the land of misfit furniture

Do you remember in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Christmas Special, the Land of Misfit Toys? I'm afraid I'm becoming the social worker for misfit furniture!

I decided to go to my local Goodwill again (I haven't had much luck there) and see if there was anything interesting. I've been looking for a table for my entryway. Preferably something with drawers to keep phones, chargers, pocket change, etc. You know, all the stuff that gets lost. And I found this:

Sure it's got some character and needs a little TLC and some sandpaper. And that lonely soccerball knob just looks so sad. But at this price, I think I may be able to splurge for some fancy new hardware.

The only question now is, do I buy new paint? or use a color I already have?


Stay tuned for, Extreme Makeover: Goodwill edition!

extreme makeover: craigslist edition - the reveal

One of my goals for the year has been to bring more color into my all-white rental. The Nester has inspired me to be more creative (like putting my dresser in the closet), to stop pouting about renting and make it beautiful anyway. So I'm trying.

My kitchen is a little challenging - while large square feet wise it is tiny on storage. So I had a baker's rack (read: boring and open-storage messy) and decided a cheap bedroom dresser painted up all fun would do just the trick.

(There is a reason there is not a paint color named craigslist brown.)

plus

and a little modge podge and fabric equals

After the first coat of paint I was really skeptical if I was going to like it. It's SO bright! It is exactly the color I picked out, but in reality brighter than I initially wanted. I moved it into the kitchen so I could give it a test drive, see if I needed to go darker, or calmer, or something-er.

I was thinking about glass knobs, but I was trying to keep this little project within a tight budget. So when I got these cute little fabric covered button magnets (Thanks Lolly!) made with the scraps from my quilting bee quilt, I realized that fabric covered knobs might be just the thing!

and I think they are.

budget: dresser 35$ + paint 12$ + primer 3$ + scraps (on hand) + modge podge (on hand) = 50$!!

(This dresser is going to be re-purposed to my sewing studio when I have a sewing studio. And when it's not needed in the kitchen!)


*****In other magnet news*****

Have you ever made these? little flat glass rocks + modge podge + amy butler scrapbook paper =

I think modge podge is going to be my new best friend.

weekend sewing and a pillow tutorial

I don't know what got into my this weekend. But I lazed around in my new fleece jacket and sweats all day Saturday not really doing a whole lot.

Then I cut out 3 bags.

Then I almost completed one of them. (just one seam and some top-stitching to go.)

Then I worked on some placemat pillows.

Here's a *tutorial* for these pillows.
1. buy a placemat (for a couple bucks on clearance) - make sure it is 2 sided.
2. open up one end of the placemat. (I did these while I was on the phone.)
3. stuff with stuffing (also did while I was on the phone.)
4. topstitch close
5. display on bed, couch, chair, floor, etc.

Can you really call that a tutorial? It's so easy! I made these pillows last year from some napkins and placemats I found at Target.

The downside of this creative spurt is the insomnia. Last night and Saturday night I had a really hard time falling asleep. It was dreadful. Well, staying up late not so much, but the ensuing fatigue and malaise, not so fun. The monkey chatter in my head would not quiet down. I'm tired enough today (no nap) that hopefully it won't be a problem.


I forgot the not to moo part of that last post. I don't want to moo so I started working out again last week. The problem I find is that when I run, I am starving by 10 am and asleep by noon. I blame nursing - it really wears a person out making all that milk! But let me tell you about the revelation I had. Our laptop nestles onto the treadmill quite securely. I can watch online TV, dvds, or as I did last week, catch up on my blogging! I actually started that post while walking a brisk-ish pace. Now I don't have an excuse. Darn it.

a bag, some buttons, and a spider! oh my!

I finally finished another bag! I can't show the whole thing yet, because I don't want to ruin the surprise factor for my friend, Julianne, who ordered it. I really loved how it turned out. I made the strap about 4" shorter for her so she could wear it just as a shoulder bag. I'm trying to figure out what length I should do the bags to sell - messenger length (~36") or shoulder length (~34"). Any suggestions?

One of my friends asked me how I have time to sew, and really - it's all done in 10 minute intervals and it takes me weeks to finish something. It's a little frustrating, but that's the way my life is right now, and I've almost accepted it.

On that note, here's a 2-minute project that is just so, so cute. And they are nothing new, I've seen them all over the place. And now I know why. They couldn't be easier! Fabric covered button magnets.

And this is what my mother-in-law found at my house while she was tending my kids for a bit the other night. I felt REALLY bad, because, she really doesn't like spiders, AT ALL. She smashed it, so this is the little dead spider, she said it was a lot bigger alive. But still, pretty big.

I was going to say that it looks like my luck has run out, but then when I thought about it, I was lucky! I wasn't there when it was still alive and she even vacuumed it up for me. But not until after I snapped a shot. It really looks like a mini tarantula to me. ewwww.

re-purposing

We are a military family, therefore, we rent.

I'm not happy with the house we are in right now. Well, I should say we totally got started off on the wrong foot. And the Realtor wasn't much help. But we were only going to be here a year, so it didn't really matter. Now we are going on 3 and there might be a4th....

The bathrooms are tiny and outdated and needed some freshening up. I've found white shower curtains can really brighten up a dingy room (the owner is unwilling to paint - and there's 15 different shades of white found around the house - not to mention the 70s blue and gold bath tubs. . .). I found this basket/bag at Michael's and it's made out of an Amy Butler fabric. It was labeled as a scrapbook supply tote. Since we have little storage in the bathrooms I have to keep things on the back of the toilet (we have a cd holder from IKEA in our other bathroom). I thought this would look great! And it does! I found some towels that are the right color green, but no rugs yet. Then the whole room will really look better.

I'm not much of a rebel so to use something for other than its intended purpose makes me feel raucous!

The pictures with flash were too washed out. . . so this one isn't too great, but you get the idea.


Here it is in some natural light. Pretty! I love Amy Butler. Have I mentioned that a few times?