Bibbidi Bobbidi Beautiful

Shabby Apple Winner!

2011-07-08T14:03:00.001-07:00

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...

2011-07-01T05:00:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-06-30T05:00:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-03-22T11:54:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-04T08:05:00.000-08:00

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,

2011-03-02T06:58:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-19T07:39:00.000-08:00

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!

2011-02-18T08:14:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-15T07:51:00.000-08:00

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'

2011-02-10T02:00:00.000-08:00

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...

2011-02-07T07:46:00.000-08:00

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,

I Heart Debois Textiles

2011-02-01T05:58:00.000-08:00

Here's a before shot of the kitchen:

The peanut butter and jelly color scheme was driving me nuts yesterday, and my hubby's on a business trip (so my crazy prego-nesting tendencies are going completely unchecked!) so last night I pulled some beigey-cream paint out of our storage room and did this:

Do you see what's hanging from the window?

Yesterday I stopped by my favorite fabric store- Debois Textiles in Baltimore. It's an absolute treasure trove. I don't know about you, but it takes me for-eva to shop for fabrics, especially someplace like Debois where you never know what you'll find.

I was searching through the piles of fabics and was doing my 3rd lap when the manager came by and asked me if I'd like to look at more fabrics they had in the warehouse. Um, yes please!!

I'd been there plenty of times before (thanks to Jenny's recommendation a year or so ago) but didn't know there were additional fabrics in the warehouse!

So, I'm looking through more piles of fabrics and out of the corner of my eye I spy this hanging out of, well, a trash can!!

That's right y'all- it's Kelly Wearstler "Bengal Bazaar" and because it's a little dirty she sold me the piece for $6.50!! I just found the same fabric online for $123 per yard! I have about a yard and a half, which (I checked and double checked) is just enough for the chair seats if I'm really careful.

I also picked up two yards of this pretty ralph lauren print:

Here's the paint I'm planning on using on the chairs:

"Night Tide" -I'm hoping it will be the perfect dark peacock. I can't decide if I should paint the table creamy-white, gray, or the same peacock? I'd love to hear your opinion!

Here's my dilemma- I can't commit to using the new fabrics in the kitchen because they also look fantastic in my living room! Love how the KW fabric looks against the blue grasscloth in my built-ins:

Either one would look great to reupholster the CC armchairs in my living room (which are in need of new upholstery)

Hmmmm- decisions, decisions.

Well, I'll have some time to think about it because I'm taking the girlies down to grandma's house for a couple of days.

Love,

New Old Chinoiserie Dining Chairs

2011-01-31T03:39:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday morning! I hope you all had a great weekend!

I just wanted to share my latest craigslist acquisition.

Our existing kitchen table and chairs were driving us nuts (the set was a bit too small and the chair backs had a wrought iron detail that would constantly get stuck on my husband's belt when he sat down!) so on Saturday morning I drove out to Annapolis to pick up a pedestal table and a set of 5 of these babies...

I know they look a little rough right now, but I think they'll be gorgeous after some TLC. My head is swimming with paint(perhaps inky blue or dark teal/peacock?) and fabric ideas!

Have I mentioned how much I love CL? I sold our old set for $25 more than I purchased it for 2 years ago and purchased the new set for $25 more than that, so i'm only out $25 for the change!

I could use your help- I know I've seen tons of great chinoiserie chair makeovers out there, but I can't seem to put my finger on the images online. If you know of any great chinoiserie chair makeovers/ images out there- please share!

Love,

DIY Drapes and Valance from Sheets

2011-01-28T00:01:00.000-08:00

This image from Decorpad was one of my inspiration pics for the nursery drapes (I have no idea why blogger is cutting off the right side of the photo, but if you click on it to enlarge you can see the full image):

I pulled down the valance to show you a photo of the top of the drapes:

If you were using a decorative rod, the drapes would look just fine by themselves, but adding the tailored valance allowed me to hide the cheap rod and the top of the roller blind!

How to make drapes from a king sized flat sheet:

Cut the sheet vertically down the center (so that the top edge with the wide decorative hem is at the top)
Finish the raw edge you just created on each panel by turning it under twice and either sewing it in place or using hem tape (you can face that edge toward the wall if you're worried about any imperfections)
At this point you could just shirr the panels onto a rod (you may have to open the side seam of the decorative top hem part to do this) or hang them from clip rings, but I opted to make slits on the back side of the wide top hem allowing them to hang like back tab drapes which forces the drapes into nice folds. Clip rings have the same effect, but why pay for clip rings when you can do this for free?
For each "back tab" just cut two vertical slits into the back side of the top wide hem (be careful not to cut through the front layer of fabric) about an inch long and an inch apart (make sure not to cut too close to the top edge- leave about half an inch from the top edge) with 5 inches in between the "tabs".

Here's a photo of my "back tabs"- make sense? The tabs will have raw edges, but no one will ever see that part. If you want to be able to wash them, run a little fray check along the edges of the tabs.

Hang your panels on your rod, mark the length for hemming and either sew the hem or use hem tape. I read on a professional drapery site that you should always mark your hem line all the way across, because the hem will pull up at the edges and I have found this to be true. I don't quite understand the physics behind it, but you have to leave a little extra length at the bottom corners if you want your drapes to uniformly brush the floor.
Lastly, add some trim! I just used inexpensive grosgrain ribbon and fabric glue.

Now on to the valance! Here's a closeup (and could you please pretend not to notice my ugly ceilings?!):

It's basically just one long rectangle of fabric, pleated in the corners and attached with duct tape to...

the very cardboard box the sheets were mailed in!!

And attached to the wall with...thumbtacks!

Now you know all my dirty little secrets.

Here are the specifics:

My window is 41" wide. I hung my curtain rod 56" wide to give me room for the panels to gather on either side (I actually hung my rod a bit off center to camouflage my off-center window.)

The first step in constructing the valance is to make a form out of cardboard or foam core for the fabric to hang from (I actually got this idea from Jenny's foam core pelmet tutorial!). You really only need a top and a back- the back edge will slide behind your curtain rod. I opened up the box completely until I had one large flat piece of cardboard and used duct tape to tape the flaps together so that I had one large solid piece of cardboard to work with.

You want to end up with a piece of carboard slightly longer than your curtain rod (mine was 56 1/2"), with a horizontal fold across the middle. The portion above the fold will be the top/overhang and the portion below the fold attaches to the wall.

My overhang was 6" and my back side was 4 1/2" so my cardboard started out as 56 1/2" long x 10 1/2". I cut away about an inch and a half of the bottom part on either side to allow it to slide behind the curtain rod.

You can kind of see in this photo how the back side of the cardboard is notched out on the side to allow it to slide behind the curtain rod...

Now for the fabric. I actually used one of the king sized pillowcases for this part. I just cut open the top and bottom seams of the pillowcase, leaving me with one long rectangle of fabric measuring 21 1/2" x 80" long. This seemed to be the perfect length for my window, but you could just as easily cut up the fitted sheet instead if you needed more length. I hemmed the long bottom edge only (the side edges were already hemmed for me- they were originally the open end of the pillowcase) and added the trim to the same edge. My finished valance has a 12 inch drop.

To attach the fabric to the cardboard:

Find the center of the long edge, measure 12 inches up from the finished bottom edge, and temporarily attach it to the front center of the cardboard with a pin.
Keeping the fabric straight, pull it smooth to the front corners and pin.
Line up the ends of the fabric with the back edge of the cardboard and pin.
Pull the excess fabric into a pleat at each corner and temporarily pin.
Now just smooth the extra fabric over the top of the cardboard form and wrap the corners like you're making hospital corners on a bed and use duct tape to attach the fabric in the back.
Remove the pins.

Now just slide it in place and use a few tacks to attach it to the wall. I think this looks best hung all the way up at ceiling heights. It weighs next to nothing, so the tacks really are adequate, but I suppose if you were using heavier fabric you could use a couple of "L" brackets from the hardware store.

That's it!

It's a little tricky to write a tutorial after the fact, so if you're confused about any part of this, please contact me or leave a question in the comments and I'll be happy to help!

Here are a few more fun sheet options I found...

Overstock $39.99

Smart Bargains $29.98

Smart Bargains $34.98

These last two are available in blue, brown or linen (beige)

I particularly like the first two options for the same reason that I like my Carleton Varney sheets- a) I love graphic prints and b)the larger scale makes them appear less obviously like sheets in the final product!

Love,

Little Green Notebook!

2011-01-27T05:15:00.000-08:00

I'm so thrilled to announce that my nursery drapes are featured on Little Green Notebook today! If you read my blog, you know that Jenny has inspired me endlessly, so to say that I am flattered to be mentioned on LGN is beyond an understatement! You can check out the post here.

If you are visiting here for the first time from LGN- welcome! I hope you enjoy your visit! More info on the nursery can be found if you scroll through my last few posts, and please check out some of my other recent projects on my sidebar!

Please check back tomorrow and I'll have a full tutorial on the drapes for you!

Love,

More Nursery Progress...

2011-01-25T11:13:00.000-08:00

I finished backing the bookcases (white foam core trimmed out in red grosgrain) and arranging them (sort of- I can't seem to stop rearranging them!) and I refinished the chandelier and got it in place (thanks honey!!) ...

The chandelier started out looking like this:

The colors weren't really working and I wasn't in love with all the little crystal doo-dads, so I removed them and started by covering the pink flowers and spray-painting it creamy white. I decided it looked too shabby chic- not at all what I was going for. I've been in love with Britt's nursery chandy for a while so I decided to shamelessly copy her paint job (imitation is the highest form of flattery, right?!) and paint the leaves and stems green and the flowers and candles white.

I didn't want to get into hard wiring the light fixture, so I swagged it (I bought a $9 swag conversion kit from Lowe's) hid most of the cord behind the drapes and made a cord cover for the visible portion of the cord and chain....

I hung my paris scenes water color series above the crib and I think it's a perfect fit! The sweet knitted mobile is from a company called blabla. Mobiles like these retail for around $75, but I found mine on ebay for $5 right before my second daughter was born.

Here's the changing table- I found it on CL after my second daughter was born for $15. I planned to sew a cover for the cushion out of the remaining Carleton Varney sheeting, but I discovered that the king size pillowcases included in the set are the perfect size for a standard size contoured changing table cushion!

Do you love the needlepoint pagoda picture as much as I do?! My mom made it in the late 70's/early 80's.

Here's a close-up:

I love the gold bamboo frame too. The portrait of baby F's big sisters above the rocker is framed in a very similar gold bamboo frame I found at a flea market.

What do pagodas, paris scenes, bamboo trellis print and a vintage-y cabbage rose print have to do with each other? Other than color scheme, I have absolutely no idea, but I love them together and since I'm the one who will be spending the wee small hours of the morning in that rocker, I figure that's good enough!

I still have a few sewing projects coming up in this room like new basket liners and hopefully a moroccan pouf to put my feet up on...

BTW- I'm having the hardest time getting decent pics in here, which is weird because it gets great light. I'm using a canon SX20IS. Any tips?

P.S.- I'm in love with the new drapes! I forgot to mention when I posted about them before how ridiculously easy and inexpensive they were to make. I basically made back-tab panels by cutting a king sheet in half hemming the raw side edge and then just making little snips on the back side of the cased edge of the sheet. Then the panels were hung from a super cheap-o $2.99 rod which was covered by the tailored valance- which is just attached to some cardboard. If anyone is interested in an actual tutorial let me know!

UPDATE!!
Tutorial posted here!

PPS- If I can ever decide on this baby's middle name I plan to stencil her monogram onto the shade. If you're curious about her first name, it's spelled out in blocks on the left bookcase- if you enlarge the image you can see it!

Love,

Knock-Off Decor!

2011-01-21T04:59:00.000-08:00

Unless you live under a rock, you've probably heard of Beckie's original blog Infarrantly Creative, but did you know that Beckie launched a new site called Knock Off Decor? It is a site focused solely on knock-off catalog projects! If you love a good knock-off as much as I do, you should definitely check it out!

So, I recently got some fun news.

Remember when I made these for my sewing area:

as a knock-off of these from PB?

Beckie is featuring them today at Knock-Off Decor! Please hop over and check out her fun new site!

Love,

Nursery Progress...

2011-01-19T13:17:00.000-08:00

I finished the drapes the other night...

and picked up the white bookcases (ikea hensvik) for $25 each on CL.

I picked up the storage bench/trunk (ikea alve) on freecycle.org a few months ago but it was unpainted so I just gave it a couple of coats of paint and recovered the cushion.

The swivel rocker was another CL find a few months ago (it replaced my old creaky glider). It's covered in a pretty diamond matelasse fabric.

And thank you all so much for weighing in on my crib skirt dilemma! Thanks to this stylish lady's comment I decided that another graphic pattern in here would be a bit much. I found a PBK diamond matelasse crib skirt on CL and picked it up the other day and I think it's working.

