Turning old furniture into something new!

Okay, so when you combine 2 adults fully furnished homes into one, it makes for a LOT of furniture. Not all of ours could fit into the house.....some is in the garage, some in closets, etc. Coincidentally, we both had the very same TV Stand. Since there is only one big screen TV in the house for the stand, the other was going to waste. It is actually a pretty nice piece of furniture, so instead of giving it away, I came up with a little idea of my own :)

Here is the TV stand before...Our guest room was lacking furniture. It only had a bed and a couple chairs in there. SO, I figured I could transform this stand into a guest bench/storage area since it was so low to the ground. All I did was purchase some foam padding and cream colored fabric from the fabric store for about $25, and I sewed a cushion for the top. Then, I took out the drawer in the middle and used that space to stack guest towels. I put magazines on the top rack for guests to browse, and then put two storage baskets (that were already in my bathroom vanity) on either side with lotions, aspirin, qtips, extra toothbrushes, etc. Lastly, I just bought a $4 wooden tray from Michael's and painted it black and put a bud vase, some books and a candle on it. Here is the tray before and after....

And here is the final product!

Kitchen Night Light Idea

I made this a few weeks ago and forgot to post it! I saw this on a craft blog once and had to try it out. All you do is take an empty wine bottle, put Christmas Lights in it, and get some plastic grapes and glue them onto the bottle as well. Wrap it in some twine, ribbon, or whatever you like and you will have a cute little kitchen nightlight (for $4) instead of using your hood light above the stove. Pretty clever idea if you ask me! Excuse the cell phone and hair dryer cords in the pic :)

Just your typical Wednesday Night...

Ok, so I know I take on a lot of projects and people think I'm crazy. What drives Jeff nuts is that I do them all after work, running, and cooking dinner on weeknights. I just can't sit still....I save my relaxing for the weekends! For example, here is what my dining room table looked like when Jeff got home last night. Haha....

I had a lot to do! I finished the wine charms for the shower on Saturday finally....here it is on my wine glass :) Pretty cute huh?

I also made my buddy Brandon's new baby a gift! He is due to arrive in May, but I wanted to make sure that he got this before little Cameron arrives. When we were kids, we always had our names in wooden blocks on our door, so I wanted to do the same for him- but with a twist. All I did was buy a wood plaque at Michaels (obviously my favorite store) and cover it with some cute blue gingham fabric. Then, I painted wood letters to spell his name, and while that dried, we ate dinner. Gotta multi-task....

Then, I just attached the letters (and these little wooden blue birdies) to the fabric covered plaque with my hot glue gun. I stapled some cute blue ribbon on the back so he can hang it and that was it! All in all, it took an hour...look how cute!

MORE Spring Cleaning (but in my favorite room!)

I have been without a coffee pot for almost 2 months (I know!), and a microwave for 2 years. Jeff's parents have been staying with us, so we have been using their coffee pot, and Tiay left her microwave at the house, so it has been in the LAUNDRY room so it doesn't crowd up the kitchen. Well, Patty and Joel left yesterday, and Tiay is moving in May. It was finally time to give in and purchase these two appliances. We never use a microwave because I usually cook every night, but I realized that boys need one no matter what. I had to do some counter top reorganizing (and consolidate spices so I could move my spice rack to the pantry instead), but Jeff finally got his wish and now we two matching appliances BOTH on the counter top, and BOTH that still go with our kitchen decor. Now I'm a happy camper too. We also cleaned out the fridge and went through every dressing, condiment, etc, and tossed what we don't use. We even washed the shelves! It makes such a difference to cook in an organized kitchen...

Before shots:

Lots of spices, cookbooks and olive oil to the left of the stovetop

So, I moved all the spices and oils to the pantry and the knives and cooking utensils to the left to make room for the microwave. Then had extra room for my cookbook holder. MUCH better.

AFTER shots.

Homemade Wine Charms (because anything you can buy, you can make yourself)

This weekend, I am helping to throw a "Wine and Cheese" Wedding Shower for Kristina and Toby. I am in charge of food, wine charms, and my own little touch- a replica of their wedding cake (another thing on my "to-do list"). So far, I have almost completed the wine charms. These guys can be expensive when you have to buy 50 of them! So, I figured I could make some and personalize them a little bit.

Kristina is having "Nectar" as her Bridal Party color, and is also having green accents- so I chose 3 colors of shiny card stock to reflect that. I also bought a Martha Stewart Craft Punch (in the shape of a little wedding cake) at Michael's and crystal beads and wire rings. Then the process began. Sure it will take longer to make them myself, but it's cheaper ($15 for all 50!) and more thoughtful and personalized :)

Here were my supplies from Michael's:

I used my nifty craft punch (thank you Martha!) to make all these little wedding cakes, and then used needle nose pliers to feed a wire charm link through the top of each.

After adding the charm links to the card stock: Then, I fed a crystal bead on either side of the link onto the wire ring. TA DA!

I know this pic is light (I was making them in my bed while watching my HGTV I can't watch in the living room)....but I will take more tonight when I have them on the wine glasses to test them out!

Time to Reupholster this Chair FINALLY!

So, Mom and Farah were about to throw away this old chair that had definitely seen better days. I never pass up a hand-me-down (because paint and fabric can make anything better!), so I took it home to reupholster and make it look new and fresh. Right now it is a fake leathery material and spots of it are worn and peeling...so that wouldn't cut it!

I picked up some faux suede fabric (at $7/yard) in a warmer beige color, and then started my project. But, I realized I only got 2 instead of 3 yards- so I have to go back and get 1 more so I can finish! I've only completed the arms and the foot stool. All I did was unscrew the cushion from the steel frame, flip it over, pull the fabric tight and staple. It's kind like wrapping a present....you do the corners last. So for $20- I will have a brand new slider. YAY.

Here is the chair before...

The lovely arm rests..
After removing the cushions and reupholstering the arms...

The close up of the fabric after the foot stool is completed- BETTER!What do you think? Stay tuned because I am definitely finishing this puppy in the next month. I have SOO many projects to do before summer- AHHH! I still have to make a bench and headboard for the guest room, paint and clean the laundry room, AND plant my veggie garden! Lots to come in the next couple of months!

Master Closet Spring Cleaning....

I knew I wanted to do this after winter, so we could get a little more organized and remove coats and sweaters in our walk-in in the Master. Not to mention we needed to do something about the HORRENDOUS pink carpet that was in there! It was matted down and beyond dirty (despite many shampooing attempts). So Joel pulled up the carpet and laid down some of the leftover floors, and we will just have to buy another $50 worth of flooring to finish the project. It looks so great and SO much cleaner! Here is once side the has been completed so far....

BEFORE:

AFTER!!