Shabby Apple Winner!

The Winner of the Shabby Apple dress giveaway is...

GINAD!

please email me with your contact info at pammyfitz@gmail.com so I can get your prize to you!

The Very First Slipcover I Ever Made...

I got all nostalgic when I set up my bassinet for Felicity, partly because it reminds me of when my first two daughters were infants but also because the cover I made for it was the first big sewing/slipcovering project I ever tackled. I thought I'd share in case anyone else out there is trying to figure out what to do with an old/hand-me-down bassinet.





It's a little wrinkled in this photo, and the sewing is far from perfect, but you get the idea. I did it in two pieces- basically a skirt and a basket liner- so that I could take off just the top piece to wash instead of having to wash the whole thing.

I made a second one as a gift for my sister when her son was born and figured out a better way to fit the skirt. The skirt is made of 4 rectangles of the primary fabric (the width of the 4 rectangles should equal the perimeter of the bassinet) with 4 rectangles of the secondary fabric as insets in the pleats at the corners. You could also just do the skirt in one fabric. I also added piping along the edges of the pleat openings on the skirt and ric rac trim along the hem of the basket liner. Anyway, when I made my sister's cover I stitched the pleats closed on 3 of the corners, but on the fourth corner I hid velcro tabs in the pleat to open and close the skirt.


Here is my first born in the bassinet almost 6 years ago:



fast forward 2 1/2 years to the same child looking in on her baby sister:



and here they are today!



Don't forget to enter my Shabby Apple dress giveaway! You have until Wednesday at midnight to enter!

Love,

Shabby Apple Dress Giveaway!

Hello loves! Sorry for all the silence around here! I can't even blame the baby- Felicity is just as sweet as she can be! She's such a peaceful baby and she's started smiling and cooing- so cute! I have an exciting giveaway to share with you today and stay tuned tomorrow for a description of the very first slipcover I ever made!


I have some fun news for you- Shabby Apple has offered a great giveaway to one of my readers! If you're not familiar with Shabby Apple, they sell beautiful vintage inspired women's dresses and little girls dresses, accessories and even maternity!

I love how this company started. Here's a little about them...

Shabby Apple welcomes you to great dresses that make dressing simple.

After years of not being able to find stylish dresses that covered enough skin to make you really feel comfortable (without wearing a tank top, cardigan or long slip), owners Emily and CK decided to do something about it.

They visited trade shows, marketplaces and designer studios only to discover the problem was not that department stores weren't buying the right dresses, but that designers weren't designing them.

Shabby Apple is proud to offer you fantastic dresses that allow you to look fabulous, without having to compromise anything else.

A return to what dresses were always meant to be — a one-piece outfit. No need to add anything...no tank tops, no cardigans, nothing (except accessories, of course!).

One of you lucky ladies will win this "Bali Ha'i" dress:




Here's a description:

A simple shift takes on a new form with a lei of tucks, folds and petal-like ruffles along the rounded scoop neck of the Bali Hai dress. Princess seams and careful tailoring keep the shape classic, and the cap sleeves and deep orchid color make it summer's perfect stand-alone piece.

I had a really hard time deciding on which dress to offer- there are so many that I love on Shabby Apple! Take a look and see which you like best!

Once you've decided you can use the code 'bibbidi10off' for a special 10% discount just for my readers!

Shabby apple carries sizes from XS to plus sizes..something for everyone! They even have a great 'shop by body type' feature to help you figure out which styles would be the most flattering!

This giveaway will start today Thursday June 30th 2011 and end Wednesday July 6th 2011 at midnight. I will announce the winner Thursday July 7th! This is open for US residents only.

HOW TO ENTER:

1) Visit Shabby Apple and take a look around, then come back here, and leave me a comment telling me your favorite style.
2) For another entry, visit SHABBY APPLE on Facebook by clicking HERE...show your love and "LIKE" them while you are there (so you can get special promotions and exclusive discounts!). Then come back here and leave me a comment telling me you did, and you are entered again!

If you are not on Facebook, leave me a comment anyway...and you will be entered!

3. For another entry become a follower of my blog. (This earns you another entry, so leave me a separate comment telling me you are a follower!)

4. Share the love...TWEET, FACEBOOK, BLOG or add the thumbnail below to your blog SIDEBAR. (Yes, this earns you an entry for EACH AND EVERY ONE you do! Do all 4 and get 4 MORE ENTRIES! Woohoo! BUT be sure to leave me a separate comment for each one tell me you did it!)

Love,

Introducing...

Felicity Grace
Born 3-13-2011
7 lbs, 9oz



My best diy yet. Well, top 3 for sure.

We're all doing well and Felicity is just as sweet as she can be. We are quite smitten.


