at home with H

Friday Finds: Owl Umbrella Stand

2012-01-27T09:25:00.000-05:00

While browsing Marshall’s the other day I stumbled upon this fun white ceramic owl umbrella stand. I had every intention of bringing him home since we’ve been having unseasonably warm weather this winter with a lot of rain and I’m sick of my umbrella being tossed on the floor by the back door. I was pleasantly surprised when I looked at the price - $12 on clearance.

The more I looked at my little white owl I thought it reminded me of one I had seen while looking at a site for living room furniture. Sure enough, there he was…

…for the low cost of $149 plus $20 shipping! They are so similar and mine was a fraction of the cost at only $12 so I think I found a major score!

Bookshelf Layering

2012-01-25T08:16:00.000-05:00

I have two large bookshelves in my home office that I predominately use to store books. Imagine that. I love moving things around on it since it just hasn’t felt quite right to me. I realized what it was the other day – I needed another layer of interest. Sure, your eye moves up and around the bookshelves due to the placement of items but it needed something else that I couldn’t put my finger on until this past weekend.

I recently received a certificate from the Oval Office that honored my father’s service to his country. Every time I see this certificate my heart swells a little with pride for my father, pride for our country and pride for being part of a military family. If you remember, my father served in the United States Marine Corps (see the memory shadowbox I made for him here). When he passed away this past September, our funeral director filled out the form so that each of my family members would receive this certificate that was signed by none other than President Obama.

I decided to frame the picture using one of my favorite $4 frames from Michael’s. I replaced the white mat with a nice navy blue and white one that I found on clearance at Michael’s for $3. I then attached the frame to the bookshelf using 3M Command Strips (see how else I’ve used them here, here and here). I think the frame adds a new layer of interest to the shelves and it was exactly what this space needed.

It says:

“The United States of America honors the memory of <dad>. This certificate is awarded by a grateful nation in recognition of devoted and selfless consecration to the service of our country in the Armed Forces of the United States.”

I also added a few more Dad-related things to the bookshelf. The first is the beer stein I gave him from my trip to Switzerland. You can see it by the framed certificate in the picture above. I also added his copper bookend…

…and a brass apple that I found at my favorite antique store in the U.P. I bought this in December for $3 and love it since apples remind me of Dad. The bonus is that it is a bowl with lid so I placed some of Dad’s small trinkets inside. In the past I’ve painted brass items but I love the brass on the old apple so it will remain untouched.

Anyone else hang pictures on their bookshelves?

Simple Fix: Pillow Forms

2012-01-23T11:49:00.001-05:00

I try to purchase toss pillows that have down inserts but sometimes I fall in love with a pillow and totally disregard what the filling is for that pillow. Case in point – the pillows I bought last year for the couch. I LOVED the fabric but the pillows are filled with loose fill. The problem with loose fill is that it quickly loses its shape and when you take naps on the couch using said pillows, you’re bound to end up with half smashed pillows like this:

Enter my quick fix. Scour HomeGoods/TJMaxx/whatever store you like to find ugly pillows on clearance that have down inserts. The fabric covers won’t matter since you will end up donating those or tossing them anyway so disregard if there is a cat on the cover or if the pillow doesn’t match your house. You just want the guts of the pillow to stuff a cover you already have or to use as you make a new cover out of the beautiful fabric you just had to have. (yep, been there!)

I recently bought two pillows from HomeGoods – the coverless one was $6 and the other was $8 (I ended up returning the coral/green one since I remembered a down pillow I had in the basement that I could use) – to replace the loose fill in the two couch pillows.

Remove the stitching from your old cover. I like to use a seam ripper rather than scissors to ensure I don’t cut the fabric by accident since I’ve totally done that.

Remove the gross, loose fill.

Laugh at how much fill was in the two pillows when you spy it in a pile on the floor.

Stuff the pillow with the new down insert and re-stitch the cover closed.

That’s it! Now you’ll have a softer, fluffier pillow that won’t lose its shape from all those naps you take on the couch.

Eye Candy

2012-01-20T08:19:00.000-05:00

I’ve been hitting up my local HomeGoods way too often lately while looking for chairs so of course I found some goodies that I had to snap pictures of with my iPhone. First up, this chair. Oh how I love this chair but I’m not sure it fits into the ‘look’ of my house. The pattern is awesome, the nail head trim gets me every time and I love the chocolate legs.

This chair made me laugh but I do love the bottom. It reminds me of the chair and sofa from Thomasville that I was looking at online.

I think I gasped a little when I saw this capiz fixture in person. It is for tea lights but with the huge opening at the top you could easily convert this into a ceiling light fixture.

I want this ottoman but sadly I don’t have anywhere for it in my home. I love the shape and the fabric.

If you’re looking for an industrial stool for your kitchen/bar then run to HG and grab some of these adjustable stools. They have them in an oil rubbed bronze finish or white. Each store seems to only have one or two so you’d have to hit up a few stores but I’ve seen them at all five HomeGoods I’ve been to in the past couple of weeks.

I have a slight throw problem – much like my small pillow problem. That problem is that I want to bring them all home with me and then I don’t have anywhere to store them when they aren’t in use. I loved the colors and detail on this throw.

So did I actually buy anything? I got a new pillow for the living room (on clearance for $14, down from $20). I love the way the four pieces meet up in the middle to form the navy squares. And like I said, I have a pillow problem.

We’re going to get some snow tonight so I’m excited for the weekend. Happy Friday!

How To: Starch Fabric to Walls

2012-01-18T10:07:00.000-05:00

If you read blogs then you’ve seen people starching fabric to walls instead of using wallpaper for the past year or two online. I’ve always wanted to try it but couldn’t decide where in my house to do so. So, when I was home in October and we removed the old wallpaper in my Mom’s bedroom I knew that wall would be perfect for this project…mainly because the wallpaper ruined her drywall so just painting it would not be an option and it was a feature wall so it needed something special. This was definitely a two-person job since I held the fabric taut while Mom used the wallpaper device to spread the fabric out.

We followed the instructions here, but there are a ton of instructions out there.

Supplies:

Fabric – we used a cotton fabric that worked perfectly. I’m guessing home decor fabric would also work but the cotton was easy to saturate and smooth on the wall
Several bottles of fabric starch – we used Sta-Flo
Wallpaper smoothing device
Sponge
Scissors or utility knife
Push pins
Drop cloth
Paper towels

Step 1. Measure your walls. The instructions said to add 6” to the height but I’m here to tell you to also add at least 2” to the side since the fabric shrunk as we put it on the wall. Maybe if you prewashed the fabric this wouldn’t happen but I couldn’t be sure. Just add the extra inches – it will save you the headache later.

Step 2. Lay out your drop cloth to protect the floor – this process is MESSY and you’ll be happy you did it. Also, I advise wearing short sleeves since I had to keep pushing my sleeves up with my starch-covered hands.

Step 3. Pour the starch into a bucket (we used a tote) then dip the fabric into the starch. Make sure that the entire piece is coated on the front and back – ring out any excess starch since it just needs to be wet – not dripping.

Step 4. Press the fabric into place on the wall and use your hands/wallpaper smoother/sponge to get out all the bubbles. We started with the corner next to the window and we started at the bottom since we figured the top, once cut, could be tucked into the ceiling trim and we wanted a smooth edge at the bottom where people would see it (remember, we only did a half wall so the bottom was along the picture ledge in the top picture in this post – not the bottom of the wall). This proved to be difficult since I was standing on a step stool holding the fabric up with my arms – the next time I do this I’ll start at the top corner and work my way down.

Keep smoothing the fabric into place, making sure you get rid of the bubbles. We used the wallpaper smoother, a sponge and paper towels at times. We found it easy for me to pull the fabric taut while Mom smoothed along the bottom since that resulted in fewer bubbles. I then pulled the fabric taut at the top and used a sponge to smooth out the fabric.

Press push pins into the fabric and wall periodically to hold it in place while you work.

Step 5. Once the fabric is smooth on the wall, trim off the extra at the top/bottom/sides. We waited until the fabric was dry so that it was easier to cut and we used a very sharp utility knife. Once we trimmed, we could tuck any imperfect cuts under that ceiling trim. The instructions noted that if you have jagged cuts you could add a decorative trim to the wall but we didn’t want to do that. Make sure you use a sharp knife or scissors and take your time making the cuts.

That picture above makes me want to bust out the caulk gun again – guess I’ll do that next time I’m home. In the pictures below you can see that although we added 1/2” to our fabric side cut, we were about 1.5” short. Damn. This is again where I’ll warn you to add extra length to the side measurement as well. We cut a small strip and starched it to the wall using the same smoothing method. The first picture is the too-short cut and the second picture is with the added strip. Luckily this is behind the door but you really can’t tell that we goofed up. Now that I’m looking at the pictures I kind of wish we just took the fabric to the door frame and covered that tiny sliver of painted wall but it still looks great. I found myself running my hands over the fabric each time I walked past her room.

That’s it! We did get a little bit of bubbling in a few spots once the fabric had dried and stiffened. We just used the sponge to add a little starch to the bubbly area to get it wet again and then pressed it back into place. This worked like a charm. Now Mom just needs to decide what to put on the picture ledge (we just tossed some things up there to see what it looks like) and her room is finished! If she ever tires of the look, she can easily remove the fabric without damaging the walls, wash the fabric and then reuse it elsewhere!

I now want to starch fabric to a wall in my house…a very small wall so that I can easily tackle the project myself. The only problem is finding the perfect fabric since I haven’t had any luck so far.

Furniture Shopping Update

2012-01-16T07:47:00.000-05:00

I mentioned a week or two ago that I’m looking for new living room furniture. I didn’t realize how hard this would be. I’m pretty lucky in that there are a ton of HomeGoods stores around my house to look at chairs. This past weekend I went to a few of them and found some contenders. The first is a gorgeous Thomasville chair with gray and chocolate brown threads. I love the shape and the nailhead trim, not to mention it was comfy.

One of the stores had the Thomasville chair in a lighter color:

I also found this fun chair but I think I would tire of the pattern. I do like that it shows more leg since Sami won’t be able to grab the fabric and slide across the floor like she does with my current chair (thus ripping holes in the fabric).

Since two of the chairs were from Thomasville I thought I’d check out their site. I fell in love with one couch (Griffin) but it is longer than I want for the space (although it is the same length as my current couch). I love that it has a single back and those legs – they would make it much easier to find Sami’s toys under the couch not to mention that they are just pretty to look at. I’m not sure if you can tell but this couch also has nailhead trim and a gorgeous side profile. I’m not sure on the comfort factor since I haven’t sat in it in person…yet.

They do make a side chair in the same style. While I wouldn’t get matching chair and sofa, I might consider just the chair since I just love those legs and the detailing.

I did go to Crate and Barrel and I’m sad to say that the Vaughn sofa that I was lusting after is not comfortable – at all. So, my wallet thanks me for taking that one out of the running. I wasn’t super impressed with any of the other Crate and Barrel couches, though I did like the Hennessey sofa but I wonder if it will be comfortable since the back is so much shorter and it won’t support your neck. I really hate how intense Art Van’s salesmen are when you shop there but they do have two sofas that caught my eye online. I’m interested in the Roxbury II sofa since I like the single back and the size is perfect and the Grand Bay sofa since I love the nailhead trim and again the size is perfect.

So the hunt continues…

Apartment: Gallery Wall and Living Spaces

2012-01-13T09:08:00.000-05:00

The apartment has a LONG hall from the front door to the living space at the other end of the building. My parents have a ton of pictures from pictures of family to pictures my brother drew. Bet you didn’t know that – my younger brother is the family artist. He paints/draws/tattoos. Did I shock you with the tattoo part? You should see the art the kid has done on himself – amazing. Anyway, back to the hall. I thought it would be fun to hang most of Mom’s pictures in one spot since I love gallery walls and the hallway was just asking for groupings of pictures to make that long trek down the hall interesting. We made two large groupings since I felt that if we covered all of the walls it would be too much and this lets you stand back and look at the pictures without feeling like you might brush up against frames on the opposite wall. I hope that explanation makes sense!

Here’s part of the long hall before:

And here is it now that we painted the walls a creamy beige, swapped out the brown outlets for white ones, painted the baseboards white and added the galleries of pictures:

Normally I would lay out the design on the floor and then use pieces of paper cut to size to properly hang the art on the walls (see here, here and here). However, this time we just put all of the pictures on the floor, started with a couple of big ones on each wall and then started filling in the space around the pictures with smaller pictures/art and some fun items like a license plate from WV, some metal leaves and block letters. Do you spot a young Heather as a bluebird?

We had two old pictures of our old home – one was a painting and another was an original picture from 1912 (1916? I forget). Mom had those hanging before I got there on a small wall between the storage room and the wall of closets.

The living room and dining room were done when I got into town – yea! Mom bought a new light fixture from a local store and had them turn it into a hanging fixture for over the dining room table and her friends helped move the furniture into the room. Here is the blank slate of a before…

…and now. The first picture is what you see when you walk into the room from the hallway. We still haven’t figured out where to put the folding screen of pictures (seen next to the couch in the pic below) so for now it is just resting against the wall. I’m a HUGE fan of long curtains but you just can’t do them in this apartment since under almost every window is a baseboard heater and those suckers get hot.

The living room did get one change after I took the daytime pictures- we moved out the large recliner and replaced it with the small antique rocker that Mom had in the front room. The recliner is being put up for sale since it was just too large for the space. This picture was taken during our New Years Eve game night so ignore the mess!

The Master bedroom got a fresh coat of paint in October and a new wall treatment in December. Yes – Mom and I finally tackled a project that I’ve been eager to try…we starched fabric to a wall! Steps and pictures to come! Here was the room back in October…

…and here it is now. The bed looks HUGE in this picture and the Queen sized bed is a little large for the room but it isn’t as massive as this picture makes it seem. Mom isn’t 100% happy with the pictures on the wall so I’m sure she’ll modify them again while I’m gone. She said she just hung some up and wasn’t thrilled with the result but we didn’t get a chance to redo it while I was home.

