Laundry Room Re-Do

I mentioned on Monday that there was a some home improvement going on around here last weekend. It started with the purchase of a set of new laundry machines...something that has been on the list of "we need to get to that at some point" for some time now. I've never personally had brand new appliances before (not counting a microwave), so this was pretty exciting to me.

I knew I wanted front loaders for the energy savings. I also thought I wanted the pedastals that you can buy that raise the machines - you know, the ones with the drawer in them. I was also intially sucked in by those machines that come in fun trend colors - red, blue, purple, teal, grey.
But when it came down to it, the price of non-white machines and those drawer pedastals really just wasn't going to be worth it. I have plenty of storage in my laundry room with the cabinets, so extra drawers aren't really necessary.

But because I did want the machines to be raised up, the husband built a 12 inch tall box to put the machines on. He even tiled the front of it with slate.

Because the wood backspash around the countertop was removed when I painted, we both thought it was a good time to replace it with a new backsplash, also made of slate tiles. The wood wasn't holding up very well. This sink is where we rinse our mop and also where we bathe Bambino, the wood was being ruined from the water that was splashed on it pretty regularly.

I love my new machines, by the way, I can't wait to get them going. Our dryer runs on gas, and because we have a propane tank, a conversion kit has to be used for it, somthing that a technician from the propane company has to do.

In the picture above you can see the machines lifted on the box, that will be so nice on my back! The doors open in opposite directions, so moving clothing from one machine to the next will be smooth. There is still some caulking and touch ups to do it the room, but otherwise it is pretty much done.

Now the best part of this project for me was the painting I got to do on the walls. Because we decided to skip the colorful machines, I thought it would be nice instead to put some color on the walls.

I took these pictures when the paint was still a drying, so the red looks kind of blotchy, but you can still get the idea.

The walls had started off boring and white...by the time I was done the room was full of color. I love how it turned out, it is very cheerful! I'd show some before pictures, but honestly, they are just blank white walls in a bare room - not much to see! There are other projects going on around here, slowly but surely they will be finished. That's kind of how it goes, all in good time!

A peak at the weekend

It was a very full but very fun weekend. It seemed as though I was able to fit in a bit of everything. One of the bigger "bits" was a collaborative home improvement project with the husband. I will share more later (we aren't quite done yet), but for now the picture above is a little preview. Every now and then Mondays are a welcome return to routine for me, today is one of those Mondays, I hope your week is off to a great start!

PS - Welcome February, you are usually kind of a grey month here in WA, could you maybe spare a bit of sunshine for us?

It's a bit early but...

I just finished it and hung it, so it was time to share. I've worked on it a bit here and there ever since I took down my Christmas decorations...it was pretty fun to design this wreath with Valentine's Day in mind.
I guess this is my year for wreaths...I didn't think abou it, but I guess this is my second wreath since the New Year.

I used a heart shaped cookie cutter to get my shapes and my pinking shears to finish the edges.

I decided to hang this wreath inside because I think the felt wouldn't last too long being hung outside.

I am still planning another Valentine's Day-themed decoration, it is started and will hopefully be finished by the end of the month.

If anything though, it feels good to be a bit ahead of things!

Resolution: Cloth Napkins

I've mentioned one of my New Year's resolutions a couple of times recently...so here it is. I'm going to make this the year that we stop using paper napkins and switch instead exclusively to cloth. My goal with this resolution is to try to consume just a little less, kind of a small gesture to the environment.Last week I specifically purchased a few different fabrics with this project in mind. The first one I cut into was this adorable navy print with white bicycles. I used a cloth napkin I bought a few years ago at Crate and Barrel as a pattern. It measured a little over 18 inches square. I cut my squares to have 20" side lengths, then folded the edges over twice and sewed them. Their size when finished was about 18.5" on each side.

Although I cut four napkins, I have only finished two so far. To keep from getting sick of my resolution too quickly I decided that I'm going to work on my new napkins a bit at a time. There will be time to make many more, in all different fabrics. My idea is to have different sets that I can switch out based on the month or season, I think that will make it more fun for me.

I also decided to make a couple of napkin rings...that way we can use our napkins for more than one meal and easily keep track of which one belongs to each of us.

So obviously because two napkins aren't going to last us an entire year, there will be more napkins being sewn up...and I will share as I progress.

We regularly have undersized loads of kitchen towels going through our washer and dryer, so washing these napkins will just mean making those loads a bit more full, really using hardly any more energy than we are already using. The best part about this project is knowing that we will be wasting just a little less.

