30/366 reflect

pendant lamp s-hook party trick

In my mile-long party post Monday, I forgot to show you guys my favorite party trick. 

You see, we have a small house. So when we have a party, we usually have to move our dining table for traffic-flow purposes. No big deal, except that we have a pendant light fixture hanging down low enough that, without the table there, anyone over 5 ft could whack their head on it.

I searched and searched my photo files for a photo of the offending lamp, but came up empty. I even checked the website from which we bought the fixture, but even they don't have a full hanging photo. You'll just have to trust me that it usually hangs down from a chain.

How do I protect my guests from head injuries?

A simple S-hook.

Pretty tricky, eh?

I slip the top of the S through the top link, and the bottom of the S through the link attached to the pendant. The chain sticks out a little, but it's so close to the ceiling that no one notices.

And no noggins get bonked.

Happy parties = no head bonks.

Every mom knows that it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt.

Am I right or am I right?

**Disclaimer: Do this at your own risk! Please check your equipment thoroughly for structure and sufficient strength.**

red sweater pillow

I've had this sweater sitting in my drawer for years. It's a brilliant red, chunky knit, and I love it...in theory. But it just doesn't look good on me. It accentuates all the wrong areas.

I haven't been able to let it go. Maybe if I lose weight/tone this/tone that, it will look better. But that hasn't happened. I've been thinking for a while about making it into a cozy pillow, only I couldn't bring myself to cut into it. Then last week, my slowly deteriorating orange pillow cover finally bit the dust. I grabbed my scissors.

• I cut the bottom of the sweater just under the arms. 
• I turned it inside out and sewed the freshly cut edge together, to keep it from unraveling.
• I sewed one third of the way in, from each side, on the finished edge side (the former waist/bottom of the sweater).
• I turned it right side out.
• I gently squished the pillow form through the opening (the middle third of the finished edge side).
• I sewed snaps in the open section so I could remove the pillow cover for washing.
• A few snips, a few snaps, and it was done!

As I was snuggling on the couch with my new pillow, soaking up the new Pottery Barn holiday catalog, I saw this:

Image via Pottery Barn

Don't you just love when that happens?

:)

coburg antique fair 2010

Don't you just love this rainbow array of antiques?

 

Yesterday, as you were all snug in your beds during those precious pre-dawn hours, I was driving 100 miles to Coburg, Oregon for their annual antique fair. Pumpkin Spice and Chai Lattes in hand, my friend and I drove south and arrived in Coburg at precisely 8am. Ms. Ali Edwards posted that she arrived at 5:30 and scored an awesome giant letter "A," which has convinced me to get there early next year.

I love the finish on this dresser, but the drawers were missing some slats. 

I took a picture so I could recreate the finish someday.

There was an unbelievable amount of things to see. We meandered through blocks and blocks of booths, and got so turned around we repeatedly wished for a map. We found things that reminded us of our childhood, which is a bit disturbing, because I am certainly not antique.

I used to have hangers like this!

We saw a few items that were fairly offensive (most not included here), but I decided to see it as a celebration of the diversity of our country.

We learned about our history. We found butter churns in all different shapes and sizes; the paddle-in-the-jar type and one that looked like a rocking box. We found two types of rolling cookie cutters:

this one, and one that I purchased for a secret project.

Here are all my finds:

• Ghirardelli wooden crate; $30. I've wanted a wooden crate like this for a long time, but was very choosy about what was printed on it. I can definitely get down with chocolate.
• Glass apothecary jar; $4.
• Aqua Ball jar; 50 cents. (Score!)
• Mustard cannister; $3. For a future project. 
• Dark metal pedstal; $8. Totally not an antique. Probably found at a thrift shop for $1 and marked up like crazy. But I don't care. I love it.
• Cowbell; $12.50. Because, really, don't we all need more cowbell?
• Orange grater; $3. I'm thinking it will hold some tiny flowers.
• Graduated pitcher with pint/quart markings; $10. I LOVE this. It was the first thing I saw, but I thought the price was a little steep. I kept thinking about it, and thankfully it was still there at the end of the day.
• Cookie cutter ball; $25. (That's the round ballish object, bottom left.) I'm turning it into a Christmas ornament, but it's not for myself. (Sshh.)

I've already put a few of the items to work:

the pitcher

the pedestal

the cowbell on my bookcase, next to a previously found iron bird

I'm definitely going next year. (The Antique Fair is the Sunday after Labor Day every year.) Probably making the drive to Eugene Saturday night, staying over, and hitting the Fair bright dark and early.

Who wants to come with me?

cleaning upholstered chairs

Hubs and I bought these dining chairs soon after we got married. I wanted upholstered dining chairs because they seemed more comfortable than all-wood chairs. 

Why did I not consider our future children ruining that upholstery by smearing bits of food over every square inch?

Gross.

Embarrassing.

These chairs are going to be recovered or replaced somewhere down the line, as soon as the kids can learn to eat like civilized people. But for now, I'm stuck with them.

I had a burst of energy the other day and decided to try to clean them. I've tried spot-cleaning before, without much success.  But this time, I filled a spray bottle with hot water and a little dish soap, shook it up, and sprayed that upholstery completely. 