All I helped do to this room in December was to hang that awesome fabric. The Guest bedroom also got a makeover. Mom painted the room, ordered a new bed and moved furniture into the room before I got there. I helped hang pictures – that’s it. I love when things are already done for me. ;) Oh, and I showed her a trick to make the window seem larger than it is by hanging the curtains wider than the window frame. It works like a charm every time. Here was the before…

…and the after.

Mom still has some decorating to do in here and I’d love to revamp that laundry basket the next time I’m home.

So that’s it – I worked in the evenings for one week and during the days another week but we got a LOT done in that time. I’m so happy to help Mom get things done since she said the house feels like her home now…and that really is all that matters.

*In case you missed the initial posts about the apartment you can find them here and here. *

Apartment: Bathroom Updates

2012-01-11T09:21:00.000-05:00

We didn’t have to do much to the bathroom this time around since when I was home in October we: stripped the wallpaper, painted the walls a pretty purple that Mom chose, applied water sealer to the wood, ripped up the linoleum and installed ceramic tile, painted the baseboards and trim around the doors and window white, installed new towel bars, painted the ceiling white and removed the old mirror and sconces Here’s a look back at where we started and where we are today:

Since I was home last, Mom ordered a shower curtain from Target, bought an antique mirror from a local antique shop, painted the vanity and replaced the knobs, had a new sink installed, hung up a picture and moved her stuff in here. While I was home I installed new Hampton Bay wall sconces that I brought up north from the Home Depot here, hung a left-over piece of Light Effects Etched Leaf window film in the window so that Mom has some privacy (go here for steps on how to hang them), touched up the paint, scrubbed and caulked the shower, and helped Mom pick out a new bathroom mat.

And now (I keep forgetting to turn on the lights in the shower when I take pictures – the shower isn’t a dark dungeon like it appears in the picture – it is actually nicely lit with a light in the shower):

The bathroom is like nothing Mom has ever had before since it is super girly. I think she had fun in this room not only with the colors but with the feminine accents.

Apartment: Organization and Cleaning up the Clutter

2012-01-09T09:24:00.000-05:00

My parents have been married for 37 years so they accumulated a lot of STUFF for those 37 years together plus anything they both brought into their home from their childhood. Now, that is a lot of STUFF. When I first walked into the apartment last month I was shocked – the front room was filled with boxes and STUFF so that there was only a small path to walk through to get into the apartment. When you first walk up the (what feels like a thousand) stairs, you are greeted by the outdoor swing, treadmill and random items.

When you turn to the left to actually go to the front door, you are greeted with even more boxes and random items lying about. Notice the flooring – we ripped up the old shag carpet in October so Mom has been lying down peel-and-stick linoleum tiles as she can, starting with the far corner to the left. This front room will eventually be storage (in that far corner to the left), will have a mudroom area with hooks for hanging jackets and a place for your shoes as well as a homemade bench (once I get back up there and make it) by the front door, and then the treadmill will be somewhere up there for walking during Michigan’s cold winter. While I was home, I was able to help get rid of things (we took a bunch of items to St. Vincent’s, the transfer station and some was tossed), organize a bit and bring some things into the apartment where they belong. When I left, the front room looked like this:

At least you can walk to the front door now without banging your knee on anything. ;) This room has a far way to go before it is finished. Another room that needed some organization was the laundry room. Mom did a great job with organizing the cleaning supplies but I made a few changes while I was home.

I corralled similar items in baskets (light bulbs in one, cleaning rags in another, laundry items in a third, etc.), hung a hanging organizer for the broom/mop/etc. and moved the painting supplies to the entry room storage so that the vacuum cleaner bucket (blue above) could slide back by the wall. I just need to point out that my Mom had five bottles of glass cleaner – she shouldn’t have to buy glass cleaner for the rest of her life.

The storage room also needed a little cleaning and organizing. My mom owns a LOT of kitchen items – so many that they don’t all fit in the kitchen so she is using the wall cabinets to hold the less-used items.

I had her get rid of some items she doesn’t need, we moved the shelves out to the front room for storage out there, bought a cat litter box mat so Callie stops tracking litter everywhere and reorganized the shelves that hold her tools.

We still plan on hiding the shelves and litter box to the left but we ran out of time. Here’s a close-up of the linoleum she put down in here – this is also going in the front room.

The last room that I helped organize and clean was the craft room. This room made me catch my breath when I first saw all of the stuff she had in there but I was eager to jump in and organize it.

We spent a few nights in here getting rid of old supplies, hanging up the organizer and its bins, filling said organizer bins, organizing the closet, making labels, organizing the craft papers, organizing the stamps, etc. We still need to find the other curtain panel, hang things on the walls and organize a few more things but I’m happy with our progress. She wanted her desk in the middle of the room so she is underneath that huge light and she can look out the window while working. We also left the child’s desk in here for now at her request but I’d love to see it elsewhere since it is one more surface for her to place things on, which she doesn’t need. ;)

These boxes were filled with things when we started but we emptied around 15 boxes by getting rid of stuff or merging things. I was able to reuse these containers in the laundry room (see above) and the storage room.

We turned the closet into a huge organizational closet filled with labeled boxes and bins. I love the rods for the ribbons, which was Mom’s idea. It worked out great!

Now you know how I spent most nights on my vacation. It’s a good thing I like to organize or I would have gone crazy. ;) I still have a ton more pictures to show you of the bedrooms, bathroom, hall and living room. Stay tuned!

Welcome 2012

2012-01-06T09:35:00.000-05:00

I’m a little behind on welcoming the new year and talking about any resolutions. I don’t like to call them resolutions but rather things that I *will* accomplish this year. I have only five that I want to share:

1 ~ I am good at helping others get rid of things but the truth is that I also have some things I can let go of and I’d love to just clear the clutter in my home. So, I’ll likely post about cleaning out the house, possibly holding my first ever yard sale (or go the easy route and just use Craigslist) and whatever else comes up to help clear the clutter!

2 ~ The only places I have visited in the past few years are Florida to see my brothers or Upper Michigan to see my parents. I love to travel and hope to go to at least one new place this year, although I’ll still go to FL and the UP since I have a June wedding in FL this year and I always go home at least once.

3 ~ Build something. I love transforming furniture but I’d love to take a stab at building something this year. I built a shelf last year that I still adore so I know I have it in me. There are a couple of things I really want in the living room so maybe I’ll start there. Who knows where I’ll end up!

4 ~ Michigan is a great state to live in and I don’t see nearly enough of it. I want to visit as many of the parks as I can this year to go camping and/or hiking. I’d also love to find unique antique stores or great eateries while I explore. There really is a lot to see and do in my own backyard so to speak so I need to view more of it.

5 ~ I make the same things over and over again so I’d love to expand my cooking skills (and recipe set) to cook more. The only hard part is that cooking for one or two people is a lot harder than for a family since I’m terrible at cutting down recipes and I hate leftovers. So, here’s hoping I can expand my skills (and maybe even take a class!).

Of course the usual go along with this list – try to get in shape, floss more and cut back on the soda. :) I’m working on those already so I need to get a jump on the rest! Happy 2012 to you!

Apartment: Kitchen Updates

2012-01-04T09:09:00.000-05:00

Mom’s apartment kitchen needed a few updates while I was home. When we first saw the apartment the walls were a dark paneling and the cabinets were a dark wood. Before I got there, she primed and painted the kitchen a lighter beige color to brighten things up (and one wall was painted the same green as the adjoining dining room to add a touch of color). When I got there one of the drawers in the kitchen wouldn’t fully open since we didn’t take into account the size of the new stove’s oven handle when we ordered the appliances and the drawer hit up against the oven handle when you tried to open it. Here’s the before shot of that side of the kitchen:

See how the old stove is right next to the cabinet and drawer to the right? We decided to swap the position of the cabinet/drawer combo that is to the left of the stove and the stove itself since that cabinet was not attached to the wall and was easy to move. This would allow the drawer on the cabinet along the long wall to open. The only problem with the move is that the stove had a standard 4’ range cord and it was just a tad too short to allow me to move the stove to the new position. Luckily, a quick search online showed that you can easily buy replacement range cords. Problem solved! I bought a 6’ 3-wire range cord at a local hardware store for $20. It was then simply a matter of unattaching the old cord and attaching the new one to the back of the stove before plugging it in. Ours had three wires like the one below so you simply attached each wire in the correct order and you’re good to go. Sorry – no pictures of this process since it was impossible to do this by myself and take pictures at the same time.

Once I was able to move the stove and cabinet I ran into my next problem. (Do you see a theme – nothing is ever as easy as you think it will be!) The mobile cabinet was about an inch higher than the wall of cabinets since it sits on top of the new tile floor while the cabinets are installed on the original plywood floor. At this time I (we) decided not to do anything about that since I didn’t feel like trying to cut down the bottom of the cabinet to make them level. I figured if it bothers Mom enough I can tackle it the next time I’m home. I did this quick switch while Mom was working so she was pleasantly surprised to come home to a rearranged kitchen!

We then realized how far out the cabinet stuck from the wall – this was because it was butting up against the huge range plug. After some thought, we decided to cut a hole into the back of the cabinet for the plug to rest into and then we drilled another hole on the side of the cabinet to feed the rest of the cord through. If you ever look at a range cord, you’ll notice that those suckers are heavy and thick and would never allow the cabinet to rest against the wall without some modifications. Once we cut our holes (again, no pictures – sorry!) and pushed everything in place we had to adjust the height of the stove since it was lower than the cabinet. This was an easy fix since you simply twist the stove feet until the stove is the correct height.

The final problem that we needed to solve was that the range hood was no longer centered over the stove. Easy enough fix – I told Mom that we could easily unscrew the cabinets from the wall and move them where we wanted without any issue. Mom, being a trooper, held onto the cabinets while I unscrewed them from the wall. Notice the unpainted ceiling and the long cut in the wall to the right of the hood wire. It looks like the range hood used to be closer to where we placed it since the wires were originally where we wanted them. You can also see the slightly higher cabinet in the picture below.

We then measured each cabinet to figure out where to hang them and again, while she held onto them from below, I rehung the cabinets on the wall making sure to use a level to ensure they were straight.

I was initially worried about the long cabinet dangling in space but I think Mom’s wooden garbage can anchors it so I’m happy with the placement that she requested - mostly because the other side is so much bigger and brighter with the cabinets moved over. I then filled in the holes with spackling, sanded, primed and painted the walls. This side of the kitchen looked like this after I was done:

Notice anything else? I added knobs and pulls to the cabinets to dress them up a bit and so Mom can easily open them. Originally I wanted to paint the cabinets but for now they are staying brown and I think the knobs/pulls definitely help lighten things. We didn’t have much to choose from but Mom found some that she liked at Wal-Mart ($6 for a six pack of knobs and $6 for a two-pack of handles if I remember correctly). The best way to install knobs/handles is to use templates like the ones I used. I bought mine at Home Depot when I remodeled my own kitchen years ago.

The template allows you to place the knob in the exact same location on each cabinet door/drawer – no thinking or measuring required!

I then took final kitchen pictures to show you and my family thinking that my help in the kitchen was done. I was wrong but I’ll get to that. Let’s look back at the kitchen before:

And here are the pictures I took after all of our hard work – my brothers and nephew installed the new tile flooring in October, Mom painted and then Mom and I made all of the updates listed above in December:

I took these pictures on 12/30 – on 12/31 we hung some pictures near the stove (above the strawberry canisters) and we installed a metal tile backsplash behind the sink. What?!? Yes – on New Years Eve while drinking some wine we decided to hang the backsplash that I didn’t think I’d get to while I was there. This was an easy project – Mom bought the tiles a year or more ago at an inexpensive price that she can’t remember (ha!). We simply attached the foam adhesive to the back…

…and then pressed them into place, making sure we lined up the pattern correctly.

We had to trim around the outlets but we didn’t have to cut the sides since the tile ended at the edge of the upper cabinets perfectly.

Mom just needs to caulk between the tile and the countertops so that water no longer gets back there and she’ll be all set. This was an inexpensive, easy way to add a backsplash where one was greatly needed since water had damaged the wall previously.

I wish I had gotten a picture of the kitchen with the new tile since it looks amazing. This added a fun element to the kitchen and took the room from county cottage to country cottage with a kick.

So the list of things I/we did in December is:

Installed a new range power cord
Moved the stove and cabinet to new locations
Moved the upper cabinets above the stove to new locations
Spackled, sanded, primed and painted the walls
Touched-up the paint in the rest of the kitchen (not mentioned above)
Adjusted the stove legs
Cut a hole in the back of a lower cabinet so that the range plug would slide into it, allowing the cabinet to push against the wall
Hung a new tile backsplash
Hung the knife storage (not mentioned above – this is the same as my knife storage – love it)
Replaced the kitchen sink sprayer (not mentioned above)
Installed cabinet knobs/pulls
Bought an appliance extension cord after we blew a fuse trying to use the microwave – appliances should always be plugged in using an appliance extension cord if you use an extra cord at all and she was using a simple household cord

Whew! I’m getting tired again just thinking about it.

How To: Make a Hanging Organizer

2012-01-02T15:02:00.001-05:00

Mom and I saw some hanging organizers in a small gift shop a few months ago that were selling for $25 and immediately knew that we could recreate them at a fraction of the cost. So, we decided to make a few for holiday gifts for her friends this year.

You’ll need:

Frame of some sort – we used old wooden picture frames
Hot glue and glue gun
Fabric of your choice – we used tea towels
Iron
Fusible hem tape
Nail head tack
Rubber mallet
Scissors
Needle-nose pliers

Step 1. Lay out your frame and the fabric to determine whether you need to trim the fabric. Make any cuts and then hem the cut side so that you have a crisp edge. We used fusible hem tape that you affix with an iron.

