Bright Ideas

I found this pendant last summer when I was working on the project in NYC. My client has a round stairway that is fully enclosed, I thought the shadows of the words on the wall would be awesome.

 I also thought someone with good handwriting could give this one a DIY try.

I have been a long time fan of the DWR Random Pendant

Several months ago I gave an unsuccessful shot at creating my own knock off version.

Jen did a much better job. See her tips here. I may give it another go.

I am aaaamazed by how simple Ashley makes this Anthro knock off look.

How fun are these DIY Warhol Pendants?

And when I read this fixture was made out of a paper lantern and coffee filters I almost died.

Amazing!!

Inspired to make something yet? I am

The Nursery: Chapter 6 {DIY art}

Last week I tackled some DIY art I had planned for the baby's nursery.  My very, very talented and creative friend Laura was the originator of this DIY. She posted pics of her baby's nursery on Facebook several months ago and I immediately emailed her to see if I could commission her to paint me the same painting she had hanging over her changing table. Laura is beyond a crafter like myself, she is an artist. One time after Mr. Sabbe and I had visited with she and her husband at their house, Mr. Sabbe made the comment "I think she might be better at this design on a budget stuff than you are." We almost divorced that day:)

When I found out that Laura's art was not a painting, but a manipulation of free online clip art paired with a bottle of decoupage, I decided I would give it a go. First I purchased a 24x36 canvas at our local art store for $8. Second, because I knew that the orange that I was trying to pull from in my rug would not come in an acrylic tube, and I am not a professional paint mixer, I matched the orange in the rug with a color in a paint deck. Then I took it to Home Depot and had them make one of the $3 sample paint jars in that color. Then I painted the canvas.

For the tricycle I took the same image Laura used into Illustrator and ran the live trace tool. Then I flipped it because I wanted my tricycle facing the opposite way on the canvas. I took the image to Kinkos and had them run a 20x30 black and white plot for around $3.50. HERE is the image if you are interested in giving this DIY a try.

I cut out the tricycle, covered the back in decoupage, and laid it on my dry canvas. Then I painted all around the edges of the image with more decoupage. You have to be pretty aggressive about smoothing out all of the bubbles during this stage. And because I wanted the tricycle to look as integrated as possible on the canvas, and the fact that decoupauge dries a little shiny, I then covered the entire canvas with a coat of gloss varnish (which I already had). And whaalaaa, DIY nursery art, for less than $20.

 See how well it goes with his rug.

I really like it. Our little guy does not have a window in his nursery, so I really wanted to do something bright. For a little girl I thought it would be cute to use the same image and have colorful ribbons, that looked like streamers, coming off the handle bars. Let me know if you give it a try!

90% DIY Slipcover

I really should wait to post these until I find time for the outstanding 10% (hemming the bottom and ironing). But I am having a super busy week, so who knows when that will happen....and this is some serious exciting crafting for me.

Here is was at 20%. And now 90%.
taaa-daaa!

Mr. Sabbe said it looked claaaaassy.

I will admit, there were no tears, but this project had some major moments of frustration. We'll see how #2 goes and then I will give you some proper pictures and tips.

A Valentines Party + A Story

A couple of years ago Mr. Sabbe and I had the pleasure of hosting a Valentines Day couples shower at our house in Memphis. It was so much fun to have an adult Valentines Day party with all of our best friends.

bleeding heart cherry pie tutorial

 I had purchased a heart shaped cookie cutter that year. As you can see, I used it liberally.

And if I could have boxed up this crew and moved them with me to Boston I would have. I think between the 5 of us we threw about 2 dozen showers while we were in Memphis. I miss these people.

Last year I made mustache pops.

