winning

I'm winning at lists and life!  I'm channeling the Charlie Sheen in me and telling you all about my victories.  I don't know how many of you caught that I added a little laundry list of projects I needed to work on around the house to my sidebar a bout a month ago?  With my new blog desgin I wanted to add it to the "tabs" section across the top of my page, but in reading it over, I discovered that I've done quite a few of the things already!!  Total win hiding in plain sight!  Are any of you "box checking" kind of people?  I LIVE by lists - it's a sickness really.  If I could do it without driving my friends and family nuts, I'd "Type A" the crap out of EVERYTHING I lay my hands on.  So, posts like this are really cathartic to me.  Here was my original list (in really no particular order), and crossed off are the items I've already finished...

• Finish digging out pool
• Add pictures to frames
• De-clutter bedroom
• Buy cushions for dining chairs
• Install vent in guest bath
• Replace and paint pantry doors
• Buy new dishwasher
• Buy new refrigerator
• Sew pillows
• Add trim to curtains
• Hem curtains
• Hang curtain rods
• Spray paint wall sconces (<-actually starting to like their color?  I'll document this in a post soon)
• Paint pantry
• Paint laundry room
• Remove popcorn ceiling
• Paint living room
• Paint family room
• Paint hall
• Remove fluorescent kitchen lights & replace with track lighting

 WOW!  I'm super excited - I've completed 6 of my original tasks!  And now I will show you all most of them. 

#1: De-clutter bedroom
Here we are before...

And after...

Just kidding.  Neither of those are my house.  You'll get bedroom pics soon enough (<-sounded wrong??), when I update you on our decorating progress in there!  Suffice it to say that I sorted, boxed, labeled and stored everything in a neat manner (remember my Type A sickness?  It's a real thing, people). 

#2: Buy cushions for dining chairs

Before...

After...

 We now have these on all 8 - woop woop!  Sorry you don't get a real picture.  It's nearly impossible to make cheap you-know-what IKEA chairs look classy.  They have a hard enough time keeping all 4 legs on the ground at once, lol.  On to...


#3: Sew pillows (read more here, here, and here) 

Before...

And after...

This was a big one.  A ten for me on the "winning" scale of one to awesomeness (otherwise known as ten).  You can also see evidence in this last photo of....

 #4 & #5: Hang curtain rods and hem curtains (read more here)

Before...

And after...

  

The curtains have added such a wonderful element to our living space - I LOVE them!  And last but certainly not least...

  #6: Paint pantry (read more here, here, and here)

Before...

After failed attempt at paint color choosing #1...
 

And the real after (I decided the fire-hydrant yellow color was burning my corneas)...

I think I'm pretty satisfied with what I've done since mid-July!  It's been a month and I think this was a lot to accomplish, along with going back to teaching for the year (can you say exhaustion?!).

I'm hoping to tackle these items next...

• Replace and paint pantry doors (<- so, so  SUPER EXCITED!  It involves chalkboard paint!)
• Add pictures to frames (<-we have lived here for 2.5 years - this is embarrassing, lol)
• Remove fluorescent kitchen lights & replace with track lighting (more IKEA coming our way)
• Make another chevron lazy susan for a giveaway on a friend's blog...  Maybe do a giveaway here?  Not sure if people would actually want something I made, lol.  I'm no Cassie or Natty, after all!

Are y'all box checkers like I am, or do you fly by the seat of your pants, or something in between?   What are you planning for your next projects?  Do share!  Happy Tuesday, friends!

I've been working on updock...

What's updock?  Not much, what's up with you ;)  Get it?  Teeheehee, but really what's been "up" with me is a whole crap ton of projects, that's what!  And I'm finally ready to share them with blogland.  It's been my goal in the last few months to slowly switch over the color scheme in our home from browns, and cranberries, to blues and greens and whites.  *aaaaaah beach tones....*  To tie it all up in a nice pretty package for you, here are the projects we tackled either this weekend or in the preceding week:

• sewed 10 pillows in 6 different fabrics
• hemmed (removed 17 inches!!) 6 curtain panels 
• ended up winning the war against the bobbin (booyah!)
• hung two curtain rods
• channeled my inner Martha and created decorations for a baby shower entirely by hand
• spray painted one lamp
• found a coffee table by the side of the road (Free! Score! Win!) and brought it home
• cooked two new yummies from scratch
• replaced the weather stripping on two doors

Whew!   I'm tired just looking at my list.  Seriously, I'm still recovering.  I'll share a few of them with you today, mainly the curtains and the pillows, and the rest will be coming later in the week. So, here we go!

