A couple of Trays...

 I was out and about the other day and found these dated, yet useful looking trays. I thought with a little bit of work, I could sell them in my booth.

 They've got nice handles, quite sizable, but came with a...I'm guessing 90's...quilted fabric lining.

 Once I decided to update the fabric, I realized that the wooden bottom would take chalkboard paint very well. With a small brush I carefully went around the edge...

 ...then rolled in the rest of the bottom

 For the "new" fabric, I used a couple of napkins that I've had for a while from Target.

 I used the lining as a pattern and cut the napkin. I sewed the new fabric to the old lining (I don't trust my sewing skills to make a completely new lining), threw them in the wash hoping to make it look like a rag quilt (after snipping all the way around).

 It didn't quite fray like I wanted, but I think a couple more washing will do the trick.

While I had the chalkboard paint out, I painted an old vase and let Logan draw whatever he wanted on it. Are you like me, once the chalkboard paint is out, you're on the hunt to see what all can be painted like a mad dog?

 He drew every family member, which I thought was really cute.

 So with or without the lining, I think they are definitely updated. I could see them hung on the wall with the dinner menu too! A twofer!

***

 I'm suppose to be going back to Houston for 3 days next week to start the trial. I am excited, but really upset that it happens to fall on the same day school starts. So I won't see my baby's first day of second grade or watch Keegan drive off to start his Junior year. No pictures or hugs which I insist on every year. Even last year, even though I had chemo, at least we got pictures. Is that dumb that I'm bummed about this? Probably. I'm to start a drug that could potentially save my life, but I will miss the kids first day of school....I know, I'm a nut case.

 I'll let you know how it goes when I get back. Talk to you later.

Logan's Room: Vintage Camp

If your children are anything like mine, they are 'into' everything. Dinosaurs, cars, Thomas, and a whole host of other toys and characters. So picking a theme isn't always easy. You want it to be fun and functional, with plenty of storage, a place they can call their own without going overboard. If I had to call this current look anything, maybe a loose camp feel?

I've been working in Logan's room trying to get things more organized and editing clothes and toys before school starts next month!! Wow! Where did the summer go???

Logan's room has always been vintage based and when he was super young I had picked out 'Lil' Cowpoke' fabric as an accent. Now that he is older, a little more mature look is in order.
This is a dresser my in laws gave me. I was thinking of painting it, I even feel a little silly showing you, but I didn't do anything to it except polish it! Once it got in here, the light pickled look was great and even seemed to be the same shade as the burlap pennant garland...so it made no changes whatsoever. Shocker.

Two vintage lamps that I picked up (new shades from Lowe's), they add a lot of light and height. I did a collage over the dresser consisting of things I've collected over time, all vintage except for the black frames. I put some of Logan's blocks in the old print block tray, old license plate, a watercolor from the flea market, matted and framed. I made his name banner a while back, it use to hang over the window, but I decided to try it over the collage for some layering. Not traditional kid's art, but I love the mix and there is growing room...I'm sure I'll pick up other things along the way.

We moved Logan into a twin bed (from a race car bed), especially after I found a twin head board and foot board. Literal curbside find. I couldn't believe it. The wood was pretty dried out and washed out and I decided to freshen it up with paint. I kept the linens pretty neutral, i.e. no character bedding. Mostly navy and orange. Vintage camp blanket (you've seen that blanket used in tablescapes :) Navy comforter from Walmart, ticking pillow I made a long time ago, striped pillowcase and euro sham from West Elm.

Here is the before of the spindle bed:

And after three cans of black spray paint:

  I ordered this rug from Overstock and I absolutely love it.

It is described on the website as being southwest, but I think it looks like camp/vintage. I really love how it picks up all the colors in the map wall

I found this orange metal chandy at a flea market in Bella Vista, Arkansas a couple of years ago. It's got to be from the 70's....Justin put it up for me a while ago. It looks pretty campy doesn't it? :)

The only thing I'm waiting on is this fabric from fabric.com, as soon as it comes in, I'll be making curtain panels. I would  also like to find a small round side table to use as a nightstand, something wooden.

Other than that, I think we are pretty close to to done!

