Nice and Clean Clean

Well I celebrated the entrance of trimester dos of this pregnancy by snatching up a wonderful stomach bug (possible food poisoning?) which left me lurching over a bucket at the beginning of this week.  It was great and made the nausea I experienced during the first trimester seem trivial and minute.  I know it wasn’t pregnancy-related, but I truly empathize and am so sorry for all you women who have nausea enough to make you throw-up during pregnancy.  I wouldn’t wish that upon even my worst enemies.  Yuck, yuck, yuck! 

Anyway, on to bigger and better things now that I’m back to my usual self…Praise God.  I washed the kitchen rug!!!  It’s still just as snazzy as it was before it’s washing too!

Here’s what it looked like in the few days after I painted it:
rugunwashed
(taken from the original posts – patterned side and striped side)

And here’s what it looks like now, after it’s first wash:
rugswashed

The only difference, except it being much cleaner, is that the washing fluffed up the fibers a bit causing the stripes to appear aittle lighter.  To avoid this next time, I’ll probably pre-wash any rug I’m planning on painting first so that it’s nice and fluffy when the paint goes on.  That way, the paint will hit every fiber while it’s at it’s perkiest.

Since it’s made of cotton, all I did was throw it in our washer on a warm cycle with some regular old detergent (Era in case you want all the deets) and let it air dry.  Easy peasy.

Anyway, I’m hoping to check in tomorrow with progress on the next project.  It involves a filing cabinet and some spray paint.  Fun stuff as usual!  TGIF!!!!!

In Sight, In Mind

I’m one of those people that NEEDS to have a to-do list to get anything accomplished.  I don’t know if it’s an OCD list tendency or just a love of the satisfaction of “checking” something off, but I work so much better and get so much more done when I have a list to look at.  For this purpose, I grabbed the cutest gold striped calendar notebook on super clearance at Target a couple of months ago but guess what happens?  I write my to-do list out, lay the notebook down somewhere,  forget to check it, little gets done, things get forgotten, “outta sight, outta mind”, yadda yadda yadda…

So I finally got smart and made a dry-erase board to-do list this week. 

Here’s da story:

I grabbed a picture frame (I think it’s “document size”) that I bought from the dollar store several years ago.  It was originally wood but I spray painted it white right after I bought it.  After being moved and stored, it needed a touch-up coat so I quickly gave it a light sanding (fine grit sanding block) and gave it a thin coat of white spray paint I had on hand. todoboard 001

Next, I cut a piece of scrapbook paper I snagged a couple of months ago at Michael’s to fit inside the frame and be a background.todoboard 002

Then, using regular ‘ole super glue, I glued four semi-strong magnets (Lowe’s) to the cardboard backing of the frame. todoboard 003

Like dis:
 todoboard 005
I glued them right to the cardboard knowing if I ever wanted to, I could simply rip them off and reuse them else, albeit probably with a little cardboard residue on the backs but no big deal, right?

The glued dried within minutes so I happily scribbled down my jobs for the day (top) and week (bottom) with a dry-erase marker and pranced over to stick her on the fridge.  A full dose of motivation, coming right up.  Seriously.  It took me from lazy pregnant with a side of sleepy to crazy with a stick of a few magnets and the squeak of a marker…miraculous I tell ya. 

 todoboard 010

It was the perfect addition to our little “organization station” – a calendar (I made it on Microsoft Publisher…such an easy DIY), the to-do list, keys, a magnetic notepad we use for making grocery lists (I loathe grocery shopping btw), and invitations (No, we’re not that popular.  Most of those are old and we just hang on to them for sentimental purposes).  I might have to grab a little vase or something, stick a magnet to it, and stick it to the fridge to hold pens and dry-erase markers.  For now though, they’re tucked away in the drawer below.  As for the magnetic hooks holding everything on,  I got those on clearance at Target awhile ago and they’re awesome.  I know they still sell them.  I’m still dreaming of a way to disguise this black side of the fridge (bead board?) so we’ll see if that ever comes true too!  A piece of bead board and some more magnets shouldn’t be so hard to whip up someday. 

todoboard 011
(Ack!  Sorry for the fuzzy pictures…there is not one but zero DSLR whisperers in this hizouse.)

