tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40993782024-03-14T02:28:25.898-05:00The Redhead at HomeLauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09230334812281543275noreply@blogger.comBlogger122125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099378.post-47716944189246211172011-06-02T13:17:00.001-05:002011-06-02T13:19:24.521-05:00Sewing Room Wall DecorI completed a fast little project for my sewing room earlier this week. <br />
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</div>I chose this project because I have boxes and boxes of fabric scraps that I hope to use in future projects. Because I already had all of the fabric, this project was under $10 to complete thanks to some 40% off coupons for JoAnn Fabrics.<br />
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My supplies included:<br />
10 embroidery hoops in different sizes (these were all priced at between $1.29 and $1.89 originally, I used coupons to knock that down just a little bit more.)<br />
Hot glue and hot glue gun<br />
Fabric<br />
Nails to hang them up (Completed, these weigh almost nothing. I just used little finishing nails that we had laying around.)<br />
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I started by inserting the fabric into the embroidery hoop. I pulled it taught and tightened the hoops as I went. Then, I trimmed the excess fabric, leaving just enough to fold over the inside frame. After applying a thin line of hot glue around the edge of the frame, I folded the excess fabric in and laid it upside-down while the hot glue dried. Here is a pic after the fabric has been pulled nice and tight, the excess was trimmed down, and the hot glue was applied:<br />
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</div><div align="left" class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">After the glue dried, I was ready to hang the finished hoops up. Here is what they look like all glued and finished:</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mQOeorreZY4/TefNKylqpMI/AAAAAAAAAlg/zMsLnpntcuU/s1600/IMG_1529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239px" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mQOeorreZY4/TefNKylqpMI/AAAAAAAAAlg/zMsLnpntcuU/s320/IMG_1529.jpg" t8="true" width="320px" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">This fabric might look like a hot mess, but it holds a very special place in my heart. It was used to make costumes for the inhabitants of Hades' underworld for a show I worked on last year and I spent hours and hours and called in a lot of favors to have dancers, my husband, and my in-laws help me cut, dye, and sew hundreds of strips of fabric together (here's the original rendering and a pair of the pants on one of the dancers before they were completely fitted):</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KbkVdC3NSLA/TefQVB6sz2I/AAAAAAAAAl0/KilTmXk0w2A/s1600/IMG_0691.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KbkVdC3NSLA/TefQVB6sz2I/AAAAAAAAAl0/KilTmXk0w2A/s320/IMG_0691.jpg" t8="true" width="240px" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-d5EtWAG6fPE/TefPbyamn5I/AAAAAAAAAlw/t8l2cq6PMT8/s1600/IMG_0733.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-d5EtWAG6fPE/TefPbyamn5I/AAAAAAAAAlw/t8l2cq6PMT8/s320/IMG_0733.jpg" t8="true" width="240px" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">Anyways, back to the project that this post was supposed to be about. After I had filled each of the hoops with fabric that I have used in the past and love to look at and reminisce about, I played around with the arrangement on our coffee table before I started nailing holes in the wall. Here's an arrangement that I liked and kind of loosely based my final set up on:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-01-OyFkcA4E/TefNL3MfRrI/AAAAAAAAAlk/-NTOTl0KJIA/s1600/IMG_1531.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-01-OyFkcA4E/TefNL3MfRrI/AAAAAAAAAlk/-NTOTl0KJIA/s320/IMG_1531.jpg" t8="true" width="239px" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">After I had figured out what I liked and didn't like in an arrangement, I got to hanging the hoops up on the wall. Here's what I ended up with:</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rxwcadYaYAs/TefNNMWidtI/AAAAAAAAAlo/2T2cpVNPYec/s1600/IMG_1533.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rxwcadYaYAs/TefNNMWidtI/AAAAAAAAAlo/2T2cpVNPYec/s320/IMG_1533.jpg" t8="true" width="239px" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">I still have a few empty hoops that will fill the space out even more, but I think of this project as one that will evolve and grow over time.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">And since I called this post "Sewing Room Wall Decor", I can't help but sneak in a shot of my other arrangement in this room, my rendering "photo" wall.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5soteXEniL0/TefTO6XVO-I/AAAAAAAAAl4/UdnAXRLIkeo/s1600/CIMG1147.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240px" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5soteXEniL0/TefTO6XVO-I/AAAAAAAAAl4/UdnAXRLIkeo/s320/CIMG1147.JPG" t8="true" width="320px" /></a></div><br />
And some close-ups:<br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-d7vvbyUjkxc/TefTR_jn-OI/AAAAAAAAAl8/Rxd7ExVVnvM/s1600/IMG_0948.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-d7vvbyUjkxc/TefTR_jn-OI/AAAAAAAAAl8/Rxd7ExVVnvM/s320/IMG_0948.jpg" t8="true" width="239px" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QPHfRnb6HEw/TefTTv7tDRI/AAAAAAAAAmA/aetMOe2oJC4/s1600/IMG_0949.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QPHfRnb6HEw/TefTTv7tDRI/AAAAAAAAAmA/aetMOe2oJC4/s320/IMG_0949.jpg" t8="true" width="239px" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div>Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09230334812281543275noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099378.post-30689825725525048082011-06-02T11:11:00.000-05:002011-06-02T11:11:44.361-05:00Throw Pillow Thursday<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I LOVE making throw pillows from placemats. Half of the work is done for you. I made this week's throw pillow from two <a href="http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20185922">IKEA MARIT Placemats</a>. They cost me about a dollar each and measure 14" by 18". I used IKEA's 16" by 20" pillow form, which runs $2.99. It's the same kind of pillow form that I used for <a href="http://laurietheredhead.blogspot.com/2011/04/throw-pillow-thursday.html">this</a> pillow a few weeks back. These placemats are only one piece of fabric and don't have a ready-made pillow back like some that I use (and added a few extra steps to my pillow-making process). </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">To make my pillowcase, I lined my two placemats up on top of each other and sewed a white zipper down one side. As always, I sewed a zipper into this pillow case to make for easy cover removal and cleaning down the line. I then sewed the remaining three sides closed. Usually, I would do this by lining my two placemats up with their right sides together (meaning that the pretty fabric that will eventually show is inside and what will ultimately live inside of the pillow is facing out). But, these placemats kind of have a woven, rustic, scalloped edge on the two long sides that I really liked and didn't want to lose. You can kind of see it along the top here: </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1GgTf9RxWmw/TeezjstahsI/AAAAAAAAAlM/55SrRHAds2w/s1600/IKEA+Placemats.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="153px" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1GgTf9RxWmw/TeezjstahsI/AAAAAAAAAlM/55SrRHAds2w/s320/IKEA+Placemats.jpg" t8="true" width="320px" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">In order to keep that little edge in tact, I lined the placemats up (after inserting the zipper) with their right sides facing out. I pinned all along the edge of the placemats and used a straight stitch and sewed along the long sides as close to the edge as I could. My pillow is actually different colors on each side (one blue placemat and one white placemat), so I loaded my sewing machine's bobbin with blue thread and the top part of the machine with white thread and sewed with the white side facing up.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I hand sewed the final side using a slip stitch and blue thread. The stitching is blends into the fabric in the completed pillow. The only reason that I sewed it by hand was because I could do it on the train and I knew that it would be a little bit more hidden than if I sewed it by machine.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">And here is the front and back of my completed pillow:</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5NdaBF2wR-M/Teez_qYOF7I/AAAAAAAAAlQ/w6CSIBbXpAg/s1600/IMG_1623.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5NdaBF2wR-M/Teez_qYOF7I/AAAAAAAAAlQ/w6CSIBbXpAg/s320/IMG_1623.jpg" t8="true" width="239px" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0EOwAZwSvlo/Tee0DVObILI/AAAAAAAAAlY/CD3xDQ5i_i0/s1600/IMG_1625.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0EOwAZwSvlo/Tee0DVObILI/AAAAAAAAAlY/CD3xDQ5i_i0/s320/IMG_1625.jpg" t8="true" width="239px" /></a></div>Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09230334812281543275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099378.post-55881750516513004182011-06-01T13:08:00.000-05:002011-06-01T13:08:32.371-05:00Shelving Unit - Part III've put some more decorative items on the shelving unit that Matt built. Since we have a lot of books (think boxes and boxes of books) and nowhere else to put them (...yet), this shelving unit became home to a lot of books. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hTVAUJn5Nw4/TeZ94KEu26I/AAAAAAAAAk8/_ILoDu-B4Yc/s1600/IMG_1617.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hTVAUJn5Nw4/TeZ94KEu26I/AAAAAAAAAk8/_ILoDu-B4Yc/s320/IMG_1617.jpg" t8="true" width="239px" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Also on there are (from the top shelf down): </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">IKEA candleholders, picture frame; Target mix and match lamp and shade, books; </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">books, metal grasshoppers that Matt's mom gave us as a housewarming present, even more books; </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">picture frame, bud vase that my bestie Lauren gave me when we were 16 (it is nothing short of a miracle that it has survived since then), hurricane vase thing filled with pinecones (for now); </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">our paper organization solution (more on that in a coming post).</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TwbvmuK5SYg/TeZ-GkFK_yI/AAAAAAAAAlA/wWLoSCwaQKk/s1600/IMG_1619.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TwbvmuK5SYg/TeZ-GkFK_yI/AAAAAAAAAlA/wWLoSCwaQKk/s320/IMG_1619.jpg" t8="true" width="239px" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">And one with the light on. I love it. </div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3Km2f7X5Zv4/TeZ-KEmjdSI/AAAAAAAAAlE/Wj_LafOOmnA/s1600/IMG_1622.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3Km2f7X5Zv4/TeZ-KEmjdSI/AAAAAAAAAlE/Wj_LafOOmnA/s320/IMG_1622.jpg" t8="true" width="239px" /></a></div>Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09230334812281543275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099378.post-33379782814656043562011-05-27T13:21:00.001-05:002011-05-27T13:28:49.543-05:00Shelving UnitI am so proud of my husband! He finished this beautiful shelving unit for our living room. I am just thrilled with how it looks. <br />
