Pity Project

Sometimes our lives are so busy with keeping kids alive and thriving that we don't have time to take on or even complete any in-progress bigger house projects...like right now.  Although I will admit that there are a hefty amount times when I really have to convince myself to vacuum/cook/wash when what I really want to do is paint something.  When the imprudent thing is to project big, that's when I start to get antsy and seek out little ten minute projects I can do to satisfy that hunger.  This is one of them.  We'll call it a pity project.  :)

A couple of months ago, our coffee maker broke.  If you're anything like us, you love your morning coffee.  It's a routine; a ritual even.  For us, it's about the taste and feel of those moments when you can sip in peace in the morning before everyone wakes up (until they do and you're still sipping, just not in peace).  Maybe it's a little bit about that slight jolt caffeine gives you to start your day too.  So when our coffee maker breaks, well, uh-oh.  Chaos.  Shame too because it was so cute.

Ok, ok, there's really no chaos that follows a broken coffee maker.  It's really just a small thorn in the side.  We weren't left completely hanging though because we have a french press* we pull out once in awhile and it got pulled out daily until we got a replacement.  But there is nothing like the simplicity of an automatic maker, right?  But french press coffee just tastes so much better.  I know.  I've heard.  I drink my creamer with a side of coffee though so I really couldn't tell you the difference.  Anthony however, the black coffee drinker, will tell you that's true.  That's why we splurged a little bit this time around (we usually go for the $17 maker at Walmart or Target) and bought ourselves this coffee maker*.  I found it on Amazon awhile ago and saved it to one of our lists.  It has a shower sprayer, which we've heard is the best way to brew and a reusable filter which doesn't steal all of the oils in the grounds.  (Our friends run a coffee shop and I learned a ton about coffee this past summer talking with them!)  Well, when I went to buy, the red option was the cheapest (as compared to the white* that we really wanted) and there was a one like-new, on Amazon Warehouse for $35.  I jumped on it because I knew that I could probably either deal with the red for a lower price or remedy it.  Enter this pity project.

Here's our month-old maker:  

Except now it looks like this:

Bye red.  It was fun having you add a pop o' color but not quite fun enough.

Here's how I changed it up using

dun, dun, dun, 

removable wallpaper:

Supplies:

> removable wallpaper* - (I linked to wallpaper from Amazon Warehouse!  I've seen some fantastic deals there!)  I used a roll I had leftover from another project.  My intention was to use this marble contact paper* but goodness gracious, I looked everywhere in this house and could not find it.  I know it's hiding somewhere with the roll of faux wood I covered the girls' dollhouse floors in but where that hiding spot is?  I'm clueless.  

> x-acto knife - I've used this thing a ton.  It's great to have on hand.  However, for this project, you'll want to make sure you've got a nice sharp blade in it...I didn't.  

> sharpie - An optional supply if you want to add a little "sum-m sum-m"

> sock - Or a washcloth or t-shirt.  Anything you can wrap your hand around to help you smooth the wallpaper once it's on.

> scissors

> measuring tape*

Process:

First, I measured the area I wanted to cover.  I wasn't exact with this; I just rounded up to the nearest inch.

Then I cut out a piece of removable wallpaper that was a little bigger than my measurements.  Making it bigger gave me more room for error later.

This part is totally optional but I was really sad about not finding my marble contact paper so I wanted to gussy up this piece so it wasn't so plain jane.  To do that, I grabbed my white sharpie paint pen and, using another piece of wallpaper as a straight edge, I drew on some quick stripes.  Nothing perfect.  They look very hand drawn.

Then I peeled the wallpaper from the backing, pulled it tight from side to side, and laid it over the red part of the coffee maker.

At this point, it looked wonky because of the oval timer in the middle but it was on there.

Using my x-acto knife, I carefully cut out the oval by sinking the knife into the groove around the timer.

This is where I need to emphasize how important it is to have a new or very sharp blade for this.  I thought I could get away with mine, as used as it was, but nope.  My cut lines were much less than perfectly straight...much less.  

With the oval now cut out, the wallpaper laid much better and I could use my socked hand to smooth out any air bubbles.  I pulled up each side individually to get some of the larger ones out.

The only thing left was to cut off the excess wallpaper around the edges.  It helped to find the groove between the red plastic and black plastic of the maker by digging my finger nail into it.  It left a line that was easy to follow with the knife.

Slice, slice, slice...

And there we had it - no more red!  You can see up close that my oval is far from perfect thanks to my dull knife blade...

BUT from a stone's throw?  Perfecto.  ;)

It'll look even better when we get these cabinets painted, a backsplash up, and new countertops. ✨

I am planning on finding my marble contact paper at some point in the future (please help St. Anthony!) and when I do, I'll grab a nice new blade to marbelize this thing.  Until then, we're happy with the quick and easy upgrade.  And, I might add, we've used it with its new wallpaper for two weeks now and it hasn't budged.  You never know with the humidity and heat these things can give off.  I'll let you know if anything changes but so far, so good.  Christmas might see the wallpaper off and the red back for festivity.  Fun, right?  Maybe I'll grab some white washi tape and add some stripes!  I could probably come up with a hundred options.  ;)   

Hope you have a great week!

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PS...want to see something else we changed with removable wallpaper?  Check out our old dishwasher!

PPS...I'm thinking of restarting the #letsroomtogether challenge.  You in?

*These links are affiliate links which means that, if you click over and/or make a purchase through the link, we may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.  I am an Amazon affiliate and also use other sources to link to products.  All of these links will lead you to things we actually paid for or that are similar to the item we paid for in case ours is thrifted/sold out/secondhand.  This extra money helps us with the costs of running the blog and buying paint.  ;)  Thank you for your support and for fueling our love to share all things DIY!