last wednesday we had a flood. a big one.
lets just say my foot was completely submerged under water.
{i wasn't laughing then, but i am definitely laughing now. all i heard was "uh, babe?.... i can't get it to stop!" "BABE!!! I CANNOT GET IT TO STOP!" man. it was funny}
luckily, it didn't get any of the carpets... just the entire kitchen. key word: entire
it took us a veeeery long time to clean up. we mopped a gazillion times. but definitely could have been worse.
anyway: it got me in the mood to clean. that rarely happens, so i thought i would take advantage.
i feel like my house gets neglected since we are both students. at least, this kind of clean. (you know, washing the baseboards, washing walls, going through old boxes.... etc.) it feels soo nice to come home to a clean and organized house, and i especially love jord's face when he walks through the door from work. it makes me feel like the productive housewife--- that i usually am not.
so, in the organizing, i found so many things up in our office, or packed in boxes that were going to waste. i have been dying to actually decorate our house since we've moved in ( a YEAR ago!) and all these things were going to waste up in our office. SO- i felt a little crafty.
found some old paint, and wood left over from building our bookshelf, and went to work.
and i needed to find a way to cover up our ugly thermometer
that catches my eye EVERY time i walk through the door.
before, empty wall ................. after, ugly thermometer gone!
i love how it turned out.
i was happy to finally be putting use to things that i've had forever,
but not known what to do with.
(like the cute birds that my sister gave me for christmas, i loooove them)
i loved the change, so i wanted to keep going.
i had now filled up one side of the wall, and had an empty corner on the opposite side.
i looked and looked at that corner and thought forever of what would be PERFECT on that side.
only one thing came to mind. the birdcage lamp.
i wouldn't be suprised if any of you have heard me talk about it before,
i have honestly wanted it forever.
last summer, my sister & my aunt courtney came home with them from the beehive bizzare (boutique) in provo. and i fell in looove with it. but i knew i had seen it before.
price tag: $798.00 (read it again, i'm dead serious)
who in their right mind would pay that much for a stupid lamp?
*not sold anymore on the website
so about six months ago, i found the birdcage lamp again, in a magazine.
price tag: $98.00
okay. i am kind of ridiculous in rationalizing when i find something that i love. in my dictionary, something that i love means that i have seen it once, and not stopped thinking about it. definitely not an impulse. but i also am not stupid... the $798.00 lamp i would never even think about buying. but $98.00, maybe i could do it. i wish i was exaggerating when i say that for the last six months, i have been on urban outfitters website 25 times to look at the birdcage lamp, and come up with yet another idea of how i could get it.... because husband wasn't thrilled when i told him how much it was. he's such a guy, thats all i have to say! {can anyone else relate?!?!}
jord told me absolutely no i decided not to get it.
click
here to see pictures of it on the website. it wont let me copy it.
this morning, looking at the lone empty corner, i had an itch to try and make it myself.
and so i did.
* the lighting outside made it look red, but the cage is brown.
(i didn't have the resources to hang it up, but that's where it will go.)
it definitely didn't turn out perfect.
but i wish i would have done it six months ago like i should have!
cause i love it.
the point being of this whole post, however,
is that you don't need to pay full price for anything most things. you just need a little creativity.
i ended up spending just under $28 for all of this stuff. better than $98, right?
and surely a lot better than $798.
PLUS, you get the satisfaction of making it yourself, and saving money along the way,
and that just makes everyone happy!
.............................................................................................................................
one of my friends asked for the instructions,
so i thought it would be fun to put a tutorial together for her.
I AM IN NO WAY a tutorial kind of person. i usually leave those for the professionals.....
but i am the kind of person who likes it when people willingly share their ideas.
The Materials Needed:
3 large tomato cages ($2.47 each at Lowe's)
a roll of chicken wire ($6.47 at Lowe's)
5-8 fake birds ($.99-$1.99 each at Michaels/Hobby Lobby)
a can of brown spray paint ($6.49 at Michaels)
hot glue gun
heavy duty wire cutters
bandaids for any accidents (trust me, you'll need them!)
Step One:
this part can be tricky.
On one of the tomato cages, i cut all of the holes out except the top one, the biggest one. so after i was done cutting them out, i was left with a whole that had three long wires attached to it. Then, with the other two tomato cages, i cut the two biggest holes (still using the top ones, so we have the same sizes) out. i glued them and wired them equal distance from eachother, then cut off the extra "long wire" so it looked like this:
it would look better if you welded them together,
but i didn't have the time or patience to find one. so the glue gun it was!
Step Two:
chicken wire.
i thought this stuff would be flimsy, and easy to handle. IT IS NOT. that stuff is pretty wired and tough. this is where the bandaids came in for me :) i first measured the chicken wire so i knew where to cut it off on the top, and where to cut it off on the side. measure it from the inside of your "cage".
i started wiring it to every crossing that i had on the cage, and a few random places in between. just so it would hold well.
Step Three
with the extra "long wire" you cut off from the other tomato cages,
you need three bars. two for the birds to sit on, and one for the top of your cage to attach a rope to (or whatever you are hanging it by)
so measure how long your cage is across, and cut off three of them.
the bars for birds: i placed one towards the top, and one towards the bottom, going the other way.
(i hot-glued the edges to the chicken wire)
Step Four
SPRAY PAINT!
i used chocolate brown from Michaels
Step Five
glue the birds!
and you're done!
im not quite sure how to make a
lamp out of it. im afraid i would need an electrician for that.
so it might just be a hanging bird cage for now.
honestly, i only walked way with a few blisters, and a few cuts ;)
but a couple of hours and $28 to get the
cutest birdcage lamp.....TOTALLY worth it, right?
