DIY-ing Like a Boss

Thanks for that, Andy Samberg.

The hubs and I have been hammering out projects all around the house over the last week.  The best news?  The heat, AC and ductwork are finally installed!  After 5 full days of having dudes in our house banging, sawing, and crawling around (all while I'm still trying to work at home), we finally have roasty, toasty 16 SEER heat-pump goodness pumping through the house.  And take a look at this baby:

Isn't that sweet?  And other than the super-fancy (and super pricey!) Nest thermostats, it's just about the schmancey-iest thing in our house now.

Patrick built a 3' x 3' x 3' composting area so we can have nutrient-rich organic gold for the garden in the springtime.  He used 2x4 treated lumber for the corner posts, and wood pallets for the sides.

The brick building is the little church that's next to our pasture, by the way.

We've also been sticking it to the kitchen.  (If you missed the last post about our kitchen progress, check it out here.)

Here's an update on the progress we've made over the last week.

Look at that cute booty!

With the old boiler heating unit and fuel oil tank gone, we can finally start tearing out the old baseboard registers that are in every room.  We've decided that rather than trying to tackle them all at one time, we're just going to go room-by-room and "makeover" the entire room at once and remove them then.  They will just hang out and hid the disgusting part of the wall and flooring that's been covered up since 1958.  Yuck.  We found part of a deck of playing cards (all stuck together in a big playing card amoeba), abaseball card and a rainbow magnet behind the one in the kitchen.

We bought this big Dragor rug from IKEA on Thursday night, thinking that we'd just cover up as much of the ugly faux brick laminate as we could until we do the "real kitchen remodel" down the road.  (We bought another one for the mudroom, and you can see it peeking out in the photo below.)  And then we told ourselves, "Selves - you could spend a *little* more money and do peel and stick vinyl tiles on the kitchen floor and be way happier."  So we did.

Saturday morning we woke up and started peeling up lineoleum.

 

The thing that gets me most about pulling up lineoleum (we've done it before at the Jasper house) is the smell.  And thank goodness these people didn't have cats.  Gross.

So we made with the sticky (icky), and after we primed the now-exposed subfloor with self-stick tile primer, we started laying our tiles down.

Here's what we used.

We found it on clearance at Lowe's for $0.98 a square foot.  They only have the 18"x18" available online here.

We decided to be extra over-achievers and do grout as well.  I never imagined that they made grout for peel-n-stickies, since the whole advantage of peel-n-stickies is ease of installation and why would you want to add an extra step in what's supposed to be a quickie job?  Because it looks way nicer than just butting the tiles up against each other.

Patrick gettin' grouty

Be-yooo-tee-ful!

Here's a photo of the right side of the kitchen.  Please ignore the towels and miscellaneous tools laying out.  We're working here, people.

 

 

And here's the left side of the kitchen.

 

 

And here's another one showing the (currently naked!) window and sink area.

 

And we hung a new light fixture in here, and one in the dining room. 

Here's the dining room's new fixture:

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's simple and rustic and I love the way it looks with the big cow painting.  Here's the link to buy it.

 

Here's what we did in the kitchen:

Grayton Light - Buy it Here

I went with the one I really wanted for the kitchen (see previous post), and it looks FAB-YOU-LESS.

And here it is in daytime light, not illuminated:

I still need to put another two coats of ceiling paint on our homemade ceiling medallion (that's on today's to-do list).  We had to get creative on how to cover the big 16" x 16" square hole from the old recessed fixture, and I really don't like the look of the ceiling medallions you buy at the store, so we made our own.

We used 1/2" thick furniture grade plywood and 1/2" beaded quarter round moulding.

We used four screws to hold the plywood in place on the ceiling, and a pneumatic air nailer to attach the moulding to the plywood.

I decided to go with the chalkboard wall idea for the weird wall along the right side of the kitchen.  Rather than doing a chalkboard all the way to the floor, I decided we should compromise and do paneling along the bottom part of the wall.  It will add some much needed architectural interest to the room, as well as helping to break up the big span of black on the wall.

