My Vintage Sewing Room

 I wanted a sewing room for some time but there wasn't any spare room in the house for one.  I decided to use my tiny laundry room which is just 6 feet by 10 feet. I stacked my washer and dryer to give as much room as possible for my sewing room.  I love all things vintage sewing related and it was a easy decision to go with that as my decorating theme.  I also wanted lots of bold color for this tiny room.  It had to also function as a laundry room and give me room to fold laundry.

I framed a bunch of vintage patterns and embroidery patterns and put them in brightly spray painted frames.  A vintage printers drawer holds all colors of threads.  A spice rack with glass vials hold my sequins.

I collected a bunch of jars and spray painted the glass lids for a pop of color. 

They hold some of my vintage buttons.

I was able to hang my thread rack from the ceiling along side my dryer

My sewing desk 

One of my many vintage sewing machines

Vintage planters hold my sewing scissors

My vintage singer red-eye sewing machine

Now that I have it all decorated, I just need to find some time to actually sew!

Tardis has Landed!

Having been introduced to Dr. Who by Ashlee, our family began watching when Matt Smith was the doctor.  We really enjoyed watching as a family although some episodes were just too scary for Declan (weeping angels anyone?) and he would bow out from time to time.  I thought it would be fun to make a tardis someday.  Well, that day has arrived.  I have wanted a cupboard to keep all the backpacks and jackets out of sight.  At a yard sale I came across a tall bookcase when I inquired as to the price I knew I had to buy it even though I no idea where to put it at the time.

Ethan Allen Bookcase only ten dollars

This bookcase fit in right where I needed it to fit and it was destined to become a backpack cupboard.  I began trying to think what color to paint it.  When I found some old paint that was just the blue that reminded me of a tardis I decided then and there, a tardis it would be.

I, at a prior time, picked up a bunch of cabinet doors and I had two that would fit this perfectly.  Eddy attached them and then he painted the first coat. I painted the next coat and then I decided to have Eddy cut squares to adorn the cupboard doors.  I used chalk paint (plaster of paris) which hardend before I could finish painting and I learned the life lesson to not mix more chalk paint than you can use in a day.  I had no idea what the orginal paint color was as the label had faded.  The paint worker thought a certain color was the best match. Turned out it wasn't so I had to repaint the whole cupboard again.  This began to feel like the project that would never end.  I had to re distress it.  I, of course, took no pictures of the process I am terrible at that.  

So I present the Carlton Tardis . . .

Declan about to put away his backpack

Dr.Who has arrived from another place and time?

Archer, "Suprise"

We added a back on it and we just used some leftover beadboard and spray painted it copper.  You know it is a copper box (a police box).

I ordered a vintage style Dalek poster on Amazon and then cut it in half and wallpaper pasted it on the inside of the doors.  The Police Box is vinyl lettering, and the light on top of the tardis is a solar light.  Sign on front door printed on parchement paper and wall paper pasted on to it.

I rubbed some gel stain on poster to age it a bit

All done at last, 

our three bosom friends keep a close eye on the tardis and its coming and goings for me 

The bosom friends above the door are actually bossons made in england back in the day and painted the same shade as the wall color

At night, the tardis light comes on and casts a friendly glow

Cost

Bookshelf            $10

Knobs and Pulls    $14 

Solar light          $5

Poster                    $7.99

                             Paint    $12  

                                       Total   $49.00   

Everything else used I already had on hand        

Luckily a tardis is bigger on the inside so no telling what all I can stuff inside!

Fleece Monogrammed Towels

About three years ago, I bought everyone in my family new towels; everyone had a different color towel.  I meant to monogram them but time got away from me and I never did.  We recently all got new towels again and since all the towels are the same color I had to monogram them.  Otherwise "not me" would be leaving their towel all over the house and I would never know who to really nag to go hang up their towel.  Since all seven of us share one bathroom the only way to make that work with towels is to use towel hooks.  Towels dry much better hanging on a hook than a rod and you can fit so many more.  

