Baby boy closet

My cozy cape cod has some crazy closets. Built into the eaves of the house each of the four upstairs closets are huge, but awkward. Slowly, we have been trying to use what we have to make the usable. When we first moved in, my uncle came and helped me install the wire shelves from Home Depot. $200 plus later, the closet was a little more functional. The closet once housed my clothes, shoes, jewelry and purses. Two kids later, I have greatly downsized and now the closet belongs to its rightful owner, my son. These bins really don’t have anything in them. He has a dresser, and there is a closet bar, so I am hoping to use the bins for shoes, hats, toys and other odds and ends as he grows. Each bin/basket was $1 at the Dollar Tree. The bins are not sturdy, so they might be reserved for clothes, shoes. I like to grab bins/baskets full of toys and let the kiddos go to town. These bins won’t stand up to that, the plastic baskets and other plastic bins the dollar store has, will. But, this looks sweet, doesn’t it?

One of a kind desk chair

I must get better at taking the BEFORE pictures. Because, this one would have made for a great before and after. I pick up pieces of furniture wherever I come across them. Knowing this, my stepdad unloaded this when he saw the back of my pickup truck already full… I am sure he thought, “what’s one more chair?” A scratchy blue fabric covered the chair and it sat in my basement. I probably could have sold it on Craigslist for $5 or maybe for $2 at a yard sale, but then I came across a tutorial on Pinterest on how to redo an office chair. And what seemed impossible, became very probable.

                Making old items new is really just about taking apart something someone made and making it your own.

Materials:

Old Office Chair

Upholstery Fabric

Padding

Batting

Staple gun and staples

Screwdriver

Pliers

Directions:

1. Remove the back and seat. First you have to inspect the chair and see how it is put together. This chair had something weird going on (the back was fastened with a bolt and a screw).  However, it should be as simple as removing the oval shaped do-dad with a screwdriver. Flip the chair over and remove the seat portion. It might be screwed on or bolted on. If you need help, ask a husband or dad…that’s what I always do when I hit a roadblock. Then, I have learned for the next time.

2. Take off the old fabric. This part can cause damage, to your hands! You just have to tackle the staples. I did this while watching TV and a few times when I wasn’t paying attention, I grazed my hand with the screwdriver and drew blood. I tried to loosen the staple with the screwdriver by wriggling it under, and then pulling it out with the pliers, or some combination of both.

3. Replace the fabric and padding. I cut a piece of fabric and batting about 4 inches around all sides for both the back and seat. I did this to be sure I didn’t mess up and waste this expensive fabric. (Purchased from Fabric.com, because it was MUCH cheaper than the local fabric box store.) I cut a piece of padding to match the one that I took out. You don’t have to replace the padding if you want to save money, but it sure will be more comfortable. Then, you place seat piece down, the padding, the batting and then the fabric and kind of wrap it like a present. If this doesn’t make sense, just pay attention as you are taking apart the chair and it will make sense.

4. Staple the new  pieces to the chair. This part is something I have to practice. It’s very hard to get it very stretched and make the corners right. I just really, really worked with until I felt like it looked good. It still could have been better, but hey…it was my first shot.

5. Reassemble the chair. Voila. It’s your new awesome office chair.

Tie it up: Spring wreath

  I have a pretty beautiful front door. It's probably original to the house, built in 1938ish. It's deserving of some adornments. I have a great fall and Christmas wreath that were gifts, but I needed something for spring, summer and winter. So, I set out on a mission. Since it's timely, here is the spring one. I am a pretty random crafter. I kind of start with an idea and just wing it. I am sure this drives some people crazy, but I don't always like to read directions...I just want to craft.

What you need:

Wire wreath frame (About $3 at Wal-mart)

Fabric remnants (a sheet is a great, cheap choice)

Buttons

Needle and thread (hot glue if you hate to sew)

Directions:

 

1. Cut your fabric into strips. I would say about 8 inches or so.

2. The wreath has 4 rings. I found it covers the wreath better with less fabric if you use one of the middle rings and not the inside or outside.

3. Simply start tying knots. You can space them as close or far as you want. Tie until your whole wreath is covered. It’s a great project to do while watching TV or socializing.