I still have a bunch of little projects in this room like:

Paint and hang chandelier and make cord cover
Back the bookcases and arrange them
Hang the artwork
Use some of my extra fabric (thanks Alicia!) to sew new liners for the changing table baskets
and stitch up one of these diy moroccan poufs

Love,

Bibbidi Baby Girl Nursery Plans...

2011-01-11T08:15:00.000-08:00

My nursery has been sitting empty for nearly the last year and a half since my "baby" transferred herself to a big girl bed at 18 months. I haven't changed a thing since it was her nursery and here's how it looks today:

I still love the bedding for the most part so I'm planning on keeping that but changing the blue gingham dust ruffle and curtains which are looking a little sad to me.

I also have a laundry list of other little projects to freshen up this room, like paint all the trim, wall art, accessories, I think I'm stuck with the berber carpet but I think I'll add a rug to disguise it a bit... and the list goes on...

And I recently purchased a pretty floral tole chandelier on CL. It'll be getting a new paint job and will be hung in the room.

Here's a closeup of the bedding. It's Amy Coe "Three Acre Farm" from Target about one meeellion years ago...

Bumper closeup:

Yesterday this arrived in the mail:

It's a king sheet set from Carleton Varney's collection on HSN. It was on major clearance. I'm planning on turning it into new drapes.

I tucked it into the existing curtain rod so I could see if I liked it and I think I do...

Now I can't decide what to do with the dust ruffle. I could use more of the C.Varney trellis fabric, or maybe one of these:

Waverly Chippendale Fretwork in Mist (look familiar?!)

Premier Prints zig zag

Waverly Lovely Lattice in Lagoon

Which would you choose? More C.V. Trellis? Chippendale Fretwork? Lovely Lattice? ZigZag? Or something different altogether? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Love,

Bibbidi Baby Boy Nursery?

2011-01-06T08:00:00.000-08:00

I was so sure I was going to have a boy this time... that should have been my first clue. You see, during my first two pregnancies I was also certain I was going to have a boy. But I had two beautiful little princesses.

I'm thrilled to announce that despite my sneaky post title, I'm actually having a third little princess!

But, having months to consider the thought of a baby boy, I couldn't resist planning out how a baby boy's nursery in my home might look. Maybe someone else out there can benefit from my schemin' and dreamin'...

I started by delving into one of my favorite pastimes. Am I the only weirdo who can wile away the hours searching through fabrics online?

I came across this fabric while searching through vintage feedsack fabrics on ebay and thought it would make a great jumping off point for a colorful, vintage-y, chinoiserie/well-traveled nursery. It was inexpensive and it was the only one on ebay, so I went ahead and purchased it.

If you'd like to view other vintage feedsack fabrics on ebay, click on this search.

I thought these two fabrics by Premier Prints would pair nicely with it:

Premier Prints Zig Zag in Corn Yellow available here for 6.95/yd

Premier Prints Togo in Arizon/Denton available here for 9.98/yd

I would use the feedsack fabric for the outside of the bumper (I think there's just enough), Togo for the crib sheet (if it felt soft enough) and the Zig Zag for the crib skirt, trimmed out in orange-y red.

Then while perusing the sale table at a local upscale fabric shop (Alexander Blank in Timonium- if you're local go check it out! Their sale table is great!) I found a 6 yard remnant of this P. Kaufmann Suzani print in chai marked down to $30 and then an additional 50% off! That comes to $2.50/yd! You know I couldn't resist a bargain like that, so I bought the whole piece.

I thought it would make great drapes with a shade made from the Togo print, trimmed out in more orange-y red.

And remember this watercolor series? It's been moved all over my house and is currently homeless, but I thought it would be perfect in the nursery...

Here's how I envisioned the room looking...

What do you think?

I still love the bedding I currently have for a little girl, so I'm going to reuse it for this baby, but with a few updates for the room. I'll show you my plan for my little girl's nursery soon!

Love,

Little Updates

2011-01-04T05:00:00.000-08:00

Just before Thanksgiving I altered the famous sofa slipcover just a tad...

Before:

It was originally all one piece, but I decided to slip the cushions individually...

After:

This way I can wash the cushion covers individually as needed. Up til this point I was just using my beloved Folex to spot clean it, and that stuff is fantastic, but over time the whole cover needed to be washed, or at least the seats did.

My other reason for deciding to go ahead and upgrade this slip was all the last minute tucking before guests arrived! Now that the cushions are slipped individually, my tucking days are gone!

The original cover is still completely in tact- the part that used to go over the cushions now goes under them. I intended to add a little velcro to the sofa frame under the cushions to keep everything in place, and I may still do that, but so far it hasn't shifted and I haven't had to re-tuck once!

Love,

My Best Projects of 2010!

2010-12-28T09:58:00.000-08:00

I'm participating in:

and
Top Projects 2010 at Southern Hospitality

Here are my favorite projects of 2010! I'm so glad these parties gave me a little nudge to reflect back on what I've been able to accomplish in my home this year, especially since I was feeling badly about not posting as often as some bloggers do. I've realized that what I lack in frequency, I think I make up for in content! Without further ado, here are my faves from the last year...

I made this slipcover:

I slipped this coffee table:

I made new pillows and finally wrote out a tutorial for slipcovering sofas and chairs (which may have taken longer than actually sewing the slipcover!)

I used a ledge shelf to make a simple wall mounted charging station:

I turned this clementine crate...

into this little footstool:

I revamped my sewing/craft area from this (eek):

to this!

and took my daughters' bathroom from this:

to this:

I copied these Ballard pillows:

and came up with these:

I made this prayer wall art for my daughters' room for less than $5!

I slipcovered this chair for my dear friend. Before:

After:

I wasn't thrilled with the state of my dining room (before):

but after making more slipcovers, refinishing and reupholstering the side chairs, sewing new drapes, doing lots of painting and faux wainscoting, backing the china cabinet with grasscloth and velvet ribbon and adding some new accessories, I'm in love!

I couldn't take one more day of pink carpet in the "man cave"...

so my hubby helped me lay a great looking and downright cheap (and easy!) peel and stick faux wood floor:

I took my 3-sided fireplace from this pink monstrosity:

to this with the help of spray paint (lots and lots of textured spray paint!)

and then my wonderful dad helped me take it a step further and added this beautiful mantel!

He also built this nice chunky mantel in our basement family room (lots of details on this room including some not-yet-finished projects in the new year!)

and last, but not least, I had a ball decking my halls for Christmas!

I hope you enjoyed my 2010 year in review and I hope you'll come visit me soon!

Love,

Egg Nog French Toast

2010-12-28T06:59:00.001-08:00

In case anyone else out there is wondering what to do with all that leftover egg nog...

Egg Nog French Toast

Leftover French Bread (roughly 12 slices, or as many slices as you can cram into a 9 x 13 baking pan without overlapping. They can be fresh or stale.)
1 1/2 cups egg nog
2 eggs, scrambled
1 tsp cinnamon
a dash nutmeg

Arrange bread slices in a single layer in a greased 9 x 13 baking pan. Whisk together remaining ingredients and pour over bread slices. Turn slices to coat. Cover and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, set the pan on the counter for 30 minutes and preheat the oven to 500 degrees (yes, I said 500!). Bake uncovered for 15 minutes, turning slices once halfway through. Dust with powdered sugar and serve.

This recipe worked great for Christmas morning with little ones- it went together really quickly after they were in bed on Christmas Eve and in the morning I just pulled the pan out of the fridge and set the oven to preheat on our way down to see what Santa brought. Then I popped it in the oven when we came back up to look in the stockings. 15 minutes later it was ready to eat and I didn't have to spend any time in the kitchen! I have a hunch that adding a couple of minutes to the bake time would make it unnecessary to set the pan on the counter for 30 minutes, but I haven't tried out this theory yet...

Merry 4th day of Christmas!

Love,

My Decked Halls...

2010-12-22T11:07:00.000-08:00

We hosted a cocktail party for my hubby's office last weekend and I got a chance to snap some pics right before everyone arrived...

The entry console:

another console around the corner:

closeup of the nativity:

The new mantle all decked out! There's actually a frameless oval mirror up there, but I couldn't get a good shot in this lighting...

A peek into the dining room...

The dining room side of the mantle:

and here's a sneak preview of the changes in the basement family room:

I still have a few projects to finish in here, details coming in the new year!

and I realized the other day that the pic of me at the top of my blog is roughly two years old! Here's a recent shot complete with new(ish) haircut and prego belly!

Merry Christmas!

Love,

Last Minute Turkey Day Craft

2010-11-22T15:57:00.000-08:00

Hello, friends! I'm busy putting the finishing touches on my preparations for the big feast tomorrow, and I just wanted to share this fun little craft with you. I'm a total sucker for goofy holiday napkin folds, so my daughter and I made these little guys last year...

We made them at the last minute last year and I think they turned out pretty cute. Just get a pinecone (I couldn't find any nice short fat ones in my yard, so I cut some long narrow ones in half), wrap a pipecleaner around the middle and fold the ends into feet, then glue on a beak and waddle cut out of felt or fabric scraps or construction paper, and googly eyes (I didn't have any googlies on hand so I cut those out of felt too). Then fan fold a napkin behind the pincone for the tail and you've got a cute, festive, kid-friendly addition to your table!

***Oops! I just realized I left out an important part of the instructions- for the face, before gluing on the beak etc., pull off one of the scales, flip it over and glue it onto the front of the pinecone as the face. Then glue on the eyes, beak etc...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Love,

My Dad Rocks! (aka 3-sided mantel)

2010-10-13T08:03:00.000-07:00

Remember when I went from this:

to this? (Check it out here)

Ever since then I've wanted to have a mantle wrapping all the way around so that I would have one rectangular space above the mantle instead of that difficult upside down L shape wall space to fill.

Enter Dad.

First he removed the trim from the top side of the fireplace surround. Then he screwed strips of wood into the wall just above the tile to support everything. Then he added the little silver brackets to support the mantel shelf. Next the shelf boards were added on top- they are screwed into the wooden strips and the brackets. He even inserted little wooden pegs where the shelf boards meet at the corners to make sure they would stay even. Then he trimmed the face of the shelf boards in a narrow decorative molding.

Then it was time to add the decorative moldings. First he attached baseboard molding upside-down to the underside of the mantle shelf in order to give the crown molding something to attach to. The baseboard molding is screwed in from the top of the mantel shelf.

Next he trimmed it all out in crown molding.
Some action shots:

Can't you just hear him grunting?!

Wanna know something really funny? Whenever my dad works on a project he makes up his own expletives. When I was a kid I thought he was cursing in Italian because he's Italian and that's kinda what it sounds like. But, nope. Turns out it's just his own language. Now everyone in my family jokes that Dad speaks Swahili when he's working.

After spackle, caulk, sanding and two coats of paint, it now looks like this!

and it is super sturdy! I could seriously do chin-ups on it! Okay, someone who can do a chin-up could do chin-ups on it!

Now I just have to figure out what in the world to put up there! (Pay no attention to the vase of pinecones and candlesticks on the dining room side- I was just experimenting...)

Thanks so much, Dad! I absolutely love it! You rock!!

BTW- this dining room side is going to be a little difficult to accessorize because of the indentation above the fireplace. I prefer symmetry, but I may be forced into another arrangement on this side because of the indentation. I may start by trying to force some symmetry by leaning something (wreath, mirror...) against the center line, hopefully masking the indentation, but I'm not sure that will work. Oh, and I'll have to remove my script "F" in order to do that, but I believe it is repositionable and I can think of lots of other places in my house to use it, maybe over the mantel on the living room side in the center. What do you think? Suggestions?

Love,

Our Faux Wood Floor

2010-09-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

Over labor day weekend my hubby and I decided it was finally time to replace this gross pink carpet in his man cave.

The large wooden piece just inside the door is his desk, (aka the world of warcraft lair) and since the room occasionally doubles as a guestroom when his parents come to visit there is a daybed with a pop-up trundle against the far wall. Can you believe that when we moved in this room also included coral walls and a wall of mirror? Ugh. Trust me, as humble as it looks now, it was much worse before.

The other door on the right opens to our storage room.

Aside from the fact that the pink color wasn't exactly working in the man cave, our former pet cat decided to favor a spot behind the door in this room when she decided to refuse her litter box. Disgusting. Yeah, I'm not real choked up about the loss of this particular pet!

If any of you have ever dealt with this lovely problem before, you know that the smell of cat pee permeates everything and is impossible to wash out of carpet, especially once it gets into the padding and the sub floor like it did here. Can you tell I'm in no hurry to get another pet?! Maybe it's my super sensitive prego sniffer, but to me there's no worse smell in the universe. Cat pee is my kryptonite!

Since there is pergo flooring throughout the rest of the basement, we decided to do a faux wood peel and stick plank floor (Thanks to Pink and Polka Dot for giving me this idea- make sure and check out her faux wood floor!), and I have to say the whole process was pretty easy (no saws required since you can cut it with a pair of scissors!) and very inexpensive- just 98 cents/square foot!

First we cleared the room...

Then we ripped up the carpet (which was actually really easy).

