Bargain Hutch

A few weeks ago I happened upon a bargain of a hutch - only $15.  A price I couldn't walk away from. Although, one of these days I'm going to need to learn how to do just that.  We're kind of running out of room.

I was crossing my fingers, hoping it would fit on the blue desk in the family room, and it must have been meant to be, because it fit perfectly.

This desk is where I originally wanted to put the china cabinet - but it wouldn't fit. Now I'm thinking of using the desk/hutch combo as not only a homework station (my kids really do keep their school stuff in "their" drawer) but also a place to display pretty plates. Wouldn't those blue shelves look swell all loaded up with white dishwear? I heart milk glass.

But truthfully, those shelves are already filling up with books, papers and other family clutter. Maybe some wicker baskets would be a better idea.

Perhaps both?

On a side note,  I have used the same quart of Valspar paint for all of my "Dusty Spruce" projects - chalk-board frame, desk, chair, bar stools & now the hutch.  I'm pretty impressed with the one coat coverage of the Valspar Signature series.  Paint is cheap - guess that's why we're friends.

Vintage Inspired Bedroom Make-Over

My daughter just celebrated her 8th birthday. This year I wanted to do something extra special for her, so I came up with the idea of a surprise bedroom make-over. She has been wanting us to paint it a light blue for a while, and this seemed like the perfect way to get motivated.


On her birthday she went to school with her bedroom looking like this...


And came home to this...


I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get it all done in the 7 1/2 hour time frame, but I had help. My mother in law watched my 2 youngest while I painted, and my mom picked up my daughter and oldest son after school and took them out for ice cream to give me a little more time.


Everything in the room is vintage, from the up-cycled furniture that I painted a while back, to the linens.


I based the decorating scheme around the vintage sheet quilt I first started last summer (my daughter fell in love with it at the time). I finally finished quilting and binding it the weekend before her birthday. The bed skirt was made from a green gingham vintage sheet.


We brought in the desk that we had used as a changing table in my youngest daughter's room. I found an old chair at the thrift store for $5 and painted it Green Apple and then reupholstered with a vintage sheet.


For wall art, thrifted embroidery hoops with the vintage sheet fabric used in the quilt.


Can you tell that this particular sheet is my favorite? last year, I found a pillowcase of this pattern at a thrift store and used it in the quilt. When recently I found a brand new (still in original package from the 60's or 70's) twin flat sheet on eBay, I was so excited!



I haven't yet made a sham, so for now her bed is adorned with never used before vintage pillow cases.


My talented mother-in-law crocheted this super sweet pillow for her after I fell in love with these on the Sew Mama Sew blog.



I still need to make curtain panels out of this sheet, just didn't quite get it all done it time.


The BIG REVEAL...


She LOVED it!

Dressy Church Bag

I'm still here. Just been entrenched in real life. But now, thanks to antibiotics, I'm feeling like blogging may be do-able again (among other things like cooking and laundry). Wouldn't it be great if there was a substitute mom to call when we are sick, just for the sake of domestic damage control?!


There are a few projects I've been trying to finish. Birthday projects with finite deadlines. I'm not always good with deadlines. My mom's birthday was yesterday and she had a very specific request: A scripture bag for her extra large, can't read things up close any more, scriptures (gonna happen to all of us I'm afraid). So, without a pattern and using fabrics from the stash, this is what I managed to come up with.


I used a Waverly decorator fabric for the outside. I love the texture and the added weight. I used interfacing on everything for extra strength.


She wanted a long, over-the-shoulder strap, but I only had enough fabric for one side. I cut up an old pair of brown corduroy trousers for the other side. The multi-textural thing is working for me.


(You can also see the Olive colored dresser I made over a while back and never got around to blogging about)


Happy (& relieved) to say her scriptures fit perfectly.


And,
My oldest daughter is having a birthday next week. I'm hoping to have this finished in time...

I Hope you all have a Happy Easter!

(This darn snow better melt quickly!)

Bar Stool Makeover

A couple of years ago we tossed out our bar stools (which around here means hauled to the D.I.). They were really ugly and we hadn't yet discovered spray paint or even latex paint, as it pertains to furniture. Meanwhile 2 years went by, and we still hadn't replaced them.

