My Husband's Office Has Great Sticks

When I saw this tutorial over at The Painted Hive I knew I had found my fall wreath.

We stopped by my husbands office on the way to Ikea one Saturday and when I saw all the sticks on the ground I knew they were wreath worthy.  It took about 5 minutes to collect them and the kids oohed and ahhed at each one they found.

I used a wreath form I already had and wrapped it with jute twine, but Kristine made hers out of a cereal box--so smart!

I think a smaller wreath form would have been better.

There, that's better.  This was a fun and simple project and I had all the supplies in my stash.

Footstool Slipcover

This is another project that, due to my lack of sewing skills, should have NEVER worked.


A few years ago I "reupholstered" a footstool  I found at Home Goods.  I never warmed up to that scary clown monkey fabric and finally decided to give it a new look.  Click here if you want to see the creepy monkey fabric.

So, here we go with the slipcover.  I cut and pinned a piece of fabric to fit the top.  So far, so good.

Next, I cut a bunch of strips to make the pleats.  My friend Pink (I can call her a friend, right?  After all, I met and sewed with her once) gave a great tutorial on making knife pleats.  She said measure twice around and add about a foot.  Well, you should really do that.  I only added about 6 inches and I came up short and had to add another section.  Grrrr. 

I sewed the strips together and hemmed the edges.  I eyeballed it because I am too lazy to pin.

Then I had a piece of coconut cake and caught up on a sweet mom from our church that is fighting pancreatic cancer.  Please pray for Leigh.

There is no getting around pinning and ironing on this part.  Again, I eyeballed it because I am lazy and I enjoy "good enough" sewing.  A real seamstress would probably measure each pleat for precision.

Chloe woke up from her nap at this point, so I got a little help.

I pinned the pleats (right side, to right side) on the footstool.

Next, I attached the pleats.  I was amazed all this fabric fit through my sewing machine.  I was also shocked I didn't break a needle with all those pins.  I removed the ones I could see as I went but I ran right over a few.

And here she is, my little beauty.

...and the rest of the room.

I am linking this to YOU:Create and Works for Me Wednesday, go check 'em out. And don't forget to go to Pink and Polka Dot's Slipcover party!  She taught me everything I ever needed to know about making slipcovers.

Goodwill Chair Makeover

I saw this chair at Goodwill and it was marked $4.  We always seem to need extra seating and this chair was an easy target for a makeover.  I figured if it didn't work I was only out a few dollars and some spray paint.

Before:

After:

Furry Murray gave it his immediate approval.

The process was simple.  I unscrewed the seat and used Stanleah to attach this chicken fabric I bought a few months ago because I loved it, but had no idea how I would use it.  Then I sprayed the chair with a coat of Kilz primer and 2 coats of Rustoleum Heirloom White.

What are you making today?

Thanks, Nester!

My good blogging bud The Nester had a crazy fun carnival yesterday. She asked to see all our imperfections. This was just the motivation I needed to start, finish and post a project I have been considering doing but was afraid to start. Perfectionism keeps me from starting so many things.

When we moved our little one from his crib to a twin bed we put the comforter from our old guest room on his bed. It was a queen and I just folded it in half and threw it on the bed. I have been meaning to cut it down to fit his bed ever since (that was 6 months ago!)

The freedom to do something imperfectly allowed me to cut this perfectly good comforter.

What else is going on in this room? Well, Monday and Friday are my laundry days so I was folding laundry throughout the morning. Our baby girl was taking a snooze in her swing. There was also some bible reading going on because I was listening to Charles Stanley while I cut the comforter. He said go to Colossians 1 and since he was talking about prayer I did, because I love prayer.

This is what was going on in the next room. Have you ever watched Jack's Big Music Show? I love the Schwartzman Quartet.

After the quilt was cut I had to Make Room For....my sewing machine on my craft table. Yes, I know, this looks like it should be a dining room table. We're not dining room people right now, so I claimed this area for all my crafts and I have never regretted it (except when it gets messy.)

There, see, plenty of room for the sewing machine. Now let us not forget I had a baby about 12 weeks ago and this, I am certain, is the reason my right knee looks so HUGE. Just keepin' it real people, I could have cropped that out.

Actually, not a bad idea to crop that whole mess out along with my giant knee.

Even though this was the quickest project on record, it still wasn't done before this guy was ready for his nap.

It was finished by the time he woke up though!

I used the leftovers to make this itty bitty sleeping bag. Not bad for one straight seam.

What is perfectionism keeping you from starting?

Pantry Beautification

Jo-Ann's has scrapbook paper on sale for .30 a sheet this week. I took another tip from my favorite blogger The Nester and gave my pantry a little makeover. I am such a copy cat, but I don't care because I smile every time I open the door.

Before

Just like Nester, I used a low melt hot glue gun and tacked those sheets right to the wall. And they really do come off easily with a tug...I know because I had to reposition one.

After

This was my first successful hot glue gun project. I have named my new gun Roxanne because she is so easy. She is Stanleah's new competition. Although she did burn me a little, even on low temp...she is just that sassy.

A Place to Rest My Cankles Tootsies

.
.
With four more weeks of pregnancy to go, I need all the help I can get to stay comfortable. I found this foot stool for $20 at Home Goods yesterday and he was just begging me for some new clothes and a pair of tootsies.

Pretty snazzy, don'tcha think?

I found this fabric remnant the other day at a fancy home dec fabric store and plan on making some pillows with it too. There was about 3 yards on the roll and I got if for $10. Bargain. At first I couldn't decide if the monkey was cute or scary clownish. But, I had seen this fabric a few weeks ago and figured if this was the second time my eye was drawn to it I should buy it.

I unscrewed the legs and put about a 1000 staples around the bottom and screwed the legs back on. Because I refused to measure before I cut, I almost didn't have enough on the right side. Oopsy daisy. Now if I just had some cute trim to put around the bottom...

Not Bad for $14 Bucks

I had to smile when I read The Nester's post today about her ugly chandelier because I had a similar post in mind for today, and since she is one of my favorite creative Blog girls, I like thinking we have things in common.

We (my husband and I, not The Nester) were on a Costco date night last Friday (don't laugh, we actually enjoy going to Costco together) when I spotted a two pack of overhead light fixtures for $14. I immediately had visions of some pretty ugly overheads in our basement that could use a $14 makeover. I know the pictures are bad, but I'm pregnant and tired so this is as good as it gets for today.

Functional, but frumpy

Much better

I love watching my Man being handy

New girls

Toile Around the World, or the Living Room

I have had this fabric in a bag for over 2 years...I bought it because I loved it, originally planning to make curtains. Well, there wasn't enough to make curtains. And, truth be known, I found these fine tab top sailcloth curtains at Ross along with the fleur-de-lis curtain rods and it was a done deal. We also have these ugly, yet functional, bookcases I wanted to spruce up. So, after some serious motivation from two of my favorite blogs, The Nester (queen of window mistreatreatment!) and Notes from a Cottage Industry (she papered the back of her bookcase with pages from a vintage book) the fabulous toile from a few years ago came out of the bag. With some help from Stanleah, a handful of upholstery tacks, and my muscle man husband both of these jobs were done in less time than it would take to sew one curtain.

I almost forgot to take the before photo

Now doesn't that look much better?! I love it and now Muscle Man wants to paint these bookcases, which is FINE with me :)

Before

Tah-Dah!

I have a question for you...I read recently that Living Rooms are on their way "out" when it comes to housing trends, along with stainless steel appliances (which I am actually very happy about since we are about to replace some kitchen appliances and S.S. is hundreds more) Oh yeah, the question....how often do you use your living room?