Now for the story:

Being the crafter that I am, I so wish I could show ya'll what I made Mr. Sabbe for our first Valentines Day. We still have it somewhere in storage. We had been dating 1 whole month when Valentines Day rolled around. Mind you, I already knew I was probably going to marry him. I was a sophomore in college and he was a junior. So to show my affection, I drive myself to Joann's and buy a round hat box and a jar of decoupage. Then I proceed to go home and cut out every pink and red image from every fashion magazine my roommate and I had in our dorm room. I also cut out words like "romance" "like" "date"...etc {bleeh, I know} and glued them all over the box. Then about an hour before he picks me up I attempt to bake cookies in our scary sorority dorm kitchen. I burn them to a crisp. I pick out the ok ones, put them inside the cardboard box {still hot} and head on down for my date. It was actually a group date. Two of my friends were dating Mr. Sabbe's friends at the time, so they got together to cook dinner for us. And here I come rolling in with my huge decoupaged love box, smelling like burnt cookies. And in front of all of his friends I present him with the all time greatest cheesy gift and the sweet boy receives it with pride. And that's when I knew I was definitely going to marry him. I found the box in his closet 6 months later, cookies still inside.

Remind me later to tell you about the time I made him a hand painted, collage, quote mirror for his 21st birthday. I mean, what 21 year old doesn't want a puff painted mirror with famous quotes?? What is wrong with me?!

Mega Wall in the Making

Our mega wall's name was inspired by The Office's mega desk. As I have discussed previously, older Boston apartments do not come with storage. period. I have been pretty proud of our efforts to create storage in both of our apartments, but this one little wall has by far been our greatest creation.

Enter Mega Wall...

It may not seem that impressive, but look at how this wall (and room) was used before we moved in.

Boys lived here. One day I will give you the full tour. But you see now, much more efficient.

And it may not be obvious at first glance, but Mega Wall houses a ton of junk, everything from craft supplies, to design samples, and more. It is constructed of standard KV brackets from Home Depot and cut to fit MDF boards (also from HD). The entire wall was less than $100 to install. Remember our trip to Plymouth last summer? Those are the crates I got for $2.50 each.

And continuing my nesting efforts, I decided last night the crates were doing no good in terms of me staying organized if I had to dump them every time I needed to find something. So I made labels.

Organization really is bliss. My husband calls me a tornado...i.e. I'm not naturally the most organized person.

I stapled the top of the ribbon to the box, but left the bottom piece open in case I needed to switch out the label. Below is what I used if you want to make your own.

And here are some circles you can print.

You know what I love more than organization? Efficiency! Maybe it's years of space planning corporate office buildings, but when I can make a space super efficient, without compromising comfort or aesthetic, I am one happy designer.

The Nursery: Chapter 4

I am working on a nursery today for a new client, which is so exciting. But it of course got me thinking about the long list of things I need to do for my own nursery. So just a quick update.

Don't you love this kitchen?

So clean and fresh, with those amazing green pendants.

I think I'm going to DIY something similar for Baby Sabbe's room.

Orange because the rug from Chapter 3 had to go back. I ordered it, it arrived, I rolled it out, and it looked like constructions workers had walked all over it. It's also been a huge hassle to return. Do not buy that rug.

But it's already been replaced with this one. Cover your ears, but I'm usually not a big animal print lover and I know I have friends and clients who are laughing at me for buying this rug, because they know my opposition, but I love it. I never said never.

And here are a couple more things I am on the hunt for.

9 more weeks! tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock and I just took on two new projects! exciting times.

Slipcover Progress + tips

Last night my husband was on call, so I took the opportunity to watch a girl movie and destroy the living room with my slipcover project. I thought I was going to hate this project. I was 90% sure it would involve tears (not to count my chickens, still could). But so far so good. I finished one of the arms/wing.

One tip I have learned so far is to go by the seams and pleats that the chair already has. I had plans to delete the little pleats on the wing to give it a more modern look, but once I pinned everything on there I realized it was not happening.

I plan on attempting to add Velcro to the underside of the slipcover and face of the chair to get the underside of the arm to cling tightly to the chair. In this photo I have it loosely pinned. I think I am going to re-do the front face of the arm and add piping. See the original piping showing through? I didn't really hit right on the old seam line and that is bugging me.

Here was the key to getting the pieces to fit correctly before I sewed them.

There were about 3 or 4 versions of each of these before I got the right shape. I used some left over drapery liner, but I think most people use muslin for a template. I have seen a few tutorials where they use their finish fabric right from the get go. I would have had some major issues if I would have gone that route (tears).

And lastly, this is how I figured out how much fabric to order and how to cut it once it got here.