Step 2. Lay the fabric onto the frame to determine how big you want your pockets. When you’re satisfied with the pocket sizes/placement, carefully move the fabric onto the ironing board. Since we used tea towels, our pocket sizes were limited. We made a smaller pocket on the top for coupons/stamps/etc. and a larger pocket at the bottom for mail/bills/etc.

Step 3. Iron the fabric so that the pocket edges are crisp. Then, using fusible hem tape, fuse together the fabric so that each edge of the pockets are secure. You could also sew the edges but we couldn’t find the plug for the sewing machine so we used the hem tape instead.

Step 4. Apply hot glue to the edge of the frame and press the fabric onto the frame.

Step 5. Using needle-nose pliers, hold the nail head tacks in place and then lightly hammer into place using a rubber mallet. We attached a tack at each pocket corner and at the top and bottom edges of the frame.

Step 6. Optional – add any embellishments. Mom wanted to stamp on hers so she stamped a saying on each organizer before we attached the picture hanger.

That’s it! Total cost for Mom: approximately $3 per towel (we needed three) and $1.50 for a pack of tacks (one pack was used to make three organizers).

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-23T08:56:00.000-05:00

One of the best things about this time of year is opening my mailbox to find cards and pictures of my friends’ families. I have done various things over the years to display my holiday cards: hang them on the back of the front door, use a card holder and place them in a shallow dish on the coffee table.

This year I decided to hang a couple of command hooks on the wall near the tree in the living room and tie a piece of twine to each of the hooks. I then simply used mini clothespins from the Dollar Tree to hang the cards from the twine. To cover the hooks, I clipped two of my Target poinsettia clips ($1 two years ago) to the twine near the hooks. I already need a second row since this one is full!

My clothespins were $1 for a pack of 50 from the Dollar Tree but Paper Source also sells packs of 25 of them for $2.50 (natural, red or white) if you can’t find any at a dollar store (or if you really want colored ones and are too lazy like me to spray paint them). I went with what I had and I also wanted the cards to be the focal point but you could use baker’s twine instead of natural twine for a colorful twist (or even the green twine I found at the Dollar Tree that I used in my DIY snow globes).

I’ll be taking the next week off from posting so that I can enjoy the holidays and some down time to reflect on this year and what I hope to accomplish next year both personally and professionally. Happy Holidays from my home to yours!

image source

Then and Now

2011-12-21T08:23:00.000-05:00

I thought it might be fun to compare how the old owners set up the house to how I have it set up today. It’s fun to look back to see how different our styles are and to remember what the house looked like when I first toured it. Sorry they aren’t the best pictures but I took them quickly while I was touring the house the first time. On with the show!

*I don’t have any pictures of how they decorated the kitchen, which is odd. But if you look at the house tour page – you can see the ‘before’ picture as the kitchen looked when I got the keys.**

Living Room: Old Owners

They had two oversized couches in here and a huge entertainment center. I remember the room feeling small but I knew it was mostly due to the big furniture.

Living Room: Now

My furniture is also too big for the room – well, the couch and chair anyway. The chair was one I had before buying the house but the couch was one that I got specifically for this house. I didn’t even think to measure to make sure it would be size-appropriate. Lesson learned.

Dining Room: Old Owners

They opted for a rectangular table that is off-center in the room. You could tell they had pets because of the large dog bowls and aquarium in the dining room. The only thing we did that was the same was to add a beige rug (though I think theirs is too small) and a large mirror.

They used the shelves for knick-knacks and family pictures while I’ve opted for my milk glass collection.

Dining Room: Now

I think the circular table allows you to move around the room easier since this is the middle of the house – kitchen, living room and hallway to bedrooms are all off of this room. We both added a large mirror to the same wall – I like it since it allows me to see into the living room when I’m cooking.

Bathroom: Old Owners

The bathroom is simple in decor. On the wall opposite the toilet they had a HUGE mirror hanging with mirror clips that I removed not long after I moved in.

Bathroom: Now

Even though they had color with the walls, I feel like my version has more color. It must be the shower curtain, new flooring, and wall of pictures that I added.

Master Bedroom: Old Owners

They hung a row of mirrors behind the bed and the only furniture in here was the bed, a small dresser and the small bedside table.

Master Bedroom: Now

We both like white bedding but that’s where the similarities end. I added more furniture but the room doesn’t feel any smaller to me.

Bedroom 2: Old Owners

They left this as a bland, white room with a full-sized bed, a single picture on the wall and a dresser. This was the first bedroom I painted since I couldn’t wait to get some color on those walls. Living in white apartments for years before buying the house gave me the itch to paint!

Bedroom 2: Now

Bedroom 3: Old Owners

An odd chair, a beanbag, a large aquarium, the file cabinet and a desk was all that they had in the third bedroom. We both opted to use it as an office instead of a bedroom. I added more storage in the terms of bookshelves and added some height with a shelf on the main wall.

Bedroom 3: Now

Basement: Old Owners

I’m not sure what they were thinking with the walls colors down here! They had couches and a TV like I do (but mine is in a more pleasing arrangement I think). The one thing they had that I had no desire for was a huge workout machine near the sump pump. The laundry room just to look like a sterile place that I wouldn’t want to do any laundry in so I tried to soften it a bit.

Basement: Now

What a fun walk down memory lane! If you want to see the entire house tour (exterior included) go here.

December Goods

2011-12-19T09:01:00.000-05:00

I thought I’d try a new format of talking about some of the goods I’ve found while out shopping this month. Normally I take pictures and post but I’m feeling lazy and talking via the Flip Camera was much easier. ;)

**The noise in the video is my furnace – which turns off part way through. Who knew that the Flip would pick up that sound?!? Crazy**

If you can’t see the video, go here to view it at YouTube. I thought I’d also add some links to the items I mention in my video (at least the ones I could find online!):

West Elm Glass Shadow Boxes – mine is from Marshall’s at half the cost
Anthropologie Monocle Hook
Anthropologie Kelmscott Knob – I didn’t get the knob but I got the hooks that match
Paper Source Gray and Brown Woven 12x12 Paper
Paper Source Natural Woven 12x12 Paper

Also, I forgot to point out my new earrings. The ones I’m wearing in the video are simple gold earrings that I wear almost daily. I got them from JessLC – she makes gorgeous jewelry so check her out (I also have these earrings in white, a ‘Breathe’ Franklin necklace, a custom pair of earrings that I was given as a gift).

DIY Tree Snow Globes

2011-12-16T09:21:00.000-05:00

I’ve voiced my love of Anthropologie many times but sadly I usually only shop their clearance section since I can’t afford the store…or rather, I refuse to pay their asking prices for some things. Recently I saw two things in their store that I loved and I knew that I could make both of them but with my own spin.

Anthro’s snow globes were $25+ and the paper tree was $48. (You know I was drawn to the tree since I’ve used paper as my main decorating inspiration this season – see my banner, ornament and ornament.) Anthro used bottle brush trees in their globes but I wanted to make three different types of trees to add some interest and so that I could put my own spin on things (I don’t enjoy copying things – I like to vary it a little with some creativity). Mine cost $3 – the cost of twine for one tree, the snow and the foam the trees were glued on. That’s right – three WHOLE dollars for three globes and I like mine better since each tree is different and has a fun twist to it.

I had the mason jars in the basement since I previously used them to display trinkets from trips but I tired of the memory jars a few years ago so in the basement they sat – but you could easily find jars at craft stores, grocery stores or thrift shops.

Paper Tree

I made the paper tree first since I had been making other crafts with an old book. I simply cut out squares using patterned scissors to various sizes and punched a hole in the center of each square. I then cut small pieces of cardboard and punched a hole in the center of each.

For the tree form, I cut a small piece out of the foam circle and then cut to size a wooden skewer (the ones you find in the kitchen aisles at the grocery store). The skewer was stuck into the foam before I started alternating the paper and cardboard over the skewer. You should get something like this:

Then you glue a bead to the top of the tree using hot glue (1), glue the foam bottom to the inside of the jar lid (2), pour some fake snow into the mason jar (3), and place the jar lid back onto the mouth of the jar (4).

Once the lid is screwed on tightly, flip the jar over and you have yourself a fun little snow globe.

Twine Tree***

I wanted all of my trees to be organic and different. So I decided to use some green twine that I found at the Dollar Tree for the second tree (there were two spools of brown twine and one of the green in a package). Before I could start, I had to make tree forms. To do this I simply cut a piece of cardstock in half and then formed each half into a cone before cutting the bottom so that the cones were an appropriate size for the jars (I was going to use one small jar and one large one).

Then, using hot glue, I started wrapping the smaller cone with the twine. I applied glue in various places as I wrapped so that the twine stayed in place. This tree was the easiest since you just wrap the twine, glue the tree to the foam and to the inside of the jar lid, and then glue on any embellishments. I added a simple bead to the top and some pull chain I found in the basement around the tree as garland.

Just like the paper tree, you add some snow to the jar and replace the jar lid. Turn it over and you have a beautiful snow globe. I love that some of the snow stuck to the twine to add a little interest.

Ribbon Tree

The last snow globe I made was the biggest one. Originally I was going to make a metal tree but I didn’t like it with the twine and paper trees. So I looked through my craft supplies and ruled out a sequin tree, a glitter tree and a decorative paper tree before I landed on using green ribbon. I cut small pieces of two patterns of green ribbon – a polka dot and a plaid.

To make this tree, you just use hot glue to attach layers of ribbon to the cardstock tree form. I also tried to use my fingers to flip the bottom of the ribbon layers out to give it a little more dimension.

Again, you glue the tree to a piece of foam and then glue the foam to the inside of the jar lid. Add some fake snow to the mason jar, replace the jar lid and flip over. This completes the third tree snow globe!

After I made these I was poking around online and I realized that a bunch of bloggers loved the snow globes as much as I did! Mine were the only ones I found using different types of trees so that made me happy – all of the ones I looked at used the same bottle brush tree that Anthropologie used.

Happy crafting!

Virtual Furniture Shopping Continued

2011-12-14T09:29:00.000-05:00

Earlier this week I posted about some chairs I’m considering for the living room. Well, I’m back today with some couch options. Couches are expensive, y’all! I’ve been in love with the Chloe Metro couch from Macy’s for years but now that I have Sami I’m not sure about the fabric but the slate color is amazing.

Macy’s also has the Corona collection (on clearance!) that I dig. I like the idea of a solid back and tufting – this sofa has both and it has a little less tufting than the Chloe, making it feel more modern and less feminine.

The Vaughn sofa at Crate and Barrel is gorgeous. The back isn’t solid but I love the shape of the couch and the fabric color options.

The Landon Sofa at Pottery Barn is also a contender. There are so many fabric options I have no idea which I like best but I’m digging the Twill Seagrass. This sofa has eco-friendly, soy-based cushions, sustainably harvested wood, and recycled steel springs. You know my eco-loving mind is all over that.

Then there’s the always popular IKEA. They currently are offering 15% back in the form of a gift card if you purchase a sofa from there by 12/20 (EKTORP, KARLSTAD or KIVIK fabric seating, or KARLSTAD leather seating). The bonus of IKEA furniture is that most come with a slipcover option so you can easily remove and wash the cushion covers (great for those with pets and kids). The Karlstad is a possibility (I like both the plain or the tufted cover).

Naturally the IKEA options are the least expensive but I really, really love the Vaughn and Landon sofas (which are the most expensive of the ones I posted here). I need to start stalking the Pottery Barn outlet. Any other great sofa sources out there?

Virtual Furniture Shopping

2011-12-12T10:11:00.001-05:00

The furniture in my living room is seven (couch) and eight years old (chair). I bought the chair when I lived in Illinois and paid way too much money for it but at the time I really wanted an armchair and ottoman (the ottoman has been moved to the basement since it is too large for the living room in my current house). In fact, here’s an old picture of that IL duplex with my armchair. I loved that living room since it was HUGE and had an awesome, large window and a fireplace. Maybe I’ll do a post with the old duplex since it is hilarious to look back at my decor from then.

Anyway, back to the post. I’m on the hunt for new living room furniture. Do I really absolutely NEED it right now? No. Do I WANT it? Yes. Although I cold argue that I need a new couch since my back has been killing me lately from napping on it. The cushions are just too soft for napping (especially when your nap lasts 3.5 hours – man am I lazy lately). The chair I have is the most comfortable chair I’ve ever sat in and I love that I can sit sideways with my legs dangling over the arms, but I don’t love how big it is and the shape really isn’t my style anymore. Since I sit in chairs in an un-lady-like fashion, whatever chair I find has to allow me to sit in it sideways so that really means an upholstered arm chair.

I first saw this awesome club chair on Joss & Main’s website (not a member? Click here to join). You won’t find the chair on the site today since Joss & Main changes daily – people select items to sell in their ‘collections’ and you check back daily for the collections of the day. It’s fun and a bit addictive to see what people select but I’ve yet to purchase anything from there.

But doing a search for ‘Lenox Club Chair’ shows you other sites that sell it. I love the curvy front legs with casters, the nailhead trim and the overall shape of the chair. I’d remove that back cushion and put a pretty pillow on the chair instead. I also love the Manchester Club Chair:

It has the gorgeous feet, nailhead trim and tufting. I love tufting! Target even has a leather version that would be great for people with kids/pets since it is easy to clean.

I’m a huge fan of buying neutral furniture and dressing it up with fun accessories (blankets, pillows) but a part of me is really wanting a patterned chair…something similar to this.

I’m in love with the Ravenna chair from Cost Plus but it doesn’t have arms and the fabric would be a pain to clean with Sami so this isn’t in the running but it is so pretty to look at online. Sami loves to sit in my chair in the office and the velvet really holds onto her stray hairs.

All of that to say that I’m looking (but not seriously) and there are just too many pretty options that I can’t decide. I’m thinking that a good sale somewhere is what will make up my mind for me. Anyone else chair hunting? I’ll post later this week with some couches I’m lusting after.

