Vintage Pretties

Family Room Fluffing -- New Decorative Pillows

Our bare, white walled, open-spaced new house is very, very slowly becoming more and more homey. You may one day even call it cozy.  In about 10 years. 

I've been putting a lot of effort into the family room because we spend the most time there.  I've made a few mistakes already and threw up a few things just because we needed something, but I'm getting there. 

One thing that I love, love, love in the family room are the pillows that I made for the sofa.

I spent numerous nights online, considering fabrics and coordinating, deciding which ones would look best together.

I had an accquaintance do the monogram on her super fancy embroidery machine (mine can't sew a design that big) and I stitched up the fabric into a pillow for the centerpiece.

I posted about the cutie patootie polka dotted pillows a few months ago (see?  that is how long it took me to decide on these!).  The paisely fabric is my absolute favorite.  It is SO gorgeous.  I want it everywhere! In fact, I was considering making curtains for this room in red version of that fabric, but its too burgundy.  Drat.

Next, I'm working on the mantel.  I currently have picture frames there, with the pictures of models still in them.  Classy.

Jewelry Organizer -- Quick IKEA Fix

I love IKEA!  I know, who doesn't?  Super cute decorating solutions, super inexpensive?  Sign me up!  And, we are lucky enough to live about 5 minutes from IKEA.  So, if I get a good idea (i.e.: find something good on Pinterest), I can just pop over there and get everything that I need.

My latest IKEA solution is for my costume jewelry.  Up until this week, this is how I stored my necklaces:

Nice, huh?  And ever so easy to find what I was looking for!

Enter IKEA:

The Bygel rail and S-hooks.  $2.98 for the whole thing.  Yes, $2.98.  I put up the rail on my closet wall and....

Ta Da!  Perfect jewelry holder -- I can see everything and they can't get tangled.  There is even room for several more necklaces. 

Now, if I could only find an IKEA solution for this....

(Photos of rail & hook found at IKEA.  In the store, they can be found in the kitchen organization area)

Personalized Towel Set -- Yellow & Pink Bathroom

It's funny how publicly announcing that you will start a project really motivates you to actually start the project.  Case in point: Hope's bathroom.  I posted about it here and the next day decided that I should get started.  I'm still waiting on the fabric for the shower curtain to come in the mail, so I made one of the key accessories for the space, personalized towels.

I'm very fortunate to have recently gotten an embroidery sewing machine on which I can applique and embroider designs.  I picked up a nice white towel set and made up the design as I went along, using embroidery designs that I purchased online. 

A few close ups of the design. 

I would love to tell you that I just whipped this up in no time, but it actually took me two afternoons to complete the set.  I'm sure that someone who had a) a plan laid out ahead of time b) more experience c) an extremely fancy machine that would have sewn the entire design all at once could have done it more quickly.

They turned out to be so cheerful, it makes me excited to move forward on the rest of the room.  The fabric for the shower curtain in on order & I have a folder full of paint chips, ready to be matched up.  I will, of course, keep you updated.

Hope's Bathroom -- Pink & Yellow Bathroom

My next house project is Hope's bathroom (aka the main bath).  There is nothing that I love better than a new decorating project, as you well know.

What Hope wants: She has requested yellow walls, mostly, I suspect because she had yellow walls in her bath in the old house & she is a creature of habit. Also, we've got to have pink in there because it's her FAVORITE color. 

What I want: A cheerful room that is fun but not too kiddy because guests also use this bathroom.  Girly but a little sophisticated.

What we are working with: Basicly, a blank slate.  White walls, white tile & cherry cabinets.  Builder grade lighting & fixtures.  Standard cream colored cultured marble counters.  At the moment, the counters & faucets will remain the same.  Down the road, I definitely want to change out the faucets and possibly the counters.

I've spent a long time online searching for the perfect pieces to fit my vision and I think that I've finally found them.  A nice pale yellow for the walls (lighter than the one shown above).  This gorgeous Heather Bailey fabric for the shower curtain:

source: Heather Bailey

 
And, I'm in love with this print that I found on Etsy, featuring the words to one of my favorite songs:

source: YassisPlace on Etsy

I'll add glass knobs to the cabinets and choose upgraded lights and fixtures similar to the ones that I show above.  I'm excited to start on this project -- I will definitely keep you updated!

 

Ballard Design Cord Cover Knock Off Tutorial

source: Ballard Designs

I have a little lamp in our kitchen that has a cord that hangs down off the side of the counter.  That cord has always irritated me.  Then, I saw Ballard Design's cord covers.  What an elegant solution!  However, $25-$35 seemed a bit steep to me.  I pulled out some fabric leftover from the living room curtains & whipped up a cord cover that I think looks very much like the Ballard version!

It was super easy too.  Here is what you do:

Measure the circumference of the plug at it's widest point, as well as the length of the cord.  Cut out a long piece of fabric that is about double the length of the cord and about 1/4 inch wider than the circumference of the plug.  Pin a hem on each short end of the fabric & sew.

