Vintage Fabric DIY Teepee

I'm back after a bit of a break, with a fun project. A DIY teepee!
I'll be watching my little niece while she's on her summer break from school, so I try to have something new for her. I had been saving the sturdy cardboard rolls from upholstery fabric thinking that they would be useful for some craft project and this was it!

I used an awl to make a hole through the top of each one...

 

 

 

Then threaded twine through the holes and wrapped the 4 together.

 

 

Next I found a large piece of vintage fabric from the stash (It was a couple pieces that had been sewn together, probably for use as a quilt back). I made a rough template and used that to cut out the pieces I needed. I also added a contrasting trim fabric, just because. ;-)

 

 

In order to keep the seems lined up on the poles, I sewed small ties on the inside.

 

 

It was a quick project, folds up and stores easily, and finally got those cardboard tubes out of my sewing room...crafting success!

 

 



Lace Tiaras and Crowns

This was a fun craft project that I did with my little niece last week.  We used small pieces of vintage crochet lace from my stash and some store bought lace to make dress-up crowns and tiaras.

I know this has been around Pinterest for years, but since I don't have kids of my own, I'm a little slow to see some of these crafts.  Anyway, I followed one of the many tutorials out there at thegirlinspired or joyfolie or countless others (seriously, just search for it on Pinterest, there's a lot)

Here's the main supplies I used.

It was pretty hot outside when we made ours, so after saturating the lace, we just dried them outside on wax paper. In the photo below you can the variety of laces we used in there pre-painted state.

Hunny agreed to guard them for me on the deck.  :)
After they were dry, they all got sprayed with either gold or silver spray paint, then some got a light dusting of mod podge and glitter. 
Since many of these crowns would be going to our friend's children, I wanted to make sure to keep the glitter shedding to a minimum. After the glittered ones dried, I used a brush to get off any loose glitter, then gave them 3 coats of a clear spray acrylic.
 The ones that were too short to create full-circle crowns became tiaras.  I used boning leftover from another project to make the size circle I needed, then hot glued the stiffened lace to that.  It made for a nice base, so I even used it on one or two of the crowns.  Then the fun part of decorating them happened.  Various gems, bits of ribbon, and pearls found at yard sales and craft store clearance aisles made for a nice variety.

I also attached a sheer pink "veil" to the back of the purple one to give it a renaissance-ish look. That's also the only one we didn't paint.

So have you made any of these for your little princess or grand-princess?

Progress on the Sunroom and a Roll-Up Shade Hack

Projects move at a snails pace around here. I don't know how others do it...put their mind to something, start a house project, then finish it that same week.  That never happens here.
Anyway, some progress, however little, has been made.  First up I thought I'd show you a quick little sewing project of how I customized an Ikea Roll-up shade.

The shade is a plain white cotton twill called Emmie, and was 12.99.  All I did was measure the space between the button holes. Then cut my pretty yellow floral fabric to size, adding a half inch seam allowance on all sides, turn back the 1/2 inch and press. Then pinned in place, sewed around the edges, and called the door done. Easy peasy.

Next I moved on to the bench. I found the linen bins at Target.  Then made a long bench cushion in linen to match.

The 3 inch high density foam is crazy expensive and wasn't in the budget for this penny-saving make over, so I used a full size egg-crate mattress topper that I found on sale. I cut it into 3 long pieces and stacked them for my cushion.  It doesn't lay as smooth as a single piece of hi-dens, but for a $50-$60 price difference, I'm ok with that.
I once again employed the nifty little trick at whipstitch for continuous bias tape to make my piping, and found a long 48" zipper in my stash for the back closure.

And the cute red poppy fabric (by Joel Dewberry) was made into an accent pillow.
On the other side of the room I added some wall flowers to the brick . Not sure if I'll keep all of them up yet. I'm going to live with them for awhile and then decide if I need to edit.

And lastly, I brought in the antique chest from the other room and accessorised with some of my yellow pottery pieces, a cute little picture my mom found, and a round mirror (that still needs to be hung).

Well, that's about it for now. Still looking into what can be done to the floor economically, and I'd love to bring in a little table and chair for me to sit in, since Hunny has claimed the wicker bench as her own.  LOL
Have a great week, everyone!

Painting the Sunroom

I started a make over on the sunroom last week.  Its a small 12'x14' room off the kitchen that we've been using as kind of a mudroom. Its the entrance we use most often and where we kick off muddy shoes, grab a jacket and where we keep Hunny confined when we leave the house. Majorly neglected! (the room,  not the dog)

It is lined with yellow pine paneling and has faded rusty orange carpet.  And despite the 9 windows, it always seemed dark and cave-like....NOT my favorite room in the  house. The paneling bugged me the most. Now, I understand there are those who feel natural wood should be left as is, but I'm not one of them.  lol
And I think even the most die-hard wood lovers would have to agree with me in this case. The paneling appears to be pieced together from remnants (different grades, finishes, and colors) and you may also notice in the photos that on some walls its hung vertcally and on others its horizontal. There is also some exposed brick (greyish brown) thrown into the mix.
So, I decided to paint  the room and hopefully brighten the space and mask some of the craziness.

