Couch Pillows

After much anticipation (here, at our house) we finally have a start to new couch pillows!

Two down. Two to go.

I wanted a scrappy look... I think I got that.

I did the backs like this so I can switch these puppies out as my mood changes... err... maybe not quite that often!

Ta Da!

Getting Ready for Fall

I think every couch should be adorned with candy, don't you?

This idea came from a friend of mine on Facebook, but I can't retrace my steps to link to it. At any rate, I love my new candy corn pillow.

And this:

I saw here.

And then I saw it about a million other places, but I knew when I first saw it that I HAD to make it.

I haven't hung it yet. It still seems a bit early.

I love the extra splash of orange.

Small House Updates

I am gearing up to share some bigger projects we have been working on here, but for now I am going to catch up some older stuff.

First, I made a quick toile valance for our laundry room out of a remnant. I just hemmed the edges put in one pleat and pinned it up hiding the pins. It is kind of silly, but it really makes my laundry room feel more fancy, or cute, or workable, or just more of a part of the house and not the garage. I love it.

Another simple change we made was purchasing this mail sorter (from Hobby Lobby) that I had been eyeing. The bottom has six small drawers and we use them for common "junk drawer" items freeing up one very valuable kitchen drawer. YAY.

And, in our entry, where there once was a calendar is now a dry erase board/key rack. It is great to have a place to hang our keys when we are carrying a million things into the house. Okay, maybe not a million, but on most nights I carry: a purse, a lunch box, a diaper bag, mail, a sippy, a water bottle, keys and an almost two year old. In one trip. Really. I have often thought that I should get someone to take a picture, but if there were someone here to do so - I would make them help. :P

Oh, and this board is also useful for the hubs and I to communicate one very important thing.

Dishes are: CLEAN!

Yeah, I Rit Dyed My Couches

By request. I am showing you my newly dyed couches. The hubs and I bought these couches for $80 at a garage sale. As we were pulling up, I said, "Hunny! Are those the Ikea couches? If they are less than $100, we are SO getting them."

One borrowed trailer, bribed friend, and an afternoon later, they were in my house in all their STARK WHITE glory. :) No worries, right? We'll just go to Ikea and get some new slip covers. WRONG! These couches were in fact, Ikea. Emphasis on the were. As we found out, they were discontinued. Minor set back, but oh well. Ebay? Bemz? (The after-market Ikea stuff site) No. Nothing.

(Love Seat, Before)

Just when were about to give up complete home, my genius husband suggested dying the covers we already had. At first I was against it due to the high risk of failure, but then gave in.

I did some research on the internet and read almost anything there is to know about Rit Dying using the washing machine method. We predicted how much dye it would take and after 3 stores I gathered it all.

(Couch, Before - cell phone pic)

After discovering that our new high efficiency washer doesn't actually fill the drum like a standard machine, we moved on to plan b. This plan included a large outdoor garbage can, a hose, and a lot of stirring done by my amazing husband. (Man, how I wish I had a picture!)

First, we weighed all of the covers. At 16lbs we agreed that not all of that would be able to be free moving in any container, so we split the load by couch. The large one weighing 9lbs and the love seat 7lbs. We figured our ounces of dye to pounds of fabric ratio using the rit site and the amount of dye we had available to use.

While I was at work, and Jake was napping, CAMERON, yes, my. husband. Took a new, clean large garbage can and put it in my family room on top of tarp. Using a hose hooked to my kitchen sink, he filled the can with hot water and the dye. He stirred the covers in the dye for 30 minuted and then moved them to the washing machine to be washed and dried.

After hauling the can outside and dumping it out, he repeated the process with the other couch's covers. Crazy, I know.

(Couch, After)

We used the tan dye. I figured we should start light so that if we mess us we can always try again.

(Love Seat, After)

Is it completely perfect? No. But, it is great to have non-white couches and they are oh so comfy. I can't wait to make new pillows or to make them a little darker. (I haven't decided which one I want to do yet...)

Tying off a few loose ends...

We changed our couch cover from a tan one to this brown. That's when I realized that the brown pillows just weren't going to work.

So, I followed this tutorial to make these!

The ties look a little floppy now, but I blame that on my two dogs.

Please, don't enlarge this picture and look at all the dog hair on my couch! eek!

The new brown cover fits the couch better, but the color sure does shoes the puppy hair!

Formula Containers

I have a million formula cans around here. (Okay, not a million, but a few...)

So, I turned them into cute containers for my kids' art supplies.

I use the double-tall containers, but the regular size would work fine.

I spray adhesived the back of scrapbook paper I cut to size and then quickly rolled the paper onto the cans.

I found it easiest to lay the middle of the paper on the can and then smooth in each direction.

When all the cans were covered, I used letter scrapbook stickers to label each can.

Can you tell which letters I made by using pieces of other letters?

Cute, huh!? and it seriously took me like 30 minutes.

Table Transformation

Table 20$ on Craigslist

We used a gel stripper to take the varnish off the top.

And then we sanded it with a fine grit sandpaper.

And after 3 coats of stain and a coat of varnish...

Here you are!

We also painted the legs and skirt black and added our inherited chairs.

We LOVE it.