Quick Chair Cover

I got 6 of these old chairs from the Radisson hotel from the Schriners club. (You know, the old guys that wear red hats in parades and drive the mini-cars in them, and Schriners Hospital?). They were $8 a piece, and since they were used commercially, they are very well-made.  We were living in good ol' Wyoming at the time, (6 years ago)  and these were our current dining chairs::

That's right, cheapo outdoor  plastic chairs from Lowes!  Haha, nothing like roughin' it when you're first married.  

My original plan was to reupholster and paint them. But, I found this toile fabric on clearance at Hobby Lobby, and decided to slipcover them instead.  The seat came off and I used it as a pattern, and then pinned pieces all together to mark where to sew, and hence, the toile chair covers were born.  I love quick fixes like slipcovers that really change up the look of your chairs, and they go right in the wash.

Entry Way Chandelier Update

Previous Light Fixture:

(This is sitting in the garage, but I had to show you so you could appreciate the after::-)

Wandering through the lighting department at Lowes while the manager is trying to get rid of their floor models is a GOOD THING!  We walked out of the store with this little pretty at over 50% off!  I was pretty stoked at the deal, because I am really over the cheap lights that the builder put in.  

Not only did we save $$ on the fixture, but instead of paying an electrician approx $150 to hang it from our 18ft ceiling, the hubster  and father-in-law rented scaffolding from HD and installed it  for only $18!  It's supposed to be $25 for 4 hours, but we rented it at 8pm, and got to use it overnight, which gave us more time, and since they open at 6am, we got to take it back at 8am the next day.  It did take a little while to hang..... like a few hours because we have 3 different switches  that connect to that fixture, so that was a major puzzle to figure out which wires went where, but I'm definitely glad to have saved the money (and that I wasn't up there on that scaffolding, since I'm afraid of heights, and cats--weird I know!)

The chain is a little short, since it was the floor model, but it looks good from the street, and I didn't want to be looking down on the light bulbs when I was on my second floor, and so there it is.  Goodbye Ugly Cheap Fixture, hello Classy Lassie!

Easy Burlap Memo Board

I wanted to share this memo board I made, inspired by this cute gal.  I found a regular old cork bulletin board at Wallyworld on clearance for $5.  I had some old green burlap lying around from 6 years ago when I was in college, and stretched and used trusty glue gun to glue it around the back.  Then I did the same thing with the ivory ribbon.  Then I tied the bow and glued that on the top.  I love the textured look of the burlap and the feminine-ness (making up words here) of the satin ribbon.

I made the flower push pin by glueing some dollar store flowers and a jewel type button from JoAnns, and then hot glued it onto an extra large pushpin. (I think I will change out my pushpins with the seasons, this one will be for spring/summer.) I put a dot of glue in the center where the ribbons overlap for stability. I like being able to tuck photos, important mail, recipes, etc in there.  Also, it's hard to tell, but I have some gift cards hanging  on the bottom ribbon.  I really enjoy having my things organized prettily over my Mac.  How do you organize your desk pretties?

Strip Skirt

s**This is a repost from 2009, there may be a few repeats as I try to get all my craft/decorating posts together on this one blog.

There's nothing like giving up an old hobby to master a new one. Well, maybe not so much master as tinker around with one. After my bunny fiasco I had  foregone gardening for the rest of the year (although I have pondered planting daffodil bulbs since they were the only thing that didn't get eaten) and turned on my sewing machine. I ordered some cute Amy Butler fabric on etsy, and got this Pink Fig girls stripwork skirt pattern and went to work. I wish I would have timed the project, but I'd probably say somewhere around 5 hours, since I had finished all the edges (so it wasn't "scratchy" and my daughter might actually wear it) and I'm a pretty slow, novice sewer. It actually turned out really cute (and she was happy to wear it to church- success!)

I've also gotten addicted to many cute crafty blogs, and have been inspired. Hopefully I'll have more projects to post soon.

