FAQ: Why do you call yourself lazy?

You guys, I get this question a lot. And I get it. I totally get where you're coming from...

I've always got projects going on, and there's definitely more than one at a time. There are big and small projects, and I start more than I finish... So how can I be lazy?

The truth is.. if I had more motivation, my projects wouldn't take nearly as long and I would get a LOT more done! I can't tell you how much of my day is wasted in front of the computer or playing with Baby Goats (not that THAT'S a waste, but I'd definitely go out of my way to do that instead of finishing a project). I don't seem to get out of my morning "cleaning funk" and dressed until like 11am... Then I procrastinate some more before I actually get to doing anything.

Lazing about is probably how most of my day is spent (aside from cleaning/cooking, but that doesn't really apply here since you guys don't get to hear me whine about that ;-))... but then there are a few minutes where I actually get to (and finish) something!

Hopefully this'll help explain my incessant "lazy" talk.

Dressed

I think my Spring Fever is cured. Just took a bit of lounging, grazing and coffee drinking. Dr's orders!

When I was talking about having Spring Fever, I'd mentioned that I had a big project, and that I'd rather be sewing Springtime skirts for the girls. Well..

Here's my big project. It's almost finished! But, if you'll notice in the top right corner, I had some stain... umm.... "issues".

I think "issues" is the nicest way to put it. This stain is ORANGE. And, like I mentioned on my Facebook page, it's not in a good way! So I returned that horrible stuff (Cabot's "Mahogany Flame" - so you don't make the same mistake :-p) and bought some untinted wood finish. There'll be "after" pictures of my work set-up VERY soon! YAY!

In the mean time, I had some Spring skirts to sew!

Both skirts were sewn using Dana at MADE's market skirt pattern. 

Baby Goats' has the gathered pockets and a white bottom hem (my favorite). And the big Kid's uses the same polka dotted fabric throughout! After I finished sewing these, I took the girls outside for some Springtime pictures!

Now, I feel like I can get back to work without the urge to sew cutesy spring stuff :o)

Today's my Monday - so how was your weekend?!

Self Diagnosed

I have Spring Fever. Yes, I diagnosed this myself, and would recommend that you seek medical help if you feel you have Spring Fever.

Because this is a very serious condition.

Especially for those of us with extremely short attention spans already!

There's a big project that I need to finish, and the deadline's quickly approaching! But with these mid-70 to mid-80 degree highs, beautiful green trees, and the breezes rustling the leaves... Oh, and the birds doing their Springtime dances! I'd rather be sewing Spring skirts for the girls... or pulling weeds! Or sitting outside with a cup of coffee. Or doing anything but working!!!

What's Spring lookin' like where you live?

Oh, and since every blog post is better with a picture, here's one that I shared on my Facebook page yesterday.

Ahhhh, Spring!

Worn

There is an image in this post that may make some readers uncomfortable. View at your own risk :-p

When I posted the before/current picture of my kitchen a few weeks ago, I have to admit that I was kinda embarrassed that I had STILL not finished adding hardware to the cabinets. So I got my butt into gear and got to it! You know... five days later... because I'm still lazy!

Anyhow, I managed to drill a niiiice hole into my thumb on the third or fourth cupboard, so let's just say I was a little discouraged.

Tell me that makes you hungry.

Anyhow, I put off completing this for almost a month. There wasn't much longer it could wait since I kept the tools on the counter to remind me to do it.

Sadly, this was all done really quickly, and I just kept thinking, "why didn't I do this before?" (you know, before I remembered that the fatty tissues in my thumb had to be yanked out because I couldn't shove 'em back in).

I totally love all the sparkle that it adds to the kitchen, and alllll that silver throughout makes me totally happy.

There are some issues, though.

I bought these knobs from amazon.com without having seen 'em in person. I figured, "how bad could plain brushed nickel knobs be?" - but they're so big and clunky-looking next to the long, sleek handles on the rest of the cabinets. They make me think of those big earrings from the 50s & 60s that just looked so unproportioned to the ear.

And I plan on replacing them with something like the ones I have on my TV stand and the breadboard on the bar.

(see those nice little knobs? I think those would look SO much better!)

So, my hardware is being worn! Another thing to check off my to-do list! I'm thrilled that my latest projects haven't added anything TO my to-do list! I know, however, that this will be short-lived.

Have you adorned any cabinets lately? Or... anything else, for that matter!?

A check off the ole "to-do"s

Was anyone else as unimpressed with last weeks wall quote post? Yeah, sorry, it was uninspired, and I just wanted to post SOMETHING to the Pinterest challenge.

I have something I'm a LOT more excited about, though!

Remember when I did the crappy mock-up, and mentioned that I wanted to reupholster my slipper chairs with a green fabric?

Well..

I DID IT!


I started out with the striped, matchy-matchy chairs from Target

That you can see here.

But... these chairs weren't in the best shape.

I don't really know if that's bananas, but it sounded better than the general "stain" label. And these chairs have been used as a scratching post by my fat cat, so they were scratched up and seams were coming apart because of it. Just.. not pretty..

