Miss Mustard Seed follower Giveaway

I don't know if you know this but I love Mustard Seed Creations blog.  During my usual blog stalking, I was tickled to see her reach 2000 followers.  Thus, prompting a giveaway of great stuff.  You may remember my feeble attempt at being like her with my slipcovered ottoman found here.  You should check out her site.  It is very inspiring.  She does the most amazing things.   

Have a great weekend!

Give me some shade!

When I was thinking of how to dress up the window, I decided against panel curtains.  You can tell from the photo below that the proportions just didn't seem right for panels.  Instead, I made roman shades for my upstairs bonus room.  They are soooo simple to make.  Just measure, cut rectangles and sew.  I made the kind that roll up.  I tried using some ribbon but didn't seem to like the color of red.  Oh, you can see that one of the windows lack the 2nd ribbon.  I ran out. 

For some reason, I felt like the red was too much.  I liked it but wasn't in love with it.  Everyone seems to be in love with the twine and rope for the coastal theme these days.  So, why not join the craze.  Now, I have replaced the ribbon with rope and these adorable starfish.  Can you believe I found 6 starfish for $1.99!  They are the perfect size for this. 

Here is a view of all of the windows.  

                 

I think the rope gives it more texture as well as being easier on the eyes.  Which do you think is better??  Let me know.

Hooray! Hooray!

I finally did it!  I got that chair done.  Check it off the list.  I took some pictures during the process to share.  If you read an early post, the chair was this color:

At first, I wasn't up to reupholstering yet.  I did the next best thing.  Enter the slipcover:

I loved how it turned out.  I would have kept it like that forever but the smell just would not leave this chair.  So, I had to do this:

The diamond tufting was playing head games with me.  It looked so complex.  How could little old me do that?!  Well, I pulled up my sleeves and got to work. 

           

The tufting wasn't nearly as hard as I made it out to be in my head.  It took twenty buttons.  It was a little tricky here and there.  I redid a few buttons to try to get the best diamond tufts I could.  This is what the back side of the chair looked like without the final fabric.

The hardest part of this chair upholstery project was using curve-ease, otherwise known as pli-grip.  Much to my dismay, I found that my stapler was to wide to staple on the curve ease.  So, I had to use the old fashioned way, using upholstery tacks and my tack hammer.  The back didn't quite turn out as I imagined.  You can't tell by the photo but the top isn't very crisp.  But, as they say, it is as good as it's going to get.  

                  

Lastly, I had to wrestle with making the seat cushion.  It was a little tough using this fabric.  I used a linen fabric from JoAnn's apparel section for about $7/yd with my 40% off coupon of course.  Since this chair will only be sat on occasionally, I went for the cheap route.  If I wind up having to put an upholstery weight fabric on later, at least I will know what I'm doing and may even splurge on nice fabric.  I am 99.8% done.  I just have to add the double welting around the bottom and front back of the chair.  I couldn't wait to post about it until then.  So, without further anticipation, drum roll please...........

I'm linking up to the following parties (I'll be editing my post throughout the week to add parties.): Blue Cricket Design

  

Under the weather

Unfortunately, I have been a little under the weather.  During the bits of time where I have felt okay, I have been reupholstering the french chair.  Hopefully, I will feel better and the kids will cooperate enough to let me finish tomorrow.  I think they say if you write down your goal, you are more likely to achieve it.  So, cross your fingers!

New Look for French Settee

I love french furniture.  I have admired this settee from Wisteria forever. 

With the the low, low price of only $1,399.00, I know you're thinking how can you not get it.  Right?!  Well, the pay for a stay-at-home mom is not in monetary currency just emotional currency.  So, I always scan Craig's list for furniture.  I stumbled across this settee for $112.00 just after Christmas.  It isn't quite like the one above or the other antique french settees I've drooled over that are way out of my reach.  This was as close as I think I will be getting.

                       

My mom had given me $100 for Christmas.  So, really it only cost me $12 plus tax.  Once I got it home, boy did I have plans for it.  Then, reality hit that maybe I just should start with a slipcover instead of tackling reupholstering it.  I have a problem with fabric commitment.  So, I made a slipcover of white canvas.  Before this, I had only made a chair slipcover that I have already posted about here.  This one was my second and seemed much easier for some reason.  Anyways, here is the end result:

Now that I have lived with it for a while, I think I am ready to tackle reupholstering it.  I was thinking of sanding down the wood to get the look of the Wisteria settee above.  My biggest dilemma is what kind of fabric to go with.  I am thinking of chocolate velvet or an inexpensive linen fabric if that exists.  Please any help, ideas, and/or advice regarding the wood and/or fabric would be appreciated.  Before you mention it, no I have not reupholstered the chair.  It has foam and batting on it but I'm still procrastinating.  I'm linking up with :

   

Edited to add link parties.