I used Rust-Oleum ChalkBoard paint - $9.67 at Home Depot - in the original black finish.  They have a tintable version, but I liked the idea of repeating the black from the light fixture in the paint color.

Since I knew we were doing wainscoting, I measured up 40 1/2" (allowing 1 1/2" for trim for a total of 42" - bar height) on each edge of the wall and drew a line so that I could only paint the area I needed.

It says to use a roller for best results, and since I always want the best results, I started with a roller.  The paint is thinner than regular latex wall paint, and it splattered all over the freshly laid, not even 6-hours old floor.  Cue the drop cloth!  So I busted out the 4" big boy Purdy brush and used soft, sweeping X-strokes.  I actually like the texture better with the sweeping, crossing brushstrokes than what a roller would have produced.

Bye Bye Sharkey Gray!  I'll use you somewhere else in the house!

 

I used a 1" angle Purdy brush on the edges where the ceiling and perpendicular walls meet the chalkboard wall, since I personally hate taping things off when I don't have to.

 

Here is the result after one coat:

 

That big ol' drip is from using the roller.  See why I switched to the brush?

 

It's dry to the touch after just 30 minutes, and you can do the second coat after 4 hours, which is where I am now.  Time to go do the second coat!

 

 

(Super) Easy Burlap Stockings

If you're like me, you keep seeing all these cute things you'd like to have, but just can't bring yourself to actually fork over the cash to buy them.  In recent times of thrift (like saving for a house), I find myself putting off things I'd like to have more than ever. 

Now, I haven't always been the penny-pinching type, but we didn't always have the money available growing up for some of the things we wanted (i.e. a dress).  So, my mom gave me one of the best gifts she could have: she taught me how to sew.  This opened a whole new outlet to me - a way to get what I really wanted but couldn't always afford, and allowed me to customize whatever it was that I was sewing for myself.  So, when I graduated high school (10 years ago already!) I went to college for Fashion Design.  Even though I didn't end up with a degree and a career as a fashion designer, I don't regret taking a whole year of sewing classes one bit (especially since it turned out I'd need those credits later when I got my Interior Design degree!).  It's a skill I'll have (and utilize) for the rest of my life.

And that all leads us up to today's post.

I was scoping around online this morning and checking out the new Christmas decorations, and saw this stocking on the Ballard Designs website.

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Burlap stockings.  Too cute.  They go with the whole Modern Rustic Vintage theme I've been going for at the new house.  The problem?  They're *on sale* for $55 a pop.  Dang.

I already needed to go to JoAnn Fabric for some upholstery tacks and another yard of brown fabric for an ongoing re-upholstery job we're doing on a chair, so while I was there, I picked up 2 yards each of ivory muslin and tan burlap for $2.99 a yard.

I was able to make four stockings out of my four yards of fabric for around $15 (including the thread I bought).  And I have enough leftover burlap for another project.  I see these pillows in my future.

So here's a quick tutorial on how I made mine.

1.  Lay out the ivory muslin on the floor, folded.  Lay a stocking you already have on top and cut around it to make a template.

2.  Lay out the burlap in a single layer and cut around the ivory template you just made.  You'll have 2 ivory fabric pieces and 1 burlap piece.

3.  For the cuff, I did a 5" thick band the same width as the ivory stocking piece.  You'll only need 1 for the front.  You could do another one for the back so that it's cuffed on both sides, but I didn't really see the point.

4.  Press under 1/2" - 5/8" for a seam on the bottom part of the cuff.  If you use an iron, you won't need to pin the seam - it's way easier, trust me.

5.  Sew the seam so that you'll have a finished edge.  The above photo shows the cuff with the finished edge already sewn.  (You're seeing the inside of the fabric, not the outside finished side).

6.  Take one of the ivory muslin pieces and the burlap piece and line them up on top of each other.  Luckily, there's no "right" or "wrong" side to either of these fabrics, so that makes things easier.  If you're using a fabric that has a definite right and wrong, you'll want to have the "wrong" sides facing each other.  These two pieces are going to make up the front piece of the stocking.  Since the burlap is holey and see-though, the second piece of ivory muslin is going to act as a lining for the burlap.

