Most of you in Los Angeles are aware that we are having an insane heat wave. Unbearable really. While you all were hitting the beach on friday and today, a couple friends and I were in my stuffy lil apartment crafting! Loralie from Ellenor Postmarked came over and we worked on the office closet doors and the backs of the Ikea shelves... I think you will all be impressed!
Loralie went to the hardware store and got these particle boards just a little bit smaller than my Ikea shelves. We then rolled it out on to the boards and measured them with a little allowance on the sides to fold over. We then sprayed the boards with Super 77, a aerosol spray adhesive to attach the fabric.
The corners were folded over and then glued down with tacky glue. Which apparently I suck at. About this time my other friend Rose showed up to help and in the time I glued down one they cut and super 77ed the other two boards. I swear that glue requires hulk skills.
While the glue was drying, we moved over to the larger task at hand... the office doors.
Now, In my mind, this was definitely going to be the easier part of the day. I was sadly mistaken. We had planned to just roughly cut fabric close to the size of the squares, spray adhere them, and then exacto knife the edges to make the lines clean. So easy right?
We paper taped the borders and got all ready to go! I did two squares and as you can see, this photo is Rose, just about to do the first cut. This is when things went a little haywire. I didnt even think about the fact that we were using a really awesome fabric that had some of the properties of linen. The most important one being that it is many many tiny threads that can pull and snag very easily. Which is exactly what happened. It pulled off the corner, it frayed....
This photo is about three minutes after I TORE the fabric square off the wall, threw it on the ground, stomped off the step stool and said angrily: "I'M HAVING A BEER!!!!" Such a patient girl, as always.
Luckily for me, I was with two VERY patient and level headed girls that quickly put another plan into action.
The plan was that we were just going to have to measure and cut each one very precisely and individually. Which meant both of my girls were going to give up a full afternoon (turned out working noon till 530, and then another two hours for Loralie and I on Sunday) to help. Awesome friends I have, awesome.
As you can see here, soon it was assembly line central! Rose and I drilling the fabric covered boards to the back of the shelves, and Loralie cutting perfectly perfect sized fabric squares!
It was so hot I talked Rose into having a beer with me...seriously bad ass with her beer and the drill. Art Department girls rock.
In the end, both projects turned out so amazingly stellar! I couldn't be happier with them. The Ikea shelves are now considerably more stable and insanly more chic. They even cover the cables so no more unsightly little wires peeking through!
I really really adore the office doors. I think it gives the illusion of having so much more depth. The girls were so exact with matching the patterns; if you look closely almost all of the lines match up!
I cant say enough how much of a fun process this has been. The living room is just about finished! Heres Loralie holding up the new light fixture that is going to be installed soon!
These are the planned fabrics for the throw pillows! They are great tie-ins to all the other colors and patterns going on in the room!
Last, but certainly not least, I wanted to include a picture of my beautiful curtains made by my lovely and talented friend Laura Flett. If you remember, the original curtains were full panels of the chartreuse peacock feathers on the bottom. Loralie brought this great design to me about how to break up the pattern to keep if from being overwhelming. Laura Flett put the whole plan into action; and here they are: lovely, luxurious, elegant but very me drapes.
I love my apartment.
xo
