Finally Finished

New decor for piano.

Collection of frogs, two more for Christmas, on my grandparents wedding china platter.

New curtain.

Invoice holder from Bryce's grandpa's bakery. Sometimes I get to go 'shopping' in Bryce's parents garage. His parents are always really great about picking up and picking out things they think I'd like.

My 'make it work' moment. Had a spring rod curtain rod. Bought rings. Rings wouldn't fit around rod. Found a piece of wood. Nailed it across the top. Hammered in old square-head nails we pulled out from our kitchen floor during the remodel. Put clips on nails.

Curtains swagged using the invoice holder.

Pretty much love it.

Katie

Playing Catsup

There's a town here that has a massive community garage sale once a year and it happened to be this last weekend. I picked up this chair for $5. One good thing about a $5 chair....you can't really go wrong. I conned my friend Beth, who came to visit, to help me re-upholster it. The best part, we didn't once consult the internet for advice.

It took us three days, did I mention we have six kids between the two of us?

Not that I'm an expert, but if you plan on doing this in the future, do it with a friend and then call me for some tips. You can learn quite a bit just by doing it one time.

We got on the band wagon and re-upholstered it in a drop cloth. The piping is done in a purple floral that I got at another estate sale. We switched the five button tufting for just one big, fatty button in the middle.

I think it was a smashing success.

I have been super, super busy the past couple of weeks with a new baby, sleep deprived children, a sleep deprived mother, a patient husband, nice weather outside, a birthday, Easter, lots of great company - including my mom and my best friend - and a load of projects that got accomplished.

I'll just put a stop to the enthusiasm right now and tell you, it will be one project post at a time. I have to draw out the goodness. That sounds really self absorbed, doesn't it?

Did I mention I hit a rock star of an estate sale and picked up a load of great stuff? More to come....

Project posts for later dates: sun room floor, laundry sink skirt, pillows, quilt tops, a dresser, and...I think that's it.

Have a great weekend.

Katie

Here's the Thing...

Why do pictures turn up sideways when they go in right side up????
You can't see it, but we've been putting a safety pin on Meg's pjs to keep her modest, thanks for the suggestion. See that stuff coming in the window? That's light from the sun! I love that stuff.

One corner of the house that is finished.

With crafts, I feel there's a fine line between cute and creative and ghetto and cheap. These are some 'airplanes' that I made for baby boy's mobile.

Please share brutally honest thoughts about this project, even if they will make me cry, although, I'm 8 months pregnant, it's not really that hard to do...

Two things: we got a new oven/stove! and it's gas! and it's awesome! everyone should get one! and we bought stuff to cover the mess. Here's the thing, there's a hole, well the hole is covered. But the room right above the kitchen is Elizabeth and Adeline's room. When ever they run and jump and play and sneeze, stuff falls from the ceiling, onto? the stove. We haven't had anyone over for dinner, don't worry. So hopefully this Saturday the mess will be covered and falling 'dust' will be gone.

I made baby boy some receiving blankets. The elephant one is my favorite.

I bought fabric for curtains in baby boy's room and for in our room.

The antique sign found a new home. It was the first thing I hung up. Bryce said that was pretty telling. However, it's one of the easiest things to hang up because you just nail it into the wall. The best thing about this house is there are no studs because there is no sheet rock because their is no insulation because there are no 2 by 4s. All the walls are like the girl room upstairs, and then they sheet rocked over the top and then they wall papered and then they painted. I don't really know who 'they' is.

We bought a couch. It was a new experience, buying a piece of furniture, new, from an actual retail store.

Joyous Weekend!

Katie

The Girl Room

Reminder of what the before looked like. That little square in the middle used to be hole. That's how the upstairs used to get heat, just holes in the floor for the heat to rise through. The downstairs now has a vent system, but still no direct heat upstairs. It actually stays pretty temperate up there. We have to keep all the doors open though.

The After, I've already rearranged it once.

These curtains we had at the old house. I just added a panel of white muslin at the bottom and honed my hot glue gun skills and attached some vintage yo-yos and scrap circles to make polka dots. Some times I am so lazy, and I'll probably regret not sewing the darn things on, but today is not that day. The little table with the blue top on the left side we made for Elizabeth years ago.

It used to be an old TV end table, you know the ones that have a little half shelf? We pulled off that part and painted it.

The white cupboard on the other side is an old metal pantry which we also picked up at an estate sale. I spray painted it white and the shelves inside black and it makes for a nice little book shelf.

Adeline's side.

I picked up the dresser from a thrift store for $40. Bryce painted it and we put hardware on. That thing is a beast. And just in that nook you see three pieces of enamel ware. When I was unpacking I even astounded myself by how much enamel I had accumulated. Bryce was less surprised.

Elizabeth's side, with cute little Meg. We found that little wooden iron and ironing board at an estate sale.