Cork Wreath

A while back I saw a blog post on LollyChops that caught my attention. Lovely Lolly had written a tutorial about making a wine cork wreath. I've been saving my corks for several years now and I've also been collecting corks from a local winery for the last year or so. I just wasn't sure for a while what exactly I wanted to use them to make, along with the cork wreath, I've seen people use corks to make very cool looking bulletin/cork boards and also coasters and trivets. Well, I now have the best bulletin board I could ever imagine hanging in my office (I plan to share about that soon!) and considering I had over 200 corks saved up, I decided against the coasters and trivets for now, I wanted to make something that would use up all of my corks, not just a few. A wreath just like Lolly's was the right solution. So I made a trip to Michael's craft store for a straw wreath, fired up my glue gun, and got to work. I had the idea at first that I'd put the wreath on our front door, I was thinking it would look nice there once the Christmas themed wreath I hung had been taken down and stored. But, I was also a bit concerned about how the corks would hold up being exposed to the elements. It took me a while to save up and collect all of those corks, I didn't want them to be destroyed after just a couple of years outside. Which is how I ended up with the idea of hanging the wreath in our dining room window. We have a set of gorgeous picture windows on one wall. I hung a Christmas wreath in the center window which is the largest, over the holidays, and I liked how it looked. Besides there are a few other "wine themed" items in the dining room already. One is the tray below which is made out of the lid of a wine barrel. I bought it at a winery in Livermore, CA, Murrieta's Well, where I used to work. (I poured wine in their tasting room, it was a very fun job and I miss it very much!)

Another fun piece we have in the dining room is the candelabra pictured below which is made from a barrel stave, also purchased at the winery where I used to work. It was actually a gift that I gave the husband for the first Christmas we spent together, before we were even married. I remember thinking that if my hunch about him was right that I'd get to enjoy the candelabra for a long time, I was right!And below is a picture of the wreath hung in our dining room window, in context with everything else in the room...by the way, I hate our dining room table, it was the husband's before we were married, it serves it's purpose, but I don't even remotely like the style. I dream of an 8 foot table with a granite or marble top on top of turned cherry wood legs and 8 cherry wood chairs...all in good time though, anticipation is good. We've actually looked pretty seriously in the past, and we've even come close to buying a couple of different tables, but there's always been a good reason to wait for something better. Our idea is to find a table with a good strong base and then buy a piece of stone (marble or granite) to mount on the table base. It will happen when it is supposed to. But, table dreams aside, I love the way the wreath looks in the dining room window. Not every cork tells a story or represents a special memory, but many of them do.So back to the actual crafting of the wreath, Lolly's tutorial is pretty darn complete, so if you're interested in the steps required to make a cork wreath I would refer you to her lovely blog (there's lots of good stuff there, check out the cork wreath tutorial, but also spend sometime looking at all of her other amazing ideas and free downloads!) Instead, I will share some pictures I took as I worked to show the process. I will mention that I didn't look back at her tutorial until after I had already bought my wreath, so while Lolly recommends using a 10" wreath, the one I bought was 18". In the end, it still ended up looking pretty full (I wasn't kidding that I had a ton of corks saved up!), but I decided that I will continue to add to it over time. I actually am pretty excited about that idea, now when we open a bottle to celebrate, or even just to enjoy with dinner, I will be able to put it on my "work in progress" wreath right away.

I love my new wreath, it's the perfect combination of wine-themed-repurposed-craftiness for me...a little later this week I hope to share with you my progress with one of my other recent projects/resolutions. It's raining like crazy here in WA, so lately there's lots of time for me to spend getting back into the swing of things with work, organizing and cleaning things around the house, and getting my crafting and sewing fix. Have a fantastic Monday!

My New(ish) Jewelry Holder

I wanted to share about a project I completed yesterday, New Year's Day. It started with the purchase of one of those Sonicare toothbrushes...I decided to clean and reorganize the area around my bathroom sink to make room for my amazing new toothbrush. Sometimes it just takes a new purchase to make me want to organize other things...you know like a new pair of shoes makes me reorganize all of my current pairs, or a new CD makes me want to reorganize my whole collection. This time it was my jewelry. I have been frustrated for a long time about the organization of my jewelry, especially my necklaces. So I got the idea to make an organizer out of a frame and a piece of burlap (I have tons of it!)

So I got started on the project with a trip to a fantastic hardware store in Bellingham.This hardware store is a fantastic place. It isn't one of those big chains, it's the real deal, old school. It is two stories packed with narrow aisles that go to the ceiling, all filled with every kind of imaginable tool, hardware, and gadget you could think of. It is a huge place, easy to get lost in.

I picked up S-hooks, figuring they would fit nicely into the loose weave of the burlap and allow a way to hang up individual necklaces, bracelets, and rings.

See what I mean...this hardware store is packed floor to ceiling and then some!