4. For the flowers, there are A LOT of tutorials on Pinterest for these. I read a few and then just did what I thought worked for me. I just cut different sizes of a flower shape and layered them until it looked like a flower. I sewed them together in the center and added a button.

That is it! Seriously.

Ayla's big girl room

 For the longest time, I have been plotting Ayla's big girl room. I scoured Pinterest, came up with some ideas, visited tons of thrift stores, yard sales and flea markets and slowly started assembling the pieces. My goal was to come up with a shabby chic, vintage-looking pretty room for my little lady. It's really a room that I would love to sleep in, but I am sure she will, too. It still has a little work to make it complete, but I think it's ready for her, when I am ready to move her out of her nursery. The plus of this room is that it has a huge closet where we can put all of her toys and clothes and keep the room looking clean and girly. And this room was seriously very, very inexpensive. Really. You know me!

In the first photo, is the reading corner.
1. The tree is a hand-me-down from grandmother.
2. The rocking chair was a gift.
3. My dad is an avid auction goer and gets me the best deals, so I do have an insider. The little wicker shelf beside the rocking chair was probably only a dollar or two at an auction.
4. The window came from Re-Stor in Lancaster for $10. I added the bird decal (Stampin' UP) and the Dream word (A.C. Moore) for only a few dollars. It's hung with a rustic looking chain and hook I found at the Re-Stor in York for less than $1 for both.
5. The dresser was $2. Not kidding. It needed a little TLC and after fixing a few problems, I painted it white and distressed it with sand paper. The new knobs were less than $20 at Home Depot.
6. The shutter was 25 cents at a yard sale, and I added a light coat of acrylic paint.
7. The pictures on the wall were made by my crafty mother.
8. The jars and glasses came from yard sales.

 This photo shows the gallery wall...my new obsession. I love the look of these and they can be done so inexpensively. I eventually may add more, and of course replace the old advertisement in one. I can with all honesty say that this wall cost me less than $10, with most of the cost coming from the Command Strips I had to use to hang some of the frames. Most of the frames were from the York Rescue Mission Thrift Store. They were having a 50% off frame sale (as if they weren't cheap enough), so they came out to be about 25 to 50 cents each. I looked for the old gold and silver metal frames. After I got a stock-pile, I laid them all out and spray painted them in the yard. The silver tray was 50 cents at the same thrift store as well as the two small mirrors. You really can't look at something for its color or material. A coat of spray paint does wonders. I painted the silver tray with chalk board paint. I found the old sheet music at the coolest little store in York New Salem on the square. The little place is full of old books and quirky little things. He is open Fridays and Sundays. The quote and the bird on the sheet music were cut out with my beloved Cricut. The A, is really just a wooden A from the craft store and covered it with decorative paper.  Her bed is under the gallery wall, but for now it's just a mattress on the floor for safety...so I kept it out of the photo.

And the final photo is her vanity/desk/bookshelf. Who knows what she will use this for.
1. The vanity/desk was the most expensive buy ($75) and it's probably the one piece she will take the longest to use. However, I fell in love with it at Restoration Warehouse in York. It is also clear that whomever painted it knows much more about it than I do..because it's gorgeously distressed with silvers and grays.
2. The chair was the perfect color and already distressed, and again, my dad got it at an auction for a steal, I am sure.
3. The magnetic board behind the desk/vanity is my masterpiece. I used an old frame I found in my basement. I think it was part of a box lot at an auction for $1. I covered a piece of sheet metal (aluminum so it's magnetic) with fabric (a few dollars at Joann Fabric). I can't remember what I bought, but a nice gentleman at Home Depot was very helpful in finding me what I needed. It was $10. I cut it with tin snips to fit the frame.Take a magnet with you to make sure. The magnets are actually vintage buttons and old clip-on earrings I found at yard sales. I used metal cutters and glue to assemble them.
4. The bookshelf was $1 at an auction (again my dad). I cleaned it up, removed the ugly legs and distressed it.
5. The mirror above the bookshelf was $1 at a church yard sale. It was gold, and I spray painted it gray. Going with the distressed look is lovely because you don't have to worry about chipping paint or colors showing through because that adds to its charm.
5. The silver frames on the book shelf were 50 cents each at same church yard sale. I added some acrylic white paint. I have to find something cool to put in them.
6. The top shelf has old children's books I've collected over the years.
7. The middle shelf has a large food can I covered with decorative paper, as well as a frame I painted with chalk board paint.
8. The plastic storage bin are from the Dollar Tree. $1 of course.

