December 26, 2009

{ I. Hate. To. Sew. }

This is truly an understatement. As all my sisters know, whenever I do a sewing project, I moan and complain throughout the entire project. This is not to say I can't sew, I can, I just REALLY don't like it. So why do I do it you ask? Because I'm incredibly cheap, and I'm on a budget. Plus, I'm kinda picky about what I want, and I have a much better chance of getting what I want by doing it myself. That, in the end, makes it (barely) worth it. Which leads to this post. This is the final installation of the "While Hubby's Away" saga. I started with two pairs of chairs. The first set I bought at a thrift store for about $8 each. I liked the clean lines, but as you can tell, they had seem much better days.I got the fabric from Home Fabrics, a discount fabric store. I love floral fabrics on brown backgrounds, so this fabric made me smile. I didn't include a zipper, as I typically would on a slipcover project, but since this had a dark pattern instead of the traditional white duct I usually slip cover everything in, I thought I could get away with it. Therefore, to make it work, I had to slip stitch the side seam once I put it on. (My kids better not get it dirty!)One of the chairs now resides at the computer center in my kitchen (shown), the other I have in my office at my desk.

The next set of chairs came from Laurel (again) although I think they started with Mom who got them at a thrift store. I actually really like the retro style of these chairs, but the green vinyl was hopelessly dirty, and no matter how much I scrubbed, they wouldn't come completely clean. I ended up painting them white, of course, then I recovered the seat and made a little slip for the top with a dainty ruffle to add a little detail.I found the fabric a while ago, and loved it, so though I had no idea what to do with it, I bought a couple of yards and tucked it away. I'm glad it found a purpose. A zipper hidden along the cording on the edge helped make a tight cover, yet removable for washing. I have one chair at my little computer desk, the other is looking for a home. The great thing about these chairs is I can put them all around my office table (if you remember my office post here) and turn it back into a dining table for company.

Now I have a question for all you smart ladies. You see the cute little table I have my computer on? (yes, another hand-me-down) I love the original turquoise color, but the paint job has definitely seen better days. Should I repaint it. NOT white, but some other fun/funky color (What?) or should I keep it turquoise? Please let me know what you think.

December 24, 2009

{ We Wish You a... }

home girls...ha, ha!

December 20, 2009

{ Pillow Love }

When I saw these pillows in the Pottery Barn catalogue I fell in pillow love with them. You understand, right?Of course, I thought, "I can make those"! Now this is the part where I'm supposed to show you how I made my own for less & how super cute they are...but WAIT! I didn't ever make them. The idea just sits there on my To Do list.

And then I came across a really fun blog called Life in Grace & she didn't just think about making them, she actually made them plus, one from Ballard Designs & they really did turn out super cute! Check it out...
And she was even nice enough to share a tutorial for us so we can make them too. Thanks, Edie. You have inspired me & I will definitely get these off of my To Do list...

at least by Christmas next year. :)

December 18, 2009

{ It's the Little Things }

Or While Hubby's away part two...
I did a lot of little thing that added up to a lot. here are a couple of little projects that I finally got around to completing.
First, I saw a similar jewelry holder in a store, and while I loved it, I wasn't about to fork over $150 for it. I'm just too cheap, and I knew I could make something just like it. I was at Hobby Lobby one day, and they had their frames on sale for 1/2 off. A yard of fabric, some batting and a foam core board completed my supplies. What do you think? I love being able to see all (or at least most) of my necklaces and bracelet at a glance.
My second project I totally stole from Sheri. When I was at her house painting her cabinets, I notice the cute chalkboard she made for her pantry cupboard. Great for shopping lists and reminder notes. All it took was a thin sheet of fiberboard, a little trim and a quart of chalkboard paint. Thanks Sheri for letting me copy, I love it!
One more post to go for the weekend projects. As a heads up (and as my sisters know) I'm naming the post {I. Hate. To. Sew.}, Stay tuned.

