The Care And Feeding of Dog and Cat Nails

Or, how to give a dog a manicure (and also a cat. More than that in a moment).

I think I've alluded to this a few times, but Emily isn't the sort of girl to spend the day at the doggie spa. Partly because I'm cheap; partly because Emily gets a little nervous when it comes to grooming.

So we DIY it.

Here's Emily, right before I ordered the Pedi Paws. She DESPERATELY needed a pedicure!

Now, I figured out how to cut Emily's hair pretty quickly (trimming scissors, J's hair clippers), but her NAILS were awful. Since she was a tiny puppy Emily has HATED anyone messing with her paws. She hated having her nails trimmed at the groomers. She wasn't any more fond of me doing it.

Image From Amazon

One night I saw the PediPaws commercial, pondered it, ordered it off Amazon.

Here's where I admit I'm capable of an intense amount of dumbness. I thought the PediPaws ...well, I don't know what I thought it did, exactly. But it was along the lines of I thought it clipped the nail, but had a sensor that kept it from clipping the quick.

I don't even know.

That's not, by the way, how it works. It's really like a little Dremel. In fact, a brilliant friend uses a Dremel on her basset hound's nails.

My honest opinion (and I paid for the PediPaws , and other than throwing in an affiliate link am not getting paid for this post)? I LOVE IT.

Emily doesn't necessarily adore it, but she will let me trim her nails with it. If I toss her a couple of Whisker Lickins she'll lay there contently while I grind away.

Now, let's talk Nola. Nola's previous owners declawed her front paws. Not a decision I would make. Her back claws are intact. She also has a benign tumor on her chest. Unfortunately, she has a bad habit of scratching at said tumor until it bleeds.

I googled around for information about using PediPaws on a cat. The response was mixed, with lots of people saying their cats' nail didn't reach through the safety cap of the pedipaws.

I didn't have that problem. Again, with the help of Whisker Lickins (Emily, the dog, refuses most dog treats but is addicted to these; Nola acts like they are her heart's true desire.) Nola will lay in my lap and let me dull the edge of her claws.

All in all, I'm very happy with my purchase. The PediPaws only came with two filing heads, but I bought mine in October and use it regularly with both pets and I just switched to the second head. Amazon sells PediPaws replacement filing heads for around $6.

Oster also sells a version; I'd love to hear from any of you who have used it.

Actually Completing A Pinterest Project!: An Easy, DIY Sweater Wrapped Picture Frame

Back in December Home Made Modern posted Smallgood Hearth's DIY sweater wrapped picture frame. Y'all know how I feel about upcycling old sweaters. I immediately pinned it, planning to do it ASAP.

Photo From Smallgood Hearth

Yeah, almost two months later still counts as ASAP, right?

I've had this frame forever (part of my staggeringly large collection of odd frames), but it isn't really my style. Meaning it was perfect for this project!

The original project called for a staple gun, but I decided to use my trusty glue gun instead.

I cut a square slightly larger than the frame from the front of the donor sweater (I've already used the sleeves to make sweaters for our dog, Emily, and I have plans for the back).

A line of hot glue goes across the top of the frame, and then I fold the sweater over it.

I did the same on the bottom. For the sides I folded the corners like you would when wrapping a present.

Then, because this frame is constructed strangle, I flipped open the part where the picture actually goes and cut a small square. Then I pulled this back and glued into place.

Ta-da! One easy, diy sweater wrapped frame! This project took me maybe ten minutes, and now I'm quite fond of this strange little square picture frame!


Linked Up At:

Love of Family & Home

The Francis Family Blog

House of Rose

Blissfully Ever After

Crafty, Scrappy, Happy

Design, Dining & Diapers

Our Fifth House

I Love You More Than Carrots

 Liz Marie Blog

Cozy Little House

Hanging A Gallery Wall: Part One

Yep, I'm back with a gallery wall update.

Here's our nice, long wall in the living room.

Blankety blank blank blank. Also, I notice I never replaced the outlet cover after I painted.

In May. Of 2012. My bad. I'll get on that.