The process:  I found a font that had the least amount of curves possible and the letter Q looked good, sometimes the letter Q can look weird.  I printed out the letters and cut them out, then I pinned them to the fleece and cut that out.  I then pinned the fleece letter to the towel.  After experimenting a bit the best way to attach it was to simply satin stitch around the outer edges of the letter.   It took about an hour and half to do all seven towels.   I have washed them several times on hot and they have held up really well.  The fleece is nice and soft, too, if you dry off with that part of the towel.

Fleece monogrammed towel

A whole families worth of towels

This was so easy and fast I don't know why I waited so long to do it.  What else should I monogram next?  I just love the accountability it creates. 

 "Not me" can't get away with leaving the towel out now!

Nail Polish Cupboard

 Having collected far to many nail polishes I really needed a cupboard to store them.  One day when I was driving to the grocery store I noticed a pile of cupboard doors on the side of the road abandoned.  I didn't think twice I quickly crammed them all in my car since the price was really right-FREE.  Once I had the doors I started looking for places I could use them.  There was a small space right outside the bathroom that I thought would be ideal.  It was only about four inches deep but four inches is just right for nail polish.  I had Eddy build the frame using the found cupboard doors.  I had some vintage wrapping paper to use for wallpaper on the back of the shelves.  I just painted wallpaper paste ($5 bucks at home depot for a tub of it) then put the paper on smoothing it out then I painted a layer of wallpaper paste over the top of it. 

Here I am painting on the wrapping paper-looks fun 

These are all the wrapping papers before the cupboard goes in

Cupboard installed

Look at all that storage

Room for Medicine and Perfume

Lovely Nail Polishes in their new digs

I have even more doors just looking for a home.  I am keeping a lookout for any other tiny space to accommodate a wee cupboard.

Cost of project:  FREE 

Chalk Painted Piano

For years, I looked for a reasonably priced piano as my boys just had a keyboard in the hallway to practice their piano.  I finally found one for $200.00 which seemed like a lot for such an old out of tune piano but it was the best I could find.  On another occasion I had bought a piano from the thrift store and as they were delivering it they hit bump in the driveway and the whole piano fell to pieces.  Back it went to the thrift store, sadly.  This piano is actually a player piano but the player piano part doesn't work. After the piano tuner man came the boys were ready to practice, practice, practice.  I had been thinking about painting this piano for a while.  It is so dark and big I felt like it sucked all the light out the room.  The finish wasn't in the best of shape either.  Painting it seemed like a good option.  I didn't want to drag this crazy, heavy piano outside so I needed to find a way to do it insided.  

Chalk paint was the perfect choice since you don't need to sand or prime with it. I found lots of choices for making your own chalk paint but the cheapest seemed to be plaster of paris mixed with water then mixed with flat paint.  I painted my diy chalk paint with a paint brush having taped off things I didn't want painted like the keys and pedals.  The chalk paint covered really well and it does have a slightly bumpy texture when you paint it on but you can sand that off if you wish.

Before

Before with Zany at piano

I chose a turquoise/aqua color

Side view

After I painted two coats of chalk paint, I thought I should seal it to keep it durable.  Eddy painstakingly polyurethaned it. I couldn't find any matte polyurethane so I had to get satin.  When it dried the sun hit it and it was weirdly shiny. I liked the creamy matte look and sealing it ruined that. I didn't like it so I had to repaint it with the chalk paint again.  Then the question was to distress or not to distress.  I decided to distress it which Quinton thought was horrible.  To take a newly, nicely painted piano and purposely make it look ratty seemed silly to him.  I ignored him and used an electric sander to sand it all down which smoothed out the paint.  The chalk paint was easy to work with and I would use it again.

Eddy sealing the piano

After

I much prefer it painted and I am so glad I did it.  This should make the boys want to practice more, right?

Start 'Em Young

When I was kid I can clearly remember countless hours spent at home improvement stores like Home Depot.  My dad always had a project or two going.  I found Home Depot somewhat boring as a kid but I did like playing with the tile and laying out different patterns.  In the intervening years, Home Depot has learned if you can start kids young in building projects you can create a customer for life.  They have a workshop for kids every first Saturday of the month that is free.  My kids love to go and build something in the kids workshop.  