Before this weekend, my little couch was all neked (so much more fun when you say it like that!), as was the window behind him.  Now, he looks all gussied up...

Isn't he cute in his Sunday clothes?!  For real, I'm LOVING the new colors.  that lamp will be changing soon, and coffee table is going to be painted, but one step at a time, April, one step at a time...

Here's a view with the full curtain effect...

Our room is loooong and narrow.  You can see the edge of our front door in this picture, and the third wall in this room is directly on the other side of that door.  Our room is seriously 13 feet wide and 30 feet long (read: IMPOSSIBLE to furnish), so we hung the curtain rod extra high to give the ceiling some extra height, and add some drama to the wall to give it the illusion of being wider.  The wall color will be changing soon (relative term), so the curtains should "pop" a bit more without "screaming,"  like their cranberry cousins in the dining room (who also disappeared this weekend - I'll show you that tomorrow!).  Who knows, maybe when I work up some more confidence I'll brave the bobbin again and sew on some nifty trim?

Our chaise lounge got some pillow love too...

 

Again, he'll "pop" more too, once the wall color doesn't match him... PERFECTLY.  Those two skinny pillows behind the blue beauty have big plans awaiting them.  I think it may be a completely original idea (are there really any of those left?) , so I'm keeping it to myself for now.  But get excited.

One thing is for certain, I have two very big fans of my adventures in pillow making...

Oh, Sunday afternoons, you are good to us!  Ted has claimed his busybody spot...

"Don't mind me, I'm just creepin' on the whole neighborhood, mom."

The reading nook got some pillow love, as well a a few decorations for the baby shower (consider this a teaser for Wednesday's post)...

Ted has demon eyes!  And notice the picture frames on the wall that are picture-less?  Yeah, I'm good with details like that.  It was totally on purpose.  I certainly didn't put them up 3 months ago and then forget... (ormaybeIdidandIfeelsuperrediculous)

One thing is for sure, I'm SUPER loving my couch/curtain makeover right now!  Here's another pic, in case you forgot (and b/c I'm proud of my pillows, but mostly b/c you WANTED to see another picture)...

 

*Sigh*  Doesn't it look so inviting and friendly?  Now you all have to come over so we can sip some (iced) coffee and catch up.  Who's up for a trip to AZ?  It was only 110 here today, not bad ;)

And since I am completely in LOVE with YoungHouseLove and any/everything John and Sherry touch (stalker much? lol), I'm taking part in their...

Today!  I'll be linking up my pillows, as the blue ones were inspired by this here pin...

 

And my version is this beauty and it's two twin sisters...

Not an exact match, but mine cost about $12 per pillow and WestElm is about $35.  It's deal central up in here!  And as I start to wrap up this LONG post, I'll give you a sneak peek at what I started on last night...

Oooh, I think it looks like something out of a biology text book!  I'll share the full details with you soon!  In the meantime, have you ever completely changed the color scheme in your home?  Ever had a breakthrough moment when everything in one space seemed to come together?  Are you linking up to YoungHouseLove today?  Have you ever worked on a project that in any way resembled a picture in a bio text book?  ;)  Please do share!  I hope you're having a wonderful Tuesday, friends!

Linking to: Not Just a Housewife

How I fought with a bobbin and lost (aka pillow talk part 2)

Sorry this post is coming late, it's been cuh-razy up in here!  I found another spare few minutes to sew a few pillows yesterday, but first I had to have a war with the sewing machine.  This is why I normally hand sew; there's so many frickin' little pieces on a sewing machine!  You have to wind the thread around about 16 little knobs and spindles, before it makes it's way through the Candy Cane Forest and the Sea of Whirly Twirly Gum Drops (Elf reference, anyone?) on it's way to the needle with the hole in the absolute wrong place.  Holy jeeze!  And IF you can make the thread be obedient until it gets to the needle, you still have to place the OTHER thread in the bobbin.  Two threads?  Hand-sewing me is trying to keep her head from spinning.  Once the bobbin is placed, the needle has to go pick up the bobbin thread (are you confused/frustrated yet?!).  This is what kept me from sewing for about an hour yesterday, until my mom could come and show me what I was doing wrong (Hi, my name is April and I am 8 years old.  Sheesh!).

