Photo Collage Bomb

I’m currently in the demanding throws of a big, much-more-tedious-than-I-thought-it-would-be project so we’re going back a few months to a project I did that didn’t turn out quite as I wanted it to.  You see, we’ve had this big, blank wall in our dining area that has just been screaming for some something to break it up: 

Fortunately, the diy hoarder inside me has a stock pile of random frames waiting to be spainted (spray painted, yes I made it up) and found a wall home.  Here are the chosen ones for this particular endeavor:After much scheming, I decided to copy the incredible John and Sherry over at Young House Love, and put up a collage very similar to the one in their first home’s living room.  I even stole their magazine monogram idea, except I made mine in Photoshop.

The first step was to spaint the mats in each frame white so that they’d all match.  For a couple of the thrifted frames, this involved removing their paper backing to get inside: 

 Side note:  Since the glass and mat were held in with nails, it wasn’t necessary to replace the backing…since they hang with their backs towards the wall, no one is any wiser.

The next step was getting all of the frames the same color.  Aqua, white, oil-rubbed bronze, silver…I went back and forth, back and forth until I finally just called it and settled on silver.  I wanted a semi-shiny, brushed on silver though so instead of going with my norm, spray paint, I headed on over to Michael’s (with a coupon of course) where I picked up some Liquid Leaf and hand painted those babies with it…aaaand hated it.  (You quick ones might’ve noticed the fast one I was trying to pull…I switched out two of the above frames I thought I was going to use for two more thrifted frames shown in the pic above.  I just couldn’t bring myself to paint the pretty white ones another color.)

It was much to matte and darker than I had in mind.  Boo.  Lucky for me, I had a can of silver spaint in my stash so they each got a quick coat.  A few hours of drying time and some photos later and up they went:

Final verdict?

I hated it. I don’t like the silver…it looks cheap and doesn’t give the punch of flavor that wall needed.  I’m still on the fence about the layout…I might add some more frames or just change it altogether.  “Stay tuned” would be the only thing left to say about it at this point.

However, it is worth mentioning what did work during this whole semi-failed process.  To figure out the exact placing of each frame, I traced each one onto a piece of newspaper, cut the template out, and taped it up on the wall until I was satisfied.  (Sorry, can’t find the picture of said process.)  Then, to hang them in the exact spots I took a note from The Scrap Shoppe blog and made my own hanging tool out of some scrap wood which worked incredibly well and will now be used every time I decide to puncture a wall with any sort of nailed-in decor.

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Like I said above, stay tuned for this wall will change as soon as I make up my mind on the direction I want to go.  As for the present, I’d better get back to the surprise nursery project that’s testing my patience.  Details to come on that soon! 

Have a fantastic weekend!

Nursery Progress: Curtains

It’s nursery time y’all!  Why I pushed getting it together until after the peas were born, I don’t know.  It’s taking me f o  r   e    v     e      r!  However, it’s evolving thanks to some same-schedule naps the twins took this week.

Here’s what their space looked like the last time we peeked in:

And here’s what it’s lookin’ like today:

Back then:

And now:  

Much improved thanks to a little decluttering, new, girlie curtains, and a snazzy new fan fixture (and minus uno crib currently in the master).  As for the curtains, the green ones weren’t meshing with the new color scheme for the room so I officially went on the hunt for something new.  I found it in the form of some Target, patterned sheers that I scored for 5 bucks a pop, hemmed to fit, and slapped up. (Sorry for the bad picture…still working on learning how to use the DSLR.)

Pretty but the room needed some color so I went on another official hunt for some peachy-pink fabric to line the new sheers with.  After searching for fabric, sheets…something cheap…I finally settled on some thin broadcloth from Hancock Fabrics that I got for $16 during a 60% off sale.  The only issue was that the broadcloth was only 45 inches wide, whereas my sheers were 54.  So, I had to do what I do best and improvise.

To do so, I cut two 54 inch pieces of fabric for each sheer, sewed them together to create one long panel, hemmed each edge, and then hemmed each to the length of the sheer it would back.  See the connecting seam?

     Since each piece was behind a sheer, I hoped that the seam wouldn’t be visible…and I was right.  No VCLs (Visible Curtain Lines) in this neighborhood.  :) 

After all of my solid pieces were sewn and ready, I simply attached them to the sheers by making a straight stitch along the top of each, connecting them.

