Pinterest Wine Cork Favorites

I am always amazed how artists can take ordinary objects and turn them into something amazing and unexpected.  The art of creativity is amazing.  I am always looking around Pinterest to find unique projects to inspire my readers. I don’t know about you but wine if my life saver.  Whether its a night out with girlfriends or cocktail hour at work, wine never disappoints;)  I am a victim of saving my corks always “planning” on doing something creative with them.  I am that girl that literally will jump in the trash to save a wine cork.  I have been taking the initiative to research different ways to utilize my wine cork obsession and found some creative ideas below! Which one do you like the best?

DIY: Chalkboard Paint Labels

 

This is a very easy DIY project! I have found these to be a great addition to my kitchen by being able to label what I put in these jars.  You can buy anytime of container you would like from a wide variety at the Container Store.  If you do not have a Container Store near you Target or Walmart will have some options to look at.  Follow my easy steps below to get the look:

What you need:
1.  Q Tips
2.  Acetone Nail Polish Remover: Found at CVS or Walgreens (put a tiny amount the the q tip to remove excess chalk spray paint from the jar, it also helps you smooth out the shape of the label to look very sleek and clean.)
3.  Small Paint Brushes
4.  Scissors
5.  Chalkboard Spray Paint: found at Hobby Lobby
6.   Large piece of paper
7.   Sponge
8.   Pencil
9.   Chalk Markers: Found at Hobby Lobby

 

DIY: Painting A Louis Vuitton Monogram Wall

FINDING INSPIRATION THROUGH PICTURES

Through the years Louis Vuitton always seems to amaze me with new patterns and crazy architecture in their stores.  They are always rising to the occasion when it comes to leather goods and making a statement.  I chose to make this very same statement in my kitchen a few years back.  I moved into a luxury high rise and wanted something different yet eye catching.  I decided to paint the Louis Vuitton Classic Monogram on one wall in my kitchen.  At first I was nervous about it looking tacky but I pulled it off by using just one color and on just one wall.  This pattern can be very overpowering to any space and easily can look tacky so you want to keep it to a minimum.  The project took my best friend and I about 5 hours to get everything to line up correctly.  If someone video’d the whole process I’m sure we could have gotten a reality TV award considering one of us had to hold the stencil extremely still while the other painted.  Through sweat and laughter and a few pulled back muscles we finally finished and the project is one of our finest to date.  Below is a step by step guide on how to get the same look:

1. A large Paint Brush

2. Small Paint brush for Touch Ups

3. Scissors

4. A sponge

5. Brown Paint ( Or a paint color of your choice)

6. Heavy stock poster board (Try to find something that is not flimsy.  when the paint gets on the paper it can become soft and hard to use over and over again.  Find something that will be easy to hold up while you sponge over the stencil.)

7. A pencil for drawing out your pattern

8. A Pattern of your choice.  I chose the classic but there are many different patterns you could do.

STEP BY STEP PAINTING GUIDE:

Day 1

1.  When Drawing out your stencil make sure to hold it up to your wall and figure out the size you want it to be.  Above is an example and is very small.  The actual stencil I used almost took up the entire poster board.

2.  Make sure when you cute out the stencil to have very straight lines because the smallest mistake will make the stencil look awkward on the wall. Once you are finished have a friend, boyfriend, parent help you hold it up to the wall.

3.  Carefully put a small amount of paint on the sponge and carefully dab over the stencil.

4.  Wait a few seconds for the paint to dry and pull the stencil out towards you.

5.  Make sure to do this in one motion or else it will drag on the paint and mess up the stencil.

6. Continue the steps above until you get the amount of pattern you want on your wall.  Make sure to mesaure out between your “LV’s” so everything looks balanced.

7.  Once you do the entire wall let the paint dry overnight.  There will be minor imperfections, but not to worry these can be fixed the next day.

Day 2

8.  Take a small paint brush and fix any minor imperfections and make the lines of the LV look more defined.  I went over almost all of mine to make sure Each LV looked perfect.  This takes a lot of time but it worth it in the end.