I started by removing the wood blinds, taking down the dust-collecting shelf at the peak, and wiping down the paneling.

Because of the grooves in the paneling and all the cutting in around the windows, I had to paint the entire room with a brush. Fun.  But after a coat of primer and one coat of paint (Behr's paint and primer in one) I was already happier with the room. I decided not to paint the ceiling becasue I just didn't think my neck and shoulders could handle it, although I think it would look lovely in a pale sky blue.

I painted the door in a blue-green color that I already had on hand and plan to use yellow and red as accents in the room.

Although I like the wood blinds, I was craving somingthing a bit lighter for summer.  So I had hubby install curtain wire from Ikea so I could hang sheers.  The wires will be nearly invisible if I later want to take down the sheers and put the blinds back up.

While we were at Ikea, we also picked up an Expedit bookcase and 6 Besta feet and plan to use it as a long storage bench.

There's still some work to do. We have to trim out the gable window and then put up the last curtain wire on the wall. I'm also re-making a roll up window shade for the door and want to make a seat cushion and find storage boxes for the bench.  I would love to change the ugly carpet, but not sure that will happen just yet.  But, its already made a big difference! Its now a bright happy room that goes with the rest of the house, rather than looking like an after-thought.

 

 

Hope to have this finished up soon, so I can show the final reveal.  :)

Vintage Metal Stool Industrial Chic Make-Over

This is a story about a little black metal chair that sat in my Gram's kitchen for as long as I can remember. It was the perfect size for children and my sister and I would fight over who got to sit in it on pizza and cards night.  It eventually made its way to my house and sat collecting cobwebs in the garage for way too long.  So this weekend, armed with a can of brushed nickle spray paint, I decided that it deserved an industrial-chic make over.
As I was cleaning off the dust, I noticed that black was apparently not it's original color. The underside was a bright aqua blue and had the name of the company and retail price was stamped on...Cosco Model 1-B for $2.25! LOL

If aqua matched anything in my kitchen, I may have considered repainting it in the original color...but it didn't. It covered easily and took less than half a can of paint.

After several light coats she's now sporting a new industrial-chic look. (you can also see a bit of my giant bread sign in the background)

Now she sits in a corner of my kitchen, waiting for kids to fight over her again. :)

Magnetic Chalkboard Pantry Door

I recently dressed up a plain pantry door with Rust-oleum's magnetic primer and chalkboard paint. I first applied 3 light coats of the magnetic primer. Take note: this stuff has some strong fumes and requires a lot of ventilation. Also, to avoid a tedious clean up, I used a sponge roller and disposable paint tray that I could just throw away afterward. The next day I applied 3 coats of chalkboard paint. This paint has way less fumes and cleans up with just soap and water. Honestly, I was pretty happy just to see the ugly veneer door black, but the fact that I can now use it as a calendar and message center is a big bonus! I waited an entire week before writing on it with chalk, so in the meantime I made some fun magnets. I've read many blog posts about how most magnets won't stick to surfaces painted with the magnetic primer, but I have found that the sheet magnetics work great and easily hold up papers and cards. All in all, I'm very happy with the results.

Framing Fabric and Master Bed & Bath Photos

The walls in the master bedroom and bath were still pretty bare, but I couldn't really find any wall art or pictures that I liked. I did, however, have numerous fabrics that looked fabulous with the wall color and originally thought I would be sewing lots and lots of throw pillows.

Instead, I decided to frame some of those pretty fabrics to use on the walls. A lot faster than sewing and it fills the empty space...a win-win!

But first, lets take a look at what this room looked like when we began...


And this is where its at now...(Ikea Pax closet, Olympic's Blue Shamrock paint on the walls) I purchased a couple of Ribba Frames from Ikea and taped squares of fabric to the matting. So easy! In here, I framed one of Amy Butler's fabrics above the chair.

Click here for a previous post to see more photos detailing how we removed the old closet wall and installed the Ikea wardrobes.

I also picked up the new green lamp on the dresser up there at Pier 1.

I made the pillow on the bed using a lovely orange leaf fabric by Vicki Payne. While it was on sale, I bought several more yards to use elsewhere in the room...maybe for a new slipcover for the blue chair. Or possibly to edge the curtain panels.

And in the master bath, I framed a graphic yellow fabric by Premier Prints. I love this fabric and have it in several colorways!
And here is a Before picture of this room. Not a lot of changes in this room, yet. But a new vanity and flooring will happen eventually. For the wall color in the bath I mixed the same Blue Shamrock as the bedroom, with equal parts of white. The room is so small, I wanted something just a touch lighter.

Oh, and the little curtain in the bathroom is about the only thing I've had time to sew lately. I used a fun and colorful Sandi Henderson Meadowsweet print, orange grosgrain ribbon, and the white fabric left over from the bedroom curtains after I hemmed them.

I'm sharing this transformation over at Between Naps on the Porch.

Hope to be able to do more sewing projects soon. Have a great week, everyone!