My paint job, by the way, is not the streaky mess it appears in this picture. We get weird natural light in this room because the living room window is under a deep porch roof. I need to take a picture in the morning, because the light is beautiful then. And all my lamplight is over on that side of the room, adding to the weird shadow-palooza.

Anyhow.

This is how far I got.

The lake country lithograph isn't working for me there. Good to know. Painting the frame blue was a huge mistake since the picture is already so intensely blue. I see a date with spraypaint in the frame's future.

So my "process" was I found the exact middle of the wall and hung slightly above that point. The mirror is also functional, so having it around face level is nice.

The bottom edge of Van Gogh Sailing Boats Les Saintes Maries painting hits at the halfway point of the mirror. The top edge of my embroidered quote in the vintage frame hits in the middle at the other side. Then I started filling in.

So I was busy hanging a vintage tray under the "Home Is Wherever We Are Together" piece when...I thoroughly, thoroughly messed up.

See...I'm still not over this stupid flu/whatever, and so I was hurrying through this so I could collapse on the sofa. Instead of taking down all the pictures when I put the hanger up for the next one I just left them in place.

This was fine, except there's a stud running down the lake district/quote/tray vertical line. So it requires some forceful hammering, which I'm providing when the quote falls on my hand and the lake district falls on my head.

As it turns out, head wounds DO bleed profusely! Yep, a bloody head and a busted knuckle.

J patched me up and sent me to bed, ordering me to "leave the d*mn wall alone until you feel better."

Hmph.

ANYWAY. I made a gif! Watch the salon wall, at roughly it's halfway point, come together!

(It's kind of hypnotic!)

DIYAS 15 Minute Project: Yarn+Bottles=Awesome

It's that time! That's right, it's time for the Do It Yourself Action Squad Link Party!

Interiors By Kenz, Broke Ass Home, Sandpaper and Glue, and I agreed to complete projects that cost under fifteen dollars and took less than fifteen minutes.

I had several ideas for projects, but over on Twitter someone posted pictures of a Target shopping expedition that included this guy.

Photo From Target

Yep, it's a yarn wrapped rhinoceros. They also have a hippo and gazelle. I love the subtle texture, and I'm looking for ways to bring texture to my dining table.

However, there's a sad lack of animals in my closet. Something I have in abundance? Glass bottles. 

I found a glass Coke bottles and a glass hard cider bottle hanging out in our cabinets. Over in my craft drawer I found a lovely soft blueish-green yarn and some white yarn.

With my hot glue gun I placed a bead of glue around the bottom of the cider bottle and started wrapping the yarn. I decided to leave the label in place, mostly out of laziness.

Place another bead of glue around the mouth of the jar and tuck the end of the yarn back under another piece.

Awhile ago I wrapped another Coke bottle in some jute rope. It was another easy, quick project. I just thought I'd throw it in here. I wrapped this Coke bottle with the white yarn, with the same glue, wrap, glue routine I used on the cider bottle.

I could have done a neater job wrapping the neck of the bottle.

Each bottle took about five minutes. I used stuff I had around the house (glass bottles, yarn) so the total cost was $0. Not bad.

Now, what you've all been waiting for...the link party! Share any quick and easy project. If you link up on one of our sites, it links up on ALL the sites. All we ask is you put a link to Interiors By Kenz, Broke Ass Home, Sandpaper and Glue, and Middle Class Modern somewhere on your blog. A DIYAS shoutout would be nice, too!

Next week I plan on featuring my favorite entries in the link party!

Makin Like Goldilocks.

Y'all, I wanted to post my brand new shiny gallery wall but I've come down with something I hope is just a cold, and not the flu that's taken out half the country. Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with gallery wall goings on.

We have a deep, dark secret.

Our bed is broken. I wish there was an awesome story involving how we broke the bed that involved nurses uniforms and handcuffs, but sadly not. Actually Emily was the only one on the bed when it broke.

I don't what we did that caused one leg to snap off. But it's been resting on bricks ever since. This is not a stable arrangement.