Love,

Chinese Chippendale Chairs Makeover

Happy Friday! Before I show you my chairs I wanted to answer a couple of questions about my new fav product- Silver leaf rub 'n' buff. Amanda asked me how to apply it to cabinet hinges- it is super easy. I used a little angled eye makeup brush that I no longer use for makeup and just brushed a little onto the hinges right out of the tube. That's it. Once I covered the parts of the hinges that show from the outside, I opened the cabinets and brushed a little more on the parts that show when you open the cabinets. It really only took a few minutes once I got going.

A little note about R&B- it's actually wax based, so I don't know that it ever really dries hard like paint does. You probably don't want to use it on things that will be handled. One reader asked yesterday what I thought of using it on doorknobs- I don't think I would go there, at least not without some kind of sealer. You're probably better off with metallic spray paint for that application.

Now onto my chairs...

Remember this pretty Ralph Lauren Chinoiserie fabric remnant I found at DeBois textiles a few weeks ago?


(love those little pagodas!)


Here's where it ended up:


I also gave the chair frames a fresh coat of heirloom white last weekend during our brief bout of good spray painting weather:


I couldn't find a good "before" shot, but just trust me, they really needed a fresh coat of paint and new fabric!

I'm officially 39 weeks prego today, so I don't know how many more posts you'll see from me before my new little bundle arrives, but I'll definitely keep you posted!

Happy Weekend!

Love,

The new cabinet hardware came yesterday! Well, almost all of the new hardware. There was some kind of problem from the warehouse and I'm short a few handles, but they're working on it...

I went ahead and installed what I could so I could show you...

Before:



After:




I added a little silver rub 'n' buff to the hinges so that I wouldn't have to replace them (and so that I wouldn't have to take them all off and rehang the doors!) I'm really happy with the look and it only took a few minutes with a little brush...


I also finally repainted/reupholstered the chinese chippendale armchairs in my living room over the weekend. I'll show you tomorrow!

Have you made any little changes with big impact lately? Do tell!

Love,

Advertising Apology

Dear Readers-

I just wanted to apologize for the ad that appeared on my blog yesterday. I don't even want to mention the advertiser by name because I don't want to give it any more publicity. I just wanted to put it out there that it was extremely upsetting to me personally and I'm really upset that any benefit (no matter how small) came to this particular advertiser from my blog especially since I don't know how long it appeared on my site.

I sincerely apologize if any of you were upset by it. I just recently added Google Adsense to my blog and apparently I didn't have the filters set properly. I think I have fixed the problem, but please- if any of you notice an ad on my site that you don't approve of, or don't think I would approve of- I would very much appreciate it if you would let me know so that I can rectify the situation.

I'm considering taking Adsense off of my blog completely just because it creeps me out so much to know that I'm participating in something in common with this advertiser. If any other bloggers out there have had good experiences with other, perhaps Christian-based advertising networks, I would very much like to hear about it!

In order to perhaps counter-act yesterday's ad I would like to put it out there that if anyone knows of a woman facing a difficult pregnancy, here is a loving option.


Love,

Easy Silver "Leaf" and CL Scores!

It all started with Jenny's suggestion for turning this:



into this:


So, I went to the craft store in search of gold leafing materials, but they were all out of gold leaf... and silver leaf. They only had copper left. That idea didn't appeal to me and I was all set to leave the store empty handed when I spotted this:

Rub 'n' Buff in silver leaf. I've only seen rub 'n' buff used in small applications before, but for $3.99 I figured, why not give it a try?

An hour after I got home my mirror looked like this:


not bad, eh?!

It was super easy. You seriously just wipe it on with a soft cloth, let it set for a couple of minutes and then buff it a little. A little goes a long way. I bought the last 3 tubes the store had on the shelf, but after doing the whole mirror I had barely put a dent in the first tube!

BTW- I came home from the store with R&B in "silver leaf" and in "gold leaf" unsure of which finish I would prefer. For some reason when I experimented with them, the silver went on beautifully, but I couldn't get the gold to adhere, so silver it was!

In my inspiration photo the mirror was surrounded by some beautiful and no doubt expensive prints, beautifully matted and framed. I opted to finally take the portraits I had taken of the girls out of the envelope and get them up where we can enjoy them! I picked up a bunch of super inexpensive frames and gave them a little R&B too, bought some mattes at the craft store and this is what I got:

I've had those little gold sconce/shelves for a decade (they were one of my first ebay purchases ever!). I'm still on the hunt for the right vases to set on top of them. I also haven't decided whether to leave them as is in hopes of tying in the other gold tone items in the room or give them the R&B treatment too?

BTW- if you're in the Baltimore area and you're looking for a good photographer, check out my friend Amy Donahue. She's great with kids, she's really reasonable and she does beautiful work:



After finishing the mirror the craigslist stars aligned and I scored two great deals in two days!

First was this gorgeous 8x10 PB wool rug:



then- remember how I wanted some kind of low profile coffee table for in front of the other sofa? I found this fun MCM bench.






It took some elbow grease to clean it up, but it looks pretty good now. It's still covered in the original vinyl. I may give it a makeover, but for the time being, at least it's totally kidproof!

Oh, and I found that starburst mirror on CL a couple of weeks ago.

