Showing posts with label nonsense. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nonsense. Show all posts

Saturday, February 26, 2011

anna sews! and sara nails! {pillows and bed crowns}

Decorating post #2. 

Anna sews! 

On Monday the kids had off of school, and Anna wanted to do a project.  She is her mother's daughter!  

New "ruffle" pillows for the girls beds were the final product.  Oh, did we have fun!

Here's a peek.
See the pillow on the right with the ruffle running along the side?



Anna did a great job!  She made the ruffles all by herself, and sewed it on {I assisted by running the machine speed and helping guide little hands}.  

Isn't it cute?
She was pleased as punch!  

With herself.

With the pillow.

With the satisfaction of seeing her hard work sitting so prettily on her bed.

And my generous girl also wanted to shower the sunny yellow love on her sister...



She wanted Emma's ruffle to look unique.  So she sewed it to look like a sash.  A sash on a girl scout uniform.

She is so cute!

We really had fun together.  And the girls are thrilled with the new addition to their bedroom.

Tracy and Jenn, did you ever think Plastigirl {my el-cheap-o sewing machine's nickname} would last so long?!



Sara nails!

Does anyone remember this?

The "architectural element" I found with Tracy and Jenn in Virginia?  When we were "helping Tracy" fall in love with her new state via shopping. :)  

Sent two of these back home to Minnesota.  Because you know, we have nothing old like this in our state.  Riiiight. Keith still wins the award for keeping a straight face when we dragged these out of the back of the car!  

Wellll. Our bedroom.  The bed sits directly in front of a light switch that is so oddly placed.  When we closed two rooms off from each other upon moving in, the light switch that was next to french doors in one of the rooms now is located in the middle of the wall.  Smack dab.  

Our bed makes most sense on that wall.  

For three years I've rotated a variety of pictures over the bed, all of which cantilever off the wall at odd angles.  

I love the romantic look of bed crowns with beautifully tailored fabrics cascading off and cocooning the bed.  Bliss.

At least that is what I think it looks like it feels like.  

So lovely.

After looking at a lot of photos, and pricing some of the bed crowns, the needed fabric, etc., I knew I would not be buying and having made one in any near future.  

But as I sat nursing Emma through her palate surgery recovery these past weeks....inspiration struck.

Being home as nursemaid has its benefits.

And here is what I came up with:

I took one of the architectural elements and nailed two panels of burlap curtains to the back of it!  

Jim was aghast.  And totally admired my handiwork, such as it is!
Aghast turned to admiration pretty quickly.  Just don't look at the back of it, honey!

I used one panel for the center, and sewed half of the other panel on each side thus creating enough width and bulk.

Then I honestly just laid it out on the floor and lined up the center of the fabric roughly with the center of the wooden arch, used some small nails procured from Jim's nail store downstairs and started nailing away.

Ten minutes later...




\
Makes me happy!  

And boy was that a fun distraction in a time of quiet.  Emma thought I was a crazy lady.  She kept laughing at me.  



And so ends posts documenting our home changes. :)

It is really fun to be able to show my dearest friends so far flung around the country the changes.

Hey, girls, despite the wretched snow and cold, you know you want to move back home!

Okay, you are home.  Right where God has planted you in your warm and southern and coastal and desert locations.  Just know how missed you are here!  

xoxoxo
Sara

  

Friday, February 25, 2011

blue ceilings, happy tables, green cupboards and nonesense joy

Deep winter.  Grey skies and white snow.  Days inside longing for out.  That February homebound feeling that sets in.  


Tracy and Christine, this ones for you...pictures of what I've been up to.  

Color therapy.

The once white then black table...is now blue!  And I have to say, I love, love, love it.  It makes me smile each and every time I walk into or even by the kitchen.  Jim calls it my easter egg.  

It is happy, cheerful, sweet and uplifting.  Seriously, my table might need a name that color brings me such joy.

Painted in ten minute increments here and there.  And done in two days.  Still can't quite figure out how that happened.

I pulled the rug from the girls room into the kitchen to put under the table, and suddenly it feels like spring in there!



And in an effort to add more southern grace to my days...voila!  My blue ceiling!  

Ohhhhh I'm so in love.  

This project happened at 5am for a few mornings.  Me, my coffee, sweet Kristene Mueller singing away on my ipod and my blue paint roller.  

I ended up using regular paint {which, btw works beautifully on a ceiling and isn't so thin and runny, which equals less splattering} in a slight sheen.  

It is beautiful {to me}.  

Same exact paint from the same exact can as the table.  I'm all for using paint in multiple places.  And figuring out how to stretch the entire can.

Benjamin Moore's Wyeth Blue, in half the formula.

Be still my heart.  This is so shallow, and I still love that ceiling and table so much!  In case it wasn't already evident.

Okay. Up next.  Kitchen cabinets.  

Say it with me: Nantucket Gray.

Really, a soft green with beautiful gray undertones.  


Okay, not the most artful of photos.  With my camera you get what you get!  
This is dark, but you get a peek of how it all looks.
Oh!  Back to my happy place! :)

Emma and I spend a lot of time at that table doing school!  It is fun to look out the windows.  If you look closely you might even notice that the windows are partly primed.  Project #357b underway!


So there you have it.  Blue ceilings, happy tables, green cupboards and February!

Next up {tomorrow} are the photos of Anna's new pillows...that she sewed herself {with my help}.  They are a.d.o.r.a.b.l.e!  Ruffle and all.  And there's a few other projects I'll show you.

I'm not one to post house pictures, but this was sort of fun to take the pictures.  Now Tracy, where are those photos of your kitchen?! I really want to see the Virginia beauty.  Or at least a photo of spring springing all over your yard {small moan of envy escapes my lips}.

Happy Friday everyone!  

I hope you have a day blue skies, too.  You can always paint them in.  

Love,
Sara

Monday, February 21, 2011

buried

This one is for all our southern friends.


Gasp aloud with me!


That's taken from our back mudroom door.  Oh, my stars!



And through our screen porch this is the lovely snowscape {she writes sarcastically}.  

It was beautiful to behold in December.  But now...ugh.  


Our adirondack chairs around the firepit.  Looks inviting, doesn't it!  

Wow do we have a lot of snow this year.  And yesterday another eight to ten fell.  JUST after a melt last week, thankfully.  All the ice on the roof had a chance to melt before another layer of snow was added.  And the piles lining the streets did decrease significantly.  I could finally see oncoming cars as I pulled out...yes, it's been that crazy this year!  The snow is piled so high. 

Here is proof!  That's our neighbor's dog this morning.  See that snow pile behind him?  That's just an average sized one right now.
And in case it doesn't seem high enough...


Hello!  There is Ann, with the snowdrift over her head!  

Thankful for Pa Ingalls, I mean Jim, this morning!  He must have blown snow and shoveled for an hour.  What a job!

Needless to say, we did enjoy Sunday spent in front of our fireplace the ENTIRE day.  The real one with wood in the living room, not just the gas one in the family room!  What a fun time.

{photo here}

Now today we have the day off...because of President's Day holiday not because of the snow.  It's Minnesota people!  :)

The kids are clamoring for Cooper's pannekoeken's for breakfast, but the teenager is still sleeping.  Soundly.  

All the snow drama behind us, we set our sights on the snowhill across the street.  Sledding is in store for the afternoon!  And hot cocoa.  Yum!