A few more things

The message board and furniture went to the consignment shop on Tuesday, along with these other little items.

My favorite blue and a bird. Still not sure how I managed to let this one leave my house.


These embroideries were fun. The words are French for "play" (jouer) and "work" (travailler).

The frames were from the thrift store. They got spray painted red and brushed over with black house paint, then rubbed to let the red show through.


The shelf is still on the floor in the garage, looking rather disappointing. Not sure I'll be able to get it done in time to take in for the consignment store's Open House on Friday night, but I'm going to try.

Today I cranked out 4 more pillows, which I'll show you photos of once I've stitched up the open ends. I'm really hoping to get a couple more projects done by Friday, but we'll just have to see how things go.

Make a Framed Fabric Covered Message Board

In May of last year I put together a little message board using some fabric, a thrifted frame and some cork.

Today I made another one but this time took some pictures so I could show you how you can make your own.

You will need:
sheets of cork (these can be purchased in various sizes and in rolls, so the amount you'll need depends on the size of your frame)
wooden frame
fabric
hot glue gun & sticks
wax candle
ribbon or twine
staple gun or hammer & nails
thin cardboard
felt


First cut your cork down to size so that it fits into the recess of your frame. Cut it slightly on the small side so that when you add your fabric it won't be too snug.

Lay your fabric face down, then lay your cork on top of that. Wrap the edges of the fabric to the back of the cork and hot glue to secure. Make sure the fabric is smooth and taut before gluing.

I had to use a small section of a second piece of cork to make mine long enough for the frame, but a small bead of hot glue between the two pieces secured them together nicely.

If you wish to add a pocket to the corner of your message board, just cut a rectangle of fabric (matching or contrasting) and fold down long edge, then glue other 2 edges to the back of the cork.

In this tutorial I'm going to show you how I achieved a two-toned distressed finish. Start by wiping your frame clean.

I used a very beigey tan colored craft paint for my base coat and applied it with a sponge brush in a very quick and kind of sloppy manner.


Next, rub the edge of your candle along the high areas and edges of your frame, where you'll want the base color to show through the top color.

Wipe away the excess wax flakes then apply your top color.

When the top coat is dry (or even before, if you're impatient like me), dampen a rag and begin to rub away the top coat in the areas where you applied the candle wax.

(The candle wax acts as a resist so that the top color wipes away easily to expose the base color. I chose to use this method instead of just sanding away the top color because it would have been easy to accidentally go through the base color and have the wood show, which I didn't want.)

Use a spray-on varnish to give it whatever finish you'd like, or leave it as-is. (I used a gloss lacquer to seal my frame.)

Put your fabric covered cork into the frame...

... then cover that with a piece of thin cardboard cut to the same size.

Cut a piece of coordinating felt to slightly larger than the cardboard...

...then apply it to the back by hot gluing around all the edges and pulling it taut.

Staple (or nail) a piece of ribbon or twine to the back for a hanger.

Then display proudly!

After

I was able to finish up my pieces of thrifted furniture today, and I'm pretty happy with how they've turned out.

You'll have to trust me when I say that this chair is actually more of a taupe color, with a layer of white underneath. It's showing more like cream in these photos, which is disappointing.


I decided to paint this little table and chair to match in a fresh, springy blue.





That mint green shelf is currently laying on the floor of my garage wearing an altogether different look, but is only about 1/3 of the way done. I also made another little project that I'm putting together a tutorial for and will share that soon.

A new venture

I have an inspiring neighbor. She refinishes furniture and sells it locally. Her stuff is amazing and I'm always curious about what she's working on. I've been considering trying it myself and, knowing that I share her fondness for refinishing furniture, she recently introduced me at a consignment shop that carries her items.

That very day I visited several thrift stores and came home with a couple of candidates for makeovers.

These two darling wooden chairs and the mint colored shelf in the background will soon be unrecognizable, but hopefully in a good way!

I was so anxious to get started that I forgot to take a "before" photo of this little table, but imagine it painted in a watered-down muddy brown color. Blech.

I hope to be able to show you the "after" photos shortly, so stay tuned!

A little weekend quilting

Made a runner for my kitchen buffet...

...and began a quilt for Finnley.

Dressing the bedroom

I have a lot of infatuations. Polka dots, birds, boxes, embroidery, baskets, leather, vintage stuff, furniture... the list could go on and on. But one infatuation that's stayed with me for quite some time is this color. I don't know what to call it. It's blue, but with some gray and green in it, and I've loved it since before it became a fad.

