Make it work. Upholstered bed.

The last time I checked in I was blowing off some steam about some roman shades I was making. When I started the project they were going to be plain roman shades.   I ended up with juuuuuust enough fabric.  Sewing a pocket for a wooden dowel was not something I wanted to deal with.  As a result, I decided mid project to make them relaxed roman shades.

I should have taken a minute and re-evaluated the situation.  I had put off starting these for a long time because making roman shades is...a bunch of straight lines and ironing.  Add pinning to that list if you include a blackout shade.   So...so...so boring. When I finally got the urge to start I didn't want to stop.  I wanted to get it over with.  As a result, I ended up with a variation of balloon roman shades.  When they are done right they are awesome.  Unfortunately, mine were obviously would-be-plain-roman-shades-trying-to-become-relaxed-roman-shades-but-ended-up-mostly-balloon-roman-shades....mostly.  I thought I could live with it because....they weren't terrible.  But something wasn't right.

Two of the three shades.

The third and largest shade.

Mom And Me Brainstorming Session Commence.
We both agreed they were fine.  There were some missed opportunities in finishing them to look...right.  I am really trying to graduate from crafty/amatuer hour to polished in the things I create.  All that work I put into them and.....and they looked DIY.  Kind of cool but kind of...unpolished.

Mom and I spent some time brainstorming some ways to fix the issues we found with them.  If we had found a brilliant fix I would have been all for it. Unfortunately, nothing felt right or excited me.

THEN........

I swear we both had the same idea at the same moment.  "Upholster the bed in that fabric."  (You were thinking that too, weren't you??)  I had planned to upholster the bed from the get go.  I was going to do it white with black trim which I knew was a terrible idea with a two year old sleeping in it but I had convinced myself that mine would magically remain white.

This is the bed I have in Whit's room:

It screams, "Make me pretty!", right?

After my mom confirmed we had enough fabric I tore those shades down and started ripping the seams.  I had them taken apart in no time flat.  Then Sean and I worked together to cut the headboard shape out of Luan.  He screwed the Luan to the bedframe. He included support pieces along the curve and along the bottom.  Being only 1/4" thick, Luan is flimsy!

Headboard

Support Pieces

After we had that done my mom came over with her arms full of upholstery tools and materials.  Check out the size of this spool of welt!


Sean took the kids to school and we got started around 8 am.  We took a short lunch and were back to work.  When our planned delayed naptime came around we were on a roll so I let Whit skip her nap. We got that thing DONE at 5!

Whitney checking out our progress.

I love it.  It uses the floral pattern in a great way.  I learned some upholstery tips today and actually contributed instead of just learning. Best of all....it looks polished!  My mom is a pro so it has nothing to do with me but still...it's polished!

Whit got to watch us put it together and so she feels like it is extra special.  She loves it which makes me love it more.  B is already planning how we can make his "bed more handsome".

Creation and Celebration

There hasn't been a lot to blog about.  I used to blog to keep my mom up to date on my creative ventures while I lived 1000+ miles away.  Now that I see her all the time I feel a little silly saying LOOK WHAT I DID to the few of you who still read my blog.  Perhaps if I created tutorials things would be different.  Today I have something close.  I finally have a project that feels pretty much all me (rather than a combination of DIY tutorials I found online) and doable by others...plus I SCORED today at Goodwill and I need to celebrate it.  My husband did a great job of acting excited for me...he gave me a verbal high five if ever there was one...but I know in his heart he really doesn't understand the fantastic-ness of a great deal on fabric.

First, my project.  My good friend Priscilla works hard to support my creative addiction and love for made gifts.  I love her so much for it.  For my birthday last year she showed up with a few made gifts AND.....a large bag full of leather goods that she thrifted.  I mean....good friend, right?  I have had those leather goods in the back of my mind ever since, just waiting for inspiration to strike.  I almost made some leather bracelets but I couldn't come up with anything cool enough worth making....that's pretty much all I had come up with until yesterday afternoon!  I saw this bag years ago and loved it:

via

I used the tutorial to make the tote but in a solid color (best beach bag ever).  For whatever reason, yesterday I got this image of a bag with that fabric and saddle colored leather.  I went to my bag o' leather from Priscilla and found this purse:

Snip snip snip....

I cut the leather bottom pieces of the tote from the body of the bag (each 5.5 x 12 inches).  The straps were long strap of purse cut in half.  I sewed the finished edges of the strap to the outside of the tote and the raw edges to the inside of the tote.  Each side of the tote has a finished edge and a raw edge.  I cut two 11x13 inch pieces of the striped Ikea fabric.  I then cut each of those in half and set them about .5 inches off and sewed them back together.  Once I sewed the fabric pieces to the leather I assembled it just like a typical tote.  It includes a liner.

It didn't take too long and I love it.  if I had a bigger purse to cut up I would have made the bag a little wider but otherwise it is great.  This morning Whitney (my 2 year old) saw it and wouldn't let it go.  She took it to school with her.  My girl.

On to the SCORE.

I went to a fabric store in Valdosta about two months ago and found almost all the fabric I am going to use in Whit's room.  All I knew going in there was was pink and mint.  I didn't have much of a clue beyond that.  Brady's room, however, has been planned since before we had our house but I haven't actually bought any of the fabric for it!  This is my pinterest board dedicated to B.  This picture pretty much sums it up minus the blonde girl:

via

Most of the plaids I have found are too expensive or not exactly what I want.

