Fixer Upper update... recovering dining room chairs with the ole' Eyeball Upholstery Technique

Over the weekend I recovered some dining chairs at Rick & Jodi's house.  She had this adorable antique set, but the old fabric just wasn't working, especially with the nautical inspiration we were drawing from.

Remember this fabric that we picked out last week?

It looks really good with the dark brown finish on the chairs. 

 When you're working with a stripe, obviously it's important to keep the stripes straight, but for something this small, you don't need to get all Rocket Scientist about it.  Eyeballing it is my preferred method of dining room chair re-covering.

Start by making sure the fabric is straight and lay the seat down straight on top of it.  Secure with one staple in the middle.

Next, fold over the fabric on the side opposite from where you're working. You should be able to eyeball that the stripe you started with is "coming out the other side" in a way that it still lines up with your starting point.

Holding the fabric securely, flip the cushion right side up and eyeball it one more time to make sure.  In this case, I used the grout lines on the counter sort of as a guide to make sure the stripes are straight.

It looks straight to me, so staple the fabric into place and reattach it to the chair. 

Jodi picked out this fabric and I am loving it!  So much better than the dated paisley.

(Something I am finding just hilarious...? That the stripe looks a bit crooked in the high quality cell phone photo. I promise it's straight on the chair. Too funny.)

Time and pressure are great if you're making a diamond, but otherwise it'll jack you up.

At the beginning of August, I wrote about how I found a curbside treasure (part of a crib, and a sleigh headboard and footboard) and that I got Handsome Hubby all twisty because I was hauling home more crap.

He didn't think I could have anything done with them by the end of August.

I assured him that I would, indeed, have something fabulous created by August 31st.

Want to see what I created...?

Yep. I threw in the towel, but I did create something.  I created some breathing room.

My excitement over the great lines of the headboard clouded my judgment.  I had all of the ideas that were spinning around, but no time to implement any of them.  Yesterday I found myself sitting in church,  trying to figure out how I was going to create something in these last few days of August and still take care of my other commitments, rather than fully concentrating on the message.  (I had also been thinking about how I was going to have to give HH "I told you so" rights if I couldn't whip something up...)

Want to know what I am currently (and simultaneously) working on right now?

• re-doing and organizing the boys' bedrooms
• painting furniture for their rooms
• painting at Rick & Jodi's house
• working on window treatments and shower curtains at Rick & Jodi's house
• helping Bev from Flamingo Toes & Holly from 504 Main to plan the SoCal Social
• helping to plan an event for 500 women at church
• I'm thrilled to have been invited to be a community leader for Blog Frog's KOA Around the Campfire Community, which means I'll be spending a bit more time online
• I publicly outed myself regarding the shameful and hazardous nature of my craft area and have to start cleaning and organizing that

Also? We've got what everyone else has: kids going back to school, football practices, house cleaning, errand running, normal life stuff.   ...But we have extra stuff that is stressful.  Devin & Conner's dad (my ex) is terminally ill, and that needs our attention as we shepherd the boys through this increasingly difficult time.

So I had to let go of the creative ideas to turn trash into treasure... this time.  This time, he won, I lost.  But there will be a next time... there always is.

Does anyone else bite off more than they can chew and then stress out over it?

Do any of you have more ideas in your head than there is time in the day?

Ever let go of something you knew you could handle, if only the timing had been better?

Please tell me that I'm not the only one who sometimes has to acknowledge the fact that she's not Super Woman after all...

ps: I did pry off the cool little wooden appliques that were on the bed.  I know I will be able to do something cool with that. Someday...

Hard-hats are required in my craft area. (It's shameful.)

I don't have a designated work area for my crafts and projects.  I saw this one here at Under The Table and Dreaming and was jealous.

Gonna keep it real here.  I know that there are a couple of my readers who are under the illusion that I have all my s*** together and that I have everything under control.  I certainly have a lot of it under control, but not all of it.

Certainly none of it when it comes to my "side" of the garage.  (Or should we say, "my sliver of the garage"...)

Yep.  This is my part of the garage, which I share with a fridge, a full size freezer and 2 pantries.  (Of course, it could be argued that I drag all of my craft crap into the house and encroach on community space all the time, so it evens out.)
I have piles and piles and bins and bins and stacks and stacks....

 I even have things hanging from the ceiling!

This is my most organized area, and it still qualifies as a hot mess.

Hubs even built in extra shelves for storage.  I think he assumed it would be organized storage, but no.  I've been shoving things in there willy-nilly just to get them out of my way.

So while I was completely jealous of the fab space at Under The Table And Dreaming, I was also inspired.  I promise, I will do something to better organize this space.
There.
I've made it a public proclamation.
Now I have to do it or I'll be publicly embarrassed.
Thanks guys.

Wrangling extension cords. How to keep them neat and organized.

Do you do something a certain way, or have a little tip or trick you think is no big deal... then you tell someone and they smack their hands to their heads in an I-Coulda-Had-A-V8 moment...?
...And then you realize you were kind of on to something that woks great, but isn't necessarily common knowledge...?

