Painted Bathroom Nook

You know when you just can't take something the way it's always been in your house for..one..more..second..? That was how how I felt towards a little nook in the first floor bathroom.

While perusing Pinterest suddenly I had the urge to to paint it right that moment. It would have been cool to introduce a print or bolder color but the only thing on hand that would work was a gray paint sample from Sherwin Williams, Mindful Gray. So off I went to scrounge up supplies from the basement. Two coats and one hour later I was looking at this.

Look at that transformation! What a huge difference! What...you don't see it? In person the gray paint stands out more than these pictures. Unfortunately this small bathroom has no natural light and iphones can only take, well iphone pictures.

When placing items back on the shelves I switched a few things up. Out went the distressed metal planter from Anthropolgie replaced with various milk glass vases. Also a few books were placed between the alabaster horse bookends.

Since we're taking a peek into this bathroom for the first time here are highlights of other items in the space. After purchasing the house we replaced the grey pedestal sink with a white wash basin and polished nickel faucet from RH. I've always loved this style of sink and thought it would go well with the existing marble floor and 100 year old house.

I totally fell for this nickel light fixture on clearance from William Sonoma Home and calendar prints hang in frames from IKEA..

The walls are still SW Cottage White along with the majority of most rooms in the house. I finally feel good about this little space!

Dn..Dn..Dn.., Another Lamp Bites the Dust

It's been quiet around the Steffes house with projects and such. Life has been crazy the last few weeks but it's time to get back in the swing of things.

Sadly one of my most prized possessions no longer functions. This metal leaf lamp was purchased from an vintage design shop years ago for an embarrassing amount of money. I loved it and always appreciated it's unique beauty. It most recently lived on a white accent table in the living room.

At some point someone welded together the metal base with the main rod of the body that use to be threaded. Over time it started to come undone and now looks like this.

I looked for an inexpensive placeholder to make do until it's repaired. Once again Goodwill pulled through and I scored this double gourd Threshhold lamp for $4.50 that I had previously admired at Target.

For the lampshade I stole a small black lampshade from another lamp in the house and used some Rub N Buff to change the silver lining to gold.

Surpisingly I really love it in the space. I see it eventually moving into my son's room down the road and now the stolen lampshade needs to be replaced.

Finding lampshades is kind of difficult if you're on a tiny budget like mine. It was impossible to find a large affordable drum shade for this vintage bamboo lamp. Eventually I came across a clearance lamp with the exact shade envisioned at Homegoods. Even though the base wasn't needed, for only $25 it was cheaper than buying just the shade at most places. With a little added black ribbon trim, the shade now tops the bamboo lamp in front entrance area of the living room.

As for the Homegoods lamp base it ended up in the guest bed area of the basement. But of course it now needs a lampshade....

Shopping Thrift Store Style...#2

My obsession with a good deal continues. After making the bi-monthly Goodwill drop-off I popped in to check out the goods. Usually I walk out empty handed but this time I hit the jackpot.

Everything except the wicker stool was from the Threshhold Target line. Target donates unsold merchandise to Salvation Army and Goodwill. The Target price tags were still on this stuff! These items were put on the shelves that day which is why I was able to snag them.

Okay so let's break it down.

Wicker Stool $5
2 Snakeskin Pillows $4 each
Gold Serving Tray $7
2 Mini Metallic Ornament Trees $2 each
Total Spent $24

The stool was purchased because we currently have 3 discontinued Stefano Pottery Barn stools in the kitchen and have desperately needed an additional one. After searching Craigslist and Ebay for over a year with no luck I had to go in a new direction. This stool is similar in color to the kitchen cabinetry and takes up little visual space since it's backless. I will still continue to look for the matching Pottery Barn stool but this will do until then.

I loved the mini ornament trees the moment I spotted them. The ornaments are silver, champagne, gold and copper so they will play nice with everything else around it. And for only $2 each such a steal. My wreath with ornaments from the dollar store still cost about $16 to make so these were a no brainer for next holiday.

Now why did I purchase ANOTHER tray? It's gold. It's animal print. It's a tray. Plus a good friend with great taste already has this in her home. Enough said.

Finally the pair of snakeskin pillows. Finding any cheap accessory item in pairs is downright exciting. Plus it would cost way more than $8 to make pillows like these. The faux leather metallic piping is spot on so hopefully they will work in the girls room.

Did I just post one of the most boring pictures of a girls room ever? Yes I did. But this is real life and putting together these rooms takes time. I've already painted the lilac dressers, remade a thrift store lamp and spruced up a gold animal print bulletin board for these little ladies. Hanging curtains are next on the list!

Easiest Little Girls Dress Ever

I'm all about keeping projects short and simple. Well this girls sundress is as easy as it gets. One day when trolling the clearance aisle at Joann Fabric my 4 year old spotted this fabric and was obsessed with it.

With an additional 50% off the sale price I picked up a half yard for $6. My plan was to cut it to make 2 dresses, one for each of my girls. After hemming the bottom, a basic straight stitch attached the sides of the fabric to create a tube. A 2 inch strip of leftover fabric was folded and sewed to make the straps.

