Sew Crazy

Early on in my pregnancy I had this crazy idea that I was going to sew all my nursery bedding myself. While I know I could have done it, my mom politely reminded me that I don't like to sew all that much.  My instinct was to protest but I knew she was right.  So instead of sewing a whole set, I decided that I wanted to make some sort of keepsake for my first baby and started researching baby quilts.

I've never quilted before so at first I looked at a lot of basic patterns with easy patchwork styles.  While these would be easy, I found them to be really boring.  Then one day when browsing quilts on pinterest I came across Frozen Knickers on Etsy and fell in love with her patterns.  I picked out the dots n' boxes pattern as it goes perfectly with the painted rug I just finished.

I knew right away that I would mimic the grey background and white box border to let the boxes be the star. At first I looked to buy a bunch of fat quarters from Joann's. I quickly learned that most of the patterns were just too small for this kind of quilt. I then started flipping through page after page of fabrics on Spoonflower and Fabric.com.  I was worried about the colors on the screen not matching but decided to take a chance and order 1/4 yards from Fabric.com (Spoonflower was a little pricey for this project).  Here are some of the fabrics I bought:

This particular pattern involved a lot of ironing, cutting, and then sewing in phases.  *Note - I took lots of pictures of this at first but then realized that I was giving the pattern away and didn't want to rip off our Etsy friend at Frozen Knickers.  What I'll tell you is the pattern was clear and the steps were easy, but tedious.  Overall it took me about a month mostly working in the evenings and a weekend or two. The finished front looked great but my lines weren't so straight if you looked up close.  Regardless, I thought it was good enough that I wanted to find someone to quilt all the pieces for me (my Janome isn't that fancy).  A quilting friend at work recommended a nearby quilter who not only put all the pieces together but did the binding too!  Totally worth it in my opinion.  Stay tuned for the finished product!

Shower Curtain curtains

I never really intended for HD to be the place where I shared my own version of diy projects that I find around the blog-o-sphere, but thanks to pinterest, I think I'm finding more projects than there is time to complete them!  The nursery is taking up all my creating time these days and now that we're half way there, the pressure is on.  Since we aren't finding out Baby W's gender and because my baby showers are a few months away, I've been trying to focus on prepping the room.  We have a great double window with plantation (ish) shutters, so all we really needed was a little something to brighten things up.

I've made my own curtains in the past but have learned that the best sewing projects for my skill level are those that dont involve large pieces of fabric.  I was thrilled to come across a really easy tutorial on laybabylay for window curtains made out of shower curtains.  

I found the grey and white shower curtain from West Elm on sale for $33!  I actually bought the citron stripe first but it wasn't quite bright enough so I exchanged it for the grey.  I couldn't believe my luck on this as purchasing fabric alone is often much more expensive than this.

How I did it...first I cut the curtain in half and ironed a 1/2 inch seam on the cut side (left pic). Then I folded these over again, ironed and pinned the edge before sewing (right pic).  *Note - I've found that many design bloggers out there are afraid of sewing seams and instead use iron on tape.  This boggles my mind because I find ironing straight to be the hardest part! While I've never tried the tape, I just want to put out there that this was easy to sew and matches the other side of the curtain (bonus).  The sewing machine is your friend!

Then, instead of hemming the top of the curtain and losing length, I decided to use grommet rings.  I purchased two packs of 1 inch matte black grommets from JoAnns with a coupon.  Side note, I always get excited when I have a 40% off coupon from JoAnns but am immediately discouraged when I get to the store and everything is on sale and therefore, not covered by the coupon.  Anyway, the grommets rarely go on sale so this made my day! The button holes that you typically use for a shower curtain were already centered and evenly spaced so it was easy to cut my holes.  Sew 4 Home suggests doing a zig zag stitch around the hole to keep it from fraying when you wash but I found sewing a 1 inch circle to be way too challenging and just popped the grommet on there.

The finished curtains!  Pretty good for under 40 bucks and less than an hours worth of work. Granted, these are a little shorter than I would normally do for a curtain, and probably why laybabylay suggests adding a contrasting fabric on the bottom, but this wont be a problem for long as I'm planning a window seat/storage bench for below the window.  More on that soon (aka when we finish the project).

My painted rug

Im so excited about this project. One of my favorite design blogs, almost 40 year old intern, did a really awesome painted rug back in September that I shared when looking for a new living room rug this fall.  Well I never did find a new rug for the living room but I was inspired to try my own painted rug and followed the tutorial to a T.  Here are my steps with some helpful tips:

4X6 Ikea Erslev Rug (still available at the Stoughton Ikea but not online)
Green Frog Tape (so much stickier than the blue)

First I taped off a rectangle, then figured out my measurements. I went for fewer large squares than were done in the almost 40 blog.  It helps to have someone help you get these guiding lines down so they are straight.