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<div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">And, here's how he did it:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">The piece was designed to specifically fit into a little nook by our (never-used) front door. He used pine to build it. The bottom portion is a drawer and one of the spaces was left larger than the others so we could fit a small lamp there. Here's Matt making some last minute adjustments to the shelves before we started prepping the shelf for paint:</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fmJoxz0Yfys/TbWgSaXZpSI/AAAAAAAAAkQ/qsTgGA7bsx0/s1600/CIMG1200.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240px" i8="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fmJoxz0Yfys/TbWgSaXZpSI/AAAAAAAAAkQ/qsTgGA7bsx0/s320/CIMG1200.JPG" width="320px" /></a></div><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">After it was built, Matt filled in all of the screw holes and edges in with wood filler. When the wood filler was dry, we sanded it down for a nice, smooth surface. </div><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">After sanding and wiping the entire unit with a tack cloth to make sure there was no lingering sawdust to muck up our paint. We primed the shelf (propped up on old paint cans):</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j0WGDSzNwfA/TbWgOYY5aPI/AAAAAAAAAkM/Y4MGJBcbDlg/s1600/IMG_1253.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" i8="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j0WGDSzNwfA/TbWgOYY5aPI/AAAAAAAAAkM/Y4MGJBcbDlg/s320/IMG_1253.jpg" width="239px" /></a></div><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">After a coat of primer, we lightly sanded and tack cloth'ed the entire piece again before applying two coats of Sherwin Williams' Pure White in a semi-gloss finish. It haven't really decorated it yet. But I stole some picture frames from other spots around the living room just to see how it'll look. </div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yQsso5qUy78/TbWgAHzf2_I/AAAAAAAAAkE/JVLyI-giMdc/s1600/IMG_1310.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" i8="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yQsso5qUy78/TbWgAHzf2_I/AAAAAAAAAkE/JVLyI-giMdc/s320/IMG_1310.jpg" width="239px" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ekTbqRFczmY/TbWgJw01qTI/AAAAAAAAAkI/51fH-5X5TJA/s1600/IMG_1308.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" i8="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ekTbqRFczmY/TbWgJw01qTI/AAAAAAAAAkI/51fH-5X5TJA/s320/IMG_1308.jpg" width="239px" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">I love how it looks. And I love it even more because it was built by my husband's own two hands. This weekend, I'm planning to style it a little more with a lamp and some books. Once it's all done, I'll take another picture to share.</div>Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09230334812281543275noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099378.post-80551449203979627452011-05-26T12:38:00.000-05:002011-05-26T12:38:31.436-05:00Throw Pillow Thursday<div style="text-align: left;"><div align="center"><u><strong>A Story of Pillow Love </strong></u></div><br />
Years ago, while I was in college, I bought a long, gold-striped table runner on clearance at Gordmans for a few bucks. It was the table runner of my dreams. And I got it for a steal. Life was good.<br />
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Unfortunately, after about a year of living with my dream table runner, a couple of inches of it got ruined during a tragic pumpkin carving incident. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Not wanting to be wasteful, I used the remaining tablerunner to make three placemats. This worked out great because we had our kitchen table in our little college rental pushed up against a wall and only used three chairs at it.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Unfortunately, three month after I made those placemats, my college roommate set a hot pan on one of the placemats and melted a hole in it. Left with two placemats, we continued to use them for two of the spots at our table. The third spot just remained naked for the final year+ that we lived in the apartment</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Three years after buying my table runner, I graduated college with two placemats still intact. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">After graduation, Matt and I moved into an apartment in the city and set to decorating it. The two placemats weren't doing me much good as I now had a large 6 seat table in our apartment. They lived in a box in our office for almost a year. While cleaning out the office closet, I found them tucked in a box with my graduation gown and some other college memorabilia. I still couldn't use them on our table, but, again, I didn't want to be wasteful. I opted to turn my placemats into throw pillows for our bed. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">And that is where they remain today.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hLnQGVr-T8s/Td6MRAe-w2I/AAAAAAAAAkw/pv_CRXWTdTs/s1600/IMG_1565.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239px" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hLnQGVr-T8s/Td6MRAe-w2I/AAAAAAAAAkw/pv_CRXWTdTs/s320/IMG_1565.jpg" t8="true" width="320px" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">(My bed is centered on the window, I don't know if I was at a weird angle or what happened. Also, the center pillow was a gift from a family friend for our wedding shower a few years ago. I would guess it's either from Crate and Barrel or Target, circa 2008.)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;"> I love them. I hope that they last forever and live out their days on my bed. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sVrUDh01OPk/Td6MWIfgRhI/AAAAAAAAAk0/6AaaaxBWznk/s1600/IMG_1569.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239px" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sVrUDh01OPk/Td6MWIfgRhI/AAAAAAAAAk0/6AaaaxBWznk/s320/IMG_1569.jpg" t8="true" width="320px" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">These are the only pillows in my house that do not have a zipper. I spot clean them if and when they get dirty. I've thought a lot about slipping a zipper in though. Maybe I'll do that eventually. The lack of a zipper in no way slows my love for them. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Here's the back. It was the back to the original table runner. I love it too.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kILNiykqpIs/Td6MaE_H9LI/AAAAAAAAAk4/AZMc_Y8gqY0/s1600/IMG_1571.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239px" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kILNiykqpIs/Td6MaE_H9LI/AAAAAAAAAk4/AZMc_Y8gqY0/s320/IMG_1571.jpg" t8="true" width="320px" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;">The End.</div>Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09230334812281543275noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099378.post-43592192261110578162011-05-02T15:35:00.000-05:002011-05-02T15:35:05.110-05:00GardeningHello Blogland. I missed you. I got to spend the better part of last week in Omaha, NE. While there, I got to shop a lot! Mostly for furniture and jewelry. I'll have a post soon about the magic of Nebraska Furniture Mart. In the mean time, I thought I would share a little about what I've been working on for our yard.<br />
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Our yard was in a bad state when we bought our house. Only about a third of of yard had grass, the rest was dirt. There were about a dozen dead trees on our property (some hanging right over our house!). And the shrubbery left something to be desired. As we didn't have a long term solution in place yet, last year, we just worked on maintenance. Matt removed brush from a huga aree of our yard. We removed 14 trees that were either dead or located too close to our house for comfort. We also added grass to a huge section of our yard. Beyond that, last summer was spent enjoying our new house and making plans for turning our existing yard into our dream yard.<br />
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This year, I have big plans. We've already progressed on our grass mission. We started putting more seed down in late March. I will post pictures if the rain stops long enough to let me take some.<br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">We have a huge challenge in growning any plants in our yard. We get very limited sun thanks to the insane number of trees in our yard. This is the google satellite image of our house. No joke. Our garage is actually under that little A tag, our house is just to the right of the garage...</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nSMF8s3kAno/Tb7uUi7xIJI/AAAAAAAAAkY/SPaAlZv1Jhw/s1600/Satelite_Image.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191px" j8="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nSMF8s3kAno/Tb7uUi7xIJI/AAAAAAAAAkY/SPaAlZv1Jhw/s320/Satelite_Image.png" width="320px" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;">We have a lot of trees. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;">After a lot of research, I decided to try and grow a few hardy plants that I thought might survive in dark conditions. I started some seeds inside and those plants are just about ready to be transplanted into containers and moved outside. This year, I'm going to try and grow string beans, spinach, mint, and basil. I choose string beans and spinach because various experts indicated that I could basically throw the seeds on the ground and get great results. I was also told that both vegetables will grow well in containers. And I've grown basil and mint before with pretty successful results. <br />
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Two weeks ago, I planted string bean and spinach seeds in Jiffy Greenhouses. These greenhouses were so easy to use and it took me less than 30 minutes to plant 12 sections of seeds. <br />
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Here they are the morning after planting, still just dirt:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q3LnU7_xYCg/Tb8R34ZPAuI/AAAAAAAAAkc/gU_P94x9Yi0/s1600/IMG_1300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" j8="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q3LnU7_xYCg/Tb8R34ZPAuI/AAAAAAAAAkc/gU_P94x9Yi0/s320/IMG_1300.jpg" width="239px" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And, this is just two full days after planting. Those String Beans started shooting up:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dtEdR7T78E8/Tb8R8iKpH8I/AAAAAAAAAkg/ETYAq1TAFJA/s1600/IMG_1302.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" j8="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dtEdR7T78E8/Tb8R8iKpH8I/AAAAAAAAAkg/ETYAq1TAFJA/s320/IMG_1302.jpg" width="239px" /></a></div><br />
This is 5 days after planting. The string beans are on the outside and the spinach is in the middle:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GiWl1uib9gA/Tb8SEGllRlI/AAAAAAAAAkk/UOR2UWu03r0/s1600/IMG_1304.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" j8="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GiWl1uib9gA/Tb8SEGllRlI/AAAAAAAAAkk/UOR2UWu03r0/s320/IMG_1304.jpg" width="239px" /></a></div><br />
And 10 days after planting. All of the string beans have grown and are still growing, about half of the spinach plants have started growing. <br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mQfXuTYm0Dc/Tb8SJQcUEVI/AAAAAAAAAks/xGl3JEAO8Gk/s1600/IMG_1486.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239px" j8="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mQfXuTYm0Dc/Tb8SJQcUEVI/AAAAAAAAAks/xGl3JEAO8Gk/s320/IMG_1486.jpg" width="320px" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kWLpxbrmeJU/Tb8SGz4RevI/AAAAAAAAAko/1y5_2ItAdTs/s1600/IMG_1484.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" j8="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kWLpxbrmeJU/Tb8SGz4RevI/AAAAAAAAAko/1y5_2ItAdTs/s320/IMG_1484.jpg" width="239px" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">Hopefully this weekend, I'll have some time to transplant the string beans into containers and move them out onto my deck. With any luck, I'll be looking up recipes in no time.</div></div>Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09230334812281543275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099378.post-53686914655365923282011-04-21T17:17:00.000-05:002011-04-21T17:17:10.621-05:00Throw Pillow Thursday - Part 2Soon after writing my earlier post, I realized that I never shared my completed button throw pillow here. <br />
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Here's a look back at how I got to a finished product (more details and pictures can be seen <a href="http://laurietheredhead.blogspot.com/2011/03/buttons.html">here</a>).......<br />
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Supplies used were 14" x 14" squares of fabric dyed a purple-y gray, 14" gray zipper, white paint, paintbrush, printout of the number 3, white thread (not pictured), and lots and lots of buttons.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hEIHplevJM4/TbCq8przU4I/AAAAAAAAAjk/uEaixyCzpgc/s1600/IMG_1007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" i8="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hEIHplevJM4/TbCq8przU4I/AAAAAAAAAjk/uEaixyCzpgc/s320/IMG_1007.jpg" width="239px" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