The response to my post about cleaning stove burners using ammonia fumes has been phenomenal!  My tips on using Silica Gel packets in apothecary jars and on how to dry hydrangeas have been really well received too.... so what's a blogger to do?  Why look around for other handy tips to share with you, of course.

Have you met Handsome Hubby?

He's pretty cute, right?  He also has a great tip that he learned from his dad, about a clever way to store extension cords.  I've never seen anyone else do it this way, so here is a handy-dandy step by step for you.

We've all got these big orange extension cords.  Mine usually look like this...

But HH's look like this:

Here's how he does it:

1. Untangle and straighten out the extension cord in one long line.

2. Walk it back up so that it is doubled in half.

3. Plug the electrical ends together. 

4. Holding that end in your hand, loop it through itself to make a basic knot.

5. While still holding the first knot, gather up a little more of the cord in your other hand.

6. Feed it through the first loop you created and make a second loop. (It may remind you of knitting or crocheting.)

7. Repeat step 6 until you come to the end of the cord.

8. You basically have created a chain of loops. When you come to the end, feed it through one last time.

9. Pull it tight.

HH hangs his on the wall.  He also says that if you have a very long cord, instead of just doubling it as in Step 2, you fold it in half again, so instead of loops that are two cords thick, they are four cords thick.

These are really easy to un-do as well.

The following sequence took all of 3 seconds:

(updated 8/25/11)

Put the electrical socket end on the ground and place your foot on it.  Grasp the last loop that you made in Step 9, reverse it back to Step 8, then pull straight up to unravel it.  (The dog is just fascinated by this process, by the way....)

Easy peasy.  You don't need those extension cord spools or doo-dads.  This is easy, efficient and free.  Gotta love that, right?

check the bottom of the blog to see where I link this

also Home Stories A2Z

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Make your bad photos work to your advantage.

I love photos! One of my favorite items to use when decorating my house is photos.  I have never been one to line the hallway with my kids' school portraits (not a criticism if you do it... to each his or her own...). We haven't had a whole lot of family portraits taken (the last time was in 2004, so we're overdue, actually...) Instead, I tend to use impromptu group shots or candids... something a little unexpected.

We've all taken pictures that didn't turn out like we wanted... too light, too dark, too blurry, too weird, funny angle, etc.  Don't automatically delete them. You might want to try looking at them in a slightly different way.  Embrace the flaws in the picture and use it anyway...

A few years ago at the beach, I was playing around with the zoom feature on my camera.  I took these two photos:

Blurry.  No using the sharpen feature on these puppies... but there was something about them that I liked.  So I had them enlarged to 8 x 10 (which made them even more blurry) and I framed them.

I love how they look.  They remind me of those hazy, lazy summer days at the beach that roll into one big, blurry summer memory.  (Sorry, about the treadmill in the picture, but if I'm too lazy to run on it, I am certainly too lazy to try and get it out of the way for the shot.)

You know what can happen if a two year old gets a hold of your camera...?

Look at those lips!  Could you just die?!

Fortunately, Handsome Hubby has a good eye and he got the camera back safely and took a few more fun close-ups of Baby Grant.  We switched them from color to black & white and popped them into a frame.

I love this.  I think something like this is much more fun and has much more character than a line up of studio portraits would be. (Not that there's anything wrong with that. Again, personal preference here...)

One of my very favorite "bad" photos wasn't even all that bad.  I can't show you the original because it was from my pre-digital camera days. (Yes I know I can have them scanned. It's on my To-Do list.)  It was a self-portrait photo that Handsome Hubby took.  

• It was by a window on a stair landing (so not a very pretty background) 
• It was taken in the early morning (so beautiful, rosy lighting but I was without make-up. Gah.)  

...But I liked the overall composition of the shot, and I loved the way our eyes lined up. (I must have been standing on one of the stair risers above him...)   So I had a custom mat cut and framed just our eyes.

I have gotten quite a few compliments on this matting over the years.

I love that you can tell that we're happy and smiling, even without seeing all of our faces. I love that I can look at this picture and it will immediately conjure up not just the physical memory of where we were and what we were doing, but the emotional memory as well.

And maybe that's why I'm not a big fan of the School Picture Line Up or the Olan Mills Watch The Birdy Specials... those types of photos are great to chronicle the passage of time, but they don't capture any emotional memories.  And I'd rather decorate my house with those.

Check the bottom of the blog to see where I link up.

also Home Stories A2Z

Back to school supplies should include birthday gifts...

You know it's coming.
Along with the avalanche of school papers that will start hitting your house come September, so begins a steady stream of birthday party invitations.

Our school has a policy that if you are on school grounds and deliver a party invitation to one classmate, you pretty much need to invite the whole class.  Similar to the "I hope you brought enough gum to share with the class" or when Mr. Hand took Spicoli's pizza...

source

Anyhow, Grant gets swept up in the group invitations and it seems like every week there is a party to go to.  I don't know about you guys, but I don't budget $20 a week for Gifts For Strangers.

What I do do is plan ahead.
About this time of year, Target has their toys go on clearance...