9.  Use the larger paint brush to fill the inside of the shapes to add a second coat. You may also need to use a white paint to fix any mistakes that need to be covered up.

10.  Let dry for another day

Day 3

11. Your wall should be finished!  I suggest not hanging anything on the wall and keeping this wall as a statement itself.

Pictured above was my final Louis Vuitton Monogrammed wall.  I hope this step by step guide helps you with your LV wall.  As you see my wall made a great backdrop for photo ops with my girlfriends as well! Please send me pictures when you finish your final project.
marissa.iacovoni.interiordesign@gmail.com

XOXO

Designer
Marissa Iacovoni

DIY Christmas Wreath

 

This year I decided to get some creative thinking going on how to make as many Christmas decorations as possible.  I have always wanted a beautiful wreath for my door yet never found “The One.” Its hard to find the perfect wreath that isn’t super expensive that has the colors, some glam, and look you want to go for.  My Christmas colors this year are Ivory and Gold.  I have a step by step guide below where to find the items you need to make a similar wreath for you home too.  Send me pictures of your finished wreaths once your finished!

Match the item number above to the number below to see where I got the items needed to make your glamorous Christmas wreath:

1.) Micheal’s Craft Store

2.) Hobby Lobby

3.) Micheal’s Craft Store

4.) Dollar Store

5.) Micheal’s Craft Store

6.) Hobby Lobby

7.) WalMart

8.) Hobby Lobby

9.) WalMart

Steps to make the wreath:

1) Take your twig wreath and carefully wrap the lighted garland around it until you fill the entire wreath.  Make sure to make it pretty tight.  I used a hot glue gun to glue the appropriate pieces to the stick wreath.
2.) stick the stem of the fake pointsettas into the wreath and wrap them around the garland.  Glue the ends to the garland so it stays into place.  Make sure to distribute the flowers evenly so the wreath looks balanced.
3)  Glue the pine cones in places looking bare on the garland.
4)Take a few of the Dollar Store Christmas bulbs and glue them to the wreath in remaining bare areas where there is garland.
5)  Add the holly to a few places near the bulbs.  You can stick the ends into the garland like you did the flowers.  Use your glue gun to make sure they will stay there by gluing the underside of the holly to the garland.
6) Take your wreath outside or a place if glitter gets all over it will be OK.  Lightly take a pinch of glitter and sprinkle it all over the wreath.  Try not to go overboard because you don’t want to have a glitter trail under your door.  Do this as many times as you think until it has the amount of bling you feel is appropriate.
7) Lightly shake the wreath so any access glitter will shake off.
8) Your Finished!

Creative Gift Idea

I am always looking for creative gifts for the holiday season.  This is a great gift for a husband, boyfriend, or other close family member.  I currently reside in Houston, Texas and stumbled upon The mad Potter in River Oaks.  You can choose from over 300 different character pieces for kids, dinnerware, serving pieces, garden and interior decor. All of the paints are non-toxic and lead free and the pottery is food, oven,  and dishwasher safe.  The staff was extremely helpful and give lots of great ideas on color choices, stickers, and lettering if your not sure what look you want to do.  I decided on a coffee mug because a) my boyfriend is obsessed with having his own mug and b) the mug was much larger than the ones you find in the store so I felt it was totally worth the money spent. The painting took me about 3 hours, and I picked the mug back up 4 days later.  The final presentation looks amazing  because the colors really burst with the glow and shininess of the gloss. If you live in another city than Houston, Google pottery painting places and you will be surprised how many are in your area.  I lived in Chicago for 7 years and I know they have several in the Lincoln park and Buck town areas as well.  I hope my gift idea inspires your creative juices to start flowing and you find a place near you!  Send me pictures of your final piece of artwork:

marissa.iacovoni.interiordesign@gmail.com

Follow me on instagram for my daily design tips too!
Instagram name: DivaOnADimeInteriors

Organizing Your MakeUp

Be your own designer and design a perfect makeup space in your bedroom or bathroom!  Through the years I have accumulated more and more make up and less storage area to organize everything.  I finally saved up some extra money to go towards organization for my ever so glamorous of a mess make up drawer.  I went to the container store and found several different kinds of acrylic makeup organizers that fit on my bathroom sink perfectly.  I posted a few useful tricks to know when arranging your stuff.
1) Make categories:  Put all eye makeup in one drawer, eyebrow and eyelashes in another, foundation and bronzer in a drawer, and brushes in the circular containers.