I traced the three onto the fabric and started arranging buttons and sewing them on. So many buttons.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HqDc-diQPp8/TbCrF6UvCaI/AAAAAAAAAjo/3K10HsWN0SA/s1600/IMG_1012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" i8="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HqDc-diQPp8/TbCrF6UvCaI/AAAAAAAAAjo/3K10HsWN0SA/s320/IMG_1012.jpg" width="239px" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"> After all of the buttons were sewn on, I pinned my zipper in place and sewed it on. </div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UxSX64qYvzU/TbCo5SytMII/AAAAAAAAAjg/Wvu0UqCdom4/s1600/IMG_1261.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239px" i8="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UxSX64qYvzU/TbCo5SytMII/AAAAAAAAAjg/Wvu0UqCdom4/s320/IMG_1261.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div><br />
Here's the final pillow cover (as always, it's totally removable and totally machine washable): <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VfRSC4ROaJA/TbCojYH4B5I/AAAAAAAAAjc/22gbhVxMyBE/s1600/IMG_1286.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239px" i8="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VfRSC4ROaJA/TbCojYH4B5I/AAAAAAAAAjc/22gbhVxMyBE/s320/IMG_1286.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div>Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09230334812281543275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099378.post-15839809508254659042011-04-21T10:03:00.000-05:002011-04-21T10:03:15.985-05:00Throw Pillow ThursdayI'm going to start a new series of posts called Throw Pillow Thursdays.<br />
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I get my pillow forms from <a href="http://www.ikea.com/us/en/">IKEA</a>, <a href="http://www.joann.com/joann/home/home.jsp">Jo Ann Fabrics</a>, and <a href="http://store.atlantathread.com/">Atlanta Thread and Supply Company</a>, depending on where the best sale is or where I have other shopping to do. All of my throw pillows have zippered, machine washable covers. This serves two purposes for me: 1. if it's dirty, I can wash it and 2. if I get bored, I can change the covers in and out as I please without taking up much storage on currently out-of-rotation covers.<br />
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The pillow that I completed this week started out as a $1.99 <a href="http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40185916">SOLBRÄND placemat</a> from IKEA.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IJSCrQMiZKs/TbBBplTuXWI/AAAAAAAAAjU/qpCCkPfo7Qs/s1600/IMG_1259.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239px" i8="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IJSCrQMiZKs/TbBBplTuXWI/AAAAAAAAAjU/qpCCkPfo7Qs/s320/IMG_1259.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div><br />
This beauty measures in at 14" x 18" and is 100% cotton. While at IKEA, I also picked up a 16" x 20" pillow form for $2.99. When buying from IKEA, I like to get pillow forms that are a little bigger than the case I'm making. I find their pillow forms to be a little understuffed for my tastes. With the supplies I picked up at IKEA, the grand total for this pillow, with tax, came in just over $5 (as I already had all of the other supplies). If I had to buy the rest of my supplies (14" white zipper, white thread, and a seam ripper), the project would still have been around 8-10 bucks.<br />
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This placemat is one of my favorite kinds to use for a throw pillow because it already has a fancy printed piece of fabric and a second piece of fabric that makes up the plain white backside. <br />
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To make my pillow, I decided which side of the pillow I wanted my zipper on and opened that seam using my seam ripper. (Sadly, this project went so quickly that I totally forgot to take pictures of all of these steps, but I will be using this method to make another pillowcase soon and will take detailed pictures of the process then.) Using my sewing machine's zipper foot, I attached a 14 inch white zipper to the side of the placemat that I seam ripped open. <br />
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With my zipper in place and functional, I slide my pillow form into the case and closed 'er up. And here is my newest pillow sitting pretty on our couch:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-j06B2n9TziE/TbBB-Acs9UI/AAAAAAAAAjY/4iDer_lYvUM/s1600/IMG_1273.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" i8="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-j06B2n9TziE/TbBB-Acs9UI/AAAAAAAAAjY/4iDer_lYvUM/s320/IMG_1273.jpg" width="239px" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Have you made any throw pillows lately? Or have you used sewing skills elsewhere in the house? Please share! I love looking at other people's ideas for inspiration.</div>Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09230334812281543275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099378.post-35654501059225664452011-04-19T09:34:00.000-05:002011-04-19T09:34:26.736-05:00CoastersI haven't blogged lately. Probably because we've been so busy with projects around the house! I'll have lots to share in the coming weeks, but I wanted to pop on today and show a cute little project that I finished last night. <br />
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We got these Crate and Barrel coasters as a gift for our wedding shower:<br />
<div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Kp_XPhIWhP0/Ta2aEglf7aI/AAAAAAAAAjE/krpZMaW2YUE/s1600/IMG_1277.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" i8="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Kp_XPhIWhP0/Ta2aEglf7aI/AAAAAAAAAjE/krpZMaW2YUE/s320/IMG_1277.jpg" width="239px" /></a><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And that is exactly how they have looked for the last <em>three years</em>. Partly because I forget about them, partly because I couldn't decide what to put in them. But still, I fully realize that three years is a ridiculous amount of time to have left those coasters alone. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I was wrapping a gift for a friend the other day and just loved the wrapping paper I was using. A very graphic white print on a metallic paper. I had just enough left over to cut sections out for the coasters. And, they look awesome in our living room now. Here's the finished product(s): </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oneb13km2CY/Ta2a-L4XT1I/AAAAAAAAAjI/0_UImE-w4uE/s1600/IMG_1281.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239px" i8="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oneb13km2CY/Ta2a-L4XT1I/AAAAAAAAAjI/0_UImE-w4uE/s320/IMG_1281.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div><br />
And, here they are all together again in their final location:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SidT9HEOFIc/Ta2bCcK-lUI/AAAAAAAAAjM/MHaJNtrDiPg/s1600/IMG_1275.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239px" i8="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SidT9HEOFIc/Ta2bCcK-lUI/AAAAAAAAAjM/MHaJNtrDiPg/s320/IMG_1275.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div>Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09230334812281543275noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099378.post-35674842328707181182011-04-04T11:35:00.000-05:002011-04-04T11:35:51.609-05:00Smoke Detector (Or How I stopped worrying and learned to love the cave)<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Even though it has undergone a major transformation (see the biggest changes <a href="http://laurietheredhead.blogspot.com/2010/02/project-5-drywall.html">here</a> and <a href="http://laurietheredhead.blogspot.com/2010/03/project-8-lighting.html">here</a>), I still call our hallway the cave. It's not cave-like anymore. I'll just always lovingly call it that. Everytime I say "The Cave" I think of the early days in our house when we were still figuring out what it would end up looking like. The early days of drywall and carpet removal and new hardwoods and popcorn ceilings and paint. Okay, enough reminiscing. Onto my point.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div>The smoke detector in our hallway looked like this when we moved in:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xHIKJjpvKpw/TZS5D7av2ZI/AAAAAAAAAik/ZDv6rWmeePU/s1600/Smoke+Detector+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" r6="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xHIKJjpvKpw/TZS5D7av2ZI/AAAAAAAAAik/ZDv6rWmeePU/s320/Smoke+Detector+2.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">It just didn't seem safe to me. And it certainly didn't look good. So, after a year of imagining my house burning in a horrible fire every time I walked through the cave, I took some action. Better late than never, right?</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
I got my supplies together. New smoke detector, step stool, awesome American flag screwdriver.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qOxTG3J8X_w/TZS4PuHeoGI/AAAAAAAAAiE/lX5_3xsdCow/s1600/Smoke+Detector+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" r6="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qOxTG3J8X_w/TZS4PuHeoGI/AAAAAAAAAiE/lX5_3xsdCow/s320/Smoke+Detector+3.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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Since I was taking the old smoke detector down anyways and (unlike the one in the kitchen) the smoke alarm isn't hardwired into the ceiling, I decided to move it. It used to be located here, right between the vent and the (broken) light fixture:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-G0dnXnTcCHI/TZS4emj5I3I/AAAAAAAAAiM/RwfHfb8WkwQ/s1600/Drywall5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" r6="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-G0dnXnTcCHI/TZS4emj5I3I/AAAAAAAAAiM/RwfHfb8WkwQ/s320/Drywall5.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />
Though it was totally fine there, it didn't look as great as I knew it could. The vent/smoke detector/light fixture sight line was a little much for me. So, I took the smoke detector down, and was left with a small circle of popcorn ceiling that was never removed:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o7vX4H2c3wI/TZS4fXKXYFI/AAAAAAAAAiQ/AkHueZ6XUwc/s1600/Smoke+Detector+5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" r6="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o7vX4H2c3wI/TZS4fXKXYFI/AAAAAAAAAiQ/AkHueZ6XUwc/s320/Smoke+Detector+5.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I removed the popcorn, patched up the ceiling, and repainted (ceiling is SW's Pure White). The smoke detector is now tucked right on the other side of the light fixture. Doesn't that look cleaner?</div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7tMgT8Txomk/TZS4mJefA6I/AAAAAAAAAiU/VbA-Z3NH86Q/s1600/IMG_1159.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" r6="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7tMgT8Txomk/TZS4mJefA6I/AAAAAAAAAiU/VbA-Z3NH86Q/s320/IMG_1159.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><br />
And I know that it works. And it is super easy to test and super easy to change the batteries. I feel safer and it looks better. I'm going to call this project a bit WIN.Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09230334812281543275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099378.post-25372810793550760912011-04-03T12:01:00.000-05:002011-04-03T12:01:52.251-05:00Dog Food StorageThe day before we got the dog, Matt and I went shopping for all of the supplies he would need. Because we buy his dog food at Costco, we needed a big container to store it in. We picked this one up at Walmart for less than $10:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7hRL48sNnws/TZil4WjJ-_I/AAAAAAAAAi4/6_iSmVEdSeM/s1600/IMG_1201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" r6="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7hRL48sNnws/TZil4WjJ-_I/AAAAAAAAAi4/6_iSmVEdSeM/s320/IMG_1201.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><br />
While totally functional, it was a little bland for my tastes. The dog food container sits in the corner of our pantry and we see it everytime we open the door (which is every time we cook a meal). Taking my cue from <a href="http://www.houseofhepworths.com/2011/03/16/hookin-up-with-hoh-40/">this post over at House of Hepworths</a> (HoH), I spent about an hour transforming my boring old dog food container into this:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HHgY7O7GMQA/TZimMuMPozI/AAAAAAAAAi8/uj84T9F7Dss/s1600/IMG_1213.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" r6="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HHgY7O7GMQA/TZimMuMPozI/AAAAAAAAAi8/uj84T9F7Dss/s320/IMG_1213.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><br />