Fold the fabric in half longways & pin.  Sew a 1/4 inch seam down the side.

Take one end & turn the tube right side out.  It's not hard, but takes awhile, so you might want to watch TV while doing this.

Pull the cover over the cord, scrunching up the fabric to give it a gathered look.  Ta Da!  You now have a Ballard Design look alike for practically free!

A Room of My Own

One of my very favorite places in our new house is what I call my crafty-study room.  It houses all of my craft lovelies, my sewing goodies, my school materials, and basicly anything that makes my heart happy.  It also happens to be one of the only rooms that is already just about how I want it to be, so I'm going to share it with you.

First off is my little sewing space, with my new sewing/embroidery machine (sooo cool -- a subject for another post).  I just love having absolutely everything I need right there & being able to see my thread.  I only have my embroidery thread on the wall at the moment, but I'm planning on getting another rack for the regular sewing thread.

Beside the sewing table is a little bookshelf that holds my tiered basket of trims, glitter & crepe paper as well as vintage jars of buttons.  My inspiration boards hang above them, with my favorite quotes and poems, mementos from special events, small art pieces, and my number from the first 5K that I ran, to remind myself of what I can do.

A close up of my trims, just because I love them.

All of school binders & textbooks are below, within easy reach of my desk.  One of my classes this semester is 'Media for Adolescents', so you'll see a lot of young adult fiction on the shelf this spring.

On the other side of the desk is this little display case (in another life it was a medicine cabinet) with more mementos from special trips and memories.

Beside the cabinet, I have my Expedit bookcase, which is one of my favorite pieces of furniture, ever.  On top, I have my favorite vintage biscuit tins and other pretties including my wedding bouquet.  The cubbies hold all kinds of fun including my decorating and craft books, inspiration binders, collection of vintage children's books & primers, and a stack of vintage fabric.

When I get a block of time to putter around in here, I can be here for hours, creating and writing and researching and sewing.  I hope that you enjoyed my little tour.

Housewarming Party

We knew that our house wouldn't really feel right until we shared it with our  friends...and, we knew that they were so curious about the new place that they'd probably storm the place if we didn't invite them over!

Since it was the end of October, I went with a fall theme....

And, isn't it funny how you suddenly find the time to put up curtains and pictures when you know that people will be coming over in less than 24 hours????

Plans for the Kitchen

So, I'm moving along with my fluffing projects...we are going to hang a few pictures in the family room this evening, or so my husband tells me.  I need him to help me hang pictures.  Its pathetic, but I can't hang a picture straight to save my life.  Actually I CAN, it just takes me about 5 tries and 5 corresponding holes in the wall.

Along with the pictures, I'm working on curtains for the family room.  1 panel down, 3 to go.  They are going to be easy peasy since I decided on making them from dropclothes...to be revealed in an upcoming post.

Anyway, onto the kitchen.  As I mentioned, we have plans for the kitchen, but they involve more serious work than just nailing a picture hanger into the wall.  Here are the components of the plan:

I'm anxious to get started...we have the drawer pulls (off ebay for a bargain price -- woo hoo!), so I just need to get Glenn onto that.  Again, not such a hot idea to let me be drilling holes into the new cabinets.

We have a friend who tiled his entire bathroom, so we are hoping that we can bribe him with beer ask him nicely to help us out, or at least get us started.

Let the Fluffing Begin

The unpacking is done, so it's time to start fluffing up this house! I started with the eat in area of the kitchen, mostly because it's the one area that I actually know how I want it to look. 

I've had these spoon hooks for years & never had the right place for them.  When I was looking for hooks for my aprons, I knew that I'd finally found a place for them.  They are made from old silver spoons that have been made into hooks -- cute, huh?

I put up a few of my tole trays and I really like how they look with the black table (I never blogged about it, but I painted my kitchen set black).  Five trays is it, though.  I began to feel that the wall o' tole was  a bit much by the time that we moved. 

Here's another view, into the family room.  I was waiting for a sunny day to take the photos, but it didn't materialize...imagine the room brighter :)

That room was easy peasy since I just had to nail up a few things.  We've got some great ideas for the kitchen, but they involve tiling, drills & electricity, so they won't be happening as quickly. Stay tuned.

Progress on the House!!!

The house is coming along beautifully.  In just about a month, we went from this:

to what you see above!  In fact, it's even farther along than shown in that photo.  The roof is on, all of the electrical, HVAC, & plumbing are installed and the front porch has been poured.

We had the pre-drywall walk through on Monday & it went really well.  Everything, aside from one very minor item, was perfect.  It was so exciting to be in all of the rooms and envision ourselves there. 

Hope & Glenn, standing at the entrance to the study.

I've been completely zen about the process & really taking the timeframe in stride.  BUT, now that we've seen the inside, I'm so excited to get moved in and start making it just the way we want it.