Then came the hardest part of the job, pulling up the tacking strips around the perimeter of the room (sorry- no photo of this step!) My hubby popped them off with the back side of a hammer.

Next we cleaned the floor to get rid of all the dust and debris.

Then, to really get rid of the smell we painted the cement floor beneath with Kilz. This also gave a good surface for the flooring to adhere to.

The next day we got started laying the new floor. We started in the center of the room so that if the room is not exactly plumb, the floor wouldn't be obviously slanted on one end- make sense? Once we made sure we had a straight line marked across the center of the room, we started peeling and sticking!

It took about 3-4 hours to do the whole room, but it was really easy. I loved that it was so easy to cut the "planks" with a scissor to get a good fit around corners. Before we knew it the room looked like this!

The last step was to use either a 100 lb. roller (which I think you can rent from your local home improvement store) or a strong hubby and a rolling pin (we went with option B!) and roll the whole floor to make sure the adhesive makes good contact with the floor beneath.

I couldn't be happier with it the results!

A big thank you to Pink and Polka Dot for giving me this idea!

Now if only I can get my hubby to let me decorate in here...

Love,

Completed (mostly) Dining Room Reveal and a little anouncement!

2010-09-14T15:06:00.000-07:00

Okay, do you really want to hear me apologize again for leaving you hanging for so long between posts? Well, I have a really good excuse this time. I've been sick. And tired. And I couldn't be happier about it. There's a bun in the oven, y'all! And I dont' mean this kind:

I'm expecting baby Fitz #3 around March 11, 2011! I'm now officially in my second trimester and finally feeling better. I've gotten a few projects completed over the last week or so that I'm excited to show you. I'll show you my dining room today and the other things throughout the week.

To all my blogging buddies- sorry I haven't been visiting. I haven't been doing much of anything other than squeezing in naps whenever possible and popping antacids! Anyone else have crazy heartburn during their first trimester?? I still have some heartburn, but the morning noon and night sickness has drastically subsided. Thank GOD!!

To refresh your memories here's my dining room before shot:

First off, thank goodness for Gorilla Glue! You've seen two of these chinese chippendale side chairs in my dining room before shots, but I actually owned four side chairs, two of which were sitting in my storage room because I thought they were beyond repair. Thanks to Gorilla Glue Clear, and some strategically placed rubber bands, I now have 4 sturdy side chairs (plus the two arm chairs that reside in my living room). I gave them a fresh coat of spray paint (my first time using Heirloom White and of course, I love it!) and reupholstered the seats and they have a new lease on life!

Here's a closeup of the fabric, purchased from fabricguru.com:

Here's another quick and easy makeover- I relined the back of my china cabinet with grasscloth I purchased at Jenny's sale and added some pretty velvet ribbon to add a little more interest.

Adding the ribbon with my trusty hot-glue gun only took a few minutes and I am so in love with the effect of this little detail...

By the way, this whole makeover was planned around my china pattern, "Lichfield" by Royal Doulton. Planning around the colors in my china was a bit limiting, but I love the result. If there are any brides-to-be reading, if you're choosing a china pattern and are considering a colorful pattern, make sure you really love it because you'll be decorating your dining room around it for the rest of your life! Simpler patterns are much easier to decorate around!

These little sconce/ledges were a goodwill find with the homegoods stickers still on the back! I originally wanted some beautiful framed chinese paintings on silk, but the right pair eluded me several times on ebay, and I didn't want to have this room on hold any longer! Then when I found these ledges I wanted the perfect pair of either ginger jars or blanc de chine jars or vases, but that also seems to be a tall order (for what I'm willing to pay!) so at least for now, I'm using what I have!!

The ledge actually doesn't have a groove for a plate, so I added two raised lines of hot glue and let it dry to make a little groove for a plate. It worked great.

Isn't this mirror gorg? It makes me swoon.

Don't be jealous, but I got it for free at my absolute favorite place for home decor shopping- my mom's basement. Score! Thanks so much, Mom! I Love it!

Here's what I came up with for the dining room side of the infamous 3-sided fireplace:

There may be a mantle in the not-too-distant future for this fireplace, so I didn't agonize too much over what to put here, but here it is for now. Excuse the weird reflection on the far left wall!

I got the large script "F" from Back40Life with my gift certificate when I won the $5 challenge. I had another spot in mind for it, but it didn't quite work there and I love it here. I also ordered something for my daughters' room which I'll show you in the next few days...

On the left side are 12 beautiful mirrored frames I found for $4 each at- get this- Sears Outlet. If you have one near by it's worth a stop. They don't just have fantastic deals on appliances (I also bought a new oven there a few weeks ago when our old one blew up- long story) my store now also carries their Lands End items- including home items- for 80% off retail!

I filled them with vintage botanical prints that I printed out for free from the NYC Public Library website.

Now there's one thing I'd love you all to weigh in on. Now that I have 4 of the slipcovered parson chairs and 4 fully functional chinese chippendale side chairs, I can't decide whether to leave the parsons chairs as the side chairs with the CC chairs as the host chairs or vice versa. Whichever chairs act as the host chairs, their mates will sit aside the china cabinet...

Do you like it better like this:

Or like this:

Hmmm, I think if I leave it like this I should monogram the host chairs...

What say you??

Here are some links to the other projects in this room:
Easy Pinch Pleated Drapes
Henriksdal Dining Chair Slipcovers
DIY Faux Wainscoting and Paint

Love,

Floral Slipped Chair

2010-08-06T07:46:00.000-07:00

I'm participating in the Slipcover Party at Pink and Polka Dot! (Pink- for some reason I couldn't grab your button!)

My BFF since 7th grade recently moved into a gorgeous new house. This chair used to be in her basement media/family room, but in the new house she wanted to use it in the main upstairs living room.

The punchy print worked great in her old house, but she was going for a different look in the new living room so I offered to slipcover it for her. I just finished...
Instructions on making slipcovers can be found here.

I found the fabric on sale at my local Joann's a few months ago for $3/yard! I needed almost exactly 6 yds to finish the job. There was no info printed in the selvage of the fabric- does anyone recognize the pattern?

Pardon the multitude of projects going on in the background!

Love,

Paint and Faux Wainscoting

2010-07-19T13:25:00.000-07:00

I finally finished painting (and re-painting!) and putting up the faux wainscoting a la Thrifty Decor Chick!

Here's the before:

not a terrible wall color, but I was wanting something lighter and brighter. So, I picked a really pale green, primed and painted two coats and got this:

and I hated it. Ugh. I was really not looking forward to trekking back to Lowe's, picking another color, spending more money on another can of paint, spending another day painting and hoping for the best. Then it occcured to me- I had half a can of green paint that was too dark, and half a can of green paint that was too light. I couldn't use either one so I had nothing to lose. I poured the contents of one can into the other and mixed thoroughly and got this:

and I love it! The color doesn't look quite the same on my monitor as it does in real life, probably because of the flash. I'll try to get better photos when the light improves. For now you'll just have to take my word for it- it's the perfect medium-light gray-green. I actually compared the color to some paint swatches and the resulting color bears a striking resemblance to "Garden Shed" from Martha Stewart's paint line.

Also- if you look behind the chinese chippendale chair (which is due for reupholstering) you can see my faux wainscoting! I'm really excited to tell you about this because I found I a great short cut! I was all set to use Thrifty Decor Chick's instructions. I went to Lowe's and marched myself down the molding aisle, giving myself a pep talk about saws and mitre boxes when I spotted this:

premade molding squares! They're made of lightweight poly so all I had to do was glue them to the wall with all purpose liquid nails, caulk any gaps and paint! They come in different sizes so you can choose the one that works best for your walls. The 18 x 23 size worked great for me. I believe that was the largest size and they were about $12 per panel (the smaller sizes were a few dollars less). I spent just over $100 to do the whole room. I bet buying the molding and doing all the cutting myself would have saved me money, but I am so freaked out about saws, that it was worth it to me to buy these ready made.

I'm pretty happy with the finished product:

BTW- what do you think of my new (to me) rug via CL? It's a 6x9 Restoration hardware basketweave seagrass rug. It still sells for $249 but I got it for $50!

Next up in here:

reupholster Chinese Chippendale chairs
Change the backing in the China Cabinet
Art and accesories!

Love,

Easy Pinch-Pleat Drapes

2010-07-02T13:23:00.000-07:00

Voila!

When I started thinking about refreshing my dining room I knew I wanted pinch pleated drapes. After reading this po st at LGN I was pretty convinced that using pleating tape and pleater hooks was the way to go, but when I decide I want to do something I'm waaaay to impatient(and cheap!) to order something online (and pay shipping for it!). Lucky for me, my local Joann's fabric sells the pleater hooks and a very similar pleating tape by the yard!

The hooks look like this:

and the tape looks like this:

Those white vertical lines that look like stripes are actually little pockets woven into the fabric. You make a simple rectangular panel and then sew this tape to the top edge. Then you insert the four prongs of the hooks into every other stripe-pocket (leaving several inches between each hook) to form the pinch pleats. So easy! And goof-proof!

I'm really pleased with how they turned out and I love this fabric!

(excuse the mess on the sideboard! )

I also got all the trim and the walls below the chair-rail painted! Next up (if I can get over my fear of saws!) Faux wainscoting ala Thrifty Decor Chick!

Love,

How To Slipcover Henriksdal Parsons Dining Chairs

2010-06-28T12:40:00.000-07:00

I finished!

The fabric is Duralee "Diamante". I love it!

Please excuse the rest of the room- there are lots more changes in the works...

Before I give you my how-to, if you need some sewing encouragement, read this. I'm not going to reinvent the wheel here, just give some basic instructions. If you need more detailed slipcovering info, read this.

Okay, so I'm not a professional pattern drafter, but here's a sketch of what I did.

And here are close ups so you don't go blind!

A is the back piece, it's just a 17" by 25" rectangle.

B is the seat back. Pay more attention to the measurements than the picture here, it's sort of a trapezoid shape overall- the back side is an inch longer than the front.

C is the seat. Again- go by the measurements, the front side of this piece is 5.5" longer than the back.

D is the skirt. I found that cutting two pieces the entire length of the bolt (54") plus about another 8" piece was the right width to give generous pleats in the corners.

Sorry about the image quality! Email me if you need help deciphering any of that!

The trickiest part about this project was planning out the pattern (I found that kitchen trash bags work well as pattern paper!) but I've already done that part for you! Once I had the pieces cut, it just fit together like a puzzle!

BTW- this pattern is for an ikea "Henriksdal" dining chair, but you could adjust the measurements to fit any parsons style dining chair. Also, be careful because I believe Ikea changed the dimensions of this chair and I'm not sure which version of chair I have since I purchased mine on CL (I got 4 chairs plus two sets of generic slipcovers for $20!) Let me know if you need exact measurements of my chair to compare sizes.

Here's the how-to:

Fold the notched corners of piece B on a diagonal, right sides facing to line up the edges and stitch together the notched corners on piece B
In the same manner, stitch together the notched corners on piece C
Place piece B centered on top of piece C, right sides facing
Stitch piece B to piece C along the U shape at center top of piece C
Lay piece A centered on top of piece B, right sides facing
Stitch together along top edge
Stitch piece A and B together down each side, and continue down the last 4.5" section of piece C.

Now you should have a skirtless slipcover!

Pin the skirt along the bottom edge hiding the seams in the co

rner pleats. I found it worked best to start pining at the right rear leg.
Stitch the skirt along the bottom edge (you may add piping here- I added ivory store bought piping, one package per chair.)
Hem the skirt- I found putting the chair on top of a table made it much easier to see where to mark the hem.

You're done!

Okay, on to the drapes!!

******UPDATE!!******
An anonymous commenter wrote in and was having some trouble piecing together C&B, so here is a closeup of the side/back of the chair...

Anonymous- I hope this helps! If you're still having trouble please email me directly at pammyfitz@gmail.com since the comment form doesn't allow me to respond directly to your comment.

Love,

Dining Chair Slipcovers...

2010-06-25T11:59:00.000-07:00

I'm participating in:

Before:

After:

One down, three to go!

Love,

I'm Baaa-aaack!

2010-06-22T21:16:00.000-07:00

We just got back from the outer banks on Saturday and we had a great time. In case anyone is looking for nice, reasonably-priced, family-friendly accomodations, we stayed here and loved it!

Now please excuse me while I show off some gratuitous vacation cuteness for the grandparents! There is a little bit of home dec stuff at the end of this post!

We ran...

We napped...

We buried ourselves in the sand...

We searched for shells...

We soaked in the sun (as much as we could through SPF 60!)...

We splashed...

We took it all in...

We conquered the beasts of the sea...

We ran with delight...

We dug...

We filled...

We mixed...

We floated around the lazy river...

We built sand kingdoms...

Did I mention we dug?

We watched seagulls...

We had a blast!

and now we're glad to be home!

I did bring home one little souvenir from an antique shop.

