Over at Miss Mustard Seed's Today

I have to be honest...I am feeling so honored that so many people have loved and been inspired by our ottoman that we made. I'm hoping that it has inspired someone to do it themselves...Anywho...Today when I was purusing my blog reads, I saw that Miss Mustard Seed had featured our ottoman on her blog...sigh...oh, thank you so much...I will be the first to admit...I have a total blog crush on Miss Mustard Seed!!

Teagan's Mood Board

Previously I posted that I was going to be doing my daughter Teagan's room this summer, since she's transitioning to a "big girl" bed...sigh...I couldn't just slap a new bed in there and call it good...oh no, that would make it too easy.  Dear hubby can't understand why I feel the need to redo her room since it's only been 2.5 years since we did up the nursery for her...2.5 years! That's an eternity in my design world head! Besides, I have some great ideas for a little kids room that are oozing out of me, so why not utelize them now...I may not get the chance for her room for a long time.

I did decide to do a more grown up form of a toddler room she can grow into, all the while still being playful and whimsical. So I came up with this most recent mood board...now mind you...I sometimes do my mood boards differently than some designers based on how the room will be furnished. Meaning...is it going to be all store bought, mostly thrifted items I refurbish, family heirlooms, etc. Of course for me and my home, it will consist of some store bought, but mixed with garage sale finds. ahem....since I already picked up her bed at the 4-H garage sale for $20 ;).  This is only a taste of what is to be and I have a lot more to add...but it will give you the gist of it...and it gives me a starting point. Hope you like it! Let me know your thoughts!!

This Is What We've Been Up To

...just enjoying our summer with our little loved ones and houses full of family and guests...

Hope you all are enjoying your summer...spending lots of time with your loved ones!

Doing the Happy Dance

I was so thrilled yesterday when I was shopping in the city...eating my lunch...decided to check on some quick blog reads...and what do I find?? That I made the #1 Featured Furniture on The CSI Project contest! I am so honored that Miss Mustard Seed picked our Ottoman Project as #1!!!

I.Am.Smitten

After purusing Atlanta Home Magazine for a time now after seeing a fellow blogs post...I am now in love...smitten...and yes, I just had to subscribe. I am right now doing my happy dance waiting for my first issue. But in the meantime, their website if packed full of goodies! I don't need to live in Atlanta to enjoy the beauty of these homes, but it is certain...that southern money really can buy you some happiness ;) Enjoy...

Ottoman Tutorial

As promised, here is the Tutorial for the Ottoman that we built and was showed here in a previous post. I apologize that I have limited pictures, but I never dreamed that anyone would want a detailed tutorial, so if you have any questions, please feel free to ask!

You will need the following supplies and I will let you know where I purchased them and the cost:

2x4's (12 ft total) = $4.50
3/4" plywood or any depth you would like = FREE (we had left over at house)
Screws = FREE (leftover at house)
Legs (4) = $40.00 (Ebay because I wanted a specific style)
Furniture Leg Brackets (4) = (FREE already had)
4" Foam = $55.00 ( Joann's with 50% off coupon)
1.5 yds leather or vinyl = $25.50 (Joann's with 50% fabric sale)
Tufting Buttons (9 total) = $9.00 (Joann's)
Spray Adhesive = FREE (leftover at house)
Batting (optional) = FREE (leftover at house)
Staple Gune = FREE (already had)
Needle, Thread and Wax Thread (optional) = FREE (already had)

TOTAL COST OF PROJECT:    $134.00

I made our ottoman 36"x36":

• Cut the 2x4's three feet each, adjoining them with the screws to make a frame for the ottoman.
• Cut plywood into 36" square and attach it to the frame.
• This is where we went a step futher and made braces for the corners to make it sturdy. Cut (4) triangles for the corners on top of the frame. Then place a wood wedge (we used leftover 2x4's) and screw under triangle edge. This will add tremenous structure, so it will be able to have people sitting on it and in our case, kids crawling and jumping on it.