The next step in this project was to find a frame. I found a couple right away at a well known thriftstore chain, but I couldn't believe that they were priced for $10. I couldn't justify buying a used frame from a thrift store for that much. Then I stumbled upon the frame above at a smaller thriftstore for only $1, much better. It didn't have any kind of backing, but that was fine since I wanted an open back anyway.

The next two steps were to paint the frame and then hot glue a piece cut-to-fit of burlap to the inside of the frame. The painting was done over a couple of days. I used an oil based spray paint.

Then with the husband's help I hung it in our master bathroom above my hand-towl bar. The last step was the most fun, finally getting to see my jewelry hung nicely. I'd like to think that now that I have everything organized and at easy reach, I'll now be more likely to wear my jewelry.

One Last Look...

I ended up using the garland I made for the kitchen window as a place to display the Christmas cards and photos we received. I enjoyed adding to it after each visit to our post office box. It turned out nice, in past years we've propped everything up on the windowsill, but I liked the garland better because everything was easier to see (the cards are low enough to sort of be blocked by our breakfast table when they are on the windowsill). It is going to come down in a day or so, so I am trying to enjoy it while it's still up...

Looking Back Over Advent.

Making an advent calendar for the husband was a good challenge for me. I had lots of fun planning each day and coming up with ideas. I decided to make it a few months ago, and it made me listen more carefully for the husband to mention things that he wanted/needed. Normally I find it challenging to shop for him, he's not really a small ticket kind of guy, he wants/needs big ticket items. But, I found that by having a plan to make the advent calendar, I was able to pick up on lots of small things to suprise him with that I wouldn't have thought of before. Not everything that I suprised him with was a purchased item. Some days were more about quality time spent together or me doing something for him. If you know about the "Five Love Languages", one of his is Acts of Service, so he really digs it when I go out of my way to do something for him. Ever since our first Christmas as a married couple, I have been trying to find our traditions. I want there to be things that are special to us as a family each holiday season. I think the advent calendar is going to be one of those things.

Day One

Love Letter

Day Two

Clue that lead to a box of See's Scotch Kisses

Day Three

Clue that lead to a bottle of Orangina, a favorite drink, chilling in the 'fridge

Day Four

Coupon for new lens for ski goggles, but since he'd already taken care of this himself, a couple of his favorite sticks of peppermint candy

Day Five

Clue that lead to a box of "movie size" Hot Tamales (another one of his favorite candies)

Day Six

Clue that lead to a new set of wet erase pens for our family calendar (he maintains these each month), and a new set of pens for everyday use.

Day Seven

Breakfast in bed

Day Eight

Clue that lead to a new bottle of his shampoo. (not all gifts can be pure fun, I am somewhat practical!)

Day Nine

Clue that lead to three candy canes, with the words I LOVE YOU attached.

Day Ten

A gift certificate for a pizza dinner.

Day Eleven

Lovey Dovey Wifey Coupon (yes I came up with that horribly cheesy name). Basically a romantic night, bubble bath together followed by a massage (he says I am a great masseuse)

Day Twelve

Coupon for a suprise afternoon picnic at the beach.

Day Thirteen

Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast.

Day Fourteen

Coupon for a box of Trader Joe's pecan pralines.

Day Fifteen

We will be in the Bay Area, so dinner with my brothers at a restaurant in Walnut Creek, CA where I used to live. It's called the Hickory Pit, and though it's not glamorous, they have phenomenal ribs and steak. We loved to eat there when I still lived in CA. I tried to keep the location we were having dinner a secret for as long as I could.

Day Sixteen

Again, another day in the Bay Area, so a meal at In-n-Out, the husband's favorite place in CA to get a burger. He's pretty obsessed with this fast food restaurant, when we were still dating long distance, I sometimes thought he'd plan an extra day to visit me just to be able to get an extra meal in at In-n-Out. I could go on, but I'll just leave it at that.

Day Seventeen

This is a coupon for some loving. Nuf said.

Day Eighteen

Wild card coupon, I thought it would be fun for him choose something (within reason of course) himself.

Day Nineteen

For a guy that wears them with jeans nearly every day, a new t-shirt, he's been in need of some new ones, his old ones are looking a bit worn out and stretched out aroung the necks.

Day Twenty

Coupon for Dinner and a Movie Date Night - he gets to pick the movie and the restaurant

Day Twenty-One

$35 to fix his BC (dive vest), it has a broken zipper on the pocket where his bouancy countering weights are supposed to go. I dare not fix it myself because if I made a mistake, there are safety issues. This called for a professional.

Day Twenty-Two

A gift card to our favorite burger place in Washington, Fiamma Burger.