In the project posted on HoH, the crafter used her silhouette machine to make the words and the paw prints. I don't have a silhouette machine, so I just used a printout and a sharpie. I printed my words and image, traced them onto my dog food container, and filled it in with sharpie. Super easy and super cute. And of course, puppy approved:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gtNeiYXCFxQ/TZimUK8BZnI/AAAAAAAAAjA/wR8qiMsvVjc/s1600/IMG_1221.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" r6="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gtNeiYXCFxQ/TZimUK8BZnI/AAAAAAAAAjA/wR8qiMsvVjc/s320/IMG_1221.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09230334812281543275noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099378.post-48111020124458108952011-04-01T13:09:00.000-05:002011-04-01T13:09:50.050-05:00DoormatI'm all about personalizing everyday decor items. And when I can do it with spray paint, watch out! I first saw this project on <a href="http://gorgeousshinythings.blogspot.com/2011/03/great-inexpensive-personalized-gift.html">Gorgeous Shiny Things</a>. She got the idea from <a href="http://www.marthastewart.com/good-things/custom-doormat">Martha</a>. <br />
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I already had the mat. I already had the spray paint. I already had the painters tape. And what's better than a quick project that you do not have to do any shopping for?<br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I printed out our address in Word. So easy! I used Rockwell Extra Bold font in size 630. Yes, 630. That's not a typo. I cut out the numbers and taped my new stencil to the center of the mat. Using painter's tape, I taped a border on my mat. I just made it up as I went and used a straight-edged ruler to keep the tape nice and even. Here it is all taped up and ready for paint:</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CKG9HdC5tQo/TZYTTvXLzCI/AAAAAAAAAiw/UBZ1E3JV-Ms/s1600/IMG_1179.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" r6="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CKG9HdC5tQo/TZYTTvXLzCI/AAAAAAAAAiw/UBZ1E3JV-Ms/s320/IMG_1179.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">I used Rustoleum's Camoflage spray paint in Deep Forest Green. It's a little darker than my inspiration, but my original mat was darker than Martha's. A few coats of spray paint and a coat of spray laquer later and here is the finished product:</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="239" r6="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w-gGVIIgqJA/TZYTWDf1WCI/AAAAAAAAAi0/DPc-otZhfZI/s320/IMG_1186.jpg" width="320" /></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">Try to ignore those smudged-looking spots, those are just my hallway casting weird shadows. I'll try and get a better picture in the daylight this weekend.</div>Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09230334812281543275noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099378.post-62890497410742157182011-03-30T10:41:00.001-05:002011-03-30T11:00:26.548-05:00Painting VanitiesOur house has the same cabinets in two bathrooms, the kitchen, and extra cabinets in the same style in the basement.<br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Matt and I have been talking about painting our kitchen cabinets since the very first time we walked through the house. But, we keep going back and forth on if we want dark or light cabinets in the kitchen. Honestly, I can see it both ways and it will look beautiful no matter what we chose. In an effort to help us make up our minds, I painted the cabinet in one bathroom white (Sherwin William's Pure White) and the cabinet in the other bathroom dark brown (Sherwin William's Turkish Coffee). Both cabinets look much, much better than they did when we moved in and we're still no closer to making a decision for the kitchen. So, dear readers, if you have a preference, lay it on me.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div>Here are the before and afters of the vanity in our small bathroom:<br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-p9h2k-A7Qtg/TZDG96HKqwI/AAAAAAAAAhE/1pZtfjMgIpA/s1600/IMG_0480.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" r6="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-p9h2k-A7Qtg/TZDG96HKqwI/AAAAAAAAAhE/1pZtfjMgIpA/s320/IMG_0480.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7BZEuoG4r8M/TZDHAG_waGI/AAAAAAAAAhI/6UeqLqFRKPc/s1600/IMG_1142.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" r6="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7BZEuoG4r8M/TZDHAG_waGI/AAAAAAAAAhI/6UeqLqFRKPc/s320/IMG_1142.jpg" width="239" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YfWPhV4aMJo/TZDHEVkWeyI/AAAAAAAAAhM/XV1pPRYrYFM/s1600/IMG_1144.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" r6="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YfWPhV4aMJo/TZDHEVkWeyI/AAAAAAAAAhM/XV1pPRYrYFM/s320/IMG_1144.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Much improved, no? We ordered the new knobs in bulk and planned to use the same ones for the cabinets in the larger bathroom and for the drawers in the kitchen (coordinating handles are on the cabinets).</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">And here is the before of our bigger bathroom:</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-W7i5SfT4x3U/TZDHcgGPXSI/AAAAAAAAAhU/rSj0187Z194/s1600/IMG_0478.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" r6="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-W7i5SfT4x3U/TZDHcgGPXSI/AAAAAAAAAhU/rSj0187Z194/s320/IMG_0478.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kLf4uMLFdQ0/TZDHg9Q8fpI/AAAAAAAAAhY/kOBeNa8qvkI/s1600/P1010262.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" r6="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kLf4uMLFdQ0/TZDHg9Q8fpI/AAAAAAAAAhY/kOBeNa8qvkI/s320/P1010262.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">It's a huge vanity. We've talked about replacing it in the future, but there are more important projects to work on right now. For at least the next couple of years, this coat of paint will do just fine. Here are the afters of each side of the vanity. Note the fancy new knobs and hinges too. </div></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hEV2FkEiD0Y/TZNNni5Uq1I/AAAAAAAAAh4/Dx8V7r8XWi0/s1600/IMG_1165.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; height: 228px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; width: 315px;"><img border="0" height="239" r6="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hEV2FkEiD0Y/TZNNni5Uq1I/AAAAAAAAAh4/Dx8V7r8XWi0/s320/IMG_1165.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VlxZPn6Mn3w/TZNNzxSYW1I/AAAAAAAAAh8/xR2N30G83nw/s1600/IMG_1167.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" r6="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VlxZPn6Mn3w/TZNNzxSYW1I/AAAAAAAAAh8/xR2N30G83nw/s320/IMG_1167.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">And, for referrence, here is a partial shot of those same cabinets in our kitchen. Look at all of that wood grain!</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" r6="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4n7QlOjuCxI/TZDHauAgKLI/AAAAAAAAAhQ/SS0VnAFuwPE/s320/IMG_0434.jpg" width="320" /></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">The debate over light and dark still rages on for these cabinets. As of right now at least, the knobs have been changed. Someday we'll make up our minds and buckle down and paint the kitchen cabinets.</div>Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09230334812281543275noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099378.post-72381602523665586692011-03-25T12:43:00.001-05:002011-03-25T13:03:20.597-05:00Spring WreathUsing tutorials found <a href="http://steamykitchen.com/14280-make-yarn-wreaths.html">here</a> and <a href="http://team-t-adventures.blogspot.com/2011/03/felt-flower-spring-wreath.html">here</a>, I made a fresh little spring wreath for our entrance hallway. <br />
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I started out with just a styrofoam wreath form, some pins and two bundles of yarn - Stitch Nation's Full o' Sheep wool in Thyme (I only ended up using one bundle of yarn):<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-WMW11Zl8NjQ/TYzKNjUBcYI/AAAAAAAAAgk/w0cOj8a4tJM/s1600/IMG_1026.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" r6="true" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-WMW11Zl8NjQ/TYzKNjUBcYI/AAAAAAAAAgk/w0cOj8a4tJM/s320/IMG_1026.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">I tied a knot in the end of the yarn and used a pin to hold it in place. Then, I just started tightly wrapping the yarn around the form. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-IHeS3ihrMNA/TYzKYcXmrfI/AAAAAAAAAgo/4mVrqalZOOA/s1600/IMG_1028.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" r6="true" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-IHeS3ihrMNA/TYzKYcXmrfI/AAAAAAAAAgo/4mVrqalZOOA/s320/IMG_1028.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Okay, so, after wrapping a couple inches of the wreath form, I set it down and walked away from it for a couple of hours. I came back to my wreath form shredded by the smallest, furriest, and arguably most destructive member of my household.</em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>I ran out and got a new wreath form and just started over. The wreath form is white styrofoam in the rest of the pictures. That's why. </em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">I found that the quickest and most effective way to wrap the yarn was to wrap it loosely around a dozen or so times and "squish" it and twist it around until it was tight on the wreath form and lined up with the rest. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-isHqUj36tZI/TYzKgQXf2MI/AAAAAAAAAgs/8t-GXohcy64/s1600/IMG_1105.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" r6="true" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-isHqUj36tZI/TYzKgQXf2MI/AAAAAAAAAgs/8t-GXohcy64/s320/IMG_1105.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Yarn done, I started making the flowers. I started by cutting out a lot of felt circles in different sizes and colors.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-lbJ1sghWAEQ/TYzKmjXyPEI/AAAAAAAAAgw/RTXyk5xAzmM/s1600/IMG_1111.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" r6="true" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-lbJ1sghWAEQ/TYzKmjXyPEI/AAAAAAAAAgw/RTXyk5xAzmM/s320/IMG_1111.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><br />
After the circles were cut out, I traced a spiral stemming out from the center. I cut on the spiral, leaving a small uncut circle in the middle. While my glue gun was warming up, I used my scissors to make the outside edge a little wavy and more interesting. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-wFNu-lpAoys/TYzKxvSlUdI/AAAAAAAAAg0/UZwISqTfjm0/s1600/IMG_1127.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" r6="true" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-wFNu-lpAoys/TYzKxvSlUdI/AAAAAAAAAg0/UZwISqTfjm0/s320/IMG_1127.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
I folded the outside "tail" under a little and started rolling the spirals up into these sweet little flowers, securing my uncut circle middle to the bottom with hot glue. I hotglued some leftover pearl beads into the center of each flower on a whim. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-4t8bQxjwRwU/TYzK08f5YuI/AAAAAAAAAg4/6vwXf0o9RYQ/s1600/IMG_1133.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" r6="true" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-4t8bQxjwRwU/TYzK08f5YuI/AAAAAAAAAg4/6vwXf0o9RYQ/s320/IMG_1133.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
After I had made several flowers, I arranged them on my wreath and hot glued them on.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-IORK4M2Yyp8/TYzLD8PJQCI/AAAAAAAAAg8/YlBOfM46pOE/s1600/IMG_1146.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" r6="true" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-IORK4M2Yyp8/TYzLD8PJQCI/AAAAAAAAAg8/YlBOfM46pOE/s320/IMG_1146.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><br />
A close-up of the flowers.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-nxTkHUqZuTU/TYzLEyt9wYI/AAAAAAAAAhA/VFYiUBSZK1A/s1600/IMG_1148.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" r6="true" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-nxTkHUqZuTU/TYzLEyt9wYI/AAAAAAAAAhA/VFYiUBSZK1A/s320/IMG_1148.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><br />
It hangs a little off center right now because the weight added by the flowers. I'm going to add a little ribbon to the top to hang it from. That should help balance out the way it hangs. <br />
