Imperfect's Guest Post

Hello all! I'm thrilled to be here guest posting on Laurel's blog - Laurel and I have been blog friends for a few years and we live in the same great state of Colorado - quite a distance apart, but I'm always on the look out for her in stores anyway :).  I blog over at imperfect about decorating, budgeting and family life - and I thought I'd share a recent low-cost project I took on.

We recently made over our guest room as our son's room in order to make room for a new baby in our nursery.  With a baby on the way and two rooms to make-over (because I just can't leave well enough alone!), I was looking for ways to get the look I wanted for my son's room within a reasonable budget. 

After scouring stores and catalogs for industrial-esque lighting, I came up with options that were 1) far too expensive for a toddler's room - especially a toddler with an affinity for indoor golf - or 2) not exactly the look I was going for.

As I was moving our guest room's belongings to the garage sale pile to make room for our boy's room, I realized the old IKEA lamps I had actually had great bones - but the shades were a little too white and pleated for the vintage brown, red and blue room I was aiming for, and the brushed nickel finish wasn't quite what I had in mind.

A quick trip to our local Target and I had two textured drum shades for to update the style of the lamps.  I pulled out a can of Oil Rubbed Bronze Spray Paint I already had on hand, taped off the electrical components of the lamp, and went to town transforming the lamps from shiny and silver to exactly what I had in mind.

So for $26 for a pair of lampshades, I updated two basic IKEA lamps to get exactly the look I wanted on a very tight budget.  

BlueSusan Makes Guest Post

Hi there, I'm Sarah, visiting you today from BlueSusan Makes.  How fun to be invited to guest post for Laurel while she is busy caring for little Baby J.  Laurel is an old college friend of mine and for all of you who only know her in the world of blogs, she is just as great and genuine in real life.  I only wish I lived closer to her.  I love to make things and "BlueSusan Makes" is my place to show off the things I make for my family and home, or to sell at seasonal craft fairs.

Today I'm showing off a pillow I made recently.  It was originally intended to be made as a Valentine's day accent inspired by this pillow...but I plan on leaving it out all year long.   It reminds me a bit of a beaded door curtain.

A couple of weeks ago I got new gray couches and it looks great on them...but a little lonely. So I grabbed some pillows from my kitchen bench and some fabric from my stash to experiment with colors.

How about a little turquoise?

Or maybe some Orange?? 

Or maybe turquoise and orange...

Okay, enough playing with pillow colors! Here's a quick peek into how I made my "Beaded Door Curtain" pillow.  I used my Quick Pillow Cover Tutorial and appliqued felt circles to the front.

  

For a 16" inch finished pillow I started with a long rectangle 17" X 40".  (a 1/2 yard of fabric will be just enough). I hemmed each short edge. Then found the center and drew a line along it.  Next I drew the rest of the lines 2 1/4 inches away from the center line (3 on each side, 7 lines altogether). For the felt circles I used 28 - 2" circles, 20 - 1 3/8" circles, and 21 - 1" circles.  It took some rearranging to get them to all work out. Then I stitched them down making sure to leave 1/2 inch on the long edge for a seam allowance.

To finish the pillow I folded the hemmed edges into the center overlapping them about 4 1/2 inches and then stitched the side seams closed making an envelope closure.  For a more thorough explanation of the finishing process check out my tutorial HERE.

 Thanks for reading! Feel free to stop by BlueSusan Makes and say hello! And "Thank You"
 Laurel for the fun opportunity.  Have fun getting to know your newest little "duckling"!

 

Good Girl Gone Glad's Guest Post

Today, our post is from Good Girl Gone Glad - who has the prettiest pictures and the greatest sense of style!  Thanks so much Jesse!

Hi everyone, I'm Jesse from Good Girl Gone Glad. I am a homeschooling mother of 3. Between schooling the kids, running my etsy shop and having way to many hobbies there is never a dull moment. I wouldn't have it any other way. I am so excited for Laurel and her family! What a blessing babies are and am tickled to be here today sharing what I have been day dreaming about!

After you have lived in your house for a while do you tend to think of all of these tweaks you could make to it for it to work for you better? Lately I have been thinking about my kitchen. Our home was built in the 50's and the kitchen still has most of the original "charm". We have changed out a few things, like giving it a fresh coat of white paint, new hardware and installing backsplash and countertops. All a little at a time. Oh how I would love to start from scratch. Making a kitchen that works for our more modern needs. Maybe adding in a desk area for managing bills and such. Also some better functioning storage would be fabulous. 

Here is some inspiration I have been pouring over lately. A girl has gotta dream!

I love the contrast of having this large rustic island!

Get a look at those tall cabinets! I can't get enough of both of these spaces and how they flow together.

Double sinks, subway tiles... can't find a single thing to dislike about this gorgeous kitchen.

Seems as though open storage is all the rage. I would love to have a few peeks of it. Maybe not the whole kitchen, but definitely a place to display pretty bowls and cups... or cake plates!

via 1./ 2./ 3./ 4./

Thanks for reading,

xx

A Little Change

We have this little wall space at the top of our stairs on our landing.  When we first moved in, I hung up some of my favorite pictures.  It was never finished, but at the time, I was pregnant with M. and it was good enough.