It's a "youth chair". It seats a toddler at just the right height for a dining table. A little more charming than a plastic booster seat. Now I'm on the hunt for another one since my girls currently fight over this one at every meal!

(BTW- anyone else think maybe I wished a little too hard for a vinyl tablecloth that would look okay in my kitchen?!)

In case anyone else is interested, Ikea now sells similar "junior chairs" to match some of their dining chairs.

I thought I'd leave you with a Before shot of my dining room. I figure if I put my plans in writing, I'll have no excuse not to get started!

You can see where I already started painting below the chair rail to the right of the china cabinet. Here's my to-do list:

Sew Drapes
Sew Slipcovers
recover lattice-back chairs
Back the china cabinet
Paint & Wall treatment
Accesories
Possibly paint the sideboard
Update the Chandelier shades

I'm totally inspired by this room by Victoria Neale for the Greenhouse Showhouse in McLean, VA, shown in the April 2010 issue of Traditional Home. If all goes according to plan, you'll probably notice some similarities...

I better get cracking!

Love,

Greetings from OBX and fabricguru love

2010-06-07T18:31:00.000-07:00

Hello friends! Greetings from Kill Devil Hills NC! I'm on vacation with my family for the next two weeks and enjoying every moment! Sorry I left you hanging for so long, I fully intended to do several posts before I left for vacation, but preparing for our trip was more involved than I realized!

I will hopefully be detailing some changes in my dining room when I return, but until then I thought I'd share some pretty fabrics with you!

I recently tried to help my mom's friend track down a high-end fabric she fell in love with for a better price. The high end fabric was Corbin Opal by Carole and was insanely expensive. It is awfully pretty though...

I did some searching on fabricguru.com and came up with some good stand ins for a small fraction of the price. You can click on the photos to see the fabrics on fabricguru.com.

Mill Creek Raymond Waites Evangeline Printed Linen Blend Drapery Fabric in Seaglass

Braemore Amadore Printed Linenweave Drapery Fabric in Linen $7.95 per yard

Braemore Sans Souci Shabby Floral Print Drapery Fabric in Powder $6.95 per yard

Richloom / Better Homes & Gardens Jayda Printed Cotton Drapery Fabric in Bramble $19.95 per yard- the most expensive of the bunch and a bit more contemporary.

Mill Creek Raymond Waites Amorique - Cliffside Drapery Fabric in Cashew

BTW- if anyone knows of any shopping, restaurants, attractions etc... that I shouldn't miss while I'm here, I'm all ears!

Love,

A little sign...

2010-05-10T17:15:00.000-07:00

My grandpa died last week.

I was debating whether or not to tell you, dear readers, but I had a pretty amazing faith-building experience and I just can't keep it to myself. I never intended to share religious/ faith-related stuff here, mostly because I guess I don't really feel qualified at this point in my journey, but I just can't keep this one to myself.

My grandpa Fred was 92 years old and he lived a long, happy life. He was a wonderful man. He was one of the holiest people I've ever known. I've learned a tremendous amount from him and yet I wish I could have learned more. One thing he always tried to instill in me and my family was generosity. He always encouraged us to give with a happy heart. He was incredibly giving.

That's us at my grandparents' cabana in Long Island, NY circa 1985. My grandpa is on the right and me with my sister and brother and two of our cousins. Can you guess which one is me?

He also loved talking, thinking and reading about heaven. Even decades ago when he was perfectly healthy. There was not a doubt in his mind about what was waiting for him when the Lord called him home and especially now, there's not a doubt in my mind about where he is now. He was ready, excited to go.

When I was a kid, I saw my grandparents every few months. Every time we had to say goodbye, my grandpa would slip my siblings and I each a $5 bill. It was kind of funny that he was secretive about it because we all knew he was going to do it. I guess he knew my mom would try to tell him he didn't need to do it etc... When I was young $5 seemed like a fortune to me. Looking back I think he did that to encourage us to be generous. As a child, you don't always realize or remember when someone gives money to others, but it definitely makes an impression when someone gives money to you.

I was really blessed to be able to see my grandfather in the hospital before he died, but it's hard to say whether he knew I was there. He knew a ton of people and our family is pretty large, so there were 3 wakes over two days in order to accommodate everyone. The funeral and burial were on Friday followed by a meal at a nice Italian restaurant. He would have loved that part.

At some point during all of this (I think it was during the funeral, but those days are kind of blurred together in my mind) I prayed something to the effect of, "if it's really all there (heaven) like you always talked about, could you give me a little sign?"

My husband and I had to leave the luncheon a little early in order to pick up our girls whom we left with my husband's family in PA. As we were walking away from the restaurant I noticed something flapping on the ground out of the corner of my eye. I couldn't believe what I saw when I looked down.

It was a five dollar bill.

I can't tell you the assurance I felt when I picked it up. That little five dollar bill told me so much. Yes, it's really all here. Yes, your prayers are heard. Yes, you are cared for from above. Yes, there is a plan. Be hopeful. Be generous. Be happy.

I know plenty of people will think, so what? It's just money on the ground. Happens all the time. But for me it was just too much of a coincidence to simply be a happy accident. I haven't found a five dollar bill (or any other bill) on the ground since I was a kid. It wasn't a ten or a one dollar bill, it was a five. Because that is the amount that is significant to me. If it had happened a week earlier or several days later (or even an hour later) it wouldn't have had the same significance. It happened the moment I stepped away from the last of the funeral proceedings. It happened when I said goodbye.

I know with every fiber of my being that it was an answer to my prayer. The reassurance that I needed to continue living with the faith that we are in God's loving hands.

I love you, Grandpa.

Love,

Thanks to this product ...

2010-04-30T06:59:00.000-07:00

my children still have buttcheeks.

Seriously, it is a miracle product, and as a practicing Catholic I don't use that word lightly. I just used it to get magic marker out of two different pieces of upholstered furniture, and you wouldn't believe what it can do for carpet stains. What makes it better than Resolve? No rinsing. Just spray, rub, (and here comes the miracle part) the spot dissolves into thin air. Need I say more?

Do yourself (and your children's hineys) a huge favor and get thee to Bed Bath and Beyond (more retailers found on their website) for a bottle. For more info, here's their website.

Love,

2010-04-29T13:01:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who voted for me in Lindsay's $5 Challenge Contest! I was named the first runner up- which I'm pleased as punch about, because the runner up prize was a book page tassel from Lindsay's etsy store and a $30 gift certificate to Back 40 Life. I've never tried any vinyl wall decor and I have a few spots in my home that could use a little something.

I haven't decided what to order from Back 40 Life yet (maybe this, this or this? I can't decide!), but the tassel arrived by mail a couple of days ago:

I think she looks so sweet hanging from the knob of my hutch! Thanks, Lindsay! You can visit Living with Lindsay for directions on how to make your own, or you can purchase one from her etsy shop.

Love,

Baby Evelyn's Nursery

2010-04-27T14:00:00.000-07:00

My Big Bro, Jim, and SIL, Andrea, recently purchased a new house and had their 4th child. I was so excited when Andrea enlisted my help with the nursery. She wanted to reuse the bedding from her first daughter and mostly just wanted a little help choosing colors and accent fabrics. Here's what we came up with (sorry for the terrible photo quality!)

The little port-a-crib is on loan from me until baby Evelyn's big sis is done with the full size white crib which will eventually take its place.

This bedding was our jumping off point:

it has virtually every pastel color you can think of in it somewhere. Andrea wanted to go with a green on the walls so that the nursery would remain gender neutral in case baby Evelyn ever has a little brother. I know it's impossible to tell in these photos, but the paint color is really pretty. I can't recall the name right now, but I'll ask Andrea if anyone is interested. It's a perfect light green for a nursery. Neutral, not to dark, not too blue, not too yellow.

I think the window treatments turned out so cute! Andrea made the pelmet box using Jenny's instructions on LGN with this cute pink bamboo print fabric we picked out. I'm so in love with this fabric!

Andrea found the drape panels on super sale from PBK

I love how this little decal looks, but we were a little disappointed with it originally because it was supposed to be much larger.

Here's the misleading photo on the website we selected it from:

even if that's a toddler sized bed in the photo, that decal looks much larger than the one Andrea received. The finished product still looks super cute though.

Andrea made these sweet butterflies with some foam core scraps leftover from the pelmet box and SBP.

And I made a cute and comfy slipcover for her rocking chair cushions from green minkee dot fabric.

Andrea made this adorable hook name plaque with SBP and modge podge:

You know, Andrea, for someone who claims not to be crafty, girl, you sure are crafty!!

Love,

Thrifty Treasures: Art and Side Table

2010-04-19T11:35:00.001-07:00

First off, thanks so much for all of your sweet comments and encouragement about my fireplace surround makeover! I am beyond thrilled with the transformation! Here's a shot of the area now with the furniture back in place:

My dad stopped by last weekend to deliver my nearly complete mantle for the basement family room (it is looking so good! I can't wait to show you!) and he was all ready to tear into me about what a dumb idea it was to spray paint something so large at all any less in the house- I mean what was I thinking and i was really going to be sorry when the paint dripped all over and paint flecks flew all over the house.... and on... and on...

And then it happened. He saw the project in question and gave it a good once over while looking for something, anything to fuel a big 'I-told-you-so', but he couldn't find a thing wrong with it! And he really tried! Finally he had to give up and admit that he was impressed!

If you've ever met my dad, you'd know what a big deal this was to me. My dad is an awesome father, but he's an engineer which means he's all about being precise.

It's probably not a great idea to spray paint indoors (I wouldn't have done it if I had found a paint with a similar texture in a brush-on) but if you're nuts enough to try it anyway, here are my tips for getting a finish that will pass muster with the pickiest engineer around:

Don't do this with small children or animals around.
Tape off carefully and cover a wide margin of floor and wall all the way around whatever you're painting. Seriously, like 8 feet on all sides especially on the floor (spray paint doesn't really seem to travel upward, so you're okay with less coverage on the walls)- my dad told me a story about when he spray painted something indoors roughly 30 years ago and the over spray carried toward the A/C intake vent and landed on the drape hanging next to it. Yuck!
Open all the windows and doors.
Wear a mask and try not to inhale the fumes.
Take frequent breaks to step outside for fresh air.
Work in 3 foot sections in light coats and let each section dry for a few minutes (you can work on another section in the meantime) before adding another coat.
Remove the painters tape as soon as you're finished

Okay , now back to my thrifty treasures! Did you notice something new hanging above the fireplace?

Now that the tile is more muted, I decided to hang a piece of art centered on the wall. It really is centered (I've measured several times!) it's just the camera angle making it look lopsided! I'm considering adding some other items (plates, perhaps?) to this wall, but I'm enjoying the uncluttered look for now. Plus, eventually I'll have a new mantle here and I'll be able to perch some taller items on either side of the artwork.

I found this trio of watercolor paintings at an estate sale a few months ago. I purchased it for $3! I didn't look too closely at it at the time. I just thought the colors were nice. When I got home I noticed a tag on the back that read "Rudolph Lesch Fine Arts". I did a little research and found similar single pieces by the same artist listed on ebay for $375 each ( That would make my trio worth roughly $1125!) They haven't sold at that price, and I know things are only worth what someone is willing to pay for them, but I still think I got a pretty great deal!

The artist's name is Charles De Montfort.

Here are some closeups:

This one is entitled "Rue St. Vincent"

"Les Quais"

This one is a little harder to make out, but I think the title is "HV. V. Hugo"

And here is my other thrifty treasure. A pretty side table found on craigslist for $10. I love the raised lip around the edge of the tabletop and all the pretty carved details.

Love it with a vase of my favorite flowers (ranunculus- so sweet!) on top. Thanks, Mom!

Love,

Dishing It with Serenity Now!

2010-04-13T13:54:00.001-07:00

I'm participating in Amanda's new party- Dishing it!

The idea is to get to know some fellow bloggers.

Here are the questions that Amanda proposes we answer for the first Dishing It party to get the ball rolling:

~How long have you been blogging?
8 months. It feels like longer than that! I had to look back at my posts to confirm this one!

~Why did you start blogging?
I was obsessed with checking in on all my favorite home dec. blogs (I mean, seriously Obsessed!) and eventually realized that I have some pretty good ideas too! Then one day my blog title popped into my head and I thought, why not?

~Tell me about your blog's title. Why did you choose it?
I wrote all about this in My Very First Post!

~What do you blog about?
Mostly about diy home decor projects.

~What is your favorite thing about blogging?
Comments are my crack. Oh, and it has been awesome getting to know some other great bloggers.

~If you had to choose one famous person to become your blog's next devoted reader, who would you pick?
I know I should pick someone meaningful who will make you think I'm really deep, but I really wouldn't mind if R.Pat or Harry Connick became my biggest fans! Oh, and I guess I would be extremely flattered if some legit designer confessed to reading my blog.

~What's the funniest comment you've ever received on a blog post?
I got a pretty funny one yesterday- someone commented about how much my forearm must hurt after emptying 22 cans of spray paint on my fireplace! She was sooo right!