Overall, I am pleased with the room. Of course, I don't think it looks much like the lovely ideas I had in my head or the dazzling photos on Pinterst, but it's unique and there is no other room like it. I put a lot of love into it and used many items from family that mean a lot.

Pinterest Craft Party

Of course my addiction to Pinterest started nearly two years ago when my tech savvy sister told me to sign up before most people knew about it. I have always loved to craft, DIY and decorate on a dime, and Pinterest fuels my obsession even more. I'd been eyeing so many projects but never had time to sit down and tackle until I proposed to my lovely sisters-in-law that we set aside a day together and each bring a craft. I love that you can see something you would love to try and just save it for later on the World Wide Web! That saves the extra paper clutter in my house. With the four of us being artsy, crafty and a whole bunch of other adjectives...we came up with some really great projects. We each brought the supplies and ideas for one (or two) crafts and worked away. Mod Podge was the theme of the day. We LOVE that stuff. Here is what we came up with.

Sam: Distressed chalkboard frames. We cleaned and spray painted the glass of some Goodwill picture frames with spray chalkboard paint. Some of us distressed the wood with spray paint. We also embellished with a T-shirt flower and rolled up ribbon.   

 

Hannah: Hannah brought a variety of really cool glass containers and a stack of magazines. We each chose a theme and cut out magazine parts and used Mod Podge to adhere them to the bottles. They turned out really unique.

 

Lindsey: Lindsey brought mugs. We each researched our favorite Bible verse or quote and wrote on the mugs with Sharpie. After baking the mug, it's supposed to be permanent. She also brought a large bag of T-shirts and we made T-shirt headbands. With a little practice, these things are the coolest. She also showed me how to make a T-shirt flower (as seen on the Jesus chalkboard), but I ran out of steam to try that one.

Me: I brought the canvas for quotes. We each chose a quote or verse that we loved, cut the letters out of decorative paper on the Cricut and pasted them to the canvas with Mod Podge. I love how we each chose something to make ours different and stand out. Sam used her paper snow flakes as a stencil before she sprayed her canvas pink and I used a mixture of light blue and gray spray paint to make mine a little textured. Hannah used decorative paper and Lindsey used the Cricut to add a bird and branch. I also brought large aluminum cans and covered it with decorative paper. They make for great storage on shelves and in cupboards.

 

Can't wait to do it again!

Shabby chic success

I have been drooling over shabby chic furniture on Pinterest, Blogs and Web sites for weeks. I knew I had it it me to tackle a piece on my own, but I just needed the right one. Enter: My Dad Chuck. While bidding at an auction on a dresser for Ayla's new big girl room, he also came across this kid-size bookshelf for $1! The quality was really very good, and the only features I didn't like were the metal legs and the collection of spider eggs that came with it. But, those are easy fixes. The legs screwed right out and the shop vac took care of the spider sacs. I had everything I needed at home for this lovely project so I didn't even have to trek to Home Depot. Two coats of primer, a coat of white paint, some serious sandpaper action, Mod Podge (oh but of course), decorative wrapping paper and Polyurethane was all I needed to make my drooling days end! It took me a few trips to the basement between Ayla's naps today to add each coat and this is what I came up with. It's for Ayla's bedroom, but

the photo I took of it finished in the basement didn't do it justice, so I staged it in my living room. And, I actually love it there for now. I haven't added the coat of Polyurethane yet, but I wanted to make sure I really did like it before I made it permanent. My original idea was to do the backs silver or gray, because that is the theme of Ayla's room...Shabby Chic Glamour, but I loved the way the green turned out. I am sure the little addition of color will just steer the theme into a different direction. So, I write this blog with a happy heart that I tackled something new and it turned out just as I had imagined.