I measured each panel of the chair, according to how the existing pieces were broken up, and rounded everything off into a rectangle. Most of the Internet sites say that wing chairs take 7 yards to cover. I am doing it in 5. I am using white cotton duck. I got 5 yards for $34 after using one of these coupons, which is way cheaper than a store bought slipcover. I reasearched what was best to use for slipcovers and everything was pretty much cotton duck or denim. I opted for the duck, but I am not loving the wrinkle factor. Hopefully I can give them a good iron and starch when I'm finished to clean them up a bit.

This is the most planning I have ever done for a sewing. I am determined to not let this one go into my long list of failed project.

Hope you had a nice weekend!

My Latest Challenge

For months now I have been trying to get into an upholstery class at the Eliot School here in Boston. Why is every school, including pre-school, hard to get into in Boston? A couple of weeks ago I had Mr. Sabbe drive me to some town in Rhode Island to purchase two wing back chairs off of Craig's List. $70 for both, pretty good deal. I had intentions of re-upholstering them.

When people come over they never want to sit in the little wooden chairs I currently have around the table, they are not cozy and squeak like they might break. So I would like our little tiny dining area to have a table, two wing chairs, and eventually an awesome high chair that I also scored for an amazingly good deal on the ole' CL. It's hard to explain, so here is a progress shot from December, don't judge.

So I bought the chairs and could not get into the class. Luckily the BCAE will always have me, so I signed up for an advanced sewing class. You can bring your own project. I decided I am going to give tailored, white slipcovers my best attempt. I've only been to two classes, and being very obviously pregnant, the instructor thinks I'm crazy for making white slipcovers. But I'm pretty pumped about it. So far, I'm just a few steps away from finishing the seat cushions.

I have covered cushions before, but never with on hand, expert guidance. I'm really enjoying the process. Do you see the little blocks I added to the bottom of the legs. Creative? I could probably think of another word. I needed to raise the chairs a bit to make them comfortable dining height. I plan for the cover to go all the way to the ground.

So step one is almost complete. Step two is the actual body, which terrifies me. I like tight, fitted slipcovers. But I have no idea, other than a stack of books and the Internet, on how to do so. And I unfortunately cannot drag my chair to class.

Have you seen this one?

Amazing right? It looks upholstered.

And this lady seems to be the queen. I plan on spending a lot of time on her blog over the next couple of weeks.

 

Have you seen any helpful tips or tutorials floating around? Hold me to it, this project will be finished before this baby comes.

Before and After: Stripes!

When you enter our apartment, you enter a hallway that serves as an artery to all of the other spaces. At first I thought it was wasted space, but over time I have realized that this space is awesome. It's a contained area to shed boots, coats, hats, etc. so that the New England winter, and all it's glory, does not have to make it's way into my living room, on my sofa, and all over my dining table. It's also my first impression room and other than a couple of coat hooks and some framed calender pages, it was pretty boring.

The hallway also contains a billy bookcase from Ikea. This is where I keep most of our glasses and plates. Maybe one day I will show you how ridiculously small our kitchen is.  You will not be jealous.

So I had been thinking about an easy way to spruce up this space. One that would be A. Cheap and B. Mr. Sabbe would be down for doing. Last year I was super impressed with Hannah's striped hallway on a budget and it just so happens I was walking through Home Depot a couple of weeks ago and spotted a gallon of oops paint in a similar shade of gray. So cheap part...check.

Next I had to convince my husband it would be easy. I love my husband, but he is no John from Young House Love. So I designed the stripes so that he would not have to paint next to the base or the ceiling, and not around the tops of any door moldings. There are about a billion coats of paint in this place and we learned from our living room that trim is so incredibly tough to get right because of all the bumps and bulges. I taped everything. Secret...a quilters ruler makes measuring and taping wall stripes so much easier. If you are considering this project, I would invest in one, waaaay more accurate than a measuring tape. And the easy part...check. So I put the man to work, see how happy he looks. Ladies, it's all about equipping.

I didn't stick around to watch...ie. keeping baby Sabbe's brain cells in tact. But this morning I work up, peeled the tape down, and smiled out our new jazzy hallway. I love how it turned out.

