Congrats Tom and Jillian

My brother is getting married in less than 2 weeks.  So awhile ago I decided to ask them what they really needed for their house.  And they wanted an entry way bench.  So that they could get rid of this lovely piece of "furniture":

I looked up lots of plans.  I took lots of measurements and drew some building diagrams.  And I came up with my very own, perfectly sized for their space,  built from scratch entry way bench.  I sewed a cushion cover (removable for washing, of course) and some pillows to make it cozy.  And I added a special little detail that no one will ever see, but they will know that it's there and it means something.

 Much better, don't you think?  (p.s. - I can't be blamed for the upside down pillow in these final pictures.  I sent my husband and my Dad to deliver it and set it up.)

Happy Wedding Tom and Jillian!!

Bigger Kids... Bigger Schedule

One of the things about being a (self-diagnosed) OCD'er is that I always have to have lists.  Lots of lists.  And calendars - multiple calendars.  With lists on them.  Basically, if it is not written down, it does not exist to me.  One of the ways that I have managed to stay on top of our increasingly more demanding schedule is to have a weekly dry erase calendar that I update every Sunday night so that I will be aware of how the week will unfold and the family can easily see it while eating or passing through the kitchen.  Up 'til now, this little organizational tool looked like this:

Recently, I decided that I could improve upon this situation.  The dry erase calendar above was starting to get a bit small for weeks that were filled up with little boy things to do.  And I had this old frame with broken glass which once held a painting that was above our bed that I still loved.  And I had this old piece of plexi-glass sitting in our basement left over from the days when we used it to cover the railing area at the top of the stairs so Shane would stop trying to stick his ginormous baby head through the slats.  And so the light bulb went off.   I found 'a guy' who cut the plexi for me to fit in the frame (after, of course, I tried several times to do it myself and failed in each and every way).   I painted the days of the week backwards on the underside of the plexi so they will not wipe off with my dry erase marks.  And I found a piece of white fabric and some ribbon in my continuously growing stash.  And so this was born:

also I cleaned up a bit...  :)

A Place For Me

When we moved to this house over 6 years ago, I was excited that there was a work area down in the basement. In our previous house, we hadn't even had a basement.  But I was also pregnant and working and tired at all times.  I did manage to slap a coat of some leftover pinkish paint on the work area, but after that update, I pretty much called it a day.  Since then, I have found that I have actually been working around my workbench.  First of all, the lighting was horrible.  Secondly, the area that would have been the workbench has this ridiculous cabinet taking up the left side of it and also sported a 30 degree slope from the front to the back wall.  How am I supposed to build anything on a slopey work table?  On top of that, with two young children running around, I barely had any time to put away any tools that I took out, so they mostly just got throw in a heap on the remaining work surface.  I have been building furniture for the last few years on my back deck or on a crib base that I placed over an old rolling kitchen cart in the middle of the basement.  Suffice it to say that my "work area" was a hot mess.  Observe:

tool area mess

"workbench" disaster area

Recently I decided that in order to be a more productive and creative me, this situation HAD to change.  I roped my Dad into helping me fix several lighting situations.  (thanks dad!)  I sold the old rolling kitchen cart on craigslist to clear out some space.  And then the demolition began.  I ripped out the weird cabinet and the funny step type thing in the back of the workbench.  I built some new legs on the right side where it was sort of droopy.  I covered up that horrible brick basement wall with a whiteboard.   I painted with some oops paint that I got at Lowes for $3.  I covered up the paint can area with a curtain to keep the sawdust out.  And best of all, I leveled the top!

Now that I have my work area all straightened out (literally)....  does anyone need anything built????  I have the itch again....

Crazy Roll-Ups

I've just finished my first bulk order!  So, it was for my sister-in-law.   Whatever... still counting it.  A couple of years ago I made her kids some cute little crayon wraps that I saw on line and decided, "hey - I could replicate that...".  She loves them.  The kids love them.  I had to make more when subsequent kids were added to that side of the family.  So it was only fitting that for her youngest's first birthday party, my sister-in-law wanted to give every kid a crayon roll-up as a party favor.  So she placed an order... for 35.  (an "order" - sounds fancy, no?)  Needless to say, I have been at it all week on these crayon wraps and I'm not sure that I ever want to see one again, but they are cute, right?  And it really was good practice for me and good to see if I could handle an "order".  ;)  Does anyone else have a toddler birthday party coming up?  Or just a toddler?  Or just a love of coloring and roll-ups?

Close-up of the girls' versions 

Close-up of the boys' versions (Don't worry - I made some unisex ones too.  Just in case some random party-crashing one year old shows up.)

All ready for your purse or diaper bag!

White bean wreath amore.

Remember the white bean wreath?  It is now in it's full Valentine's Day regalia.  I think it will look even nicer once I move it to the outside and paint the door bright green this summer.  ;)

She's Done!

Final chair update.  (see the start of this project here)  The upholstery tacking strip that I ordered finally came in the mail and so on this past lovely Wednesday/blizzard/snow day, I set to work.  I just had to finish up the sides and the back.  It took some practice, I'll tell you...  but after the third piece of 'curve-ease', I started to get the hang of it.  Here she is in all of her finished glory (reeaaallly not sure that I want to give her up!)

Lighten Up A Little

Ever since redoing the back splash in my kitchen last year, I have been pondering painting my cabinets (see - these things are not ALWAYS spur of the moment decisions).  My kitchen, when we moved in, was an odd combo of log cabin and 80's sky blue laminate.  Little by little I have been changing it up.  I put in a new floor, but I chose it purely on durability and mud-hiding ability since I have two young boys and we use the kitchen as our main entrance.  So function won out over form on that one.  I put in a new neutral tile back splash and we forked over the big bucks for the new counter tops and appliances (refrigerator that doesn't tip backwards - score!)  I painted it.  Twice.  But it still felt dark and overwhelmingly caramel (no help from my choice of floor and the first color of paint).  So (probably because of my winter blues...) I finally decided to commit to painting the cabinets with the goal of lightening up the place.  I also painted a floor canvas to break up the caramel by the table area.  I fixed up the ugly bulb problem over a week ago, and I sewed some new valences from a table cloth.   Here is a photo history of my kitchen and it's many phases of redo.

Before we bought the house.

After we moved in - fix #1 - knobs (they didn't have ANY... weird, right?)

New boy-friendly floor (white just wasn't going to do it for my family!).  Also unfortunate caramel paint color that I chose and instantly hated.

New counter tops and appliances.  New paint color.  Redid the blue back splash..

A couple of days ago. (This is what a kitchen in use looks like....)

See how everything is was caramel? 

NOW - painted floor cloth

new valence

painted cabinets = less caramel  :)

much brighter! (hmmm... wish I had closed that drawer...  oh well!)