Come, these curtains that I bought from Goodwill on 1/2 price day.

Yep! Totally changed the look of these chairs for $7. Well, $9, total, but I'll get to the other $2 in a sec.

I reupholstered these using almost the same technique that I'd posted about here. The biggest difference was that I didn't use fabric glue this time. And I left the original fabric on because I didn't have much faith in myself. Wanted to be able to remove everything if it came out looking like crap.

Instead of gluing down the back of the chair and pinning, I bought some metal tack strips from a local upholstery shop for 50 cents each (the other $2 of my $9 makeover). There aren't any pictures of the strips before I wrapped them in fabric because... Well, I have no idea why. These things were scary, and I was sure I was going to impale myself on them... but here are some to give you a picture of what they look like and how they're used.

(do you see the size of those teeth? Torture device!)

So you fold the fabric over the strip, and press the teeth through it

And then you line it up where you you need it to go, and hammer the strip into the chair. In the first picture, I'd cut the strip before hammering... I only did that with the first chair. It really doesn't matter how you do it.

I also sewed the front seams, instead of just folding them like in my first post. To do this, I laid the fabric inside-out on the chair and pinched the fabric right at the corner and pinned. Then I just sewed right where I pinned the fabric.

Resulting in this.

Finally, I was inspired by my pretty new chairs to sew some pillows for them! This pillow was sewn loosely following these directions... (taking like 3 hours!!!!)

And this one is WAY less pretty, and there weren't any directions. I just wanted something LIKE the other one, but not a perfect match. I'll probably end up redoing this one.. Eventually.

And I have to say, it feels SO. GOOD. to have a "big" project checked off the living room to-do list! I figured out which wall color I want for the game board wall, too! So I feel like the living room will be in "after" state before I know it! YAY!

What did YOU do over the weekend? Any furniture make-overs? Paint decisions? New banana stains? :-p

100th Post! AND Pinterest Challenge!

I can't believe it, but this is my 100th post! Now, if I were a GOOD blogger, and wrote nearly every week day (as some amazing bloggers manage to do), I'd be way past this.. But this shows that I average a post every 3-4 days. And I guess I'm fine with that :-)

I'd written a post that I'd planned on using for my Pinterest Challenge the other day, but I had used a copyrighted image, and a wonderful commenter asked if I had asked permission (Whoops! I hadn't!! Thanks, Lindsay!). I asked after that, and was told that I couldn't use the image, so that post had to go! Lesson learned!

So here's my new Challenge submission!

A while ago, I was contemplating adding some fabric rosettes to the striped wall in the play room. The crappy mock-up that I'd done ended up looking weighted, and just... not good... So I kept my eye open for sayings that I might put up there. I know that the Audrey Hepburn quote, "Happy girls are the prettiest" is pretty much everywhere, so I tried not to use it. But... there's nothing else that I like as much! I mean, how true is that?! (very!)

So I'd planned on stenciling the words on the wall, but I can't keep a straight line for my life (and the fact that it'd be ON a straight line would draw more attention to.. well... however bad I would make it). Anyhow, I'd pinned this tutorial on DIYing a projector, and now I have ideas for like... every room of the house! I don't think there's a wall that's safe!

Simply put, you put a light source into a box and place a transparency in front with the image of your choosing. You can hand draw one, print one out or trace over a picture!

I ended up typing the quote in photoshop, finding a font that I thought I could easily trace, and traced it right off my monitor. 

(I used a sheet protector, but you can use anything clear and somewhat sturdy... like a ziplock bag or similar)

I started off with the "blank" wall 

Then I rigged up this extremely unstable contraption to hold the "box" that i placed my light source in...

It had to be level to the area I wanted it! Shush! hahaha. 

When that was all scary and ready, I arranged the page protector on the front of the crate (you should use a box if you have one). Take note that the image you plan on using will be reversed when projected onto the wall, so you can just turn the transparency around.

After that, I closed the blinds to make it as dark as I could (it would've definitely worked better if it were night), and got to painting.

No pictures of me painting, but here's the image projected onto the wall!

Annd... 

le result!

It's more noticeable in person. Sorry, I couldn't make the picture do it justice without making it dark and ugly. I'm going to live with the white for a few days, and if I decide that it's not blatant enough, I'll paint it pink or purple or blue... who knows?! 

Now! I'm off to submit this! Even if I'm like #634 (or, you know, about that!)

* Update: I've been asked why I didn't use the fact that I got rid of the archways and knocked down a wall this season, and the reason is just that... Everything isn't finished! But I'll DEFINITELY do it for the Spring Edition. Because it just HAS to be done by then, right!? (??)

Pavers Schmavers

On Leap Day, I was honored to have gotten the most votes on the Purebond Facebook challenge, and won a $100 gift card. Totally, absolutely stoked. I was thinking of all the projects I would be able to do with $100 (trust me, I could've fit a LOT onto that gift card!), but the most pressing right now was having an area to DO all of my projects. So that's where the money went, and I am SO grateful for it!

