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Another Wreath

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Because one wasn’t enough.

All the jingle bells that had been hot glued to this wreath  were removed. Frankly, everything was removed. There was no way I was keeping that hot mess. Maybe I’ll try again soon to make an ornament wreath. After I make some Christmas cookies that is, but I digress. I was telling you about the new wreath.

A coat hanger looked like the perfect wire to hang the jingle bells on, but I was having trouble making it into a circle. I asked Dan for help and he mocked my choice of wires. Husbands are great, aren’t they? Then, he cut me a length of insulated copper wire from his supply on his tool bench. At first, the wire he cut was too thick for the bells to slide onto, but once the insulation was stripped off, it was perfect.

Elly helped me load the 60+ bells onto the wire.

At the top, I just twisted the wires together and curved one end to form a hook. Easy.

The queen of crafts has a full tutorial here on how to make a similar one though I think hers is smaller, but you could just make it bigger by cutting a longer strand of wire and using a paint can rather than a soup can.

The color on most of the bells are faded, but that is because I bought them used on eBay for a dollar plus shipping. Gotta love eBay. Besides, I like the dull finish. It offers the wreath a little color without overpowering the yarn wreath.

Shrinking our Furniture

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Living in a small house has taught me a few things. It has forced me to keep a tight fist on the number of our possessions lest we not have space to sit down. I keep a donation box in my basement and at least once a month, I schedule a pick up from Purple Heart.

Living in a small house with small rooms has also taught me that tall furniture is akin to a brooding giant standing in a corner; they both make me feel cramped and nervous.

Thus, the 6-foot-tall bookcase in our living room had to go. Yet, we desperately needed the storage for Elly’s bedtime books, toys, our games and etc. Enter the wooden cubes at Just Cabinets. Since they are perfectly square, they look the same standing up as they do lying down. I plan to lay them on their side and build a pyramid. Cute, short and functional.

The only downside to the cubes is that they come unfinished. At first, I wasn’t concerned, but I had only forgotten how much work goes into staining and sealing furniture. It has to be cleaned, conditioned, stained, sealed, sanded and sealed again. It took me a week to complete one bookcase.

True, the pile of books looks worse than a brooding giant, but I was too impatient to wait another week or two while I stained and sealed the next 3 cube sections.

Because I couldn’t resist, here is the latest cute picture of Elly.

I love how the balloon keeps her modest.

Wreath Making

Marie Haigh5 Comments

Last year, I bought a basket full of red glass ornaments. They had called out to me. When I got them home, I stared at them for a while, but no bright ideas came to me. So, up in the attic they went. When pulling all the Christmas decorations out, I spotted the ornaments. I knew exactly what I wanted to make with them.

Instead my wreath looks like this.

Go ahead. Say it. It’s a hot mess. Either it needs more ornaments or it needs to be thrown in the trash. I haven’t decided which.

Unwilling to give up on a wreath idea completely, I pulled out the yarn strands and came up with this.

The bells were crocheted by my MIL a few years ago. She made them to be ornaments, but I don’t think she’ll mind.

Elly was excited over the wreath too and asked to be the one to hang it up.

Mismatched Fabric

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After a few months of searching here and there, I found 2 replacement chairs for our dining room set.

The wood finish matches perfectly.

Though the fabric is lovely too, it does not the original gold or my bright, vibrant fabric.

I do have fabric that is more subtle than the bright orange and turquoise fabric, but I really love the bright colors and I wanted to tie the colors of my kitchen into the colors of the dining room without painting the walls turquoise. Dan is opposed to the walls being painted turquoise. He can be so stodgy sometimes.

What if I reupholster each of the remaining chairs in a different fabric? Is that too kitschy?

You’ll notice that none of the options listed above include reupholstering the new chairs. It’s for good reason. I can take a seat cushion off of a chair, wrap new fabric around it and staple it to the underside. But, I cannot reupholstered a chair as detailed as this. Check out the trim work on the chair.

These chairs were professionally upholstered and will stay the way they are until I learn a whole lot more about upholstery or until I make them slip covers. Maybe a hot glue gun could attach a trim like that. Perhaps, but I’m still not brave enough yet. Give me time.

Out with the Old and In with the New

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It hasn’t been that long since we replaced our antique washer machine.

Apparently, the old saying that bad things happen in threes is true. Our dryer was on its last legs and rather wait for it to quit running altogether or explode (both seem probable), we took advantage of yet another Boscovs sale and bought the mate to the washer machine.

True, there was nothing wrong with the TV and so I suppose it can’t be counted in my list of three, but it had long been on our list of things to replace.


Here is our old TV sitting on our porch waiting to be carted away.

People, we had yet to embrace technology and get a flat panel. I’m sure it was killing Dan, who loves to own and play with the latest gadgets. While we were at Best Buy, I actually encouraged and egged Dan on to buy the biggest TV in our budget. So, Dan is the proud owner of a 55″ TV.

Really, I don’t know what I was thinking. It feels massive in our little house. Massive.

Perhaps I just jinxed us by writing the old wives tale quote above. Our poor refrigerator that also came with the house and is perhaps older than me, has sounded like a rocket taking off this past year. A rusted, old rocket that coughs and sputters just to turn on, that is. It’s days are numbered. Unlike my progressive attitude towards the washer and dryer, I plan to do absolutely nothing about the fridge. When it dies, we’ll simply have to go shopping that day to buy a new one and pour the milk down the drain lest it spoil. Part of my attitude is due to the fact that we are overrunning in leftovers and I have no desire to empty the fridge out. The other part is due to the fact that I think my options are going to be limited and boring thanks to the small space I have to work with in my kitchen. To quote yet another old phrase, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

I love old phrases.