Joining Emily A. Clark

The Skirted Desk

I hope your week is going well, today, I am back in the master bedroom, sharing my version of a skirted table. In my case a skirted desk. I've been wanting to do something like this for a while. I think it adds a lot of visual weight and personality to what might be an otherwise plain piece of furniture and you can pick some great fabric too.

However, I'm not really sure if I should be giving any kind of instruction pertaining to a sewing project, you know how bad I am with sewing, so just keep that in mind. I am an amateur sewer.

I searched and searched but I just couldn't find a tutorial that I could wrap my mind around. So I just kinda stared at the desk for a while thinking and trying to figure out how I could do a fairly simple slipcover and not go insane. And because it worked out, I thought that you might want to try it this way too.

I ordered fabric and it arrived pretty quick......but just sat there until today. I hope you remember this desk, I gave it a paint job and chalkboard top last year. It use to reside in the kitchen, but after the facelift, I moved it into the bedroom and I liked it so it stayed. What wasn't working anymore was the paint job. Since I had been admiring skirted tables for some time, I didn't see why I couldn't try making a skirt for the desk.

Since every one's desk, console, or table will be different, I'll spare the measurements, but I bought three yards of THIS striped fabric and I had a little left over.
Also, because this is a desk, and I need to access the drawers from time to time.....I had to make it easy to lift the skirt. So my plan was to make two panels for each of the ends and one panel for the top and front.

I also created corner panels so there was something behind the sides of the panels and not just space and/or a desk leg. I measured, cut and sewed a hem around three sides, I didn't bother hemming the top edge (on any panel) since it would be stapled and I didn't want the added bulk. The finished corner panels are about six inches wide. I stapled the top of the panel right on the desktop. I also ironed the panel in half so it would be nice and easy to line up and staple. Do both corners.




Next, attach each end panels, again with staples.

Once both ends are on, the big panel for the top and front goes on. I had about a half inch of extra fabric, which is where I stapled across the back of the desk. You don't even see any of the staples.

That is it! You've created a custom tailored skirted desk! I put everything back in place and was ready to accessorize (of course!). It is a little strange to me with the lamp on the left, but it really does need to be close to me while I'm in bed.

To balance off the lamp, I used a couple of candle holders, books, frames and a little owl. The black bottle was something of my mom's that I ran across in storage while cleaning it out. I really liked it and decided to keep it. I think it might be a liquor bottle or something, I'm not sure. I liked the Egyptian motif on it and think it's pretty neat.

Remember this little owl I found at Cimarron Flea?

I love how the feminine and fancy frame and things look on the masculine stripes

The room is coming together! I bought the other curtain panel , so finally the windows look decent. Now I have to buy some glass to protect it, I'm not in a huge rush though since it's in the bedroom.


Did you notice I found a different chair? I think it's more fitting for a desk. I love the shape of it and I'm thinking of leaving the wood and just reupholster. I think.

I selected THIS houndstooth and I made a little pillow out of the main fabric already! This will make the third chair I've got to reupholster....I'm scared to death to start them!

(Don't you just love houndstooth!)

Well, I hope you give this a try, I love the look and it was pretty easy. I know some of you that are accomplished seamstresses, can whip this up pretty quick. If you have any questions, just leave them in the comments.

Thanks for stopping by I hope you're inspired! I've started bring out Fall things, have you?

Master Bedroom: It's Coming Along

The fabric that I ordered finally arrived and I completely love it. It was exactly what I wanted and even though it was my second choice (read about my first choice HERE) I'm so thrilled with it. I've ordered some other fabrics too, but they've yet to arrive. I didn't want to order anything else until I was sure I liked the main fabric. So a little more waiting, but I went ahead and made two pillows from my lovely new fabric.

I want to give you a little background on the master bedroom. It was the first room we painted when we moved in seven years ago....


