Grey, Yellow, and Blue!

Source: google.com via Marissa on Pinterest

I know when I shared my inspiration I promised pictures of the bedroom redo in process. Since  some of my favorite blogs were doing link parties, I figured now would be a good time to give you a sneak peek.

 

As you can guess, I went with grey, yellow and blue (like a turquoise). I am so in love with grey right now and it’s quite funny.  I love white painted furniture and the hubs wants black, so the happy medium? Grey, of course! And in my opinion, nothing goes better with grey than yellow and turquoise. My hubby is on the conservative side when it comes to decorating our home. So grey and white will actually be the dominant colors in our room with fun punches of yellows and blues.

Hubby and I built this headboard on Valentine’s day a couple of years ago (true love, I tell ya) and then it just sat in our garage, waiting to be painted. Yes, two years. Why did I wait that long to paint it? I have no clue. But I love it now!
Remember this $10 desk?

Well, now it’s transformed into this grey beauty!

(Pay no attention to the clod of dried paint on my carpet—long story.)

I painted the desk grey and spray painted the brass handles a lovely yellow.  The lovely rose drawer pulls that I swooned over (until I found out you can buy them at Lowe’s) were switched out for a white ceramic drawer pulls that I had taped off and painted the brass parts yellow. I SOOOO love this desk now! It’s the perfect spot for my sewing machine.

This is the nightstand on my side of the bed. Sorry, no before picture but imagine the same drawer pulls on a pine colored nightstand. This was another $10 Craigslist find. Solid wood, yeah baby! My original plan was to paint these drawer pulls yellow as well but I’m still debating. I kind of like them this way and conservative hubby thinks they should stay this way, but part of me just wants more yellow. :)

So that’s it for now. I still have a wall full of yellow, turquoise, and white picture frames that need to be hung, and lamps that need to be refinished.…Oh, and a few more pillows to recover….and convince the hubby to let me paint the dresser grey. :)

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Today's Creative Blog

Reupholstering a Dining Chair (a.k.a my first pictorial tutorial)

We wanted to sell our old kitchen dining set because with Bee no longer in a high chair it was too small for us. However, from wear and tear of 3+ kiddos the original white upholstered seats, looked like this...

This grey color was after me scrubbing with various cleaners. You can only imagine how bad it was before, but trust me, it was bad. So, while the white seat cushions were okay in their original state, these grayish hued seats were not working for me and  I figured buyers probably wouldn't like them either.

Something like this seemed a bit more appealing...

This project was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be. Once I had figured out how to dismantle the seat of the chair, it seriously only took me about 15 minutes per seat to dismantle, recover, and reassemble. Let's just say I was super proud of myself. :) So, I'm going to try a step by step picture tutorial of how I did these. (My very first tutorial I might add.) You'll need plenty of material (I used maybe a 1/3 of an old $5 red vinyl tablecloth), a scissors or rotary blade, a cutting mat, a staple gun and staples, screwdriver (preferably one with a magnetic tip), and a plastic baggie. First, figure out which screws on the bottom of the chair hold the cushion to the seat. After accidentally removing all the legs on my chair, I realized that the three screws on the sides of the seat were what needed to be removed not the legs. Oops.  

The holes to the screws are fairly deep so a magnetic tip screwdriver helps to pull the screw out of the hole after you've unscrewed it. Put the screws in a plastic baggie. Trust me don't skip this step, otherwise you'll spend 30 minutes just looking for that one screw that rolled off the counter top and your daughter decided to take into the other room. Just sayin'...

After you've taken a second to be both proud and a little freaked out that you just dismantled the chair, lay the seat cushion-side down on your wrong-side up material. I just kind of eyeballed this next part. I pulled up one edge to make sure it would wrap over the edge and still have extra to staple to the seat. From there, I just eyeballed the same width around the seat and cut out the shape, rounding the corners.

Then, just fold over the edge and start stapling with the staple gun. I started with one side of the seat. Then stretched the fabric across and stapled on the other side. Then, I did the front of the seat. Then, the backside last. Make sure your material is smooth and taut across the seat cushion. Nobody likes a wrinkly seat. :) If you are using a cotton based fabric I would pull it hard and tight. Since, I was using this lightweight vinyl I couldn't pull it too hard because it would stretch. So, I just had to make sure it was smooth.