Day Twenty-Three

Coupon for a purchase at Aaron Bros. to get some frames and mattes for the black and white photos that will be hung in our dining room. He has taken pictures from all over the world, our goal is to have a picture from every continent and of each of the 7 wonders on the wall...eventually. Currently we have 3 pictures, one of a boat in a harbor in Hong Kong, another of the Sphinx with the Great Pyramid behind, and the third is of the Christ the Redeemer statue on Corcovado Mountain in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It's a good start, but he also has pictures of the Eiffel Tower in France, Chichen Itza in Mexico and the Coliseum in Rome that he wants to hang.

Day Twenty-Four

The final day of Advent called for a special suprise...in a way for me and for him. I'm giving him some money to buy hotel points. He loves to plan trips, but lately has had to stop because of our tight budget. It has also been difficult for him to accumulate points for hotels because he hasn't built a house in a while - he can normally earn points pretty quickly from the large purchases that come from buying building supplies. So the goal with the points he is going to get will be for him to plan a vacation for us to somewhere warm so he can go diving. We still have a good amount of airline points built up, and we get a $50 companion ticket each year, so airfare should be pretty easy. He loves a good challenge when it comes to planning the nicest possible vacation on the least amount of points and cash, so he is going to have some fun with this gift.

Another Birthday Banner

A dear friend from college saw the custom birthday pennant banner I sold this past summer. Her little boy is coming up on his 2nd birthday in January, so she asked me to make a banner for his birthday party. Of course I agreed, I love it that she wants to have a reusable decoration.

It's a simple process, cutting all the pieces then starching and ironing.

She asked that the colors in the banner be primary colors. I had some fabric with patterns in primary colors in my stash, but I ended up picking up a few more small pieces.

The nice thing was that I already had the letters cut out, I'd cut them way back in the summertime when I had a booth at the fair. I used a stiff felt for the letters, red on top and the bottom layer is light blue and has pinking shear edges.

All of the pennants were then sewn to ribbon with orange toned stripes (her favorite color is orange). I like how it turned out...the colors look great together, very cheerful. I am going to have to eventually get around to making one to keep and use on birthdays around here. I truly love that it can be reused over and over.

Another Garland!

I wiped out the rest of the branches I collected from our woods by making yet another garland, this one for the window in my kitchen nook. On it I decided to hang some extra glass bulb ornaments and I might also display Christmas cards on it. It's been a restful but productive weekend so far...I cooked up a big ham dinner with all of the sides last night...yummo!

I Made Garland!

I saw some lovely live garland being sold at Costco recently. It was made out of Western Red Cedar and was 15' long (if I remember correctly). It was also around $16... So this past Thursday, I decided to try to make one myself...

The husband was recruited to help with the first part of the project, collecting the branches. We went out into the woods on our property and found a part of a cedar tree that had been damaged and was growing at an odd angle.

The growth of this part of the tree was inhibiting other healthier trees nearby, so it was the perfect candidate to receive a good pruning.

Gratuitous pet shot of Bambino, he likes going out in the woods with us, he runs around and plays the whole time. I was able to catch him in a split second of stillness.

Back to the house we went, branches in hand...I was carrying a good amount as well.

That was a very cold but very pretty morning...

Later on in the afternoon, I began the task of assembling the garland. I already had the florist wire and wire cutters on hand, left over from a project that I had done many moons ago.

The garland came together much, much quicker than I predicted. The key was to cut a bunch of wire pieces and a bunch of cedar boughs ahead of time. I did get a little bit of a rash on my hands from the tree's oils and it was pretty chilly outside, even in the sunshine, but it was worth it. (The rash went away after a couple of hours and a couple of hand washings.)

I love the finished product, I can't believe how easy it was and how great it turned out. The husband put a couple of small hooks in the top of the door fram for me to hand the garland from. Once it was hung I did go back and add to the garland in a few places to fill it out and give it a richer look. I ended up making a second garland right after this one for our neighbors. We owe them a debt of gratitude because Berkeley (our rooster) has been recooperating with them (long story that I'll try to remember to share another time). I've gone back and forth with the idea of adding ribbon to my garland or hanging some of our extra glass bulb ornaments on the it. I may still do so, but then I may just leave it as it is...I do kind of like the "natural" look. This is the first time I've every done anything more in the way of outdoor Christmas decorating besides hanging a wreath on the door...it was fun. Of course it is very satisfying to know that I did it all essentially for free, my only costs were some wire that I already had and time in. I'm planning to make one or two more of these garlands for inside the house...if I actually follow through on that plan, there will be pictures shared. I'm finding this whole "handmade holiday" thing to be more fun than I would have predicted.

I hope your holiday decorating and celebrating is as satisfying as mine! Cheers!