It couldn't make them any worse, right? 

If I'm going to recover them anyway, who cares if I mess up the fabric? 

At least they'll be clean.

So I sprayed them and scrubbed them with a heavy duty scrub brush.

When I finished, Little Mister asked to use the cleaning tools for his dump truck.

And I went to work wiping down the wood frames of the chairs.

And now, my chairs. are. clean.

This chair was the dirtiest one, the same one in the top two photos.

(Those dark spots were just wet--they hadn't dried completely before I took photos. 

I was too darn excited to wait!)

See? Same markings on the wood frame:

My only advice is if you actually like your upholstery, use a gentler brush. I roughed up my fabric a little from vigorous scrubbing. A cloth might be better--you can still scrub with it, but it shouldn't damage your fabric.

I feel so much better now that those chairs are clean! Of course, in the days since I've cleaned them, the kids have messed them up again. But at least I know I can fix it when I want to. :)

super duper spray paint

Do you remember this?

I found this green monster at Home Goods a month or so ago. It's very close to what I'd been looking for to go in the little corner by the front door. I mean almost exactly what I'd been searching for--right shape, and almost the right size. But the color, well, it doesn't really go with my house. Thank goodness for people like Abby and Allison, who have taught me that spray paint can fix almost anything.

This Sunday was fairly warm (near 80°, I would imagine), bright and sunny, with nothing scheduled. Sure, I had some yard work to do, but that made my spray paint project even more doable. Spray on a coat, pull some weeds. Do another coat, plant the cucumbers.

I primed the...the...container? Vase? Vessel? Let's go with vessel. I primed the vessel with the Ruddy Brown primer first. I applied three coats because I wanted all that green covered up. Each coat dried super fast, so it was no trouble to keep adding coats, even for this impatient crafter.

After the vessel was all dry and primed, I pulled out the Oil Rubbed Bronze. I sprayed on my first coat, loved it, and immediately went strolling through my house to see if there was anything else I could spray with bronze! (No luck this time, but I still have some paint left.) I applied several coats of the bronze to cover up all that Ruddy Brown.

Now it's done and I love it! 

I'm tempted to rub on another color to highlight the texture and give it some artificial patina. But I'm not sure what color to do and don't really feel like repainting it if I mess up. So I'm just going to leave it as it is for the time being. I'll keep my eye out for bronze items with patina and take note of the color.

What have you rescued with spray paint?

caribbean wedding

Isn't it gorgeous?

I can't get over the hydrangeas in the aqua Mason jars.

The burlap table runner with turquoise stitching.

And the little woven boxes, which held lemon iced sand dollar sugar cookies.

Swoon.

I think I need some smelling salts.

I didn't have anything to do with these table settings. 

(Though I did help with some other table decorations.) 

I can take credit for my hair though. Pretty proud of it. Three little buns, like rosettes. Stayed in all afternoon and evening, despite raging humidity, torrential tropical downpours, and wind. 

Thank you, $1.99 pack of bobby pins.

guest post: abby from tales&trials

Today we have a special treat. My friend Abby, from tales and trials, is here to give us some thrifting tips! I'm so excited, because I'm off tomorrow on my first big thrifting hunt since seeing all of Abby's amazing finds. She has definitely inspired me, and I bet she'll inspire you, too. 

Hello. My name is Abby and I am so thrilled to be guest blogging here at one of my favorite blogs, make*happy!  You can find me at talesandtrials.com where I blog about the things I am passionate about: my family, my faith, DIY projects, crafts, cooking, and thrifting.

Last year out of the blue I started shopping at thrift stores.  At first I felt a little out of place but soon I got over that and started to have some fun.  Often I come up empty handed but it's all worth it for that occasional trip when I come home with some amazing finds.  I love the thrill of thrift store shopping and also the fact that I often save our family some serious money too.  For example I have started finding some great name brand clothing for the boys in excellent condition at our local thrift stores for less than two or three dollars per item.  You can't beat that!

 I am by no means a thrifting expert but I have learned a few things over time {often the hard way}.  Today I am going to share a few simple guidelines and tips for you to keep in mind the next time you visit your local thrift store.  These tips can also come in handy for shopping at yard sales too!!

::If you are looking for a particular item be patient.  I am the worlds worst at being patient so I have to really try hard to enforce this one for myself.  Sometimes there is something particular I am searching for at thrift stores. I really wanted a new lamp for our bedroom but I didn't want to spend $40 on a brand new one.  I decided to look for one at the thrift store and it literally took me A YEAR!!  There were several times I almost bought a lamp because it was "ok" and I already had been looking for months.   I held out though and eventually I found a lamp that I really liked.  I brought it home and gave it a new look with some silver leaf. 

If you are looking for a specific piece of furniture for a space in your house it might be wise to know the exact dimensions of the piece you want.  That way if you find a dresser that you love you don't have to try and eye ball wether it will fit in your room or not.  You can measure it {if you keep a trusty tape measure in your purse or car} and know right then and there if it will work in your house before you load it up and take it home.