After you've stapled the two sides, you'll have a front and back end left. Since the corners aren't perfect 90 degree angles you have to fold around the curves. You can kind of see here that I folded the corners in at an angle first, before pulling up the front edge. After all four sides are stapled down, take your baggie of screws and reattach the seat to the frame. If your screws don't go through the fabric on their own, trying poking a hole through the fabric where the screw holes are first. Voila! Newly recovered seats ready to take on spills or just look pretty.

Now, why didn't I do that sooner? Seriously, it would have been a lot easier to take care of this little yogurt and popsicle lover's messes on vinyl seats than on white fabric. Oh well...

Please Pick the Palmers!!!

Seriously?!

Okay, If you don’t know Mandi and the awesomeness that is Vintage Revivals, go see her now.
Seriously, go ahead. I’ll wait…

Now, do you understand why this is EPIC?!
I mean how awesome would it be to have anyone come makeover a room in your house? And then for that anyone to be Mandi? Love it!!!

So, I was kind of procrastinating my entry because my room is far from being clean. BUT…here I am in the 11th hour and I haven’t finished cleaning so you get lovely as-is pictures. Let's take a look...

Sorry, piles of laundry, papers, and craft supplies will not keep me from entering this EPIC room makeover giveaway! The room I need desperately to be done would be our master bedroom or should I say the "store everything and sleep somewhere in the midst of it room." Yes, my husband's nightstand is a filing cabinet with a printer on top and, yes, my nightstand is my sewing machine cabinet. Lovely, right? Let's take a closer look at the wall to the left, shall we?

This is the wall-o-random. Anything that doesn't have a home elsewhere in the house usually ends up here. Oh and don't forget to look at what my kid's have done to my bed...

So, I know this bed is old, like this-is-the-same-bed-my-husband-slept-on-as-a-teenager-old, but it bit the dust when our kids started jumping on it. The leg broke through the riser, popped a wheel, and is now being propped by wood scraps. Yes, fine living in my home. Let's continue on to the right side of the room...

To the black hole that is my craft supplies. Really, there is no other room for this, so maybe a little organization and my husband might quit complaining about my "crap area." On to the last wall...

Our dresser...About the only good thing in our bedroom, hence, why it is the view seen from our bed. Now do you think that this room truly reflects...

This couple? No. Nor would you ever know from my bedroom that I have an awesome pink walk-in closet with a chandelier. Yes, it's true.

Now, I’ve had all these EPIC, AMAZING, JAW-DROPPING ideas and inspirations for this room, BUT I have had neither time, help, money, or motivation to complete them. Just think of the potential! I even have some unfinished projects/supplies we could use. Like...

The two free doors I got from Craigslist.

Or the two free pallets hidden under our camping gear.

The rocking chair that needs to be refinished (again free).

Or this vintage desk I bought for only $10! Look I even have pink spray paint to paint the handles, except for these beauties...

Porcelain rose drawer pulls, the whole reason I spent $10 on the desk. Oh, and don't forget "the wood pile"!

Which includes a headboard my husband and I made (but never finished) 2 years ago as our Valentine's date, random wood planks from various projects, and canvas stretcher frames I found on the side of the road. Totally awesome, right?!  In case you need any more persuading,  how about a picture of my nearly 2-year-old daughter saying "Pleeeeeeeze!"

How can you resist that curly-headed cuteness?

P.S. Mandi-We have awesome thrift stores, the best Craigslist, Lowes/Home Depot/Wal-Mart down the street and IKEA with in driving distance! You know you want to come... ;)

Spring Mantel

My fireplace mantel desperately needed an uplift. While I had planned on doing a fun switch of decor at St. Patrick's Day, my mantel has been untouched since February. I had a few things that I wanted to work in for sure and everything else I had to just wing it. What do you think?

I know it's not perfect, but I really like it. I love how bright and colorful it is without being cartoonish or sillly like some Easter decorations can be. Plus, I love how it brightens up the room. Just looking at it makes me smile. So here's the breakdown...

On the right side of the mantel, I have a green frame with fabric framed, white planter with artificial flowers, an iron horse, a yellow watering can with a package of flower seeds inside, and 2 gerber daisy hairclips. The hairclips are homemade from flowers I bought at Hobby Lobby. The iron horse was bought at an antique store during an anniversary bed and breakfast vacation. The pink flowers are from Wal-mart and the white ones are from Hobby Lobby. The white planter is from IKEA (more on that in a minute). The yellow watering can, seed packet, and green frame are all from Target's dollar spot or on clearance. The fabric in the green frame is part of a bandana that I found at Wal-mart, cut, and backed with white paper, placed in the frame.