Anyone else a do-er only with a list telling them what to do?  What about grocery shopping?  Anybody willing to do mine?  I’ll feed you…  Oh but wait, I hate to cook too… 

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Have a great weekend!! 

P.S.  I washed the rug!  The number one asked question that came up after it’s YHL debut was if it was washable.  Yes it is.  Yes I did – yesterday.  Yes, it still looks like it did the day I painted it.  Stay tuned for a whole post on it next week!

Bear E-Hugs

You guys!  This might read so darn cheesy but I’m gonna write it anyway – BIG E-HUGS to you all!  Our stamped rug got the honor of being featured yesterday at one of my favorite blogs, not to mention one of theee most amazing blogs on the planet – Young House Love – and my heart melted the entire day through with all the sweet comments on their feature post and on our post and in our inbox.  You guys rock! 
yhlfeature

The feature couldn’t have come on a better day than yesterday as I was home alone alllll day into the night with the young’ns (two teething babes, one extremely fussy and kickin’ her act up terrible-two’s style, more #2 diapers than I cared to change, the song-o-the day was a little v-tech diddy…you know the mom drill) while my hubs was on a “business trip” to Six Flags with his youth group.  As I wiped away excrement I could hear the excited screams haunting me from super-fast roller coasters and the smell of caramel apples filled my…ok, so maybe I was being a little dramatic and woe-is-me but, the feature chased any thoughts of some far away theme park right out my head.

So, once again, thank you, thank you, thank you!  Y’all are the best!  

Wood and White

Here’s the story about the wood and white.  You might remember the girls’ hand-me-down dresser:nurserycollagedeets 009

We went back-and-forth, from option to option, thinking of a bajillion ways we could update it.  We’re not huge fans of it’s ornate, curvy make-up so something needed to be done.  I even begged for your opinion of our final option(s) via Instagram, Facebook, and this post.  Well the landslide slid toward painting the drawers white, giving us a two-toned dresser.  Here’s how it all went on.

First we had to fill in some hardware holes with wood filler.  Put some tape over the backs of the holes, overfill, sand, fill a little more, and sand again for a nice flush finish.  We used Elmer’s wood filler from Walmart and a fine grit sanding block for the sanding. dresser 003 The two doors needed new holes that were centered between the door edge and the decorative groove and the two small drawers were just going to get knobbed instead of handled. 

Next step was more sanding.  I gave each of the doors/drawers a quick go over with a medium grit piece of sandpaper.  I seriously spent 30 seconds rubbing each door/drawer.  No big deal…thank goodness because sanding is not how I like to spend most ‘o my days. 

dresser 004The drawer 0n the left isn’t sanded; the drawer on the right is.  See the difference?  I roughed them up just the littlest bit to make sure the paint would stick.

Then it was time to protect.  I was planning on using spray primer and paint so I had to tape off and cover the insides of the drawers.  I also made sure to stick a little piece of tape behind each hardware hole to make sure no spray got inside the drawers through those.  The prepping was probably the most time-consuming part of this whole project because all we had on hand for me to cover with were magazines.  So I tape page-by-page-by-page…

Then it was outside with them where the real fun began.   dresser 006

I used Valspar spray primer in white, spraying two thin and semi-even coats.  I’m not too picky on how the primer goes on as long as every inch is covered and it’s nice and smooth.  That being said, my prime jobs are usually a little splotchy albeit smooth.

Here are the drawers all primed: dresser 008

Next up, the real stuff.  I scored big with the spray paint for this project.  While picking up some landscaping plants a couple of weeks ago at Lowe’s, I found this can of white satin Rustoleum paint-and-primer-in-one.  (Side note:  I still used primer even though I had a p-and-p-in-one so I didn’t have to use as much paint and because I had it on hand anyway.)  It was marked down to $1 because it was missing a nozzle. 
dresser 007

Vvell, if you know me you know I’ve got a stash of spray paint therefore a stash of nozzles.  I simply borrowed a nozzle from another can and away I sprayed.  HOWEVER, even though I grabbed a nozzle from a can of the same exact brand, I still managed to get paint allllll over my right hand as it dripped from the nozzle.  I learned that I had to press and hold the borrowed nozzle perfectly straight or paint would drip.  A little annoying but still totally worth the $1 investment.  I might also mention that this Rustoleum paint and primer-in-one is theee BEST spray paint I’ve ever used!  It sprayed smooth and covered so well!  I’ll definitely be using this kind next time!

