Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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How To Make Colorful DIY Bookends

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! We’re celebrating with Burger, Clara, each other, and a photography crew in our house for the third straight week. But there’s a twist today: we’re trying not to vomit! Poor Clara got sick the entire evening on Saturday and into the morning on Sunday and now it appears that John and I have the bug… but the show must go on! The good news is that we finished all of our secret projects so we just have to get the last 20 in the can by Friday and we’re done-zo. Oh yeah and we’re supposed to shoot some cover shots tomorrow (ahhhhhhhhhhhh) but we won’t think about that right now. So Happy V-day from our slightly green household to yours! Now let’s horse around a little…

I’ve started to realize that my little self-imposed “Dude, Get On That Already” challenge should probably just be called “So I’ve Been Hoarding Little Animal Friends And Now I Get To Spray Paint Them.” Here’s Exhibit A and Exhibit B. Although, in my defense I’ve apparently been hoarding other things like coat hooks and old light fixtures too, so it’s not like I have a spare room full of ceramic animals. Yet. But I did have these guys that we bought for $2.50 each almost exactly a year ago in Delaware in a whirlwind thrift-store-palooza. And then they sat in our playroom for 12 months. Poor guys.

Horses Before

But I had big plans for these little orange and black sponge painted horse heads from the start. First I gave them a few thin and even coats of primer (slippery ceramic things like this usually do best with some spray primer before any spray paint).

  Horse Bookends Primer

Here they are all primed up and steely gray:

  Horse Bookends Primer2

But spring is in the air! So some happy yellow spray paint was just what the doctor ordered.

  Horse Bookends Sprayed

It took about five thin thin thin coats (more of a mist than a real coat of paint). You really want to just hold the can about 12″ away and keep your arm moving the whole time (there are more spray painting tips for ya right here). After a few days of letting them cure outside in the carport I brought those babies in and put them to work:

  Horse Bookends Done1

Yeehaw.

Horse Bookends Done2

Who’s ready for warm weather and cherry blossoms and birds singing? This girl (points to self with yellow spray painted thumbs).

Horse Bookends Done3

So that’s the story of two $2.50 thrift store book ends that sat in the playroom for a year collecting dust. One more thing off the ol’ list and out of that room. Hurrah! At this rate the room will be empty and ready for a big makeover in about three years. Haha. Kidding. But I still have a ways to go, which is why I love forcing myself to tackle one small thing we week. It’s do-able and not too overwhelming, but it definitely adds up to 4-5 little accomplishments each month along with some other big projects that we’re juggling (like zee book and zee kitchen). Did I just get French for a second? Anyway, the weirdest thing is that sometimes these little projects make me beam the most. How strange is that? It’s the little things.

What have you guys been up to? Are there any other Dude Get On That Already challengers who have tackled things that need to be cleaned/organized/painted/etc? Anyone else trying not to lose their lunch on V-day? Do tell.

Comments

  1. Meghan@RatnamResidence says

    LOVE these bookends. Totally unrelated, but that mirror behind the books… is that a thrift store find or a DIY project? I want to frame our first family photo (11×13) in a dramatic frame…something like your mirror here…

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      That was a hand-me-down from John’s sister. It always had that chunky frame but it was wood with flowers painted on it and we primed and painted it white!

      xo,
      s

  4. Heidi P. says

    So happy & cheery! And I love the colors of the books too!

    I’m so sorry you guys are sick! You don’t have time to be sick! And, I thought sickness was supposed to wait till you finally got a break?! This bug is going around nation-wide. A lot of people here in my neighborhood have had it too. I had it last week… for my THIRD TIME this winter!! No me gusta. Anyway, get better quickly! Drink lots and lots of water and tea! (Chamomile, mint, and ginger are miracle workers.)

    Reply

  6. Katie says

    Am I correct in assuming that Clara’s monthly photo shoot might be delayed due to everyone not feeling well? I love all your posts, but particularly look forward to Clara’s monthly pics (is that weird?). Hope you guys feel better soon!

    Reply

  9. Maggie says

    Get well soon! I love the horse bookends, especially that they pick up the yellow in the book covers. I also like the haze remover tip in the tile posting. I’m tiling my bathroom, and I will definitely use haze remover over scratching off grout blobs with my fingernails. Happy Valentine’s Day to you!

    Reply

  10. Erin M says

    I’m a new reader, and been keeping up with your blog quite a bit because I’ve been sick a lot lately…1st trimester lunch-losing. :) Thanks for the peak into your projects. I love the idea about a small project every week. That feels doable.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Aw thanks Erin! Hope you feel better soon! I was sick until the 16th week and then it was amazing, it just switched right off and I felt normal again! Hang in there girl!

      xo,
      s

  12. Tara says

    Love how the horses turned out! And I find it fascinating to see what design books you have displayed between your new bookends. It’s had me looking up design/decorating books on Amazon all morning and I’ve put holds on about 2 dozen books at my local library now too, LOL!

    Maybe you could do a post some time on some of your favorite design books (unless you’ve already done one and I’ve missed it)? Just a thought. :)

    Reply

  14. Laura says

    Feel better! I hope you get some chance for down time so you can feel better and not worse! And if you have a day where the post title is just “SICK HOUSE”, I’m sure your readers would totally understand.
    Laura

    Reply

  15. Bernadette says

    Man, when the hoarders crew clears out, I will finally be able to find my spray paint that I bout a year ago to update the owl bookends I bought two years ago. I’ll get on that. Tomorrow (smile).