I told you already about clearing the area to get it ready for cement. I was sure we would do cement because it seemed like it would be the cheapest and easiest solution... but after pricing the cement, , it came in well over $150.. and that didn't include rebar and tool rentals.. or taxes! So in looked into pavers, and found some really affordable options.

source

These pavers are $1.17/sf (they're 12"x12"), and we needed 80 square feet of pavers for my 8x10 patio. 

So of course, that means 80 pavers...

(she was exhausted from helping move them)

That may not seem like a lot, and I know there are definitely people out there that have done more... But lifting the pavers to put them on the "cart", moving them from the cart to the truck, from the truck to the wheelbarrow, from the wheelbarrow to the ground and then from the ground to being set... Exhausting! And Mr. Goats did most of the work, so I can only imagine how he feels!!

We also had to do gravel and sand.

I chose to use treated lumber as a paver barrier because it's the cheapest. I also quickly realized that the amount of sand in the picture above was NOT enough (so we had to run to Lowe's to get more! I think we ultimately used 13 bags). You'll notice in my end result that the paver barrier sits above the pavers on the far left. I'm not bright, apparently, and set the barrier level, when you need to slope the pavers away from the house. So while the pavers slope, the barrier doesn't. We were worried about drainage, but a few big holes drilled in the barrier helps with that.

I put the table on for "show". This is going to be my work area, after all!

But it sure is pretty!

I also want to mention that the pavers matching the wall was a totally happy accident. I just liked the "tri colored" pavers (as opposed to all gray, all brown or all red - those were the other options), and you can't really tell in the pictures, but it pretty much picks up all of the colors from the wall. Totally great!

Now I need to rake the rocks surrounding the new patio even, and there's a shed in the works. Designed by the amazing Ms. Ana White... so we know it's going to be stellar!

In the Works

Thank you guys SO MUCH for dealing with my little blogging mental breakdown last week. I was a little overwhelmed and just needed to take a short break. That doesn't mean that I took a break on my projects, however, and I want to give you a little glimpse at the blog posts I'll be working on over the next day or two (yes, you're going to be bombarded).

You'll finally get to see what I spent the $100 Home Depot gift card (that I won, thanks to all of YOU, from the Purebond facebook giveaway).

You'll see my DIY'd projector, used to create some cool kitchen art.

And some other kitchen art I made!

So I guess this post is just to let you know that I'm still here! And glad you are, too! I'll have a few more  (hopefully more interesting) posts soon!

Full/Mini Make-Over

After re-reading my Hall Bath REVEAL post, I saw that I only had one follower when it was posted... So most of you probably don't remember that ;-) For a quick refresher, my hall bathroom is a builder-grade nightmare. Mid-90's orange cabinets, an oddly shaped sink, and yes... I still have the original faucets.

This is as "before" a pic as I got. But just imagine a LARGE builder-grade mirror over the entire part of that wall. Yum.

So I took a $50 gift card that I'd gotten for my birthday, and did a minor make-over..

I painted, changed the light fixture, and cut down the builder-grade mirror to fit into my newly built vanity mirror frame, and my second-ever I-came-up-with-it-myself plan, the medicine cabinet.

Now, the medicine cabinet wasn't BAD. It really wasn't! But after getting a few more builds under my belt, I realized that it's just not GREAT. And I've been wanting to spruce it up for a while. The other day, I even took my drill into the bathroom with every intention of rebuilding the cabinet... Until I opened it up, realized I'd have to re-house all that crap, and then actually DO it.

Um. Yeah... how often do I tell you guys how lazy I am?! Because it's true...

So, on the SAME DAY that I had gotten and lost my motivation, I got a comment on my Facebook page, asking about my medicine cabinet! What're the chances, right? So my response was something along the lines of, "I hate my medicine cabinet, but I want to redo it..." (see, I'm too lazy to even go see exactly what I said)... and so I emptied it out and got to work.

To start, I had to disassemble the whole piece. It wasn't square. And I had used wood filler in my pocket holes.

Surprisingly! This wasn't as big a deal as I thought it would be! I just took a screw, and screwed into the wood filler. That revealed the tops of the screws, so I could just unscrew them!

Then I rebuilt it (square, this time!), and grabbed some scrap 1x6 to add another shelf and the cubbies. End of day 1 looked like this

Actually, I lied. By this time, I'd had the drawers built from some OLD 1/2" MDF that'd been sitting on my back patio for over a year. They weren't pretty.

I tried to reuse every part of the original medicine cabinet, but the boards I'd chosen for the door were horrible! I wish I knew what I was thinking then, but they were all twisted and warped. I had to replace one of the boards on the door. I cut the mirror to size and traced around it, then used my Dremel Trio to route out the shape of the mirror.

Sanded and primed everything....

And got 'er painted and hung! (if you follow me on Facebook, you'll know it wasn't that simple! Oh, the magic of blogging!)

I finally got to use my DIY label holders, since I'll probably never get around to their intended use (and they're really easy to make, if I do!).

And I now have a fully made-over medicine cabinet, for a minor make-over to the whole bathroom

Now I just have to repaint the vanity mirror...

You can build this, too! Click here for plans!