A Fall "Jacket"

For the first time this week, I am beginning to believe that there might be and end to the DC humidity and fall may be just around the corner!  Woohoo!  Fall is my favorite season and I have not experienced it for the past three years!  Bring on the cool mornings, the smell of leaves, and of course...

Bring on the color!! 

In the spirit of fall, this cute chair needed itself a little "jacket."  A change from it's beautiful white spring/summer look to something more "fallish!" 

What do you think?

I think it is a great pop of color and, I think it's owner is going to love how it looks in her bedroom. 

No more blending into the walls for this piece! 

Here's a close up of the fabulous fabric this slipcover is made from. 

Love it!

And of course some details of the button closures.  Can I just say I love my sewing maching?  I used to HATE doing button holes, but it is SO easy with my new machine!

You might recognize this chair from an earlier post - - funny part about it is that it's original upholstery was orange - - then it got completely redone in white, and now a slipcover in orange ( a different color orange of course - a far cry from the 70's burnt orange!)

This one's for you Kristi!

Because I am too lazy to retype what I already wrote, you will have to go to the bottom of the post to see what these pictures are all about! Why doesn't blogger let you cut and paste?

This one is both symetrical and A-sym - - notice the two triangles on the outside and yet another one in the center?

Balancing heavy objects with lighter ones
the height of the apothacary being the top of the triangle with the nest and silver dish but all balanced by putting a picture behind the "triangle"

A wide triangle made with mostly heavy objects but anchored by the picture in the middle

My favorite... a perfect triangle made with some bright whites and "mercury glass"!

My friend Kristi just texted me asking what is the secret to ant A symetrical vignette... I tried texting her some pictures, but they didn't go through, so now everyone gets to enjoy my version of A symetircal vignettes!

Like I told her, think triangles! Have a tall item and two other smaller anchors and you can fill in with other things if you want.

Here are some examples from my home...

Pink Chandelier

I think every newconstruction house probably has - or if you are lucky HAD - one of these ugly brass chandeliers. The most likely place you will find it is overhead in the dining room. Ugh! Who ever thought these were pretty or even desireable? Well, would you belive it, I actually went out looking for one? I didn't have to look far! I found this one at the loca thrift store for only $4.50!

Why, when I just testified to how ugly they are would I look for one? Well, as you know we are renting. Our house is really nice, it really is, and I like it alot, but if I were to have one complaint, it would be that the builder - -to save money, did not put any overhead lights in the bedrooms. In fact, one of the only rooms that does have a light is the dining room and yup, you guessed it, it has exactly the kind of light I am talking about! Anyway - - our bedrooms need light! It's hard to just use lamps in kids rooms. They don't allow enough light in the rooms for them to be able to read or work on their little projects and if you had a little girl like Charise, you would know that it is much safer to have a light above instead of a lamp!! Thus the desire for a cheap, ugly chandelier! Did you know you can very easily attach a cord to the wires, hang a hook in the ceiling, plug it in and... whaalaa! Instant light without anything more than a small hole in the ceiling!

Of course, I didn't want just an ugly old brass light up there, I had to do something to it!! And change it I did! I am still going to add some custom shades to them, but I promised Kristi that I would do a post :) so I will have to post some more pictures once i get the shades done! Here's how I did it...

I started with my ugly $4.50 lamp...

covered each socket with tape so that paint would not get in there...

Sprayed it with primer....

Then...spray painted it a very girly pink!!!

Doesn't every girly girl want a pink chandelier hanging in their room? Charise loves it and shows it off to everyone! Like I said, I'm not done with it yet, gotta make those shades still, but it is going to look fantastic when it is all done!


*UPDATE*

After looking at the chandelier some more and mulling over exactly what I was going to do for shades and such and being the cheap thrifty person that I am.  I decided to go in a little different direction.  The lamp just pink was not enough for me, it didn't scream "girly!"  So I decided to check around and see what I had that would cost me nothing.  Scrapbook paper - check,  beads (given to me by my aunt as part of a complete set Christmas tree decorations) - check, crystals (picked up on clearance a couple of years ago, but just holding on to them for the right project) - check, double sided tape - crud just used all that up on another project.....thinking...., regular tape (I guess I can make it double sided the old fashioned way! - check!