Beside the paint all over my right hand (which I donned for two days afterward despite a shower), I had one more minor happening.  While I was inside waiting for the second-to-last coat of paint to dry, the wind whipped two corners of two covering magazines up and onto the wet paint.  Grrr…  When I went out to check for dryness, I found them and ripped them off only to have a little paper left behind. dresser 010

So, adding another step to my almost-done process, I had to sand the area where the magazines had stuck after the paint was completely dry (I was so annoyed I actually called it quits for the day and did the sanding and re-painting the next day) just enough to remove most of the paper.  I didn’t sand all the way to the wood because I didn’t want an obvious dip in paint nor did I want to re-sand the entire drawer.  So, I sanded until smooth and put an extra coat on the drawer while doing the last coat on the other doors/drawers.  All good.

After letting the drawers dry for a full 24 horas, we stuck hardware on them and admired our new beauty.
 dresser 041

Cost breakdown:
Dresser:  f-r-e-e (hand-me-down)
Primer:  already had
Paint:  $1
Sandpaper:  already had
Total:  One Dolla…Holla!

The hardware won’t stay, it’s only temporary.  I’m on the hunt for some so I’ll be sure to update y’all when I find it.  Until then, we’re loving the white-and-wood combo despite the needs-to-go hardware. dresser 044

So what about you?  Painted any dressers lately…or any furniture for that matter?  I’m always all eyes for pictures!  What about clearanced/oops paint?  Anyone ever score any?  I’m gunning for the “oops” paint section first thing next time I’m in Lowe’s to hopefully find more!

Two-Toned ‘Tis

Ugh.  Nausea.  It kicked my butt all day.  Riddle me this – how can a person (me) can go through a twin pregnancy without one hint of that tummy-churning junk but a singleton pregnancy with more than enough.  Weird and not wanted.  I’m really putting all my eggs in this this upcoming second trimester basket that’s supposed to be the end of all things nausea.  The percentages better be right.

I had high hopes to have a two-toning tutorial up today but all I have for you is an after, as promised.  Here’s the girls dresser via an Instagrammer I shot last night (This morning?  It all blends together.):2tone

It’s 90% done.  We have to find new hardware for the thing.  The ornate handles just aren’t ding dingin’.   And the knobs, we need some of those too.  For now, we’ve got cheapo knobs we had lying around place-holding until those knobs are found.  My friend Jesse (who really should start a blog because she’s ah-mazing!) got these green ones from Hobby Lobby stuck in my mind and now I might have to have them.  Hopefully we’ll get that all updated this week.  But, even if we don’t, be sure to look for the tutorial this week.  It’ll be nice and detailed, you’ll see.  :)

Have a great weekend filled with nary a hint of nausea and lots of productivity everyone!  I hope to see you back this week!

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P.S.  The twins are turning ONE in less than a month!!!  For real?  Somebody pinch me!  In honor of their first year, I’m going to churn (no pun intended considering my current sitcheeation) out a whole series of posts just about them over the next month – a cloth diaper how-to, how we made our own baby food, the story of their conception (long, long, long), a day in the life (crazy, crazy, crazy), how we save the green with twins, and whatever else comes up.  There’s lots to talk about – double the crazy, double the fun.  Stay tuned!

Hot and Sour Soup

Let’s get one thing straight.  I am no cook.  I will nevereverever turn this into anything even close to a foodie blog.  My diy stops at mixing paint, not ingredients.  Maybe I’ll share a recipe or two that I’ve found somewhere that’s really good and always easy but I’ll never be showing off my cooking skills because, well, they are nonexistent.  The hubs on the other hand, he’s another story. 

So, with that out of the way, I recently found a recipe to the best soup ever in the history of soup.  Hot and sour courtesy of those culinary geniuses, the Chinese.  Hot and sour soup is my fave soup ever and quite possibly my fave food.  A little hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant in Steubenville, Ohio (miss you Hong Kong…tear) makes thee best h & s I’ve ever, ever had and down here in Mobile, well the Chinese have yet to get it right.  But, whilst in the mood for it the other night, I invoked pinterest and found a recipe that looked pretty easy and pretty good.

