Pages

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Ikea lamp redux

This is so simple I'm almost embarrassed to post it as a bona-fide project. During one of my many trips to Ikea, I spotted this lamp/nightlight that I thought would be perfect for the boy's room. At $4.99 each, the price was certainly right! Only problem is, the picture was not to my taste. Upon closer inspection, I saw where I could very easily take the lamp apart and replace the paper. And that's what I did. My older son loooooves Ben10, and I was able to quickly find a very good high-res pic on the 'net. A quick crop in photoshop and it was good to go. The lamp I used was Tassa Natt, and can be found here


before:after:

More Chairs

As promised, here are the other two chairs I've done. Can you guess which went into the boys' room, and which went to the girl?
I lucked out and found the same chair on two different occasions! The chairs looked like someone soaked their hands in a combination of mud, grease and grime for weeks, then smeared every inch of the chairs with it! I thought about taking the metal frames to get sandblasted and refinished at an auto painting place but didn't. Because 1) the places I called thought I was crazy (this is ohio, not san francisco, after all..) and 2) really, who am I kidding? I read a very effective tip on bringing your chrome back to life. Simply scrub the chrome with aluminum foil. What was even better? add some baking soda pasted with water. It was amazingly easy and effective in cleaning/shining the chrome. Check the before and after... (A lot of times you'll see my 'before' objects positioned rather strangely. That's because I ALWAYS forget to take the before picture before starting the demo.)

Before
After #1
After #2

Friday, September 12, 2008

Chairs...

Before






























After

I've been obsessed with recovering old chairs lately. Maybe it's because I've been 'finding' so many! I just love making something old and cast aside, new again. I've done about 3 chairs so far, with 2 chairs and 2 couches left to re-upholster. I don't know when I'll get to those, as fabric (at least what I want) is un-cheap! I love the funky, mod fabrics out , but at $18-$60 per yard, that could add up.
The chair in this picture is my craft room chair. It was actually an rolling office chair in its old life. I loved the chair instantly from the side of the road. I cleaned it up nicely, but kept the original upholstery for a few months. I wasn't sure I could recover it, since I couldn't find any screws. I eventually found the screws and proceeded to take it apart. For a second during the demo I considered pitching the whole project because it had sooooooo many staples! Plus, it was really built to last, and I wasn't sure I could do as good a job putting it back together. I'm so glad I kept it and continued to work on it because it turned out so nice! It took me 3 nights to demo and rebuild. I still didn't tighten up the redo as much as the original, but I think it's great. I'm working on my perfectionist tendencies...
The sweetest part of the whole deal? The fabric only cost me $0.88 for all 3 yards (I only used about 1.5 yards). The Wal-Mart I got it from was closing out their fabric section so I was able to pull off a major score.
I have two more chairs that I've done that I will post soon.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Hiking with a purse...only my daughter.















So, we commemorated Labor day by hiking at Charleston Falls Nature Preserve. We went early in the morning before it got hot, and a great time was had by all. Though, the brochure l-i-e-d! It is decidedly NOT the Niagara Falls of the midwest, lol The Thorny Badlands were also neither thorny, nor bad. All in all, a great time was had by all.
I'm the one in the corner right with my braids hanging out, and my girlfriend V is the one with the Dora backpack (mommies unite!)
Here's is my lovely Princess Snaggletooth, hiking with her pink sparkly princess purse. Only her, I tell ya!

Oh my Wordle!














Get your own: http://worldle.net

Monday, September 1, 2008

Slowly getting back into the swing...

Sorry folks, for the extended absence. I've been busy ripping up carpet and tacks, taking down wallpaper, painting walls, and moving...all with 3 children in tow. No, I didn't do it all myself, but I did a lot of work, as the hubster had to work during the day. But kudos to him though, he'd work daytime and go right into the house-work at night.

We had to do the most important things first, of course, and had to move in lightning fast. You see, we underestimated how much work we had to do, and set up to have our utilities turned off at the old place just one (very) short week after closing. I really wanted to at least get the painting done and the carpet up before moving in. I will live with ugly floors before I'll live with pissy carpets. (Previous owners had pets) The boys' room was a labor of love for me. I practically did the room myself. I ripped down all 4 layers of wallpaper (thankfully the first 3 came off easily, the 4th with vinegar and water), had to TSP-wash down the walls to remove the glue, primed, painted (2nd coat) and removed carpet tacks and staples...I harp on the tacks because, man, those things are a pain to remove! Hubby missed out on the distinct pleasure of wallpaper removal. Thanks to my hard work, the walls look awesome! Now the floors are another story. The hardwoods will have to be refinished at a later date.

I won't bore you to much more with the gory details. We got 'er done and are now settling in. There are still soooo many projects to be done (removing awnings, anyone?), but we can take our time with the rest of the projects.

Now I'm slowly getting back into posting and creating for my etsy shop. Please stay tuned for new and exciting products coming soon!
In the meantime, I'm getting ready to start making my own laundry detergent. Here's a great recipe I found on Woman's Day's website. I'm excited and can't wait to try this and see how well it works. My detergent buying days are about to be over if it washes as clean as they say it does. Now you might wonder why I'd make detergent when I could easily buy it. Here are my reasons:
1. I want something simpler and more natural. My son suffers from seasonal allergies. I, as well as all 3 of my kids suffer with hives. I want to eliminate as much chemicals from our lives as possible.
2. Detergent is expensive! This recipe will end up costing pennies per load.
3. I love the self-sufficiency aspect of it. Plus, I can customize with essential oils/fragrances that
I love.
4. It's fun! Yet another thing I can make!
I will make it this weekend, try it out and report back on my findings.

With no further ado, here's the recipe, courtesy of Mary Hunt of soapsgonebuy.com and woman's day.

Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent

Ingredients:
3 pints water
1/3 bar Fels Naptha Soap, grated
1/2 cup Washing Soda (not baking soda, please!)
1/2 cup 20 Mule Team Borax
2-gallon bucket to mix it in
Additional hot water

Directions:
Mix Fels Naptha soap in a saucepan with 3 pints hot water and heat on low until dissolved. Stir in washing soda and borax. Stir until thickened, and remove from heat. Add 1 quart hot water to a two-gallon bucket. Add soap mixture, and mix well. Fill bucket to about 3 inches from the top with additional hot water, and mix well. Set aside for 24 hours, or until mixture thickens. Use 1/2 cup of mixture per load. Note: This detergent will not make suds, which makes it perfect for front-loading HE washers.