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The total cost for this project was just under $10, that includes both rolls of yarn and both wreath forms.<br />
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P.S. I had a total blast looking for inspiration pics for this project. If you made a wreath, I'd LOVE to see it. I think I'm becoming a little obsessed.....Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09230334812281543275noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099378.post-38169385041020913762011-03-24T17:20:00.000-05:002011-03-24T17:20:46.966-05:00Outdoor Lighting - Part 2I have a feeling that this will turn into a 3 post project. The weather wasn't cooperating much lately, so it has taken me a while to get the second step underway.<br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">After I cut the plexiglass (see the results <a href="http://laurietheredhead.blogspot.com/2011/03/outdoor-lighting.html">here</a>). I spray painted the outdoor lantern-style light with Krylon Outdoor Copper spray paint. I finished this product at dusk, so it was hard to get a good shot of the new color. But, here's a sort of before and an extreme close-up after:</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-gTbjKK66tjk/TYvBLjii1XI/AAAAAAAAAgg/QE-4tQFXfLE/s1600/IMG_1064.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" r6="true" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-gTbjKK66tjk/TYvBLjii1XI/AAAAAAAAAgg/QE-4tQFXfLE/s320/IMG_1064.jpg" width="239" /></a><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-_jbsfPhi8c8/TYvA8PsEraI/AAAAAAAAAgY/7TDCTEGYu8g/s1600/IMG_1116.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" r6="true" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-_jbsfPhi8c8/TYvA8PsEraI/AAAAAAAAAgY/7TDCTEGYu8g/s320/IMG_1116.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"></div><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">In the continuation of my quest to add light to our dismal yard, at the end of the summer last year, I picked up 20 of these lights for a song (well, actually for about a buck each). They are cheap brown plastic, but I knew that they would add a lot of much needed light to our yard. </div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Xofi1gg_B1c/TYvAoOnq8HI/AAAAAAAAAgQ/WlAc26gjKbM/s1600/IMG_1082.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" r6="true" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Xofi1gg_B1c/TYvAoOnq8HI/AAAAAAAAAgQ/WlAc26gjKbM/s320/IMG_1082.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
I wasn't wild about the brown plastic look, so I gave them a quick coat of the same outdoor copper spray paint that I used on the lantern-esque light fixtures. I covered the solar panels with Frog Tape brand painter's tape and gave each light a quick coat of spray paint. Here is my little light army drying after being painted:</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-hSywGqt4B1g/TYvBHRf2JgI/AAAAAAAAAgc/FagNzlUhCJc/s1600/IMG_1089.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" r6="true" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-hSywGqt4B1g/TYvBHRf2JgI/AAAAAAAAAgc/FagNzlUhCJc/s320/IMG_1089.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Two very light coats later, I am just thrilled with the results. Once the weather starts cooperating, I will get them in the ground and I will post pictures of these lights in place.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-lpxFQlgrzDU/TYvAwwDAuqI/AAAAAAAAAgU/CykzXjWinTE/s1600/IMG_1100.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" r6="true" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-lpxFQlgrzDU/TYvAwwDAuqI/AAAAAAAAAgU/CykzXjWinTE/s320/IMG_1100.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09230334812281543275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099378.post-26764786829426783932011-03-15T11:11:00.000-05:002011-03-15T11:11:48.610-05:00Outdoor Lighting<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">You may remember from<a href="http://laurietheredhead.blogspot.com/2010/03/project-8-lighting.html"> this post</a> that we replaced this light: </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-qpQ-TF6abgw/S7NYdFKs1nI/AAAAAAAAARo/DA-kkS5MLXs/s1600/CIMG0742.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" q6="true" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-qpQ-TF6abgw/S7NYdFKs1nI/AAAAAAAAARo/DA-kkS5MLXs/s200/CIMG0742.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GoBACMG3ZWo/S7NYc1OE1PI/AAAAAAAAARg/f-d7SrL3cAU/s1600/CIMG0741.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" q6="true" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GoBACMG3ZWo/S7NYc1OE1PI/AAAAAAAAARg/f-d7SrL3cAU/s200/CIMG0741.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;">with this one:</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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That wasn't the end of our outdoor lighting story. Our house had two broken lantern-like lights on poles. You can just see one poking in on the right side of this picture:</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-lUBqJy9AFcg/TX-C1-2RNKI/AAAAAAAAAe0/CaT81ndhlnY/s1600/CIMG0582.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" q6="true" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-lUBqJy9AFcg/TX-C1-2RNKI/AAAAAAAAAe0/CaT81ndhlnY/s400/CIMG0582.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The other one hidden up by the barn. You can just barely see it in this picture. It's just to the right of the thickest tree (almost parallel to the red pole sticking up from the plow of the truck):</div></div></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-5ERT-E1WdT4/TX-FufSpRCI/AAAAAAAAAfg/CgSGYD0F2rE/s1600/Light+by+barn.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="292" q6="true" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-5ERT-E1WdT4/TX-FufSpRCI/AAAAAAAAAfg/CgSGYD0F2rE/s400/Light+by+barn.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
We also have a wall sconce in the same black iron and yellow glass style in our sunroom next to our backdoor. Though ill-placed and less than appealing to look at, all of the lights are in okay structural shape and with a little re-wiring, they provide much needed light for our dark yard. I started brainstorming economical ways to transform the lights until we can move and/or replace them with a better style.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">While wandering through my local Ace Hardware, I found sheets of Plexiglass for $5 a sheet. I took it as a sign that I was meant to immediately start on the outdoor lights. So, while at Ace, I also picked up an extra large can of Krylon Outdoor Copper spray paint.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">Armed with my tools, I got to work. I replaced the old, yellow glass with textured plexiglass. Here's a before and after of the fixture near the front of the house:</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-q62MpLBwsN4/TX-F80LEYWI/AAAAAAAAAf4/E00dxo3cNAw/s1600/IMG_1065.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" q6="true" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-q62MpLBwsN4/TX-F80LEYWI/AAAAAAAAAf4/E00dxo3cNAw/s200/IMG_1065.jpg" width="149" /></a><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-u5QQEFpF190/TX-F9dTOYSI/AAAAAAAAAf8/7PMPqxFC1bA/s1600/IMG_1066.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" q6="true" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-u5QQEFpF190/TX-F9dTOYSI/AAAAAAAAAf8/7PMPqxFC1bA/s200/IMG_1066.jpg" width="149" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
To cut the plexiglass, I laid the sheet of plexiglass onto some old wood that I used as a home repair cutting board. I laid one of the glass panels on the sheet of plexiglass. Using a utility knife, I traced the outline of the glass piece onto the plexiglass, scoring the plexiglass about halfway through. I then very carefully folded the plexiglass until it broke into a clean line in the shape that I had scored into the plexiglass. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-_xI-jiiznNQ/TX-F2oECV7I/AAAAAAAAAfs/shgCORiEdQI/s1600/IMG_1059.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" q6="true" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-_xI-jiiznNQ/TX-F2oECV7I/AAAAAAAAAfs/shgCORiEdQI/s320/IMG_1059.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">Once all of my pieces were cut, I replaced them in the light fixture. I love it. No more crazy yellow color. And, I can use the energy saving compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFL). Before I changed the glass out for plexiglass, I didn't like that you could see the swirly shape of the lightbulb (I still used 'em, just begrudgingly). Not a problem now!</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">Here is the before and after of the light in the sunroom next to our backdoor (the top was removed for spray painting):</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-7db7_BTBe8s/TX-F6PsG4xI/AAAAAAAAAfw/7YY5oft9S7Q/s1600/IMG_1060.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" q6="true" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-7db7_BTBe8s/TX-F6PsG4xI/AAAAAAAAAfw/7YY5oft9S7Q/s200/IMG_1060.jpg" width="149" /></a><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-y_LwE_F_9Ug/TX-F8GYT9JI/AAAAAAAAAf0/-J596sOLjr8/s1600/IMG_1062.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" q6="true" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-y_LwE_F_9Ug/TX-F8GYT9JI/AAAAAAAAAf0/-J596sOLjr8/s200/IMG_1062.jpg" width="149" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">By the end of the week, the weather should be warm enough to spray paint the rest of the fixtures. </div>Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09230334812281543275noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099378.post-55769399207694916182011-03-04T10:35:00.004-06:002011-03-15T15:03:07.266-05:00Buttons!I have been meaning to make new throw pillows for our couch and bed for a few months now. Everytime I head to the fabric store for a costume or some other sewing project, I check out the remnants room and usually find something that I love (good thing I have lots of storage in my sewing room!). I have also been obtaining pillow forms for some time now with grand plans to sprinkle throw pillows all over the house.<br />
One important thing to note with every throw pillow I make, I put a zipper down one side so it is completely removable and every supply that I use is machine washable. This means that I can change out the covers as I get bored and wash them as they get dirty.<br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The first pillow that I am working on is the most labor intensive by far. I saw this image on <a href="http://craftingagreenworld.com/">crafting a greener world</a>: </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://c1.craftingagreenworld.com/files/2009/03/vintagebpillow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" l6="true" src="http://c1.craftingagreenworld.com/files/2009/03/vintagebpillow.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">It was over. I was sold, I swooned. I became obsessed with googling pictures of button monogrammed throw pillows. On my button pillow, I wanted to do a 3 (to represent the members of our family: Matt, myself, and the pup). This pillow was made out of white buttons and some leftover white linen dyed a dark blue-ish gray. Note: I am still thinking about making a 4 pillow if and when we have a kiddo. </div><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">The cost for this throw pillow was minimal. I already had the fabric (leftover from the roman shades I am making for the front room), I had the dye (but it only runs about $2 a box at JoAnns if you want to try this project yourself), I already had the thread, I already had all of the white buttons (I've been sewing for a long time and had collected a few small containers full of buttons over the years.). The pillow forms I have were each less than $5 (I get my pillow forms from Hancock fabrics or JoAnn fabrics if they're having a sale, or from Atlanta Thread Company if I'm making a large-ish purchase and can justify paying for shipping). The fabric paint was $1.19 at Michaels. For the 3, I used Elephant font, bolded.<br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">After I printed out the number, I traced it onto the cleaned and dried gray dyed linen. With the text traced on the pillows, I used white fabric paint to fill in the number a little bit. I did this only so that if I did leave any gaps or a button falls off in the future, it'll still look okay until I notice and fix it. Here is my 3 traced on and painted very lightly with iridescent white fabric paint:</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-SdY92kXbtqU/TW_fGgFEuSI/AAAAAAAAAeI/j4Jn4Soft_8/s1600/IMG_1008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" l6="true" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-SdY92kXbtqU/TW_fGgFEuSI/AAAAAAAAAeI/j4Jn4Soft_8/s320/IMG_1008.