Ready for it? 

Here ‘tis.  Click for it.

I made a couple of tweaks to the recipe however - instead of the fresh gingerroot, I added a 1/2 tsp. of ground ginger, I skipped the scallions because I forgot to grab some, I used black pepper instead of white (Google told me the only real difference is looks), and I added a tid bit of extra soy sauce to my bowl de jour before I downed it.  I might also mention that letting the soup sit for an hour after cooking is better than eating it right away.  That way, the flavors mingle and soak into each other and ohhhh, it’s so much better.  This recipe doesn’t make the ‘hottest’ hot and sour so to add a little more kick you might want to add some hot pepper oil or flakes or something of the sort.

Update:  I was wrong-o about the no-difference between black and white pepper.  As it turns out, a wise commenter informed me that – “The heat actually comes from the white pepper. Give it a try, it is really different than black pepper and believed to have many curative properties. Sometimes you can find small pre-filled grinders of white pepper in the spice section. It "makes" the soup.” 

Here are the Chinese ingredients I used:
hotandsour 004 
I found all of them in the “International Foods” section in our grocery store.

Here’s what my hot and sour looked like right before I inhaled it:
hotandsour 001

So good.  So very good.  It was gone in a day and a half because I had it for dinner the day I made it, and lunch and dinner the day after.  I’ll be making it again in less than 24 hours only to have it gone just as quick.

If you try it, let me know what you think!

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P to the S…Lily told me that she’s positive hot and sour soup helped labor commence for both of her boys so if you be of child-bearing age, take note.  I know what I’ll be drinking in t-minus six months.  :)

What I Wore Sunday – Got the Blues

I found this blue maxi skirt at Dirt Cheap this past fall and couldn’t resist shelling out the $5 needed to bring it home with me.  The only issue, easily resolved, was that it was an XXL.
photo (3)
  Well, my trusty sewing machine and I finally got down to work on it a couple of weeks ago.

I had two options of shrinking this baby down.  One was taking a few inches off one side which might’ve made it a little too tight and hard to walk in and we all know what happens, or could happen, to a mother of multiples wearing a long skirt she can’t walk in while carrying those tots.  Get the picture?  Yeah, it’s not pretty. 

Instead, I simply cut off the existing elastic band, fabric and all, pinned and sewed a new hem, threaded the old elastic through the new hem, sewed the ends of the elastic together, and stitched up the remaining hole in the hem like so:
 wiws69 001 wiws69 002 wiws69 003
[Ummm, sorry about the awry finger…totally not intended.]
wiws69 005

So, the skirt is exactly the same width only a little more gathered than it’s XXL prequel. 

Here’s how I wore it to mass:
wiws69 006
Cardi:  Old Navy, old
Tank:  Walmart
Maxi:  Dirt Cheap (Target by Mossimo)
Belt:  Vanity
Linking this one up with Fine Linen and Purple, as usual!

And, I’m usually not one of those moms (which is totally cool, just not me), but I squeezed the girls into these dresses-now-shirts one last time so we could have one of those matching moments.
wiws69 064 
First time and probably last time but it sure was fun.

Oh, and little did I know the maxi skirt club was meeting tonight so I got a friend to snap a little pic of that gathering.
photo (2) 
It’s Lindsey, mwah, S, and Emily…eight sets of legs with only one set to be seen.

 

So that’s that.  In case you’re wondering, here’s the progress of the dresser drawers:
wiws69 065 
They’d be done if it weren’t for a slight mishap involving a magazine page and the wind (second drawer from the bottom).  There’ll be a little buffing and one more coat of the best spray paint I’ve ever used and then it’s up and at ‘em for all to see!  I can’t wait!

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In other news, we got to see the bean in the oven via ultrasound this week.  A cutie already and if I could guess by how fast it looked like it’s heart was beating, I’d say another girl is present but we’ll see!  The old wives tales of heart beats hold no water in science but it’s fun to think they do, right?  It’s also fun to imagine who he/she will look more like, Cecilia or Seraphia, or maybe neither. 
Also, do you like hot and sour soup?  It’s my fave and I finally found and tried a recipe this week and it turned out awesome!  I will be sharing with you fellow Chinese eaters!  Also, I have all the details on how to paint images onto clothes using freezer paper!  That’s how we got the numbers onto our onsies/tees for #3’s announcement.  Fun stuff!  And last, I’m so thankful we’re expecting but so bummed that the impending bump will keep me from getting into this swimsuit this summer that I recently found:
sws800-rw-a_1_2 
How cute is it?!  I’m obsessed and determined to snatch it up at year end for next year!