On the left side of the mantel, I have a blue bunny, white and pink birdhouses, yellow flower hairclip, white planter with artificial flowers, and an iron bird votive holder. The iron bird was from the Dollar Tree. The hairclip was made from Hobby Lobby flower. The white planter came from IKEA. The flowers are from Wal-mart and Hobby Lobby. The white bird house was unfinished wood that I painted and the pink birdhouse was a paper mache ornament that I painted and decoupaged pink scrapbook paper on. Both were from Hobby Lobby. The blue bunny came from Target. He has a broken foot, so I was able to get it at a discount. My original plan was to fix his foot and recover him in my favorite vintage print fabric (which I might still do) but I love the pop of blue, so for now he stays as-is.

I think the banner might be my favorite part. I took some hemp twine and cut it to the length I wanted (just a little short because it sags with the clothespins). Then I cut out some triangles from various springy scrapbook papers that I had on hand: you know ginghams, polka dots, florals, all that fun stuff. :) Then I took some Dollar Tree clothespins and clipped them on. I alternated between unfinished clothespins and ones that I had previously painted pink. In order to keep the clothespins from flipping over (top-heavy), I had to shove the clothespins on the twine all the way up to the springs on them. I don't think this would have been a problem if my twine was heavier (I used twine made for making necklaces). All and all I love it! I've been thinking about possibly painting my iron animals white, but right now, I like the contrast. Also, I'm thinking about maybe laminating my banner pieces so that I can reuse them but also write messages on them like, "Happy Easter" or even "Happy Birthday" and then be able to erase them to change it when I want. What do you think, good idea or no?  Most of these things I already had on hand. The bunny, watering can, and white pots were the only things bought specifically for this mantel. If I went back and totaled the cost of everything collected and used, I would say it cost somewhere between $20 and $25 dollars. Again, most of it I already had on hand, so I really only spent $12. Pretty cool, right?

Now, a word on the lacy IKEA pots...

Image via IKEA

I must say I LOVE these pots! I was at IKEA yesterday looking for a few other things and came across these. I was actually looking at a different pot when 20-month-old Bee reached over and pulled these out of a stack of boxes that hadn't been unpacked and shelved yet. At first, I sternly reacted, grabbed it from her and put it back. Then, I walked away, but I wasn't more than 5 steps away when I realized the beauty she had uncovered. I quickly went back and looked again. All that lacy cut-out goodness on the top of this white metal pot, I was literally drooling.  No price tag was anywhere to be found. So we carried it around the store looking for one of those price checker things. Only 2.99! Bee held on to it for dear life. She seriously wanted me to put back the stuffed animal I was going to buy her so that she could hold this, two of them in fact. I was happy to oblige. I actually wanted more but was already at my limit for that trip's budget. I may have to go back and buy more to use in my bedroom and elsewhere. Like I said, I am totally LOVING these pots. I must say that Bee's got good taste. I may have to take her shopping with me more. ;)

Little Black Dress

So a couple of week’s ago my friend Elizabeth and I had a girl’s night out. She had season tickets to the Houston Ballet and invited me to join her. Not even thinking about what I should wear, I asked her the morning of, what the dress standard was for the ballet. (I’ve only ever been to college performances, nothing official.) She described what she was going to wear and I responded “so Sunday dress,” to which she replied, “at least.” She then described how she had even seen people wearing ball gowns and tuxedos, and continued to explain how this is one of the few times she gets to really dress up, so she likes to go all out. I mulled the thought over in my head all day as I tried on a number of my Sunday outfits and nothing felt dressy enough. I quickly remembered a beautiful red  formal dress, I had seen at Goodwill the week before. For $10 it would be worth the trip, so 2 hours before I needed to pick up the babysitter, I loaded up the kids and we went to Goodwill. Sadly, it was gone. Instead, I found this beautiful but sad black floor length formal. (Sorry for the bad picture. I was in a hurry and the mirror was dirty.)
It fit pretty well and I loved the sweetheart neckline, but it was WAY too long. I felt like I should be playing a piano concert or something. I think I even played out the motions in the mirror. (No offense to you lovely pianists.) I had to carry it just to walk and that was with heels on! So, inspired by New Dress A Day, I chopped off the bottom and hemmed it.  If you look closely my hem is not entirely straight but the fullness of the skirt hides it.
I love the 50’s feeling of the shorter dress. It looks much happier now. For a little something extra, I added the turquoise sash from this outfit. I felt much better about this outfit than anything I had on hand, and while it was not entirely necessary (not everyone at the ballet was dressy), it was fun to feel fancy and pretty on a fun Girl’s Night Out!

