He let me in his room.....

I have two sons, wonderful, kind, and fun...The oldest is in college and my youngest is a senior in high school....those of you that have sons, big or small, know that there comes a time when decorating their room just becomes....

 

....not important to them....

 

Corey played basketball through high school and has enjoyed his senior year.

We are still planning his next move...as with a lot of us, me included, growing up is just hard to do sometimes.

 

 

But we do....eventually

 

Last summer I mentioned that I would love to "update" his room

his answer was, "um, no"

Thank you Pinterest!!! I was able to show him some of my ideas and promised him that it would be "cool"

 

The first thing I found were these really cool lockers at Canton Trade Days

They were in pretty good shape but I knew the blue would not work.

It was nothing a little spray paint wouldn't fix.

I taped off the numbers at the top of the doors and the handles.

Easy peasy...

 

I have a nice supply of pallets that I have collected and I wanted to make something for his tv, etc

 

I told him that I did not want any help, mainly because I was winging this...I had no plans and I was making things up as I cut, hammered, beat, screwed and cussed....maybe just twice

 

 

When I finished and went to get him...

he was pleasantly surprised...

Sometimes it is hard to tell on an 18 yr olds face but he seemed to really like it....

 

I have had some REALLY old casters that I have moved with us for a while knowing that someday...someday...I would use them for something really cool!!!

 

 

The next project was his headboard. He was totally on board with this because he picked this out from my pinterest board.

Ana White is a rockstar.

She offers the absolute coolest projects..with the plans for anyone to build, even us!!!

Headboard plans

 

 

I will be honest, I cannot remember how much the lumber cost for this, I actually altered the plans to make it taller...

 

note to self...measure the height that you want with the height of your interior doors

duh!!! hello!!!

A little sweat dripped from my brow when we went to move it into his room, but it cleared by  millimeters...seriously

 

 

He was a huge help with this and this is something that he can easily take with him when he moves out, he will move out, won't he, some day?

 I love the look of this headboard....Because I altered the plans and made it ginormous, we ended up using "L" brackets to attach it to the wall so that it would not tilt forward.

 

This was a piece of fencing we dug out of someones trash knowing it would be perfect for a sign. I asked Corey if he had a favorite bible verse and he quoted this, without hesitation...

Sometimes they surprise you, huh?

 

 

A little peak at the lockers, pallet stand, and sign all together....The tv needed to be lifted slightly...a vintage suitcase fit right in. There is so much more I could have and would have done in here but I felt sooo pleased just to get to do this much, and to do it with him....

 

Blessed to have my boys :)

 

Mandy

Linking up with

Metamorphosis Monday
 

 



So Inspiring...

Love, love, love....this dining room...that hutch and long farm table....planked ceiling, the white....

 

Source

 

There has been some discussion about a plank ceiling in my home....so inspiring!!!


Mandy

Slipcover vs Upholstery

Some times people will ask me....would you reupholster this or just slipcover?

Here is a great example for both cases....

I have shared this chair already, and I looovve it.

Ms Linda has this chair in a guest bedroom. It belonged to her MIL and her husband did not want to alter it. The upholstery is in perfect condition but it did not match when she redecorated the bedroom.

 

 

 

 

She wanted to go with burlap and linen and something that could easily be taken off.

She gave me a little direction but mostly said, "just go with it, I trust you".

You gotta love that :)

And...here it is in her lovely vintage guest bedroom.

Just perfect!

 

Then, Ms Kathye's rocker. I had it almost stripped down before I remembered to get a before pic. It had an extremely dated green nubby fabric on it and needed a good makeover...so outdated, dirty fabric with a frame that needs a little updating....we went with upholstering...

 

She gave me the fabric, asked me to paint the chair frame and once again said, "whatever you think will look best"

 

I decided on black mostly because of her wonderful fabric.

 

It turned out so cute and Kathye loved it. This cutie sits in her "Paris Room" which is just adorable.

 

Happy Easter!

 

So thankful for my Risen Saviour!!!

today and everyday!

 

Mandy

The ADHD DIYer

When it comes to decorating, sewing, general crafting I tend to be a little ADHD....I hate waiting on paint to dry, not having all the supplies for the sewing job, finding the right glue for the crafting project....makes me run from one thing to the next... 

so as blog post go...this will show that side of me

Number 1...

 

 

My friend, and fellow craft supplies hoarder, had a bin of fabric and some ideas for pillows. She had this needlepoint for years and was never quite sure what to do with it. She saw some cool pillows in an antique store and thought, hmmm.

I started by "blocking" the needlepoint to get it square.

Then starting playing with the fabrics..I should have taken a pic of the back, it is an embossed leather....soooo cool!

 



I had previously made some small pillows for some of Traci's chairs, so she thought one more would be great...I have always thought leopard was a neutral...



She has some floor pillow that the fabric was just plain worn out so we covered those in the neutral leopard...

 

Number 2...

 

I also had a job for some bedroom curtains....This client had finally decided to start doing her bedroom after about 8 years...my kind of girl....decorating takes time...you can't rush these things...

anyway, she bought the headboard, which is covered in a fabulous linen and tufted, just awesome, and then brought me some samples. She has a pretty contemporary home but she was a little afraid of this very bold, graphic fabric that had a black background. I told her that I thought she would love how it pops with the color.

