Burlap & Glass Showgirls

While in Las Vegas last month, I took a Sunday afternoon trek to an estate sale.

8 minutes off the strip.

Gated community.

Ranch style dwelling.

Green grassy lawns fuller than small town Minnesota.

Most of the 'finds' I was hoping for were still overpriced with an hour left of the sale on the last day, but I did nab some glass lamps. I could relate to the chunky bases.

But they needed new lids. Better shades. The picture doesn't show it well, but there were rips and stains that drew the eyes up in a bad way.

I searched for cheap shade transformations and found this burlap lamp shade tutorial. It is gorgeous. You should definitely click through if you haven't already. And I followed their steps.

With black.
And the slanted shades I had.

Let me be clear about something. Know this if you are going to make them yourself.

1. The photos don't convey how much black burlap fuzz was all over the house. 

At the ironing board. 

On the table. 

Somehow in my tank top. 

I can only imagine that my boobs itched more than that time Anthony and I went to Hawaii before we were married and I convinced him to shave his chest and then it got razor burned and sun burned on top of that.

Maybe my itch wasn't quite that bad. Irritating nonetheless.

2. There is serious risk for hot glue burns. Its called hot glue. Melts out of a gun. I knew it was hot. And continually stuck my finger in it without letting it cool a bit first. 

Don't be a Heidi...with a glue gun or on Waikiki Beach. They are both reckless and ruthless.

But the results were worth the temporary pain.

And I'm just talking about the lamp shades.

The shaved chest was a bad idea all around.

Map Desk: With Love for the British

If you follow me on facebook you saw that last week I officially joined the Rusty Saturday family.

And you should know that any amount of panache and balance visible in the vignette photo above meant an equal amount of disaster and chaos at home.  It was a cluster of products and receipts and price tags and spreadsheets and I'm glad that Anthony is so laid back. And I'm enjoying the whole process.

Part of the display is my map desk transformation. Inspired by the Ikea version at finding Home.

Made from a worn find with brass toecaps.

I used a couple of coats of Annie Sloan Pure White chalk paint for the main desk.

And Greek Blue for the drawers.

And Great Britain for the map detailing.

And while I decoupaged the sheets onto the drawers and pull out, I thought about my adventure with Anthony on the British roads between London and Cambridge last January in our rented purple Peugeot. I relived the discomfort and anxiety that came with driving a manual from a different side of the car on a different side of the road and being the first person in the turn lane at a stoplight at a busy intersection. It took every ounce of concentration to turn into the correct lane. And all remaining concentration not to clip the parked cars on our left, because my depth perception while driving from the right side of the car was flawed.

Heidi, you're getting awfully close to these cars on the left.
Baby, I'm serious. You need to move to the right a little.
I swear to God, we are a millimeter away from clipping off all their mirrors!

It was a nice little reminder of my distress. Speaking of, I distressed the desk edges and decoupaged maps once they were dry. I also did a watered down white wash of the maps to make them more subdued.

The final accoutrement was brass hardware.

I hope that he finds a new home soon and brings someone joy.

Joy.
Not a bile tasting reminder about how they almost ran 100 Londoners off the road earlier this year.