Imitation is a form of flattery!

I have been inspired by Mustard Seed Creations grain sack ottoman found here.  I found this great footstool at the Goodwill for only $4.99. 

I know, not pretty, but I have plans.  First of which is to get rid of the vinyl material with questionable sticky residue.  Here are the fabrics that I peeled away:

I'm thinking that perhaps it graced a roller rink in it's original 70's orange vinyl.  It made me want to put on some of those rented, brown skates and get a disco ball out.  Since I was missing all of those things, I continued on.  I dug out some fabric in my stash and recovered it.

I bleached a drop cloth and painted on some red stripes with craft paint to get that grain sack feel.

Noticed that there is freezer paper I placed under the fabric while I taped and painted on the stripes.  I then cut out a skirt for the footstool.  I just have to say that gathering a canvas drop cloth for a skirt is messy!  It unraveled a lot!!!!  

 

I know it isn't like Miss Mustard Seed's just yet.  So, I tried to rock out the initials.

If you checked out Miss Mustard Seed's ottoman post, you will notice that she painted the initials.  Well, it took me 2 days to build up the courage to paint on the slipcover.  I mean I just spent time making it, could I really paint initials?  I knew for sure there was no way I could free hand it.  I printed out the initials, taped it to a window, and traced it onto the slipcover with a pencil.  I will warn you, your arms may start to feel a slight burn.  If you look closely, you may see a pencil mark here or there.

Over all, I am pretty happy with the result.  I am a wanna be Miss Mustard Seed!  I hope I will do her proud!

I will be linking up with:

, Blue Cricket Design, ,


 Editing post to add links to parties.
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What can you do with 50 cents?

My new thrifting store is the Salvation Army.  It may not be as clean as Goodwill but with a little perseverance you can find great deals.  I have been wanting to make a pillowcase dress for my daughter for a while now.  I found this great pillowcase for only 50 cents! 

I just love this fabric, such a vintage vibe.  I basically used one of my daughter's dresses to use as a template for the arm cuts.  Folded down the edges and sewed away.  Fished the ribbon through with a safety pin and viola!

(Excuse the model's expression.  She is 3 going on 16.)

I also found a pretty sheet for $1.00 that I couldn't pass up.  I made another pillowcase dress from it.  I see pillows and perhaps an apron in the future.

What can you do with 50 cents?

I'm linking to:

I've been featured?!

When I checked two of my usual blogs I stalk, I was surprised to see my projects displayed on another person's posting.  Being new to the blog world, you can understand how giddy I feel after being featured (I don't know if that is what you call it) at Pink and Polka Dot and Finding Fabulous.  How exciting that another person felt little ole' me produced something worthy of highlighting.  It makes me feel a sense of accomplishment.  Being a stay-at-home mom, I don't always see my results.  I'm hoping in 20 years, I will see the fruit of my efforts.  At times, I tend to lack the sense of accomplishment.  The kids aren't always giving me a pat on the back.  I think I create so many projects for myself because I can see the progress.  It is like handing in that report to your boss.  Anyways, I wanted to thank these two bloggers for making me feel special.  I hope you check out Pink and Polka Dot and Finding Fabulous.  They are great blogs.  You can find a lot of great inspiration.  I've been checking out so many blogs for soooo long before I started my own.  I've been inspired by so many of you.  What has another blogger inspired you to do?   

Fluffing my nest

You may not have seen my Goodwill transformation of coffee table to ottoman.  Here is the completed project:

While shopping at JoAnn Fabrics, I stumbled upon this cute fabric.  I couldn't believe it when I found out it was only $3.00/yard.  I wasn't for sure what I was going to do with it but felt I needed to have some.  This is what I came up with:

I lived with the white slipcover on the ottoman for a while.  I don't know about you, but I like the house to appear clean.  Notice I did not say clean just appear.  Because my kids leave toys and books about and I just get too tired at bedtime to clean up, I decided I needed a slipcover that allows me to hide the kids toys under the slipcover.  Let me say it is amazing how much you can shove under an ottoman.

Once the ottoman slipcover was done, I knew the couch needed pillows.  I recovered the pillows from the top picture.  I decided to join the rosette crazy and made two smaller pillows.  I put the rosettes on with safety pins from the inside.  I know it sounds weird but I like to change things up.

 
I thought this fabric seemed so summery.  It added a punch of sunshine.  What do you think?

I'm linking up with Thrifty Decor Chick,