But that empty space drove my crazy!  And after I got some of my latest family pictures taken, I made a tweak.

Adding one more big picture and changing other pictures around has made all the difference in the world.

And now I see my favorite faces and not just concentrate on that empty hole.  Why do these little projects that take such little time, but bring so much satisfaction get postponed so often?

Snap Trim Pillows

Lately, I have been doing some custom work for one of my interior designer friends.  I love doing it.  She designs, I sew the top, then she sends it off to the "work room" to finish the pillow.  I love seeing what she comes up with.

These pillows use this snap trim.  I'm not sure what it is called but I love the industrial look of it. I would have never have thought to use this as decorative!

For the numbers, I stitched them down about 1/4" from the edge.  This allows the edge to be frayed.

These pillows are going in a boys room and have his favorite numbers on them.  I can't wait to see the finished room!

Thursday

We moved some furniture around.  This doesn't happen that much, honestly.   Usually, I move it around and then realize that it was in the first place for a reason - it looks better there.  This furniture, however, didn't really get moved around - more like finally put in the place we planned for it.
We moved the loveseat that I slipcovered down in between the bookshelves.  We've had that couch in our master bedroom for so long that the corner really looked empty.

I moved the humongous, but oh-so awesome, chair up to this corner and really like it.  I finally brought this side table that I purchased about a year ago from Craigslist ($20).  Isn't this table great? 

Give me a lamp and this makes a great reading space.


PS - for all you I Spy-ers:  yes, there is a mirror hidden behind the chair that is waiting to be hung.  First, I'd like to put up a chair rail around the top of the room (about 6-8 inches from the ceiling).  Then, I'll hang up things like pictures and mirrors.  And yes, M. was watching Dora the while I was taking pictures - about 1 foot away from where I was taking pictures.

Dish Towel into Pillow

I come up with the most catching titles, don't I?  That one just grabbed you I'm sure.  Anyways. . . .
This summer, while in Breckenridge, I happened upon the cutest dish towel. I searched through the bin and asked the lady if I could search the back.  I loved them so much I wanted to give them as Christmas gifts.  I only came up with Colorado and Arizona, though.

It had a map of the state I love.  I was charmed.

There was the cutest ric rac trim and darling stripes going down both sides.  But there was a problem.  If I actually hung this up in my kitchen, then people would use it.  If they used it, I'm sure it would get ruined.  Sad fact, but true.  I liked this too much to watch it get ruined.

Here is the pouch this came in.  Just so I remember and can hopefully track down some more states.

Anyways, I cut off the adorable trim and it's saved for another project.  I turned this into a pillow and added black piping around the edges.  It is sitting on my entry bench where wet hands will not get wiped on it.  I saw something similar on Young House Love as a giveaway lately and love the idea of getting each state of where we have lived (why did I give the AZ one to my sister?)  I am now on the lookout for a California, a Utah, an Arizona, and a Washington (I know, we technically haven't lived there as a family but I'm still counting it!)  It might take another trip to Breckenridge, but I'll probably just google them and see what I find - which I haven't taken the time to do yet. 

Doesn't it just make you love Colorado?

Power of a Pillow

 Yes, I believe there is power in a well placed pillow!  It's amazing.  Remember the slipcover I made for a chair in G's room.  It was hard and my first wing back slipcover.  There were lots of areas that weren't so tight.  I saw the above picture somewhere and got excited that I could see G's chair!  And I had been wanting to put a pillow on it!  And there was my inspiration!

 I chose a rectangle shape because it hides some of the issues my slipcover has.  It fits perfectly.

 I embroidered a "g" on the front and sewed some piping around the edges - perfect!

 This chair gets used all the time.  The two of us fit perfectly on this chair.  (Guess who wants chairs of their own now?  That would be my two girls.)

That pillow - it made this chair even more perfect. Have you counted all the times I've used the word perfect?  Am I geek for getting excited about pillows?

Guest Post: Coffee Filter Snowball Tutorial

Today, Ashley is posting for me and I'm over at her blog: Domestic Fashionista.  I hope you'll hop on over!  Here's Ashley:

December is here and Christmas is in full swing.  To add some few new snowy touches to my holiday decor I looked to simple supplies I had around the house to make a snowy snowball.

 For this project I used:
-Coffee Filters

-Styrofoam Ball (Depending on the size you want consider the coffee filters will stick up about an extra 2 inches off the ball)

-Sewing pins (or glue)


 Pinch each coffee filter in the center so it forms a flower shape.

Secure the coffee filter onto the styrofoam ball with either a pin or glue.  I prefer the pins if you have an abundance of them like I do because they make the project must faster and less messy.

To hang the snowball I pinned a piece of ribbon to the styrofoam.  I pin in two pins, one angled to the right and the other angled to the left to have a secure hold.  Because the ball is so light, it should be able to hold the weight. 

 Keep on pinching and pinning the coffee filters until you get a glorious, snowy, white snowball.

You can also make adorable white snowy ornaments by using a teeny tiny styrofoam ball!

Thank you Laurel for having me! It has been so fun to make this project for Ducks in a Row readers! Happy holiday decorating and I hope you will visit me over at Domestic Fashionista!