Pillows!

I'm BACK! I've gotten more done with 4 days off of work than I have all year! Okay, not really...but it feels like it!

Mi madre made these cute black pillows for my stylin' bedroom I had as a teenager. With the new couch, these pillows slip because the fabrics don't mesh.

So I decided to spruce them up and make them more functional at the same time by doing a slipcover out of the curtain material.

The great thing about slipcovers (besides being super easy) is that I can change the covers out easily without damaging the pillow. That's good for me, since I change my mind all the time!

Like I showed you yesterday, I am using these colors to put a design on the pillows.

My inspriation came mostly from the new rug and this picture:

Here's the first one....

And the second one!

I didn't take many pictures of how I did these and I am far too lazy right now to include instructions, but if you google 'rosettes' you'll find 5,000 tutorials!

And here they are on the couch. YAY!

Holy Moly

It's been a while, eh? What can I say...let's play a little bit of catch up, shall we?

Whenever January hits I go into super organization mode. So I spent the whole first part of the year cleaning out the pantry, making an organized shoe closet, filing important papers, cleaning out boxes that haven't been unpacked since we moved (2 years ago), organizing the garage and sending a LOT of stuff to the Goodwill. Also, I've been reluctantly staying on top of household chores.

How can two people who are never home be SO dirty? AY!

Anywho, we've been shopping for a new car for a while. My love, the solstice was starting to shake, rattle and roll itself into lots of repairs. Craig and I don't fix cars. I think it might be a disease. At the slightest sign of car death, we trade! The problem (on top of pending repairs) was that Pontiac went out of business and my solstice was SUPER upside down. SUPER. Plus, it's not very old. I guess that's what I get for purchasing an American made car. BLAST!

SO long story short, we traded in my car for a new one. The BMW dealership was the BEST and we love love love the new car. Plus, it's WAY faster than that old lady solstice I had, haha. YEE HAW!

I'm sure all of you heard about the supermoon. It. was. AWESOME. Craig and I took the truck and Turbo out to the desert and watched the moon rise. Of course, my camera isn't very good but the moon was ENORMOUS and the entire sky was light and bright. Coolest thing ever.

My boys riding out to the desert. They're the bestest.

My next adventure was to sew curtains for our front room. It has been taking me forever to finish the front room and I just decided to DO IT!

I bought the fabric DIRT cheap at my favorite fabric store. It's a light courdory with a flecked design. Super love.

As you know, I am NOT a seamstress. This was my first sewing project with my new machine.

It was really easy. I laid the fabric out, pinned the raw edge up and sewed straight lines.

I leave the room for a second and my curtains are no longer nicely laid out. Little rebel.

Meh. I can't be mad at this face!

Or this one. HAHAH this picture makes me laugh.

Anyways, here's how they look!

See that couch? $25 bucks at the GW baby. WIN! Well, I had to pay to get it cleaned but that was minimal.

The rug and shelves were purchased at IKEA. The shelves were really easy to put together and the rug is sooooo soft. YUM. I love that rug. I'll be putting a giant mirror above the shelves but I'll do that another day!

Then of course, you all probably remember these puppies. I purchased them at the Salvation Army like FOREVER ago. I don't even remember when, probably more than a year ago. So I finally bought some fabric for them and I'll be working on those soon....I hope :)

And last but not least, I'm covering these pillows in the curtain facric and sprucing them up with a rossette design. I like this one from "The Sweet Life."

Well, that's pretty much what I've been up to! Have a great weekend!

Project Weekend!

HELLO!  After a couple of crazy weeks at work (which I came out of feeling um underestimated? Restless?) I decided to focus, stop worrying about perceived inadequacies and get back to what I do best...projects! Sure I can sell, but I am super deeeeee duper good at SPRAY PAINTING!

Let's start with the sewing desk. Since I have a black desk and a black chair in the room now, I decided to go silver so I could flip flop the chairs. It took me weeks to get this revelation, so roll with me!

Here is my 'sort of' before...here is where I tested two different silver spray paints that looked exactly the same in the store but were TOTALLY different. Who knew? I chose the one that smelled better. For reals.

After deciding on a color, I took out my BFF and sanded away. Sometimes I sand, sometimes I don't. It depends on how motivated I am feeling and how gunky the existing paint job is. This one was pretty gunky, but I loved the paneled sides so I brought it home!

When shopping at thrift stores, the next step is CRITICAL! You don't want someone else's stank living in your home, do you? Skip the baby wipes that most people recommend and hit up the good stuff! Scrub, scrub, scrub!

Next, I primed with white Krylon. GASP, KRYLON?!? I know, Walmart was sold out of Rustoleum primer. LAME! And let me tell you, there is a HUGE difference. I will never cheat on my Rustoleum again!

I almost forgot...when sanding and spray painting, you basically need to look like this:

I know, verrrry attractive. I try to kill as little brain cells as possible during these projects! These face things are cheap, so get some. Gloves too!

I used metallic spray paint which didn't come with the fat spray top like the new ones do. Luckily, I invested in one of these handy dandy spray paint triggers a while back, and it has saved me!

I originally wanted to use crystal knobs, but I couldn't find any without a gold backing. PUKE. So I got these from Hobby Lobby!

AND here's my new sewing desk. YAY!

Moving on to my chair!

Basically, I did the same thing to the chair as I did the desk. Sand, clean, prime, paint. I experienced my first spray paint can explosion while doing the chair. Very exciting! Frankly, I expected it sooner with the amount of spray painting I do...

Of course with chairs you have to do a little reupholstering. Again, while shopping at thrift stores you have to expect to strip everything off, or your cute decorated place will stink like the Goodwill. You've been warned!

My chair cushion went from bad:

to WORSE! Holy batman! Who knew such a thing was hiding in there...

I ripped it down to the base, and rebuilt it from there. I put on a new cushion then batting, then the fabric! To get the job done I used my other BFF, the staple gun.

Here it is, all put back together! P.S.Capturing metallic spray paint is hard!

Onward to the wall of frames and mirrors...

I told you a little about the wall in this post...I just had to get around to painting and hanging everything. This post is 5,000 miles long, so I won't bore you with the details. I have to let you in on a secret though. Next to the Magic Eraser (which I used to get the spray paint off my limbs), Monkey Hooks are the best invention EVER! I am pretty sure I will be electrocuted one day while using them, but for now I am in LOVE. GET SOME I SAY!

And here's the finished product!

So now I have my sewing area (excuse the random guitar, it is full on the music side right now):

My sitting area (I watched the first 4 seasons of "The Hills" in that chair. So comfy!):

and my music area!

A few finishing touches and two dressers are in order, but it's almost there. Maybe in time for another Christmas album? (Haha I joke, I joke. I still haven't figured this recording software out!). YIPPEE!