Cheering Up the Place – Outside Edition

2011-12-09T08:46:00.001-05:00

I haven’t hung Christmas lights outside of my house in years since I’m lazy and they wouldn’t come back down until the last of the snow melts in the spring. Who wants to take down lights in January in the middle of a snowstorm? Not this girl.
However, this year I decided to hang some on my back patio simply because I miss exterior lights and also because I figured I was hanging them under the protective cover of my new patio roof so I can easily remove them before spring as well. I went simple – a few strands of white lights (2 icicle lights for the top of the patio and two strings of simple white bulbs for the doorway) and my grapevine reindeer (end of season clearance from Target years ago).
Here are the lights at night:
Of course the patio looks completely different during the day. I kept the white wall decoration up since I figured it looked holiday-ish and I hung the huge metal ornaments I bought this summer on clearance at a store in the UP from ribbon to the roof support beams. Ignore the hose that I have yet to put in the garage. :) It was difficult to get a good picture where you can see everything since the ornaments are hard to see against the lattice in the pictures but they look amazing in person.
The patio table got a little holiday decor with a strip of burlap (left over from covering my bushes for the winter), a wooden birdhouse decoration I received as a gift from my parents years ago, some greenery from the pine tree in my yard (I just trimmed it up for the year) and a few pinecones that I had in my holiday stash.
Finally, the reindeer greets you as you walk to the door. I used some more tree trimmings to cover the power cord for the lights.
That’s the last of the decor to show you in/around my house. I think I stuck with the ‘organic’ theme pretty well, even outdoors. Total cost of exterior decorations was ~$12 for the large metal ornaments that I bought this summer since everything else I already owned or I took from my yard.

Winter Wonderland

2011-12-07T08:45:00.000-05:00

We had our first official snowfall in the city this week. I sat in the window Monday night watching the snow fall for a few hours and woke up to a little accumulation on the ground (not nearly as much as I’m used to at this time of year since I grew up in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula where they’ve been getting snowfalls measuring 6 inches at a time already).

Granted, I’m going to be sick of this white stuff once I have to actually shovel the long sidewalks and my driveway but nothing beats the first snow of the season.

Cheering Up the Place – Living Room Edition

2011-12-05T08:31:00.000-05:00

I previously showed you the dining room decorations for this holiday season so I’m back with the living room. Those really are the only rooms I decorate other than a couple of bells in the kitchen and bathroom. Of course we have to start with the tree. If you followed me last year, this is a $12 tree I bought on super clearance at Wally World a couple of years ago that I’ve now put up twice. I do love a fresh, real tree but this is just easier for me to do by myself.

My star is made of capiz shells and I completely forgot I had it! Its been in another holiday box for a few years so this is the first time I’ve used it since buying it after the holiday season years ago. See, that’s what happens when you eagerly buy too much holiday decor which is why I only bought a few things this year despite the fact that I love holiday decor!

The tree skirt is once again an old window sheer I had lying around in the basement. Maybe one day I’ll make a real skirt but I really like how the sheer looks so we’ll see. The only new thing I bought this year for the tree was the “R” ornament in honor of my father. I wanted him to be with me in some visible way so I snagged this for $3 from Target. All of the ornaments are handmade by grandma or myself again this year (see the new book ornaments, book snowflakes and yarn-wrapped balls I did?) with the exception of the wooden birds I bought from Michaels last year for .30 cents each and a few white glass balls.

Here’s the tree at night:

The pillows that normally stay on the couch got swapped out for green ones I had in the basement since they seemed more holiday appropriate without yelling ‘Christmas pillow.’ I also added a faux fur throw that I had to the back of the couch to add some softness and to break up all the beige.

Finally, the picture ledge where my homemade holiday banner is hanging got a little love. I simply added some poinsettia clips from my stash of holiday decor, a white feather tree ornament that I got from Cost Plus World Market for $2 and three wooden stars that I got at the Salvation Army this year for $3 (can’t beat $1 per star). I also moved the Peace plant that some friends bought me in here since I thought it was fitting for the holiday.

Finally, I bought a bouquet of flowers from Trader Joe for $4 that I added to a milk glass bowl on the coffee table. I also brought up my silver holiday tray to put things on instead of the usual wooden one that stays in this room. The cool candle holder that looks like a sweater is from Anthropologie a few years ago and was a gift at the time. I saw similar ones this year at Marshall’s if you’re looking for one.

Since I love to share how much I spent on things, the total cost of living room holiday decor was $12 (“R’ ornament, feather tree ornament, flowers and wooden stars). The last area to get decorated was the back porch so I’ll post those pics soon.

Cheering Up the Place – Dining Room Edition

2011-12-02T10:04:00.000-05:00

I’ve finished the indoor decorations for Christmas this year. In fact, I finished them the day after Thanksgiving. :) I had hoped that holiday decor would help cheer me up and it has a bit so I’m thankful for that. On to the pics!

The dining room plate wall was revamped. All of the blue plates came down and holiday or green plates went up.

Here’s the plate break-down. I only spent $10 on new plates although I was bummed I even spent that much. I had hoped to keep my new holiday decor down to around $15 but I ended up spending a bit more.

Holly Hobbie Plate – Notice the year. Yes, this plate is from the year I was born so it is an oldie but a goodie. I used to LOVE Holly Hobbie when I was little so I thought it was a great starting point for my plate wall.
Green and gold plate from Anthro – I bought this plate a few years ago when one of the blue ones I bought (in the same pattern) broke. I love it and thought it added a nice touch of green (we all know green and red are traditional holiday colors and I fully embrace that!) and a little glam with the gold accents.
Milk glass revamped – I added some holiday ribbon to the scallops on my milk glass plates. One has this pretty red ribbon, another got a touch of shiny gold ribbon and the third has a green and red plaid that I found in my stash.

Green plate from Pier1 – this isn’t a holiday plate but it was green and on clearance and I just loved the shape and pattern so I figured it would fit in nicely with my holiday plates. Cost: $4
Tree plate from Target – this plate had me at hello. I loved the red glitter edge and the simple burlap-esque background with a simple brown tree. Cost: $3
Holiday plate from TJMaxx – TJ’s always has great holiday plates and as soon as I saw this one I had to grab it. I loved all the green with just a hint of red to tie the other two holiday plates together. Cost: $3

The rest of the dining room got minimal decor since I wanted to keep it simple. The built-in shelves got some pinecones on a milk glass platter, red berry picks added to the greenery and my new red feather tree ($6 on super clearance this summer at a local store in the UP) and an old glitter candle tree.

The table got a white and red runner, clementines and a single poinsettia holiday pick fill my ruffle bowl and a sprinkling of candles complete the table. Simple and festive!

On the shelf next to the door, I added some glitter candle trees to the top shelf next to my glass collection (and the bird was relocated from its usual home by the milk glass)…

…and some holiday books, glitter birds and a green glass bowl filled with glass ornaments were added to the middle shelf.

That’s it for the dining room. I’ll be back with pics of the TREE(!) and the rest of the living room.

Set and Match

2011-11-30T09:38:00.000-05:00

In keeping with my ‘organic and simple’ Christmas theme this year I covered some ornaments in yarn to give them a softer, organic vibe. I love the dimension and texture the yarn added to the balls. I decided to take a few of those yarn-covered balls along with a couple of shiny red ones to hang on either side of my homemade holiday banner.

It couldn’t have been any easier. I just tied a long string to the bottom ball and then tied smaller strings to the other balls before tying them to the long string to form this cluster of ornaments. Pretty!

Looking closer at the banner do you see what I did to add a little color and interest? I added eyelets to each letter! So fun and a subtle update.

This was extremely easy to do. Here’s what I used:

Eyelets in red and green (the white wouldn’t show on the banner nor did the silver so I stuck to the two colors)
Scraparatus eyelet setter (it can also be used as a hole puncher if you switch out the tip)
Small hole punch
(and 5 ) These came with the Scraparatus starter kit. Don’t you love how #4 matches my countertop?!?

Step 1. Use the small hole punch to punch holes in your paper where you want the eyelet to be placed.

Step 2. Place the blocks that came with the setter down (#4 then #5 on top of it). If you don’t have a set like I do, I used to use a piece of solid wood. Then place one eyelet down and place the paper over the eyelet (wrong side up) so that it goes through one of your holes.

Step 3. Place your eyelet setter on top of the eyelet and pull the silver top knob up and release it three times (three times is KEY!) so that the eyelet is set. If you don’t have a setter like mine, you can use a simple metal setter like this one (I actually own this one as well). You simply line it up over the eyelet and then hammer the setter onto the eyelet until it sets. I’ve also seen ones that you squeeze like a hole punch but I’ve never used those.

Step 4. Repeat for each eyelet. The back should look something like this (depending on the tip you used) …

…and the front will look like this:

That’s it! I told you it was easy. Then you just rehang your banner and enjoy the subtle color that the eyelets add.

I know I’ve been using scrapbook tools that you may not have lately in my crafts but hopefully you can find something similar (like the alternative setter I linked to above) to use. I have not been paid or perked to mention these tools at all – I just have them in my possession and thought I’d show what I did to make my holiday crafting a little easier.

This banner is just what this side of the living room needed for a little color and fun.

Yep – More Ornaments

2011-11-28T09:31:00.000-05:00

I got my craft on a couple of weekend’s ago again. What is it about spending the day in your pajamas that makes you feel all crafty? This time I decided to revamp some existing glass bulbs that I’ve had for, oh, eleven years. I bought these ornaments when I got my very first Christmas tree in December 2000.

You’ll need:

Ornament
Craft glue – I used Aleene’s Tacky Glue
Small paint brush (not shown – oops!)
Yarn

This couldn’t be easier. You just lift the top/cap of the ornament and slide the end of your yarn down into the ornament.

Replace the cap and then cover half of the ornament in glue using the small paint brush.

Starting at the top, wrap the yarn around the ornament, making sure to press down onto the glue as you go so the yarn doesn’t shift and bunch up. You also want to wrap the yarn pretty tightly so the bulb doesn’t show through.

Keep wrapping. Add more glue when you need to and wrap the yarn tightly until you get to the bottom.

Cut the yarn and press the end onto the ball. You can see how the bottom looks below.

That’s it. I’ll show you how I used some of these ornaments in my next post. I know you’re excited.

If I was Hosting…

2011-11-23T09:30:00.001-05:00

…Thanksgiving here are some crafts that I would do to prepare for the day.
1. Gourd placeholders out of cardboard and twine would make a great statement at each seat.

Source: designsponge.com via Heather from on Pinterest

2. Garland made from book pages would look amazing for Fall decor.

Source: thenester.com via Heather from on Pinterest

3. Fabric leaf bowls for candy or just scattered on the table.

Source: marthastewart.com via Heather from on Pinterest

4. Use wood and burlap-wrapped jars as centerpieces.

Source: Uploaded by user via Heather from on Pinterest

5. Create a Gratitude pin board for your guests to display what they are thankful for.

Source: themacdougallfamily.blogspot.com via Heather from on Pinterest

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. I’m not sure what I’m doing yet since I don’t feel like driving to the UP again (I’ve been the past four months!) but a couple of very thoughtful and generous friends have invited me to celebrate with them. I do know that I’m using the rest of the week to clean my gutters, rake the yard and maybe start on my holiday shopping…mostly I’ll just enjoy not having to work. See you next week!

Soft Place to Rest Your Head

2011-11-21T11:13:00.001-05:00

Remember my gorgeous new headboard? Yea – I still love it. However, I’ve found that the smooth surface of the headboard has been a bit of an issue when it comes to my pillow. See – I move a lot when I sleep and I’ve been waking up with my pillow looking like this…

…and a headache to boot. I’m guessing since my head is only partially on the pillow at this point it is causing my neck pain, which then causes the headache. What’s ironic is that when I first bought the bed I thought “Wow – the middle section would be perfect to hang a padded panel on.” Too bad it took me this long to follow through!

So, this weekend I finally made a padded panel to hang on my headboard. Let’s take a close look to an older pic of my headboard. See the nice trim? It was what made me think about padding the headboard in a non-permanent way since the trim would be perfect for outlining the panel!

I found this post where the homeowners did what I wanted to do but they used plywood. I couldn’t find a piece that was long enough without having to buy a whole sheet of plywood so I improvised. I mostly didn’t want to spend the cash and I had another (cheaper) idea in mind.

I bought two sheets of foam board from the Dollar Store for a $1 each. I knew that two of these taped together would be longer than I needed but they could easily be cut plus it was the exact height I needed for my bed! So, I taped the two sheets together using duct tape.

Once they were taped, I measured the long piece and cut it using an exacto knife. Easy enough. The next step was to wrap the entire thing in two light layers of batting. I had the batting left over from my old headboard so I just used what I had. I attached the batting with staples around each edge of the entire panel.

The next step was to wrap the panel with the fabric I bought for the project. I looked FOREVER for something I liked and I finally found this solid pale pink home decorator fabric in the clearance section at JoAnn’s. It was $3.50 for just under a foot of fabric and the reason I went with this is because I couldn’t stop touching it. The fabric is so soft and the pink would go perfectly with my new bedroom color scheme. However, I found that I couldn’t get the staples to hold this time. So I whipped out the duct tape again and just taped it in place. I wrapped the fabric the same way I would if I was recovering a seat cushion.

I bought some 3M Command strips for this project for around $6 for the package. I applied these to the back of the panel and then hung the panel on the headboard.

The best part (besides that my pillow now stays in place and I didn’t have a headache this morning!) is that this is non-permanent. If I get sick of the panel I can take it down or if I want to change up the fabric I can easily take it down, swap the fabric and then rehang the panel. You can’t see the panel unless I have the bed ready for sleeping since the pillows cover it up during the day…

…but at night it is a great place to rest your head against while reading in bed.

So that was my $11.50 update to my bed. Yea for simple solutions that are pretty to look at!

A Very Bookish Christmas – Part 3

2011-11-18T08:53:00.000-05:00

Last weekend I made two types of ornaments using torn out book pages (here and here) and the final project I completed with my (ruined) book was a banner. I debated whether to make a bunting-type banner (upside down triangles) or a banner shaped like my accordion ornaments but I finally decided on a simple rectangular banner. I’m leaning towards organic decorations this year (lots of book pages, twine, feathers, yarn, etc.) so I started with that idea – simple and organic.

