Work on it Wednesday

Today a long talked about project is coming to fruition, slipcovers. Last night I pinned and draped my fabric over my sturdy but shabby looking love seat. I've removed it carefully and now I'm ready to do the initial stitching. Then I'll refit it, making adjustments before doing the final stitching and attaching the piping. I'm excited and hopeful that they will turn out well. It's not hard really just takes time and patience. I think I had been hesitant to dive into the project in the past because of the cost involved. The upholstery fabric can be kind of pricey. I luckily scored some great fabric for $3/yd so it didn't seem like too much of an investment if I screwed it up. I'm planning to do my sofa too so I hope I can find a similar bargain.
I'm using this book that's been in my personal library for ages. It has lots of photos and clear instructions. There's also lots of online information if you decide to jump right in without a book.
I think custom slipcovers are great for a family with kids. I pride myself in purchasing quality furniture, but even the best quality can barely stand up to a household with four active kids.

Work on Wednesday

I've decided to spruce up my front door area. I've started by painting the front door a nice brownish red, I just need to put on one more coat for good measure and to paint the trim around the sidelights white. I wish I had the forethought to take a picture of the front door before I started, but use your imagination, it was white. I can't decide between my heavy ceramic welcome plaque or a fall wreath (which I'd need to make). I'm thinking of stenciling "Welcome" on the front door, but perhaps stickers would be better. I did find one of those tin buckety things that you can stick flowers and greenery in at the the thrift store. I think for now I'll use that and put some faux autumn greenery in there (JoAnn's is having a sale 70% off). I've got two metal urns that I spray painted black that just need some greenery in them. I purchased a new welcome mat from Tuesday Morning. I need to trim back the bushes a bit too (we're not very yardy around here). I'd love to get a wrought iron bench or something to put near the front door. It's kind of hard because we have a colonial front. I have some window boxes that I also purchased from the thrift store, but I can't figure out where to attach to the bay window in the front.
So, I'm working on that and hope to have a completed beautiful doorway to share with you soon.

Work on it Wednesday

Alrighty, so last week I told you I was planning a kitchen reno. Well, so far I've gotten my craft paints and counter top samples to use for inspiration. Since our cabinets are white I opted for a lighter looking inspiration stone. Today I'm going to practice my technique and pattern on a piece of leftover luan. Having never done something like this I want to be sure it looks good before I slap it on my counters. I have not purchased the envirotex yet, but I've found it online at Amazon and overstock. I'm hoping I can find it at JoAnn's and use a coupon to get it. I have one that's 50% off so that would be great. I realize that this is going to be an involved process and will probably take me awhile to execute. I'll be sure to keep you posted on my progress and of course let you see pictures of my finished project.

Work on it Wednesday

After Shea posted her budget saavy kitchen reno on Ravelry, I'm highly motivated. So, what am I doing today. Going shopping for the supplies for my own kitchen reno. Bye Bye boring white, hello granite! I need to flip through some magazines and head to Lowe's to get a sample to use as my inspiration. Then I will gather up all my coupons and head off to A.C. Moore and Micheal's for the craft paint. I have plenty of paint around here to use as my base coat so other than the craft pants, sea sponges and Envirotex I don't have anything I need to buy (Ok, so I need to buy a lot, but I'm still thinking that it should be under $100). Can I just say how much I love the internet. Always a great idea out there ready to be shared. I hope mine turns out half as good as Shea's.

Work on it Wednesday

I may have mentioned before that our home would be considered small, especially for the area we live in. In reality we thought this was our starter home and we would just be here about five years. Ten years later, we are still here. Most of the time it's fine. However, sometimes I feel like we could use more space. We have this really awesome although underused covered patio that I would like to fix up to extend our living space. Finding a couple of chairs for free got me started. They have rattan backs and that says casual outdoor living to me. But I'm still in the market for a bigger table and some other things to really do it up right. I've been browsing through tons of flickr groups and sets to get inspiration. There's really some great ideas out there. Now just to do it on a budget. I think my project today will be to create a virtual "inspiration board" depicting my plan. This will be my first time creating one like this, although for years I've kept a home inspiration notebook. We'll see how it goes. I'm not the most computer savvy person out there, lol.

