Home Sweet Chicago

We were back home in Chicago last week for some R&R! We went boating, fishing, visiting friends and family, swimming, and even ran a 5K which was neither resting or relaxing! While I was there I was left alone in the house. Ut-Oh. I decided to take this lamp which was fine and give it a spin much like this lamp from Lemon Tree Creations.



I sprayed in bright red over the raffia let it dry. I was already thinking it was a bit too red and when my sister came home she agreed. (It was for her bedroom which has dark gray walls and a cream and red duvet.) So I took off all the raffia and sprayed the whole thing red hoping to switch the stripes and main color. Stripes red and the body Rustoleums Heirloom White. Well, we never made it back to the store to get the Heirloom White so this is how the lamp looks right now in the garage.

Now the tutorial on how to do this lamp is right here. So it would be pretty easy for my sister to finish this lamp right? I wonder if she will do it? I think she should. I know you are reading this STOP reading and go finish it. Please take a picture too so I can put it up on this here blog! Thanks much!

In other projects, I did manage to start and finish recovering this glider for my mom. She had bought fabric when she in was Denver on New Years Day, at a huge sale where I bought quite a few good yards myself! When I saw it folded nicely, untouched I decided to 1. find the sewing machine 2. use it! 3. recover the glider for my dear, sweet mommy!

I did this glider exactly how I did the glider in our nursery... like pillow cases. The bottom/back of each cushion is not closed. I made a finished edge for each but didn't worry about velcro, buttons, or snaps. With each cushion pushed back you can't tell and it made recovering the glider a breeze easy, sleazy!

So we aren't even unpacked yet which is a good thing and on purpose because we leave for Washington DC and NYC on Saturday! I have been reading Fodor's NYC with kids and I am pretty nervous about "gypsy" cabs! Look for the medallion, look for the medallion, don't get into a cab with out the medallion.

Week 21: Front Entry Light

That's right folks after many months of looking, 5-6 months I think. We have a new front entry light!!!

Isn't she beautiful? And what made her 'can't pass it up' worthy was the price tag... only $30.00!!! 

 

As you may remember we sold all three of our matching light fixture (that were with the house when we bought it) to a nice lady on craigslist back in January. We have successfully replaced the dining room light and the kitchen light and were looking and looking and looking for a new entry light. We had brainstormed various options... pendant lighting, chandelier, flush mount, semi-flush mount, anything and everything. Price was a big factor and the size. Lots of the lights we found were just a smidge too big for the doors or hung a bit to low for forehead safety. Then one day we took a car ride to Buds Warehouse. We walked in and right there on the counter were two identical light fixtures. I knew we needed one. I quickly asked about the price and was relieved, shocked, and exited that it was only $30! I picked it up like a hot cake and Andy hung it up the next morning. I love it!!! And what do you think? Do you love it too?

June Hutch

I am on a roll with the hutch this month! It is done and I think it looks great. Now I can enjoy it for the rest of the month and focus on finishing this months projects and posting them all! Can you guess what color this month was?

Yup you are right... YELLOW!

I saw somewhere in blogland (sorry I don't remember who to give credit to, I made these in March) how to make yarn balls. I dig the look so I made three to go on my two tiered stand for the month. They are super simple to make.

Quick Tutorial: Get some balloons, mine were 7in, and blow them up. Make a water and glue mixture (same consistency as soup). Unroll A LOT of yarn (one per balloon) and soak in the glue/water mixture. Find one end of yarn and wrap around the balloon. Wrap it all over, however you want. Let it dry over night and it worked better when I had it sitting on a plastic cup so that the extra glue could drip down. When it is dry take a needle and pop the balloon. Beautiful! **I have to admit that on two of the balls the side kinda collapsed I am wonder if using a fabric glue would work better than Elmer's glue.**

The tree branch Max found for me outside and I pulled a few flowers off the Dollar Tree "arrangement" and hot glued them to the branch. I used hanging wiring (that is what I had on hand) to hold it on an angle on the tier stand.

These beauties I got at a garage sale and sprayed them yellow. Looking good, looking real good! And that is the hutch for June.

May Hutch

This month was a bit better than last month which was a complete illustration of lack of motivation. I went with fuchsia/purple and although there isn't a whole lot to the hutch I think the purples all go together well. Watch out because June in yellow and it is almost complete!

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Week 20: Chalkboard Tags

A few weeks back over at My Repurposed Life Gail had a guest blogger, MeganDVD from Beauty in the Attempt. She showed us how to make Chalkboard Tags and immediately my dresser problems were solved.



Now my dresser is fine. I have it organized just right and unfortunately my clothes sizes don't change that often so it makes it pretty easy to memorize my own drawers. *Insert laughter from my witty joke*
Not the case for my adorable, growing like weeds children. I get so confused how I have each drawer organized and it seems like I am adding new clothes and taking out clothes not only because of growing needs but with the seasons as well. And in Colorado it could be 40 degrees one day and 85 the next! I know you moms out there feel my pain.

I had been thinking about it for a while how I want to remind Andy myself what is in which drawer. I thought about using tape and although the dressers are not in the best shape and missing pulls (which I don't mind because one was a freebie and both dressers are in the closet). I was worried that tape might pull off some of the finished and I don't want to commit to painting them right now. The contents of the drawers are always changing so I would be adding and removing tape, a lot. That was really my only idea. Then came MeganDVD she solved my problem in one blog posting! I followed her directions pretty well except one thing....

When I was at Michaels I couldn't find chalkboard paint but I did find something which I think might be even better. Chalkboard contact paper! It gave this project instant gratification since I didn't have to wait for paint to dry and my completion time was about 8 1/2 minutes for 8 tags. I strung some cute masculine (I have two boys remember) through the hole and used a staple gun to staple the ribbon to the inside of each dresser drawer.

I love the wet erase chalk pen. It eliminates all most of my fears of Max wiping off each drawers contents. I just need to remember not to let him watch me erase each tag or my fears will be back with a vengeance.

Thank you MyRepurposed Life for introducing me to MeganDVD at Beauty in the Attempt she is a problem solver!

Week 19: Dinner Calendar

"What are we having for dinner?" is a constant question in our household. In January, we decided to switch off nights (I am lucky enough to have a husband that enjoys cooking!) for dinner. Our system worked well then spring vacations happened and it was hard getting back into the swing of things. I saw some really cute dinner calendars online, which are adorable and cute. But, I wasn't sure if we were going to stick with the whole idea of writing our meals down each month. I wanted a simpler calendar to start on this new organizing adventure.

When I was at Target recently they had calendar wall decals on clearance. So I picked one up and I think that the purple goes quite well as an accent color. Remember: This is a trial. I also grabbed some poster board. (That was Step 1). Step 2: Unroll the decal and peel the paper backing off. Step 3: Smooth out any air bubbles with a Baby Symphony CD0, this is will only work with a Baby Symphony CD... just kidding. Step 4 (not pictured): Cut off excess poster board. That is it so simple. The decal even came with a dry eraser marker for my convince.  

I put our calendar on a picture frame easel that I had from something else, I am not even sure why I had it. I wrote on the top who was cooking each day and what we had going one that would keep up from eating at home. It is working fine but the best part is that it is a guide and I don't have to follow it to a T. Flexibility is the key in our house.