Dressing The Bed

How do you dress YOUR bed?  I must say that I have been guilty of not dressing mine (or making it) at all.

I’ve always had two sets of pillow.  Pillows that we sleep on, and pretty pillows that graced the bed on the rare occasion that I actually MADE the bed.

 

So this is what the bed looked like.  Two king size shams, two standard size shams,  a euro sham, another standard sham and a decorative pillow.  Plus the quilt that was inside of the duvet weighed a ton.  So I hated making the bed.

It was a no win situation any way that I went because there were always always pillows to deal with.  We also sleep with quite a few pillows.

So finally, I’ve wised up!  Maybe it’s wiser or maybe I’m just tired.  Either way, the whole situation had to change.

I found a light weight khaki quilt at my Mother’s.  Problem one solved.

Then, I went to T.J. Maxx and bought all white sheets and pillow cases.

I made the burlap pillow and borrowed another neutral pillow from somewhere else in the house. 

VOILA!

Problem solved!  One set of pillows and a nice light weight quilt.  There’s only one problem.  I actually (and yes I’m crazy) starched and pressed the pillow cases two nights ago before I put them back on.  They’re as wrinkled as can be.  Not exactly a magazine perfect picture.  Then again, how could it be with that HIDEOUS brass bed.  I mentioned to hubby just last night that we really really need to get a new bed.  Hint hint!  He said “but brass is a timeless elegant look” at which point I told him that he was full of poo!  And I’m keepin’ it clean for blogging sake!

Other changes.

This…..

Is now……

This…….

More neutrals and gold.  One of my next projects is to paint the chest a neutral color.  Probably cream with tone on tone accents.  Per Miss Heather’s suggestion.  What do you think about the shelf Heather?  Should I paint it too?

These lamps, which were on either side of the bed, are going to the Rink to be sold.  I really loved them, but they are big and were always in the way.

I’ve replaced them with these.

We actually already had these swing arm lamps.  I need to spray paint them black.  The shades look pretty stark white in this pic. but actually look great with the white sheets.  I may try my hand at making some slips for them though, just to tone them down a little. 

And this……

Now looks like this…….

I love my resin antlers.  I’m just not sure about all the junk that I have hanging on them.  Gotta live with it for a few days and then decide.

And this picture above my bed.  Which is huge, I replaced with this……

She looks like concrete, but she is actually fiberglass and relatively light weight.

I rearranged some vintage pictures.

Threw in my little touches of whimsy.

Made a temporary cover for my foot stool/coffee table.

And I’m well on my way to a more serene bedroom.

Things still to do…..

1. Find a white bed skirt
2. Paint two pieces of furniture
3. Threaten Hubby with bodily harm so that he finishes my bathroom.  Uurrrhhhh!
4. Actually complete the slipcover for the ottoman.
5. Replace a couple of patterned drapery panels.
6. Make one more neutral pillow for my sofa.
7. Drag the brass bed out into the back yard when Hubby isn’t looking and blow it to smithereens.
8. Buy a new bed that I absolutely love.  Maybe this should be number seven.

And that should complete this project!  Neutrals here I come!

And while I’m planning and working…….

Molly is making sure that I have something to keep me busy later.  I swear, we can not give that dog any stuffed toys.  She rips them open in nothing flat and then tears out all of the stuffing!  Naughty dog!

Denise

Another Project

I’m cheating just a bit today…..okay more than a little bit.

This is a project that I actually initially completed several years ago.  However, in early December, I repainted and thought I would share with all of you…….

My all time favorite super cheap fix of alllllll times!

Before most of us were repurposing or repainting or reusing, there was a very talented young woman who was a thrift store  and DYI whiz.

Her name was Kathryn Elliott

I Googled her last night and came up with nothing.  I can’t imagine what may have happened to her, she was super talented and actually wrote two books.

The first of these books was…….

This was my thrifting, redoing, repainting, everything,  bible back in 2001!  She had projects that I had never thought of doing before. 

One of those project was the following……..

My kitchen backsplash.

Think this is vintage tin that I cut to fit?

Wrong.

It’s wallpaper.  Yep.  Wallpaper that I hung right over my existing ceramic tile.

