Monthly Archives: February 2011

Feb28

I Go Out Walking…

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Anyone who has known me for a while understands and accepts my dumpster-diver tendencies.  When I see a trash mound on the curbside, I cannot help but scan for treasure.  With little more than elbow grease and usually paint or new fabric, I can take a household discard and turn it into something both functional and visually appealing.  It is perhaps one of my personal talents I am most proud of!

Putting my boasting aside, my tale today is of a lamp I found on a recent walk of my dog.  A house down the road from us is renovating and have built up a considerable pile of old laminate, cabinets, blinds, and other kinds of demolition detritus.  I’ve been keeping a regular eye on it just in case something of actual value was added.  I happened to spot a lamp in the mix and immediately had the urge to grab it.  Because 1) I was just starting my walk and didn’t want to carry it back home just yet and 2) I’ve been trying to get rid of stuff in my house I decided that if the lamp was still there when I returned then I would take it home.  Lo and behold, it must have been fate since, upon my return, the lamp was still there.  I of course grabbed it and carried it the three blocks back home, likely looking like a weirdo to all my neighbors driving past.  No shame no gain, right?

So here’s how the lamp looked once I got home.   Lucky for me, it did work when plugged in.

 

It was dated and dirty and needed a good clean.  I brought out my brass polish and worked my biceps for the better part of an hour, rubbing the gunk off the brass until it shone.  It already looked better in my opinion (as well as ten years newer).

Next I pulled out some gray paint I had left over and painted the wood section in the middle.  Finally, I recycled a lamp shade I had laying around and, wah-lah!, the lamp was better than new! 

I’ll try to find a funkier lamp shade to offset the traditional style of the lamp in the near future, but for now I’m quite enjoying my newest free treasure!

Feb22

Wall O’Wonder

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Happy Tuesday to everyone! I’m hoping that I will be spoiled with another beautiful almost 70 degree day like I’ve been blest with for the last week. I forgot how much I love Spring! And sunshine! And not having to wear ten layers to stay warm! Anyhoo, yesterday was President’s Day, a holiday my company deems important enough to close for and give its employees the day off (another yay!). Given that I wasn’t super productive this weekend I wanted to make the most of this day and tackle lots of projects.

First on the list was assembling my craft room. This weekend Aaron and I swapped the guest bedroom and craft rooms, meaning that we transferred the majority of furniture assigned to these rooms one to the other. Although we accomplished the majority of the grunt work, stuff still had to be put away, organized, and arranged. (here’s the guest bedroom before it became the craft room)

One thing I knew I wanted in my newly minted craft room was a chalkboard wall. I admit I am a little chalkboard crazy, but I wanted a place to write reminders to myself and where my son could color and play while I worked on projects. Here’s the wall I selected for my chalkboard, pre-paint.

Using a straight edge and ruler, I drew out a box and then taped off and painted two coats using chalkboard paint from Lowe’s. With the paint dry, I freehanded a wave pattern around the square that I then painted using the same turquoise I used in the guest bathroom. I love turquoise and taupe together, so of course the color combo made me giddy with happiness. I love, love, love how this little project turned out and couldn’t help but run into the room every now and again to stare at my wall!

Isn’t it awesome?

Anyhoo, that’s not all I did to whip the craft room in shape. I also made new drapes using some fabric I picked up from a local fabric outlet. Fabric Forum commissions their own fabric designs and this fun fish themed one was one such product.

I whipped up some drapes, hung them, and wah-lah! The craft room was certainly beginning to take shape. Of course, there is still work to do to get it fully functional, but all in all I feel I made good progress and use of my day off. Three cheers for that!

Feb16

Sunny with a Chance of Shower

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There is a perfectly good reason(s) why I have been so lax in posting: I’ve been super busy! Between work and preparing for a conference this week, traveling to Myrtle Beach last week for my sister’s baby shower, and trying to keep house, be a good mommy, wife, and pet owner…you get the hint. For today, let’s talk about my sister’s baby shower. My sister asked my mom and I to throw her a shower, a request we were more than happy to honor. The only problem was that I’m in High Point, North Carolina and my mom is in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Hence, planning, scheduling, and getting supplies/food/decorations became a bit more challenging than if we could have done all the party planning physically together.

Anyhoo, this past Saturday was the big day and it was such a blast! For food, I made tortilla roll-ups, seasoned crackers, and a cheese ball. My mom made two cakes (white and red velvet), cocktail wienies, a fruit tray, and an assortment of dips. (here’s the main food table)

For drinks my mom made her homemade pink lemonade (yum!) and I planned for a specialty drink that my sister could drink: Sparkling Cider Mimosas!

And what baby shower would be complete without a diaper cake, right?