::If you have extra storage space you might consider buying items you don't necessarily need now but could use down the line.  Sometimes I come across something at a thrift store that I don't need right at that exact moment but know that I could maybe use in the near future{within a year or less}.  If the item is a good deal, on the small side, and easy for me to store then I will usually go ahead and buy it.

A while back I found a set of four plate hangers for $1.51.  If you have ever bought these at your local craft store then you know that just one of these alone would cost more than what I paid for all four.  I would like to hang some plates and platters on one of our walls someday soon so I bought these plate hangers to save for that particular decorating project.

::Use your imagination!!  As you can probably imagine, you are going to run across a lot of outdated and ugly stuff at thrift stores.  Most of the time you may find something you like but maybe it's not the right color or finish.  Now everyone repeat after me, "Spray paint can transform ANYTHING!! "

I found the bunny on the left at a thrift store but didn't love the purple flowers.  Of course this was nothing that a few coats of spray paint couldn't change.

When I first started thrifting it was hard to look beyond the uglyness and old school factor of everything in the store.  Then being inspired by thrift store makeovers on other blogs I slowly was able to use my imagination more and more to see the potential in thrift store "treasures".

I found the topiary on the left at my local GoodWill for 99 cents and with a little imagination turned it into the topiary you see on the right!

::Don't buy an item just because it's inexpensive.  There have been many times that I kind of liked something at the thrift store so I went ahead and bought it because it didn't cost very much.  Most of the items that I did this with are now sitting in my closet untouched.  Make sure the items you buy are things you really like or that you can makeover easily.  Sometimes it seems silly to leave something behind at Goodwill because it only would have cost me 99 cents.  But seriously that is a dollar you could have spent on something else and you may not realize it but it's all those little purchases that we make that really add up!

::If you love something you come across and it won't break your budget then by all means buy it all ready!!  If you spot an item from an aisle away and your heart starts going pitter patter from the excitement of finding something amazing then snatch that item up and run directly to the cash register.  There have been a few times where I was really in love with something but I didn't buy it for one reason or another.  Sometimes I don't know where I would put an item in my house so I talk myself out of buying it.  That's OK and all but I have kicked myself for doing this when I was really in love with something.  I've actually gone back to the store a day later to find an item again because I had decided I really couldn't live without.  And I'm sure you can guess where this is going. The item I loved wasn't there anymore.  Thrift store merchandise generally moves fast so you can't guarantee the same stuff will be there the next day.

 Recently I purchased this white bird/nest dish at a city wide thrift sale and the milk glass planter at an estate sale.  I loved them both right away but I sat there and debated about getting them because I felt they didn't go with my existing home decor.  Then I decided it was silly I was hemming and hawing over something that cost a dollar and that I really liked!  Whenever I walk buy one of these two items in my house they make me smile and I am so glad I didn't pass them up.

{image source}

:: Ask for a discount and pay attention to the specials that your thrift stores have.  Our local Goodwill has a deal every week where a certain colored tag is 50% off all week long.  Of course every item I want has the wrong colored tag.  Another local thrift store always has yellow tags at 70% off, green tags at 50% off, etc.  Also, don't be afraid to ask the cashier for a discount, especially if an item is slightly damaged. It never hurts to ask!

Well there you have it.  Some simple things to remember and think about the next time you go thrifting or find yourself at a yard sale!  These tips weren't meant to overwhelm you so keep them in mind but don't stress over them.  Just have fun and of course enjoy the thrill the of the hunt!!

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Thanks, Abby! You know, that topiary is the first thing that drew me to Abby's blog. And the silver leafing on that lamp? I've always wanted to try silver leaf, and that lamp has given me the push I need to just buy some and do it! And at the top of my list for shopping tomorrow? Milk glass. Definitely.

laundry room makeover (now with cabinets!)

I thought I posted this weeks ago, but I can't find record of it anywhere, so here it goes. We recently remodeled our laundry room (and when I say "we," I mean Hubs and his dad, of course), adding some much needed cabinets (these, from IKEA) and reorganizing existing storage.

I'm not even going to post any before photos...it was that bad. We had stuff piled up everywhere. It wasn't pretty. We couldn't even open the exterior door...not that we actually used the door, but it would have been nice to have the option. Well, as you can see from the light spilling into the room, the door is now uncluttered and able to open!

I love this little nook. I have all my tools hanging up off the floor, the plastic drawers stacked high (now that J knows not to pull them down), and I even squeezed my ironing board back there so it's out of the way, too. Here's a close-up of that fantastic basket from IKEA...

I just love it. It holds our paper bag stash in one section, and our giant blue IKEA bag in the other. For things to be truly organized in my house, everything needs its own home.

On the other side, we have our recycling center. Our town uses blue bags to collect curbside recycling, so that lives here--right off the kitchen and easy to access. And another IKEA find--the plastic bag holder finally mounted to the wall after years of sitting on the floor in temporary position.

And one more, of my nice neat row of cabinets with baskets holding everything. I no longer have to walk across the room to access my detergent and dryer sheets. Everything is grouped by type and in the appropriate basket. Yes, I am a complete organizational nerd. Well, maybe not completely...I haven't pulled out my label maker...yet. :)