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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I'm still sewing on buttons, but when it's done, I just have to sew on the back, put the zipper on, and put it on the pillow form. I'll update with pictures when it's all done.</div></div></div>Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09230334812281543275noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099378.post-32760868459418806772011-03-01T10:33:00.000-06:002011-03-01T10:33:41.158-06:00I am a spray paint addict<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I firmly believe in the power of spray paint. When we moved in, we had a lot of things that were still functional, but not incredibly pretty. Some things that we had from our renting days or that came with the house (like the <a href="http://laurietheredhead.blogspot.com/2010/12/our-mailbox.html">mailbox</a>), were perfectly fine, I was just unhappy with the color. I constantly have a mental list of items in our house that I would like to freshen up with some spray paint. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">A few weeks ago, while on a Lowe's trip, I picked up a few cans of white glossy spray paint and spray primer. I just got around to gathering everything that I wanted to paint, prepping it, and getting the jobs done. </div></div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Project 1:</div></div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Picture Frames</div></div></div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I got a dozen 11x14 picture frames at Michael's for $1.50 each a couple of months ago (on sale, plus a coupon!). Michael's only had the frames in black. But, they are very sturdy plastic that came with a mat and quality mounting hardware. I used one coat of white spray primer that is made for plastics and two light coats of spray paint to get these from black to white. The mats were white when I bought the frames. I took them out of the frames and spray painted them with metallic silver paint. I have to say, I'm pretty thrilled with the end result, especially for the price. Here's an idea of what the frames looked like before: </div></div></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-caOMzeckUBk/TWfnjvu2YLI/AAAAAAAAAdk/xevid-EyFUk/s1600/Black+Frame.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" l6="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-caOMzeckUBk/TWfnjvu2YLI/AAAAAAAAAdk/xevid-EyFUk/s1600/Black+Frame.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">And the after:</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pDatJjor9yw/TWKoElvk_6I/AAAAAAAAAcE/mmEr2nIz9EY/s1600/IMG_0949.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" j6="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pDatJjor9yw/TWKoElvk_6I/AAAAAAAAAcE/mmEr2nIz9EY/s320/IMG_0949.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Project 2:</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Firewood Holder</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Fine shape, great price, wrong color. Matt and I picked this little baby up at Menards for just over $10. I didn't actually remember to take a before picture of this piece, but here's the after (just imagine it in black for the before) </div></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qxSRxv5a90s/TWKoKwzJvKI/AAAAAAAAAcI/kIebs-5MdN8/s1600/IMG_0952.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" j6="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qxSRxv5a90s/TWKoKwzJvKI/AAAAAAAAAcI/kIebs-5MdN8/s200/IMG_0952.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gIpdPymgolU/TWKoNwLgChI/AAAAAAAAAcM/3EJclNvd72U/s1600/IMG_0950.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" j6="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gIpdPymgolU/TWKoNwLgChI/AAAAAAAAAcM/3EJclNvd72U/s200/IMG_0950.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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<br />
Project 3:<br />
Garbage Can<br />
We bought a couple of these garbage cans at Target way back in college. They were cheap and could hold garbage. And, at the time we bought them, that is all we were looking for. These days, they were looking a little bit rusted and gross. After a quick once-over with some sandpaper, I was ready to spray prime and spray paint. The garbage can is still as functional and cheap as it's always been, but now it matches my color scheme and looks clean<br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Before and After:</div></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lSHfqP1sYsI/TWKnm5N9X5I/AAAAAAAAAb4/UqrTWQF65qw/s1600/IMG_0926.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" j6="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lSHfqP1sYsI/TWKnm5N9X5I/AAAAAAAAAb4/UqrTWQF65qw/s320/IMG_0926.jpg" width="239" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wcQR0vZNsqA/TWKnqcI3NWI/AAAAAAAAAb8/EeF_GE7eTOQ/s1600/IMG_0927.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" j6="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wcQR0vZNsqA/TWKnqcI3NWI/AAAAAAAAAb8/EeF_GE7eTOQ/s320/IMG_0927.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">Much nicer looking, no? And here it is in our bedroom (it's right under the calla lily picture from my <a href="http://laurietheredhead.blogspot.com/2011/02/stuff-on-walls.html">this post</a>)</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bxwzql8h4rE/TWKnzPbTpII/AAAAAAAAAcA/1RF9tvDcQZ4/s1600/IMG_0930.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" j6="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bxwzql8h4rE/TWKnzPbTpII/AAAAAAAAAcA/1RF9tvDcQZ4/s320/IMG_0930.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">Project 4:</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">Mirrors</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">Matt got these mirrors from one of his tenants. They were planning on throwing them away. I am always on the lookout for big mirrors. I love how much a mirror can open up a space and reflect so much light back into a room. Matt snagged these before they met their fate in the dumpster. I cleaned them up and primed and painted them white. I think it's a big improvement from the icky, dated gold color. Here's the before, during, and after:</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-pxB8rLfh5BI/TW0aEIYFFiI/AAAAAAAAAds/ncWBAfOLUqA/s1600/CIMG1205.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" l6="true" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-pxB8rLfh5BI/TW0aEIYFFiI/AAAAAAAAAds/ncWBAfOLUqA/s320/CIMG1205.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-E_Y9bXKzYAk/TW0aILxkXXI/AAAAAAAAAdw/TXsd6tB23tU/s1600/CIMG1206.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" l6="true" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-E_Y9bXKzYAk/TW0aILxkXXI/AAAAAAAAAdw/TXsd6tB23tU/s320/CIMG1206.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">Project 5:</div><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">Thread Rack</div><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I ordered two of these unfinished wood thread racks off of Amazon for my sewing room:</div></div></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qpry8nmd1n8/TWfjDghoIxI/AAAAAAAAAdg/L76I7Hk2QD8/s1600/Thread+Rack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" l6="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qpry8nmd1n8/TWfjDghoIxI/AAAAAAAAAdg/L76I7Hk2QD8/s1600/Thread+Rack.jpg" /></a></div><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">They're functional and hold a ton of thread. But, they were kind of blah. Two coats of Valspar Glossy Tulip Pink spray paint later and they are a cute little punch of color in my sewing room:</div></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H4ZZFBVYvEw/TWfi1nPkc4I/AAAAAAAAAdc/LNXQo2UoE84/s1600/Thread+Holder.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" l6="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H4ZZFBVYvEw/TWfi1nPkc4I/AAAAAAAAAdc/LNXQo2UoE84/s320/Thread+Holder.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"></div></div><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Next on my spray paint itinerary: A few of the planters that live in our sunporch, some pieces of trim to finish out a mirror in our guest bathroom, an old light fixture on the sunporch, a recycling bin for our kitchen, and some more picture frames.</div></div>Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09230334812281543275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099378.post-19028788129725107052011-02-24T14:45:00.001-06:002011-02-28T10:52:16.285-06:00Stuff on the walls - Part II<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">A couple of months ago, Matt found this sweet Typographic Map of Chicago on zazzle.com for a mere $30. And, it's HUGE! It's just shy of measuring in a 2 ft x 3 ft. We thought it was super interesting. </div></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nRklnUbSuGI/TWatTSztPAI/AAAAAAAAAdE/Ep-yQVxt4Z4/s1600/Chicago+Map.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" l6="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nRklnUbSuGI/TWatTSztPAI/AAAAAAAAAdE/Ep-yQVxt4Z4/s400/Chicago+Map.gif" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">The map has been sitting rolled up in a corner of our kitchen for a couple of months while we <strike>argued about</strike> discussed where to hang it and how to frame it. Last week, Michaels was having a 60% custom framing sale and we were totally inspired by the rest of our new wall decor, so loaded up our map and headed over there. I was so amped to get this thing framed that I started taking pictures as we were walking into Michaels!</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9eVQCq23eQ8/TWavS2Cw8eI/AAAAAAAAAdI/nwX2Eew1awo/s1600/Michaels.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" l6="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9eVQCq23eQ8/TWavS2Cw8eI/AAAAAAAAAdI/nwX2Eew1awo/s320/Michaels.JPG" width="320" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">About 30 minutes later, we had selected a pretty, simple white wood frame and a gray/green/blue mat. The picture below doesn't really capture the color of the mat accurately, but I only had my phone on me.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TvUiNT5vQ2Q/TWawNTZiUCI/AAAAAAAAAdU/7WIF-TZz_0E/s1600/Framing2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" l6="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TvUiNT5vQ2Q/TWawNTZiUCI/AAAAAAAAAdU/7WIF-TZz_0E/s320/Framing2.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">I'll update with pictures in two weeks when it's all done and back in our home.</div>Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09230334812281543275noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099378.post-63115474301732606992011-02-21T11:12:00.000-06:002011-02-21T11:12:54.927-06:00Stuff on the walls!<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Well, it's official, after 14 months in our home, we have started putting things on the walls. It was a big step for us. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Between removing the popcorn ceilings, adding so, so much drywall, painting, and trimwork, we didn't want to hang anything on our walls. We knew that if we put anything up before the walls were done, we would constantly be taking whatever art we hung up down so it would not get damaged while we worked. </div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">We started in the bedroom. Matt and I bought this print from IKEA a few years ago on sale for less than 20 bucks. I love how crisp it looks next to the Sporty Blue of the walls. We're still tossing around ideas for what to put on the other side of the window, but it's really nice to have a little something in there.</div></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rTYUJrsUmMg/TWKUmzrsRlI/AAAAAAAAAbc/MQgdstBjTNE/s1600/IMG_0985.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" j6="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rTYUJrsUmMg/TWKUmzrsRlI/AAAAAAAAAbc/MQgdstBjTNE/s320/IMG_0985.