Magazine Monday: game storage & gold leafing

As I've probably mentioned before, I am a sucker for multi-use furniture. This pile of games had been moving from living room, to bedroom, to dining room, and I was sick of looking at them. It was time for a solution.

Welcome Target storage bench! Now we not only have a place to put up our feet while we're watching TV, but our games and blankets are now tucked nicely away.

I have seen gold and silver leafed pieces a lot in magazines lately, and it looked like a fun thing to try. I've been needing some artwork to hang on an empty wall, and fell in love with some flower prints from IKEA. They have been sitting in a drawer, unused for at least 6 months. It was time to give them a home.

I bought some cheap frames at IKEA, and the gold leafing supplies at Michael's.

The plastic fronts of these frames were not removable, so I started by taping off the edges.
I applied the tacky primer and let it dry, then it was time to start applying the leafing. That was a fun process, but brushing off the excess was a mess.

I love the textured look of the layers of gold. After several coats of sealant, they were ready to hang on the wall.I was too cheap to buy a mat, so I turned over the paper lining that came in the frame so it was white, then used some gray and brown ribbon from my stash to create a sort of mat to hold the print.

Voila!