Back in the Studio

It's so nice to be done with my project (very nearly) and have time to get back in the studio for some sewing projects.  I made this tea cosy from cute vintage kitchen fabric for a dear friend's birthday.  She loves vintage as much as I do and is a real tea lover so I thought this would be appreciated.

And then because our bedroom is nicely painted and all spiffed up I thought I would make a new dog bed cover for one of the shabby dog beds.  This is old Waverly fabric that I've had for at least 25 years and I still like it.  It was called "rosemary".  BTW, notice those lovely refinished floors!

I am getting interested in improving my slipcover making skills.  I have made several slipcovers in the past but they never felt up to my usual standards of quality.  I recently purchased a most excellent video on slipcover making from Slipcovers by Shelley.  This is so helpful to watch and she makes it look SOOO easy which I know it is not!  Her work is really first rate.  Be careful because after watching her work, you are going to want to run right out and get an industrial sewing machine.  Oh the way she zings right along on that thing!  I think some slipcovers are in my future and a good way to use up some of that fabric.

Back to the dog bed...looks like someone approves.

Showing Off the Master Bath

Come up the stairs and have a peek at the new Master Bath...

You may remember seeing it like this the last time.

What do you think?  Big improvement I would say.

We switched the tub to the other end of this narrow space and put the sink and vanity in its place.  I like having all the natural light in the morning!

This sink vanity was definitely the big splurge of the project but also makes the bathroom quite beautiful and functional with all that storage space.

A great improvement over the old sink!

This little bench has great sentiment for my mom.  It was her mother's and she remembers sitting on it with her while she got ready to go out.  My mom's mother died when I was very young so I don't really remember her.  It am happy to have this little seat and I love the new bright cushion that I made for it.  It just fits perfectly in this spot.

My new bath and shower.  It is so exciting to actually have a bathtub again.  We have only has shower facilities for the past ten years.  Time to stock up on bubble bath and all sorts of other nice bath time amenities. 

Hope you enjoyed the tour.

Details:

Wall Paint: Ben Moore "Winter White"

Ceiling : Ben Moore "Silver Cloud"

Trim & Beadboard: Ben Moore Super White

Marble Subway Tile and Marble Mosaic Floor Tile: Home Depot

Bathtub and Toilet Fixtures: American Standard

Tub/Shower Plumbing Fixtures: Delta

Tub Grab Bars: Home Depot

Glass Shower Screen: Ark Showers

Sink and Vanity: Pottery Barn

Medicine Cabinet/Mirror: Pottery Barn

Sink Faucet: Symmons

Sconce Lights and Hooks: Pottery Barn

Overhead Hanging Light: Rejuvenation Lighting with Vintage Globe

Curtain: Vintage

Upholstery Fabric on Cushion: Premier Prints

The Big Reveal..Dressing Room

Just to refresh your memory...this was the room before.

 New closet built along the wall using four old doors that were found around the house.  We put them on two sliding tracks.

Old closet was removed when we took down this wall to make room for the larger master bathroom which I will show later.

I use this glass door cupboard to store my non hanging clothing and other accessories.  I like being able to see what I have at a glance.

 Large mirror with a lot of natural light... a little too much to be honest.  I haven't seen myself this big in natural light in a while and I must confess it's a little scary!

 A peek into the insides of the closets.  I am so organized now that I can hardly stand it.  It is a joy to put away clothes!

I realize that when you see closets in most magazines that they don't usually have someone's "real" wardrobe hanging there.  It is always carefully edited and color coordinated.  And I wasn't about to toss all of my perfectly good hangars to get ones that are all matching as those closet organizers say you should.  Let's get real...this is perfectly acceptable to me even with non-matching hangars!

 These drawers are particularly useful because they make use of every inch of space available.

 Some details from inside my cupboard.

 My ribbon lady collection hanging on the wall.  I love these ladies.  I only have these five as they are quite hard to find these days.  

Hope you enjoyed my make-over.  It is so nice to have it finally finished and thank you for all the kind comments.  I will show the bathroom and master bedroom/ hallways soon as I can. I am still putting on the finishing details-  the fun part!

Wall paint:  Behr "River Rock" satin

Closet Door: Behr "Sterling" semi-gloss

Trim: Ben Moore "Super White" semi-gloss

Mirror: Ikea

Closet interiors: Ikea

Glass Door Cupboard: Ikea

Light Fixture: Home Depot (online)

Drapes: Vintage

Drapery Hardware: Canopy from Wal-mart

Doll Town

Check out this new online marketplace for some wonderful handmade dolls!

You can find my dolls for purchase right here.

A Little Spring Crafty Day

I actually cleaned up part of my studio today and so was inspired by the sunshine (even though it's still COLD!) to do a little spring crafting.  I was inspired by some cardboard packaging that came with some new drapery rods I just purchased.  They seemed just too good to throw away-  these little corrugated squares.

If you don't have these and I don't imagine many of you save these sorts of things, look for some inspiration at your local recycling center.  The next time you take apart packaging, think of what you can do to reuse these little gems.  Some of the other materials I used were:

Cheap plastic easter eggs...very available this time of year.

Tear some old book pages into very tiny pieces.  They must be tiny so that they can fit around the curves of the egg.  Use white glue and completely cover your egg with book pieces.  To further embellish, wrap strips of cheese cloth, lace, and torn strips of onasburg cotton.

Cut the centers out of fancy cupcake liners and/or paper lace doilies.  Ruffle up with your fingers and use hot glue to adhere this edging to the top of your cardboard base.  This will create a little "nest" for your egg to rest.  You might want to add a little shredded paper or excelsior for further cushion.

Arrange torn strips of cheesecloth and lace around the base of your egg and fix with hot glue.  Embellish with sweet flowers, buttons or other pretty bits.  Find some spring words in a book and glue to your egg for the final touch.  Enjoy your sweet handmade Eastery spring creation!

Oh yes, It's coming!

Almost There

The painting is done!  The floor sanders are here this morning and hopefully we will be moved into our new master suite by next week.  Here is a peek into the newly painted rooms.  The wallpaper just a distant memory.  The new bath came out lovely and I will show all the details during the big reveal just like on HGTV.

Dressing Room

New master closet which was the most exciting part of this project because if you own an old house you know what the closets usually look like.  We used old doors that were hanging around the attic from previous renovations and had them hung on a track.  I will show the fabulous insides next time.

I had shelves built in this narrow old closet because I find them more useful than poles for hanging clothes.

I used this time waiting for the floor folks to hang drapery hardware.  I wish I didn't have to have any curtains at all..not a big fan, but our house is right on the town square so it's a bit of a fishbowl.

New Linen Closet.

Next time I hope to share the mostly finished rooms in all their glory.