I attached the solid backing a little lower than flush with the top of the sheer because instead of hanging the curtains from the top like so:

I wanted them to cover up the rod.  By sewing them the aforementioned way, I was able to attach the ring clips solely to the backing (if this makes any sense at all) like this:

So, up went the window curtains and presto: Another bad pic but you get what I’m throwin’ down…er, puttin’ up, right?  :)

 

As for the closet, it never did have doors to cover it’s insides so I went with the most simple solution of spray painting an old tension rod, slipping on some curtains rings, and hanging the similarly constructed fabric right on up.

Now we’re all pretty and privatized: 

 

Movin’ along to the fan, I found a large drum shade for $10 at a local discount store (Dirt Cheap) and simply put it up by resting it on the base of the screwed-in light bulb. 

I love the flavor and texture it adds to an otherwise b.o.r.i.n.g. but necessary light fixture.  What do you think?  Is it too big or does it fit your fancy?  I’m thinking of painting the fan blades a light taupe to match…should I or shouldn’t I?

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Well, there you have it.  A nursery fit for two.  There’s still lots and lots to be done including painting the dresser and lining it’s drawers, recovering the rocking chair (currently in our room), making some sort of a foot rest, whipping up some crib skirts, getting some stuff hung on the walls, turning a tablecloth into a rug, making a window seat cushion, and a surprise that I’m working on next!  Whew!

It might take me a few more weeks (dare I say months?) but it’s going to be the cutest nursery on the block (in my vain opinion)!  Check back in as I post my progress! 

Have a funderful, wonderful weekend!

7 Quick Takes

Yay!  This is fun!  Joining Jen again for…

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Tighty Whities

Short, simple, and long overdue is this post.  You see, when I was pregnant a few, several, couple of months ago and I still had the option of taking leisurely strolls to Goodwill and dabbling amongst its treasures, I found and happily purchased a super-nice pair of Gap maternity pants – white, wide leg, $5, and too big.  But, my best inanimate friend and I got on the ball and took those babies right in.

   Never mind the fact that in the ‘after’ picture a good ironing was needed (show me how to handle a burning hot chunk of metal whilst carrying most precious cargo and I’ll do it) and my head and feet were cut off  (only time for one tripod shot people, take it as it is) AND I’m obviously not pregnant and rocking maternity pants just for the sake of show-and-tell AND just so you know, I’m not afraid of wearing these babies post-pregnancy anyway so get over it…a four inch stretchy comfort band is much more tummy-friendly and hearkening to beloved sweat pants than buttons and zippers any day of the week.  :)

Back to alterations though, I don’t remember if I took pictures of the process and I can’t find them if I did.  However, all I did was get out one of my fave pairs of maternity skinny jeans, lay them on top of the wide maternities to use as a template lining the two pants up along the outside leg seams, drew a dashed line, and sewed along said dashed line.  I got this invaluable knowledge some time ago from Grace and here is another helpful tutorial since I’m obviously lacking in that department.  Needless to say, I’m uber excited and on a turn-all-my-old-pants-into-skinnies kick so look for more to come including hot pink cords from my early college days (not sure if they were ever in but who knew they’d be in now and I’d just happen to still have mine).

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Update:  Found those MIA pictures.  Not sure if they’re that helpful but they sure try and tell the story:  

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Also, in unfinished fashion, I’m planning on a nursery update post next week.  It’s not done by any means but it’s getting there.  Come read my plans (again) and give me an opinion or two on some indecision.

Have a fantastic weekend!

7 Quick Takes

Well hello Friday!  I decided to be extra ambitious this week and follow Jen and her cool crowd with 7 Quick Takes all my own!I’ve been wanting to jump on this bandwagon for awhile and finally climbed up.  I thought it’d be fun to do it in pictures and ‘by the number’ this week and hope I can snap away each week from here on out but we’ll see what the twins think!  Cheers to having three month olds control your life!  :)

So, without further ado: 

 

 

I’ll be back  tomorrow on the regular with a long overdue refashion!

Bean Sprouts: 2 Months

I know, I know.  I realize that the twins are almost 3 months old and a post about their second month is a tad late and a little overdue but you’ll see the reason I debated making it public below.  It used to be so easy to get weekly pictures while the dudettes were asleep but now sleeping comes with a “Do Not Disturb” sign lest they awaken and lovely chaos ensues.  So, it just follows to take pictures whilst awake, right?  Well, that’s what I thought…

Here are our beauties at their two month old photo shoot….the attempted version:

All was well at first.  They were happy and joyous.  We set Seraphia down and bam:  A little porcelain doll all our own.