Work on it Wednesday

Well, I played hookie and went to see "Harry Potter and the half-blood prince". Very good! A bit different than the book, but in essence they tried to stay true to JKR.
Now, I'm home and going to start on the touch up painting I want to do. Yesterday I finished the powder room and it came out stupendous. I really like the color (I'll have to get a picture soon), it's called "Bottle Blue" and it's just lovely. I got it at Walmart and the paint was by Kilz. I have to say a word about the Kilz brand paint. I was actually super surprised at how great it was to work with. Really nice and thick with full coverage. I'll be the first to admit I'm not a fantastic painter, but having a nice quality product (at a great price to boot) helps a lot.

What $6 will get you

A whole new look. Check out these barrel shaped lampshades I got at the thrift store for $2/each. Paired with a bit of black grosgrain ribbon bought on sale at Micheal's and I've got a whole new high end look. The shades were actually pretty nice to begin with, a nice quality linen and solid hardware to boot, but I still couldn't resist a little change. I feel like I scored big time! Just check out this similar style lamp & shade from Ballard Designs. . It can be yours for $300 clams, or if you're budget minded you can get this one from PBTeens...or you can just make one. I already had a lamp that I got for $1.98 + tax some time ago. It's ceramic, but done in this hideous faux wood treatment complete with the wood grain. Initially I antiqued it, but I had a yen to paint it white. Still not 100% sure about the white though, I may go back and paint it black instead. That's the beauty of paint, if you don't like it, you can just paint over it.
So what do you think?
P.S. Ignore my posing "assistant" in the last picture, lol! She just had to be in the picture.

In Search of...

Time. Today I was thinking about all the diy projects I wanted to work on this summer and things I'm in search of for the house. I'm looking for some end tables for the living room. I have end table in there right now, but the style does not jive at all. I'm not into matchy matchy at all but I've gone too far in the opposite direction. I think the same or similar style might look better. I don't think it will take me too long to locate some. In fact I know just the place to start looking. I want to finish some painting projects. Mister and I finally settled on a color for the bedroom, I'm excited. Goodbye green...hello sophistication! I really really really want to relocate my sewing stuff. I have a tiny sewing nook in a converted storage room and my overflow stuff is in the dining room. It's the stuff in the dining room that needs to find a new home. Our dining room is our only eating area as well as the first room you encounter when you walk in, it's a nice size, but performing so many function it's apt to look cluttered. I'd like the sewing stuff gone and the dining room reduced to just having two functions (dining/home office) instead of the three it currently has. I also really need to do another purge of the kids clothes. I guess when you have 4 kiddos you can end up with a lot of clothes somehow...go figure.
The problem however is when you make these long mental list you begin to put pressure on yourself to finish. Then you wind up feeling like you don't have enough time to finish all you had planned. Which in itself is ludicrous since none of these task are life shattering or on a particular timeline, they are just things I'd like to do. So maybe I should really be in search of patience and perspective. Stuff will get done when it gets done, right?

Work on it Wednesday

I really need your help, pick a color any color. I can't decide and thus am paralyzed with indecision. I'd like to paint the half bath and our master bedroom. I know I keep saying that, but I can't decide on a color. Currently our master bedroom is a sage green (Laura Ashley Olive #3 to be precise) and it's been that color for seven years. It's a nice calm neutral, but I really am ready for a change. My home is generally done in warm autumnal colors. I've been thinking about some shade of light blue though. I think I could pair it with accents of red or black for a fresh modern look. The color for the bathroom...I'm open. I just need to do something in there. It's used to have a wallpaper border but E. removed part of it, so I removed the rest of it. I think a solid wall color would be better. So, what's your opinion. What color do you like best? I'd definitely like to get it painted soon, I mean what am I waiting for...it's just paint after all.

Thrift Store Redux

A few months ago I purchased a couple of mid century wooden chairs with great bones, but in desperate need of some tlc. Always having an eye toward that diamond in the rough I knew these chairs would look awesome somewhere in my home even if I wasn't sure where. I found some retro looking upholstery fabric in the clearance section of JoAnn's fabric for $3/yd and picked up what was left on the bolt (about 5 yds). So after deciding to blow off the gym in favor of a little home improvement I embarked on my project du jour. I have recovered chairs before. There's really nothing hard about it. It just takes a bit of time. I did sew part of the back cover so that I could get a snug fit, but otherwise I just used my staple gun. I have to say a word about staple guns. I have used the non electric ones and I'm sure they are fine, but if you're doing anything made of hardwoods like the chair frames I was stapling into you need something with a bit of power behind it. I have an Arrow staple gun and it rocks! I did beef up the bottom cushion with new foam since it was pretty flattened and not very comfortable. Anyway, I will probably get to the other chair sometime later in the week. I have enough fabric leftover to make a few pillows too. So here are the before and after pictures. Let me know what you think.



ain't she a beauty?