Have a great week everybody!  I'll be back before week’s end for more so I hope you will be too!

Going .com

Goodbye .blogspot.com and hello plain ‘ole .com!  If I’m going to do this whole blogging thing, I’m really going to do it and for one thing that means going dot com.  In my mind, it makes our little blog here a little more official and makes us/me a little more motivated to keep it updated on the regular.

I’ve been researching a teeninsy bit about going .com for a few months now and everything I’d start reading about doing so made me a little nervous about taking the step because it all seemed way beyond my web knowledge.  Well, then I found this little sweet spot of info from Spice Up Your Blog.  What’s awesome is that they included a little video in the post they wrote on going .com with Blogger that walks you through the super-simple process.  After going step-by-step with the video, we were up and running in 15 minutes and all I had to do was click a few buttons.  It’ll cost us $10 a year to have our own domain which is just perfect for this cheapo and her fam. 

If you’re blogging with a platform other than Blogger or if the domain name you want is already taken, this tutorial unfortunately won’t work for you.  Sorry.  We originally wanted to go with beaninlove.com but somebody’s got it and it would’ve cost us at least $60 to get GoDaddy.com to research who and possibly obtain it for us.  No thanks.  Adding “blog” to the end of our domain didn’t bother us a bit even though Blogger was kind enough to offer these options:
302981_510869695627335_1116637240_n 
Well gee thanks but I’ll leave legumes for the next bean and I’d rather dance with love than hate so beaninloveblog.com is just peachy.

Anyway, I had planned on revealing the freshly painted nursery dresser to y’all today but it’s not quite done.  It is painted but, after a few minor happenings, needs a little buffing and one more coat.  I’ll have it and a little tutorial on it up this week, promise.  Hope to see you then! 

I Slit A Sheet

Three sheets I slit.  Three common sheets I slit. 

And that’s how curtains became a part of our bedroom oasis.  I cut three twin sheets in half, cut them to the length I needed them, hemmed all cut sides, and hung them.  And, it only cost me $15. 

When we moved in to this house, I was dying to get our master bedroom together and in some semblance of “our space”.  So, after slapping up some paint (BM’s Heaven on Earth color-matched to Olympic low-VOC paint), moving in furniture, and making the bed, one of the first things we did was hang some curtains.  On a free whim, I used what we had which was one pair of extra-wide toile curtains from IKEA.  I cut each panel into thirds (we have three windows in our room) and we hung them on some cheap curtain rods we got from Big Lots.  I think the rods were $5 each or something like that.  Cheap.  Well, the rods were great and did the job but the curtains were a little to sparse…scratch that, they were just plain ugly:
master ip4 
Looking back makes me cringe…do you ever have those what-the-heck-was-I-thinking decorating moments?  Lesson:  Free decorating is not always better.

So, months later after I came to my decorating senses, I snatched up three flat twin sheets (Target brand) from Dirt Cheap for $5 each, slit ‘em and hung ‘em a little higher, and the room magically looked 100 times better. 
mb 007

Sometimes I wish I would’ve spent an extra few dollars and bumped up to queen-size for thicker curtains but for now, we’ll just continue rolling with the twin theme. 

We have even bigger plans on the back-burner including a curvy, padded headboard, new pillow covers all around, a transformation of the existing bed skirt, a diyed slipcover for the raspberry elephant in the room, some chunky lamps (currently on the thrifting hunt), raising, painting, and spicing up (think mirrors!!) the existing nightstands, a coffee table turned bench for the foot of the bed (said coffee table is currently in hiding underneath the bed), some picture hanging, and whatever else pops into the dome piece by then.  Like I said, all of this is on the back-burner and all of it will be on the very cheap, per the usual.  The padded headboard WILL be done before #3 gets here so this mom has a comfy place to rest her back during those middle-of-the-night feedings?  The rest though?  Who knows.  Eventually.  :)

