1st Sewing Project

I (like most people, I think) have always been very intimidated by sewing machines. Thread, push pins, needles oh my. Nonetheless, I asked Stuart for a sewing machine for Christmas because I was determined to learn how to sew. Karen (my mother-in-law!) helped me set up and thread the machine. She also taught me how to operate it and we started my first sewing project -curtains for our dining room- together. Here are pictures of the process and results!

My supplies:

Some close up pics of the fabric--lots of fun little details.

I pinned liner to the fabric and sewed the curtain inside out.

My faithful spectators:

I left about 8" unsewn and pulled the curtain thru the hole so that the right side of the curtain was showing. I then sewed the small hole by hand and pressed the edges of the curtains with an iron.

Here's my handyman hanging the hardware:

And here are the 4 finished panels!

Now we have to dry wall and paint the walls, paint all the moulding, add a chair rail, re-do the ceilings, and hang our chandelier and we'll be done.

Not that I am an expert, but here are a few tips:
-Don't be afraid to learn to sew--it's really not that hard and it will save you a ton of money.
-Hang your curtain hardware higher than the window--it makes your ceilings feel taller.
-Sew straight panel curtains with no pocket for hardware and use rings with clips. That way, you can adjust your curtain height if you move into another house with windows at a different height.

As usual, pictures don't do anything justice--come visit us!

One Finished Room!

In accordance with my New Year's resolution, I've got another post. There is one room in our house that is now completely finished (until we decide we want to do more in there). It's the room that was posted a few months ago that we painted. Since painting, we've gotten bedding, curtains, more artwork, and have moved the vanity from our master into the room. Originally, we were going to use this room as a guest room/office. Instead, we're using the other spare bedroom for that...which we have done absolutely nothing to so far. Projects projects projects. Pics below!

The curtains are burlap. I bought these, but since then have looked at some websites and I think they would be very easy (and cheap!) to make, no sewing machine required!

Bedding!

This is a picture taken from the doorway...I know it's hard to get a feel for a room's layout via pictures, but hopefully this helps.

This is a fun wedding gift that we received--perfect for this room!

And just for fun, Smyth and Louise say "hi"!

Happy New Year

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas holiday--we had many visitors so once again my blogging is infrequent. Must make new year resolution to blog more...

On Christmas day we got 7 inches of snow! Thus, we got to see our home for the first time covered. Very fun to see how different the house looks through each season.

My family was at our house for a week. We went sledding--great fun. I only took one picture of actual holiday visitors...must also take more pictures in 2011.

While my parents were here, my dad put up molding in our master bedroom--such a good dad! It's not 100% finished yet, nor is the painting in the room so pics soon to come. However, we did get a new piece of furniture from Habitat for the bedroom. Sneak peek of new bedroom color in background.

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Also while my parents were here my mom and I did some fabric shopping. I got a sewing machine for Christmas so I'm hoping to whip at all sorts of new things...We bought some fabric to recover 2 dining room chairs and I also got a coordinating 13.5 yards to make dining room curtains. Stuart's mom is giving me sewing lessons so stay posted to see how the curtains turn out! I went ahead and recovered the chairs--need to eventually refinish the chairs but the cushions turned out well.

Before:

Underneath the before (always fun to see what fabrics your grandmother had on her chairs thru the years):

And after:

That's it for now. Many more projects coming soon...

I'm Back!

After a wedding, honeymoon, and moving I'm back and ready to blog--hopefully more frequently. We've been doing more work to the house in our master bedroom and have also been decorating for the holidays. And we adopted a kitten and a puppy!

One morning last week I was laying and bed and started picking at a tiny piece of wallpaper next to our bed. Before I knew it, I was taking down large sections. Anyone that has taken down wallpaper before knows that once you start, you can't really stop until it's all down. Otherwise, you've got a mess. So I took down 2 walls worth of paper and then we called in the troops--Stuart's family! We worked all day the day after Thanksgiving to de-wallpaper and prep the walls for paint. The term Black Friday has now taken on an entirely new meaning for us.






After taking down the wallpaper, we had to remove the glue adhesive that was on the walls. This involves mixing a solution, spraying it to a small section of wall, scrubbing the section with steel wool, rinsing, and repeating over and over. It took 6 of us about 2.5 hours, so it would have taken Stuart and me a very long time to do had we not had help!







And now the walls are clean and ready for primer.



So far, we've primed the walls. Still need to prime the trim and moulding, paint the moulding in high gloss white, and paint the walls a final color. We're on hold and sleeping in twin beds until I can decide on a paint color.




More to come from the master bedroom!

I've also been working to recover the sconce shades in one of our guestrooms. Remember these little beauties from a previous post?



Well, I bought some burlap and trim for a grand total of about $3. I traced the shade on the burlap, cut, and hot glued. Then, I glued trim around the top and bottom of each shade.

Before and after:



I am very pleased with the final result!




I also made this little lamp for a kitchen or bathroom.




Isn't she a cutie?

And finally, we've been decking the halls of the Mull Mansion for Christmas! This past Sunday Stuart and I went to pick out our first Christmas tree.



Then, we went to good old Wal-Mart and bought some lights and hot chocolate. My mom said she and my dad had their first fight about which type of Christmas tree to get and what type of lights to put on it. Stuart and I were both in full agreement--Fraser fur, large colored lights.



Louise meets Christmass tree for first time:




Smyth meets Christmas tree for first time:



We've since added ornaments and gifts. The pets are into everything.

Here's some of our other decor.




Our dining room fireplace--please ignore the tin and duct tape...Stuart was trying to resolve a wasp infestation that he thought was coming from within.




My family will be with us for Christmas this year, hence 5 stockings!



Even Smyth is ready for the holidays.



So that's it for now--more posts coming soon!