Stripped down and ready for a new look


Flower Power! Much better!

Work on it Wednesday

All quilt, all the time. I'm going to do some hardcore sewing today. I'm almost, okay actually more like half way done with the quilt I'm working on. But, I will finish it well ahead of the deadline, woo hoo. I might be able to get into this quilting thing since it's turning out much better than I could have imagined. I also seriously need to decide if I'm going to do end of the year teachers gifts. I think it's a weird peer pressure thing around here, but I also know that teachers are underpaid and under appreciated. I really like M.'s teacher so I'll probably do a couple of market bags or something for her. I should be able to whip those up pretty fast, no pattern needed.
Interesting sidebar in my quilting adventures to share. You may know that I love vintage machines and have a few. Well, I've been piecing the quilt top on my lovely Viking, Brownie (I know so original, right). Well, last evening when I was working on attaching one of the borders and I noticed the upper thread tension was just awful. Now you must understand that my Brownie is absolute sewing perfection and I had a real full blown panic attack when I thought something was wrong with it. I rethreaded it (always a simple place to start your troubleshooting). Made sure the bobbin was in correctly, changed the needle. I even broke out my manual. I had to crank the tension way up just to get the stitch a bit tight, but it still looked awful and so different from Brownies normal stitch. What could be wrong? Finally I thought, hmmm...let me change the thread. I had been using a small spool of cream color Coats and Clark XP. I don't have a problem with C&C thread, although I prefer mettler or gutterman, but you know those sales will get you every time. However, something I hadn't noticed was that the thread was considered "heavy". I must have purchased it to sew purses and grabbed it without thinking. Brownie did not like it at all. She's a girl who knows what she likes and C&C ain't it. I switched it out for some gutterman and holding my breath I made a test sample and it was gorgeous as always. I'm not ashamed to admit that I almost started crying when I thought something was wrong with my Brownie. I know it silly, but there it is. Luckily it was an easy fix and I'm back with my foot to the pedal sewing away.

Work on it Wednesday

Well, my head is spinning with all the things I want to work on. However, I actually think I'm going to spring clean the boys bedroom. It could really use a deep cleaning. It's been awhile since I really got in there and looked at what might be under the bed or growing in the corner. It will probably take me the better part of the day even though it's a pretty small room, but that's what Work on it Wednesday is all about. On a side note, I've been using my household cleaning schedule and spending far less time on the internet. So far, so good.

Green Thumb?

Well, I'm so excited. I'm going to try for a little vegetable garden in our backyard. I've opted to do a square foot garden and have gathered bits of information from the library, online sources such as this site. and my local extension service. I posted on freecycle to get the wood to make my boxes and I was happy to receive some. Mister has a friend who is a landscaper so I'm going to get the soil from him. I will purchase the plants as inexpensively as I can from big box stores. It was recommended to me to do plants rather than seeds and I agree. I think it will be a really fun activity for the kids this summer and fall, plus I hope to be able to put up some of what we grow. I want to grow some tomatoes, some green beans, some herbs, some squash and maybe some melons.
Can't wait for everything to come in. Nothing like growing your own food to make you feel like a real earth mother, lol.

Work on it Wednesday

Sewing, knitting and then some more sewing and maybe a bit more knitting. That's it, that's what I'm doing.

Work on it Wednesday

Today I'm going to prep for my sew in that I have planned for when I go on vacation in a couple weeks. I'm going to pick out all the fabric, make sure it's washed and ready to go, cut or trace the patterns and fabric and get everything ready so that when I sit down to sew I can work efficiently. As I mentioned before I'm making the spring and summer stuff for O. & the boys. I will start with E. because although he remains reed thin, his legs are getting longer and he is due for some pants that don't show off what color socks he's wearing. I'll be using mostly patterns from Ottobre, KS and a couple vintage New Looks I have. I'm hopeful that the latest Ottobre issue will arrive in my mailbox before I begin since it's up on the website and usually the hard copy isn't too far behind that.

Work on it Wednesday

Taking a break from household projects and kicking my gift giving plans in to high gear. Mother's day is next month and I'd like to get my gift to my mother finished and mailed off on time. Can't say what it is since I know she checks on here and it's a surprise. Also I need to figure out what to make E. for his birthday, plus book his party venue now. So, I'll just be working hard on these things. S.'s birthday is next month too, but he's much easier to shop for since he just wants cash to buy clothes, fashion plate that he is! Just working on the homefront in a different way.

