A Nugget and a Doodle

I'd drafted this post ages ago and never got around to publishing, but last night I had a blog request from a friend of a friend, Madeline who I've never met.  :)  Here you go Madeline - I'm sure this bathroom isn't for everyone, but my 3 year old is pretty pleased with it! When we built the house we really struggled deciding whether the kids should have their own bathrooms or share a larger bathroom.  We landed on two small private baths, literally the smallest they can be while still fitting a standard toilet, sink and bathtub/shower combo, roughly 5'x8'.  Though they're both nearly identical in size, doodle's feels a bit more cramped, so I really wanted to make it as extraordinary as possible. Doodle's requests?  Pink, and sparkles.  Done and done! BEFORE: AFTER: I'm really hoping the wrinkles fall out of the sequin fabric sooner than later.  :)  I could ...

I've already posted most of the projects, so I just thought I'd share some photos of her finished bedroom.  It's been done for a couple weeks, but I've been puttering on her lamp all this time.  Really quickly before the overall room photos, here's the scoop on the lamp that took me forever...but honestly I think it's my favorite project of all time.  And I finished it just in time for her 3rd birthday! It is a $3.99 thrift store electroplated faux brass disaster - so ugly that the cashier at the thrift store raised an eyebrow in judgement when I asked to pay for it, which is pretty bad considering all the nasty stuff they probably see at thrift stores!!  I stripped it down to chrome and steel with oven cleaner and Blue Magic metal polish.  That was already a pretty cool improvement and a process I'd consider for future brass plate projects!  But to that, I added gobs and gobs of old vintage costume jewelry from all sides of the family.  The bulk of ...

Well, friends, I had all but decided to stop posting all my projects because it takes almost as long to watermark and upload photos and document the process as it does to finish the project itself.  During our home construction, everything I posted was getting lots of traffic, but the last several posts have very few page views.  I started this blog to keep friends and family back home up to date on the construction of our house, and there seemed to be interest from unexpected readers after we moved, so I kept blogging.  But now it seems maybe it's run its course, and that is perfectly ok with me.  I'm just letting you know I may or may not continue to post.  If you're reading this, you're already doing your part to make it worth my time.  :)  If you're reading this but missed a lot of other recent posts, scroll down to the right and enter your email address and "blogger" will ping you whenever I post, if I continue to post. All that said, as I start...

Here we go - Project #3!  In case you missed the first two, you can check out her dresser here and her vanity here .  After these two furniture projects I decided to put the paint brush down for a week and try my hand with fabric... lots and lots of fabric!  That's right - it's curtain time! Now, I've made countless sets of curtains in my time.  Normally it wouldn't merit a post of its own, but these are no ordinary curtains.  I suppose at the base they're just large rectangles of fabric with hemmed edges like all the others.  But, these have ruffles!  And I used 2 sewing machine feet/attachments that I never even knew existed! When I found these curtains at Anthropologie...

I hope you all enjoyed post #1 about the doodle's new dresser .  I did a 2D and 3D furniture plan and then bought the dresser and this second piece 1 day apart with several furniture placement scenarios in mind.  I'm not 100% decided on how I'll lay it all out yet, but I knew from the get-go I wanted a vanity in her room.  At the very least, it serves as a place for her hair accessories to live because right now they're scattered around the house.  I'm envisioning some of her jewelry displayed on top and I know she'll get a kick out of that. Whereas the dresser's condition didn't deter me at all, the vanity has clearly lived a tougher life and caused me a brief pause.  :)  I like the long legs with castors, and I wanted this style with a single-surface vanity top instead of the multi-level style which just begs for spills and knocking things over.  I got it for a steal, so I don't mind the extra work to restore it.  Specifically, the applique ca...

In my last post, (and on facebook) I asked whether you'd all prefer a massive post with my doodle's first big girl bedroom reveal, or if you wanted to see each project 1 piece at a time, and the overwhelming consensus was 1 project at a time.  Personally I think that's a tease, but you asked, and now you shall receive.  :) Her birthday is mid-June and the plan was to do her bedroom for her birthday, but once I get thinking about this kind of project, I draw inward and become a project hermit and obsess until it's done.  So even though I have at least 10 full DIY projects on my to-do list, not counting painting the walls, there's no way this room isn't getting done before June.

This will be a pretty quick update.  My cousin and Godson are coming to stay with us next week, and my aunt and uncle stayed with mom and dad this week.  For some reason, impending house guests give me decorating fever like nothing else!  You know, that feeling of "Oh no!  This wall looks empty (after a year) - I need to fix it immediately!!"  You never feel like that?  Ok, it's just me then. Nonetheless, I decided the walls needed a little something flanking our tv in the living room.  While I was at it, I decided the pillows I threw together with scrap fabric (for the sake of taking pictures of the finished living room for this very blog) needed an upgrade. Based on a pinterest tip, I bought feather pillow forms at Ikea.  They were only $6 each for a 20x20!  That's like 66% less than the cost of the polyester ones at JoAnn's!  Jury's still out as to whether I'm a feather pillow kinda girl or not.  I like that they fluff right ...

A post dedicated entirely to my workshop.  ahem... what room did you THINK I was talking about?  tsk tsk!  This is another LONNNNNNG post, so get comfy! My craft room was like the game room when we moved in... a mish mash of leftover furniture intended to temporarily do the trick.  To store most of my supplies, I was re-using 2 ikea bookshelves that have already served their 9 lives over 3 houses and are still going strong.  They started out as the shelving units flanking our tv stand in our old family room (2 houses ago), but one of my many decorating shortcomings is accessorizing shelves, lots and lots of shelves!  So once we moved stuff around with our first Christmas, those shelves never came back into the room.  One went into a coat closet for extra storage, and one was refinished for the nugget's baby nursery.  He no longer needs it in his new room, so the pair of book cases were back together at last to hold my paints, stains, upholstery ...

Please pardon the interruption in home decor and crafting updates for some family vacation photos! It's been almost exactly 4 years since Brent and I took our last vacation.  Nugget was 10 months old, and the trip was an absolute disaster, in spite of the best laid plans.  He picked up a stomach bug from daycare the day we left, so the vacation kicked off with him puking all over me on the airplane, and bless her heart, the woman behind us too!  Nugget didn't eat all week.  Dad and I both got that bug eventually too, and I got quarantined in our room after calling the ship's medical staff to ask if they sold immodium.  Mom had gall bladder attacks which resulted in emergency gall bladder removal.  *shivers*  So you get the idea.  Awful trip. So we decided to give it another shot, this time with 2 kids in tow!  What could go wrong?  Well, don't answer that.  The good news is nothing went wrong.  We had the best vacation ...