It's funny how kids just grow out of things of their own accord. This has happened to Quinton with the Home Depot Kids Workshop.  He didn't make a box but he was assigned to help Archer with his.  I did a terrible job photographing it as I was so busy helping McCoy with his project.  I didn't even remember to take any photos until the painting part.  They assembled these from precut wood using nails and wood glue.  They really enjoyed getting to use a hammer.

Zany paints while Eddy helps Archer

Declan carefully paints his box

McCoy really enjoyed picking his pattern

Archy, love the Saturday morning hair

Makes me kinda wish I was a kid again so I could make one!

New for the Loo

I have strong opinions about toilets.  I spend a lot of time with my toilet cleaning and trying to protect it from lots of boys who would use it carelessly.  We have just the one toilet for all seven of us, very 1940's I know.  When something was dropped on the toilet breaking the porcelain connecting the toilet to the tank I maybe smiled inwardly.  At last, I could get the toilet of my dreams! Unfortunately, the toilet still worked fine for a whole year.  Then a big piece of porcelain fell off and water began slowly dripping from the tank.  I decided it was time for a new one.  With five males using this toilet, I was willing to pay extra for an all-in-one toilet to stop pee getting between the toilet and the tank.  I also wanted an elongated toilet, the bigger target the better.  I also wanted an enclosed S bend but that made the toilet really pricey so I had to forgo that wish.

We special ordered the toilet from Home Depot (Kohler: Santa Rosa $300.00).  When it finally arrived Eddy unboxed it and it was lovely, gloriously large and sparklingly white.  I have learned over the years through many, many projects that the difficulty of a project can be judged by the number of trips you take to Home Depot.  Sometimes it is ten or like this project just one.

Prepping the plumbing with old round toilet. Eddy updated the water shut off valve (1/4 turn valve) and always replaces the hose when working on toilets. Eddy prefers TP2 pipe thread sealant over Teflon tape.

What else came in the toilet box?

Eddy at Home Depot with, if you look closely, an elusive home depot worker

New kind of toilet seal combines traditional wax seal that is encased

A couple of years after we bought the house we were having toilet troubles and we took off the toilet to discover a root as big as a mans forearm in (length and width) that had grown into the sewer line but the sewer pipe was intact it had grown through the wax seal.  That was a nasty one.  Thankfully it has never grown back!

Welcome to the family, I am sure you will get to know us all very well!

Eddy's note...DON'T OVER TIGHTEN!

Merry Christmas to Me!

 For years now, I have wanted a cabin in the woods to call my own (unrealistic dream at this time). [Lots of the old established families around here have cabins on Mt. Graham (10,000 foot mountain) but they don't own the land as it is leased from the government so no banks will loan the money for a cabin purchase, you have to have cash in hand to buy one and they aren't to cheap.] I just love the coziness of a cabin and decided that one of my favorite things about a cabin, a fire in a wood stove, could someday be mine.   I had no where in my house to put a wood stove but then we turned our former single car garage into a family room and suddenly I had a possible location.  

The next issue to be decided wood stove or pellet stove?  I did lots of research and even watched youtube thinking at the time I can't believe people make videos about this (fire burning in a pellet stove) and what's more I am watching this video fascinated by it.  I like the authenticness of a wood stove and I am a romantic soul, so the idea of going into the wild and harvesting wood was greatly appealing to me.  Once you have your wood stove, there are no motors, it can last a lifetime unlike pellet stoves with their three motors and control board.  Wood stoves are silent unlike noisy pellet stoves and nowadays wood stoves have large glass like windows so you can watch the fire (another favorite pastime).  I decided that a wood stove was the right fit for me (although you can even buy eco-bricks [Tractor Supply Company] that are wood byproducts pressed into a brick shape much like pellets that you can burn just like logs except they last 2 1/2 times longer, if you would like that convenience).