Spring Sewing

I found this cool info online about Sewing with a plan. The idea is to make 11 interchangeable items to make up a wardrobe. I want to story board my ideas for the kids wardrobes, but I'm having a tough time figuring out how to do it(not the most computer savvy person around, lol). Nonetheless I'll just tell you what I have planned. So for each child I'm going to make 11 interchangeable items. For E & M. who are essentially the same size it will be like they have double the clothes. So I'll be making the following for each boy.
2 t-shirts from the Simple + 1 book
2 raglan t-shirts with color blocking or embroidery
2 double layer t-shirts/or campshirts
3 pairs of shorts (fabrics will be knit,denim and twill)
2 pairs of knit sweatpants

I do also plan to make a couple pairs of pj pants and some underwear for them too, but that's outside of my wardrobe plan.

For O. I plan to make
2 tshirts (from a favorite Ottobre pattern)
2 tunic tops
2 capris
1 skirt
1 sundress
3 pairs of shorts/skorts

I'll also make a couple of knit nightgowns and underwear for O. too.
This should keep me busy for a bit. I need to pick out the fabric, make sure it's been prewashed and then I'll will do mass cuttings. I'll probably work on one child's clothes at a time to keep from having too many ufo's at once and getting overwhelmed. I'll keep you up on my progress. So, there you have it, my personal SWAP. Ah, if only I was better with the computer. It would look so cool storyboarded. Maybe after I figure out the fabrics and all the patterns I plan to use I can get Mister to help me.

Work on it Wednesday

Well the kids are out for Spring Break so my schedule is much less demanding. As a result this entire week has been a bit of a work on it. I have a few quick things I want to work on. There's a book shelf in the alcove that I have some of the kids books on and since they generally put them away they are a haphazard mess, so I'm going to get those straightened up. I also think I have time to paint the half bathroom. I finally settled on color, it's a light yellow called "melting sun". I like it. I'm also planning a small vegetable garden and if the weather holds, I'm going to start preparing the area. I've been researching online to get the information about how to proceed since I haven't gardened in forever and then it was just a small herb garden. I'm excited. But, I better get started, I should be able to begin planting after the 15th. I'd also like to paint the second piece of the furniture from Mister's grandmother. I did put the poly on the other piece and it really looks nice, I can't believe I didn't do it sooner.
Of course the kids have wanted to go and do things this week too so we'll be doing a bit of running around too. Anyway, enjoy your Spring!

Work on it Wednesday

Feeling better and ready to tackle some of this mess. It's amazing how a couple days of not staying on top of stuff can really add up. I have plans to do a room by room deep spring clean. First though, I need to tackle that Master bedroom closet. It's getting a bit crazy in there. In fact I really need to go through all the closets and purge some clothes. Luckily I should have more time since the boys don't have school and I can devote much of the day to this task. If I have time I also need to work on my couponing. I'm finding it a bit overwhelming to keep up with them and to remember to use them. Maybe I'm just not a coupon kind of girl. It was an experiment and while I'm not giving up yet, I haven't seen any big economic advantages to couponing for me. I still shop Aldi's and other loss leaders and do pretty well. We're spending about $600-700/month on food for our family and that includes paper goods and cleaning supplies. I'm sure others do better, but I'm pretty satisfied with that amount, it's about 50% less than I used to spend.
Last, but not least I need to sew up O.'s Easter dress so she can wear it to school for their program. I have it all cut out, I just need to stitch it up.
Wow...that's actually a pretty extensive list. I guess I have a lot to work on.
Oh and before I forget, today starts the April no spend challenge. I'm sure you'll hear me complain about it since I'll have to avoid the thrift stores. It's going to be hard, but maybe I can channel my energy into letting go of some stuff...yeah, that's it.

Work on it Wednesday

It's a dirty job, but somebody has got to do it and that somebody is me. Those pesky baseboards. Mine are looking a little tired lately so I think today I will mix up some all purpose cleaner and get to scrubbing. Luckily my house isn't huge so it should just take a few hours. Not fun or glamorous to say the least, but I'm sure I'll be happy when they are all done. If I have some extra time I might start cleaning the wall too so I can do the touch up painting in the next few weeks. There are several places that are going to need some spackle and sanding. Anyway, that's what I'm working on today.

Oh and here's a recipe for a cheap cleaner. It cleans as well as any commercial cleaner I've ever purchased.

1 gallon of water
1/2 cup of ammonia
1/3 white vinegar
2 tbsp baking soda

And I'm sure I don't have to remind you never to mix ammonia and bleach.