What I (We) Wore Sunday – On Repeat

It’s another outfit post…look out.  I’m still not sure what’s so fun about taking pictures of what I’m wearing and posting them for the world to see.  But, it is.  Maybe it’s the success of finding something “new” to wear from old clothes.  I don’t know.  I usually try to include an alteration but my alteration of the week is in the laundry.  It’s a maxi skirt and it’ll be coming your way next week.  Wait for it…wait for it…

So back to the outfit selfies.  I love Fine Linen and Purple’s What I Wore Sunday link-up because it’s all about dressing up for the Big Man.  Growing up we always dressed up for Sunday Mass (a rule in our house) and, while I know God doesn’t really care about what you’re wearing (unless it’s inappropriate in which case I think He does care because He loves you and wants you to respect yourself – whole ‘nother convo, whole ‘nother day), it’s important to me to forgo the norm yoga pants/t-shirt combo and put a little pep in my normal mundane step for Him.  Soooo, back to business.

Here’s what I wore yesterday:
 wiws62 017 
What?  It’s the same thing as the last WIWS post?  Pshaw.
If you wanna know but you probably don’t:
Top:  Thrifted (altered)
Sweater/Cardi:  Callie’s Closet (as in, my friend Callie was purging and gave me two bags full of clothes and this was in one of ‘em)
Skinnies:  Tarjay
Pointy Toes:  Famous Footwear (I think?)  from back in my college days

And, BONUS!  I roped in a couple of my cutest-ever homies to participate.  I don’t think they fully knew what they were getting themselves into but look, here they are:
landb

We’ll call them Linda and Bessie…I’ll keep they’re real names secret in case any stalkers emerge cause they’re that cute.

Lindsey (left)…I mean, Linda… -  her cardi is from AT Loft, her tank from Old Navy and very old therefore very short and in which case her skirt from Target pulled up high came to the rescue (so smart that girl).  You would never know!  All is bottomed-off with super-stylin Lucky shoes from Belk.

And Blakely (right)…uh, Bessie…is totally hobo-chic in her cardi from Anthropologie, top from Academy, BCBG skirt from Dilliards, and Converses covering up some super-cool wool socks that I can’t even remember the name of but which remind me that I need to ask her why the heck she was wearing wool socks when it was 1000 degrees outside.  Also, can you believe this is her second outfit?  She spilled something or other on the first and so put this together quick.  My second outfit is usually on because a spit-up incident and is always way not-cute because I don’t have the motivation to try again…

Envious?  You know you are.  I wish I could throw on outfits half that good.    Teach me your ways girls, teach me your ways.

Oh look!  It’s the three of us:
slab
(Something’s off about this pic but I can’t quite put my shoe on it…….)

Per the usual, I’m linking the three of us up at Fine Linen and Purple.

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P to the S – Did you notice we’re a for real .COM now?  We are!  -beaninloveblog.com-  Super, super easy process.  I’ll spill the deets on that diy later this week!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Well I finally mustered up the motivation to get on painting the girl’s dresser when as luck would have it, it’s pouring rain in my workshop…zee backyard.  Good thing it took me all week to gather my wits and make those painting plans for today.  Also a good thing that I put a little extra pep by way of an extra scoop of grinds in this morning’s joe because I’ve got all the energy in the world and a little bit of a shake to go with it.  Sorry sweet babe in my utero, that caffeine high you’re currently experiencing will wear off, I promise.  It probably doesn’t help that I ate some leftover chocolate lava cake for breakfast this morning with a side of a bagel and two eggs (which I waaay overcooked).  So, in a nutshell, chocolate, extra coffee kick, and a rainy day make me one nervous wreck.  The girls are fast asleep and I’m not sure what I’m going to do.  Our house is immaculate so there’s nothing to clean and Anthony is away at work so there’s nothing to pester him about.  Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, twiddle, twiddle, twiddle, shake, tap, twiddle, shake………….