Love,

Desert Bisque...

2010-04-09T10:29:00.001-07:00

it's the new pink!

It took no less than 22 cans...

but I love it!!

Before:

POOF!

After!

Thanks to all of you fabulous ladies who helped me out with suggestions on this project through Amanda's Decorating Dilemmas party! Hopefully by the next party I'll be able to show you a new mantle here!!

Love,

Wish Me Luck...

2010-04-08T12:45:00.000-07:00

My hubby's on a business trip, so I'm goin' in!! Wish me luck! Better yet, say a little prayer for me!

Love,

Help a Sista' Out!

2010-04-07T11:07:00.000-07:00

First off, if you haven't checked out my guest post at Amanda's scoot over there and tell me what you think!

Ballard's version:

My version:

Alright, ya'll- I need some more eyeballs on this one. Remember my decorating dilemma about my big pink fireplace?

Well it's officially spray paint season and I'm ready to break out a big ol' can of whoop a-- I mean a can of spray paint on my ugly fireplace! My problem is- which one?

I thought I had this all figured out and planned to use Rustoleum's "Stone" spray paint, but Holly told me about how she had seen it used and someone (probably some cute little sticky-fingered someone) had picked at the little 'stone' flecks in the paint. After hearing that and eyeing my children, I decided the 'stone' paint finish wasn't for me. So back to the store I went and picked up this paint in three different colors to test them out.

I will say I love the texture of this paint. It has a slightly gritty finish, but doesn't have the big faux stone chunks in it that the 'stone' paint had. I think the grit finish is very close to the original finish of the tiles. I found some extra pink tiles in the basement so I used them to test out the paint.

Option 1: Caribbean Sand
This is the lightest of the three. It's kind of a cream color with tiny dark flecks in it

Option 2: Sandstone
Kind of a medium Khaki color, same finish, but without the darker flecks

Here's a closeup:

Option 3: Desert Bisque
A dark Khaki with dark and light flecks in it.

Here's a closeup:

Which one would you choose?

BTW- I will also being painting the brass trim with oil-rubbed bronze spray paint and my dad is going to build a mantle which will extend to the wall so that I can treat the wall space above as one large symmetrical space. He's currently building a mantle for the basement fireplace as practice. He brought the nearly complete basement mantle over on Easter to double check the fit and I absolutely love it!

Love,

How to Mistreat Sliding Glass Doors

2010-04-06T10:08:00.000-07:00

Since finding my new leather sofa on Craigslist I've been on a mission to spruce up our basement family room space. I debated the color scheme for a while (wasn't sure if the tan/red thing was a little too pottery barn ten years ago) but ultimately decided I really like the energy of red in a family room and I wanted to reuse the drapery panels, so I deceded to stick with it!

This wall in our basement has a big stone fireplace in the center with a small window on the right side of the fireplace and a sliding glass door on the left side of the fireplace.

Here's how it looked last week:

and the big sliding glass door on the left side of the fireplace:

I learned the three panel trick to hiding sliding glass doors from the Christopher Lowell show "Interior Motives" years ago. Remember that one?! I actually found an old VHS tape with highlights from the show in our last move. Hilarious!! I watched it again recently and though it was obviously very dated, but there were actually some good ideas to use! I love that hanging a third panel in the center here covers the ugly metal framing.

The view through these windows is not the greatest since the backyard is a bit of a wasteland right now, but we have a plan to clean it up. Both windows look out to the area under our deck. The smaller window has a direct view of the side of our shed, so I prefer to block that view entirely (hence the blind).

I bought the tan drapery panels at Ross for 6.99/panel a few years ago (but I think these panels were originally sold at Walmart). I had four panels to work with from our last house, so three of them were hanging on the sliding door and one on the smaller window. I added the red dragonfly band (the fabric was free to me via freecycle) at the top shortly after we moved to this house.

I thought the panels would look better raised up higher on the wall, so I pulled everything down and raised the rod up high.

Then, after a visit to my new favorite place, debois textiles (insanely awesome and cheap fabrics!) I added this new band of red fabric to the tops of the panels (just wasn't feelin' the dragonflies anymore) and rehung them.

I liked the drama of having them up high, but I felt there was a bit too much space between the top of the sliding door and the curtain rod and I didn't like seeing the metal framing at the top of the sliding door, so I used some extra burlap I had leftover from skirting my craft table to mistreat the top of the door. It's just a long piece of burlap (I joined two shorter pieces and the seam is hidden behind the center panel) trimmed in grosgrain ribbon and thumb-tacked in place! The bottom of the burlap panel just clears the top of the sliding door and it extends to several inches above the door.

I love that I now don't see any of the ugly door (I would love to replace it with nice french doors, but that just isn't in the budget!).

I also cheated and cut off 1/3 of the width from two of the panels and stitched those sections together to make an extra panel for the smaller window. Oh, and I already had the blind. I purchased it at Joann's on clearance for about $5. It was slightly too narrow, so I trimmed it in more red grosgrain, and after I moved the curtain rod up, I hung the blind up at the same level as the burlap panel on the other window. Luckily it was long enough to do that.

Since I reused everything, the only money I spent on this redo was $10 for 2 yards of the new red fabric ("Bangalore" by Duralee).
What do you think? Better, right?

I'm super excited that I'll be guest posting at Serenity Now on Wednesday. I'll be showing a tutorial for recreating these $75 Ballard pillows using materials I had on hand! Make sure and stop by to check it out!

Love,

Thrifty Treasures: Alabaster Lamps and a New Daddy Chair!

2010-04-05T06:25:00.000-07:00

I'm participating in Thrifty Treasures at Southern Hospitality!

She wanted this:

He wanted this:

After some compromise and some help from Craigslist, here's what we came up with:

A full size leather rocker recliner, but with a tailored arm and nail head trim to help it coordinate with the new sofa. My hubby loves it, and I love to see him smile!

This was a particularly tricky decorating dilemma for us, since my hubby declared the chair must both rock and recline. There are some really pretty options out there (and I was finding a slew of them on CL) that either look like a club chair or a wing chair, but they all had pretty feet, which meant they can't rock. Also none of the club chair recliners were deep enough or had a high enough back for my hubby, so when he sat in them and reclined his head and feet were hanging off the chair!

I bought the new chair on CL for $150 and sold the old chair (you can see it in the background of the photo) for $100, so for a net cost of $50 I think this was a pretty thrifty replacement.

And here's my other thrifty find of the week! A pair of alabaster (I think?) lamps! If anyone could shed a little light (excuse the pun!) on the actual definition of alabaster, I'm all ears! Are these alabaster or marble? Is alabaster white marble? If so, does it have to be pure white with no veining to qualify as alabaster?

Anyway, I purchased the pair (including shades which are a little dated so I'll either doctor them up or replace them) for $30. When I picked them up they looked like this:

I was a little disappointed with the color of the stone- a little dingy. I wasn't sure if this was the natural color of the stone, or if the stone had become permanently discolored or what so I did a little research on the internet. I already knew that you have to be really careful with cleaning alabaster and not get it wet because moisture that seeps into the stone can actually cause rust stains in the stone (again, if anyone knowledgeable can clarify, I'd love to know more).

I found info somewhere (can't remember where) saying that acetone can clean marble/alabaster, so I thought I'd give it a try. I figured I'd try it in an inocnspicuous spot first and even if I ruined the lamps I was willing to try it for a $30 investment.

I tried it and it worked like a charm. In the photo below you can see where I swiped a cotton pad dampened with nail polish remover down the center of the lamp:

I think the dinginess was probably caused by cigarette smoke, but that's just a hunch. Here's an after photo:

So much better, right? I'm not encouraging anyone else out there to try this, because I suppose it's possible that my cleaning method could cause stains to appear over time, but I don't mind being the guinea pig! I'll let you know if any mysterious spots appear over the next few months...

Love,

I Need Your Vote!

2010-04-02T11:25:00.000-07:00

Two posts in the same day? I know what you're thinking- she must want something. You're right!!

I just found out that I'm one of five finalists for the $5 Challenge at Living with Lindsay for my bedtime prayer wall! I really wanna win, so wouldya couldya vote for me? Pretty please? With a cherry on top??? If I promise new posts every day next week? Puh-lease???

Love,

2010-04-02T06:36:00.000-07:00

Happy Spring Everyone!

Sorry for all the silence over here the last two weeks. I have lots of good stuff coming up for you next week!

In the meantime, I thought I'd share this little tip for folding napkins into bunnies! I did this last year for my Easter table and it worked like a charm.

Aren't they cute? I'm a sucker for a festive napkin fold. I love that they jazz up a place setting without having to purchase anything additional, or add more stuff to crowd the table.

Here's a link to Good Housekeeping's instructions.

And a link to similar video instructions on BHG.

Happpy Easter!

Love,

Welcome home!

2010-03-19T08:14:00.000-07:00

I brought her home on Tuesday!

Welcome home, lovely!

I bought her on Cl for $425. That's quite a chunk of change for me, but since she was originally close to $2500 at Ethan Allen (Hancock & Moore is the manufacturer), and she's in perfect condition, I thought she was a steal.

I'd show you more pics of this room, but I still have so much work to do!

I still have to find a replacement for this guy:

and do some reorganizing, give the fireplace a makeover, and the list goes on and on!

Love,

Bloggy Get Together and Thrifty Treasures

2010-03-15T06:28:00.000-07:00

Bloggy Get Together
Our VA/MD/DC bloggy get together is coming together! We will meet in the Olde Towne area of Fredericksburg, VA, Saturday May 1st for lunch, shopping and some local fun!

If you think you may be interested in joining us please leave me a comment with an email address so that I can contact you!

Thrifty Treasures with Rhoda!

Thrifty Treasures is back, ya'll!

I've been searching for a nice pair of lamps for my bedroom for quite a while. Finding a nice pair of lamps without spending a fortune proved to be quite a tall order! I would occasionally find a nice pair of bases, but after buying new shades it was still going to cost a good bit. Then I found a pair of these great lamps on craigslist last week! They are a really nice size and they look fab in my bedroom! They were originally from Bombay Co. (sniff, I miss Bombay)

They have a damask lining in the shades so when you turn them on you get a nice little surprise...

I think these shades are currently available at Target for $19.99 each, so I know that $40 for the pair of lamps including the shades was a good deal!

Please keep your fingers crossed for me on this thrifty treasure!

I'm hopefully picking her up tomorrow if everything comes together!

Did I tell you guys that I won a copy of the new Flea Market Style Magazine from Rhoda's giveaway? I've never won a blog giveaway before, so I was really excited. It arrived in the mail on Saturday and I got to pour through it yesterday! Thanks, Rhoda!!

The magazine is great and I'm thinking I'll share a few of my favorite ideas from the magazine with you this week!

Love,

Bedtime Prayer Wall

2010-03-13T20:08:00.000-08:00

I'm participating in:

I'm in love with this shape which seems to be everywhere lately:

It's called a quatrefoil. I've had this idea in my head for a while that I wanted to do some artwork in my little girls' shared room incorporating the bedtime prayer we say at night. I wanted the project to be inexpensive, kid friendly (I intend this to hang over my nearly 2-year-old's bed, so nothing too heavy and no glass!) and super cute.

After this project I decided to use my diy stretched canvas idea again to save money, and I knew I wanted to incorporate the quatrefoil shape, so here's what I came up with:

It was really cloudy outside when I took these photos, and I just couldn't capture the colors accurately. The greens all look way to dark and olivey and the pink isn't showing up very well. You'll just have to take my word for it that the colors are really cute in person!

Materials:
3 sheets of 20" x 30" foam board from dollar tree, (this was exactly enough to make 9 finished 10"squares)
18 sheets of Scrapbook Paper (already had this in my stash, but FYI I recently saw 8 sheet packs of SBP in the dollar section at Michaels for 50 cents per pack!)
Glue stick (already had this on hand)
Matte Spray Sealer (already had this on hand)

Here's how I did it:

First I made the "stretched canvas" forms just like I detailed here. The only change I made was that this time I used two layers of "spacers" to make the finished canvases a little thicker. Making the canvases myself saved so much money! I made all 9 for $3. I couldn't buy one plain canvas in craft store for that much!

Then I wrapped each "canvas" in one sheet of 12x12 scrapbook paper. To make it a little smoother and easier I used the pointy end of a letter opener to score the paper along the folds as I wrapped.

Then I made a quatrefoile template. It's essentially a square with a semi-circle centered on each side. I started by figuring out how big I wanted the square part, then I traced half of my coffee cup along each side and cut it out.

Then I used my template to trace and cut out one SBP quatrefoile shape for each canvas.

Since I don't own a cricut, it was a little tricky to figure out how to handle the lettering without having to cut each letter out by hand. My hubby helped me figure out that reverse printing in white on a colored circle looked nice and crisp. I believe the font I used was Clarendon Bold.

Once all my pieces were cut out, I assembled the canvases with a glue stick and used two coats of spray sealer on top.

