Hairapy: Turban Braided Crown Tutorial

I feel like I should start this by saying that I don't do anything with my hair, not even ponytails, most of the time. This is partially because I'm usually okay with it hanging around all boring and doing it's own thing, and partially because I'm no good at doing hair. Well, it's kind of one of my goals this year to learn how to do some cute things with my hair. I recently saw an article on Refinery 29 with four really amazing braided hairstyles, which were way beyond my skill level, that inspired me. I've mentioned here already that I'm growing my bangs out and it's a royal, ugly pain. So this style was inspired by a turbanesque 'do, and out of necessity to get the bangs out of my face.

A Disclaimer: This is a rough tutorial, and *obviously* not very well thought out because who else in their right mind takes pictures for a hair tutorial with no makeup on, in their husband's shirt? Amiright?

So for this 'do you will need: A brush, two small hair elastics,  two elastics or clips to pin back extra hair, two to four bobby pins, probably some gel or hairspray, and a rat tail comb combs in very handy.

Step One: Start at the front and center of your hairline, measure back about 2-3 inches, and draw a part/line from the center of your head to right behind your right ear. Tie/pin back the rest of the hair to keep it out of the way. Repeat on the left side.

Step Two: Take the left out hair from the right side and comb/brush it forward and diagonally across your face. 

Step Three: Braid it in a fishtail braid (skip the initial ponytail part), about 3/4 of the way down. You want to leave some hair at the bottom unbraided so that it blends easily into the rest of your hair when your done, and fasten with a small elastic. Repeat step two and three with the hair from the left side as well.

Step Four: Gather both braids and tie together at the center of your head (like when you start to tie your shoes). You'll want to manipulate the way the braids face a little so that the more attractive parts of the braids show. This is where you'll want to maybe use some product for rogue hairs. If your hair is all one length and you don't see any poky hairs sticking out you could loosen the braids for a fuller look too.

Step Five: Pin the braids near/behind your ears.

Step Six: Let down the hair you tied back earlier and style it how you like. 

Pretty easy really. If I can do it, so can you!

Project Lanterns

Since I don't at all claim to be a DIY blogger (this is honestly the second project I've done all year), I don't feel too bad about forgetting to take the appropriate pictures for this post. So more than instructional, this just serves to show a little bit of the process and result. Doing a project like this is really case sensitive because measurements will be different, and you can use all kinds of different materials.

These paper lanterns have been around a long while waiting to be repurposed. I fell in love with them and bought them for my someday wedding before David and I even met (so over 4 years ago). We used them for decor at our little back yard wedding and then I became sentimentally attached to them, so I saved them.

Originally I planned to hang them directly from the ceiling at various lengths, and using ribbon, but I couldn't find ribbon I loved and without a ladder it would have been too hard to execute. So I decided that I would drape/swoop them instead, and remembered that I had this vintage blue sheet that I got at Goodwill months and months ago. 

These are to show how I attached the fabric so that it wouldn't be able to move or shift with time and get all wonky. 

I tied all of the lanterns in a string by the fabric strips using a basic knot, I wasn't seeking perfection, I like quirk. Then I added bows to the tops of all of the lanterns.

I wasn't patient enough to measure the fabric pieces in proportion to the swoop in front of the chosen wall, so I had to do some improvising, adding a piece of fabric to the center lantern and attaching it at the ceiling so that Lorelei couldn't reach it standing in her bed. The single swoop looked cuter, but I wasn't going to risk having her rip any more of them like the one you can already see in the last picture.   The last picture that does the project no justice, because I am truly terrible at interior design shots apparently. Haha.

Note: I wish I had outtakes of this to share with you! In order to hang the strung lanterns I moved all of her furnishings out of the way, brought our table in her room, and climbed on that to get it done. I'm crazy like that, or resourceful...

Project Coffee Cabinet

This weekend was pretty awesome as far as our weekends go, with equal parts relaxation and productivity. Our vinyl/audio setup had been out of commission for two months and we desperately needed space for our coffee paraphernalia  Our tiny shelf and counter in the kitchen was just not cutting it, especially since we recently acquired a new Hario ceramic burr hand grinder and aeropress. So, we put the record player to rest until we have more time and money to invest into that hobby and David turned the homemade media stand into a homemade cabinet. The only supplies we had to buy were screws, hinges, and a handle, running us under $10. We are very fortunate in the things that David finds in his field of work when people throw them out. For example, he's brought home: our floral hide-a-bed couch, an UPPA Baby D-Lite stroller, a Kitchen Aid blender, a Dyson vacuum cleaner...and countless other things.  What I'm getting at is that the wood for the cabinet was found...In fact the planks of wood were slats of an IKEA bed base that someone tossed down a recycling chute...

Here's a peak at the process and result. :)

In media stand form.

We had a good laugh at him building things in his nice clothes.

Funky hinges.

The finished, not yet cluttered or stained result.

A handle to match the hinges.

Overall it was pretty quick and easy business. He only had to cut two of the wood planks to make a frame inside the door. Eventually, if and when we decorate with more intention, we will probably paint them a flat light grey and use copper hardware, but for now it's perfectly functional and looks pretty awesome next to our couch. David also screwed together similar found materials to make a play table/coffee table, and we got some unsanded tile grout on clearance to make chalkboard paint for the top of it. So I'll be sharing that later, maybe next week. I have another project on my plate too, for Lorelei's room that involves a cute, fun way to hang some paper lanterns. That should be done on Wednesday, so look for that too. 

On another note, I have a guest post up on my friend Amy's blog Fabulously Ordinary! If you like love stories, or embarrasing stories, you might also like what I wrote over there. If nothing else, just go check out her blog, it's fun, and she's basically pretty awesome, like me... Haha. Happy Monday y'all!