Sage, Naomi – Author at Plaster & Disaster

From time to time we like to take a break from wowing you with our genius and creative (and geniusly creative) projects and talk about blogging itself. The reality of a DIY blog is that it’s fueled by home improvement projects, but it’s just as much about writing and photography at the end of the day. We’ve posted before about blogging photography (what we’ve learned about it, and how much it’s changed), and so today we wanted to focus in on the writing side of things.

Silverware challenge brainstorming - our list of ideas - Plaster & Disaster

Our first draft process

We both love writing, which is a big part of what makes this blog sustainable. It’s also a shared passion and commitment that we see as a crucial part of “brand” at Plaster & Disaster — we both want to share quality projects, but we also want to write about them in compelling and entertaining ways. Sure not every post is Pulitzer Prize Winning (and rightly so… “And the Pulitzer Prize goes to ‘Turning a Plastic Cactus Into a Side Table‘” would reflect a terrible decline of journalistic standards), but we do take pride in trying to write engagingly while also walking through projects clearly so you might be able to replicate them at home were you so inclined.

A few months ago Naomi wrote a post about blogs outside of DIY land that inspire her with their writing, and today we wanted to turn the focus inward and reflect on some of the posts we’re proudest of for their writing. If you’re feeling like we should take a step back and eat a piece of humble pie before we go patting ourselves on the backs for being such awesome essayists, we can all take a moment to first re-read our post this winter about posts we regret.

Naomi

By far my favorite post to write was about the graphic mugs that I made for my Dad, featuring the punchlines of the jokes we tell each other. Sharing wisdom through jokes is a big part of our family tradition, and so this was meaningful to write and spend time on.

The post opened with a hook to get people reading, explained why it is personally important, gave the “how-to” of the project, and ended with a way for readers to engage in the comments. Ideally all blog posts would do all those things, but it can be surprisingly tricky! Also, in writing out the jokes that inspired each of the mugs, I finally put in writing some stories that I’ve been telling/hearing verbally. It was an interesting and fun writing exercise to “codify” the set-ups and narratives that I’ve experimented with and heard others experiment with for years.

Another post I’m really happy with is the harrowing tale of mishap and dashed expectations that was my attempt to fix the gaping hole in the wall of my bedroom by installing a wall grate.

It was a pretty dumb story, but I wanted to show the humor and frustration of those DIY projects where problems build and build and never seem to come out right. I think we’ve all been there! Even though it wasn’t fun to live, the post was fun to write (which is often a good indication that it might be fun to read), and I think illustrated how one problem just led to another! And, most importantly, I got to make some grate puns along the way 🙂

Sage

Believe it or not, my favorite post of all time to write was a tutorial about installing a toilet. It combined all my favorite things in the world: DIY, self-deprecating humor, and sarcasm. You see, this was no ordinary toilet installation post. It was a post about how not to install a toilet, and it ended with me spending hundreds of dollars on two plumbers and still having a broken toilet.

I just had so much fun writing this post to read like a regular tutorial, except that anyone reading even moderately closely would realize that things were rapidly going off the rails. It was one of our first opportunities to show people that a) we have very little idea what we’re doing and we make mistakes all the time, and b) if we can’t wow you with talent and creativity, we’re at least going to try to make you laugh.

Another one of my favorite posts to write had nothing to do with DIY — it was about the concept of “flow,” which is something that I’ve used to understand myself better and to drive a lot of my decision-making in recent years.

It was also about one of my tattoos.

I really enjoyed writing this post because these are some deeply personal and complex concepts for me — and the challenge of figuring out how to explain them in a coherent and compelling way was one I relished. I’m not sure if readers found it meaningful, but it felt important for me to put those ideas out there to share a more holistic version of myself.

Collaborative

But as much as we’re proud of our individual writing, one of the most fun parts of this blog is the fact that we get to work on posts together. Our writing is definitely strongest when we work collaboratively to pull together a good story, add humor, and remove the parts that are dumb or don’t make sense.

One of our favorite posts (not projects… definitely not our favorite project…) was the story of our participation in a competition to make home decor out of kitchen utensils. If this sounds like a bit of a disaster, it was.

While neither of us are proudly displaying a starburst mirror made out of silverware in our homes, we are proud of the way we shared how much fun we had with this project through our write-up of our brainstorming trip and decapitation of many innocent forks and spoons. It can be hard to translate those “you had to be there” moments into writing! Also, if you read this post carefully, you’ll see the origin of our ongoing jokes about dollhouses and tiny things, which led to our inevitable ~~purchase of a dollhouse~~ collaboration with some tiny bloggers.