Then I hung them with some command adhesive strips ( I stocked up on these a while ago when they were BOGO at my drug store). This way when my 2-year-old inevitably gets into shenanigans during naptime and tries to pull them off the wall, there aren't any nails to contend with and I can stick them right back up!

The prayer reads:
Father in heaven
Hear my prayer.
Keep me in
thy loving care.
Be my guide
in all I do
and bless all those
who love me too.
Amen.

The "now I lay me down to sleep" prayer would also work on 9 canvases!

Love,

Bedtime Prayer Wall

2010-03-12T05:54:00.000-08:00

I'm guest posting at Tatertots and Jello Today!

Hop on over...

to find out the details of this project!

Love,

2010-03-09T19:40:00.000-08:00

I'm linking to Amanda's Show me the Progress Party

Way back in September I posted about this:

My big, pink, 3-sided fireplace.

I got lots of great suggestions and I think I have a plan in place.
Here's the plan:

my dad is going to build me a mantel running all the way to the wall
I'll paint the brass trim
and paint the tile
If I can get over my fear of saws, I'm hoping to also add a board and batten treatment to the wall below the mantle, covering the niche.

I'm thinking that will just about solve my dilemma. Once the mantle is in place, I'll treat the space above as one large mantle, centering the artwork over the center of the mantle, not the fireplace. The first step will be for me to paint the trim and tile. I'm a little nervous about painting the tile, but I figure pretty much anything is better than what I've got! I purchased two cans of this to get the job done:

What do you think of the color? Do you think the texture will be okay? I recall seeing someone else recently who used this or something similar to paint a fireplace surround, but now I can't remember who it was. Does anyone remember what I'm talking about?

BTW- in case anyone was wondering about my "Daddy Chair" dilemma, I must have missed the boat on the leather recliner because I never heard back from the seller. I'm stalking CL regularly for another!

Don't forget to stop by Amanda's to see more progress!

Love,

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

2010-03-03T20:50:00.000-08:00

I've been hitting all kinds of unexpected stumbling blocks while working on my little girls' bathroom. I was going to wait until everything was perfect to show you, but in the interest of keeping it real, I've decided to go ahead and show you everything, the good, the bad and the ugly.

Here's the before:

poof- kinda-sorta

And the current state of things:

First, let me say that I have spent zero dollars thus far. Ca-ching. My goal here was to pretty up this bathroom for my two little girls using materials I had on hand and to do something to make the fixtures in here (namely the light fixture, the medicine cabinet and the cabinetry) more attractive without buying new ones and without permanently changing the existing fixtures. I originally planned to paint all the wood white, but thought for resale the wood might be better as is.
Okay, let's start with the good, shall we?

Last summer I bought a box of fabric remnants on Craigslist for $10. All three of the fabrics here were in that box. There were also all kinds of other goodies in that box that you can now see in the throw pillows on my sofa and in various other projects around my home. Since I've already used more than $10 worth of fabric from the box I'm not counting that towards my bottom line of zero. BTW- this green houndstooth is available on fabricguru.com for $3.95! Does anyone know the name/manufacturer of the floral? I've used every scrap and would love a little more.

The first project I tackled was to skirt the sink, covering the cabinetry. This has worked out really well because it's been keeping my almost 2-year-old out of the drawers.

and there's the little stool I showed you the other day. Oh, and I don't know if you can tell in the photo above, but I hung a pretty little mirror at just the right height for someone standing on the stool to see her sweet little face within the frame.

Next I used some more of the fabric from the magical box to adorn my plain white shower curtain. I also added some ribbon that I've had for a while and some pink ball fringe that I've also had (purchased when a local craft store went out of business- 20 yds for $1!)

Next I used more of the same to make a pelmet box using LGN's instructions which I hot-glued (just a little dab on each side so I can pop it off later) to the existing oak light cover.

I used more of the houndstooth to cover the frame of the medicine cabinet.

I just unscrewed the backing, popped out the mirror, wrapped 4 strips of fabric around the frame and hot-glued it in place on the back side of the frame so that I can pull it off down the road.

and I embroidered and adorned my plain white towels.

Now, on to the bad. I wanted to add a little something for visual interest to the wall above the towel bar. I saw these on PB kids and thought "those are cute, but $39 for stickers?! I can make those!"

Oh, yes. So confident was I in my crafting prowess. I was certain that armed with some contact paper and scrapbook paper I could create the next internet crafting craze by the sheer power of my mad skeells. That's when God decided to serve me up a heaping helping of humble pie. Yum.
Without further ado, here's my version:

might be cute on an elementary school bulletin board, but I don't want it in my house. My plan was to put the flowers up and then add the stems, but once I saw how the flowers looked I decided not to add insult to injury.

To make them I cut out flower shapes from SBP (I traced the outlines from the actual pottery barn photo 'cuz I have no fine art talent!) modge-podged the cutouts to contact paper, brushed two coats of modge-podge over the top, let them dry and cut them out. Then I used a sharpie to add in the little dashed lines.
After all that they're weirdly shiny, kinda bumpy and just plain weird. Oh, well. At least I didn't spend anything on them. On to plan B...

And now for the ugly- the school-chalk yellow walls. This color combo looks to me like something Blanche Devereaux would have chosen for the florida room. I thought if I added enough pretty fabric to this room, enough ball fringe (I just can't get enough!) maybe the walls would sort of fade away. But they haven't faded. Not one iota. It's even worse with the main light fixture turned on. The light sorta bounces off the color and makes it glow. Ugh. I told you the other day that I was going to have a painter come to aid this damsel in distress. I just hate not being able to do something myself, but the ceilings in here are vaulted and high. Very, very high.

I found a guy who would do the room for $120 if I supplied the paint. I made an appointment. Then he called me a few hours before he was supposed to show up. He had to reschedule. Strangely I was relieved. I realized that even though $120 is pretty cheap considering the job and hubby's fine with it, I set out to do this room for free (or close to free) and it's killing me to have to pay someone to do something I should be able to handle. Crazy, right?!

After talking to my sister, I think I might be able to do this myself afterall with the help of a roller extension and the oh-so-sophisticated paintbrush-duct-taped-to-a-stick. Then again, if I hadn't listened to my sister I never would have wound up in the driver seat of my mom's mini-van while it stood stuck in the mud and hanging over the retaining wall in my parents backyard. Wish me luck...

I'm linking to:
Trash to Treasure at Reinvented
DIY day at ASPTL

Love,

Footstool Makeover and Winners!

2010-03-01T18:46:00.000-08:00

The winners of the apron giveaway are:

Vee of Wild West Home
and
Tami of a Girls Gotta Nest

Congratulations! Please contact me to confirm your color choice and personalization!

My little girls bathroom isn't quite finished yet. I was really hoping that I'd be able to work with the wall color, but I think the room really needs to be painted white. This wouldn't ordinarily be a problem except that the room has vaulted ceilings which I can't reach even standing on the top rung of our tallest ladder (which is a big no-no, but I've done before). Now worries- I've found a guy on craigslist who is coming to paint the room tomorrow afternoon. I'm kind of annoyed about having to pay someone to paint, especially since I didn't spend a single penny on the rest of the room, but I'm not willing to sacrifice safety.

I've finished almost all of the other little projects going into this room. I'll share one of them with you to tide you over! I found this little stool for $3 at goodwill last spring. It sat on my porch holding a couple of plants. It was already chippy when I bought it, but then I accidentally left it outside all winter. Oops!

Before:

POOF!

I painted the legs white and upholstered the top with some padding (I cut up an old mattress pad which I replaced recently) and I made a little slipcover (I know you're just shocked about that!) for the top.

Jellybean asked me if the F stood for fancy (we just read "Fancy Nancy" for the first time recently!)

I'm participating in:
Before and After Party at Thrifty Decor Chick
DIY Day at ASPTL
Trash to Treasure at Reinvented

Love,

Friday Randomness and a Sneak Peek!

2010-02-26T10:35:00.000-08:00

I'm working away on my little girls' bathroom and I hope to share pics next week! I have a few items of business to mention to you, so I'll intersperse a few sneak peeks of the fabrics I'm using.

First I want to give everyone a reminder that you can still enter my giveaway until 9pm tonight!

Thank You, Homebody!
I can't believe it's taken me all week to say this but I just wanted give Holly at Homebody a great big thank you for featuring me on Monday. I was so honored and I think this new weekly feature of hers is such a generous thing for her to do for fledgling blogs like mine. Make sure to check her out on Monday to see who she'll be featuring next!

Bloggy Get Together?
Amanda of Serenity Now and I are in the very early planning stages of local bloggy get together. First we need to know if there is enough interest in such an event. Are there any mommy/homey/decor bloggers out there in the VA/MD/DC area who might be interested in getting together on a Saturday in May? If so, please leave me a comment with an email address or a link to a page containing your email so that I can get in touch with you.

Calling all Slipcovers!
If you used my tutorial to make a slipcover I would absolutely love to see photos! Please email me a photo or a link so that I can show off your handy work on my blog!

Last but not least, I'm going to get to do a guest post on Tatertots and Jello and I am so excited! I have a few project ideas , but I thought I'd throw it out to all of you- is there anything you'd particularly like to see a post about?

Love,

Sewing Machine Cover Tutorial

2010-02-24T05:43:00.001-08:00

First off, if you haven't already entered my giveaway, scroll down to my last post and leave me a comment to enter!

After showing you this the other day I've gotten a couple of requests for a sewing machine cover tutorial.

This is actually a really simple project. There are only three pieces of fabric and two seams. Mine was particularly easy because the machine I made the cover for came with a soft sided clear vinyl cover, so I just used it as a pattern. I literally just turned the cover on its side on top of my fabric, traced around it with my disappearing ink pen (love that thing!) and cut out the side pieces. The main piece is one big rectangle that goes up and over the machine like a tent. I just measured and cut out a rectangle the same size.

If you don't have a soft cover to work from, you can still do this.

For the sides, hold a sheet of paper (you may have to piece 2 together) against one side of your machine and trace around the side adding 1/2 inch for the seam allowance. If both sides of your machine are not mirror images of each other, make sure you trace the larger side.
Use this as a pattern to cut two side pieces (if your side piece is not symmetrical, make sure you flip it for the second piece!).
Now measure around the sides (but not the bottom) of this piece.
Cut one large rectangle the length of the measurement you just took by the width of your machine plus 1 inch (for a 1/2 inch seam allowance). This will be your main piece.
Stitch one side piece along each long side of your rectangle.
Hem the bottom or finish the bottom edge with ribbon as I did. You're done!

I also added a monogram to my cover using my embroidery machine. I know not everyone has access to an embroidery machine, but you could still add a monogram by either stenciling it onto your cover or by printing a monogram onto iron-on transfer paper (make sure to print it out in reverse!) and ironing it onto your cover.

BTW- does anyone notice anything a little nutty in this photo? My husband knew the spray paint fumes had gotten to my head when he noticed...

Let's look a little closer, shall we?

I prettied up my tape dispenser. Cuz' sometimes I just. can't. stop. In case anyone out there is as nuts as me, here's how to do it. Just pop it open, pull out the the little cardstock thingy and trace it onto scrapbook paper or a fabric scrap and snap it back together.

Love,

Lamp Makeover and My First Giveaway!

2010-02-22T13:16:00.000-08:00

I'm participating in DIY day at ASPTL
and Trash to Treasure at Reinvented

I showed you this in my craft area makeover post:

Now I'm back to tell you how I did it!

Here is this lamp's humble beginning:

My sister got her for free and passed her along to me several years ago (thanks, Chrissy!).

She was crying out for a makeover (the lamp, not my sister!), so first I unscrewed the lampshade and spray painted the base black.

Then after reading these instructions on making a lampshade slipcover on Marthastewart.com I cut a piece of burlap a little wider than the height of my shade and a roughly twice as long as the circumference of the bottom of the shade. I acordian folded the burlap (which was really easy because burlap can be finger pressed almost as easily as paper!)

Then I threaded a large needle with one strand of burlap fiber that I pulled from the edge of another piece. I pushed the needle through all the layers of the folded burlap a little less than an inch from the top and tied it off. I did the same to the bottom. Then I placed the almost complete lampshade "slipcover" on top of the shade and it looked like this...

um, not exactly what I had in mind. I decided at this point that the shape of the existing shade was just not working.
That was when I remembered that I had this frosted glass ceiling fan shade:

It was in the front hall closet when we moved into our house. I took off the old shade and added this in its place. Then I decided to abandon the accordion fold and opted instead to gather the top and bottom by pulling both ends of one strand of the burlap a half inch or so in from the top and bottom edge. Be careful if you try this- sometimes the strand will break and you have to start over. Maddening.

Next I spread the gathered burlap panel around the shade, glued the "seam" in the back and adjusted the gathers.

much better.

I used some fabric scraps to make a layered rosette and hot-glued it all in place till it looked like this!

she may be too cutesy for some, but I love her- especially above my craft table.

In other news- I broke 100 followers today! I'm so stinkin' excited!!

