Welcome To My Home

Built-in Shelving?

2012-01-26T15:56:00.001-05:00

Just today I was browsing Apartment Therapy when I came across this post about putting shelving over your door when I was struck with an idea.

Source

What if I were to make built-in shelving on the wall that I currently have my TV on? It could go on that wall, over the door, and down the other side of the doorway.

Unfortunately this is a new idea and I don't have a good picture of that wall at the moment. But here is a sort of angled view of the wall just after my floors were installed.

And here's an awesome mock-up of what it might look like with my TV on the middle.

What do you think?? Should I go for it?

Allison

Guest Post!

2012-01-20T11:19:00.002-05:00

Just a note that today I am guest posting at The Ivy Cottage! Go check it out to see what I've been up to around my condo lately.

Allison

January Punch List

2012-01-10T11:10:00.001-05:00

Here is my room by room punch list. It's still growing.

Throughout whole house:

Replace lightswitches and outlets with new, white ones- Done about 4 of them!
Replace lightswitch covers and outlet covers
~~Have GCI outlets installed in bathroom, kitchen;- scheduled for Dec. 22~~
Purchase and install programmable thermostat
Purchase and install new smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detector

Kitchen

~~Paint Cabinets (in progress)~~
replace counter tops?
~~replace floor- purchased! Installed!~~
~~Decide on color and paint walls~~
~~paint trim~~
~~Install under-cabinet lights~~
Replace Fridge, Dishwasher, Range

Living Room

~~Paint Walls "Wild Aster"~~
Pick out, buy and Install baseboards
Paint Trim
~~Replace carpet with laminate!?? <- Purchased! Waiting to get installed!~~
~~Hang Curtains~~
~~Get new Couch~~
Hang Art, ~~mirrors-~~ Still some work to do here
Hang blinds?

Bedroom

~~Decide on color and paint walls~~
~~Paint trim~~
~~Paint Closet~~
~~Redo Closet system~~
~~Hnng Curtains~~
Hang art, mirrors
Replace carpet

Bathroom

~~Remove shower doors~~
~~Hang shower curtain~~
~~paint vanity~~
~~paint trim~~
~~Replace or Frame mirror~~
~~Remove Wallpaper~~
~~Decide on color and Paint walls~~
Clean grout or regrout?
~~Replace Faucet AND sink!~~

Second Bedroom

~~Decide on color and paint walls~~
Paint trim
~~Redo closet?~~
Replace carpet

Basement

~~Paint paneling white <-!! Details coming!~~
fix water damaged walls (probably a contractor will do this)
replace carpet
Finish basement bathroom (what a nutty set up!)
~~organize and set up sewing area~~
~~replace washer and dryer? Ordered! Delivery Dec. 6th!~~

New Years Eve Dress

2012-01-05T22:08:00.003-05:00

I'm nothing if not a rule breaker, but one rule I won't break is the one that says you must wear sparkily or shiny things on New Years Eve. This year, in order to not break the rule I made a dress for myself out of a lovely bronze-gold stretchy fabric I got at Joanns.

I had a hard time deciding what pattern to use, but ultimately decided on Vogue 8631, a wrap dress. It was a snap to put together.

I'm actually proud to say that now I can basically look over the directions quickly but then I really don't need to refer to them word for word anymore! I used to hang on every word, now I'm doing my own thing. I guess I'm actually becoming more experienced!

I'm quite happy with the outcome, and think the pattern looks much like the picture on the envelope, minus any fitting issues which are my fault. I'm still perfecting fit and don't always want to make a muslin. I maybe paid $4/yard for this fabric so I wasn't too concerned. Plus its so shiny it basically blinds anyone who looks at it. Can't see the flaws anyway!

And now onto the awkward self portraits in the mirror:

This is ultimately how I wore the dress, minus the shoes. Those boots seem to cut my legs off at the worst place possible! I ended up wearing black flats!

The pattern directions say to finish the edges with bias tape. I didn't do that with this non-fraying fabric, but I think it will be a nice touch if this was made with a patterned fabric and contrasting bias tape.

Now, do I fix some fit issues and wear it to work?? I love day sparkle.

Floors are Finished!

2011-12-15T22:40:00.001-05:00

I've never been so happy to come home to plywood floors as I was on Monday. The new flooring process was started on Monday, with ripping up the carpet, working on the creaking (some of the plywood wasn't nailed down at all!), and leveling out the floor as much as possible.

Give it another 24 hours, and it looks like this!!:

Much improved from the lovely buttery yellow carpet I started with!

Next up-- baseboards!

Painting Cabinets

2011-12-04T22:11:00.000-05:00

When I moved into the condo, this is what the kitchen looked like- medium brown cabinets, faux butcher block counters, black appliances and yucky tan linoleum floors.

I decided that one of the first projects I would take up was painting the cabinets and adding knobs and drawer pulls. I'm not quite sure when I started it, because I've been working on so many things and kind of all at once...but this was an early project.

I wanted to paint the cabinets white, so I went to my favorite hardware store and bought some supplies. I could have gone the kit route, but I thought I could do just as good of a job myself. So I bought a gallon of oil based Kilz primer, and a gallon of Valspar's "Dove White" paint. It's nearly just the white straight off the shelf. I just wanted a white white. This has done the job.

In the mean time, I actually decided I would do the vanity in the bathroom first, as it is identical to the kitchen cabinets but smaller and that way if something went terribly wrong I wouldn't have wasted much time. I washed down the cabinets and set out priming. The can of Kilz said that you could re-coat after an hour, I think, but I let it dry for about 24 hours, until the next morning.