    In the meantime, you might have two more readers today. The extent of my Vday loving was a post with link ups to 5 home blogs I love to stalk. YHL of course was on the list.

    Back to thrifty shopping for more items I may one day refine when shopping my own home.

    Happy Vday!
    Bernadette

    Reply

  16. Criss says

    Silly question – does it stay warm enough in VA to spray paint outdoors in winter? I have a couple of projects, but keep thinking it’s just too cold out.

    Reply

  18. Chrissie says

    How sweet! I love the bright yellow with all the other colours.

    I was just thinking the other day that I need some bookends or a stand for my notebooks, they keep sliding all over my desk!

    Reply

  19. Beth says

    Love the bookends! I thought I was the only one celebrating Valentine’s Day supressing vomit. Here’s to a romantic day spent on the couch. Hope you feel better soon!

    Reply

  20. Kelly says

    My valentines day surprise was the stomach bug too! It was great! I can’t believe you still got stuff done though…. I laid around and moped all day. Thank god there was no camera crew in my house. I dont know how you did it!

    Reply

  24. Barb says

    Hi John and Sherry (and Clara and Burger),
    I just wanted to wish you a Happy Valentine’s Day – I really love your blog! Thanks for all the fun reading, and I hope you’re all feeling better really soon!

    Reply

  25. Shannon says

    I love the book collection paired with the horses. Especially against the white/grey it really stands out. Fav part is the book Decorate next to book Undecorate. I’m going to look these two up.

    Reply

  26. Sarah says

    This is Hilarious! I am from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada and I just bought an EXACT set of these horses a couple weeks ago at my local thrift shop (although mine came in an awful brown colour). The funny thing is….I painted mine the EXACT same colour yellow that you did! They are now on display on a shelf in my daughter’s room and look great! Your blog is my favourite. Thank you for constantly inspiring me! Feel better! :)

    Reply

  28. Kim says

    Oh, you poor souls! We’ve been thru the all night long vomiting sessions with our oldest – no fun at all! Luckily, neither one of us has wound up sick after. I don’t know what we would do if we were both sick at the same time with the kids! And I especially don’t know how you’re doing it with all the book stuff going on at your house right now and STILL keeping up the blog while also taking care of Clara. You guys are seriously from another planet – haha! But seriously, feel better very very soon!

    Reply

  29. Ruth says

    Whether you’re an actual ceramic animal hoarder or not, you’ve definitely opened my eyes to the vista of possibilities through spray paint. I cringe to think of all the things I’ve passed up in garage sales because I didn’t like the color. No more! Thanks for the inspiration & how-to. The horse bookends look great and I love the rooster (Jarvis, was it?), too.

    Reply

  30. Daisy Cevallos says

    I’m digging the after shot!! You couldn’t have chosen a better color.
    And by the way I think that little bug you all have might be crawling all over because it just let our home. :/

    Reply

  31. Gabrielle Martin says

    I was bummed v day b because I thought I was the only one on the continent who instead of having a nice diner was curled up on the couch sucking cough medicine and emergen-c! Sorry you guys are sick too. However, I did go into our extra room and make a “dude get on that already” list of my own and I’m determined to accomplish some long awaited small projects. And you guys make me laugh! I love your writing style. Keep up the good work!

    Reply

  33. Bethany says

    I love these…so pretty. It makes me want to go to the thrift store to see what I can find to redo. You guys make me think outside of the box.

    Reply

  34. Amy Dash says

    Lovely! The yellow really stands out – in a good way!

    My ‘Dude, get on that’ project on Saturday was to declutter my linen closet. In otherwords, find new homes for the various vases & decor items that are taking up space. They found their home in a different cupboard in the basement which hasn’t been organized/purged for 5 years! Now to deal with the box of stuff that came out of both places… but hey, baby steps for this dude-et!

    Reply

  37. Carly says

    Last year for V-day the hubs and I spent the day at home in our respective sleeping spots because we had the stomach virus. Yucky

    Reply

  40. [email protected] says

    guess what! i saw these EXACT bookends at a thrift shop in my town! lol! i almost bought them but they were slightly chipped a bit on the backside. which i suppose isn’t really a huge deal since it’s on the back…but still. haha. anyway, how on earth did you manage to spray paint under the horse necks?! it seems like it would be almost impossible to get an even spray under there.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I just waited for them to dry between light and even coats and turned them upside down so I could mist their under-neck (or whatever you’d call that area- haha).

      xo,
      s

  41. Rachel says

    What color/brand of spray paint was this? I want to spray an old chair for my dayghter’s room and this looks perfect!

    Reply

  42. Julie says

    I just wanted to drop in and tell you that I am currently in the process of spray painting my first ceramic animal!! I have meaning to do it for a while (of course) and just finally decided to go for it. I’m painting this adorable little bird Candy Apple Red. My husband asked, “Are you sure you can spray paint ceramic?” I told him, “Trust me, Babe, you can! Sherry spray paints ceramic animals all the time!” Then I had to explain who Sherry was because he isn’t as addicted to home decor blogs as I am. I can’t wait to see the final product! Thanks for the spray painting tips!

    Reply

  43. Christmas Wife says

    what were the horse heads made of? i got a beautiful all white rooster that i think is ceramic. i would love to paint it but not sure if i can…. THANKS! btw, the horse heads LOOK GREAT! i too have an affinity for SPRAY PAINT!!!

    Reply

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