So a few weeks ago I was at the D.I. and what did I find?

A pair of UGLY old bar stools. Ugly doesn't scare me anymore.

I enlisted this little guy to help prime. Actually, he begged to help - my kids are enamored with paint & brushes in all forms.

Then we painted. I was tempted to go with black to match our dining table & chairs, but I've come to realize black furniture is evil incarnate - it shows everything. Dust, crumbs, mystery slime... everything you don't want to see. So we went with my old favorite, Dusty Spruce (Valspar).


Now they are as good as new.
Better than new really, because as a mom, new scares me and seriously stresses me out. I know what active young children are capable of doing to nice, new furniture and it's not pretty.

With UGLY, we're ahead of the game.

Homework Blues

I'm not the world's most consistent blogger. But I have a good excuse. Four good excuses. And lately they've kept me hopping. Now that school has started back up, so have all the extra-curricular activities. I love staying busy, but the amount of paperwork my little peeps bring home (homework, permission slips, forms, schedules etc.) could bury us alive. So when I saw this old desk at the thrift store, I couldn't pass it, and the potential organization it would bring, up.

So I hauled it out back, primed it, then gave it the Dusty Spruce treatment (same brush on paint I used for the chalk board, with antiquing glaze). Now each of our school age children has their own drawer for homework, reading charts, soccer & dance schedules, book orders etc.

And we already had this chair waiting patiently in the makeover queue.


Added a little embellishment to the back of the chair just to spice things up, and new fabric on the seat.

And just so you don't think I only play with the blues, let me introduce to you to my new friend "Olive". I'm just getting to know her, but she's a favorite already. Together we're gonna paint the town...or at least the master bedroom furniture.

More to come...someday. I'm not committing to anything until soccer season's over.

*PaintColors:
The desk is Valspar Signature Seaside Retreat " Dusty Spruce"
The dresser is Valspar Signature Laura Ashley "Olive 4"

Little Vintage Mirror Re-do

This one is pretty self explanatory. For a while now, I've had a little vintage mirror. The same one that used to hang in my grandparents bedroom, but it has been in need of a bit of work.

Today I decided it was time. I was the crazy lady outside spray painting in my pajamas before the kids woke up.

I enlisted 2 of my favorite makeover tools...

Sprayed and then went to work with the "Purdy" brush. See how easy antiquing is? Just wiped off the extra glaze with a wet cloth.

And after drying in the morning sun for a 1/2 hour, it was ready to hang.

* F * R * E * E *, that spells free....

I dedicate this post to my husband, who is always singing that annoying jingle. Ay Carumba!!! OK, I can't exactly say the following makeovers were 100% free, but I can say I did NOT buy any new supplies - I only used fabric from my stash and paint already on hand.

I finally tackled the toss pillows on the living room couch and love seat, the lamps and the even the mirror.
For the pillows I used the fabric below...
The two prints on the right are from a king size comforter I bought on clearance sale a couple of years ago. I trimmed it down to make a queen, and had a bit of excess fabric that I have been hanging on to. The floral ticking is from the $2 rack at at Walmart - it's also been around for a while. The large scale floral print on the right is from a new Laura Ashley bed skirt I picked up at a thrift store for $2 a couple of months ago...just in case you were wondering.Here's the (tired) before...
And the after...
For the mirror and lamp makeovers, I used the following...
The lamps (there are 2) before...
And after...
Didn't even spend money on new shades - just swapped the shades in the living room, for the ones in the family room.
Here's a corner of the gaudy (you know it's true) mirror before...
And after...
Getting a good picture of the mirror was NOT easy, especially since I didn't want to see my cheesy mug in the reflection!
I'm kind of liking the new beachy, shabby, cottage (whatever you want to call it) look. You can see some before pictures a few posts down if you want to compare. I am pretty sure doing it all for the price of free-fifty, is one of the reasons I'm happy with the way it all turned out. Gotta love a bargain!
And to the person who kindly asked me to post these blurry pictures last week (hi, mom)...sorry - life's been a little CrAzY. Better late than never, right?