We still need to put trim up and paint the existing trim. I think I'm going to Modge Podge the walls to seal the old newspaper/wallpaper. We read one of the articles that talked about malaria and what it's caused by. Let's just say it sounded like it was written 136 years ago, but interesting none-the-less. And I have their little fabric triangle garland that I'm going to iron and hang up.

Oh yes, and lights. There's a architectural salvage yard here that has some matching old school house-esq lights I think would be perfect for here. I'm saving my money.

And I wasn't lying, we really are having a boy. I'm open to suggestions for decorating ideas. I'm not a sports-theme-person, just thought I'd put that out there.

Happy Weekend,

Katie

Not Really a Project Post

This isn't really a project post.

I haven't done any 'projects' this week.

However, don't you worry, I have a whole stack of stuff to work on.

Some of it will be spray painted, *gasp* and some of it is just waiting to find a home.

This is a flake out post, even I know that. But I really am curious if any of you are working on projects. I'm actually screening to see if any of you qualify to work on some of my pile of stuff.....

In the meantime, I'm off to some garage sales.

Katie

Easy, Peasy, Rice and Cheesy

The project is the table not the cute, little chairs, disappointing, I know. We picked it up at a thrift store and it was originally an end table for a family room. You know the kind that you buy as soon as you turn 50 and hold on to till you die? And you probably have two, a Mr. and a Mrs.? It has the little half shelf above it? Does anyone know what I'm talking about? We took off the little half shelf and painted it. It's the pefect size for kids until about the age of four.
I've seen loads of music sheet wreaths, but those just aren't me. I saw this idea on someone else's blog and I though I could manage it. The step-by-step: take old sheet music, role it into a tube, tape it, put it in a container. I put some old towels in the bottom so they would sit higher.

I saw this idea on someone's blog who posted a picture of it as seen in Pottery Barn. It must be a good idea if it's in Pottery Barn. Take some books that you don't read or won't read (one of those ones pictured here is Walden) tear off the covers, stack them up, and tie them with string.

I know this is a really late-in-the-day post, but my mom is in town and she can't be stopped when it comes to estate sales and garage sales. She gets a little crazy...but I love her like a mom.

Anyway, these are projects that took a day or less. What I mean by that, it that one project took an hour and the other two five minutes.

I'm off to clean my sale finds,

Katie

Window Palooza

I painted this on some scrap fabric I had just using acrylic paint. It says "Love lives here" in German. At least, that's what I hope it says.
These windows just have some fabric that I bought at Hobby Lobby.

The is the first window that I acquired by begging. The man was totally confused when I told him I was going to hang it up, on a wall, inside my house, for decoration. Some of the flowers are from my wedding bouquet. Tender, right?

I hand sewed these old hexagon flowers that were my great aunts onto some white fabric.

These were some dish towels that someone had hand embroidered. I picked them up for $.25 each at a garage sale. I had my mom embroider one with my daughter's birth information.

This one I sandwiched an old, old, old crazy quilt between two windows. I, my husband, screwed the windows together and hung it from the ceiling.

The other side.

These are some old doors I saved from my husband's grandparent's basement. They used to hang vertically on a piece of furniture. I pressed some flowers, Modge Podged them onto some paper and pressed them up to the glass, using foam board on the back.

I like windows, as you can certainly tell.

I got all of these windows for free thanks to my father-in-law and from some abrasive inquiring on my part. Don't be afraid to tell people that you are planning on using an old, disgusting window that used to be in someone's barn for a home decor project. Loud and proud people.

Don't worry. I fully realize I cannot take a decent picture to save my life. Luckily I'd like to think that I have other redeeming qualities.

DON'T FORGET:

The quilt giveaway starts on Monday, make sure you become a follower so you can enter to win. I will have the full details for you on how to enter on Monday.

I will be busting hump to get all of the quilts bound for the big day.

Katie

Let there be light...

What was there before...
and now.

Adeline turned 3 yesterday!

Of course it's cheesy!

So I bought this chandelier at a garage sale for $3. Bryce wasn't there when I bought it so when I was bringing it to the car and putting it into the trunk he said something to the effect of 'what did you just buy?'

At first I was hesitant when I bought it. It could be border line ghetto. So it took me a while to commit before I hung it up. However, when I was looking through Better Homes and Gardens, they featured two of these type of chandeliers. That sealed the deal.

It also made me a bit arrogant about my purchase.

I tried to take some pictures of it with it turned on because it looks much cooler that way.

Also can you catch a glimpse of that little scale to the left? It's an ice cream scoop scale.

There's a barn having a sale this weekend some miles from here that I really want to go to. (That sounds really weird when you say it that way.) Hopefully I'll find some time to 'stop by'.

If you live around the Denver area, make sure you come to the quilt tying get together!

Katie