Fall Home Show Ultimate Upcycle Challenge And More

The Fall Home Show starts in just over a week. I am super excited, because I will be on stage with the amazing Dee Brun (Cocktail Deeva)—on Thursday, September 20th at noon—talking cocktails and DIYs. We'll share chic and easy tips for entertaining your guests, and share how to set a stunning dinner table with three holiday party looks. I really hope to see you there—even though, I am kinda nervous! You can get your tickets in advance here. Enter the promotional code AWESOME to get two-for-one tickets (for Thursday only). 

In more exciting news . . .
For the first time this year, celebrity experts and emerging style, décor, and DIY bloggers are taking part in the Ultimate Upcycle Challenge. Each participant was asked to source and repurpose a household item from a Habitat for Humanity Toronto ReStore location. All items will be on display in the Habitat for Humanity Toronto booth. You can see all of the truly amazing entries here (before and after shots). The creativity seriously blew my mind!

The first item I bought to upcycle was a vintage coffee table, but the item I needed to make it beautiful was not going to arrive on time (stay tuned for that DIY in an upcoming post), so I went shopping again. This time I found a kitchen cabinet door and I knew just what I wanted to do with it: make it into a piece of kitchen art.

Here is what it looked like before:

And here is what it looked like after:

This was a really easy project to do! If I had not been in a bit of a rush to get it done, I would have taken some 'during' pics. Sorry about that! And guess what? The cabinet was free, because it had some glue on it (which was so easy to remove). Woohoo! Even if I had paid, it would have only been $5.00.

Here's the How To:

• Prepare the door by washing it, filling any holes, and applying a coat of primer.
• Paint the door using a foam roller. Use artist brushes for the smaller areas. 
• You can then draw the design on the door using  a pencil. For my project, I had the image printed on a transparency sheet and projected it onto the door using an old-school projector. This makes it so easy to centre the design and trace it. 
• Paint the details using a fine brush.
• Once dry, paint a layer or two of varnish over your masterpiece.
• Use sawtooth hooks on the back to hang it in your kitchen.

Now comes the part where I ask you to click here to vote for your favourite upcycle. The top three finalists will be judged at the Home Show! The winner recieves a $500 Visa Card. If I win, I will donate $250 of that to Habitat for Humanity. If you love mine, fantastic! If not, pick your favourite and share your love. It is as simple as a click of your mouse, promise! xoxo

Guess what? I have ten sets of two free tickets to the Home Show to give away. Leave me a comment below with your email, and a pair may be yours! I will notify all winners by end of day, Thursday, September 13th.