Baskets bright and beautiful!

Wow, the last week has been so busy that it just flew by!! Rods sister was here for the weekend and we did a LOT of shopping and even got to go to a concert for free, score!

 

So because of the busyness, I haven't really been crafting, sewing, cooking or really anything creative, but today I caught my breath a little bit and got back into it:) I am trying to figure out ways to pull my house together  using stuff I already have or thrift store purchases.

 

Since I still have almost a whole (small) can of yellow paint leftover from my lamps, I have been trying to figure out where else I can use it. So, completely randomly today  I notice that the basket in my bathroom holding all my hair product was boringly "basket color". Kind of tan, beige, off white, anyway, I figured it would look much better with some style! I was right, it does look better.

Here are some photos of the process...

 

BEFORE...

 

 

le bottom...

 

 

I almost went with a dipped looked, but when I put the blue liner into the basket, it just didn't look right, so....

 

... I decided to paint the whole thing, which turned out pretty good I think!

 

 



 

My bathroom counter is a little bit cluttered, yes....

 

 



 

 

And that's it!! My one lonely little project in a week! I know its pretty pathetic for a self proclaimed "lover of all things creative". But hey, it should pick up soon, because I picked up my sewing machines today!!!!!!!!!!!!! They were both not working well since before Christmas, so I finally got them serviced. Now I can get back to working on my projects that have sat neglected for many months! Hopefully I'll have some good projects to blog about very soon!

 

(By the way, there is another small project peeking into this photo! My lace/photo frame jewelry hanger. I just need to hang it somewhere yet...)

 

Thrift store finds... again:)

Have I already mentioned I love thrift stores? Especially lately. My mom came to the city this week so her and I headed off to Value Village this evening. I scored big in my opinion! Five super old hardcover books (the oldest is from 1865!), and two ceramic elephants:)

 

I can't wait to go pick up some spray paint and give these guys (the elephants) a nice makeover. I'm thinking maybe yellow?? Not sure yet, all I know is that it's happening soon!!! The books are super awesome, they are hopefully only the beginning of a ginormous collection that I'm planning on having by the time we build/buy our own house, (a zillion years from now... or that's what it feels like anyway.)

 

 Slowly but surely, I am starting to figure out what kind of style I like in a home. With a lot of help from the internet of course! But hey, good ideas are good ideas no matter where they come from, right? All I know is my pinterest account is very quickly becoming my own little home makeover collection. I spend way to much time on there:(

 

Another upcoming project is my tv/spareroom/den makeover:) Well, not really a makeover but a pretty good rearranging is going to happen. Right now our living room space is sort of split between two rooms, our kitchen/dining room/living room are all in one large square room. I'm hoping to turn the spare room into a more functional living room space that is still versatile enough to be used as a guest room when needed and then the kitchen/dining room will no longer be the main hosting area.

 

I will need to use quite a bit of brain power (and Rods muscles) and imagination to make it work, but I'm pretty hopeful it will be great once its done. I don't have any pictures yet but there will definitely be many once I get started!

 

Till next time! :)

The Bench Reveal!

 

So, yesterday evening I ended up finishing my bench project!! I was way to excited about it not to finish it. When I was at the fabric store yesterday afternoon, I spotted a piece of foam that looked like the perfect size for the top of the bench so I snapped it up for a few bucks along with my super awesome yellow chandelier cotton!

 

 

 

 

 

I decided to go with a "no-sew" version for the cushion,(not really because I wanted to but because my sewing maching is still broken.) So I pulled out my trusty little glue gun and went to work! First I pinned one side of the fabric to the foam so that I'd be able to pull the other side nice and tight. Oh, and my fabric is patterned so I had to make sure to place my foam on the fabric so that the lines were straight and parallel to the edges of the foam.

 

Then I got to work with my glue gun.  First I folded over the raw edge of the overlapping piece of fabric to give it a nice finished look, and then I glued that edge down onto the piece pinned to the foam! Easy peasy, and you don't need a sewing machine or have to deal with needles! (except for the minor pinning at the beginning.... I ryhmed!!)

 

 

 

 Here's a photo showing how the edges looked once I was done...(actually they still look like that :0 ). Nice and smooth and as far as I can tell the glue should hold it together quite nicely. Doing the ends wasn't hard either, it's just like wrapping a present!

 

 

 

Here's before and after pics, they're not even comparable, for a while before I decided to redo this bench, I actually thought of bringing it to the dump. It was ugly and not functional at all, but now I am really glad I held on to it and just fixed it up!

 

 

Before

 

I love how it looks against the blue wall in our bathroom, and since my towels were yellow already it fits right in! Super happy with how it turned out!!

 

After!!!!!!!!