.....and this is why. It was a terrible, terrible shade of lilac that the former homeowners had painted. I refused to do anything in the house until this room got painted. The color was just gross. I wanted to create a cozy and comfy bedroom and really flex my design muscles so I chose a dark brown. Seven years ago, I was on the "blue and brown" train (that I've since gotten off of) and wanted a dramatic wall color accented with blue. Justin and I tackled the project together. I painted the base color; Coffee Bean, Justin doesn't like to paint. To create a little interest, I thought stripes would be just the ticket. Once dry, Justin and I spent about 3.5 hours dry brushing a gold glaze over the coffee bean. The next day, Justin taped off 12 inch stripes and I came back behind him with the coffee bean and created the stripes. Good times. We worked as a team and it was one of the first projects of many to come in our new house.

Fast forward seven years, my taste have shifted, and I was ready for a change (wink, wink). So I started picking out paint colors and bringing chips home for Justin to help me decide on the new paint color. He's (usually) pretty easy going with all my decisions and supports me 100% but when I started talking about painting the bedroom room, he got stubborn! The gall! I couldn't believe he didn't want to paint the bedroom! "It's just paint!" I tell him. He's feeling a little, let's say; attached and nostalgic about "our first project" in the house. So the coffee bean is staying, I decided to play nice and compromise. :) At least it's not this purple anymore!!

So working with the brown walls, I decided to go with black, white and orange palette in addition to brown. I've been using orange in other parts of the house so it was an easy choice for me. I've been trying to pull this room together for months now and I am determined to finish it. I found a great coverlet in 'Tiger Lily' at West Elm on sale and Justin bought it and two euro shams for me for my birthday. It came in and I love how it looks. I went on the hunt for fabric to coordinate, and found a great Schumacher fabric.
After finding out I couldn't afford it, I found this alternative. It was still expensive for me, but I only needed one yard for a couple of accent pillows. It is perfect and had all the colors I needed. I did that a little backwards, I usually like to find the fabric and then the bedding, but I have had things sell out right before my eyes (online) and I didn't want to miss out on the Lexington bedding (it's not easy finding orange bedding! :).

Here it is, isn't it beautiful?

Anyway, I still have a few projects to complete, but I thought I'd show you the progress so far. I'm glad that we've decided to keep the brown, I really like how white looks on brown.

My dressers are old, just to give you an idea....my Dad bought them for me when I first moved out of the house and they were old then. They are totally vintage! ;) I am still deciding whether I want to white wash them or not, we'll see. I didn't use the mirror that was attached to the dresser, I found a big frame at the Goodwill , spray painted it white and had a piece of mirror cut for it. I used my DIY wall shelves under a couple of thrifted frames. Above that a couple of thifted decorative plates. I made myself a shell wreath for above the mirror to complete a very symmetrical look.
I wanted some symmetry over the dresser because I did a gallery wall across from the bed. Pictures of the boys and Justin.... all the frames thrifted and spray painted white. The tall dresser is a project that I am really excited about, you should see what it started from. I named it the Chain Link dresser. I'll be showing you how I did this in the days to come. You might remember the leaf art, it use to hang in the living room. I recently found that little leafy mirror and layered it right over the top of the frame, yes that was intentional. :)

A close up of the pillows and bedding. I just love the honeycomb pattern on the coverlet, it adds a lot of texture.

The lady on the dresser was my Mom's, circa 1963. She was always in my house growing up and now she'll live in mine. :) I've always loved her as a kid and thought she was so exotic looking.

I recently painted my lamps, again. This is a Krylon color called Saddle Tan. This is my first time using this color, but this color is in the fabric and also the curtains, so I tried it out. I'm liking it.

This chair and the desk behind it is on the project list... new upholstery for the chair and a new slipcover for the desk.

So here is what I have left to do:

Buy two more curtain panels

Do different slipcover for desk

Recover and paint chair

Alter some existing art (add colors of fabric)

Get rid of blue stripe around tray ceiling

What I'm still considering:

White washing the two dressers

Changing headboard

DIY Projects you can try out yourself:

DIY Sunburst Mirror

Spray Painted Lamps

Leaf Poster Artwork

Painted Chandy

Wall Shelf out of Curtain Rod Holders

Painted Black and white Dresser


Thanks so much for stopping by, I hope you're inspired!

*EDITED*
Here is the link to the fabric that I chose:
Richloom Chandler in Spice