A New Room From Old Stuff

We (and by "we" I mean My Darling Husband) recently decided that the seventeen year old vinyl flooring in the utility room had to be replaced. While I agreed that the floor was in terrible condition, I would have placed several projects ahead of that one. But being the dutiful wife that you know I am, I went along with Andy's plan.

In our week of vacation, we (and this time I mean Andy and I!) moved the washer, dryer, deep freeze and toilet to the front porch (ever so lovely), tore out the vinyl, its plywood backer, and the hundreds of staples holding it to the subfloor, removed all the baseboards, laid laminate that looks like barnwood, painted the walls and all the trim, attended a couple of family gatherings, and still managed to spend two days at the lake! I'd say we made that vacation count! We did have to break down and ask one of the boys to come help us move everything back. We were just too tired and sore and sunburned to move the deep freeze and washer without some help!

I'm sure you are on pins and needles, waiting to see how the room turned out, so...

I love it! The walls are a color called High Noon, but we paper crafters know it as Baja Breeze. I think all the colors look great with the new floor!

This is what I see from the kitchen door. The bathroom only got flooring and a fresh coat on the trim. I'm not quite ready to cover my landscape yet.

The dark red on the doors is leftover from the dining room. I thought about painting the doors white, but I've always loved Baja Breeze with just about any shade of red. I planned on painting the green frame under the folding table red also, but I think a little touch of green works.

We wanted to get a piece of barnwood to mount the mop & broom holder, but I remembered this old red shelf from when the boys were little. There's a scrap left that we will hang above the dog food with hooks for their leashes.

The "LAUNDRY" sign is a fold-up ironing board, and Andy built the barnwood cabinets years ago with wood from an old barn that used to be in our back yard. 

I can't stand plain old plastic light switch covers, so I came up with an easy fix for this room. Pretty paper and Mod Podge! I used a digital paper from Crafty Secrets. It's the quilt paper from their sewing papers.

 I came home from an auction recently with a huge box of onion skin paper that came with the awesome heavy-duty guillotine paper cutter I bought, so I printed the quilt pattern on a sheet of that. I learned that if you use a very thin paper, you definitely need to spread your decoupage medium on the back of the paper, not the switch plate. My first one came out wrinkled because I put the Mod Podge on the plate first. Spreading the Mod Podge on the paper lets the paper stretch before it goes on the plate. Otherwise, the paper wrinkles when it gets wet. That is probably Rule #1 of decoupage, but I've never had a problem with wrinkles before so I wasn't aware of it. Let the Mod Podge dry and add a protective coat on top, then when that dries use a craft knife to cut away the extra paper around the edges and from the holes for the switches and outlets. See...easy!

This pic shows the light switch and outlet covers in the bathroom. These images are called Flower Art Prints, also from Crafty Secrets.

It's time for the monthly Linky Party at the Heartwarming Vintage blog, where there are always lots of ideas using Crafty Secrets items. I'm heading over as soon as I sign off here to show off my switch plate covers!

Believe it or not, the only money we spent on this redo was for the flooring. Everything else was leftover from other projects or re-used! Please share your inexpensive makeover stories!

Thanks for stopping by! See you next time!

August Desktop

Here is the desktop version of the August calendar I promised you. Only four days late! 

I started altering the calendar a few months ago because our desktop computer has so many icons. Those icons are much easier to see and read when they are in the "quiet space" around the edges. 

To save this to your computer, right click on the photo. One of the choices that pops up will be "Save as desktop," or "Set as background," or something along those lines. That's it! Easy peasy, right?!

Thanks for stopping by (again!) See you next time!

Free August Calendar for Your iWhatever

August is a little confusing for me. While I love Love LOVE the hot dry weather that the month usually brings, I still get a little sad that the beginning of August also means the new school year is about to begin. And while I always loved school, I must have loved summer more. 

 My Aunt Leesa loved for everything around her to be bright and full of color, so this calendar was made with her in mind. We lost her last week, but I know she is watching all of us and chanting, "Na-na-na-na-na, I'm in Heaven!" How can we be sad when she puts it that way?! 