I liked how graphic black images look on a printed page so I used this etsy image as inspiration. Plus I love giraffes so I pinned this since I want to make one just like it…in fact, they are my favorite animal to look at when I visit zoos other than the monkeys. Monkeys are just hilarious to watch. *end tangent*

Source: etsy.com via Heather from on Pinterest

Step 1. Think of a saying that you want to display. I didn’t want to use ‘Happy Holidays’ or ‘Merry Christmas’ so I had to try to think of other holiday sayings. Wanna know where mine came from? This week’s Target ad. There I said it.

Step 2. Rip out enough book pages so that each letter has its own page.

Step 3. Using craft scissors, cut around three sides of your book page so that it has a decorative edge. I used a zigzag pattern.

Step 4. Decide how to put your letters on the paper. I had some stencils in the basement that I decided to use but you could also print letters on paper, cut them out and glue them to your pages or even run your pages through your printer if you’re so inclined. Or if you have awesome handwriting you could freehand it!

Step 5: Transfer the letters onto your pages, making sure to center the letter. I just eye-balled it since I am lazy. So here’s where I had issues. I initially thought I’d just dab some ink pads over the stencil to transfer the letters on my pages. That didn’t work very well.

Then I tried to use a sponge paint brush to paint the letters. That was even worse.

Finally I decided to just trace the letters with a black Sharpie and then color them in.

Step 6. Repeat for every letter. This is when I started to rethink my phrase. I was tired of the smell of Sharpie.

Step 7. Fold down the top edge of the book page and tape it to your twine (or whatever you decide to use to hang it). You could also punch holes and feed the twine through the holes, an idea I love but didn’t think about until after I was done. Maybe I’ll adjust my banner.

Step 8. Hang. Realize that it is not even Thanksgiving yet and you have Christmas banner in your living room. Rethink hanging it right now.

This couldn’t be easier. I’m actually thinking of adding some color so perhaps I’ll be back with some changes…you know, when it is closer to Christmas. :)

A Very Bookish Christmas – Part 2

2011-11-16T09:26:00.000-05:00

Earlier this week I showed you some ornaments I made using book pages. Well, today I have another ornament I made this weekend using more book pages. I figured since I was ripping apart a book I might as well make a few things from it. :)

The HomeGoods ornament pack had another ornament that I used as inspiration:

I decided that I would take the loops and the glitter snowflake from the inspiration picture since I had book pages I could use in addition to a few gold glitter snowflakes that I bought from Target two years ago. (I think they were four in a package for $1)

Step 1: Cut your book page into strips using a paper cutter or scissors work just as well. I made mine 5.5” long and just shy of 1” wide. For my ornaments, I used ten strips per ornament but as you can see the inspiration used many more strips.

Step 2. Loosely fold the strip in half and staple the end together. Repeat for every strip.

Step 3. Fold the stapled edge up so that there’s a small ‘lip’ on each strip. I found that this step isn’t necessary if you are going to use a bazillion strips but since I was only using ten for the ornament I needed something that would add a little space between each piece so the lip worked great for that.

Step 4. Apply a small piece of double-sided tape to the lip of one loop and press it to the non-lipped side of another loop.

Step 5. Repeat until you have attached all of the loops, making sure they meet in the center to form a flower shape.

Step 6. Apply a small bead of hot glue to the back of a glitter snowflake and press the paper flower onto the glue bead. Wait for it to dry and then hang on your tree!

I love how this adds a 3D effect to the snowflake. I purposely made my loops just a little bigger than the snowflakes since I just wanted to add a little depth to the snowflakes rather than steal the show from them.

I spent all day on Sunday in my pj’s making ornaments and other items for Christmas decor so I’ll be back later this week with more paper projects. Stay tuned!

A Very Bookish Christmas – Part 1

2011-11-14T12:14:00.001-05:00

This weekend I decided to make some Christmas ornaments since I was bored, I didn’t feel like leaving the house and I’m feeling down so I hoped crafts (and Christmas crafts at that!) would cheer me up. I had previously seen some ornaments for sale at HomeGoods that I used as my inspiration.

*Sorry for the glare but this was taken while it was in its wrapping*

I didn’t want to spend a dime on these so I looked around the house to see what I had lying around to make similar but not identical ornaments. I gathered my supplies:

Book (1)
Paper cutter (1)
Scor-Buddy
Cuttlebug (2)
Scalloped Circle Spellbinders (2)
Stapler
Double-sided tape
Holiday scrapbook paper (3)
Holiday felt pieces (4)
Hole punch
Thread

Step 1. Rip pages out of the book of your choice. For each ornament, you’ll need two pages from the book. I made six ornaments so I ripped out twelve pages (and let me tell you, it was difficult to do since I normally see ripping up books as some sort of sin.)

Step 2. Using the paper cutter, trim the paper so that only the text is on the page – remove all white border. (Note: You can also skip this step but I didn’t want a border on my ornaments so I opted to trim the pages.) Repeat for each page.

Step 3. Using the Scor-Buddy, lightly score each page so that folding is easier. I made my marks every 6/8” so that the folds would all be roughly the same size. Again, this is optional but I found that it makes crisp folds and took the guesswork of measuring out of the equation for me.

Step 4. Fold the page like an accordion. If you used the Scor-Buddy, this step will be incredibly easy for you since you just fold along the pre-scored lines.

Step 5. Pick up each page and fold the accordion in half.

Step 6. Apply a piece of double-sided tape to the long edge of the accordion piece. Press the two accordion pieces together.

Step 7. Staple the center of the ornament to keep the pieces tightly joined in the middle.

Step 8. Apply a piece of double-sided tape to join two of the open edges together.

Step 9. Repeat for the other edge. You should now have a circle.

Note: If you didn’t trim the edges of the book page, your circle may look something like this instead:

I love the look of both but I wanted mine to be a tad smaller and originally I preferred the text-only look but today I’m digging them both. Fickle mind!

Now you need to put something on top of your circle. I wanted a scalloped circle of craft paper with a felt embellishment on top so I used what I had on hand: a Cuttlebug and Spellbinders scalloped circle cutting tools. You could also cut out circles using a paper punch or by tracing a cup/bowl/plate/other circular object. Work with what you have!

Step 10. Cut out your circle. If you use the Cuttlebug, this will take you mere seconds, which is why I LOVE that tool! I simply placed the green board down, then the clear ‘C’ plate (‘c’ for cutting), placed my paper facing up, the Spellbinder facing down and then the clear ‘B’ plate. I cranked the wheel to pull the plates through the Cuttlebug.

Pop the paper out from the circle and you have perfectly scalloped circles!

Step 11: Affix any embellishments to the circle. I used felt embellishments that I attached using a brad. Then attach the circle to your ornament. I used double-sided tape to tape them together.

Step 12: String thread through the ornament so that you can hang them to your tree. I punched a small hole through the book page and then tied gold string to the ornament.

That’s it! Easy ornaments that you can make from old books lying around the house (or if you don’t have any books you want to rip apart, my Salvation Army always sells books five for $1).

Plug It In

2011-11-10T09:51:00.001-05:00

In the dining room portion of Mom’s apartment, there isn’t a hardwired box for a light fixture so we’re looking for a swag plug-in fixture instead. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a nice one that isn’t expen$ive? I’ve searched high and low and have found a few contenders that *I* like but I’m still not sure what exactly Mom wants.

Target Home Drum Pendant Lamp

CB2's Eden Pendant Lamp

Lamp Plus’ Tiffany White Glass Swag Pendant Lamp

Lamp Plus’ Granada Polished Brass Pendant Swag Light

I then thought about making your own swag lights. I figured it would be as easy as buying parts from Home Depot and a nice lampshade to make your own drum shade chandelier (since I’m partial do drum shades). I did a quick search and found instructions from Thrifty Decor Chick but I also found pre-made kits and pendant converters. Shades of Light sells a pendant converter for $29…

… while Shandell’s sells cloth cord light kits. I think we’d need this one and it sells for $39 but comes in four colors of beautiful twisted cord (red, grey, gold and brown) to choose from.

Finally, I figured since you can turn a plug-in light into a hardwired one, can’t you do the opposite as well? I found some instructions online for just this!

How to Convert a Hardwired Chandelier to a Plug-In

Convert an Old Chandelier into a Swag Lamp in Six Steps

Turning a Hard Wired Light into a Swag Light

So now that I’ve done some research Mom just needs to decide what she wants and we’ll tackle it next month!

Moving on Up: Part Deuce

2011-11-04T09:50:00.000-04:00

I previously showed you parts of the apartment my Mom is moving into so today I’ll finish up the tour with the bedrooms and living/dining room.

The living/dining room is one huge space that is along the front of her building. When we started it was painted a cream color and there was some unpainted paneling where the new windows had been installed. The room is huge but it does have some challenges: the ceiling is low in this room (just above 7’), there’s a wall air conditioning unit, the windows are varying sizes and there are only three small ceiling lights.

In one week we: painted the room a sage green color, caulked between the ceiling trim and the ceiling to close the annoying gaps (yes, I’m anal), painted the baseboards, insulated around two of the windows and the air unit and then mudded the holes so I could paint, swapped out the beige outlets for new white ones and moved some of the larger furniture from the house over here.

As I mentioned, the apartment has three bedrooms. They are all roughly the same size so Mom took the middle one as the master bedroom, the one closest to the living room will be her craft room and the one at the end of the hall is the guest room.

Sorry, the only picture I got of the craft room has my nephew being a goof in it. :) Mom liked the huge fluorescent light since it will make stamping/scrapbooking/etc easier. This room just needs a light paint color applied to the walls and some curtains. She’ll have fun organizing this room (or will she leave that for me? Time will tell!).

The master bedroom looked like something out of a lodge since the walls were wormwood and had a clear coat on the wood. This room also had a small section of wallpaper that had to go!

We filled in some of the larger holes with wood filler and then sanded them down before priming with oil-based primer and applying two coats of a nice taupe latex paint. We also removed wallpaper, replaced the brown light switch and outlets with new white ones, painted the ceiling white and painted the trim (though I’d like to paint the inside of the window sill white). Mom’s friend should be able to install baseboards for her this week and we hope to swap out the closet doors at a later time. My brother built a new shelf along one wall to replace the dinky one that was there before so Mom painted it the same taupe as the walls after I took these pictures. We also plan to starch fabric to the wall above the shelf since once we removed wallpaper, it ripped some of the drywall and looked terrible. The wall really should be covered again so fabric it is. We were going to remove the wood panels in this room but once we removed one we realized that 1) the drywall behind it wasn’t taped or mudded and we didn’t have the time to fix that and 2) the carpet doesn’t go all the way to the drywall so she’d be missing carpet for at least an inch around the entire room.

The final bedroom is the guest room. We didn’t do a single thing in this room so here’s what it looks like right now.

We debated pulling up the carpet in the apartment but its in really good shape and it also adds warmth and a layer of sound barrier between the apartment and the store below so we decided to keep it. Mom just needs to have it cleaned before moving in!

Some other things we did that I forgot to take pictures of include:

Pulled up the carpeting and padding in the entry room
Pulled up staples and carpet tack strips from the entry room
Painted the ceiling in the entry room

Yep – I completely forgot pictures of the entry room. It is HUGE and will be nice to have a mudroom set up on one side and the treadmill on the other. This ends the tour of the apartment. There’s still a TON to do but I’m happy with the progress we’ve made thus far. Now, Mom just needs to finish packing and get her stuff moved over since I plan on helping with more projects in December.

Moving on Up: Part One

2011-11-03T15:07:00.001-04:00

Sorry for the silence – I was in the UP for a week for my Dad’s Military Rites as well as to help my Mom. My parents’ home is large – two stories (plus the basement) with three bedrooms, two baths, dining room, large kitchen, living room and a bonus room attached to the master bedroom. With the large home comes a very large yard…a yard that is too large for my Mom to take care of by herself. With much consideration, she has decided to move to the apartment above her store. While I’m sad that my cousin will be living in my childhood home rather than us, I’m happy that she won’t have a yard to take care of, a short commute in the winter (she just walks downstairs) and less upkeep.

Most people didn’t realize that her store has an apartment above it and I was surprised at how large it really is – it has three bedrooms, a huge entry/mudroom space, a nice sized bathroom, TONS of storage in the form of a wall of hall closets and a storage room, laundry room, kitchen and large living/dining room. We worked for a week so the pics below are in-progress shots that kind of suck since I took them at night after painting all day so I was rushed and they are a little blurry. Sorry. I’ll be back with better pics in December!

Let’s start the house tour with the hallway and the rooms along the left side of the hallway. The first room you come to is the bathroom, which is more than double the main bathroom in my Mom’s current home so we’re thrilled with the space. It has a wall heater, cedar behind the toilet and along part of the ceiling, a light in the shower, ugly wallpaper, terrible linoleum, a big window and a ton of storage in the cabinets.

In one week we: stripped the wallpaper, painted the walls a pretty purple that Mom chose, applied water sealer to the wood, ripped up the linoleum and installed ceramic tile (I forgot a pic – sorry), painted the baseboards and trim around the doors and window white, installed new towel bars, painted the ceiling white and removed the old mirror and sconces. We’re still on the lookout for new lights and a nice, big mirror. Unfortunately choices up north are VERY limited so maybe I’ll bring some things back with me.

Eventually Mom will swap out the outlets for white ones, replace the tile around the sink, get a new sink, paint the vanity and add new knobs (already purchased) in addition to decorate with a curtain, towels, rug, etc.

A door in the bathroom leads back out to the hall but the other door leads into the laundry room.