It's helped me realize that our bedroom is a sad, sad place. The only decoration is the little gallery wall of Lila pictures. So I'm devoting February (appropriate, yes?) to a bedroom redo. I'm planning on refurbishing the awesome mid-century side tables we trash-picked over the holidays, making some curtains, upgrading our bedding, rehabbing some amazing 1950s lamps I scored at the thrift store, maybe painting the walls, definitely painting the seventies chest of drawers we trash-picked from different neighbors over the summer, venturing into the world of engineer prints...but most importantly we have to do something about the bed situation.

I've decided I'm going to DIY a bed. Yep. Just because the last time I built something I was in high school and it was a set piece for a community theater musical doesn't mean I can't knock out an amazing bed, right? Of course right!

Over on Facebook I talked about building a platform bed from scratch, but I don't think I have the tools (or courage). So I've narrowed on beds I think will be easy to DIY.

1. Pipe Bedframe

Photo From Simplified Building

I'm a little in love with this. Y'all know how I feel about making things from pipe. Maybe not the most comfortable option, though. But it doesn't require crazy tools. A nice, easy build your own bed idea.

2. Upholstered Box Springs With Furniture Legs

Picture From Momma Rake

I LOVE THIS. Your tools? A staple gun, some fabric, furniture legs, and a drill. Yes'm, I have all of these things. Naturally I'd pick legs more closely aligned to my design ideals...

Photo From Lowe's

Like these awesome tapered legs from Lowe's. I checked them out in person, and they are real wood. So I could stain them to match the walnut legs of our mid-century bankers table (it holds our television), and they are the same shape as said bankers table and our new nightstands. Lots of tapered leg action.

3. Ana White Platform Bed

Photo From Ana White

Here's a platform bed from Ana White. The hardest to construct from my three options...but it looks really nice and I'd really like a platform bed.

So, has anyone built a bed? Any tips? Ideas? Thoughts on why I'm crazy?

A Nice, Strong Rod: DIY Curtain Hanging

Yesterday I rattled on about buying and cleaning vintage curtains. After my curtains were all nice and clean I needed to hang them up! But, as you all saw (and Emma pointed out) the curtain rods in our living room were dunzo. They were bent and gross. Plus they only went the length of the window.

Curtain rods, especially for 8 foot curtain rods like I need, are expensive and I am cheap. I took myself over to Amazon where I found this nickel rod for $28, this one for $50, and this one on sale for the relatively inexpensive price of $20. Which isn't bad, but...

Back in the day I moved into my first solo place and didn't have money for fancy curtain rods, but had lots of windows. I got the idea to use rigid copper plumbing pipe. It was inexpensive and looked awesome. The price of copper skyrocketed in the intervening years, so it's not longer as affordable an option

Instead I went to the local big box and bought a ten foot length of electrical conduit. For two bucks. That's right. $2. The lumber department cut it down to eight feet at no charge (and I got to keep the extra two feet. We all know a project will be coming forthwith with the spare length). (See how bent the old, black rod was?) (How many parenthesis can I use in one paragraph?!)

I decided to go with the silver-y metal tones. We have lots of coppery and oil rubbed bronze going on in our house, but I do love chrome-y things. Everyone likes a little mixed metal action, right? But you could totally spray paint the rod ORB (or whatever) and get finials and curtain rings to match.

Of course, every curtain rod needs finials. Over to the cabinet hardware section I went. After some digging I found vintage-y chrome knobs for $1.06 each.

So for a grand total of $4.06 I had everything I needed to DIY a drapery rod.

I wrapped the end of the knob with a little thread tape (if you don't have any thread tape, it's about a dollar) and just inserted one knob into the end of the rod (I'm really fighting the urge to crack some insanely dirty jokes here).

[Note from J: Use thread tape because it's slightly rubberized and gives it better grip. It's the best alternative to soldering.] 

Next I put my curtain rings on the rod, and did the same tape wrap-py, insert-y deal on the other end.

Now for hanging the drapes. Although I decided against going high with these drapes I did want to go wide. The window isn't really centered on the wall. This led to confusion with the credenza. Should I center it to the wall or to the window? With a curtain rod that almost covers the entire width of the wall and with three drapery panels I can cheat the window so it appears centered and my furniture will look more balanced.