(Sorry, for the bad lighting picture. It was late and everyone was asleep when I thought to take a picture of the final outfit.)
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Old Halloween Costumes

The Dating Divas are having a Halloween costume contest (here). Unfortunately, our costumes for this year are still being made and the contest closes today. So, I dug through some computer files and found these beauties, the year we were the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Yes, I made these costumes. I always make our costumes. It's part of the fun for me. Seth's turtle shell was actually a hand-me-down from another family and I used it as a guide for the others. Don't you just love the toilet paper tube numchucks. Love these costumes. These costumes are famous in our neighborhood. "Oh yeah, you're the family that dressed up as ninja turtles." Yeah, we get that alot. Apparently our neighbors look forward to seeing our family's costumes every year. We've always dressed up as a family. It's more fun that way. Plus, sometimes it's easier for people to guess your costume in the context of the group. I'll keep digging and see if I can find old photos.

I have loved our costumes over the years. When the hubs and I were engaged, we dressed up as conjoined twins. I sewed two sweatshirts together and we were literally "joined at the hip." Then our first Halloween, the hubs had to work but at 8 months pregnant, I dressed up as a snowman. Then Bean's first Halloween,  Bean was curious George, I was another monkey, and the hubs was the man in the yellow hat. The next year, I was pregnant again. We dressed up as Mr. and Mrs. Potatohead and Bean was a "Tater Tot." Then Monkey's first Halloween, we did the Wizard of Oz. I was Dorothy, the hubs was the tin man, Bean was the scarecrow, and Monkey was the lion. The next year, we were all super heroes from the book Super Hero ABC (the boys favorite at the time). Then came the Ninja Turtles. Last year was Bee's first Halloween. Aaron was a pirate captain and the rest of us were his "skeleton crew." (A play on words, yes, we were skeletons). I'm really excited about this year's costumes. Let's just say, we are going "old-school."  Stay tuned for the big reveal...

What I Wore Wednesday #1

Have you seen these floating around blogland lately? Basically everyone documents what they wear all week and then share in a link party. As of lately, I have had a hard time motivating myself to do anything productive. It’s nice when all the moms just wear their PJ’s and work out clothes to the bus stop in the morning. :) So, I thought I’d try this and see if it motivated me to get stuff done (and actually dressed before lunchtime)! Sure enough it worked. I got twice as much done this week as I did the week before. Unfortunately, I got pink eye (or some variation of an eye infection), so I only have pictures for four days. I’ll save you the horribleness that is my eye right now.

Thursday (9/2)

Top: Cato

Tank: Old Navy

Necklace: Bought at a stand at Four Corners (Colorado side I think) 8 years ago

Earrings: Made by me

Shorts: Thrifted and hemmed into shorts by me

Shoes: Walmart (with white fabric rosette added by me)

Friday (9/3)

Shirt: Aeropostale

Tank: Target

Skirt: Old Navy (thrifted)

Earrings: Charming Charlie

Bracelet: Bought at a craft fair in Brazil (3 years ago)

Sandals: Target

Saturday (9/4) I forgot to take a picture, so this is one the hubs took of me while we were at a jazz concert in the park. (BTW, soooo much fun!)

Shirt: Old Navy

Tank: Target

Shorts: Thrifted

Earrings: Charming Charlie

Sunglasses: Wal-mart

I wore the same sandals as the outfit before.

Sunday (9/5) See my left squinty eye? Yeah, that’s me in denial that something is wrong with my eye. But when hubbie sees you in the hallway after church and blurts out, “What’s wrong with your eye?!” It’s time to face facts….

Wrap Dress: Bought in Brazil (3 years ago)

Tank: Old Navy

Cardigan: Thrifted

Earrings: Charming Charlie

Shoes: Target

So that’s it for this week. I’ve pretty much just stayed in my glasses, a T-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops the last few days. Hopefully, my eye will be better soon, so that I can try this again.

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