We didn’t do anything in here other than make a huge mess since this is where we mixed the mortar and grout for the kitchen and bathroom floors. She has a ton of storage in here with the shelves (there are even more along the wall with the door, not shown). The only changes I’d make in here in the short term are to remove the shutters from the window by the dryer to let natural light in and throw down a rug to warm up that cool cement floor. Eventually it might be fun to paint the walls and even stain the cement floor but those certainly aren’t things that need to be done anytime soon.

When you exit the bathroom, you’re back out in the LONG hallway. The hallway leads to every room in the apartment and has a ton of storage in the form of a linen closet outside of the bathroom and this wall of closets outside of the bedrooms.

All we did to the hallway for now is to lightly sand the line between the painted portion and the unpainted portion of the walls so there isn’t ridge anymore and then prime the walls with oil-based primer so they are ready for two coats of beige paint once Mom is all moved in. We didn’t want to bang up the paint job with the furniture so we decided to hold off on painting for now.

The picture above is taken from the end of the closets shown above – it doesn’t even begin to show how long that hallway is since there are two bedrooms to the right that aren’t shown here. The next room you come to on the left is the storage room. When we first toured the apartment it had ugly 70s linoleum, a wall of rickety shelves and another wall of awesome built-in cabinets.

The freezer had a TON of old food so we cleaned out the freezer, removed the wall of rickety shelves (on the right), and repositioned the freezer so that it was along the back wall since the cabinets prevented the top from opening and staying open properly. Mom then installed peel and stick linoleum floor squares over the old linoleum after we washed the floor. Adam also installed a cat door in the door to this room since this is where Callie the Cat’s litter box and food will be. I forgot to take any after pictures – sorry. We have other plans for this room in terms of hiding those pipes and extra storage so stay tuned!

The last door on the left leads to the kitchen. Again, this room is all paneling so we have plans to paint it with oil-based primer and then go over that with two coats of latex paint once Mom picks a color. We just ran out of time. We will also be painting the existing cabinets and installing baseboards, a new backsplash, counters and appliances (I think Mom is ordering them this week). Oh and those terrible curtains have been removed! I think Mom plans on reusing the ones from the living room here – we’ll see.

In one week we: removed the old appliances, tore out the linoleum, installed new ceramic tile with a slightly darker grout, removed the door that leads to the dining room to make the rooms flow a little better and started swapping out the outlets with white ones vs. the dark brown ones that were already in the kitchen. Apparently I only took a picture after the grout was applied but before we cleaned the tiles so I don’t have a better picture – again, sorry.

My brothers and nephew did an amazing job with the floors and in less than three days they ripped out the old floor and installed new tiles in the kitchen and bathroom. The kitchen has one of those wall heaters like the bathroom did (you can kind of see the edge of it on the right side of the picture above). Mom will likely be putting some free-standing storage in here along the wall to the right like her baker’s rack and the antique bar.

That ends the house tour for today. I’ll be back with pictures of the living/dining room as well as the three bedrooms.

Undercover

2011-10-21T09:58:00.000-04:00

Since using the cord channel worked so well in the bedroom I decided to buy another one from Home Depot to the tune of $4.49 to use in the basement. You see, the cable line was hanging down from the ceiling behind the tv in the basement:

Not so pretty. This time I used the entire 5’ length of a new cord channel to hide the ugly cable so I followed the same steps as before minus the step to cut the channel (1 – clean wall, 2 – insert cord, 3 – peel tape liner from back, 4 – press firmly against wall and 5 – paint)

I used my trusty level to ensure I hung the channel nice and straight…

…and was left with a nicely concealed cable.

Then I grabbed my left over paint from the basement and painted the cover to conceal it even more. I was too excited to let the paint dry before I started snapping pics as is evident below.

Now you don’t stare at the ugly cable but rather you can check out my new lampshade for the lamp by brother gave me and I rewired. It was originally $15 at Target but I got it for $3.70 on clearance. Gotta love those Target deals!

From across the room you can’t even tell that the channel is there unless you’re looking for it.

Cover it Up

2011-10-19T08:52:00.000-04:00

I know…another bedroom post! What can I say – when I get the itch to revamp a room I jump in with both feet. Since I recently added a new lamp (with a fabric lampshade that I covered myself) to the bedroom I wondered if I still needed the small wall lamps on either side of the bed. Initially I thought I’d remove them since I had the table lamp but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to keep the lamps for now. See, I sleep on the side closest to the door (and alarm clock) so when reading in bed at night the table lamp isn’t exactly easy for me to get to to turn on/off just before dozing to sleep. The problem was the light cords – they weren’t pretty to look at so something needed to be done.

Side note – I apparently enjoy doing projects while washing my sheets on the weekends. I hope you enjoy looking at my mattress. ;)

I bought a Wiremold 5’ white cord channel from Home Depot for $4.49. This is used to hide a single cord and the best part (besides the easy install that a child could do) is that they are paintable and stainable.

I removed the packaging and read the installation steps that were printed on the inside of the packaging. It looked easy enough:

Step 1. Clean the wall so the channel will stick. You shouldn’t use this on textured surfaces since it may not stick well.

Step 2. Cut the strip to the desired length. Since only a small portion of my cord is visible (I cut each to 9”), I was able to use one 5’ cord channel for both lights. Yea! I used snips to cut the plastic channel since scissors weren’t strong enough and I didn’t feel like breaking out any saws.

Step 3. Insert the cord and snap shut.

Step 4. Peel the tape liner from the backside of the channel.

Step 5. Press firmly against wall.

Step 6. Paint to match wall color. While you’re at it, patch and paint any other holes in your wall like I did (holes from the hanging hardware from the old headboard had to be filled in and painted).

They look great and the lights look a little more finished now.

The master bedroom is done for now. I may still do something to the wall behind the bed when I’m bored and cooped up in the house this winter, but for now I’m considering it done. Here’s a reminder of the before and now:

Before:

Now:

Makin’ a Gallery Wall

2011-10-17T09:40:00.001-04:00

I mentioned a while back that I was tired of the art I had in my bedroom. I have been staring that the row of three prints from Spain for over five years now and they had to go. I immediately knew that I wanted to hang a gallery wall here since I have a bunch of frames sitting in the basement and I had a few new items that I wanted to display: a plaque of my Dad’s and the canvas art from the UP that I had made.

I began by cutting newspaper to the same size as my frames so that I could play with a layout that I liked. I decided to use the same wall (the one to your immediate right when you walk in the door) since when lying in bed that’s the wall I stare at so I hung the templates up to see what it looked like when my pattern was moved from the floor to the wall.

I liked it so I measured for nails and then started hanging up the art. I ended up with something that captures most of my favorite things/places and it makes me smile when I look up from reading at night.

Notice the ceramic frame that I made over? Our family dog’s portrait got clipped to one of them and now has a prominent position in the gallery wall. I found the key at the thrift store for .50 cents (it was a hideous gold color so I promptly painted it white), the wooden plaque was my Dad’s, and the wood/metal piece is from printing at the newspaper and it has the county of my hometown on it.

Here’s a wider view from the bed. It looks bigger in person but seeing it in print makes me want to add more pictures but I’m not sure that I would since the room is small and I don’t want this wall to overpower anything else.

Funny how the only actual picture in my gallery wall is of our family pet – everything else is random pieces: handkerchief, plaque, art I made, postcards, canvas, ceramic or a printing block.

Goodbye Boy and Girl

2011-10-14T08:40:00.000-04:00

While I was at my Mom’s house I found these two ceramic pictures in her box of things to take to Goodwill.

I didn’t care much for the boy and girl images that were embedded in the ceramic but I did love the frame of the ceramic art. The detail was amazing and I knew I could turn them into something else. I thought about those frames for a few days and then decided that I would just cover the pictures with craft paper and then somehow hang new pictures on top. So, I gathered some supplies:

Craft paper – two styles
Curtain clips
Double-sided tape
Pictures
Household GOOP
Pliers
Paper cutter

I first measured the inside of the pictures and then cut the scrap paper to size using the paper cutter. Using double-sided tape, I adhered the paper onto the frame. I used two slightly different metallic papers – one seems to have leaves and the other is more of a geometric pattern.

It took me a while to decide how I would hang things onto the frames. Then I happened to look up at the curtains in the kitchen while making dinner. My kitchen curtains are hung using the same curtain clips and I had exactly two extra clips in the basement. I cut off the metal ring that slips over the curtain rod using the pliers. I then applied a small bead of GOOP to the back of the clip and then pressed it down onto the paper-covered frame near the top edge. I let it dry overnight and now I have interchangeable art!

I was worried that the clips would pull the paper off of the frame but I used permanent double-sided tape and so far things have stayed put. A fun fact is that I didn’t know my Grandmother made these ceramic frames/art until I happened to flip them over and I saw my older brother’s name and her initials. She used to make a lot of ceramic things so I wasn’t too surprised that she made these but I’m thrilled that I was able to repurpose them into something that I would use in my own home.

Check back Monday to see one of the pictures in action.

Button Up

2011-10-12T09:07:00.000-04:00

Since I was adding pink to my room in small doses (see the lamp shade that started it all), I bought a two-pack of light pink pillow cases from TJMaxx for $6. They complimented the pink in the lamp shade without being all matchy-matchy so I put them on the bed. I then shopped around for throw pillows that resembled my inspiration pillows. Remember this picture?

Source: google.com via Heather from on Pinterest

I found some at TJMaxx for $10 or $15 but I really didn’t want to spend much since I already spent $100 on the new bed, $21.50 on the new lamp/recovered shade and a whopping $2 on the art. I wanted to work with what I had so I looked around the house for some small pillows to use instead. Enter the $3 pillows I had in the basement.

They were pretty as they were (I love me some tufting) but I thought they needed a splash of color added to them. See those white buttons? Yep – I decided to swamp ‘em out. I bought a Craft Cover Button Kit from JoAnn’s for $10 (it came with 14 buttons, 14 backs, template, mold and pusher tools) and another fabric square for $2 (the polka dot pink one).

The blue stripe fabric (which was in my stash) ended up not being used and the navy fabric is actually one of my Dad’s (unused) hankies that I brought home with me. The process of covering buttons is quite easy.

Step 1: Place the template that comes with the kit on your fabric, using the inside window to line up the desired image that will appear on the button. Trace around the outside of the template and cut out the circle.

Step 2: Center the fabric, wrong side up, over the button mold and place a button shell on top of the fabric. Press the button shell into the mold.

Step 3: Tuck the extra fabric into the button shell.

Step 4: Place the button back with the shank over the tucked fabric and press down firmly with the pusher to snap the back into place.

I then removed the white buttons and sewed the colorful buttons in their place. I mistakenly got buttons a tad larger than the original buttons so they are bigger pops of color than I originally intended.

I like both the white and the colorful buttons so depending on my mood either side may be shown (the other side still has white buttons). Like I said, I thought they would be a little more subtle but with the bigger buttons, subtle they are not. :)

Love is on the Wall

2011-10-10T09:04:00.001-04:00

I found this great long and skinny picture frame when I was helping my Mom clean the house. Luckily for me she said I could have it and I immediately thought about making a jewelry organizer out of it. I forgot to take a picture before I painted it white, but it was a medium shade of wood with gold trim.

The more I thought about my room the more I decided that a jewelry organizer wasn’t what I wanted since I already have some hooks on the wall for my large necklaces and cute bowls for my earrings and bracelets on my vanity. Instead I needed something tall to balance out the window on one side of my bed. See, what I mean? There’s a window on one side and nothing on the other above the bedside table. I’ve always hated how off balanced the room was so I decided that I might be able to trick the eye a bit with some artwork.

I decided to use nickel thumb tacks and foam board for my artwork so my first step was to buy a piece of foam board and a box of nickel thumb tacks from the dollar store. I measured the frame opening and cut the foam board to size. Next, I decided to wrap the foam board in fabric so it wasn’t so plain and to give it a little texture. Since I previously removed the headboard, I decided to reuse the duck cloth fabric that was on the old padded headboard. I cut the fabric a little larger than the foam board and then wrapped it around the foam board, using a common desk stapler to staple the fabric in place.

I then simply placed the wrapped foam board into the back of the frame. With the frame turned so the correct side was facing up, I measured the opening and decided that each letter of my word could be around 5 inches tall. Using a fabric pen (the ink disappears after a while), I sketched out the letters on my fabric while trying to keep it straight. If I was more careful, I would have measured everything out but I wanted it to be a little free-form and organic so I didn’t make each letter exactly the same size.

I then placed my thumb tacks along the outline making small corrections as needed so that the thumb tacks fit without any overlapping and so that there was a very small space between each tack.

When I was was done I had this:

I love how simple the thumb tacks are and yet they add a little elegance to the simple art. Be careful, if your art doesn’t have a back since the tacks stick nicely to the foam board but the tips do go through:

That’s it. This took about 15 minutes. I love the simplicity of it and that it adds a little height to a side of the room that previously didn’t have any. In regards to how high I hung it, at first I wanted it to be even with the top of the window frame but then it would be floating by itself and I wanted it to feel grounded by tying it into the table and lamp.

Total cost for art: $2 (foam board and tacks) since I already owned the fabric, frame and spray paint.

Recovering a Lamp Shade

2011-10-07T09:07:00.000-04:00

When I was up north a month ago I found this pretty pink and blue fabric that I fell in love with at first sight. Which was odd since I’m not a big pink person but lately it is sneaking into my closet and my home. Perhaps I’m becoming more girly as I get older who knows.

(This pic is of items I recently brought home from up north: antique tray that Mom bought me, milk glass bowl filled with some tomatoes from my yard, fabric and cool dishcloth from another country I can’t remember right now – another gift from Mom)

I immediately decided that the fabric must go into my bedroom and thus prompt a bedroom makeover of sorts. My predominately blue bedroom didn’t have a lick of pink in it (except for a bowl that I use to hold bracelets on my vanity) so I decided that this square piece of fabric (it was a fat quarter or whatever the quilting squares are called) would become the piece that my room was centered around – the only problem was that they only had a small square of the fabric. In my mind I could use it to make a throw pillow cover, frame it or recover a lamp shade. I immediately thought about the pillow but then I came across these pictures on Pinterest and decided that I didn’t want a single throw pillow but rather, I wanted two accent pillows and I wanted them to match. Since I didn’t have enough fabric I decided to scrap the pillow idea (plus I had something else in mind by this point on that front).

