspyn, welcome!! This is going to be a whirlwind project so make sure that you’re following along on Instagram so that you don’t miss any of the updated and tutorials! In her video she mentioned my vintage trailer The Nugget (you’ll definitely want to check it out!)

Stay tuned, this is going to be a good one! Its super motiving to see how the video side of the internet works and I can’t wait to dive into it more!

Check out Aspyn’s Channel here and her vlog channel here!

The post Overhauling Aspyn Ovard’s House appeared first on Vintage Revivals.