 Adding the middle lines

Removing the tape 

At this point hubs said, lets just keep it like this....and I agree that the green trellis looks good.  We kept it for a week while I waited for the fabric medium to come in.  I used 4 containers of the liquitex fabric medium in all and mixed them with 2 pints of paint (poured from a gallon as it was cheaper).  The paint I used is Valspar's Red Tomato and after 1 coat it looked a little streaky.  So I reluctantly painted a second coat, which actually turned out great.  It may be slightly stiffer than a one coat job but looks really good.  I did have some bleeding, which could have come from the second coat or the fact that I taped a week in advance.  Either way its barely noticeable.

The rug is down in our grey room, which was once the office but now transforming into....the nursery!  I'm due in July and baby W will be a surprise so I think the red is a perfect foundation for what I hope will be a bright and modern room.   

I loved this project so much that I've already picked up a second rug for my kitchen!  My mom thinks I should start selling these but I'm not sure about that at 4 months pregnant...

Deck the Halls

December is my favorite time of year.  My birthday, lots of my favorite color (red), good smelling greenery, parties, presents, the list goes on...  One of my favorite traditions is decorating inside and out for Christmas.

This year I'm starting outside.  Without an outside outlet (?!?!) its not so easy to incorporate lighting.  I've got candles in the windows and a wreath on the door but this year, our outdoor decor is getting an upgrade.  It all started (where most projects do) with the latest Pottery Barn catalogue.
                         
Flair without lights, check! But seriously, at $79 for the wreath and $59 for the garland, these are not Christmas budget friendly.  Plus, I'm willing to bet that I can create a similarly awesome version of these items at a fraction of the price...

I spent less than $30 for the whole project!  Even better, I've got a cute holiday dog too.

Guest Room

The guest room at Hunter Drive actually started out as our master because it has the largest closet.  It is not our largest room and sits in the front of the house so after a few months we moved bedrooms.  Today, the guest room hosts the occasional overnight-er but mostly serves as a dressing room for hubbs because both of our wardrobes do not fit in our present room.  I know, largest closet in the house used as a dressing room, how are my clothes missing out on this?  That story is another blog post...

         

Guest room when we purchased Hunter Drive

Current guest room

Anyway, this is the only room in the house that I did not select the paint color for.  Although its a nice light green, its just not the shade I had in mind.  Its probably best that we didn't get it right the first time around because I wouldn't have thought to paint it the color that I'm currently crushing on...Ralph Lauren's Chocolate Souffle.

November 2011 Country Living found via Cottage and Vine

I know it might be a little dark for this not so large room but I think with some white trim/molding and some colorful accents (most likely the green that I've already got in there) it might make this space nice and cozy.

Cold feet contd.

After some measuring I realized that a 5x8 just wasn't going to cut it for the living room.  This became an issue because when you jump to an 8x10 the price jumps too (quite a bit actually).  While the hunt for the perfect living room rug continues, I have found a new rug obsession....painted rugs.  Check out two of my favorite examples from the blog-o-sphere:

               

               Painted rug by Charm Home

Painted rug from the almost 40 year old intern

Let me tell you, there are a lot of other painted rugs out there all using some version of a stencil or tape and the all important erslev rug from Ikea. Who can beat $39.99 for a 5x7 and $59.99 for a 6x9?  Granted these are flat weave and will require a location in our house that needs some floor coverage but doesn't require a cushy pile.  The men in my life, hubbs and pup, like to lay on the floor so comfort is almost as high as aesthetics on the priority list.  So, I'm thinking a painted rug looks like an excellent replacement for our current kitchen rug http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/39827?feat=902-CL1 (sorry for the link, I'm too embarrassed to include a photo).  Note to self, never purchase a braided wool rug.  Ikea here I come!!

Cold Feet

Most of the rugs at Hunter Drive are hand-me-downs.  And like most things I didn't pick out, I can't wait to buy a replacement.  We have really nice hard wood floors and a dog so I've tried to use rugs sparingly in our home.  Or, more honestly, I'm having a hard time finding the perfect floor covering.  On top of that I'm not thrilled about dropping a couple hundred bucks for something that will just become a haven for dirt and dog hair.  But the real problem is, I have cold feet...literally, so I really need to purchase a new living room rug before the winter.

The living room at Hunter Drive is in transition from the land of beige to a cozy spot with pops of color and new accessories for a look that is more modern than traditional.  A multicolored floral rug isn't going to cut it this time.  I also want to find something that will go with a variety of looks for down the road so I can change the curtains and pillow covers at my choosing.  I've been leaning toward something geometric and black and neutral.  Here are my favorites so far:

Tangier Rug at Ballard Designs $599 for a 6x9

Espana Area Rug in charcoal at Home Decorators Collection $249 for a 5x8

Kite Kilim Rug at West Elm $249 for a 5x8

Which do you like?  I've also been stalking home goods to see if something in my criteria magically appears.  No luck yet, but there are a lot of locations I can check out over a 3 day weekend!