I took the scrapbook paper and cut it down to fit around each of the "candle sticks" (I'm sure there is some technical name for them, but I haven't got a clue what it is).  Then I fit them around the candlestick and taped them all the way around.  Initially I just put one piece of tape along the back seam, but that popped open within a few minuted, so I just went with one piece all the way around, plus, you can't see it, so it doesn't really matter.    then I used my circle cutter and cut a circle from the paper for under each of the lights.  I cut a small circle in the center of each one (like a doughnut) then cut a slit for an opening, then fit that around the bottom of the light, using my ghetto double sided tape I taped it to the bottom, then ran a piece of tape along the seam and up over the light to securely hold it.

Next, I took all those beads (I used 4 strands of the christmas beads) and began wrapping and wiring them around the bottom of the chandelier, letting them hang down evenly between the lights.  Then I took the crystals that I had been holding on to forever and attached them under the lights and along the beads.

I think the results now scream, "girlie" and just as added proof, everytime someone new comes to our house, the first thing Charise wants them to see is her new Princess Chandelier!!

Now that I think this is girlified enough, I am going to post it in Between Nap's on the Porch's Metamorphasis Monday - - - except that I just realized that it's Tuesday - - I guess I got thrown off by Labor Day!  Oh well, jump on over to her site and check out all the other inspirational changes that people have posted!!

Work in Progress

Well, I promised pictures, but they are all a work in progress! We are getting all the boxes unpacked (actually, I think they are all unpacked, its just a matter of finding a place for everything!)...now we can move on to the decorating - - the fun part!

This is right in our entryway. I stacked our two smaller bookcases on top of the two larger ones (turned them upside down) and now I have 10 foot tall bookcases! I put 8 little push-lights inside of them to give them some lighting and added a skinny curtain rod on the top to be the "library ladder rail". I'm not sure if the curtain rod is doing it's job, but I really do like how the rest of it looks. I still need to find something decorative for the top shelves, but that will come!

This is a little vignette on a small wall between the kitchen and dining room.
This is just a sneak peek at my workroom - - I have been busy working in it and it isn't quite finished yet, but I absolutely love the walls. I moved this fabric with us and it is the perfect remedy for a rental home. I can't paint the walls, but I can put fabric up!

More works in progress. I am looking for another chair to match the blue one that I got from my Grandma, then I am going to slipcover them both in the fabric that is draped over the chair on the left. Do you love the lamp? I do - - Hobby Lobby $8 - - you can't beat that!! Of course I bought two! Off to the right in this picture is my workroom and to the left is the living room. I am standing in the dining room taking this picture.

And one last picture of something I have been working on - - - a diaper bag for a good friend. This was the first time working with this pattern, and I changed the handles out to make them more comfortable. I just love the fabric combination - - I should take a close-up because all the raspberry fabric is a raspberry and white seersucker stripe - - so cute! I hope she loves this bag as much as I do!!

Hope you enjoyed all the little sneak peaks - - I have so many projects planned for this house, it is just going to take time! Stick with me and you will get to see them all!

Anyone want an update?

Well, I thought it might be a good time for an update! So much has happened in the last month and a half since I updated last. We've packed up the entire house, cleaned it all (passing inspection with flying colors!), moved to the other side of the country, visited friends and family along the way, found a great house to rent (more on that story), had all our household goods delivered, cried over some pieces that were ruined, unpacked boxes and am currently busy trying to find a place for everything and make this place ito our home! whew... I'm tired just after writing all that! Living out of a suitcase for over a month is not for me!!

I don't have pictures of the house yet, but I promise they will be up shortly so today I will tell you about how we got this house!

On our way here, we stopped in Ohio to visit my mom and Papa O. We ended up leaving the kids with them (what a huge blessing) while Jason and I took off for VA to find us a house. We had already filled out all the paperwork for on post housing, but all the places told us the wait list was 6 to 12 - - remember that in 6 months Jason is supposed to deploy - - so waiting was not an option for us, we wanted to be in a home and settled by the time he has to leave. We got to VA late Monday night. We knew that on Tuesday, we had to go to the housing office and check in with them before we could start really looking for a house. On Monday night, we searched the internet for homes for rent in the DC area... we had a list of about 20 potential homes and we started calling that evening to try to set up times to see the homes. No one answered except for about 3 or 4 people who all told us that the homes had already been rented out. Tuesday we went into the city to check in at the post and talk to the housing office. We finished there about noon and we were on our way to trying to find a house.