But not just any wallpaper.  This is what they call in the “biz” expanded vinyl or textured paintable wallpaper.

When you purchase it, your paper will look like this…….

Pure white with a raised puffy pattern.

It’s available  HERE for $13.99 a double roll.  If you have ever purchased wallpaper you know that this is super cheap.  I did my entire kitchen with one roll!

Now I have sworn off wallpaper forever but I would do this project again because when you’re through, it looks so much like real tin that when people see it, they have to actually touch it to tell that it isn’t.  HONEST!

So here’s how you go about creating this look.  Sorry, there are no pics. with this tutorial.

First, you want to prime your wall.  This project will work with Formica backsplash, ceramic tile, or drywall.

Be sure and use primer that is made specifically for wallpaper.  This is very very important.  Don’t let anyone at the paint store tell you otherwise!  Wallpaper primer has “sizing” in it.  Sizing means that when the primer is dry, it will have a tacky feel to it and allow your wallpaper to stick to the wall better.  Wallpaper primer also seals the previous surface better.  This means that if you wanted to, you could actually hang over glass.

So……..Step 1.  Prime your backsplash!

Next, measure and cut your pieces.  This paper doesn’t have much of a match at all so it’s very easy to cut.  Be SURE and leave yourself at least an inch on the top and bottom.  You will cut this off later with a razor knife.

So…….Step 2.  Cut your paper to the proper length

Next begin wetting your paper.  After it is wet, “book” your paper and let it sit.  Booking is merely folding the paper in half wet side to wet side and letting the paste activate and get good and gooey.  Don’t get too far ahead of yourself if you are an inexperienced paper hanger.  You don’t want wet paper sitting for too long.

So…..Step 3.  Wet and book your paper.

   Hang your paper matching your pattern as you go.  Cut off excess at top and bottom as you go.

So….Step 4.  Hang it baby!

When your paper is DRY, and I mean good and dry, you want to caulk your seams and along the bottom where it meets the counter with a paintable caulk.  This is not something that you would normally do, but in a kitchen with all of the water, it’s a good idea.  I did this and I have never ever had any of my paper come loose.  Even back behind the sink.

So….Step 5. Caulk it Honey!

Paint your paper a dark color like black or chocolate brown.  Don’t worry about it being perfect, it’s just going to show through a little anyway.

So…..Step 6.  Paint away!

Now it’s time for the silver metallic paint.  Modern masters has a nice selection of silver metallic paints.

 

Just Google Modern Masters and you should find a paint store in your area that carries it.

Brush on your silver and while it’s still tacky, grab a cloth and rub gently over the raised areas of the paper to give it a worn look.  You might also dab here and there with your rag to take a little off in different areas.  There’s really no way to mess this up.  If you take off too much silver, just paint back over that area.

So…..Step 7.  Paint it silver and dab away!

After you have achieved the look that you want, clear coat your backsplash with the acrylic sealer of your choice.

So…..Step 8.  Clear coat to protect!

And there you have it!  A backsplash that looks like you paid a fortune to have it installed.

This has saved me a fortune while I wait for those beautiful granite counter tops that I want.  Which I’ll probably never be able to afford!  Aaahhh welll……….

Hope your weekend is going great!

Denise

Next Project Please!

If there’s one thing that this lousy weather has done, it’s force me to stay at home and create.  I’ve gotten more done since last Thursday than I have in a very long time.

This project is a variation of a theme which I have seen several places across Blogland.  There is just such amazing talent out there.  How can we NOT be inspired to create?

As I stated before, I am presently CRAZY for burlap.  Even my hubby just today commented on my current obsession.

So……burlap is the background for this project!

Let me just say, before I show you some pics., that I had every intention of painting this frame cream.  But my impatience, as it often does, got the better of me!

This project was soooo easy!  If you can sew, even a little bit, and use a glue gun, you can make a memory board like this one.

Using your frame of choice, cut your burlap to fit, leaving about an extra inch all the way around the back.

Using your fabrics of choice, begin making and laying out your pockets.  I used all neutrals on this board because I knew that I had a lot of black and white and sepia toned pics. that I would be displaying.