7.  Put the raw (not sewn) edge of the cuff (with the sewn under hem on the outside facing up) on top of the other 2 pieces.  See below.  So you have the table, the burlap piece, the ivory piece, then the ivory cuff on top. 

8.  Pin the top so that you can sew the 3 pieces of fabric straight along the edge.  You're only sewing the top edge of the stocking at this point.

 

9.  After you've got the top edge sewn, you'll want to trim that seam down by half, so that you'll eliminate the bulk along the top.

10.  Flip the cuff over so that it's on top of the burlap side, and the finished hem is facing up.  Press with the iron along the top seam so that it lays flat.  This is where that whole seam-trimming step will help you out. 

Now when you lay it on your table, you'll have the cuff (with the good side facing up, toward you), the burlap piece, then the ivory piece on bottom. 






11.  Take the other ivory muslin piece you haven't used yet and follow the same process used in Steps 4 & 5 to make a finished edge for the back piece of the stocking.

12. Make a little loop to hang your stocking. I used some upholstery binding / edging that I had from another project, but you could use ribbon if you wanted. Make the loop and place a pin so that the raw edges of the ribbon line up with the raw edges of the stocking.

13. Take the piece you just did the finished edge for and place it with the finished edge facing down, so that you see the raw edge that you sewed under, on top of the other two pieces.  Pin around all of the edges, with the heads of the pins facing the center of the stocking.  This will keep you from having to scoot the pin heads out of the way of your presser foot as you sew.

This is what you should see if you look into the stocking.  All the "good" sides of the fabric facing the inside, with your pretty finished seam at the top.

14.  I started sewing on the right side, where the loop is, working my way around the stocking, turning as I went, and ending up with the top left of stocking.

15.  Once you're done sewing, you can take your pins out and trim your seam down by half.

16.  Flip 'er right side out and press flat.  I only used the iron on the muslin side, since I'd never ironed burlap before and didn't want to risk starting a fire or scorching it.  Below is a closeup of what the loop will look like when you turn the stocking inside out.  All nice and finished.

And here's the finished stocking!

After I finished these, I realized that you could do the cuff an alternate way.  To do that, you can skip the step where you sew the bottom hem of the cuff, and just press it under with the iron.  Follow the same steps to attach the cuff to the one piece of ivory muslin and burlap, still trimming the seam and folding over.  Before you sew the back piece, top stitch straight across the 3 layers of fabric along the ironed-under edge.  This will leave you with a finished edge on the bottom of the cuff, but it will be sewn to the front of the stocking.

I'm going to get a silver paint pen and write all of our names on the cuff before we hang them up after Thanksgiving.  I know, a little ahead of schedule, but when you have the time, you take advantage of it.

Happy sewing!

Going to the Fair

Country Living magazine holds a fair three times a year, where readers of the magazine can shop for antiques, meet the editors of the magazine, and get information on the latest products for the home.  This spring, one was held in Austin, Texas and next month, they're having on in Atlanta, Georgia.  This weekend, September 14 - 16, they're having on right up the road in Columbus, Ohio.

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Lucky for us, we never have plans, so when I asked the hubs if he wanted to go last night, he jokingly said, "I don't know if we'll have time.  The only thing I had planned was mowing the yard."

I'm really excited to get to attend, especially since it's less than a two-hour drive from our house.  I can't wait to see what I find to bring home!

Here's a link to the list of the vendors that will be there - there's over 150.  It's going to be huge!

They will also have on-site antiques appraisals by members of the Antiques Roadshow staff, a farmer's market, and cooking demos.

Here's a link to the schedule of events for the weekend.

Tickets are no longer available in advance online, but they are available at the door.  It's $16 per person for a one-day pass, and $20 per person for a weekend pass.  We're only going the one day - Saturday (I wouldn't put Patrick through that much shopping - poor guy).