We called on a few more homes on our list and either did not get an answer, or they had already rented it out. Finally we decided to just enter some of the addresses into our GPS and see the neighborhoods and houses and then we would know if we were even interested. We drove to the first house we entered and knew instantly that it was not for us. So we headed to the second address. when we pulled into the subdivision we knew this was a good possibility... We found the house that was listed and imediatly called on it - - - someone answered - a good sign! It was the realestate agent who promptly told us that the house had already rented...darn! As we were driving out of the subdivision we were looking at street sign and I saw one I recognized. I looked on our list and there was a home listed for rent on that street. We immediately called. Someone answered (oh happy day!). It was the owner she told us that the previous people had just moved out the day before. When Jason asked her if we could see it, she said it would take her about an hour to get there but we could see it. Woohoo! then someone actually called us back and told us we could come and look at their home at 3. We went and grabbed some lunch, then headed back to the first house to see the inside. we walked in and it was spacious, clean, new (only 3 years old), and a great location. The only negative was it was going to cost us all of our housing money and we would still have to pay utilities out of our pocket. We told the landlord that we were really interested, but we had another house to look at that had 5 bedrooms and was a lot less per month. She asked us how much. We told her and she said - - I will give it to you for that, but you will have to mow your own lawn. I know our jaws hit the ground! We told her that we would give her a call back after we looked at the other home...

The next home was not the one for us at all - - wallpaper and all green trim - - that's all I am going to say... we called the original landlord back immediately and told her we wanted it! Just like that - - we only looked at two homes and we had our house. Everyone told us to take our time and not make any quick decisions, but we just knew this was right. Turns out that the lady who works in the cubicle next to Jason lives just 5 houses down, so he was able to jump in on their carpool right away.

Oh - - - and did I mention that we now live only 5 minutes from the mall, Target and Ikea? I live in civilization again!!

I promise pictures will be on here soon!!

Before and After!

I thought I would show some before and afters of some of the projects I have been working on. It is crunch time around here trying to finish up everyone's projects before the packers show up to pack everything for moving.

This first chair is your typical Army office waiting room chair. My friend Sandi just wanted some extra seating in her house when friends are over. She found 2 of these chairs for $5 each and decided they would be a great option. Once I took them apart and started re-upholstering them, I realized they had great potential. What if they don't go back in the typical waiting room frame, but instead got 4 legs attached to the bottom? Whala! Two great slipper chairs!

Before
What I envision they could look like (my inspiration if you will)

Here is the chair part re-upholstered but not back in the frame. Are you seeing what I am seeing? Potential! Notice, I have used a storage crate as my "legs" for the picture. What do you think? Put them back in the frame or add legs?

Here is a second before and after....Just for you Kristi! Kristi is gone on vacation with her family so this will be her first peek at her chair also! This is Kristi's chair before the re-do. It was your typical late 70's early 80's orange corderoy chair. The chair has been primed, painted and re-upholstered. I think I'm in love!

Before

Here the chair is after... what do you think? Big change! I think it looks great!

Now that I have had my little break from all the moving excitement, it's now time for me to get back to organizing and deciding what is going into my garage sale - - -this Saturday. Ugh! If you live around here (and you obviously know who you are!) then stop on by on Saturday and get my trash to make it into your treasures!!

Disney

Here is a sneak peak at our time at Disney! We had a great time as a family, getting away from all the stress of moving and just enjoying some time with just the four of us. Our hotel was just a couple of blocks away from the entrance to Disney, so we parked our van at the hotel when we got there and never moved it again!! It was great, we walked there every morning when the parks opened, and walked back to our room for lunch and swimming at the pool, then we would walk back for an evening of fun at the park. It was great. The kids were the perfect age to take, not too little to have to struggle with a stroller and naps and not too old that it wasn't cool anymore! Enjoy the picures. It't time for us to get back to the real world again and contiue preparing for the big move. Only two more rooms to paint back to white and we are done! Then packers, movers, inspections, and final goodbyes - - - but oh yeah, we still need orders before we can get everything done. Oh the sweet sweet life of the military!