Also, hint? Take the clips off the rings. Put the rings on the rod and clip the clips to the curtain, the reattach clips to ring. Much easier.

I don't know if its the time of day or what, but I could not get a good picture of the curtains.

Close up of the "finial."

Close-up of the rod, ring. pleat situation.

Lessons learned? I should have starched the drapes when I ironed them. Two of them look okay, but the left most curtain already looks wrinkly. Sigh.

They do make the whole room look lighter and happier. I also could definitely close the curtains and they would completely cover the window. I think that's key for a good window treatment, because it gives it a certain richness. Plus, practical!

So, the total cost for the window treatments? $5 drapes, $4.06 rod, $4 clearance curtain clips.

A grand total of $13.06 for the whole shebang. Yeah, baby.

Have you guys ever used untraditional materials to make a curtain rod?

Linked up at The DIY Club.

What Y'all Did This Year

Thank you all for the support and kind messages yesterday.

The reason I have a blog? Is because I love reading blogs. These are the projects I found especially inspiring this year, in no particular order. Except for the last one, because? ABSOLUTELY AMAZING.

Photo From Young House Love

Young House Love moved into their new home in 2011, painted their master bedroom Carolina Inn Club Aqua by Valspar (embarrassingly? I didn't even have to look that up. Love that color.), bought a new bed, bedding, a rug, and decorated their nest. And then? They realized it wasn't working. Kudos to them for admitting it. Not only to themselves, but to their MILLIONS of readers. They proceeded to switch the bedding, rework the bed, buy an amazing new rug, rearrange the furniture...and then they hit pay dirt when they repainted the room in a great, moody gray. Their room looks amazing and it illustrates the point it's okay if you've made a decorating choice you've come to regret. Move on and make yourself happy.

Photo From Broke Ass Home

If your puppy needs a new bed, do you....

1. Go to Petsmart?
2. Recycle an old television?

If you are Emma from Broke Ass Home, you go with option two. Isn't the television turned dog bed adorable?

Photo From Interiors By Kenz

When the adorable Kenz from Interiors By Kenz announced she was going to revamp her um, not lovely fireplace I gave her the internet equivalent of a pat on the head. It was bad, and I didn't think a few DIY projects could change it.

Yeah. I was wrong. It looks amazing, and totally changed her living room.

Photo From Sandpaper and Glue

Anytime Stephanie from Sandpaper and Glue posts a picture of her master bedroom I comment on how much I love this dresser. She took a regular you-see-them-at-every-junk-store older dresser and completely transformed it with some navy paint and and reworking the original hardware.

This project makes me think of Stephanie every night before I go to sleep. Why? Because I stare at a our giant hulk of a 1970s chest of drawers and plot a hopefully as effective new look for it.

Photo From Boxy Colonial

Gretchen from Boxy Colonial is pregnant, homeschools, and is DIY-ing an entire house makeover. In the midst of all this she created a lovely little library I like to call "my dream space"! The storage! A room devoted to my books! A cozy chair! A cool lamp! Pretty blue paint!

She knocked it right out of the park.

Photo From DIY On The Cheap

DIY On The Cheap's office/living room is filled with the end products of great projects. These include the shelving unit, a dresser, and a card catalogue, amongst others. Also? I'm completely obsessed with that desk.

Photo From Ugly Duckling House

Sarah from the Ugly Duckling House is a DIY wunderkind. I love this bathroom update that included painting linoleum floors and a new vanity.

Photo From The Brick House

The Brick House didn't have one specific project or post I could point to this year as especially inspiring, but Morgan's whole aesthetic inspires me. I love her white walls and vintage modern minimalism. I'll never achieve it, but I love it. Her furniture choices are always amazing, and I love that she rotates pieces in and out of her home.

Photo From House*Tweaking

Dana from House*Tweaking walked into your average 1950s ranch and thought, hmm, this would look so much better with fewer walls and a vaulted ceiling.

She proceeded to tear out the walls and loft the ceiling to the rafters, along with installing a brand new kitchen (okay, she had help, but you get my point). There are no words for how much I love this.

So what projects inspired y'all this year? And, more importantly, what projects did you complete you are especially proud of?