The two smaller pockets are pieces of hankies with the edges folded over.

This was actually a little vintage towel that I cut to fit.

This was a piece of lace, probably from the bottom of a slip, that I sewed on loosely so that I could insert goodies between the sections.

This was a piece of a newer cotton lace table cloth that I cut following the pattern and sewed on.

Select your materials for your pockets and lay them out on your burlap.

All pockets are sewn on and then buttons were hot glued where I wanted them.  Don’t over do with the pockets, leave plenty of space to pin on bits and bobs here and there. 

When you’re done sewing on all of  your pockets, hot glue the entire piece to the back of your frame.  Stretch your burlap tightly.  This will probably cause your pockets to look a little misshapen but that’s okay!  Imperfect is perfect!

This has turned out to be the perfect place to display some of my family heirlooms like these cameos.

This one is just beautiful, look at the tiny necklace she’s wearing.

A vintage broach that belonged to my Nanny.

A 1917 pic. of my PaPa when he was in the military. 

An old pocket watch that belonged to my great grandfather.

A picture of the grandfather that I never knew.  He died when my father was nine.

Little bits and bobs.  I gave one photo a jeweled crown and displayed vintage pins, or pins with special meaning.

And other goodies just ‘cause they were cute!

About two hours total!  FUN!

Denise

Before and After

I finally finished the first of my two dining chairs that needed painting.

They were the chairs that were formerly slip covered.

I never did take the time to make the slips fit properly and they did NOT look good.

So here’s what my thrift store chairs looked like underneath the slips.

And here it is now!

Quite a difference don’t you think?

I am just sooooo into burlap right now!  And….it’s so inexpensive to work with.

Poor number 2.  It will be so happy when it’s painted too!

Although this back insert is what makes these chairs so cute, it was a bear to paint!  (insert whine here)

So…this is how I spent my icy and snowy weekend.  What projects have you been working on lately?

Denise

Button button….

….who’s got the button?  I do!  I made a great trade with another vendor at the Rink.  She wanted some Ralph Lauren sheets that I had and I needed some vintage buttons.

Whites and creams.  Lots of great really old ones with pretty shapes.

Reds and blues.

Browns and black.  Not my favorites, but I’m sure to find a use for them somewhere.

Of course, the creams and whites are my favorites.

I’m trying to gear up for the wedding.  I’m experimenting with different projects to see which Heather and I might like better.

Like this cute nest banner hanging in our booth at the Rink.  I should have taken a better pic. before I put it up.  It has a lot of cute vintage lace and other goodies on it.  I’ve decided to make one for the wedding that says “Happily Ever After”  to hang somewhere in the barn.

I’ve picked up some wonderful things in the last week at the Rink.  Some I’ll show you later.  But these letters……..

What can I say, they were just FUN!  :)  I paid $5.00 for all three.  They had been nailed on a building somewhere so I used some of my new vintage buttons to cover the holes and give them a little more texture.  Then………..

 

I made these paper posies out of old patterns to hang on either side.

I’ve had all of my vintage lace out lately using it on different project and at the last minute I thought '”huummm what if….?” 

I had these cute crocheted circles.  They were actually one long string.  I don’t know what they were supposed to be.  It looked like maybe someone had started a project and then not completed it?

So I cut them apart.  Notice the hole in the middle?

I found the wire  on the back of my flower which was holding it together.

And simply pulled it through to the back of the crochet piece.  I temporarily secured the wire to the fabric.

Then I turned it back over and gathered the fabric around the paper to give it more of a floral shape.  Using doubled sided tape, I taped the flower to the gathered crocheted piece.

Then I wired the whole thing to my jute string.  I made sure to place a nail in the top of my buffet right where my flowers would be so that I could push the flower down through the nail and adjust how I wanted them to hang.

So how long has it been since you made these classic tissue paper flowers that we used to make as a kid?

You’ll find the best tutorial HERE at Martha Stewart.com.  Paper pompoms and flowers are made the same way.  To put the center piece in my hot pink flower, I just gently flattened out the center and glued in my beaded ornament.