To my existing followers: I don't think I've said so before, but I just love you guys! You have no idea how much it means to me that there are people out there who actually want to see what I'm doing. I am so honored that you have chosen to follow purely because you saw something here that you liked. I love reading each of your comments- they make my day! I am so encouraged by your presence here. And so, I think it's time for my first giveaway. In order to reward my existing followers and to encourage some new friends to join the ranks (the few, the proud!) I'm hosting a giveaway for all followers.

Now on to the prize. I used to have an ebay store and sold items that I personalized with my embroidery machine. At some point I bought a slew of aprons to embroider and sell but then life got too busy and I forgot about them. That was quite a while ago. I found a huge sack of them while cleaning out my craft and sewing supplies recently. So, here's the prize. One apron of your choice embroidered with a name or monogram.

I just took this photo really quickly and it's not the greatest, but it at least gives you an idea...

The aprons are quilted 100% cotton, they're roomy, completely adjustable, have a pocket in front and a scalloped hem. You can choose from three colors. We'll call the one on the left butter (pale butter background with burgundy/rose floral), the one in the center pink (cute cottage rose print, reverses to smaller print in same colorway) and the one on the right blue (pale yellow background with blue flowers, reverses to light blue stripe). Gentlemen (I know there are a few of you- welcome!!)- I also have one plain black canvas apron and I'm sure we can come up with something sufficiently manly to embroider if you win!

Now the rules!

If you are related to me by blood or marriage or have otherwise known me more or less since birth, I'm sorry but you are disqualified (but call me and I'll make you one! Geesh!)

To show my appreciation for friends both old and new I'll give away two aprons, one to an existing follower and one to a new follower.

If you currently follow my blog, leave me a comment telling me you're an old friend. If you don't currently follow, sign up as a follower and then leave me a comment here telling me you are a new friend. That's all! 1 entry per person please.

I will draw the winner Friday night, 9:00 pm EST time.

Love,

PB Inspired Bulletin Board

2010-02-21T17:55:00.000-08:00

I'm participating in:
Brag Monday at The Graphics Fairy

DIY day at ASPTL
Trash to Treasure at Reinvented

In my last post I showed you my new sewing/crafting area:

and I gave you a glimpse of this:

now I'm back to tell you all about it! After the PB Knock-Off Party at Homebody last week, I was totally inspired by two bulletin board projects:

this one:

created by Heidi at Vacuuming in High Heels and Pearls

and this one:

created by Becky at Beyond the Picket Fence

Both were inspired by this "Rustic Wall Organizer" from Pottery Barn:

I apologize for not having any "before" pics, but when I realized I had everything I needed on hand (LOVE it when that happens!) I went into a full on 11:30 pm crafting frenzy and it was completed in less than an hour.

Here's what I used:
old corkboard from college (not as big as the inspiration pieces, but fit perfectly above my sewing machine)
Black spray paint
burlap, one piece cut to fit my bulletin board and more to form the pocket
iron-on transfer paper
tacky glue
hot glue
red grosgrain ribbon
picture wire
upholstery tacks
clip rings
images from the Graphics Fairy

First I spray painted the frame of my corkboard (in the bathroom. It worked but I don't recommend it!). My frame was unfinished pine and I didn't prime it, so the wood peaks through a bit, but I decided I kinda like it like that.

While the frame was drying I turned on my iron and printed out my images while it was heating. Then I followed the instructions on the transfer paper and ironed the images onto my burlap.

Next I glued my burlap panel to my cork board (even though the frame wasn't completely dry!) with tacky glue and glued the ribbon around the edges.

To make the pocket at the bottom I measured how long and deep I wanted the pocket to be and then I cut the burlap piece and folded it (burlap finger presses really well which makes it so easy to work with!) like a long skinny brown paper grocery bag- make sense? I hot glued the "seams" together and then hot glued the pocket to the board.

Then I pushed two upholstery tacks into the frame, wrapped some picture wire around them and added the clip rings.

Done!

How cute is this vintage dress pattern?! I can't wait to try it! I'll let you know how it goes...

Love,

Pimp My Craft Table!

2010-02-18T06:45:00.000-08:00

For the past few days my hubby has been on a business trip in sunny FL. I know, poor, poor bunny. While he was away it snowed. Again. And I did what any self-respecting momma would do in my position- I pimped my craft table!

Here is the embarrassing before:

Aside from being an utter mess, the biggest problem was that I have and use three different sewing machines- a regular machine, a serger and an embroidery machine- and they didn't all fit on my little desk/vanity, so I was constantly having to shuffle them around to sew.

I fixed that problem by risking life and limb to pick this up in the middle of snowmageddon:

a pretty drop leaf dining table that I scored on CL for $25! I LOVE it because it's dining table size with both leaves up, but with both leaves down it's a sofa table size which means it fits in my "Sewing Studio" (aka narrow hall in the basement). The best thing about it aside from the fact that it's long enough for all three machines is that I can open just the front side to give me more space when I'm sewing and then put it back down when I'm done.

Once I got the table home and in place I lifted up the dropleaf and found this:

It's Hitchcock! I did some investigating online and the details of this particular stamp mean it was made after 1946, so it's not an antique, but still a much nicer table than I thought I was getting for 25 dollars.

And here it is all decked out. Ahem.

POOF!

I finally jumped on the burlap bandwagon (can I just say I love working with burlap?!) and skirted the table with burlap trimmed in ribbon. I love, love, love it because it gives me so much concealed storage space. I can hide all manner of craft junk under the table (I have two big plastic drawer units full of sewing and crafting supplies under there) and since I lift up the dropleaf to work here all the stuff hidden behind the skirt remains undisturbed! Woot!!

In case anyone is curious about the red shelf/ribbon storage thingies here's their before shot:

I spray painted them with Krylon's Cherry Red. In the snow. Cuz I'm nuts. It looks like we were hunting wild game in our backyard. After the paint dried I hung them and put dowels through the open part in the side to hang ribbon. Easy-peasy.

Here's my sewing machine poised for action:

my netbook poised for action:

I posted about my PB inspired stretched canvas artwork and Spool Hooks in my last post- here are some sneak peaks of some of the smaller projects within this makeover that I'll be posting about over the next few days:

Monogrammed Sewing Machine Cover

Cutie-patootie Gathered Burlap Lamp

Sewing Themed Burlap Bulletin Board

In completely unrelated news, I get to go out with this guy tonight!!!

Okay, so my husband will be there. Oh, yeah and hundreds of other people, but I know he's really just singing to me.

Love,

PB Knock-Off Stretched Canvas Wall Art

2010-02-16T07:20:00.000-08:00

I'm participating in DIY Day at ASPTL,
Trash to Treasure Tuesday at Reinvented,
PB Knock-Off Party at Homebody,
And Brag Monday at the Graphics Fairy!

I've been busy sprucing up my sewing/crafting studio (aka narrow hallway in the basement adjacent to the family room) I'll show you the whole finished area soon! I wanted some cute wall decor to fill out the wall above my sewing table. While perusing the PB website I saw these cute vintage-y typewriter prints:

And I thought it would be fun to make a similar series only with images of vintage sewing machines and the like. So, I hopped over to The Graphics Fairy and found these cute vintage sewing images!

First I printed out my images and used Avery Light Fabric Transfer Paper (which worked very well but was kinda pricey so I think I might try this method next time!) to iron the image onto 13"x13" squares of osnaburg fabric. my final product would have looked closer to the PB inspiration photo if I had used a bright white canvas, but I wanted to use what I had on hand, plus I just like the texture of this fabric.

I originally planned to stretch the fabric around those square blank canvases you can buy at the craft store, but they were a little more expensive than I realized (noticing a theme here?!) and since I was just going to cover them with fabric I opted to make my own square forms out of foam core scraps I already had. In order to make 3 finished square forms I cut 6 10" squares and I used another little scrap to cut some little spacers. On three of the 10" squares I glued spacers in the corners (to give the finished square form a little more depth), then I glued another 10" square on top.

Here's a side view:

I centered my fabric on the square form...

Flipped it over and hot-glued two opposing sides around the edges...

To get the corners smooth I made a couple of snips...

then I glued down the little flaps and the other two sides.

voila! Oh, I mean POOF!

There's actually much more contrast between the prints and the wall. I took these photos at night so I had to use the flash. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out, but I still think they could use a little more oomph, so I'm thinking of hanging them from ribbon on the wall.

Also, while on the PB site I saw these "Wooden Spool Hooks" for $24 (seriously? Who would pay $24 for wooden thread spools?).

I happen to have some empty plastic spools. I spray painted them and added a little circle of fabric to the tops. I'll add a photo as soon as I finish hanging everything!

Update!!:
I just finished hanging everything!

I still have some sprucing to do, but you get the idea.
This is pretty simple. Paint spools, hammer a long nail into the wall leaving about an inch out of the wall. Hang spool on nail, hang ribbon on spool. Done.

I know my spool hooks look pretty different from the PB ones, but I rather like mine! I think I'll make some more- what else can I hang on them? Scissors? measuring tape? Hmmm...

Love,

All out of gum.

2010-02-11T23:58:00.000-08:00

We were hit with Snowmageddon Part Deux on Tuesday. Into Wednesday. It snowed for more than 24 hours. We got another 18 inches of snow. Combined with the 28 inches from last Friday and the 6 inches from the Wednesday before that, we have a grand total of 52 inches of snow! In case you're math-challenged, that's more than 4 feet!

Up to this point my wonderful hubby has insisted on doing all of the shoveling himself, but it's just too much work for one back to bear so I finally convinced him to let me have a go at it this morning.

Here's a shot of the walk up to our door. I have to say, the hard part of shoveling wasn't scooping up the snow, it was finding a place to put it once it was in the shovel! The snow "dunes" are so high now that I can barely launch the snow up high enough to clear them! After two hours of shoveling I managed to clear our walk and dig out one of our cars.

When my hubby saw how much I got done he said, "wow, babe. You're all out of gum."

"huh?" I replied.

He put on his best tough guy voice and said,"I have come here to chew gum and kick butt... And I'm all out of GUM! -- Come on, babe, it's Rowdy Roddy Piper"

Okie dokie.

Do your husbands quote random wrestlemania nonsense from the early eighties?

By the way, see that black crescent shape that I circled in this photo...

That would be the top of my husband's head. He's 6 ft tall. That's how tall the snow "dunes" are!

Okay, enough of the snow coverage and on to the topic at hand- The Daddy Chair!

BTW- I don't think I mentioned where this chair resides in our home. It's in our basement media/play/family room. It's actually a really nice room (for a basement) because it gets great light and has a big stone fireplace.

I think I'm going to go one of two ways.

After inspecting this stock image of the chair...

I think I may have come up with an acceptable plan for a slipcover.
This is obviously a really rough sketch (I just sort of colored on top of the stock photo in a simple photo editing program), but I think it's enough to get an idea...

I would have to add some foam/padding around the open part of the arms, but once I do that I think they would actually resemble my favorite arm style (like on my sofa). Then I think adding a skirt makes it look less recliner-y, and as an added bonus, the skirt would cover the handle. The only problem with this design is that when the footrest is out it will not be covered by the slipcover, but I'm okay with that since in my mind no recliner looks attractive with the footrest out.

My hesitation in going ahead with this plan is the cost of the fabric (I'll need roughly 5 yards) and the foam. I think I would need to spend a minimum of $50 on this project (and that's if I can get a good deal on fabric) not to mention the sweat equity. I don't mind spending the money or the energy slipcovering a piece of furniture that we'll have around for a while, but I don't want to do it if the chair isn't going to last for a while. Realistically, this chair is already several (not sure how old, actually!) years old and in my experience recliners eventually get all creaky and crooked and need to be replaced.

While snowed in over the last few days I've been doing some craigslist shopping and I think I may have come up with option 2- buy a new chair (and sofa?) on craigslist. Here's what I've come up with.

This chair for my boogie-

still obviously a recliner, but my hubby would LOVE it and I do like the style of the upper half, especially the nailhead trim.

and perhaps this sofa for me?

The chair is listed at $150 and the sofa at $200. Both pieces say they're in like new condition. I've contacted both sellers and haven't heard anything back, so it's likely that neither of these pieces is still available.

Our sofa in the family room could use to be replaced as well and the style isn't something that I like enough now to spend the time/money/energy making a slipcover for it. However, I could probably sell them on CL and make at least a little money to put toward a new chair and sofa. Hmmmm...

Actually, from strictly a numbers point of view, and if we were only talking about the chair, I'll have to spend at least $50 to recover the chair. Meanwhile if I sell the current chair I'm pretty sure I could get $50 for it (or at least I got $50 for an older, uglier recliner less than a year ago!) and then I would only have to spend $100 for the new CL chair. What do you think? Should I spend $50 to make a slipcover? Or spend $100 to buy the new (to me) chair on CL?

Love,

Decorating Dilemma - The Daddy Chair

2010-02-09T16:37:00.000-08:00

Do you have a decorating dilemma? If so, write up a quick post and join us at Amanda's for the decorating dilemmas party!

