Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Light Switch plate cover revamp!

Our house was built in 1988 & a few of the rooms still have the IVORY outlet plate covers & light switch plate covers. GAG! In most of the house we've switched them out. I just had to do something cutesy for my craft room. Also did one for the boys' room too.
From Crafts

Curious, does anyone still use the intercom systems? We have one in our house & have never touched it in the 3 1/2 years we've lived here. what an eye sore too!


So here's an easy to do revamp. Oh how I love reusing & recycling!!

What you'll need:
Modge Podge
Razor Blade
Scissors
fabric (cotton), scrapbook paper, or tissue paper
sponge brush
sand paper
your old light plate covers
clothes pins or heavy duty paper clips
if you are using heavier fabric or scrapbook paper then some rubber cement would be good too!

From Crafts


Step 1: Sand down the switch plate covers to rough up that nasty ivory so it'll hold onto the glue better.

Step 2: cut out fabric just slightly larger than the plate cover- maybe 1/2" or 1" larger on all sides.
From Crafts


Step 3:
Brush on the modge podge

From Crafts


Step 4:
Place the fabric face down & put the plate cover right side down onto the back of the fabric in the middle. Apply some pressure.
From Crafts



Step 5:
Start folding over the fabric & put some of the glue on the backside too. This is why i love clothespins. They're good for everything! clip them on so they'll hold down the fabric. you can clip the corners like so. Believe me this does NOT need to be perfect, we'll smoother over those corners later.
From Crafts


Step 6:
Let dry & go eat some lunch. or nap. either way it doesnt take long for it to dry.
From Crafts


Step 7:
i loooooove this fabric. i picked it up at Joann's last week. Didn't know what I would use it for, but I sure do love it! I think I need a skirt out of it too.
Anyway, smear on some more Modge Podge on top of the fabric or paper, including those corners & stick the clothes pins on the corners to help those puppies lay down. Let it dry. doesn't take long, maybe 20 minutes tops.
From Crafts


Step 8:
So now you've got this nice clean covered plate cover. Get your razor blade or exacto knife & make an X where the switches go & fold them in.
From Crafts


GACK! I already forgot how ugly that Ivory is! (is that even "ivory" !?!?)
From Crafts


Step 9:
Either Modge Podge or glue down those corners on the inside & let it dry. Well i didn't. I smoothed out the inside of the switch spots & made a tiny slit where the screws go & hung them right up!
From Crafts


Step 10: Hang them up! But don't lose a screw like I did. Oops.
From Crafts


I also hung a canvas OVER the intercom system speaker.....hmmmm now I need some inspiration of what to paint on this canvas. For right now the plain white canvas looks 100% better than the speaker! HA! maybe I should hang it a bit more straight though.
From Crafts



Here's the 2 that I made for my Boys' room last year, it's a vintage liscence plate/route 66 theme:
From Crafts


From Crafts


Enjoy!

1 comment:

Caitrin said...

Very cool! It looks easy too - kind of gives me ideas about how to custom make those light plates that aren't normal. We have one in our bathroom that has two switches and two outlets on one plate...not a lot of stores sell cute plates to replace that with. lol