I know, I’ll tell you of our living room plans because I know you all just love to see photo-shopped plans and not actual projects…

First, the fabrics involved:
lrfabricsnum

1 – Dena Nadia Green Tea.  I found this on a random trip with both girls to JoAnn’s.  It was a newbie hanging on their “special order fabric” rack and it was just what I’ve been searching and hunting for for the coffee table going ottoman.  Anthony wanted something colorful and colorful it is.  (P.S.  It looks so much better in person than online.) 
The only drawback?  It was $50 a yard.  Too much for a cheapo like me.  Howev, this particular week all fabric was 50% off AND I had in my stash an extra 15% off coupon.  I needed 1.5 yards and with the sale + coupon, my price would be around $32.  Not fantastic but desperation and ending my months-long search got the best of me so I skipped to the check-out line where female employee #2 dashed my dreams and told me “We’re not taking any special orders because we’re moving the store.”  “It’s okay”, I thought and told her “Oh, okay, well I’ll just come back after you’ve moved.  When do you move?”  “The end of August”, said she.  This was the beginning of May.  Should I have been upset?  Their big move (down the street mind you) is four months away and they wouldn’t order 1.5 yards of this fabric for me?  What a joke.  Well guess what, I went home and hunted the net only to find the same exact fabric on eBay for $11 a yard.  I bought three yards and am planning a roman shade for the front door with it along with the ottoman.  I’ll keep my expletives in for JoAnn but she sure lost out.

2 – Unfortuntely I don’t have the designer, name, or anything on this fabric.  I can’t even find it online.  I got it over a year ago at Five Gold Monkeys on super clearance for $5 a yard.  It’s going to be sewn into pillow covers and, if there’s extra, maybe a pouf or two.

3 – This is a fabric napkin from Target that I found for 50 cents at Dirt Cheap a long while ago.  I have four and I’m planning on maybe making a pillow cover or two with them.

4 & 5 – These are samples of Robert Allen's Velvet Geo.  It’s up in too-expensive alley and until I can find it for cheaper (when and if), it’s just along for the ride.  The idea of making poufs out of this is enticing since it’s a nice, thick upholstery fabric.  Other ideas include recovering a couple of lounge chairs (which we don’t have but I love to add in the room as seating) or even just the seats of the loungers.  We’ll see.

Last, there’s this fabric I recently purchased from fabric.com in graphite (they don’t seem to have it in stock anymore!):
Large_0284467
I love it because it’s bold and we need a little boldness up in here.  It’s going to cover a pillow or two as well.

In case you’re wondering about the in-depth details of this future ottoman I spoke of, here it is:livingrmplnz 004
The plan is to paint the base white, remove the glass and replace it with wood, add some cushy padding, staple the aforementioned fabric to it, add some tufting by way of buttons, and put our feet up.  This pregnancy is going to thank me when we finally get it done.

The wall above the couch will be tweaked a little.  I really am dying to paint the frame around Greece (Italy?) white and then add some mirrors on each side to reflect more light around this room.  The living room is the darkest room in the house except in the morn when Sun Rise shines through, so adding mirrors to reflect more light will greatly add to my natural light loving attitude.
  pantgwall

Then there’s the big, empty, peaked wall. 
 collwall
We really need a system for storing our modem and for stashing/hiding all the cords from the electronics loitering in the area so our idea is to install shelving to the left of the chimney just for this purpose.  A gallery wall of sorts is also in the works.  Also, if I ever find those lounge chairs mentioned above, they’d go here…the swings just aren’t cutting it and I’m tired of trying to get out of them once I’m in.  They’re just way to small for my liking.  ;)

Behind the sectional we have this little catch-all area which we’re thinking of turning into a little office space.  That plan’s not set in stone but something is going to be because right now it’s home to a laundry basket I call my “going to Goodwill” collection, a bookshelf the girls repeatedly ransack, and a few frames begging to be hung.  We need more function.
  livingrmplnz 002  
The hutch will stay where it is because that’s the only place it can go in this joint.

Other little things include finding some new lamps via thrifting and getting a new, bigger rug (thought I had one…plan fell through and now Rugs USA is on my bad list…another story for another day).

And that’s that.  Once I get this darned dresser painted (Oh look!  It stopped raining!), I’m on to whipping up an ottoman and some pillow covers with zippers (eek…a little nervous about the z word).  Here’s to hoping these boxes will all be checked before #3 comes.  :) 

The only other thing left to say is “Stay Tuned” or “I’ll be back”…you pick.

Oh, and have a great weekend!