Mod Podge Masterpiece

Masterpiece is a bit ambition...but I love the alliteration.
Anyway, a lonely bottle of Mod Podge ($2) accompanied my endless craft supplies for years. I never used it. WHAT was I thinking? That stuff is amazing. I have been trying to take my Pinterest inspirations and not directly copy them, rather put my own twist on them. A crafter has to be a little creative, right?
I fell in love with the saying you see in the picture and wanted it for Ayla's room. It really exemplifies how Nate and I feel about our first born. On Pinterest, the saying was on a fancy wooden sign with fancy illustrated text. I jumped on the laptop to try to emulate the look, but since I am not trained in Adobe Illustrator and I am no expert in Word, I quickly got frustrated and quit. I dug out my Cricut cutter and decorative paper and experimented with various sizes and styles of the letters. Once I was happy with the results I placed them on the small piece of canvas ($1.50 and also victim to the getting lost in my craft supplies for years and never having a purpose). I brushed the Mod Podge over the canvas and placed the letters. Once they were set, I brushed another layer over the canvas to "finish" the canvas with a glossy look. Mod Podge comes in a variety of finishes. When I told a few middle-age co-workers about my Mod Podge project, they giggled. "We used to LOVE that stuff." Well ladies, I am bringing it back. In fact, there is a Mod Podge blog that I love to read. It showcases amazing ideas of other creative people.

From check box to bathroom beauty

How many of you have cleaning ADD? I do. Even after telling myself to stay in ONE room, I end up all over the house. It drives me insane because it probably makes my house feel dirtier than it is. Over the summer, I spent hours organizing the basement, kitchen drawers and cabinets, and closets. I have to admit, it's a cleansing feeling after a school year of chaos. 

Mid-summer, we had our nasty old stand up shower replaced with a beautiful tub/shower combo and the fresh paint job made the bathroom sparkle. And even though they were hidden, the vanity drawers filled with my husbands hair trimmings and all kinds of other dirt needed to be part of the makeover. My daughter loves to play in these drawers, and being the laid-back-let-her-explore type of momma, I let her. I just clean up when she is through. However, nothing had a place, so it all got thrown into the drawer, and I had to root. Soooo, I wanted to organize. I was on a full day mission to clean, so I did not want to run to the store for organizing implements such as drawer bins. I searched my house for the perfect size and in the office drawer, I found empty check boxes and my iPhone box. I also uncovered some cardboard jewelry boxes. I doused the check boxes with Modge Podge and covered them with decorative paper. And as you can see (sort of), I now have two contained bins that can hold the little things that roll around the drawer. I am getting better at covering things with fabric and paper (there is definitely a method), but as you can see, there is a little edge that is sticking out. I am not concerned, it's not out in the open. I ended up using the iPhone box in a lower drawer for perfume samples. And the cardboard jewelry box holds the millions of hair ties that meander all over the place. What a relief, to finally have some organization in my bathroom drawers without spending a dime. Other items you can use are old silverware drawers, wipe containers, any cardboard box cut down. The list goes on. Think about turning trash to treasure.

Craft corner

Well....it was time. My craft supplies were in the very large closet of our spare bedroom. When we made the other extra bedroom Ayla's nursery, a lot of furniture was moved to the front room 

leaving little room for me to work. Also, that room is going to be Ayla's, so while I had the time and energy, I created a corner of our basement into my craft space and hauled everything down two flights of stairs while she napped. It wasn't easy. But, it was rewarding. I have a place to escape to when I need it. The first picture shows set up of the blank furniture. I got the shelves at a yard sale for $15 for both. The sewing table was s $1 at an auction and I repurposed it. The stack of while shelves were $5 at a year sale and I had the plastic table to the left that I have always used for working on my crafts. The piece of carpet is actually just an outdoor rug from Home Depot for $18 that is intended for outside RVs. Even though our basement is water free, it is still damp and I didn't want to spend a fortune on carpet unnecessarily. Below, you can see that I started to fill the shelves. I had way more stuff that I thought I did. I tried to sort some out, throwing some in boxes for a yard sale.  I think I have everything transferred from cardboard show boxes to plastic containers (14 for $15 at Costco). I scoured my house for baskets and storage containers. All in all, I still think it's too cluttered and would like it to look more stylish. I have a few more things to add and I have to take a new picture. Hopefully, that is to come.

Nursery, continued

Here is the view of my cozy corner with the awesome canvas paintings Amy made me for Christmas and the prints I also received. The chair was a steal for $75 at Pottery Barn...one of my first baby purchases. I draped the quilt and the other cover is from my mother-in-law.

Nursery, check!