Drab to Fab

*This is  a re-post  from 2008. I'm compiling all my decorating/crafty posts into this blog, so there may be a few re-runs as I get them all together.

I thought you could get a better idea of how the house looks from these pics. Here's the "before" and "after" kitchen pics of our house in Logan. The white laminate countertop had cracks and bubbles in it and was stained, so after alot of M's hard work, the countertops and backsplash look amazing. We also got new hardware for the cabinets, new faucet and stainless appliances to match the dishwasher, New light fixtures in the kitchen and dining. Hopefully the next owner will appreciate our hard work:-)

We got a new gas stove and refrigerator at the scratch'n'dent store, (you can't even tell) to match our stainless dishwasher in December, they are all staying when we move, especially after we completely squeezed the fridge in there, there's no way its coming out- I miss you stainless appliances!

Dresser Makeover

About 2 years ago my mom gave me this dresser (mine when I was a kid) circa 1988 or so.  I knew it would be perfect for my daughters room.  Nothing a little paint can't fix.  At first I thought of getting new hardware, but then decided to spray paint the brass pulls nickel instead.

 Free furniture is in my budget, so I got out the paint and went to work.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, although I did have one mis-hap... I managed to loose one of the drawer pulls! whoops.  I think I may have thrown it away when I thought I was going to buy new hardware... [note to self, don't throw anything away until project is completed] It's easy to change my mind over the course of a makeover-- just wait until you see how many times I painted my bathroom in 2 weeks! (let's just say the hubster was not thrilled with that:-)).  I got some cute place mats on clearance at Dillard's for the top of the dresser. The lamp I got at TJ's HG.  Frames were purchase a long time ago at wallyworld. I'd really like to find a great big mirror to hang on the wall above it [I need to go garage-sale-ing].  I'm mostly happy I don't have to spend money on a new dresser when this one works just fine, Thanks mom!

I'm linking this post up at Beneath My Heart- check out all the great projects here!

DIY Nursing Cover

I ordered more Amy Butler fabric and made myself this Hooter Hider/nursing cover, since I'm so tired of those darn blankets falling off, and I like my privacy! 

 I got this free pattern here, and it only took an hour and a half. It has corset boning in the neck to make it stiff. I also made a matching burp rag out of this old cloth diaper. My cute SIL Lindsay made some of these for her baby, and I found this great tutorial here, and it was soo stinkin easy, why would anyone use something that is not cute when they can have these? I used Amy Butlers fabric that came in fat quarters, they are the perfect size to make the front and back coverings for the burp rags. I had more fabric left over from L's skirt, so I made a few more.

Front and Back Views

Laundry/Mud Room DIY Lockers

There's one big thing in our house, and its the laundry room! Our first project for this room was to get all our coats, shoes, backpacks, etc., in order. These hooks were cute, but just not cutting it for our family of 5.

 The hubster finally gave in and built me some lockers.  I LOVE how they turned out!!! My hubby got the FREE plans to build these lockers here.  Aside from putting up crown molding in our dining and living rooms, this was our first big "we built something" project.  (Well, maybe I did a lot of "helping" and painting/sanding, finishing work.)  We added the molding at the top, and I really love the bead board on the backs, and I sanded and distressed the edges (but it doesn't show much in the picture).

Anyhoo,  it took about 2 months of working on it on the weekends to complete, and around $200 for materials.  I think they turned out just as nice, if not nicer than PB. (Where you could get 1 for the price instead of 2.) We built them in 2 locker sets in case we move to a house that can't accommodate the large size.
Before:


















After:

Of course there are cubbies under the seat, but just ignore all the shoes strewn about, we live here okay :-) There's still plenty more to do in this room, like that obnoxious neon yellow paint color (I love yellow, but not this shade--previous owner's choice) that has to go:-)


All in all I love the new organization for all our stuff.  There is supposed to be a "2 jacket limit" per person, but I think I'm the biggest violator of that rule:-)

Plus, I found a new home for my original hooks, right up next to the front door for guest coats- no more cramming them in the closet or hanging them on the banister.