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">With the bedroom looking spiffy, we turned our attention to the kitchen. Our kitchen has two wood walls and a few drywalled walls. As we're planning on gutting the whole room in the not too distant future, we really haven't done a ton in the kitchen in terms or renovations or decorating. Sure, we removed the popcorn ceiling, painted the ceiling, changed the light fixture, replaced the handles and knobs on the cabinets and drawers, and busted down a wall; but it's not like any major changes have gone down. We haven't even painted the walls yet (though color selection is underway). </div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">Since the walls haven't been painted yet, and we knew what we wanted to adorn one of the wood walls, we started there. For Christmas, Matt's mom gave us a vibrant, framed needlepoint that she made for us. It's stunningly beautiful. Here's her signature on the bottom and a close up of the matting used to frame it. </div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z6ot-AYaAa8/TWKVDo4BkWI/AAAAAAAAAbw/--kzlPf-zHo/s1600/IMG_0981.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" j6="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z6ot-AYaAa8/TWKVDo4BkWI/AAAAAAAAAbw/--kzlPf-zHo/s320/IMG_0981.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">And a view of the whole piece. We're just thrilled with it and it fits perfectly into our vision of the kitchen. I am so impressed with her needlepoint skills. Thanks, Sue!</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-H8Bx-NPn1po/TWKVB-IJtcI/AAAAAAAAAbs/B_AqXAAjEo8/s1600/IMG_0979.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" j6="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-H8Bx-NPn1po/TWKVB-IJtcI/AAAAAAAAAbs/B_AqXAAjEo8/s320/IMG_0979.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">With the needlepoint in place, we were ready to move onto the other side of the china cabinet (which is never moving again because it is freaking heavy!). </div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">Matt and I honeymooned in Sonoma County, CA. We have since returned for the harvest festival and hope to head back later this year. Every time we go, I take more and more pictures of the beautiful scenery of wine country. We opted to use some of these pictures to decorate the kitchen. I also had a handful of plain metal frames that I got back in college just sitting in a box in the basement. We pulled those out and cleaned them up and framed our four favorite wine country pictures. That was the easy part. The hard part was picture placement. Using paper that is the same size as the frames, we created dozens of arrangements. Here are a couple of our top contenders: </div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BOYcmOHutl8/TWKUs2IzCxI/AAAAAAAAAbg/c7gaQmGDD3E/s1600/IMG_0971.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="cssfloat: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" j6="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BOYcmOHutl8/TWKUs2IzCxI/AAAAAAAAAbg/c7gaQmGDD3E/s200/IMG_0971.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4zWZPFEKnGw/TWKU6H6S43I/AAAAAAAAAbk/p8qF6z5wJnU/s1600/IMG_0973.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" j6="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4zWZPFEKnGw/TWKU6H6S43I/AAAAAAAAAbk/p8qF6z5wJnU/s200/IMG_0973.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">In the end, we went with a more spaced out version of the second arrangement. Here's the finished (though no centered in the picture) wall:</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rPSzmycRdOc/TWKU-1kMDXI/AAAAAAAAAbo/o3OUxMpwhZk/s1600/IMG_0977.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" j6="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rPSzmycRdOc/TWKU-1kMDXI/AAAAAAAAAbo/o3OUxMpwhZk/s320/IMG_0977.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">And, a close up of the pictures we chose:</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NzrsvahSMyQ/TWKVGX2SeyI/AAAAAAAAAb0/PV6fCGv1T-s/s1600/IMG_0983.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" j6="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NzrsvahSMyQ/TWKVGX2SeyI/AAAAAAAAAb0/PV6fCGv1T-s/s320/IMG_0983.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">I love how having a few pieces of art on the walls makes our house feel so much more like home. Now, onto all of those walls in the living room....</div>Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09230334812281543275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099378.post-20423579994360830382011-01-03T10:29:00.000-06:002011-01-03T10:29:04.240-06:00Guest Bedroom Walls<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">There are two rooms in our house that have remained untouched since we moved in. Both are small bedrooms that we have been planning on using for future children. Until last week, both rooms were used for storage and the doors were kept closed pretty much all of the time. </div><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">So, we decided to use some paint that we got during a major sale at Sherwin Williams, our old mattress (A few months ago, Matt and I got a new mattress. It has individually pocketed springs and a very thick layer of memory/tempurpedic foam on top. It's fantastic. It did however leave us with an older mattress that wasn't quite ready for the garbage.), some art we used to have hanging on the walls of our rental, and a hand-me-down nightstand from my grandma to make a sort of guest bedroom. I don't plan to drop a lot of money on this room as it won't be used very often and we have plenty of furnishings and accessories that can be repurposed into that room. </div><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Here is what the "guest bedroom" looked like before I got my hands on it: </div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_G2x_qExEwuo/TSHwXFOWckI/AAAAAAAAAas/WbT2-aRY3sk/s1600/IMG_0443.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" n4="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_G2x_qExEwuo/TSHwXFOWckI/AAAAAAAAAas/WbT2-aRY3sk/s320/IMG_0443.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">Awesome, right?!? The first thing I did was remove that crazy fabric from the window. Then, I got to work on the wallpaper. Luckily, only one wall was wallpapered (though all of the walls have a border). Here's what it looked like close up: </div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" n4="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_G2x_qExEwuo/TSHwrm9A2GI/AAAAAAAAAaw/dnmcRdHzVgY/s320/IMG_0872.jpg" width="239" /></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="left" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_G2x_qExEwuo/TSHxB9AZPnI/AAAAAAAAAa0/QyyQqyUnvCY/s1600/IMG_0873.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" n4="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_G2x_qExEwuo/TSHxB9AZPnI/AAAAAAAAAa0/QyyQqyUnvCY/s320/IMG_0873.jpg" width="239" /></a>But, as I started to scrape off the old ugly, crazy wallpaper, I found......<br />
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Different old, ugly, crazy wallpaper!!!!<br />
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It's very pink with these women gardening or just hanging out in a garden. It's a little tough to figure it out, exactly. I'm pretty sure it's original to the house (built in the 70s), as the only thing under the bottom wallpaper is the drywall. <br />
<br />
My favorite part of the wallpaper is that each of the girls has a different word on the pockets of her dress; Fun, Love, Joy, Happy. It's very, very 1970s. And I kind of love it.</div><div align="left" class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div align="left" class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">Here are some close-ups: </div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_G2x_qExEwuo/TSHxtxkjYUI/AAAAAAAAAa8/9DLuHsvWfVE/s1600/IMG_0877.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" n4="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_G2x_qExEwuo/TSHxtxkjYUI/AAAAAAAAAa8/9DLuHsvWfVE/s320/IMG_0877.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_G2x_qExEwuo/TSHxYkMSxMI/AAAAAAAAAa4/iy6Qv98mqNo/s1600/IMG_0874.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" n4="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_G2x_qExEwuo/TSHxYkMSxMI/AAAAAAAAAa4/iy6Qv98mqNo/s320/IMG_0874.jpg" width="238" /></a></div><div align="left" class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div>Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09230334812281543275noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099378.post-79667998376437801832010-12-23T10:48:00.002-06:002011-03-01T10:47:57.695-06:00Our Mailbox<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">When we bought our house, the main entrance was a boring, sad sight: our mailbox was black and rusty, the light was too small for the house (and did not provide enough light), the landscaping left a lot to be desired, moss was growing on the roofs of the barn and the garage, and the gravel was literally coming up off of the driveway. In a nutshell, our poor outdoor living spaces had been seriously neglected. We have been gradually improving our yards, but we still have a long road ahead of us. This summer we devoted quite a bit of time into growing some grass. We have about doubled the amount of grass that existed at our house when we moved in. We replaced the light fixtures on the front and the side of the house. And we have started saving to repave or replace the driveway.</div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
<br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">One thing that has bothered me about our house since we moved in was our mailbox. When we started working on updating the outside of our house, we decided that most of the finishes out there should be copper. We felt that it would look nice with the overall look of our house and would age well in our area. The copper mailbox that I have been eyeing was a little out of the budget right now, plus our old one still works perfectly fine (although it's a little rusty). Still, I felt the itch to spruce up our main entrance a little and turned my attention to the mailbox. Here's the before:</div></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_G2x_qExEwuo/TRN3dzlaM1I/AAAAAAAAAac/O-RgNPKNtm0/s1600/Mailbox.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="291" n4="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_G2x_qExEwuo/TRN3dzlaM1I/AAAAAAAAAac/O-RgNPKNtm0/s320/Mailbox.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
<br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I am a spray paint junkie. I'll admit it. If I don't like something in our house, my first instinct is to spray paint it until I can replace it. Knowing that I didn't want to fully replace the mailbox right now, but that I did need a change, I ran out and picked up some Rustoleum copper spray paint (that I actually have been planning on using on some old plastic planters in our sun room) for about 7 bucks. One Sunday (no mail delivery), I took the mailbox off of the house, scuffed it up with sandpaper and applied several extra-light coats of spray paint. Here it is all scuffed up and ready for the painting: </div></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Uk5Hd00E60M/TW0i1In4LmI/AAAAAAAAAd0/1_YqUaQsXfE/s1600/CIMG1203.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" l6="true" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Uk5Hd00E60M/TW0i1In4LmI/AAAAAAAAAd0/1_YqUaQsXfE/s320/CIMG1203.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Uk5Hd00E60M/TW0i1In4LmI/AAAAAAAAAd0/1_YqUaQsXfE/s1600/CIMG1203.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
I'm thrilled with how it turned out. My spray paint rampage will continue now that I have had some success with the copper spraypaint. Here's the finished project:<br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_G2x_qExEwuo/TRN8F8ErhMI/AAAAAAAAAag/9F7Q176f2QE/s1600/IMG_0825.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" n4="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_G2x_qExEwuo/TRN8F8ErhMI/AAAAAAAAAag/9F7Q176f2QE/s320/IMG_0825.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"></div>Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09230334812281543275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099378.post-40488244865406562412010-11-18T11:07:00.008-06:002011-02-21T11:22:36.441-06:00Fall Decor<div><div><div>Having never owned a house before, Matt and I had never really gone all out decorating for the different seasons. So, we decided to take a bit of a break from major renovations and get in the spirit of the season by putting up some fall decor.<br />
<br />
<div><div><div>I didn't bother taking pictures of some of the little things we did around the house like changing out our white candles for butterscotch colored, "harvest" scented candles on our mantle. Our switching out our white candle in our kitchen for an apple scented jar candle. </div><div><br />