If you need help getting this to your iWhatever or phone, click here. Or if you would like to learn how to make your own calendar page using the Coolibah app, click here. You can use the days and dates I made or find another online.

I don't have the desktop background ready yet, but I'll be back to add it in a few days.

Thanks for stopping by! See you next time!

Are You Tired of My "Upcycling" Yet?

I really hate that term. "Upcycling." I guess maybe it sounds too much like upchucking. ewww. I think we should rejuvenate or maybe reincarnate. Ooh--I like that!

This is the story of how a sad and dated (and a little mildew-y) Home Interiors picture was reincarnated into a lovely jewelry display.

Better, huh?

Our story begins with a musty dusty old landscape that was acquired at auction. Sort of. (Long story for another day.) It also involves some chalk paint, fabric (leftovers from a trunk I "reincarnated"), and nine decorative pulls. These came from Hobby Lobby and were purchased at 50% off (of course!), averaging $1.50 each.

It's a very pretty picture, but there was some mildew on the mat and the shiny brass frame seemed to scream "1980's!" Don't get me wrong--I LOVED the 80's, but come on....

I took everything apart, discarded the mildewed picture, and set the glass aside. (I WILL come up with a use for it!) Hang on to the backer--we'll use it in just a second. In these Home Interiors pieces it is usually very sturdy. Kind of like a very thick chipboard that is screwed into the frame.

First I painted the frame with white chalk paint and brushed on just a bit of antiquing gel to bring out the design. Once the paint dried I put on a couple coats of wax and buffed it to a nice soft sheen.

I thought it would be easier to get everything lined up without the fabric in the way, so I placed several decorative drawer pulls on the backing and marked their positions. (Make sure you put the top at the top and the bottom at the bottom, or you might not be able to use the hanger.) Then I used my Crop-a-dile to punch holes for the pulls to go through.

I used spray adhesive to hold the fabric in place on this one, but I have since made more and used regular old glue. I like using the spray better, but the liquid worked just as well as long as it was spread thin.

I trimmed away the excess fabric, right up to the edge of the backer board, and punched the holes again, this time going through just the fabric.

 Then it was time to add the pulls! Between two of the knobs I attached a short piece of chain for hanging earrings. The picture above^ shows the front,

and this picture shows the back. A pair of bolt cutters would probably work very nicely on these bolts that need to be cut, but, alas, there are no bolt cutters to be found in my home or garage. So I used the Dremel instead. It's a small electric rotary tool. You know, ladies--like the one your manicurist uses on your acrylic nails! There is a flat round blade that works like a tiny little circular saw and cuts those babies right off. But be warned--there are a lot of sparks involved! 

All that was left was to re-attach the backer to the newly painted frame, and hang it on the wall!

I just love it! It sold so fast at AvaBelle's that Mom and I each made another, so now we have two in our booth! Stop in and check them out sometime if you're in the neighborhood!

Thanks for stopping by! See you next time!

I Was Up-Cycling When Up-Cycling Wasn't Cool

At the end of the post for the July calendar, I added a photo of the small jungle garden in front of our house.

 When we bought our place almost 18 years ago (!) it had a huge sprawling evergreen and a very prickly holly bush under the front window. I despised that evergreen. My great aunt (the previous owner) used to pay me a penny for each bagworm I would pick off that thing. GAG! 

The evergreen became so overgrown that it had to be removed. Really--it would've caused structural problems. Honest. Once we pulled it out, roots and all, we were left with a rather large hole. Of course I couldn't stand to just fill it with dirt, so I found a claw foot tub (in the back yard) and an old oil can (also in the back yard. If you only knew!) and convinced Andy to dig out a little more so the tub would fit in the hole and we would have a wonderful little pond. 