I'll be sure to bring my camera with me to photograph some of the lovely items for sale, and I'll post photos of anything that I get to bring home with me.

Labor Day Weekend Thrifting

This weekend is proving to be a lazy one.  With an extra day thrown in.

Saturday morning we were in Loveland checking out a house, and on our way back to Milford, we passed a shop that I have seen but never had the chance to go in and poke around.  So immediately after passing it and seeing their OPEN sign illuminated, I yelled at my lovely husband Patrick to turn around so we could check it out.

I'm so glad we did!

This place is a gem.  It's called Vintage Market & Thrift  and their sales go to a good cause.  They have a huge selection of antiques and thrift items, with a ton of furniture and home goods.  I started a pile of things I wanted just a few minutes after getting in the door, and had to ask the nice guy at the counter if they had shopping carts.  They do.

I exercised a bit of restraint and came away with a few goodies, all for just $22.

I grabbed this mirror for $10.

It's a nice size and shape - I love the enlongated oval.  Not so nice is the 35+ or so years of junk that has collected in all the decorative nooks and crannies.

But I love all the detail in it.  It's going to get cleaned up and spraypainted (white gloss, of course).  It's not very big, so I need to find a suitable spot for it - maybe at the end of the hallway.

I also picked up this little guy for $5:

I'm not loving the retro gold and black finish, so it's also gonna get some sprayin' love.

He does have a tiny crack where his ear broke off at some point in the past, but whomever his previous owner was did a good job with the super glue.  Once he's painted, you'll never know.

This is actually my very first owl purchased for our house.  I guess I'm a little (okay, a lot) late at jumping on the owl trend, but I'm okay with that.  I prefer cuddly animals anyway.

I grabbed a dozen fake green apples for $7.50.

These babies are going to help me carry out my green accent for the story boards I've been doing.  And since there's twelve of them, I can divide them up if needed and use them in different arrangements or entirely different rooms if I need to.  I also grabbed another glass cylinder, which I picked up for $2.  I always buy these at thrift stores, since they're so cheap there.  It's a great money saver and you can never have too many.

On Sunday morning, the hubs and I packed up and headed off to the Tri-State Antique Market in Lawrenceburg, Indiana.  It's just across the border from Cincinnati, but since we live on the far east side of town, it's a 45 minute drive for us.

They always hold it on the first Sunday of the month, and October is the last month of the 2012 season for them.

Patrick is pumped, can't you tell?

It's at the Lawrenceburg Fair Grounds, on Route 50, just off of Interstate 275.  For just $3 to get in, you can browse the state's largest antique-only show every month.  This one is good because it's exclusive to antiques and vintage items.  No shady vendors hacking Nascar blankets here.

Me, in my antique market outfit.  Vintage dress, Hunter boots, fake pearls.

Since they hold it at the fairgrounds, there is a ton of space and a lot of vendors.  Some of them have to brave the elements out on the lawn, but many of the booths are in covered pavilions.

This rabbit statue sits at the entrance to the expo pavilion. 

What a handsome fella!

Although the skies were ominously dark the whole morning, we only had a few drops here and there.  The vendors were breaking out the tarps just in case.

Stormy Skies

Since there are so many vendors, and it's a strictly antique and vintage only market, the variety of things for sale is vast.

Vintage Signs

They also have a lot of really nice furniture pieces. 

Vintage Chest O' Drawers

They have some great old industrial worktables that we'd love to buy to use as a kitchen island.  Here are some inspiration photos:

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We only brought $40 with us so that we couldn't get into too much trouble.  I did pick up a few items, though.

I purchased this piece of ironstone for just $5.

English Origin Stamp

Rim Detail

I love all of the fine lines showing so many years of use.  Although, it will serve a purely decorative function at my house.

I also bought a couple of antique crystal doorknobs for $20.  My goal is to have all of our doorknobs switched out to these one day.  One day.

These will add a little vintage glam to our doors.  I can't wait to have a home for them!