 

 We decided to make the panels with grommets and some working roman shades.

Let me just tell you....working roman shades, inside mount are not my favorite window treatment to make. You work with about 1/8 of an inch margin...that stresses me out.

These turned out nice...they are silk and are lined and interlined. I found a wonderful mechanism to raise and lower them...they did turn out nice....

 

Number 3...

Then, I worked on a little something for me

 

insert smiley face :))))

Pictures of this coming soon

 

 

 

Mandy

A Constant Aggravation

I have this fabulous chair in my sewing room. It was a Winnie treasure that I found on one of my junkin' trips with my partner in junkin' crime, Traci.

We saw it together, I actually sat in it first and we both wanted it.

Me for my sewing room and Traci for her study....

Sooo I put on my sad puppy dog face

:(

....and just as Traci would do....

she said," oh, I think you will really like that in your sewing room"

So, I went and slapped my money on the counter, said, I'll take it! and told the nice lady we would pick it up after we had our freshly dipped and deep fried corn dog and deep fried potato curls with lots of salt sprinkled on.

No way, and I mean no way do you eat healthy at any trade days...

Oh, and did I mention the freshly squeezed lemonade with REAL sugar....

oh my, mmmmm

 

ok, back to the chair

I love it, it is soo cool, and old and all that but.....

 

 

with the miscellaneous strings, thread, lint and stuff that are slung and tossed around while I am in the middle of a sewing frenzy...

this happens....

 

and when this happens on all four wheels it tends to not roll around so good....

and when you go to roll it locks up and almost throws you right over the back....

depending on how fast you are trying to roll...

 

This has been my only solution up to this point unless someone has an easier and better solution....

 

I have not decided to give it up to my sweet friend yet and let her enjoy it in her study....

but....it may have to come to that....

 

 

Many projects in the works....

some fun construction fixin' to happen at the house...

I'm taking pics and will share our progress soon...

 

 

Enjoy Super Bowl weekend!

I will certainly enjoy the snacks and conversation with great friends!

 

 

Mandy

The Couch

 

As I said in my last post...mom wanted her couch reupholstered...It was WORN OUT and dated but she loved the size and it "worked perfectly in her space and she would never be able to find anything that she liked better..."soooo

I took an upholstery course this summer with Jennifer at Metamorphose Upholstery and Furniture, upholstered a chair in class, did one at home....

and mom thought I was ready...

but this is a SOFA, like a whole SOFA

not just cushions or a pillow...

needless to say, I was a little overwhelmed, but for some reason,

as always, accepted the challenge. We picked it up Christmas night and brought it into our foyer.

Here, I stripped her down....

 

 

then moved her to the garage where I worked on her on my days off....

 

 

here is a peak....

and here she is back in my foyer...

and today....in moms family room...

moms decorates with a lot of navy and red....

so we threw some of her old pillows on her to give her a pop of color....

Mom and Dad seemed to be very pleased...when we left Dad had thrown all the pillows but one on the floor and was stretched out watching football. He said, "Yes! It feels pretty good!!!"

While we were visiting Dad mentioned that the next thing Mom wants is a new cornice over her large window in the same room. She asked Dad to build her one and he quickly said...."UUMMMM, I think Mandy would like to do that"  :))))

Good ole Dad!!!

 

...on a side note...as I mentioned here ...

I met Miss Mustard Seed, who is and has been a fabulous inspiration for a while now.

I have a fairly new Nikon camera and she gave me a quick tutorial on how to actually use it.

This prompted me to start trying to learn a little bit more about using the silly thing on MANUAL....

that has been one of the most frustrating things I have done in a while.

 I was not totally pleased with my pics of moms couch in her family room, her room is kind of dark with the paneling and wood floors, but I am learning...I will get there...

 

eventually....

 

 

 

Oh, one of the things I did this weekend was to sign up for this tutorial online and these guys were extremely helpful!!! So, hopefully my pics will be much better the more I practice!!!

 

 

Mandy 

The After Christmas Project

I took an upholstery class this summer from Jennifer at Metamorphose.

When we got the chair stripped down we fell in love with the wood frame and started thinking...

hmmm....there is a particular catalog that has this wonderful deconstructed look that is so cool...should we try that???

We quickly got online to see if this was something we thought we could do with this chair....we decided...YES!

 

 

 

Here is the finished chair....

 

 

 

 

I just love it!

 

 

 

so...fast forward a couple of months

my mom, who thinks that I can do anything and everything....

wants her couch reupholstered.

It was time, the upholstery was worn out and dated, but geez, a COUCH!

That is much different from a chair!!!

 

So, Christmas Day...we loaded this baby in the back of the truck and headed home...

and placed her in my foyer (the whole house is my workshop :) )

 

I stripped her down.... 

 

 

 

And, she is finished....

 

 

.

I will post some REAL pics when she is back in her place of honor in mom's family room, but here is a sneak peak.

I cannot say it was easy peasy, but it was certainly a learning experience.

Not sure if I am ready to tackle a couch again anytime soon, although, I have in my stash 3 couch frames..go figure...

someday, I will get brave and show you my stash...good heavens, it is taking over our home!!!!

 

 

 

 

Mandy