Every year it happens, no matter how much I love my house, spring comes and there’s this itch to change things around. Lately, I’ve been challenging myself to transform things I already owned instead of heading out to Homegoods to pick up new home accessories. I think the items I made over came out pretty good (unfortunately I didn’t get before shots) and considering they were almost free since I already had the supplies (minus some extra rope). Find out how I came up with 3 home decor DIY’s that are easy to recreate and not to mention, easy on the budget!
Pictured above: 1. Black and White Striped Taper Candles
2. Rope Wrapped Vase | 3. Brassy Gold Lamp with Dot Lampshade
I styled all the pieces together on my Target bar cart to show how great they work together, even though they are actually in separate areas of my house!
Black and White Striped Candles
what you’ll need: black washi tape, taper candles, scissors.
I’ve had my eye on some striped taper candles (like these ones) for a while now, but initially couldn’t justify the price tag, then couldn’t find black and white ones in stock anywhere. I had this washi tape from ikea on hand that transformed my old taper candles, I think electrical tape could do the trick here too. Just don’t burn these candles ones you put the tape on them as that would be a fire hazard 😉
Start from the bottom and work your way up, holding the candle in one hand and wrapping with the other. I eyeballed the placement and just tried to make each layer the same width as the tape. Make sure you cut the tape with scissors for a clean look. I had all my seams start and end in the same area so if there are any imperfections they are all on the same side.
2. Rope Wrapped Vase
what you’ll need: vase, rope, hot glue gun
I was so over this yellow vase and knew I wanted to change it, but didn’t want to paint it gold or white since the space it was in needed some texture. A jute rope was a great choice since it was pretty straightforward. I had actually started with a much thinner rope than what I ended with (you can see where these change as the vase gets bigger). All I can say is, thank goodness I switched to a thicker rope because this would have taken triple the amount of time if I stuck with the thinner one!
I started by spray painting the inside gold since I didn’t want any yellow showing. Then once that’s dry, starting at the top, begin to wrap and glue until you’re all the way down using your hot glue gun as you go. I used this rope and went through about 2 spools of it. This was done over the course of a week or so, and it definitely took longer than I expected to wrap the whole vase! It’s not too bad though since it’s one of those mindless things you can do while you’re watching TV at night.
Gold Lamp and Dot Lampshade
what you’ll need: lamp, gold spray paint, black fabric paint, paintbrush
This might be my favorite of the bunch, simply because this once robin’s egg blue lamp sat in our storage room for close to 3 years. Initially, I spray painted it gold (with this brand and color), but something wasn’t quite right. I contemplated a couple different things before deciding to free-hand paint the lampshade in a spotted pattern.
I used a black raised fabric paint for the lampshade. In 3 small bowls, I made 3 different consistencies the with paint. I started with a medium one to create the dots overall shape, then went over that with the most watered down to give a watercolor look. Finally I took some of the paint (with no water added) and went over each dot to darken the centers. I really loved the organic and layered look this created! If you want a spotted/dot style lampshade like this but aren’t able to recreate this look, check out this one and this one.
Hope you enjoyed these 3 home decor diy’s! Here are some things to keep in mind if you’re thinking about transforming any of your existing pieces:
- The shape is everything. Pay attention to pieces that have great curves or are really clean and simple.
- Don’t be afraid to mess up. Usually these sort of things are way easier than you expect.
- Use a variety of finishes. I know it’s tempting to spray paint everything, but if there is a variety of texture and color/tones then things will have more of an impact and work better together.