Well, thanks to my mom, the nursery is pretty much done. We have one more project to hang, but that is Nate's job because it's a big, heavy window and I am not attempting that. The first picture is of the crib with the lovely tree decal from Stampin' Up. It took two, but with my mom's expertise, we easily got the tree up on the wall.

More to come...

Nesting or organizing?

I am on a mad dash to organize and clean my entire house. It all started a few months ago when I had to clean out the spare bedroom (aka my personal dressing room) to make room for our first born. I have been very proud of my dedication to getting rid of junk. I sold a lot at yard sales/flea markets this summer, which proved to be a great way to spend time with my dad and stepsister as well as a good way to rid myself of unwanted goods and make a few bucks. I also unloaded some large furniture items on Craigslist, which has proven to be both profitable and easy. Now it's down to the items I am just not sure where to move and what to do with. I have one day left of Christmas break, and I feel like I am running out of time (which is totally not the case since I still have 8 weeks until the baby is predicted to arrive.) I have been moving organizing units all over the house, filling drawers with baskets and containers to organize items.

One of the major dilemmas was my jewelry. I had it organized nicely on an accordion peg thingy (sorry, that is the best I got) and hanging in my dressing room. Well, that had to go. So, I ended up using a bulletin board with thumb tacks in my closet (still in the nursery..sorry baby, Daddy and I can't share a closet) and a silverware drawer in a plastic organizer in the bathroom closet to organize. With Nate and I getting up at different times, we try not to get ready in the bedroom so we don't wake up the other one. That doesn't leave for much choice in where I keep my stuff. Because everything was in my dressing room, I had to move a lot to the bathroom, which made for a lot of creativity in using the space wisely. It's amazing how beauty products, cleaning products, lotions and body splashes accumulate. I am not done yet...I left a lot laying around because I just got tired and overwhelmed. I still have tomorrow. Thank goodness for resourcefulness, but I still have a long way to go.

Quilting progress

So, a few years ago I started accumulating dozens of T-shirts from races and events I participated in. A girl can only wear so many shirts, so I decided to make a quilt with them. I picked up a free pattern at JoAnn Fabrics back when I lived in York and started cutting the T-shirts each time that I cleaned out my drawer.
Well, all 26 T-shirt pieces are finally cut and this is what it will sort of look like, the basic layout. I think that was the easy part. Next, I have to cut all the binding, border and sashing to separate all the T-shirts and make it look more uniform. That, may also be fairly easy compared to sewing it all together. My aunt is coming for lunch one day next week. Maybe she can assist me. I just get so scared sewing on a 1/4 inch seam in a straight line that it won't all line up. I guess the more practice I get the better it will be.
Nate asked me if I starched the T-shirts to get them all so stiff, but it's fusible interfacing that you iron on to make it more stiff and easier to work with and sew. If I had to do it again, I would cut out all the right sizes for the interfacing, then match them up with T-shirts. I ended up with 3 pieces that I would have liked to use that didn't really fit into the pattern. I could have deviated from the pattern, but that is even more scary.
So, the next few weeks that I have left of summer will be spent cutting the other pieces...so hopefully I can post that next.

Side by side before and after

The before

As I was uploading the photos back from a USB memory stick to my newly restored, higher RAM computer, I came across these photos of the dining room before. Like, really before. Click here or here to see it during and after the rennovations. Amazing. I will have to post photos of the living room, too. It only had lawn chairs in it :-)

Our home rennovations can hopefully continue now that my salary is back to normal and I won't have to work at Cracker Barrel so much, so I will have more time. There are so many choices. I would love to have the basement waterproofed and refinished. We've talked about new windows. We need a new garage roof. The bathroom downstairs still needs a door. We would love to tackle the kitchen or maybe a garden and some landscaping. I would have hate to see the "to do" list on a fixer-upper!

And the finished (well almost) dining room

Check out the photo to the right for a before glimpse, well, more of a during.
And look at the bottom to see the photos of the finished dining room. The photo on the left shows the natural light better, but Nate didn't install the new light yet. The second photo shows it at night with the new light, but without the beauty of the natural light shining in on the gorgeous floor. This dining room was a true test of our teamwork. I think we did a great job making it through together, even with a messy, dusty house for weeks. We are sitting down to eat dinner more!
*A special thanks to Ron Stiger for his help, advice and guidance!