</div><div>Some of the larger projects we tried included making a wreath for the door to our mother-in-law room off of our main entrance hallway and setting up a cute little fall area outside our side door (and main entrance of our house). I'm super happy with how both turned out. The original brainstorming resulted in trying to come up with projects that we could put out (at least partially) in September and, with a few modifications along the way, could last us through November.</div><div><br />
</div><div>The first thing I made was the wreath. For a grand total of $15 (everything either on sale or 40% off couponed at Michaels), I picked up the following items:</div><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5540942542470332546" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_G2x_qExEwuo/TOVh4pzLQII/AAAAAAAAAZY/Iqx17BhLnfU/s400/CIMG1127.JPG" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" />A ready-made, grapevine wreath</div><div>Two packages of burgundy/orange/green berries (on the left side of the above picture)</div><div>Two packages of burgundy, orange, and clearish, crystal berries (I intended to use these sporadically throughout the wreath, but after I got the first set on, decided I loved the wreath as it was and didn't end up using them. I still like them though, so I kept them for use in some future project some day.)</div><div>1 yard of ribbon</div><div>I already had the thread.</div><div></div><div></div><br />
I started by laying down the wreath and unwinding my berries. Then, I just started covering the wreath with the berries and tying it off with thread periodically to make sure nothing moved. You can see that some berries fell off the wire as I attached it, I just cut my losses on those and kept going. The wreath looked great without the berries that fell off, so I wasn't too stressed about it.<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5540942557250447762" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_G2x_qExEwuo/TOVh5g3B6ZI/AAAAAAAAAZo/nFydCDAdagw/s400/CIMG1126.JPG" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></div></div></div><br />
Here's a close-up shot of the wreath when I was about halfway done:<br />
<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5540942554004509474" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_G2x_qExEwuo/TOVh5UxI0yI/AAAAAAAAAZg/qR4aza62rJE/s400/CIMG1125.JPG" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /><br />
When everything was done, I tied the ribbon in a bow and Matt patiently held it in various spots around the house while I decided where it would ultimately live. Here's Matt holding it up to the front door:<br />
<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5540942563052562002" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_G2x_qExEwuo/TOVh52eXJlI/AAAAAAAAAZw/1KGWzOS3rjM/s400/CIMG1137.JPG" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /><br />
I finally decided that I liked it on the door of the mother-in-law room. And here's my finished fall wreath hanging in it's final spot:<br />
<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5540942570126095874" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_G2x_qExEwuo/TOVh6Q00tgI/AAAAAAAAAZ4/UOco23W6WRo/s400/CIMG1148.JPG" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /><br />
With my wreath in place, I turned my attention outside. Since we went from college life to apartment living, we had never had trick or treaters. I wanted to set up an area by our side door that looked a little festive. I did not want to devote a ton of time or money to this project, and I wanted it to last all season.<br />
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I stopped by a local garden supply store near our house and picked up the following items (along with some bundles of firewood, the grand total came to just under 40 bucks):<br />
3 hay bales<br />
2 mums (one yellow plant and one burgundy plant)<br />
2 corn stalks<br />
<br />
On the same trip to Michaels that I picked up the supplies for the wreath, I also picked up:<br />
1 large <a href="http://www.funkins.com/">Funkin</a> (fake, carvable pumpkins)<br />
1 small Funkin<br />
1 small can of Chalkboard spraypaint<br />
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I set the haybales up on the edge of our deck next to our door. I used some planters that I had used for now-dead plants over the summer and planted the mums. Matt and I headed to <a href="http://www.pumpkinfarm.com/">Bengston Pumpkin Farm</a> one day and picked up two very large pumpkins, one medium-sized pie pumpkin, two small pie pumpkins, several mini-pumpkins, several gourds, one medium-sized white pumpkin, and one medium-sized green and white pumpkin.<br />
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With all of my supplies acquired, I set to work!<br />
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I used the chalkboard spraypaint and completely covered each of the Funkins. I then used some orange chalk that we keep around for when our nephews and/or cousins visit to draw jack-o-lantern faces and write Halloween themed messages on the chalkboard funkins. I arranged the Funkins along with the mums, other pumpkins, and several gourds on the haybales for this finished product:<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5540980892899996210" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_G2x_qExEwuo/TOWEw8SH8jI/AAAAAAAAAaA/DzZ2NtNvkgg/s400/IMG_0752.jpg" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 299px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></div><br />
This arangement was re-arranged about a million times prior taking it down, but this was one option that was up for a short time. At this point, I had "Happy Halloween" and "Boo" written on the chalkboard Funkins. And just for fun, here's a night shot: <img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5540981627318291490" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_G2x_qExEwuo/TOWFbsNFzCI/AAAAAAAAAaI/Cmqw63Pl3os/s400/IMG_0758.jpg" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 299px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /><br />
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So, that wraps up our fall decor. Hopefully, it will be a little more elaborate next year. But, I'm pretty happy with the outcome of this year's decor. What do you think?Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09230334812281543275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099378.post-64596036175899670972010-10-07T12:56:00.016-05:002011-03-04T20:08:26.402-06:00Painting the Sunroom<div><div><div>Like I said in my previous post, our Sunroom was sad before we got our hands on it. While the weather was nice this summer, we decided to hit it hard and make some big improvements out there. After the new concrete floor was poured, we decided to start painting the walls. The walls of the were just plain old wood panelling. We only have screens in the windows out there now, but at some point, we plan to invest in some kind of glass or fiberglass panels to put up in the winter.<br />
<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525761701693285154" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_G2x_qExEwuo/TK9y_a7i4yI/AAAAAAAAAZM/6ARPNEIN4Fs/s400/CIMG1122.JPG" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" />The plan included painting the wood panelling a light cream color (Sherwin Williams color matched a photo we found online into their Harmony-Exterior brand of paint.). This panelling is on three walls of the room (the fourth wall has the same cedar shakes that are on the rest of the exterior of the house). The same panelling is above and below the windows. All of that is the light cream color. The window frames and any other trim in the room is bright white. In the works for next year is replacing the three (currently dark, dark brown) storm doors with white storm doors. The window sill is not being addressed this year. Next year, we will be replacing it with a slightly larger sill that will be stained with some of the leftover stain we used for our hardwood floors (see them again <a href="http://laurietheredhead.blogspot.com/2010/02/project-6-floors.html">here</a>!). The sill will have a high gloss poly applied after the staining is done. <br />
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Here is a color of part of the wall after it was painted. In person, the color is a little more of a cream than it looks in this picture. And in the room, the off-whiteness of the color is further emphasized because it's right up next to stark white trim.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-0Dk32JFWwOE/TXGaiJtoORI/AAAAAAAAAeU/aeSvm0zUo6s/s1600/CIMG1161.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" l6="true" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-0Dk32JFWwOE/TXGaiJtoORI/AAAAAAAAAeU/aeSvm0zUo6s/s320/CIMG1161.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div></div></div></div>Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09230334812281543275noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099378.post-83195666159387219072010-09-21T09:13:00.009-05:002011-02-21T11:49:30.002-06:00The Sunroom Floor<div><div>Reviving our <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">sun porch</span> has kept us pretty busy this summer. When we moved in, this porch was in pretty bad shape. The plywood floor was rotted and sagging. And it wasn't level. And a family of <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">raccoons</span> were living under it.<br />
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<div>Sadly, I do not have many before pictures. This picture was taken before we moved in when Matt and I snuck over to the house one day to take some pics outside. But, you can see the sad, plywood floor and the light fixture. The walls are just made of wood (I'll have some better pictures of the wood in a later post), as is the ceiling.<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519376639926582146" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_G2x_qExEwuo/TJjDz6Rpu4I/AAAAAAAAAX8/CmYSWoYoX4c/s400/IMG_0464.jpg" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 300px;" /></div><br />
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The first thing we had to do was get this room structurally sound. This meant no more sagging/rotting plywood and no more raccoons living under the porch. We ripped up the plywood to find a thin layer of concrete about a foot under the floor. Matt used to work in concrete and we hired his old company to come in and pour a brand new floor for us. This is the floor after we removed the plywood. Ok, after Matt removed the plywood. He also added some deep-into-the-lawn barriers all around the deck and porch so no more raccoons can move in.<br />
<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525361377335381778" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_G2x_qExEwuo/TK4G5ee9DxI/AAAAAAAAAYc/wlBbZlOm-Ws/s400/Concrete1.JPG" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 230px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 339px;" /><br />
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The concrete was poured and leveled all while I was at work. I love this picture because they had to remove one of our screens to pour the concrete. It just looks so strange to me. If you look in the corner of the room, you can actually see where the floor used to come up to on that part of the wall. The old floor was extremely unlevel, so that was fixed for us with the new stuff.<br />
<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525358892357546146" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_G2x_qExEwuo/TK4Eo1OEcKI/AAAAAAAAAYU/67692hf5icc/s400/Concrete3.JPG" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 300px;" /></div></div></div></div>After the concrete was dry and able to be walked on, all that was left to do to the floor (for the time being) was to place our cute new orange and gray rug on it. We picked this 5x7 rug up for a steal out at Nebraska Furniture Mart. My amazing sister-in-law Sara was nice enough to let us store the rug in their garage until we had a car in the area to pick it up and drive it back home. Sadly, the only picture I currently have with the rug in it is actually a picture of my favorite rug and floor durability tester. <br />
<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525363078393705922" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_G2x_qExEwuo/TK4Icfa3NcI/AAAAAAAAAYk/6F9koJIX8qQ/s400/IMG_0663.jpg" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 300px;" />Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09230334812281543275noreply@blogger.com2