Eddy was not a fan of the wood stove idea but I gradually wore him down and I think more as a way to shut me up he finally agreed to it.  After many wishful visits to Tractor Supply Company, I finally got to go and chose my own little wood stove and bring it home.  Eddy the handyman took it from there and was able to install it in a weekend.  As with most home improvement projects there were many problems to solve and difficulties to overcome.  Eddy preserverved and before I knew it I was sitting in front of my own little cozy fire.  What a lovely ambiance it brings to a room!  I roasted myself into a stupor and loved every minute of it (it may have been eighty degrees outside but I really wanted to try it out).

Countless hours spent at home depot selecting things for projects: here we are selecting tile for under the wood stove that we didn't end up having to do (thank goodness) and ended up returning all these supplies.

Eddy (flashing the sundevil sign as they were beating Notre Dame quite nicely) cut out a hole in our ceiling for the wood stove ductwork.  That is true love I tell you, to give up watching part of your favorite team to be in a tiny attic only four feet tall with only rafters to kneel on.  Thankfully no feet came through the drywall.

Eddy did the majority of the work while I was gone, so I don't have any more photos of the process to share.  

At last, Eddy lights the first fire

Archy had been excitedly waiting for days to have the wood stove installed.

This is how he spent the first hour of the wood stove's life sitting in front of it, watching it.

Now, the only trouble is I live in Arizona and it isn't quite cold enough for wood stove use, yet.  Our days get into the eighties, too hot by half!   The children and I have commenced praying for colder weather because like me they love a good fire to watch and warm oneself by.  Dare I say, we may even be praying for a little snow this winter which would be a miracle as it only snows once every thirty years or so. Even though this wood stove consumed all my presents for my birthday, Christmas, Valentines, St. Patricks, Easter, and Fourth of July I couldn't be happier to have it at long last.  Now if we could just get out of the eighties and maybe have a sixty degree day you'll find me thankfully enjoying a small fire and probably folding laundry.  Bring on the cold weather, I can't wait!

Embroidered Pillow: Trixiebelle the Ha-Ha

 I bought Zaynzley, lover of horses, some horse sheets at Target. The sheets came in a fabric pouch and I thought I would use the fabric from the pouch to make a throw pillow. So I looked on pinterest for quite a while before I found the perfect horse coloring page that I could use for my pattern. 

Original pattern

I traced with a water soluble pen which I wouldn't recommend using as it didn't wash out well. I decided to use some vintage ribbon I had for the bridle which completely changed my color scheme and so I didn't use that fabric from the sheets. 

Pinned on the ribbon

Machine stitched the ribbon

 I am terrible at taking pictures as I go so there are no more in the process pictures. I began embroidering it when I realized that there was too much white and so I got some fabric markers and colored in the mane and the horse. I appliqued fabric for the reins and used some buttons for embellishment.  I did use fabric from my stash for the back of the pillow and the four gold buttons are vintage from my stash while the other fabric is new from the quilt store as are the two cream crocheted looking buttons (from Wal-mart).   Is there anything more delightful than picking out some fabric from a quilt store?  

Zany with her horse pillow

Since she calls horses ha-has I embroidered the name Trixiebelle the ha-ha

Here sits the long awaited horse embroidered pillow

(You may wonder what that green yarn creature is, why a unicorn of course. I collect funky yarn animals for Zany's room this one is my favorite)

This pillow was very much a:

 figure it out as you go and embellishments are used to hide flaws, but I have never been a perfectionist if I were I would never complete anything being stymied by my own lack of talent. 

I have embroidered on and off for years. I usually stop for a couple years when I would have a new baby and then gradually get back to it.  I recently shared my hobby with my sister Ashlee who has really taken to it and now competes with me at thrift stores and yard sales for embroidery stuff but it is such an enjoyable hobby how could I not share it with her.  I like to keep a dish towel stamped with a Aunt Martha's pattern in my car to stitch on while I wait to pick up kids from practices.  Anytime Zany sees me embroidering she asks, "A ha-ha for me?" well, no there is just the one, but I do still have that fabric from the sheets that is crying out to be turned into something.