Another one of our favorite posts to write was our 2016 design trends predictions. We wrote this one sitting side-by-side on Naomi’s couch, riffing off one another about the absurdity of the DIY blogging world.

The only way we can stay sane in DIY blogland is to mercilessly make fun of it (and ourselves), and this was a really entertaining post to write as we thought about what was both funny and disturbingly possible (rose quartz sheepskin pouf, we’re looking at you).

Via pinterest

We’ve always said that we’re not going to be the people you come to for the most incredible transformations or creative projects (though we try), but we hope that if we put out posts that are entertaining to read, you’ll stick with us even when our projects are disasters and our kitchens have no floors for months on end.

So what do you think — does writing matter as much as we think it does? What’s your favorite blog, and do you read it for the projects or the stories?

Aficionados of Plaster & Disaster trivia know our friend Stephanie, who is pretty much famous in these parts for having come up with the awesome name Plaster & Disaster to begin with. She’s appeared on the blog several times (including as the model for the “typical reader” of our blog… which we’re sure she regretted immediately). You’ll also remember that time that we went over to her house, had an awkward photo shoot, and gave her advice to makeover her dull, unused patio.

She wasn’t using the space even though it was huge and a much-needed bonus to her small studio apartment. She had some good pieces (the love seat, table and chairs), but was on a very tight budget and was overwhelmed with options. She also needed to bring in some lighting so the patio could be used for evening entertaining.

We felt pretty fancy that she would think we were people to ask for advice (fooled her!!) and put together a design plan to bring in some bright pattern and her favorite colors.

Essentially, we made a floor plan, recommended some furniture and fabric, and gave her ideas for a couple DIYs since she said she was up for a project or two (for full details see our post on the advice). We then walked away feeling pleased with ourselves and quickly got lost in other projects (hello garage of doom and beautiful new guest room).

So imagine our surprise when Stephanie invited us back over to see her completed makeover! The place looks so great. She followed the overall scheme, but made some adjustments in purchases and, most importantly, the layout. She made this inviting space:

WOW, right?! The biggest challenge with this patio is cutting through all the brown, and this bright furniture really does it! It is so cheerful now.

Some elements of the makeover are totally true to the design, like transforming the table area by adding some bright yellow pillows and lights overhead. Here is the before, the (poorly photoshopped) recommendations, an the after:

Doesn’t that look like the perfect spot for morning coffee or a glass of wine in the evening? Her view is spectacular so it is great to have a comfortable place to enjoy it from.

For the seating area, she did go for a lot of the products, colors, and fabrics that we recommended but made some changes, particularly by re-orienting it which we wholeheartedly stand behind. Here again is the before, the recommendation, and the after:

So much better to have the seating spread out and more room for guests.

This transformation was pulled off with only a few affordable purchases and a some manageable DIY projects. The two new chairs bring in some bold green (which goes great with the brown) and are both from IKEA (about $80 combined price). She hung string lights all around the ceiling, which bring in great light for the evenings and help the space feel fun.

She also brought in some bold yellow by spray painting the plant stand and side table. They really brighten things up!

She also made some nice throw pillows using bright fabrics. In her own words:

For whatever reason I was very intimidated by this DIY. In hindsight, there was no reason at all for me to be intimidated, because it was pretty easy. Multi-stepped to be sure, but not difficult. I decided to make two pillows from the fabrics I’d purchased online. One was the same fabric as the coffee table, a blue and white stencil print, and another was the much nicer, higher quality fabric that brought all the colors in the patio together. I used the no-sew pillow covers tutorial online, and it worked like a charm! Just to be clear, these are indoor pillows and indoor fabrics, so these aren’t going to be out in the rain and I wouldn’t want to lead your readers on like that. But for a cheap DIY if you can bring the pillows in regularly, totally worth it.

My pillow inserts (Ikea indoor 20×20″ pillow inserts) were slightly larger than those listed in the tutorial, so I made some adjustments accordingly. In hindsight I wouldn’t have “sized up” on this, though, because the Ikea inserts weren’t really 20×20, they were more like 18×18 in. so the original measurements in the tutorial would have worked well. You live and you learn.

Overall, this was a really good use of time. Total it took about 1 or 1.5 hours to do two pillows. Lots of measuring, cutting, ironing, etc. but still not difficult. Now knowing how easy and cheap it is, I am going to seriously have trouble justifying buying throw pillows in the future. Plus, it opens up a whole new world of ridiculous fabrics I could use in my home that aren’t already pre-made into throw pillows. I have my eye on this sweet David Bowie fabric I saw online, which I think would make an excellent cheeky throw pillow cover (RIP Bowie).

They came out great!

But now on to the piece we know you all are curious about: that extraordinary coffee table with the bold blue and white pattern.