Surprise -- the hutch

Just when I thought my camera was going to take the trip to the electronics graveyard, it some how resurrected. Not sure how, but I am done asking questions.
So, I can post the dining room photos. I wish I had a better before, but just think white walls, white carpet and1980s fixtures. Not to mention the ugly laminate hutch. Check previous posts in home projects to see the progress.

Anyway. Click here to read the background on the hutch. Here is the before, during and after of photos of the hutch.
I added little jeweled handles to the black doors. We only put two doors back on because there was the beautiful wood drawers that added contrast to the all black hutch. If you look close, you can see my amateur painting, but I don't think anyone is looking too close :-)

Before
During

After

Work weekend

It's Friday night (technically Saturday morning) and I am hopped up on adrenaline, a 20-minute nap and Cracker Barrel coffee. After a week of work (and a few days off) I am so ready for the weekend. Nate and I have off and have grand plans to finish our dining room. I can't wait to show you photos. Some people get giddy about baby's with chubby cheeks or warm desserts with melted ice cream, but I get giddy about taking what seems like impossible home projects and completing them. Of course, babies and dessert make me giddy, too.
Anyway. I spent most of Thursday tweaking our terrible built-in hutch. I am sure whoever built it there had lovely intentions, but it just doesn't fit the room. It looks like the builder of the hutch made a few mistakes and just covered it with flimsy trim. Most of it is covered with laminate, but some of it is beautiful wood. The back splash -- if you will -- is wood panel. I have scratches all over my hands from using the cats paw (I think that is what it's called -- it's the tool you rip things apart with) to remove the sliding glass doors and tracks. I ripped out a funky scalloped trim, which I am sure was cool in the 1970s. I wondered as I was doing this, why I didn't rip the whole dang thing down. I also had a huge smile on my face the entire time because I did this ALL by myself. I even made two trips to True Value and made the right decisions.
But with 75 percent of the work done, I am so glad I didn't. I sanded the laminate and primed it, then used a black flat paint(which by the way hides brush strokes for you crazy painters like me) to paint all but the shelves and drawers. I have to say, it's looking mighty fine. I promise to have before and after photos before the weekend is over..if my hands survive. Nate also promises to have the floor done and the furniture moved back in. I can't wait to see my new and improved dining room.....all by our own hard work!

DIY harwood

I have to say, I have been a bit overwhelmed with home projects lately. It feels like once we finish one, there are three more in it's place. We finally made some progress on the dining room floor. After I stripped it a few months back, it sat untouched through the holiday season. You can see in the before picture we had some trouble spots where the black felt pad and adhesive refused to come off. I can't see why anyone would want to cover this beautiful floor.
Anyway, Nate's dad came over on Friday while I was at work and he and Nate sanded it down. They rented a sander from Tru Value. I think it was $40 for four hours or $50 for a day. I think
I've seen or heard estimates of $1,000 to refinish a hardwood floor. I think by the time all is said and done, we may have spent less than $200. Of course, that doesn't include time, strength and
the annoyance of having a coating of wood dust covering my entire house. I am not complaining (well, maybe just a tad) but I was so happy to see it done.
All the yucky stuff was gone and this is what was in it's place. Nate still has to stain and varnish it. We also have to place a decorative border around the trim to fill in the gap, but hopefully we can finish that in a timely manner. After we finally pick out a light and paint the built-in buffet (surely a blog-worthy event) our dining room should be done. Which is great, because then we can concentrate on the office, or kitchen or garage roof or the bathroom door.....oh heck. I know the list will never end!

Creative art

Erin, my friend, gave Nate and I this awesome piece of art for our wedding gift. When I first opened it I had no idea what it was. But if you look closely, you can see that the objects in the pictures form letters that spell "Stiger." How cool? I can't wait to put it in the office. Erin said she saw the idea on a Web site for close to $150, but knew she could do it for less! That's my girl. She kept an eye out for objects where she lived and worked that could double as letters. It turned out amazing.
With more and more people equipped to take their own photos and Web sites like Snapfish and Shutterfly to order them on, there are endless options for personalized art. Erin said she was able to find the 6-letter frame at Target and a longer name might be harder, but I am sure with a little creativity, you could make it work for your name, too. When you see something you love, but it's just not in the budget, think outside the box of ways you can make it your own for much less money.