Reupholstered Chairs

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After updating the fabric on this chair,

I went a bit nuts with the staple gun and reupholstered two more chairs. I would have done 5 more, but Dan asked for a cease fire.

A recently purchased chair went from sporting a hand embroidered cloth (which was filthy and musty lest you think I lost my mind by removing such a pretty piece of handwork) to sporting a scrap piece of fabric from my stash that really accents the orange grain in the wood.


The captain’s chair in out dining set went from a boring gold to a vibrant mix of orange, black and turquoise. Due to the white background, I wisely added a layer of vinyl overtop.


It was after the captain’s chair that Dan called a cease fire. Mr. Practical reminded me that our dining chairs have seen better days and were slowly falling apart. Perhaps we should replace them first and then I could go to town with the fabric, vinyl and staple gun.
He was right of course, but I lamented having to put down the staple gun. Reupholstering is so much fun!

Girl Power Removed the Carpet

Marie Haigh10 Comments

Before

After

The carpet, the padding, the tack strips and the million staples were removed without Dan’s help. Who needs a man to help when you have an enthusiastic 2-year-old?

I wanted the carpet taken up and thrown in the trash before Thanksgiving Day. Dan had promised to help a friend move on Saturday. Thus, that left Sunday as the only day left to pull out the carpet. Before he left, he sheepishly informed me that if he was too sore from moving furniture, the carpet removal would have to wait. I understood his plea, but I wasn’t happy. There was a huge hole in the carpet by the windows and more spots unraveling every day. It looked awful. I wanted it gone now. While falling asleep Friday night, I remember my MIL telling me the story of how she ripped up all the carpet in her home by herself after learning there was hardwood underneath from a neighbor. If she could do it, so could I.

So with newfound determination, I started ripping the carpet up first thing Saturday morning. Elly was excited by the commotion. She tried ripping up the carpet with me, but didn’t have the arm strength. She tried pulling the tack bars out, but couldn’t figure out how to get the pry bar under the bars. Yet after watching me pull out a few staples with the pliers, she pulled them from my hand and informed me that she was going to help.

Help she did. Much to my surprise she was able to pull out several staples by gripping the pliers with both hands and hauling back. She was a force to be reckoned with.

Four hours later it was done. We had done it. And it looked amazing.

New Life for Old Curtains

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I hated the fabric when it hung as curtains in our guest bedroom. The fabric was too dark for the small room. It made the room look gloomy and closed in.

But on my new desk chair, the fabric looks amazing.

It brings out the warm wood tones of the chair. Plus, it is going to hide a lot of dirt and dog hair.

This isn’t the first time I have repurposed the fabric from the curtains in our house.

I used it to make this utensil case for a Christmas gift a few years ago.

Then, I used it to line a purse I made for my MIL.

It’s Waverly fabric. It doesn’t make sense to throw it in the trash can, especially when the price of good fabric is going nowhere but up.

The Walls Hate Me

Marie Haigh2 Comments

I’ve written about the walls in my dining room a few times and my stripe design.

First, I sanded, primed and painted them.

Then, when sanding off the primer and paint didn’t work, I scraped all the prime and paint off.

Next, I painted with an oil-based primer and painted a top coat of latex paint in white. 

While measuring out my stripes, the paint peeled up in one spot.

It’s small, but I don’t dare put up painter’s tape since it will likely peel more paint off. And though I swore I would run to the hardware store and buy beadboard because hell was going to freeze over before I scraped the walls down again, I have yet to visit Loews.

After living with the dining room walls white below the chair rail for 3 weeks, I know now that I do not want them to remain white. I love color. I need color.

So, we are on to plan B which involves more paint. Surely, more paint will solve my problem.

I’m thinking a base coat of yellow and an allover stencil of orange on top. The stencil will look similar to the scrolls on the fabric I am using.

Or should I go with a base coat of orange with black scrolls on top? Since the kitchen is next to the dining room, maybe I should incorporate turquoise into the colors.

Yellow and turquoise?

Whatever colors chosen,  I’m going to have a colorful house by the time I’m done. Oh yeah!

Sandy and the Pin Oak Tree

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Hurricane Sandy swept through the Northeast causing much destruction.

Thankfully, we were spared.

Not but a block away on York Street, trees were down along with a power line.

Our lights flickered many times but the longest we lost power was for a few short seconds.

The worst that happened was our pin oak tree littered our yard with broken branches. Some of the branches were quite large and made a dreadful noise when they hit the roof, but no damage was incurred.

It is good. It would have broken my heart to lose the pin oak tree. It’s an extension of the house.

Sure it makes a mess every time a heavy wind blows through. It also makes a mess every Spring when the strings of pollen fall to the ground. Then, in Fall, it drops what seems like a million leaves. I am constantly cleaning up after it.

Yet, in Summer, it earns its weight in gold. To be able to walk out of the kitchen door in the oppressive heat and be immediately enveloped in an umbrella of shade is amazing. I live under the shade of the pin oak all summer long.

My father-in-law as well as my chimney sweeper recommended that I cut the tree down. It’s too close to the house. If it fell, it would destroy our home. I don’t believe I had anything nice to say in return.

I’d rather move than cut the tree down. It’s one of the things that made me fall in love with this house along with the corner hutches and the arched doorways.

My heart goes out to those who were not spared by Sandy.