Watch out!  Making these simple little flowers is strangely addictive!

And today I’m painting two of my dining chairs.  In the dining room no less!  It’s sleeting outside like crazy and way way too cold in the garage. 

Oh how I wish I had a heated work building where I could just be messy messy and not have to worry about cleaning anything up.  ……sigh

Gotta go put another coat of paint on!

Denise

Turquoise!

The other day I ready that turquoise is “the” color for 2010!

Woohoo!  I’ve got this one covered!

So, what’s your favorite color this year?

Denise

The Dress

First things first , of course.  What can be more important to the bride than the perfect dress.  Heather knew one thing for sure…..the color.  Pale pink.  And from there it was the old “I’ll know it when I see it” thing.  So we knew that we probably wouldn’t find anything ready made.  It’s never been that easy with my daughter!  But….she assured me, her mother in-law to be would be making the dress.  This was a great relief to me because there would be so many other details to take care of, and although I do sew, I don’t feel confident about making “the” dress.   And our budget did not allow for a seamstress.

So…..we look, we search, through magazines, and on-line assuming that we will probably have to kind of design or combine patterns to make “the perfect” dress.

I finally wised up, and went straight to the pattern companies (duh) and found a couple of  possibilities.

This one from McCall's, with the over-lay.

And this one, from Vogue patterns.

Heather and I are  fortunate to be able to work as a “team” so well together!  I called her and said “I found two that I love!”  And that was that!

She choose…….the second one!  She loved everything about it! 

So Heather said she would e-mail her mother in-law to be the picture.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Now…..just stick with me here.  This is where the story gets reallllly interesting!

The next day was the anniversary of a really traumatic event in our family.  However, I woke up that morning with a GREAT attitude.  I started thinking about how this event had changed me as a person.  How I was so much nicer than I used to be.  How I was so much less judgmental of people than I used to be.  Why, by the time I was through patting myself on the back and thinking all about what a great person I had become, I had subconsciously assumed the position of someone between a Disney character and Mother Theresa!

So I got up that day and proceeded to spread joy and good cheer everywhere I went.  I’m sure I had an invisible shiny gold halo on my head, little blue birds sitting on my shoulder singing happy songs, and flowers and glitter trailing behind me everywhere I went!

This went on all day.  Although I DID go shopping, I was such a good good person, that I only made WISE  purchases.  Like a $2.00 shower curtain from Goodwill.  And although I did go to T.J. Maxx, all I purchased there were new sheets for my bed.  Which we desperately needed. 

So later that evening, I’m still patting myself on the back, and thinking happy thoughts and I get a phone call.

From Heather.

Who proceeds to tell me……………

Mother in-law to be……..refuses to make “the dress.”

“SHE WHAT?”  I say.   “WHY?”

Because…….Heather says  IT’S TOO LOW CUT!

My halo begins to slip.  My little blue birds back off and say “ah oh.”  And the flowers begin to wilt and wither.  But I’m trying really really hard to hold on.  I say “that’s just so silly it’s funny.”  So we have our conversation and hang up.

Then I REALLY start to think.

I could have SWORN that my daughter was 35 years old and capable of making her own decisions.

I didn’t know whether to be more P.O.’d at the position this put me in with who would make this dress.  OR more P.O.’d that I’m pretty sure my daughter had just been told she’s a SLUT!

My halo fell off.  It went rolling out the front door and down the street.  My blue birds deserted me for greener pastures.  The flowers disappeared in a poof of ash.  The glitter turned to dust.

I was livid!!!

Apparently this woman thought we had found this pattern at the “Sluts R Us”  pattern company.  Maybe on the same page as the naughty French maid costume pattern! 

UUUHHHHHH!

So now, I’m not sure what we’ll do.  Even if I did feel confident enough to tackle this,  I don’t own a serger.  And I really think these seams need to be serged.  Especially with a sheer overlay.  We’ll figure it out though.

Oh…..and if you happen to see a tarnished gold halo rolling down the road, consider it yours!

In the meantime…..I’m on the lookout for a really really low cut dress to wear to this wedding.  Bruhahahaha!  I’m BAACCK! 

Love,

Denise