On the left is what I was going for and on the right is my creation. They turned out bettern than I ever expected!! I. AM. IN. ABSOLUTE. LOVE. WITH. THEM!
Where the idea sparked from...
Mrs. Mary raved over how adorable the nautical buoy ropes were that hung from various docks at Ocean Isle Beach that it sparked an idea. I thought these ropes would be such a great gift for Taylor to give his mom for Christmas. When we searched for the nautical buoy ropes on the internet we were in absolute shock at how expensive they were! Around $100 for a rope!?!?! Well, not being a quitter, I couldn't just give up on the gift idea, so the DIY in me began stirring around. I began brainstorming ideas of how to create the cute balls like the ones in the picture on the left. My first thought was Styrofoam balls, however, I nicked that idea when I realized how easily they would get beaten up from the wind at the beach. Then Taylor came up with the brilliant idea of researching what type of buoys the balls were. He came across a website that sold them for around $1-$2 each. (I'm not sure what the website is called, but if you Google small round buoys then you should find exactly what you are looking for.) Well, by the time we found what we needed to make the buoy rope, Christmas was already around the corner. Knowing they probably wouldn't come in time, we went ahead and ordered ten buoys. For Christmas, we wrapped the picture to the left and placed it under the tree.
On Christmas day when Taylor's momma opened her gift, she seemed a little confused until we explained to her what we were going to make. She was then very excited!
The DIY process...
Taylor and I went to OIB for the weekend in January to celebrate his 25th birthday and our 5 year anniversary! It was a wonderful, quiet, and relaxing weekend. Too chilly to be outdoors, so it was the perfect weekend to be crafty! We used some fabric from a pillow that Taylor's momma used at the beach to pull colors from and matched them to paint swatches at Home Deopt. Then we began painting each side of the buoys a different color. We put several layers of paint on each buoy, and then followed with A LOT of layers of polyurethane. It's very important to use a lot of polyurethane because it helps protect the buoys from weathering fast at the beach. Everything at the beach deteriorates faster because of the salty air.
Assembling...
Taylor and I decided to wait to assemble the buoy rope until we had his momma with us. This was a great idea because she ended up deciding not to have one long rope of ten buoys, but two short ropes with five buoys on each. We assembled the two buoy ropes last weekend when we went down to OIB to begin de-winterizing the beach house. The two ropes was a great idea because Taylor's momma will now be able to hang the buoy ropes from the banister as shown below or move them down to the dock on the canal. Either or they'll look FABULOUS!
P.S. She loved them so much that she wants us to make two more!
Now that the nautical buoy ropes are done, all I need is consistent warm weather!