After slip covering my headboard I decided the bed needed some color. The whole room, in fact, was really very plain with lots of brown and cream and white. Some throw pillows were in order.

So I went back to Joann and bought another couple of yards of that nice flax-colored cotton fabric. I'd also scored a brand new 84" embroidered curtain panel at my local Goodwill for $5, which gave me TONS of lovely blue fabric with some cream embroidery down one side. About a year ago I'd found another brand new curtain panel there, made of the same fabric but in a different style, which ended up in our guest room (shown below). Weird, huh?

Anyway, over the past couple of days I've sewn up some pillows.

This one I used a basic applique technique to put our monogram in flax on the blue background, with some crocheted trim from a scarf I'd already started to cut up.

A bird silhouette (of course) using that lovely blue and, again, a basic applique technique.

I had to make a pillow form for this one because I wanted a rectangle shaped pillow. I love that embroidery so, so much!

Not sure what to call this technique- "sloppy applique" maybe? (Click the image for a closer look.) It was pretty simple. I drew the letters onto a rectangle of white linen with a disappearing ink pen, then pinned the whole piece to the flax background. I stitched around each letter with a regular straight machine stitch, then cut a scant 1/4" away from the stitching to remove the excess fabric. That 1/4" frayed nicely in the wash, but I think if I were to do it again I'd make my letters thinner. They seem a little too chunky to me.

But I couldn't just stop with the bed. I had to redo a few other things around the room. I replaced the embroidered cream sheers with my favorite blue, tan and brown striped curtains...

...and removed the big, framed tulip print that had hung above our dresser since we moved in with something smaller.

These lovely tin bird pictures were found at our local Dollar Tree a few months ago. I stained some old wooden drawer pulls, used Liquid Nails to put small penny nails into the screw hole in each one, then used them like giant thumb tacks to hold my twine-strung pictures.

Last night I found two white fabric lamp shades on clearance at Target, so now the only remaining green in the room is on our bedside tables, which doesn't bother me at all.
I'm still planning to use this treatment above our bed and am working on collecting photos and old botanical prints and other images to hang. I bought some vintage clothes pins on Etsy and am sooo excited to get that wall decorated- at last!

Headboard & footboard slipcover

It's not often that I get this excited about a project. But all I can say is, dudes- I'm stoked!

Today I slip covered my bed and I am THRILLED with the results.

Here's the "before".

We bought our leather upholstered bed when we moved here almost 2 years ago, and I do still really like it. But recently I've been toying with the idea of changing it up and making it less dark and heavy looking. We've got all this dark furniture in our bedroom- the bed, the night tables, the rocking chair, and this behemoth dresser.

I finally decided that with a wide-open afternoon I'd try tackling this daunting project at last. The boys and I headed to Joann where I'd seen this cotton fabric for $3.99/yd. in the "Utility Fabrics" section (I'm not even sure what it's called), and purchased 6 yards with my 40% off coupon. I liked the color and texture because it reminded me of linen, but without costing $15 per yard. Seriously. 15 freaking dollars! I also bought 3 packages of cream colored piping.

After laying the kids down for naps I went to work. I didn't even bother taking photos during the process because I was really just flying by the seat of my pants the entire time and had no idea whether it was actually going to work or not.

But here's how it turned out.

Like a GLOVE! (You have to say this like Jim Carrey as Ace Ventura.)

It's certainly not perfect, but there's nothing terribly wrong with it that's visible even up close. You should've seen me doing the final tugs and smoothing on the headboard with this big, stupid grin on my face. I was so tickled that it fit!

When I finished I ran downstairs to show my husband my handiwork. The best remark he made was, "For a slipcover it actually looks good." This is quite a compliment coming from a man who LOATHES any and all slipcovers of every shape, size and style. I can tell he likes the leather better, but he won't fuss. He knows how much I like change, and how proud I am of my new slipcover.

But, dang it, now I want to buy new bedding and lampshades!

Looking at this photo it shames me to see that big blank wall above our bed. Two years and nothing on that wall.

But today I tore this photo from my newest Pottery Barn catalog, and it's got me thinking...

...maybe I could do that! I've been trying to come up with something that would fill the space but wouldn't draw attention to the fact that our bed isn't centered on the wall. This could do the trick.

Maybe.