2) Make sure your brushes are facing towards the ceiling.  If you put the brushes the other way it will become a mess at the end of the container rather than looking clean and pretty to show off those awesome brushes.

3) Put all mascaras in one drawer.  I usually have many different kinds of mascara and sometimes 2 of the same kind.  I like to throw mine out every 3 months so I usually take a sharpie or silver paint pen and write the date on the mascara so I will remember to throw that one out.

4) Make sure the make up you use the most is put into all of your organizational drawers.  This is an awesome opportunity to go through your make up and toss the old stuff out.  If you haven’t used it in the past 2 months its dead.gone.throw away!

5)I like to separate my eyeliners, and lip pencils into 2 different round containers so they do not get mixed up.  I try to have at least 3 different eyeliner shades, as well as a few shades of lip pencils to achieve different looks.

6) make sure you buy make up remover kleenex pads.  I am in LOVE with these and I use them several times a day.  I am also a huge fan of sponges to put on my foundation.  This way Your face is staying clean and your able to really balance out the foundation for a clean sleek look.

I got the lOOK by spending just $50.00!  You can too.  Check out the places below to find these awesome makeup acrylic organizers..
1)  container store
2)  target
3) walmart

Happy shopping Design Divas!

DIY: Feather Pillows

 

DIY FRIDAY!  Here is a insider look on how to make my feather pillows!  I sell these as well on www.trixieandpixie.com.  If you have any questions feel free to message me 🙂

**SEND ME PICTURES TO SEE HOW YOURS TURNED OUT!

DIY: Make Frames Look Vintage

1. FIND A SILVER OR GOLD SHINY NAIL POLISH.  I USED OPI BUT YOU CAN USE WHATEVER YOU HAVE AT YOUR HOME IN A SILVER OR GOLD HUE.

2. PAINT THE OLD OR NEW FRAME WITH OPI SILVER NAIL POLISH.  MAKE SURE TO GET THE ALL 4 SIDES AS WELL.

3.  FIND A TOWEL OR PAPER TOWEL

4.  LIGHTLY PAT THE NAIL POLISH SO IT GIVES IT A SPONGE LIKE LOOK. MAKE SURE TO DO THE WHOLE FRAME AND SIDES.  YOU DONT HAVE TO BE PERFECT. YOU WANT TO HAVE IMPERFECTION BECAUSE IT WILL MAKE THE FRAME LOOK MORE VINTAGE.

5. ONCE YOU ARE FINISHED LET DRY AND USE A NAIL TO PUT ON YOUR WALL AND/OR FRAME WALL.

**THIS LOOK IS BEST IN A WELL LIT NATURAL LIGHT AREA SO THE FRAME GIVES OFF A SHINE.  YOU WILL NOT GET THE SAME SHINY EFFECT IF YOU PLACE THIS FRAME IN A DARK ROOM.

Hope this will be a great DIY project for you this week! Message me for questions!

XOXO-DESIGNER MARISSA IACOVONI

DIY: Ribbon Vases

HOW TO MAKE RIBBON VASES:

Materials:
1. glass jar and/or vases of any style
2. ribbon tape and/or regular ribbon with tape adhesive to add to it
3. scissors

This is an easy DIY project you can do for your home, party, or wedding decor.  All you need to do is buy the following materials listed above and follow my instructions below!

Instructions:
1. clean the glass vase inside and out.  Make sure to wipe dry with a towel.
2.  Carefully place the ribbon tape in any direction horizontally or vertically to the vase.
3.  Add as much ribbon as you would like in as many different colors or patterns you have.
4. carefully fill the jar with water.  Make sure to not get too much water on the vase because you don’t want to the tape to get too wet because the adhesive will come undone.
5.  find a beautiful bouquet of flowers or pick some from outside and place them into the vase.  You are finished :)!

Happy do it yourself day design divas ;)v