The little garden has just kind of evolved since then. I have a lot of ajuga (I think that's how it's spelled) and vinca, some Japanese iris or flags, a painted fern, and some lily of the valley. Several years ago one of my aunts gave me some REAL water lilies. Native Missouri water lilies--not the wimpy kind you buy at Lowe's.  I tried several different water plants before Becky gave these to me, but nothing would carry over from year to year. These puppies are HARRR--DY!

When I finished posting the July calendar I went out to clean up a bit around the pond. The lily of the valley had really kicked in the last couple of years and kind of taken over the small space. I transplanted several clumps to a small hosta garden under a walnut tree in the back yard and took out what was left of a sad little azalea that just never took hold. I also had to work on (and by "work on" I really mean "beat on the porch floor repeatedly") the pump to get it to work again. Now all I need is a couple of bags of mulch to define the little path that goes behind the tub. 

 Doesn't it look better? It sounds great, too.

The front porch is just a few steps to the left, with a good old-fashioned porch rocker, some lush Boston ferns, a porch swing, and even some old motel chairs. I kind of like my place. Can you tell?

Where is your favorite place in your house? 

 Come back in a few days to check out another upcycling project. I'll show you how to turn an outdated frame into a shabby chic jewelry display.

Thanks for stopping by! See you next time!

Baseball Baby!

I hope you were sitting down when you saw that I had a new post! Three posts in thirteen days?! Crazy!

I am between weddings now, so I'm actually getting close to being caught up with everything else. Well, not that close....

A friend's daughter is having a baby in the fall, so she asked if I could come up with a vintage baseball themed invitation for the baby shower. Being the mother in a baseball-loving family, I had several items on hand that would work very nicely. The best thing was the stamp set I got from Crafty Secrets online store. You know--the store for the Heartwarming Vintage blog--the site that has the linky party that I like to enter every month. So, anyway...I found this adorable little pitcher in the Play Ball stamp set: 

I scrolled through my hundreds of fonts (I'm sure you think that "hundreds" is an exaggeration. ha!) until I found one that reminded me of the lettering on a baseball jersey. I even had a font that makes the swooshes for underneath! Then I typed "You're Invited," printed it, and stamped my little boy above it. Easy peasy! 

I liked the idea of using a diamond shape for his background, but it needed that pop of red behind it. I layered both of those pieces on a blue rectangle and added it to the kraft base.

If she likes it, I will type the shower information on the computer and print it on the cardstock before I cut and fold the card bases.

My friend said she will need around a hundred invitations, so I wanted to keep it pretty simple. If I were using it for a birthday card or only needed a few invitations, I would probably have to add some ribbon or a strip of green or black paper across the bottom, but I love it just the way it is. 

Now I'm heading over to link it to the Heartwarming Vintage Linky Party!

Have a great week!

Thanks for stopping by! See you next time!

Free July Desktop and Calendar

It's JULY! And the weather makes it feel like MAY! It's twelve o'clock noon on the last day of June and the temperature at my house is SEVENTY-THREE DEGREES! Not good for this cold-natured girl who dreams of living in Hawaii someday. I'll most likely have to make due with the desert southwest, since real estate in Hawaii is a bit beyond our price range, but either way, I will be warm!

Here is your free July calendar to download to your iWhatever or other mobile device:

I thought for a moment that I had made another calendar with no sparkles, but I spy some peeking out from behind the greenery and frame on the right side. That is also the only pink, other than the shading on some of those little white flowers. Click here if you need help saving this calendar to your lockscreen or homescreen.

I made my calendar, as always, using Coolibah--still my favorite app! If you would like to make your own, follow this link to an earlier post that tells you how to do that. Feel free to use the days and dates part if you like:

And last, but not least, if you would like to have my calendar as your desktop background, here is one that has room around all the edges for your icons:

OK. I think you're good to go until August 1! You have no excuse for not knowing the date. ;)  

The next thing on my list is to go work on my lily pond (aka claw-foot tub that we buried in the flower bed). Hang on just a sec--I'll go get a picture....

It's a tad bit jungle-ish at the moment. But now I have  to go clean it up so I can show you an "after" picture next time!

I better go find a hoodie....

Thanks for stopping by! See you next time!