December 17, 2009

{ Busy Christmas Time }

Wow! Such a busy time! I love Christmas, but have a hard time with the stress, busyness, etc. I'm trying really hard to change my attitude & embrace all of it this year. I have to tell you, it is nice sometimes to just give in to it rather than fight it. It makes those quiet, family times that much better, right? Like last night, we all sat down together as a family for dinner. It seems like this hasn't happened much lately. It was so wonderful.
{ the Christmas quilt I finished with Sheri's help :) }
{ metal tree with a tiny picture of our wedding day }
{ I love my vintage ornament wreath }
So, how about you? Are feeling stressed, overwhelmed or overly busy? Or do you just go with the flow? I would love to know your ideas for a stress free holiday.

December 14, 2009

{ One Week }

Just one week left until the kids are out of school! I'm excited about that but, that means I have a lot to do this week! My goal is to have all of my shoppong completed, shipping done & goodies delivered by then. Wish me luck!

I have a full day today, so I'm off! But, before I go, here's some Christmas eye candy from Country Living...




I love the framed vintage ornaments, don't you? Happy Monday, everyone!

side note: My wonderful hubby did get the toilet back on & working before the shower. Phew!

December 9, 2009

{ Help! }

I'm hosting a baby shower at my house tonight & I'm missing a major component in the guest bathroom.
Yep! We discovered a slow water leak from the toilet. Good times!

December 8, 2009

{ While Hubby's Away.... }

...I'll work my tail off!

This last weekend, my sweetie went away on a business trip for 3 days. As a little background, we own a business, and our office is in our house, so he is home a LOT. This really makes it difficult for me to get stuff done around the house because it seems like I'm always working with him in the office. So when he went away on a trip did I sit around taking hot baths, reading books and eating ice cream? NO! I stayed up until 3am every morning working on as many projects as I possibly could. It was such a high because I got so much accomplished.

This post is Part One better known as... "Its nothing that a coat of white paint can't fix".

I got this hutch from Laurel a long time ago (most of the great stuff in my house came from Laurel!), and it's been sitting in my garage ever since because I just couldn't find a home for it in my house. I also got a great sofa table from her as well, can you see it hiding behind the hutch, but it was black and didn't quite work in my room. So what is my solution? A coat of white paint of course! (and yes, I do most of my projects in my family room)

Here's the after. I decided to seperate the hutch into two individual pieces.
This was the top half of the hutch. You might recognize the bun feet from Jamie's nightstand makeover. If I ever want to turn it back into a hutch, I can simply remove the feet and place it on top of the base. I painted the inside of the cabinet red, then I then antiqued the red interior and the top of the piece with a dark stain.
The other half of the hutch went into my bedroom as a nightstand. I really needed something that had lot of storage, and this piece fit the bill.
I LOVE IT! I added glass knobs that I had sitting in my garage left over from another project. As a side project, I also redid the frame above the table. I darkened the stain on the frame, took out the generic pictures and added some black and white photos of my kids.


Here's the black sofa table...
Same process, staining the top and adding glass knobs, but what a difference!

Sorry some of the pictures are a bit dark, but I think you get the idea. The best part of these projects? They were FREE! I used stuff I already had around the house! This is the end of part one, I'll post more in a couple of days.

December 7, 2009

{ I Love Today }

Happy Monday morning! I am loving today. It is dark & rainy...finally some winter weather. I know, I know. It's still only about 52 degrees, but, hey, that's winter weather to us here in So Cal!So, I'm sitting here with only the lights from my Christmas tree & computer screen, blogging. I am loving today! I read a great post on the Clover Lane blog & found a cute way to spruce up a $6 wreath over at Make Life Sweet.Oh! And I wanted to show you this tile I made for Christmas. Super easy! You can find directions from this post on how I made coasters. Same directions, bigger tile! :)I went out on black Friday { I know. Black Friday scares me. :) } & got a smaller tree for this corner. I'm so glad that I did. It fits so much better than our old tree & this one is pre-lit! I am loving that!
I am, also, loving our readers. I have been meaning to say this for a while...thank you to all of you that read our little family blog! I really do appreciate the sweet comments. You are great!
I hope you are all having a lovely day, too!

December 4, 2009

{ It's Christmas Time! }

Are you guys all ready for Christmas!?!! Man! I've been absent here for a bit. Life just gets crazy sometimes. I wanted to show a Christmas project that I am so happy is finished. Ecstatic, actually!