• After your frame is built, make your holes where you'd like your buttons to go. My husband is the math wiz, so he measured a drew a graph on the plywodd and the drilled the holes. (I think he just doesn't want me to touch his tools) :)

• Spray top of frame with spray adhesive and attache the foam. We used an electric knife to cut the foam in a clean cut.
• We went a step further here too and added batting around the edges, covering the 2x4's. This is optional, but it give it a seamless look.
• Next came the part when I was crying and wanting cheese fries-attaching the vinyl to the tufting button kits. Because this is much thicker than fabric, we ended up HAND stitching these onto the button forms and then clamping the backs on. This was NOT easy and I'm thankful my husband is a very patient person, because I was ready to give up!
• I then marked on the vinyl where I wanted the buttons to go and use my husband's leather awl to make a clean hole and threaded the buttons through using wax thread. We used wax thread because it is almost unbreakable and you can mold and move it around wherever you'd like.
• I then laid the vinyl over the foam and stood the ottoman on its side. We used a metal grilling scewer (yes, we were desperate and looking for something with a sharp edge) to get the thread through the foam. This worked great!!
• We set the ottoman up onto sawhorsed to get a better angle and while I pushed the buttons where I wanted them, my husband stapled the thread down on the back. This will only work with wax thread used in leathermaking, not nylon thread. If you used a nylon thread, you'll need to use a button on the back as well to have something to attach to.
• We then pulled tight and I mean TIGHT the vinyl to stretch and staple to the back. We did the corners last and folded and placed them neatly. We were going to sew the corners, but I just wanted to get it done and it still looks great! Then we trimed any access vinyl or batting sticking out, making it look clean.
• We attached the metal furniture plates on the bottom corners where the braces were to screw the legs into.

• Screw the legs onto the braces and YOU ARE DONE! Flip it over and ENJOY!!

I did purchase nailhead trim by the yard online for $19.95 for 10 yards, but I decided as of now, I like it the way it is; simple and clean. But it's always there should I ever choose to add it.

I know that some of the things I already had at home, but you can purchase the rest very inexpensively. I also had the advantage that my husband used to own a leather shop, so he is very handy when it comes to these types of projects, but I still think anyone can do this, just improvise if you need to and be very patient, it's not a quickie project.

Thanks again for all of your comments and questions and feel free to contact me if you have additional questions.

Linking up to: The Lettered Cottage, Perfectly Imperfect

Ottoman post over at Remodelaholic

I just got a comment that after featuring our kitchen remodel, Remodelaholic wanted to feature our ottoman as well! Yippee! So stop on over and say hi!

Dining In

I posted about a dining room project that was slowly coming along. I got so tired of looking at it uncompleted, I finally bit the bullet and just finished it.

Here's the before...I forgot to take a true before...the sideboard was originally a dark brown that I had painted years ago, but like most things, I forgot about the pic until I already started painting. It fits the space in my dining room perfect, so I decided to make it work.

Here's the after...this will eventually hold most of my china and dishes and vintage linens, but this works until I have more time to dig them all out.

I painted it the same color as our kitchen cabinets...Sherwin Williams Creamy...added some distressing and changed out the hardware.

For the shelving, we built basic shelves with wooden brackets. Simple and provides the storage and display I need.

Hydrangeas make everything better...

I'm linking up the following parties:

Just a Girl Show& Share Day
Remodelaholic Anonymous Blog Day
Funky Junk Interiors

http://www.inthefunlane.com/2010/07/fresh-coat-friday_16.html
The CSI Furniture Project 

The Shabby Nest Frugal Friday

Shabby Nest's Linky Love

I was purusing my daily blog reading today when what do I come across?....That my ottoman has been featured over at Shabby Nest's Linky Love. Thanks for the link love!! Stop on over and read her post, there's some great diy projects!!

Over at Remodelaholic

Our kitchen remodel is featured over at Remodelaholic today, so please stop by and say hi!