My mom is cleaning house and donating a ton of fabric to Goodwill.  I ended up taking a load for her.  When I go in to Goodwill I scan the furniture, home goods, and art.  Anything made of fabric overwhelms me in thrift stores.  A sea of red t shirts not organized by size...?!! I shut down.  Today I checked the fabric section.  Much more digestible.  I'm glad I did!!!!

Just finding those three in one go would have been a jackpot.  Each piece is of considerable yardage. Jackpot. Guess how much they were?  Guess.  $5.  Total.  $5!!!!!!  JACKPOT!

If it wasn't annoying to have music on web pages I would insert Celebration by Cool and the Gang right here.

This is the plaid I was most definitely going to include in B's room.  It was the inspiration for everything I plan to do in there.  Boom.

This plaid is my second favorite plaid and was probably going to be included somehow.  This is a loose woven fabric...tons of it.

This is just a bonus.  How could I not?  I think it is fleece.  It is thick and soft.

Now I must get started.

Creative update.

Oh blog...I miss you.  We have been getting settled in here in GA.  It has been slow going in the creativity department.  Lately, though, I have started flexing those muscles again.  Here are some creative projects I have been able to complete.... Yay for having time to complete some things... I plan to blog more details about some of these but here is a quick run down.

Whit turned two.  This picture, taken just at the beginning of setting the food out, shows the table runner I made.  I made everything from the star stencil used for the design to sewing the ric rac on.  Complicated stuff? No.  Very fun and mindless...YES!

This isn't exactly creative but man is it beautiful and inspiring.  I took a little birthday trip...mine...not Whit's....to Atlanta to meet up with my college BFF.  This temple is the Baps Shri Swaminarayan Mandir located just outside Atlanta....of all places!  It is incredible.  It is made entirely of intricately carved white stone...inside and out.  I am so glad we made the last minute decision to check it out.  It is located next to a Walgreens and across the street from a Publix.  Totally fits in.

Polymer clay beads.  This was the most fun craft I have done with my kids.  I like this stuff because it is gluten free and we can bake it and keep our creations forever....unlike Play Doh which stinks, has gluten, and we can't keep our awesome creations.  

The clay craft all began when B lost one of his favorite cars.  For some reason clay and this car came up together and B requested I make him a clay version.  I did.  When it came out of the oven he sadly realized that it wasn't going to bake itself into the actual toy.  Many tears followed.  

Dubbed the "Car Wash" by B.  It is a glorified sprinkler that we made to get the kids to stay outside.  They aren't fully used to this heat yet.  The car wash has really helped.

I painted our dining room chairs.  The best story I have from this project is I dunked my pony tail in the can of paint.  I got it out of my hair but the smell stayed in my nose for days.

This picture doesn't really do much for the project and who knows why that plaid tin is in the picture...toddlers.  I had some of these cheap cubes from Ikea.  The covers they came with were black but got bleached by the sun pretty quickly.  I have wanted to make new covers for a while...I am ashamed to say 2ish years...but haven't been inspired enough by any fabric to do it....until now.  They are wild but they look great under the sofa table.  You'll see.

I made some jewelry!  A wrap bracelet..

The one on the right... 

I played with a hammer and some wire.

More hammer and wire.  I was really just playing around one night.  At first I hated how the hearts turned out but I wear the bottom one with a few other stackable bracelets almost every day.

Pearl and gold wire chain and stone pendant.  I was going to put this up in Etsy...While I tried it on to show my mom, Whit got a funny look on her face and proceded to throw up...all over me...and the necklace.  Now the necklace is all mine.

Green pearl and gold chain with stone beads.

My first solo upholstery project.  Don't mind the styling. (styling..ha)  I bought those chairs at an auction for about 10 each and they are worth a few hundred!  I was the only bidder.  Can't beat that.

And finally, I painted my chandelier purple.  There are those dining chairs pre-paint.

And that's what I have been up to!  See you sooner rather than later! Blogging muscles..officially flexed.

Awesome table DIY

I went so hard making gifts over the holidays that I have spent the past two months in a creative slump.  I have ideas.  I lack motivation.  I swear I am still catching up on sleep and energy from Christmas.  Man is it an exhausting holiday with children.

My creative juices have been revving up over the past week or so...hence finally working on this dresser that I started ages ago...when it was warm out.  I am ready to go.  I just got two enormous boxes of fabric in the mail from this great fabric shop also known as my Mom's surplus.  I found this awesome pull/knob combo that I am going to put on something in the near future.  And then this happened:

I saw it on my friend Kim's pinterest page and I might have to try it.  I haven't seen an Ikea hack that interested me this much since this hack that I loved to much I copied it exactly.  What a transformation.  It seems relatively simple too!  The best part?  I already have this exact table sitting in my garage.

Watch out blog...you are going to get some use again.

Ikea Hackers

I just came across this site this morning and now I want to make a trip to Ikea...asap.  There are some weird ideas, some good ideas and some super creative ideas on Ikea Hackers.  All the projects are made from re-purposing Ikea furniture.  Here are a few of my favorites so far.

Temporary bar from IKEA Trofast boxes

Husar Re-envisioned Into Recycling

Horizontal Floating Billy

Pimp My Poang