Turns out, the little thread piece was hanging on the wrong side of the bobbin (obviously??).  I'm telling you, this machine is smarter than me and it makes me uncomfortable.  Anyone else ever been frightened away from sewing just because of the machine?  Tell me I'm not alone, people!  At any rate, I have another "before and after" for you.  Since I was all wigged out from my bobbin war, I accidentally put both pillows into their new covers without taking a "before" picture.  I bought two pillows at Ross for $4.00 each, knowing I wanted to cover them.  They were so CHEAP - love Ross.  So, here's a glimpse of their yucky stripey-ness inside the new cover, try to focus on the old and make the "new a surprise...

Love those stripes?  I didn't either, but you can't beat a quality pillow insert for $4.00!   So, after the addition of some more 50% off fabric (that's again, JoAnn's!) and a few thousand stitches...

Ooh, I love them!  I'm pretty excited about the color they add to the room...

After adding that pop of color to my reading nook, I'm thinking the garden stool may need a coat of bright spray paint.  Any suggestions?  Should I play it safe and go with white (the color of many other accents in the room), or be wild and crazy with a bright blue?  Maybe another color? Opinions wanted!

But, there's something you all should know.  I've been lying to you.  I've been showing you all of these pillows, leading you to believe that they're perfect, when in reality...

...I have yet to sew any of them shut.  I'm definitely going to hand sew these bits, but does anyone have any pillow closing suggestions?  I want them sewn, but just wondering if there's any way to make it look like the seam is done the same way as the rest of the seams.  Hopefully by the end of the weekend, all 10 pillows will be completed!  Maybe we'll get a chance to remove the kitchen lighting and replace it with track lighting while we're at it?  It's getting crazier over here! 

With that, I'm off to finish planning the baby shower I'm throwing on Saturday morning.  I'm using this amazing post as inspiration.  I hope I can make my gathering look HALF as put together.  How do these ladies come up with these amazing ideas?  I'm in awe.  Have a wonderful Thursday, friends!

Pillow talk, part 1

Remember waaaay back in blogland when I said I was going to recover my pillows??  I barely remember.  But, in all the craziness around here (I'm helping my cousin move in with my parents...  Box lifting, organizing and furniture hauling - lots of work!), I found time yesterday to finish one pair of pillows.  And when I say I found time, I mean the 20 minute slot between 11:45PM and my total crash at 12:05AM.  I also made time to take pictures because that's how effing dedicated I am much I love all of you readers.  So, here's the before...

These were given to us by a friend who was moving to the UK (LUCKY!!) a few years ago, and are originally from IKEA.  Being just married, I was so thankful for anything that made the former bachelor pad look more like a home.  But after 2+ years, they were looking tired, and did NOT go with our color scheme.  I chose this IKAT print...

...in an outdoor fabric, as these pillows are 25x25 and end up being floor cushions when my niece and nephew come over.  Durability is key, and the price tag was perfect - the fabric was purchased at JoAnn's with a 50% off coupon (booyah!) for $5.25 a yard.  And I only needed a yard and a half to make the two pillows.  So, after some hard work sewing on my mom's SWEET machine (Can you believe I usually hand-sew my things?  I think I'm NUTS for not buying a machine.  Or really cheap.  Probably the latter.), I had two adorable pillows...

Ahhh!  So cute!  I'm so excited about how they turned out.  I couldn't have hoped for better!  Just to blow your mind a little more (in case you didn't know, pillow transformations = mind blowing.... fyi), here's a sweet side by side....

And as you can see from the title of the post, I'll be sharing more pillows as I finish them.  Wish me luck!  I only pinned myself in the finger once yesterday, the gods of sewing must have been smiling on me, because it normally makes me swear like a hardened sailor.  Have you sewn any pillows recently?  I'd love any tips you'd like to share!  I learned one from my mom, but I'll save it for part 2, since it really deserves pictures and I didn't have my memory card with me at her house (fail!).  Have a wonderful Wednesday, friends, and don't forget to share your pillow stories!

linking to Craftomaniac