Source: google.com via Heather from on Pinterest

I found a pretty table lamp from Marshall’s on clearance for $20. I loved the shiny base and the white drum shade, which I knew would be perfect if I covered it with my fabric. (Please ignore that the plastic wrap was still on the shade in these pics – I didn’t uncover it until I started working on it.)

Immediately I noticed a problem – my fabric was not long enough to wrap around the circumference of the entire shade.

The shade height was 9” and my fabric was 19.5” long so I realized that I could cut it in half, stitch the two pieces together and then cover the shade with some fabric to spare. I would still have plenty to wrap over the edges of the shade since ideally you want at least half an inch extra on the top and bottom of the shade. (The pic makes it look like the fabric isn’t long enough in height but it was more than long enough – I just had a hard time taking a picture with one hand!)

Since I was feeling lazy and this was the last craft project I did in one night (I did three!) I got lazy and decided to just use fusible webbing (Stitch Witchery) to 'stitch’ the two pieces of fabric together. I folded over the raw edge and then used the iron-on fusible webbing to join the fabric together, ensuring I matched up the pattern.

To get it started, I applied a thin stripe of hot glue from my glue gun to the shade and then pressed the fabric onto the glue, ensuring it was straight. I tried this a couple of times since stopping to take pictures was nearly impossible since the hot glue sets quickly.

I’m sure this would be much easier if I had another set of hands but my method was to align the pattern along the top, pull it over the edge of the shade and press it to the bead of glue that I applied to the inside upper lip of the shade. You have to move quickly before the hot glue sets and be careful not to press your fingers into the glue since hot damn, that stuff burns!

I then repeated to the edge along the bottom of the shade. The bottom was a little trickier since you want to make sure you pull the fabric so there aren’t any wrinkles or sagging fabric and so it lays gently on the shade. It was also key to keep your pattern straight so it doesn’t look all wonky. Yes, I just pulled out the word ‘wonky.’ You’re welcome.

To finish I had to run a line of hot glue along the edge of one side of the fabric and press the other side on top. Since you end up with a seam (and technically I had two since I had to stitch the fabric together at the beginning), position the shade so that the seam side is at the back of the lamp.

Finally, I had a finished shade! Well, not totally finished since I want to get some ribbon to cover my ugly edges on the inside of the shade but since you don’t see the inside I likely won’t get around to it anytime soon since I have more pressing things to do…like clean my house.

Total cost of new lamp:

$20 – lamp from Marshalls

$1.50 – fabric square

$0 – hot glue and hot glue gun since I already own them (though I think they are fairly inexpensive if you buy them. I don’t remember since I’ve had mine FOREVER – seriously like 14 years)

$? – ribbon to wrap the inside (haven’t done this yet so I have no idea what it will cost me)

Total: $21.50 so far

Sweet Dreams

2011-10-05T08:59:00.000-04:00

When I bought my queen size mattress seven years ago the mattress store gave me a metal bed frame to support the box spring and mattress. I’ve used that metal frame since then and I’ve hated it every day since then as well. The wheels moved so I had to put furniture thingys underneath the wheels, the frame squeaked when you got into the bed and I tried to make it pretty by making a headboard but the headboard was never the correct size for the bed:

So here’s the before of the homemade headboard and frame:

I toyed with a few ideas – making a farmhouse bed from Ana White’s site (but that looked a little too country for me and too difficult without another person to help), buying a bed from IKEA and reupholstering it to look like the coveted Colette bed (but the IKEA bed came in a full size not a queen) or buying an antique bed from a local Craigslist seller. After scouring Craigslist and every store I could think of for months I finally found a beautiful bed for sale for $125. I called the seller and talked her down to $100 so I made plans to drive 40 minutes to look at the bed and if I liked it, bring it home.

I drive a CR-V which can fit a LOT of stuff in it; however it sadly cannot fit a queen headboard (however the frame did fit in the car). So I did what I do best – I improvised. I strapped that baby to my roof using a blanket as a protective layer between the bed and my car and then used various ropes to hold it tight. I admit – even I was impressed with my skills when it did not budge a single inch in the 40 minute drive home.

I admit I was disappointed by two things: 1) it was not antique but it looked the part so I handed over my cash and 2) it did not have a wood frame like I thought, but rather had a solid wood headboard and metal frame. I lugged that heavy beast of a headboard inside and began assembling the bed. It took a little brain power since I wasn’t entirely sure what all the holes in the headboard legs were for but after an hour (yes, it took me that long!) I had a sturdy, pretty bed!

Look – the headboard actually fits the width of the mattress! Initially I thought I might paint the frame if it was in bad shape but the bed was only a little over a year old and in perfect condition so the gorgeous wood stays (you’re welcome, Mom!). I love the detail, the shape of the headboard and the heft of it (that sucker is solid). I encountered one slight problem. When you rest up against the headboard, it knocked back into the wall since it was about 1.5” from the wall. I figured that was an easy fix – I could just cut a piece of wood that was 1.5” thick to size and screw it into the wall for the bed to rest against. Luckily for me I found the perfect piece of scrap wood in the garage so all I had to do was cut off one bad end of the wood and then screw it into the wall.

The bed no longer knocks into the wall thus saving my sanity.

This switcheroo cost me $100 for the bed. It’s not what I originally wanted (metal frame vs. wood one) but for the price I couldn’t say no. Oh, and the metal frame of this bed is much nicer than my old one – the wheels have locks on them to keep the bed from rolling, the bars are thicker and the middle bar that supports the box spring is bigger and sturdier than my old one. I’m thrilled with the upgrade.

In Memory – Part 2

2011-10-03T10:06:00.001-04:00

Some amazing friends have sent me some beautiful plants and flowers to bring me peace during this difficult time. I’ve received:

a Peace Plant

a mixture of plants

an Orchid

I also received some beautiful roses that I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of since they were at my desk at work. I’m still trying to figure out the best place for them all since my house receives limited light so for now they are scattered throughout the living and dining rooms.

I think I mentioned when I created the shadow box that I have a lot of Dad’s smaller trinkets that I needed to put somewhere (in addition to a few larger items that I’ve put in the house but won’t be showing since I’m keeping that to myself). When we cleaned out Dad’s dresser I found a tub that I made him in kindergarten and he kept all this time. I put the smaller items in that and then decided to put the tub along with some other items in the blue lacquer box that I have in the office. Once I removed the top tray the tub fit perfectly when the lid was shut.

It has been a tough month but I’m dealing in the best way that I can – by hanging out with friends, keeping busy at work and doing random house projects (that I need to upload to the computer so I can post here).

Let’s take another look at that Orchid – it is beautiful and my first Orchid so hopefully I don’t kill it. You water it by placing three ice cubes on the soil each week – seems easy enough. :)

In Memory

2011-09-19T11:57:00.000-04:00

On Friday, September 2, my father lost his two-year battle with cancer. As my mother and I went through his things so we could see what we could donate, what she wanted to keep and what us kids (I’m one of three) wanted to hold onto, I tried to think of a fitting way to store the small items I wanted to keep. I didn’t want to put things in a box (though some things are stored away) since I was and am so proud of my father and I wanted to create a meaningful display for things that he loved so much.

My father was a retired U.S. Marine so we found a ton of medals, chevrons and other military memorabilia in addition to his hunting and fishing gear. We divided the medals, dog tags and other items among all of us – here’s a small sampling of mine:

I went to Michael’s yesterday to find a suitable shadow box that would fit the hat and some of his other items as shown above (not everything is pictured and not all of this made it into the box). I came home with three different shadow boxes to try out – a white 11x14 box, a black 12x16 box and a black 14x18 box.

I decided to just lie the hat on the boxes to see which one would be wide enough for it without unwrapping them since I wanted to make my returns to Michael’s as easy as possible (side note: Dad always laughed that I would return things to stores. He really found that humorous for some reason so I’ll definitely smile as I return the unused boxes this week). The hat didn’t fit across the smallest box and when I put it sideways I just didn’t like how it fit and that not much else would really fit into the box.

That box was put back in the shopping bag and I tried box #2. This one fit things a little better but I realized it wouldn’t fit anything other than the military items and hunting/fishing were such big parts of my Dad’s life that I wanted them incorporated. Also, to make more things fit I had to put the hat sideways again and I just wasn’t feeling that look.

Box #3 proved to work the best for what I wanted. I could fit everything I wanted without it feeling too jumbled. I also loved that this box had a hinged front so it would make adding things a LOT easier and the greige background was perfect for showcasing the items.

I played around with the items inside the box for a bit before deciding on the final layout. Then I just needed to figure out where to hang it. I wanted it somewhere where I would see it every day so the office and guest bedroom were out. I decided that a wall in the hallway outside of my bedroom would be perfect since it would be the only thing hanging on the narrow wall, thus making it the focal point.

The contents of the shadow box are:

his USMC uniform hat
patch from one of his USMC uniform shirts
the name tag from one of his USMC uniform shirts
his Rifle Expert medal
I’m not sure what the brass item is called but they were screwed onto his Marine Blues hat
a ticket stub from a Detroit Lions game that he, mom and I went to a few years ago
the tie from his USMC uniform
his dog tag
a patch from hunting in 1991
three various levels of chevrons – these were attached to his uniforms
three colored bars, I’m not sure what they stood for but they were also worn on his uniform (if you scroll all the way back up you can see them on his uniform in the top picture)
a fishing lure from his tackle box

I love the thickness of the shadow box – it isn’t too deep so it doesn’t stick out too far from the wall (which is good since I’m notoriously clumsy and would likely bump into anything much deeper).

So that’s part one of things I brought home that were once Dad’s. I hope I honored him appropriately with the shadow box – it is hard deciding what is important enough to put on display or what really captures who a person is since he was so much more than just what is shown in this box. He was an amazing husband, father, grandfather, uncle, son, grandson, brother, cousin and friend. Posting will likely remain slow around here as I deal with things or maybe I’ll do a lot of projects to keep my mind busy – who knows - but thanks for understanding.

**Update: I updated the pictures since after my father’s Military Rites my uncle pointed out that the chevrons point upward vs. downward. He also told us that each bar on the chevron indicates a rank in the Marine Corps so it was fun to find out why I found three different chevrons and what they represent.**

I Fought the Door..and the Door Won

2011-09-05T09:19:00.000-04:00

The final update I wanted to make to the entrance doors to my house (after painting the entry doors white, painting the door hinges Oil Rubbed Bronze and installing new door hardware on the side entrance door) was to paint the hardware on the glass storm door at the front of my house. I figured it would be as easy as unscrewing everything, spraying it with paint and re-installing. I was wrong.

First, let me show the before pictures. More lovely fake brass handles (the outside was rubbing off) and what I’m going to call a door sweep since I’m not sure what the proper term is for that thing.

I wanted them to match the newly painted hinges so I gathered my supplies:

Oil Rubbed Bronze Metallic Spray Paint
Liquid Deglosser
Rubber Gloves
Soft Cloth
High Grit Sandpaper (in this case 400)

I started off by trying to remove the hardware from the door. I removed the first two interior screws and pulled…nothing happened. I then removed the screws holding the latches in place and still nothing happened. I fidgeted with the door hardware for ten minutes before giving up. I re-screwed everything back in place and decided to go another route. I taped a plastic tarp around the door handles and covered as much of both sides of the glass door as I could. I then taped newspaper along the door sweep since that sucker also wouldn’t budge once all of the screws were removed. I vaguely remember this being the issue years ago when I thought about painting these pieces but my mind must have blocked that information until now.

Once everything was taped off, I donned my safety goggles so I could win this battle once and for all. Don’t I look fierce? This is my game face in case you were wondering (and I’m representing the ‘D’ – go Tigers!).

After I put on my rubber gloves, the next step was to sand all of the hardware pieces using my 400 grit sandpaper. I then wiped everything clean with a dry cloth before wiping everything with a liquid deglosser to help the paint adhere. I let everything dry for about ten minutes before applying a thin, even coat of spray paint. I continued applying coats after letting each coat dry (about ten minutes between coats since it was a hot day). A word of warning – I don’t have a key for this lock – I just lock the door from the inside so I didn’t take precaution against paint getting in the lock on the front side of the door. If you DO have a lock that you use, insert the key into the lock prior to painting (or any key that will fit will do) and apply your paint while the key is still in the lock. This will protect the lock from getting gummed up with spray paint.

I’m not going to lie – this was a pain in the a$$. Finally, after many thin coats (I lost count), I removed the plastic, tape and paper while the paint was still a little wet so that nothing would stick and later pull up any of the paint. There were some areas I missed (underneath the handles didn’t get sprayed very well) so I sprayed a little of the spray paint into an empty plastic disposable cup and used a small paint brush to apply the paint to the missed spots. Seriously – remember that trick!

The finished hardware and door sweep look amazing! (pics were taken while everything finished drying.

Good bye, brass! And that ends the entrance door updates. Finally.

How To: Install Door Knobs and Deadbolts

2011-09-01T08:42:00.000-04:00

All of my exterior doors now have pretty Aged Bronze Georgian knobs. The front and back door knobs were installed two+ years ago and last weekend I finally got around to installing the side door knob – you know, the ones I’ve had sitting in the basement for over a year?!? You could spray paint the old ones to save some dough but I wanted to upgrade my locks since I hadn’t done it since buying the home (yes, I was told I had all of the keys but who knows if that is true). The ones I bought were pricey at $50 a set but I figure it was well worth it for my safety. All of the old knobs/locks in my home were a lovely brass that I couldn’t ~~bear~~ wait to part with.

Now, when I’ve done this before the instructions were actually written out. This time? Nope – pictures-only ala IKEA furniture. So hopefully my terminology makes sense since I am kind of doing it from memory. ;) Don’t hate me if you do it backwards. Begin by removing the screws holding the doorknob and other hardware in place. The screws will be located on the interior side of the door. Remove everything so you are left with holes in the door and frame.