The seam is on the side and barely noticeable. My daughter wanted the dress very long and has been wearing it around the house everyday since.

The dress will grow with her for a few years of use. When she saw the camera she went right into her Tae Kwon Do kicks and blocks followed with these poses.

Unfortunately I was a little short of fabric to make the second dress. I sewed it together anyway and my youngest happily squeezed herself into it to be like her big sis.

Not the typical clothing choice for the "Polar Vortex" we're experiencing but the girls love it!

Bentwood Chair Makeover

Would you pass this chair up if it was on the curb waiting to be saved?

Well I couldn't. There are so many things to love about this chair - the bent wood, vintage vibe and small scale. Just a basic fabric seat recover, clean the wood frame and voila new chair! Mostly. See, it had 3 layers of fabric that were stapled like staples were going out of style.

After removing all the fabrics the thin foam pad was peeled and scraped off the seat. The wood circle seat was tightly covered with an additinal vinyl layer that proved too difficult to remove so I scrubbed it down with soap and water to remove years and years of grime. The frame was wiped down multiple times with a damp cloth followed with a good rub down of Old English Scratch Cover. The wood was very dry and soaked up the oil easily leaving a weathered medium brown stain.

I used an indoor/outdoor fabric purchased at JoAnn Fabric that was left over from this pillow cover. It has a linen look but I prefer the lighter backside.

Foam was cut from some leftover egg crate foam already on hand. Also I was out of batting and didn't want to make another trip to the store so an old sheet had to make do. The sheet was stapled on followed by the teal fabric.

Even though the seat wasn't secured on when I found it, Mike used a couple of screws to attach it from underneath. Here she is.

This chair immediately went into action on Christmas Eve since we hosted 35 family members for dinner at our house and were short seating. Since then it has found a new home at the kids craft table in the office.

Once again a completely free project. I'm not afraid of the kids damaging it and have always loved vintage bentwood chairs. Now I finally have one!

New Tablecloth and Other Decor Updates

There have been a few project updates going on around here the last few weeks. I finally got around to hemming a huge end of bolt fabric purchase from Jo-Ann Fabric. For only $13 we now have a new dark blue polka dot tablecloth that accomodates the table when fully extended with both leaves.

In the background you may have noticed a new holiday wreath. I went directly off of this tutorial using plastic dollar store ornaments and a foam floral ring from Michaels. I needed about $11 worth of ornaments which included some small gold and silver jingle bells to fit in the smaller gaps. The foam ring was spray painted beige in case any spots peeped through and jute string was used to hang. This close up picture does not do the color justice which made it appear much more yellow than it really is.

Next a cheapo clear plastic frame was studded out with brass studs normally found on leather goods straight from this tutorial. Come on, ain't it cool?

And finally after spotting this $1 tray hack I picked up two of the hexagon trays from Target's Dollar Spot. Using my new favorite handy dandy Krylon Gold Leaf Pen they now looks tres chic...

Right now they hold a few dollar store gold trees for the holidays.

Gotta love the humongous painting of my dad.

While many times I'm winging it when doing things around the house, I just had to try out some of these fun projects from other people's blogs. Sometimes you don't need to reinvent the wheel when others have already done such a great job!

Bench Slipcover

Do you have a piece of furniture you just had to have and now look at it and say to yourself, "why oh why"? Well I do. In fact I have a house full of questionable purchases. I still like most of them but payed way too much and didn't think how they would work with kids. This bench was purchase from RH back in 2005.

It's been in the girls room so Mike and I could have a place to sit. Ususally it's covered in a quilt because the fabric shows stains easily. I finally decided to tackle a slipcover in my quest to conquer my sewing machine.

I started with this amazing fabric from TonicLiving. Let me tell you, it is even more gorgeous in person. This fabric has the most lovely shades of lavender and plum with little hits of dark blue, grass green and greige. Since it was the inspiration for the entire room I decided to order two yards even though it was a little more than I originally planned to spend.

After the fabric was washed and dried a large top piece was cut with piping which was pinned then sewed on. This was only the second time I've made piping and I improved my technique a bit. I didn't sew as closely when making the piping so the stitches would be covered when sewing all the pieces together. I also overlapped the piping fabric following the instructions from this tutorial. I used an old Nate Berkus for Linens N Things sheet (this was his line years ago before Target) for the piping and each corner because the color worked and there wasn't enough floral fabric for these parts.

I then cut and hemmed the four small corner, two short side side and two long side pieces. The top edge was zigzag stitched to prevent fraying.

The four floral pieces were pinned followed by four corner pieces on top of that. This took some adjusting and repinning to make sure the fabric all fell to same length. This shows how the corner looked pinned. The floral side panels are pinned and laying on top of the bench so you are seeing the "wrong side" of the fabric in this picture.

With a little patience all eight panels were stitched on in. I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. Was it going to lay straight... Was the fabric going to bunch...Thank goodness it worked!

Now the girls room is starting to make more sense design wise. The lavender dresser's color was pulled from this fabric along with the green trim added to the lamp that was made over.

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