Coming in for Dinner

I am moving really slow with getting my dining room done, but mainly because we've been so busy this summer. I have family coming in to visit this weekend and would like to have at least this little nook of the room done, so here it is in the beginning stages before we brought it in to the dining room. I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Onto Bigger and Better

So with our daughter that turned 2 in March, she is coming up on the "big girl bed" scene pretty soon. I've been putting a lot of thought into what I (ok and her too) want in this room. One that she can grow into and no more pink, pink, pink. I'm thinking more subdued whites, greys with a little turquoise, maybe a little yellow, but not quite sure yet, so I'll have to see what the end inspiration is. I'll try to draw up a mood board soon, but until then, this is what I've turned to for inspiration...I'm terrible with kowing where I find pics sometimes, so if you know where it's from, please leave a comment.

Kitchen Remodel Cost Breakdown

If you haven't read about it yet, our Kitchen Remodel was done for around $700 this last winter. Because we don't know how long we will be in this home, we didn't want it to cost a fortune. When I scored this Tile at a garage sale last summer for $250, I knew this would be our starting point. So to answer some of your questions, here is a cost detail for the Kitchen Remodel:

Paint/Primer: $55
Hardware:    $110
Wood Trim: $105
Faucet:        $178
Shelving:      $50
Tile:             $250
Beadboard: $20
Chandeliers: FREE

TOTAL:     $768

I have had a lot of questions as to where and what I purchased, so here's that breakdown:

Paint/Primer: Primer was Adhesive Primer by Sherwin Williams b/c we had laminate cabinets. The paint on the cabinets is Sherwin Williams Creamy in semi-gloss. The hinges were painted in a brushed nickel to math the hardware and the chandeliers were painted in a satin black.

Hardware: Knobs purchased on ebay for .99/ea with free shipping. Cup pulls by House of Antique Hardware.

Trim: We purchased 4" crown molding and lathe to trim out the cabinet drawers and doors.
The island trim we had leftover from another project.

Faucet: Purchased on Ebay

Shelving: Purchased shelving and corbels at Home Depot.

Tile: Garage Sale Find

Beadboard: Home Depot

Chandeliers: FREE - a Craigslist find

So there you go...all the details. Let me know if you still have any questions.

My Little Helper

Sorry for the lack of posts this weekend, but I made myself a promise to slow down lately...so I took my 4 day weekend and did nothing but relax, and enjoy time with my family and friends. We had a few great bbq's and thanks to my little helper, my flowers are looking nice this year, too.

THANK YOU so much for all of your comments about our ottoman. I promise a tutorial and price breakdown soon!

Painting Grainsacks

So we all know how expensive the old grain and flour sacks can be, especially with them becoming so popular now. So, nothing new, but I decided to try to replicate my own, after using some tips from Mustard Seed Creations. I like the simple striped grain sacks, so I decided to do it simple. I started with bleaching a painted drop cloth (you can get these at the hardware stores for cheap and you end up with a ton of fabric). I spent hours soaking, resoaking in bleach and drying on high heat to soften, whiten and distress the fabric as much as possible. Drop cloth will NOT bleach just by adding a bunch of bleach with the wash cycle.  After I cut my fabric, I had to start by checking my OCD at the door. Miss Mustard Seed was correct on this, as you don't want them to just look like stripes, but old and faded stripes...and it was so liberating to run wild with the brush! Trust me, it's more exciting when your a total neurotic perfectionist to just let it all go! :) So, I taped off with my Frog Tape and some other tape I had laying around. With some fabric paint and some dry brushing a little later, this is what I got.

I love it! It truly looks like an old grainsack in person and I love that I can do these on a whim now that the time consuming part of the fabric bleaching is done. It was kind of addicting, so I might have to add some large ones through the house.

Linked up to:

Somewhat Simple

Life in the Fun Lane

Shabby Chic Cottage

The DIY Showoff

Crazy Domestic

Shabby Nest

Remodelaholic

Just a Girl Show and Share Day

Fingerprints on the Fridge Feature Yourself Friday

Funky Junk Interiors