In our original design, we had coerced Stephanie into buying a MCM coffee table that Naomi spotted on craigslist and recommended that she paint it and mod podge fabric to the top.

Little did we know that the table we were recommending would NOT survive well outdoors. Here is its sad fate following a rainfall:

Yes, that is a mushroom.

Stephanie was feeling guilty, but really it is 1000% our fault for recommending an indoor table for the out doors! Designer fail. We feel bad to have wasted her time and money. Fortunately for all of us, Stephanie recovered quickly and made this gorgeous piece.

Believe it or not, it is a pretty achievable DIY! Here is the how-to from Stephanie:

After I got over the guilt of disastering the amazing coffee table find (Editors’ Note: NOT YOUR FAULT), I had to find a new, affordable option to redeem myself. I found this table at a Goodwill by my house. It was sitting in the front display window and is no match for the beauty that was Naomi’s coffee table, but was a steal at only $5.99. According to the original tag still attached, it was born in Philadelphia in 1979 and lived a former life as an oak “cocktail table.” (Don’t worry, Table, you will enjoy many more cocktails with me as your owner.)

And as a bonus, I got a bonus piece of A.B.C. brand gum with my purchase (see pic). Lucky me! (Editors’ Note: GROSS)

I followed Sage’s tutorial from her stairwell makeover as the basis for the DIY, knowing I still wanted to use the neat stencil-y fabric for the top of the table.

First, I gave the whole table a good sanding to remove some of the varnish/veneer and to rough up the texture. Then, I wiped it down and spray painted whole thing with Premium Decor Gloss spray paint in “Antique White.” I purposefully selected an indoor/outdoor spray paint in the hopes that it would help weatherize and protect the wood a bit from the elements. Max actually picked out this color, as he was with me on the coffee table adventures at the hardware store and I think was so tired of me trying to decide on a color (white? blue? green? yellow?) that he chimed in. The color is great actually, a slightly greyish/beigey white, so not as bright as standard white. I figured the color would brighten the wooden piece up and coordinate well with the blue and white fabric.

Next, on to the fabric. Things I did not do from Sage’s tutorial because I am lazy: wash and iron the fabric first. The fabric was very pressed, and to be honest I couldn’t bring myself to the laundromat to do it (true confessions of a working lady who hates doing laundry). The table has a little inset piece of wood, and a groove that runs along the perimeter of the top. I knew I wanted the fabric top to remain inside of the inset’s groove, so there weren’t any weird places where the fabric was saggy and unsupported by wood underneath once applied. I cut a piece of fabric the approximate size of just just outside the groove, figuring I could trim it down later with an exacto knife (again, lazy DIY-er here). I took the piece of fabric and coated the back side with a layer of Modge Podge and let it dry for about an hour. Clearly per the photos I used random bottles of liquor to weigh down the fabric so it didn’t blow away from the porch. #resourceful

As Sage’s tutorial predicted, doing a coat of Mod Podge prior to adhering to the table changed the fabric texture to more of a thick, papery substance, which was easier to work with in the end.

I then applied a generous layer of the Mod Podge to the top’s inset area, and using Sage’s tutorial, laid the fabric carefully across the top, careful to remove any bubbles or bumps with a credit card. I took an exacto knife and trimmed the fabric to the exact size of the inset, which was easy enough.

I applied a layer of Mod Podge to the top of the fabric and let dry for a full day, just to be sure everything was set.

Last – and again because this was an outdoor piece and I wanted to further make sure it was safe from the elements – I spray painted the entire piece (especially the top fabric) with an indoor/outdoor clear acrylic gloss from the hardware store. I considered a polyurethane, but most of what I found that was clear was more for indoor for whatever reason. We’ll see how this acrylic gloss stands the test of time, though, as it will likely be a patio table or a table for plants at our new house.

Would this have been prettier with the table that Naomi originally snagged for me? Absolutely. But ultimately I’m super happy with how it turned out. It’s bright and fun, and I like that the stenciled look of the fabric makes it appear like the stenciling was actually done onto the wood (but with less hassle, because for the millionth time I’m the laziest DIY-er ever). All in budget with table, supplies, fabric, etc. was about $20. $45 if you add in the cost of the first table I ruined. Not bad.

Seriously not bad. We LOVE how this turned out, and the scale and heft of it is actually better for the space than the original would have been!

And don’t worry about what happened to the old table. Like the great house-guests that we are, we quickly proceeded to dismantle it to salvage the MCM metal legs. #canwecomeover?

But not before we re-created the awkward photo shoot of last year with an equally awkward photo shoot in the transformed space! Is it just us, or do we look less awkward now that we’re surrounded by Stephanie’s handiwork?