Have you had any good CL scores lately?

Have a great weekend!

Love,

Pretty Cabinet Hardware

Hello Loves! First off- thank you all for your feedback on my living room arrangement. I quite agree that the sofa table was too much going on behind the chairs. I moved it and now the room feels much better. I got my mirror "leafed" and hung (I found a ridiculously easy way to silver leaf the mirror- I'll show you soon!) and I'm working on hanging the other items around it. Hopefully I'll be able to show you tomorrow!

I'm also still working on the kitchen window treatments. I thought I had the fabric all figured out and then my BFF offered me some fabric she had left over from a project and I think it may be just the ticket, so I'm waiting for it to arrive (thanks, Becky!)

I'd love to replace my kitchen backsplash, countertops and floor, but in the meantime I'm making some cosmetic changes to freshen up the kitchen a bit.

My cabinets are solid wood and the door design is traditional. I was tempted to paint them, but I can't bring myself to (and couldn't convince my hubby) since there's nothing "wrong" with them. I opted to use Howard's restore-a-finish in a shade darker than they require to richen the wood tone a bit and hopefully tone down any orange-y tones. If you've never used RAF before, it's a miracle product! It's on the shelf at Home Depot, but not Lowe's. You can check out their website for more info.


I wanted to share with you some pretty and inexpensive cabinet hardware I found recently.

I was looking for hardware to replace my early 90's fake brass tone hardware.
I found these on ebay:

I loved how the design sort of looked like a bamboo reed. They're made by Amerock and they're selling for roughly $2 each and free shipping. I love them but they're slightly too large for my cabinets (3 3/4" CTC instead of the standard 3"), so I had to pass.

Then I found these available here for $1.79 each:


They should be arriving any day...

Have you made any kitchen updates lately?


Love,

Changin' and Rearrangin'

Have I mentioned that I've been nesting like crazy? My poor husband was put to work after work on Monday night rearranging furniture for me. Here's a "before" shot of our living room taken during the holidays (the wing chair is ordinarily in the opposite corner but its usual spot was taken by the Christmas tree.)



Here's the view of the other side of the room:


the only other photo I could find of this side of the room is outdated (aw, remember the pink fireplace?!) but you get the idea.


Our living room is narrow and long, almost too long to treat as one space. That is why I separated it into two areas- a living room and a reading nook. The problem was, no one ever used the "reading nook" side of the room, and the wasted space was driving me nuts. Also, the fireplace, which I now enjoy looking at, was sort of blocked by the arrangement.

So, here is the new arrangement:

Please excuse the cords and mess in the background!



I'm not sure about the booksellers table. Maybe a simpler console/sofa table there? Or nix it all together?

The only other thing that bugs me about this arrangement is that having the slipcovered sofa in front of the window blocks the window a bit. I'd also like to add some kind of low profile coffee table or bench/ottoman in front of the slipcovered sofa.

What do you think? Do you like it this way or do you prefer the old arrangement?

BTW- here's what I'm thinking for the big blank space on the wall above the sofa:


I've been dreaming of this photo ever since Jenny posted it on LGN a couple of months ago. I think it was originally in Lonny, but I'm not sure. I happen to have a Louis Phillipe bedroom set that I've been wanting to break up, so I think I'll take Jenny's advice and gold leaf the mirror to hang above the sofa with some wall sconces and other pretties on the sides.

BTW- I finished the kitchen chairs and will hopefully have some photos to share soon!

Love,

Kitchen Plans and Progress...

I got the table and chairs painted this weekend and now I'm on to fabrics! The paint is still a little tacky so the chairs are not yet upholstered, but I pulled one of them into the kitchen (the rest are in the basement drying) so you could see...


The fabric is just wrapped around the seat of the chair- not stapled in place yet.

My next step (other than upholstering the chairs) will be the windows. I have enough of the duralee "diamante" fabric from my dining room left over to do the windows in here and I think I like these fabrics together, although I'd kinda like to pull in some persimmon red and/or citrine yellow- what do you think?



The windows in here present me with a bit of a challenge:

• I love the natural light from the bay window, but we need some degree of privacy since the window faces my neighbors house
• The view through the bottom half of the window is of the shared side yard between my neighbor's and my house and it's so sloped we haven't had any luck getting grass to grow there. We affectionately refer to it as "the dirt hill"- yeah- it's not pretty.
  
• There's not enough space on either side of the bay for full drape panels to hang.

So, it seems some type of cafe curtain is in order.

Now I'm not sure if I'll do a more traditional cafe curtain like I had on the windows before (but hanging from rings instead of shirred and perhaps with some degree of pinch pleats?), or if I'll do sleeker flat panels that just fit the window as shown on whitehaven interiors:



cool, right? They were inspired by this MS room:


In either case I'll trim them in peacock blue.

I also have to decide what (if anything) will go on the top half of the windows?! And I plan to change the cabinet hardware and update the chandelier a little. Stay tuned!

Love,