Then, install the strike plates to the door frame. Yep, in this pic I didn’t replace the top one yet since, well, I misplaced it. :) It has since been replaced. I blame the cat.

Next, choose a faceplate to match your door. Yours might have rounded edges, squared edges or a round hole. Mine are squared edges but I used the rounded faceplates on the other doors so I went ahead and used the rounded one again. Apparently I was lazy before or maybe I didn’t read the step (maybe that’s why they got rid of text and only use graphics now) so I figured I’d just have all of the doors match. Screw in the latch and deadbolt with the word ‘Top’ facing upward (deadbolt on top, latch on bottom). Be sure to orient the new latch in the correct direction to ensure that the door will close properly

Install exterior handle so that the keyway is pointed up. The pin should slide through the hole in the middle of the latch piece and into the corresponding hole on the interior handle. Screw into place.

Install deadbolt with the keyway pointing up. Ensure pin slides into the interior side of the deadbolt. Screw into place. The deadbolt for my door was a pain since it was a tad larger than the door hole so I used a rubber mallet to gently coax the deadbolt into place. I did mess up my new paint job slightly with the deadbolt install so touch-up is needed.

That’s it! It should take about 10 minutes to install or if you’re like me and you misplace a piece it will take you a day to hunt that sucker down (it was on the table the whole time – though the table is no where near the door or the other pieces so I’m not sure how it got there. Maybe I have ghosts.). Good luck!

I’ll leave you with one final look of the door – after painted hinges, new hardware and the door was painted white.

Putty in My Hands

2011-08-26T08:51:00.000-04:00

A few items from my to-do list were to paint the insides of my entry doors glossy white, install the new lock/handle on the side door and spray paint the screen door hardware to match the front door hardware. I finally tackled these this past weekend since I didn’t have any fun plans and figured it would be better than watching reality television. I’ll break up the posts into a few so I can give details and not make this too long. Today I’ll cover painting the doors.

A couple of years ago I painted the front and side exterior doors red – they used to be a blah putty color. I gave the blow-by-blow back then so I won’t repeat myself – go check out this post for the exact steps and the tools I used. What I did do differently, however, is I used Floetrol (a paint additive) to help minimize the brush strokes on the finished door. Let me back up to say bloggers have been raving about Floetrol and the fact that it erases your brush/roller marks and I did find that to be true. However, what I also found to be true is that this stuff makes your paint hard to work with. I messed up the paint more than a few times since the paint becomes more sticky, so you have to be more careful about re-rolling over an area you just applied paint to. If you look close enough at my doors you’ll see a couple of spots where it isn’t as smooth as the other spots and normally I would have fixed this but after five coats and six hours of painting I gave up.

Once again, the putty-colored door needed to go. I’ve lived with it for long enough and I wanted the door to be stark white to match all of the other interior doors of my home. Some people are painting their doors bright, fun colors but I love the look of a crisp, white door not to mention that I hate painting doors and white goes with everything. I replaced the brass door hardware on the front door many years ago with my dad’s assistance but I never did anything about the brass hinges. Yuck. I figured since I was painting the door I might as well address the hinges as well (more on that in a bit).

Once again, I followed the prep steps in the old post, I didn’t remove the door from the frame and I taped around the door hardware since I wasn’t up for the task of removing it (for the front door anyway). Like I said, it took five coats of the semi-gloss white to get the desired effect. Now, those hinges. Since it is just me here there was no way I was going to remove all of the hinges, thus removing the heavy door from the frame. I figured I could remove one hinge at a time, spray paint it and then reattach the hinge before moving to the next. This plan worked great – but it took two days. (To speed things up I took one hinge from the front door and one from the side door so I was always painting two hinges at a time rather than doing it door-by-door.)

I took a piece of my new door hardware (that would be installed on the side door later) into the store to find a match in the spray paint aisle. The hardware color is Aged Bronze and the closest spray paint I could find was Oil Rubbed Bronze by Rust-Oleum. I was worried the Oil Rubbed Bronze might read a little browner than the Aged Bronze but figured it was worth a shot. So, I removed the hinges (which simply required opening the door and removing the screws attaching the hinge to the door and to the frame), stuck the screws into a piece of foam, lightly sanded the hinges with 220 grit sandpaper, wiped off the hinges and placed everything on a large sheet of cardboard on my lawn.

Then I sprayed everything with two thin layers of paint, let it dry for around 30 minutes between coats, then turned over the hinges and did the same to the backside of the hinges. I waited for four hours before rehanging the hinge on the door to ensure they were nice and dry.

Ahhh…isn’t the white door with the dark bronze hardware gorgeous? Now, if only I could figure out a way to get rid of the brass in the pesky half circle window at the top of the door. I tried taking it apart but my glass is a solid piece unfortunately.

At least the brass matches the middle of the door locks from the outside I guess:

I’ll be back with details/pics of installing new door hardware on the side door and the hardware on my front screen door. Here’s my updated to-do list now that the doors and hardware have been taken care of. Ugh- all I really want to finish from this list is the picket fence. Let’s see if I can do it before fall…

Inside

Paint inside of front door glossy white COMPLETE
Paint inside of side door glossy white COMPLETE
Install new lock on side door COMPLETE
Install crown molding in the dining room (also added to all three bedrooms - not on list) COMPLETE
Install a new kitchen floor COMPLETE
Paint the bathroom ceiling the same beige as the walls COMPLETE
Paint the ceiling in the guest room white COMPLETE
Install railing in the stairway to basement (?)
Install draft block on the back door COMPLETE
Remodel the home office - (new to list) COMPLETE
Swap out office light - (new to list) COMPLETE
Swap out kitchen light - (new to list) COMPLETE
Trim stove backsplash (new to list) COMPLETE
Build picture ledge (new to list) COMPLETE
Paint basement storage area (new to list) COMPLETE

Outside

Paint house foundation black COMPLETE
Paint front porch ~~black~~ beige COMPLETE
Spray paint the screen door hardware to match front door hardware COMPLETE
Install railing leading to back door and front door (?)
Install new gate post for gate next to garage COMPLETE
Re-roof garage COMPLETE
Fix garage siding, window and install new side door COMPLETE
Paint picket fence
Re-roof patio COMPLETE
Fill in sidewalk with sand (new to list) COMPLETE
Re-screen window screens (new to list) COMPLETE

Sprout Delay

2011-08-24T08:45:00.000-04:00

I generally only buy a handful of potatoes at a time since I only cook for one these days and a bag of potatoes generally sprouts and goes bad before I have a chance to eat them. Since I only have a few I have never had a good place to store them – I tend to just leave them on the counter next to the stove.

I started thinking about storage ideas but my kitchen is tiny so space was limited. I noticed this odd space leading down to the basement and I wondered if I could build a storage box of sorts to fit in the space but the more I thought about it the more it seemed like it wouldn’t work/look right in that space.

I then googled (yep, it’s a verb) to see what I could find online and that’s when I found the Orka storage sacks. These natural cotton and linen bags claim to keep veggies fresher longer since they protect veggies from light and delay sprouting. That sounded about right since I knew that potatoes should be stored in a dry, dark space with ventilation for best results (even though I knew that I have never followed through on that – call me lazy). I loved the look of them, the drawstring closures, that you add veggies to the top and remove from the bottom and the fact that they can hang.

Sadly I couldn’t find the potato-sized bag anywhere online but I did find the Garlic storage bag on clearance at Crate & Barrel for $5. So, I bought the garlic bag even though it was smaller (it holds 2 lbs) but I figured it would likely hold the amount of potatoes I use. Of course a couple of days later I saw that reuseit.com restocked the potato bag (holds 8 lbs) so I quickly purchased that one as well for $10.

I thought about returning the garlic bag but then I realized it would be perfect for onions (though they do sell an onion bag as well) so both bags stayed in the house. The next thing I had to decide was where to hang them. As I stated my kitchen is small and I figured they wouldn’t work in there but my initial idea of having potato storage leading to the basement still made sense. I have some hooks on the wall that my aprons hang from so I figured I’d just hang these bags there as well. Perfect!

I love that they are out of the way but still visible so I won’t forget them like I did when I used to store the potatoes in the basement in a bag. Now, if you’re worried that the window will provide too much sunlight I thought about that as well and will be updating the window sometime this week – stay tuned!

How cute are the embroidered pictures of a potato and garlic? Granted, my green one holds onions but still – how cute!

Currently my potato bag is holding five potatoes but like I said this baby holds up to 8 lbs (though reviewers said it is more like 5 lbs – still more than I ever buy). I’m thinking I may mix my Russet potatoes with some smaller round potatoes in one bag – yep, I’m a rebel.

Oh! If you are a first-time customer at reuseit.com you can use this coupon code (NEWCUST2) to get free bamboo utensils (spoon, fork, knife) like I did. Americans toss out enough plastic forks, knives and spoons each year to circle the equator 300 times. I’m loving that this free gift will help reduce my ecological footprint! Go here for other free offers for new customers.

Video Killed the Radio Star

2011-08-22T09:37:00.001-04:00

I took a video tour of the exterior of my home…oh, in June. I finally remembered it the other day and uploaded it to Vimeo in case you wanted to check it out. It is a standard yard for my city – small, only a few mature trees and the house is close to the sidewalk.

Things to note:

Sorry it is shaky – now you see why my parents wouldn’t let me hold the camcorder during parties/holidays since I make people dizzy
My foundation is not “freshly” painted; I meant “newly” painted but again, that was back in April
I covered the house numbers with a shirt to keep my address private
Again, this was in June when I had pretty flowers
I’m not sure why I was so focused on Sami but she loves being outside so I had to show her (but once would have been enough)
My mailman interrupted me while I was doing the first taping – I think he thought I was crazy walking around my house talking to myself (as I’m sure my neighbors did, too)

It isn’t anything terribly exciting but I was playing with my Flip HD so I figured I’d share it (the only other thing I’ve videotaped so far is Sami and who besides me wants to see my fat cat attack a box?). If you can’t see it above, feel free to check it out on Vimeo.

Changes

2011-08-19T10:16:00.001-04:00

I’ve made a few changes to the ol’ blog lately that you won’t see if you use a Reader program. First up: my navigation bar.

Here’s a snapshot of the House Tour format (as it is today – I’m always making tweaks):

And a snapshot of the project list:

I also added icons for following me on Pinterest, emailing me, following my RSS feed and a link to all things loved by me at my Amazon store.

Finally, I added the LinkWithin widget to the bottom of my posts. This links to similar posts that you may find interesting.

That’s it but those small changes took a lot of time to implement (primarily the project list). I’m trying to work up the energy to paint my fence this weekend but I really don’t want to do it so we’ll see if it (or anything else) gets done. The weather should be beautiful and I’d rather spend it lying on my hammock. Happy Friday!

Coral = Persimmon?

2011-08-17T10:15:00.000-04:00

Earlier this summer I bought a magazine rack from a neighbor’s yard sale. I loved the cane detail and the shape of the rack but I didn’t love the color.

I grabbed a few paint swatch cards from Home Depot to see what I liked that was close to the coral color of my lamp shade in the office (and also of the flowers in the picture above). I settled on Persimmon Red (MSL015) by Martha Stewart. This was one of her pre-mixed colors so I didn’t even have to wait around for a sample to be made for me. Since the piece had caning I decided that I didn’t want to use a brush or roller and that spraying it would be easiest. I used my Preval sprayer once again (I love this thing!) after I primed the rack. (If you haven’t used the Preval sprayer, it is an aerosol sprayer allows you to turn any paint into spray paint. The refills for the aerosol are $3 at the HD).

No – I didn’t paint it on the back patio but I did pull it onto the patio to take pictures before it rained.

The magazine rack took three coats to cover everything so I took my time, applying thin even coats and letting it dry adequately between coats. I could have taken it apart to spray it but I’m a rebel and enjoy doing things the hard way so I kept it intact the entire time.

The two pictures above show the color the most accurately. For some reason every time I tried to take a picture it read more orange than it is.

Once it was dry I brought it back into the office to see how it looked. Let me tell you – adding a bright color was a bit of a shock to me (you know I love me some white). I’m still getting used to it and I want to make sure this is the color I decide to stick with before I apply Polycrylic to it to protect it from scratches.

When the Skies are Gray

2011-08-15T09:33:00.001-04:00

Remember the DIY picture ledges I made in February? I’ve updated the pictures a couple of times but one picture has bugged me for months – well, not the picture but the plain white mat.

The picture of our house was being washed out by the white mat. I’ve debated painting it, wrapping it with fabric or buying a new one. Two weeks ago while I was at Michaels I noticed they had a large selection of mats marked down 70% off in their clearance aisle. I quickly grabbed a fun black mat that I thought would look nice with the picture. When I got home I quickly swapped them out – much better.

However, you couldn’t really notice the fun pattern on the mat, which is the reason I bought it in the first place. I decided to break out the ink again (I last did this in the kitchen to the hook my oven mitts hang from) to make the pattern pop. I grabbed my Color Box inkpad in Sky Gray (the same color I used in the kitchen). You simply turn the inkpad upside down and lightly rub it over the raised pattern. This highlights the pattern since the ink sticks to the top but not in the crevices.

If you get too much color in one spot you can lightly rub it out with your finger before it dries. I like the subtle detail that you can now see on the mat. Here’s what the mat looked like with a little ink:

And here it is in the frame (sorry, with the glare of the glass, it is hard to get a good picture):

I stepped back, happy with my new mat but the left side of the ledge looked a little dark and heavy compared to the right. I quickly noticed that it was because I had the frame with the black mat and a dark metal frame on the same side.

Easy to fix – I just moved the metal and light blue frame to the right side and the dark blue and small white frame over to the left. It was an easy fix that makes the shelf feel more balanced to me.

There you have it – my $1.50 fix for the picture ledge (cost of the mat).