Cecilia took the more dramatic path:

After the ‘fall’ she just didn’t want to have anything else to do with the torture we were inflicting:

Fools, we tried a group picture: And all he** broke loose.

Better luck at 3 months…

Fan Fail

So I’m all about unique light fixtures.  Classic, elegant, funky, chandeliers in non-dining areas and such.  What I’m not all about are ho-hum fans like this one in our guest bedroom: 

I’d much rather swap her out for a colorful chandelier or a cool semi-flush mount but when you live down in the deep, deep south, not having a fan in your bedroom is pretty much a free ticket to an all night sweat-fest paired with an angry, over-worked air conditioner.  Accepting this sad fact I actually hunted down these awhile ago.  However, they cost money this mama don’t have.   So, I make due by making up stuff.  Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, like in this little case.

Pushing our monster stroller through Tarjay the other day, I scoped out this super-clearanced light kit on an end rack – my go-to areas in the red circle store. 

Well, I took her home, took her out, and started to put her together…backwards because I preferred the white over the faux wood – unscrewed the light bulb of the above boring fan, and screwed it back on with a new undercarriage:

At first thought it looked a little too big but after a peeking in on it a few times it sorta grew on me. 

But then I turned on the light…pretty in the picture below, not so pretty in person.  The plastic pieces were too thick in that they shielded most of the light and on top of that, the faux wood gave the minute amount of light that did come through an icky tinge of orange that would make any 70’s shag carpet jealous.

Head hung in defeat, I took her down, packed her back up, and got my six bucks back from Target.

Maybe next time…

Anyone else fix up their plain-jane fans with a new light kit?  Did it work?  Even though this fan rejected my idea, I did score in the nursery.  I’ll be sure to share in the next couple of weeks! 

Happy, happy weekend!

Baby Einstein

Well, my sanity is tops today thanks to the likes of Baby Einstein and YouTube.  I figured out a couple of weeks ago that Baby Einstein debuted on the famed video website while in a tizzy amongst two crying babes and desperate for anything that might calm the madness.  I just thought I’d experiment, thinking they were probably still too young to be interested in bright colors flashing across the television screen but how wrong I was…and how grateful to be wrong.  Even though they’re interest is only piqued for about 20 glorious, fuss-free minutes, that’s really all I need a couple times a day to recoup.  :) 

Clearly they’re enamored…

Bringin’ the 80’s Back

I’m not sure, actually I’m pretty positive, that I wouldn’t want to dig up all the fashion trends of the 80’s and insert them into 2012 but there’s one aspect of those glory days of which I spent part of my life in that’s perfect for the twins…

Well, my sister first got me obsessed with baby legwarmers before the twins even existed by adorning my niece’s legs with them and then she took it a step further after the twins were born and made some for my girls out of women’s tube socks.  So, me being me and wanting these uber cute accessories but not wanting to pay upwards of $10 a pair, I took a page out of her book and made my own.

Walking through Target one day with the twins in tow got the ball rollin’ when what did I spy but a tube sock extravaganza in the form of a clearance rack.  I almost went tube sock crazy…there were loads of different styles for 75 cents a pair!  And, they were super long (and my girls legs super skinny still) which meant that I could get two pairs out of each sock.  I hastily snatched up a few pairs, some for now and some for later, chunkier legs and scrambled home to my beloved sewing machine.

To make the legwarmers, all I did was cut off the foot part of the sock and then I cut the tube part in half to give me four larger tubes.  Since my girls are/were so little still, I cut each of those pieces in half lengthwise, which basically gave me four rectangles, and then sewed the ends of the rectangles together to give me eight little legwarmers which I promptly tried on the girls and loved!  I know my future is sure to be filled with lots more legwarmer production!  Here are the legwarmers I made, the ones my sis made, and then socks still waiting to be made into them:

The great thing about them is that diapering is simpler because you don’t have to take off pants yet baby’s legs are still toasty – form and function!  Also a plus, Target’s original price for their tube socks is only $2.50, still an incredible price for some DIY legwarmers!  Even if you don’t have a sewing machine, they’d be super easy to make by hand-stitching or even gluing the one side together.  If you’ve ever made your baby’s legs even cuter with legwarmers or do in the future, put a link in the comments section below so we can all share in the cuteness!

Have a great weekend!