Aaron and I wanted to make something special for my sister that would help her remember this day.  We decided to make a frame, which Aaron built, and I bought pink matting cut to be wide so that all of the guests could sign it with their well wishes.  I must say it turned out pretty nice if I may say so!

Between the food, drinks, games, conversation and generosity of friends and family, we had an amazing time.   It was great to see my sister and help plan something special for her and my future niece! I’m looking forward to meeting this little girl who I’m certain will be just as beautiful, smart, and outgoing as her mom; love you Morgan!

Feb9

Good Wood

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Last weekend I masked the ugly flooring in the hallway bathroom using self-adhesive vinyl strips designed to look like wood flooring. I was oh so pleased with the result and had plenty left over strips to do our master bathroom.  Given the age of our home, built around 1969, it wasn’t all too common to have a master bathroom.  With that being said, I am grateful to have one, although I cannot help but wish it were a tad bigger. 

 I also felt that the light colored flooring wasn’t doing this bathroom any favors either, making it feel much more cramped than it had to.

Come Sunday morning after church and during Little Man’s nap time, I went to work transforming this little bathroom with the help of my wood strips, scissors, and measuring tool.  In less than 45 minutes and one quick trip to Lowe’s to pick up three more strips, my project was complete! 

Just like the other bathroom, I’d say the effort and time it took to re-do the flooring was well worth it. 

 A major bonus is that the darker floor makes this little powder room feel larger and more up-to-date style wise.  Whoo-da-hoo!

Feb3

Count Drape-ula (muh, hah, hah)

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Corny post title today, I know. In my defense, my Starbucks has not kicked in yet and hence my mind is still waking up to reality. With that being said I wanted to share my latest sew project. I bought 10 ½ yards of fabric months, if not a year, ago and it has been collecting dust in my craft room closet ever since. I’m not sure what exactly compelled me to get the fabric. I remember thinking it would look great in a nursery except for 1) I’m not pregnant and 2) not planning on child #2 for a while. So hence the explanation of why the fabric has been sitting unused and taking up space. Finally, however, I decided that it would like great as drapes in my craft room. I already had enough white liner on fabric to make it work. Here’s the fabric:

I laid the liner fabric on the ground and placed the drapery fabric on top so I could cut them at the same time. The reasoning behind doing this is largely because it’s a time saver when measuring and when sewing the two pieces together. Once measured and cut, I flipped the fabric inside out and sewed them together on three sides, flipping them right side out afterwards.

In my opinion this is the absolute quickest and easiest way to make lined drapery panels and you don’t have to be the greatest seamstress to do it. With the three sides sewn, all I had to do was close up the fourth side and fold it over to make a rod pocket. This took all of 2 minutes to do.

Total project timefor these drapes was probably 45 minutes, including measuring, cutting, etc. They are now hung and looking dandy in my craft room. Whoo-hoo!

A close-up of the fabric against the blue wall.  Perhaps not the best combo in the world, but 1) it can work with the right furniture & accessories and 2) at least the blue dot in the fabric coordinates. 

Feb1

Faux Bois-ing It

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My big project last week was repainting the guest bathroom from stripes to a Tiffany-esque blue.  I love the results of this weekend warrior project, but the bathroom still was not complete. 

The reason it was not quite satisfying was the floor.  While the rug mat I had in this room is extra large, it could only hide the ugly vinyl so much.  I can sort of understand why whoever chose the bluish marble esque pattern: it’s neutral and it doesn’t clash with the gray tile surround in the bath/shower.  Nevertheless, it was still ugly and I planned to do something about it.

Given our success with sticky tiles in the basement laundry, I was ready to give it another go in the bathroom.  My reasoning is that almost anything was going to be an improvement over the current flooring and it is, in reality, only a temporary fix until the eventual full scale demo and revamp occurs.  So off to Lowe’s I went, where I picked up two boxes of fake wood flooring strips.  Total Cost: ~$55. 

The flooring was very easy to lay except for the measurements and cuts that had to be made to fit around the molding, tub, and toilet. 

This project took way longer than I had anticipated.  Instead of the hour I thought it would take, it took almost two.  By the time the floor was done, I was exhausted and tired of this self-inflicted project.  Despite the considerable time consumption, however, the floor looks exactly how I had imagined it.  It is much better than what was there and, although it is vinyl, I think it adds a bit more sophistication to the room, too! 

Let’s tally the final costs of this bathroom re-do, shall we?

  1. Sherwin Williams paint and supplies (with a 30% off coupon): $40
  2. Shower Curtain from Home Goods: $13
  3. Flooring: $55
  4. TOTAL COST: $108

Not my cheapest project ever, but I’m certainly pleased with the results!~