 I stock up on silly toys that little boys like.  Instead of paying $25, I pay $6.  Much more affordable.  I take them home and put them in my gift closet.

I love having this.  Not only does it save money, it saves me a bit of stress.  I hate having to do last minute gift shopping.  The few times that we had to scramble for a gift, we ended up stopping at the grocery store on the way to the party and buying a gift card for Jamba Juice or a movie or something and spending the $20... Gah.

 Keep a few gifts on hand, along with some child appropriate birthday cards and some gift bags, and you'll always be ready to go.  (And sit for 2 hours at Pump It Up... the whole while thinking about the things you still need to do -or would rather do- like cleaning the kitchen, making dinner, running errands, drinking a shot of tequila, getting the oil changed in the car, calling the insurance company, writing a blog post, making cupcakes for the bake sale....)

Fixer Upper update... fabric choices

I am having so much fun working on Rick & Jodi's house with them!  It needs a lot of work.  Last week I showed you some of the progress and the color palette.

On Friday Jodi and I shopped for fabric at Home Fabric and Rugs in Cerritos, CA.  I love this place!  They have great fabrics for your home (hence the name, duh) and they are really reasonably priced.  Check in your area and see if they have a similar store.  Even if you don't a lot of the "wholesale only" stores will have a sale day where they're open to the public... you just need to ask!
None of these beauties are more than $13 a yard!

I am head over heels in LOVE with this argyle... 

There was so much to choose from!

 However, the real reason we came to this store is because of The Back Room.  This is where there are tons of beautiful fabrics and trims at total close-out prices.

 These fabrics start at $2 a yard!

 I can (and do) spend hours in here.

When you have to take your 7 year old Trusty Side-Kick around with you, it's helpful that he is happy to play with a rubber band he found on a roll of fabric.  A rubber band.  For an hour.  (I love that kid!)

Since we are going for a beachy/nautical color palette for Rick & Jodi's, we kept some of our Pinterest inspiration photos in mind when choosing the fabrics.
Like this one:

source

We wanted fabrics that had a lot of texture and fairly muted colors and patterns.

 We found them!  For pennies on the dollar! Yay!

We will be making 2 shower curtain sets, recovering 6 dining room chairs, making a cornice box valance, 2 full length drapery panels, and 2 faux Roman shades.  And possibly some throw pillows.

I'm so excited! A tutorial for the shower curtains will be coming up soon.... because I use a glue gun to do it.  :)

When a 7 year old boy helps to choose your accessories...

Back to school shopping...  We're at Marshall's, checking out the shoes.  As the boys are trying on shoes, I notice a rack of really cute bags that are marked with clearance stickers.

After looking all of them over I have two, one in each hand, that I am considering.  Grant comes over and puts in his two cents.

"I think you should buy the dinosaur purse."

Dinosaur purse?
"Oh honey, that's not dinosaur! It's crocodile!"

(And it's faux croc at that! I have a whole bunch of back to school shoes I need to buy.  No one's getting real croc anytime soon!)

I did go ahead and choose the dinosaur purse though.

Not bad for $10, right? :)

Where It's At! The venue for the SoCal Social...

I had the best day yesterday!
I spent it with the fabulous and charming Bev from Flamingo Toes, scouting out a venue for the SoCal Social, the event we're coordinating for Southern California bloggers on October 8th.

The SoCal Social is going to be SO fun! Details will follow, but we're going to be at the Orange Circle, an historic area in the City of Orange.  There are amazing restaurants, antique shops, boutiques, vintage treasures and the architecture is fantastic.  

Remember that Tom Hanks movie That Thing You Do...?  It was filmed at the Orange Circle because it's so cool and vintage-y.

source

We're going to be doing something really fun!  You need to go to SoCal Social to check it out, because I don't think it's been done before...

Silica Gel - you only need to follow half of the directions. (Just ignore the other half.)

You know when you buy a new pair of shoes or a handbag?  The little silica gel packets that come in there to absorb moisture?  You need only follow half of the instructions.

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For sure you shouldn't eat the stuff... but don't throw it away either!

I very briefly mentioned this tip at the very end of a tutorial for faux robin's eggs back in March, but it bears repeating especially as we start heading for fall and people start decorating with fruit, pumpkins and other natural materials.

At the moment, my apothecary jars are filled with shells and all kinds of "beachy" items, but even with those materials moisture can build up inside of the jars.  Put a lid on the jar and have it displayed in a sunny spot and you've created a little greenhouse... whether you wanted to or not.   Have you ever seen what happens to those cute baby pumpkins and little gourds that have been left in an apothecary jar turned greenhouse?  Can you say "mushy" and "moldy"? ew.

Take a handful of these silica beads and drop them in the bottom of the jar before adding your filler.  It'll keep everything dry and looking good.

You. Are. Welcome.

UPDATED 8/25/2011

I just had a reader contact me and say that there is a possible link between silica dust and Scleroderma, and that it is not a good idea to remove the silica from its specially designed packet.  Henceforth, I will be playing it safe and leaving the beads in the packets.  

I will just make sure to carefully conceal the packet.  

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about Vivienne Wagner