Here's my dilemma, my hubby insists on keeping this in our home and I just don't know what to do with it...

okay, it's really not that bad, my hubby's chair actually looks identical to this one:

only it's almost 10 years old, so it's not all new and shiny.

I don't mean to offend those of you who own reclining furniture. I swear there are only two camps on this issue- those who love reclining furniture and those who hate it. Actually, there may be a third camp. Those of us (like me) who are closet recliner lovers. I've never been crazy about the way most reclining furniture looks but when my hubby and I joined our belongings the chair appeared and I haven't been able to get rid of it. The thing is, as much as I wanted to hate everything about it I must admit it is extremely comfy and I do enjoy sitting in it. That said, our particular chair is a bit of an eyesore at this point and I would really like to replace it with something a little nicer looking.

My hubby on the other hand doesn't know how you can call a place "home" if there isn't one of these somewhere inside. I think it was written somewhere in our marriage vows that I get to decorate however I want as long as he gets a comfy recliner. It really is his only request as far as furniture/decorating is concerned so how can I deny the founder of the feast his one seemingly simple request of a "daddy chair"? I can't. So, I really need your help in finding a suitable compromise.

This may seem like a simple task, but my hubby's needs in a recliner are three-fold.

It must recline
It must rock or glide
Since he's 6 feet tall the back needs to be high enough to support his head in the reclined position.

Oh- I almost forgot number 4- it must be attractive!

To my knowledge such a chair doesn't exist, so I'm not holding my breath for the perfect solution, but maybe one of you lovelies knows of a solution??

I've considered trying to come up with some kind of slipcover solution, but because of the open design of the arm, I can't come up with an attractive design. I may keep working on this idea though.

I really love the look of this chair from ballard- never thought I'd say that about a recliner! I don't however like its $1400 price tag. Ouch! Unfortunately, even if I had $1400 to spend on one chair ( I don't!) I'm pretty sure this chair doesn't rock or glide and I think my hubby's head would come up higher than the top of this chair, so as pretty as it is it's out of the running.

Ideas? Suggestions?

Love,

Pippers and Bunnimins

2010-02-07T06:33:00.000-08:00

Just to warn you, this post has absolutely nothing to do with decorating, but if you're up for some random snow day fun and cuteness read on!

We started getting hammered with snow on Friday afternoon ...

and it didn't stop until yesterday evening! We got a total of 28 inches, and there was already about 6 inches of snow on the ground from Wednesday so we're pretty much buried in snow right now. You can't tell in this photo, but my little side porch there is actually several feet higher than the ground and the snow comes all the way up onto the porch. We actually had some trouble opening the front door!

Seemed like the perfect morning for homemade cinnamon buns, or as Jellybean calls them- bunnimins!

I used this recipe which has you make the dough in a bread machine, but if you scroll through the recipe reviews you'll find instructions for making the recipe without a bread machine. Oh- I also followed one reviewers tip and made the dough and assembled the buns the night before. In the morning I just popped them in the oven and frosted them. I don't know about you, but there's no chance my little ones would wait patiently for two hours for their breakfast!

They were yummy.

Seriously yummy.

Here's some gratuitous sweetness...

This little girl LOVES her daddy!

After breakfast it was time to brave the elements.
Jellybean got all suited up, stepped outside for several seconds and then ran back in asking for glasses beacause as she put it- the cold was getting in her eyes.
There, that's better! AWESOME!!

When I asked her what was in her backpack she said, "princess stuff".

there you have it.

I did not venture outside. Instead I started going through my fabric stash and found some cute printed flannel and fleece pieces that my SIL gave me a while back (thanks, Andrea!). Seemed like a good day to try out this pattern to make some slippers for my girls (or as my nearly 2-year-old calls them, "pippers!"). I first traced my girls' feet and figured out how much to enlarge the pattern for each girl. Once I got the pieces cut out, it went really fast.

They are printed flannel on the outside and they're lined in fleece. The soles are a heavy cotton twill. I added an extra layer of fleece to the soles to make them a little warmer and cushier.

I placed the toe pattern piece carefully so that there would be a princess on top of each foot.

They may look upside down,

but to the wearer they are right side up!

Can you tell she put her socks on all by herself?

Love,

5 Reasons Why My Blog Rocks!

2010-02-04T06:14:00.000-08:00

In case you're wondering about my title, no, I don't need a big slice of humble pie. I'm participating in the "5 Reasons Why My Blog Rocks" party at Serenity Now!

Amanda created this party as an opportunity for those of us who couldn't go to Blissdom to network and get to know each other.

Actually this is sorta hard for me- as I suspect it is for most women. We're generally taught at a pretty young age that it's not nice to brag, and while men seem to learn the difference between bragging and self-promotion, most women I know (myself included) can't even take a compliment! I guess we think we'll seem full of ourselves if we just say "thank you" when someone says something nice about us?

My Boogie (in case you're new here, that's my goofy pet name for my husband) has been trying to cure me of this since we met. On one of our first dates while answering all of the typical getting-to-know-you questions it came up that he was a fine art minor in college. Then he said something like, "I paint. I'm actually really good at it." I was a little startled that he could state his talent so plainly. Then it was my turn. I told him I was a music major with a vocal concentration. He said something like, "so, you sing. Are you good?" To him it was a simle question, but I couldn't bring myself to say "yes, I'm quite good" even though I had a degree to prove it! Since then he has been forcing me to just smile and say thank you every time he gives me a compliment, no matter what. Sometimes it takes all I've got not to disqualify the compliment with some sarcastic comment, but I'm getting better at it!

So here it goes, my 5 reasons why my blog rocks!

1. No filler posts here!

I don't post everyday, but I'm trying for 3 times a week, and while my posts are not as frequent as some other bloggers, I only post when I really have somthing interesting to share.

2. I love a good makeover!

Most of my posts involve before and after photos, either of simple solutions for problem spots around the house, room makeovers, or furniture makeovers.

3. My projects are either cheap or free

I'm a sahm, and living on one salary means I can't spend much (or sometimes anything!) on my decorating projects. I find that this actually works to my advantage since necessity is the mother of all invention- motherhood has necessitated my inventions! So along with some cool diy projects I'll offer ways to procure the materials for next to nothing.

4. I offer clear instructions and lots of encouragement!

Some of my projects are simple, others may seem pretty lofty, but I'll always do my best to give you all the information and encouragement you need to get the job done!

5. I'll be the guinea pig!

All this necessity makes me come up with some pretty hair-brained ideas (like turning garbage into furniture) and I'm crazy enough to try them out! I'll work the kinks out so you get the benefit of my mistakes and my successes!

There, I guess that wasn't so hard! I hope you'll come back to visit me again soon!

Love,

Clementine Crate Footstool Tutorial

2010-02-02T09:07:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the lack of details in my last post! Here's the how-to if you'd like to make something like this:

Out of this!

By the way- I did this as a footstool for my living room, but I think this would be super cute as little kid seats or tea party "tuffets" as my girls are calling it!

Materials:

Clementine Crate

Foam

Fabric (my crate required a 20" x 24" piece, not sure if all brands are the same size?)

Dresser knobs, old finials, whatever you have on hand to act as feet!

Fabric

Trim

Hot Glue

Sewing Machine- Optional

Lipped Piping- Optional

Butter Knife- Optional

Step One: Trim foam pieces to fit the top and sides of your crate and hot glue them in place. Note- my pic below is incorrect! Learn from my msitake! If you use egg crate foam (like the blue foam in the pic below) glue it bumpy-side in! Otherwise the bumpy surface will show through your fabric. I pulled mine off and reglued it but I forgot to take another photo!

Step Two: Hot Glue or drill knobs onto the ends of the little posts on the crate to act as feet for your footstool. Spray paint them first if yours are all crazy mis-matched colors like mine! Sorry I forgot to get a photo of this step!

Step Three: Cover your crate in fabric. I used fabric leftover from my slipcovered coffee table project and I used my embroidery machine to add the "F". Just center your 20" x 24" fabric piece over your padded crate(measure your crate first to make sure this size is adequate since I'm not sure if all clementine crates are the exact same size!), make hospital corners just like making a bed or wrapping a gift and pin in place snugly.

If you're slightly less nuts than I am (Like crazy enough to try making a footstool out of garbage, but not crazy enough to put a whole afternoon into it!) You can hot glue the raw edges of the fabric to the inside of the crate, take the pins out, hot glue some trim around the bottom and call it a day. But if "you are just my brand of crazy" (sweet words spoken to me by my Boogie when we realized we were falling for each other!) then here are a few more steps for you...

Step Four: Top stitch the four corners in place on your sewing machine and slip your little cover onto your padded crate.

Step Five: Tuck the raw edges under making them level with the sides (not the posts) of the box. Hot glue purchased lipped piping just under the folded-under edge of the fabric.

Step Six: Measure the perimeter of your padded crate and multiply by 3. That's the length of fabric you'll need if you want to make the little knife-edge pleated ruffle at the bottom. Piece together a strip of fabric 2" wide by (perimeter times 3) for the length. Make sense? Turn under about 1/8" hem with your fingers while feeding the strip through your sewing machine (I could have used more width and turned it under twice, but then I would have had to press in place first and that just seemed like way to much effort for this little project.) Then, using a butter knife as a guide, pleat the hemmed strip around the knife and use little dots of hot glue to hold the pleats in place. You could certainly pin and stitch the pleats in place, but I wanted this project done before Puxatawney Phil rears his head again, so I opted for glue.

Step Seven: Hot glue the raw edge of the pleated trim under the edge of the piping.

You're Done!!

Love,

Oh my darlin'...

2010-02-02T06:12:00.000-08:00

What do you get when you cross a clementine crate, some leftover fabric and foam, and 4 old dresser knobs?

an upholstered footstool, of course!

In the interest of time I'm keeping this one short and sweet, but I will gladly do a tutorial if anyone's interested.

Update: I just posted the tutorial here.

BTW- am I the only one who can't keep track of the linky parties I want to participate in? Anyone know if McLinky has a calendar with all of the parties listed by topic or something?

Today I'm participating in:

Trash to Treasure at Reinvented

DIY day at ASPTL

Before and After Party at TDC

Love,

Mug-shot

2010-01-29T00:01:00.000-08:00

It's no secret that I'm a coffee lover.

Did anyone else fall completely in love with these mugs shown on the Sept. 2008 cover of BHG?

Are they the sweetest?! I'm completely ga-ga for them. Unfortunately for me, they're $24 per cup and I'm pretty sure that doesn't include shipping. Sorry I couldn't get a bigger pic of them for you, but the site they're sold on won't let me steal the photo! How dare they?! If you'd like to see them close up, go to maisonreve.com. If you click on Shop- House- Kitchen, they're the first item that comes up.

While online shopping for a reasonable stand-in I spotted these vintage french cuties on etsy...

Apparently this type of cup is called a "mazagran"? I believe that definition has more to do with the shape of the cup than the lack of a handle, but what do I know. If anyone out there can educate me on this- I'm all ears!!
This set costs $35, plus $25 shipping. Will someone out there please buy these so that I won't be so tempted?!

Love,

Simple Wall-Mounted Charging Station

2010-01-25T00:01:00.000-08:00

I'm participating in DIY day at ASPTL
and Works For Me Wednesday at We are That Family!

If you've ever read the flylady you know all about hot spots, otherwise known as those little surface areas that tend to be piled with a new load of junk everyday. The catch all spots that each member of your family adds a few items to everyday until you can no longer see the surface.

Here's mine:

Let's see...
My bag? check.
Jellybean's favorite princess sweatshirt? Check.
Boogie's measuring tape? Check.
Gloves? Bible? Pirate hat? Check, check and check, matey!

Nester's pos t a few days ago inspired me to try to sort out my problem with a simple solution. You may not be able to tell from this photo, but my biggest problem in this area is not all the clutter, It really doesn't take long for me to sort those items back to their original owners. The biggest problem here is this:

There are so many little devices that tend to get charged here and their respective cords tend to hang out and party here long after their devices have been charged. I've wanted to incorporate some kind of charging station in this area for a while. I looked into buying one, but aside from costing more than I'm willing to spend, they all seemed to take up too much real estate on a small counter top like mine. I thought something wall mounted would be perfect, but I didn't have any luck finding a wall-mounted charging station that could accomodate 4 plus devices.

I thought about making something- let's see... it would need to be long enough to store several devices on top, not jut out too far from the wall, and have a hollow space inside to hide the cords. Wait a minute, that sounds a whole lot like something I already own! I had this ledge shelf in my bathroom and it happened to fit the bill perfectly.

The right end covers the outlet and all the unruly cords are hidden inside. The back and bottom of the shelf are open, so I can still get to the outlet without taking the shelf down- with a little effort.

I used these to hang it on the tile.

Then I just wound up the cords with twist ties and hid them inside, extended the head and a few inches of each cord on the shelf top and taped each cord in place on the under side of the shelf.

Have you found a new practical use for something around your

home? I'd love to hear about it!

Love,