Much better don't you think? All for a roll of tape, a $5 gallon of paint, and 1 hours of my sweet husband's time (the taping took me about 2 hours). He told a nurse at the hospital today that he helped me paint the hallway last night. She replied "the hallway? that's not even a room." He said, "she's pregnant and she's an interior designer, I do what I'm told." The nurse told him she predicts he will have a long, happy marriage.

The last touches for the hallway will be a durable floor runner and a fun light fixture. And the Ansel Adams calender pages (which is a great/cheap art idea if you are looking) will definitely go when we get some cute photos of our little guy.

Note: I would not actually recommend horizontal stripes on old plaster walls to any of my clients. It definitely reveals every bulge and imperfection, which I knew going into it and was ok with. But I'm a little more particular with clients than I am my own house, which, to my husband great joy, I refer to as my test lab. All 700 sf of it.

Quick Hostess Gifts + Giveaway Winners

Where has the day gone!? I am still not packed for my 6 am{thank you Mr. Frugal Sabbe} flight and I have to be out the door in an hour for my student's final presentations.

First up, here is a quick hostess gift I put together for some ladies who are throwing Baby Sabbe a party this Sunday. We actually have two showers this weekend in Tennessee! We feel very blessed. I can't wait to get to the sweet, sweet South.

Cookies in a jar! Here is the recipe. My jars were too small so I had to add a little nut and berry bag on the side. But I think it worked out ok.

And the giveaway winners are...

Susan- Handbag {I NEED YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS}

Peg Mayor- Ornaments

Liz Crowny- Stationary

Carlee- 1 yard of fabric

If you did not include your email in your comment, make sure to get that to me.

I will contact each of you shortly.

Thanks to everyone who entered. Have a very Merry Christmas!!

Before and After: DIY Closet

So the one thing Boston brownstones do not come with is storage. We have two coat closets, period. Mine is in the living room and Mr. Sabbe uses the one in our bedroom. As a result, we have gotten really creative with storage since moving up here. Our bed is on cinder blocks, ala college dorm days. Our suitcases are full of out of season clothes. We keep golf clubs in the trunk of the car. And we constantly purge. The "second bedroom", which I use as an office, is very oddly shaped. It's kind of like the number 8, without the holes cut out. When we found out I was pregnant we decided we could make the second bedroom into two rooms, an office and a baby nursery. The best part, we were going to section off the middle into one large (for Boston) closet.  I went to Home Depot and had two rods cut to fit. I also purchased 2 ceiling mounted curtain tracks.

 Please ignore the shelf mess. That's another project for another day.

Also please ignore the fact that I did not iron the curtains before I hung them. I am hoping while I am away over the holidays the wrinkles will miraculously fall out.

While I was at it, I also made another fabric shade with some fun Ikea fabric.

The unfortunate looking back side of this closet is going to be a fantastic baby nursery in 3 short months, fingers crossed.

Also, on a random note, can you tell my camera is on the fritz? It's driving me nuts. The last two images are so yellow and dark, bleh. Did you know that expensive camera lenses go bad? I had no idea. Apparently mine is "worn out" according to the camera store guy. Mr. Sabbe and I went to play with some new, wider angle, fancy lenses last week. Hopefully I've been good this year.

Campaign Furniture

No breaking news here. Painted campaign furniture is h.o.t right now.

lonny

lonny

Even the Sabbe household has jumped on board

Thanks to my sweet husband for painting this so that his unborn child does not get high.

AND, drum roll...you can join the club too. I want this, I really do, but I have no room.

$145! I bet you can get it for $125, paint it and love it.

you. are. welcome.

Fabric Shades

Phase 1

Jenny's fabric shade tutorial has been on my list for months. I actually bought the fabric and ribbon in August. This past Sunday I finally decided to give it a go and I'm pretty pleased with the results. Look at it's ugly neighbor to the right. I've got 5 more to go....

Cost per window

1 yard of fabric- $2.98

mini blinds from Target- $3.99

50 yard spool of 1-1/2"black grosgrain ribbon (for all windows) $10.15

 A roman shade for less than two pumpkin spice lattes, not bad!

Also, thanks HGTV for interviewing me on my tips for a seasonal home. You can view the article here. I'm #6.