So, here's the story. Sheri came out for a visit to work on her scrapbooks & when we went to the scrapbook store we got a little distracted by some really cute vintage looking paper. Our mission suddenly changed as we decided that we just must use this adorable paper right away! We decided to make a Christmas advent calender. By the time Sheri had to go home, we got it mostly finished. We only had to add some pictures & a few numbers. TWO YEARS LATER it is finally done! Why, oh, why do I do that?

Any who! Here are a few of my favorite pages...

day 3-Christmas traditions
day 7- Peanut when she was just a little peanut {ha, ha} with Santa
day 9- Part of our Christmas cards last year. I loved those cards. It was two-sided. One side was the nice smiley faced kids holding their NOEL letters & underneath it said "Merry Christmas" & the other side was the picture above with their goofy faces. This side read "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas this Year!" I really loved it!
day 10- Ms. Sassypants sledding.
day 14- Boo with Santa last year.

day 15- Our family Christmas picture from a few years ago.
day 16- A picture of the kids in their Christmas Eve jammies.
day 17- I've always loved this picture of the Holy Family.
day 18- Our front porch decorated for Christmas.
day 21- Mary & her the Baby Jesus.
day 22- Santa, of course!
day 23- The Boy & Ms. Sassypants. They've grown up so much. I love this picture of them...before the teenage years. :)
day 24- O Holy Night {my favorite Christmas song}
day 25- "For unto us is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord." Yes, if you look closely, I missed a word in the quote. Nice. Maybe I just wanted to make sure that it really looked handmade. :)
I'm really happy that I get to put it out this year. And I'm also really happy that I'm almost done with my Christmas shopping. Just little things left. I really do love this time of year. Everything is so festive & fun! Happy Weekend!

November 18, 2009

{ A Summer Project }

As you know, I am in the middle of redecorating our master bedroom. Actually, I never really decorated it when we moved into this house. I finally got the ball rolling by convincing my husband to get rid of that window on the left side of our bed. Now, I know you're thinking, "What?" but, just hear me out...{before}
I've mentioned before that I like things to be orderly & symmetrical. Well, as you can tell, there is no window on the other side of our bed. It has bothered me since the day we moved in 8 years ago. But, the bigger reason is that it matched directly up to our neighbor's window. We could talk to each other through the windows & it was like we were in the same room. Too close for comfort for me.

When I mentioned, to my dearest, that we should close off that window he said things like, "It's fine like it is or it will cost too much money or you're crazy." You, know, endearing things like that. :) But, I was a determined woman, so 8 years later, he gave in. This is what we did {the short version}.
{before}
1} Carefully, took off the baseboard. I say "carefully" because we put it back on. 2} Filled in the window with a piece of cheap plywood. 3} Bought a miter saw. Yes, we decided to buy a miter saw for each other for our anniversary, which was the following week. How romantic! Actually, I was very excited. I have wanted one for quite some time. 4} Put on our protective gear...sexy!This is my hubby {and, yes, I do think he's sexy in his protective eye wear, especially when he's supporting my crazy ideas} :)
Okay, gals, here is a scary picture of me in my eye wear. Not so sexy. I can't believe I'm sharing it with you.
5} Bought a few sheets of 4x8 bead board paneling. We chose the wider beadboard look, pre-primed. Then, nailed it up with a nail gun {that we borrowed...who knows, maybe the next anniversary gift, huh?}. We were lucky that we have an 8 foot ceiling...exactly the right height! 6} Nailed a baseboard along the top for trim. It worked best with the angled ceiling. We replaced the baseboard and then trimmed the sides with a small flat trim to finish it up. 7} Puttied, caulked, painted and........
Here's what the window looks like from the outside. We left the shade inside the window, so the neighbors have no idea what we've done, since this is what they saw most of the time anyway. I soooooo love it! The redecorating has a ways to go. I am working on sewing up some new bedding & need to decide if I'm going to paint those night stands or not...and the lamps. Got to do something with those.and, of course, accessorize! I need to put something on that big, beautiful wall! So, what do you think?