I then did coats of the white paint. I did a coat, and gave it several hours to dry, then did another. Once I was satisfied with the coverage I let it dry for about 24 hours, and then added knobs to the cabinet doors.

The kitchen was a much bigger project, taking many more days and hours. At any given point, my kitchen look like this...

...or this...

Starting to see some progress...

And how it looks tonight, all finished!

Before:

After!

Black Friday Purchases

2011-12-02T14:06:00.001-05:00

Black Friday was a great day for my condo-- I purchased laminate flooring for the living room, dinning room, kitchen and hallway, AND a new washer and dryer.

I posted a teaser picture earlier this week of the flooring samples I was considering.

Before I got the samples home, I thought that I would put laminate flooring in the living and dinning rooms, and hallway, and then put a vinyl in the kitchen,

but once I laid them on the floor to compare, I decided there was no reason to not put the laminate in the kitchen. I think the color will look great with the cabinets (unsure about the counters, but those might go anway)

Unfortunately for me, the store didn't have enough of the product I picked in stock, so they had to order it, and what do you know but this flooring is back ordered. Luckily this seems to be a pretty nimble industry, as my scheduled delivery date is next Friday. (When I heard back ordered on the phone, I thought weeks/months, not 7 more days!)

So my new floors should be in and all pretty in about 2 weeks!

In addition, I also bought myself a new washing machine and dryer!

My current washer and dryer came with the condo and are older than I am. The washer is a paltry 1.75 cubic feet (standard now is more like 3.4-3.5) and the dryer is extremely inefficient.

I had to be cognizant of my budget, and thus decided to go with the Admiral brand washer and dryer from Home Depot. On black Friday they were $249 each, so I got the set for just over $500 including hoses/cords and tax.

I am super excited to not have to tiny loads--twice as many as usual--and to not have to run my dryer twice to get a load of clothes dry!

Allison

December Punch List

2011-12-02T13:52:00.001-05:00

Here is my room by room punch list. It's still growing.

Throughout whole house:

Replace lightswitches and outlets with new, white ones <- Done about 4 of them!
Replace lightswitch covers and outlet covers
Have GCI outlets installed in bathroom, kitchen<- scheduled for Dec. 22

Kitchen

~~Paint Cabinets (in progress)~~
replace counter tops?
replace floor<- purchased! Waiting to get installed
~~Decide on color and paint walls~~
~~paint trim~~
~~Install under-cabinet lights~~
Replace Fridge, Dishwasher, Range

Living Room

~~Paint Walls "Wild Aster"~~
Paint Trim
Replace carpet with laminate!?? <- Purchased! Waiting to get installed!
~~Hang Curtains~~
~~Get new Couch~~
Hang Art, ~~mirrors~~ <- Still some work to do here
~~Hang curtains~~
Hang blinds?

Bedroom

~~Decide on color and paint walls~~
~~Paint trim~~
~~Paint Closet~~
~~Redo Closet system~~
~~Hnng Curtains~~
Hang art, mirrors

Bathroom

~~Remove shower doors~~
~~Hang shower curtain~~
~~paint vanity~~
~~paint trim~~
~~Replace or Frame mirror~~
~~Remove Wallpaper~~
~~Decide on color and Paint walls~~
Clean grout or regrout?
~~Replace Faucet~~ AND sink!

Second Bedroom

Decide on color and paint walls
Paint trim
Redo closet?

Basement

~~Paint paneling white~~ <-!! Details coming!
fix water damaged walls (probably a contractor will do this)
replace carpet
Finish basement bathroom (what a nutty set up!)
~~organize and set up sewing area~~
~~replace washer and dryer?~~ <- Ordered! Delivery Dec. 6th!

Coming soon...

2011-11-28T12:57:00.001-05:00

Bathroom Sink and Faucet

2011-11-27T21:36:00.001-05:00

One thing I didn't touch in my recent bathroom overhaul was the sink and faucet. I tackled that this weekend!

Above is my sink before. The faucet is one of those lovelies with plastic round knobs. It also is a bright shiny silver (or it was when it was new) and I wanted a satin nickel faucet that would match the knobs on the vanity.

This really is a saga. I first purchased an American Standard faucet at Home Depot, which Mike wasn't a huge fan of from the start, but we decided to try it. It was relatively easy to pull off the old faucet and set the new one in place, but then came the tough part--putting in the new drain.

The silver part of the drain that rests in the sink is supposed to twist off "easily" according to instructions and videos we watched online, but in this case, the pipes were so corroded that that wasn't possible. After many rounds of trying to unscrew it, we ended up using a hack saw to cut the pipe. We finally got the drain out! We're almost done! so we thought.

We installed the new drain, gave each other high fives, and then turned on the faucet to see how it worked. And oh, it leaked. We tried tightening everything that could be, applied some more teflon tape, etc, but to no avail.

It looked pretty at least?

Lastly, we noticed that the hole in the sink that the drain went in was so corroded that there was no way we could get a tight seal--in other words, it was always going to leak. The sink had to be replaced.

The dirty details

So then I had this:

Early Sunday morning we made a trip to the Habitat for Humanity Restore to see if they had a suitable replacement sink, and we were in luck! Not only did they have several that were the right size (in many colors! Mike vetoed the pink one), they were all in great shape.

After the ReStore we headed back to Home Depot (I always say its not a project unless it involves at least 2 trips to a hardware store) to exchange the leaky faucet. I ended up getting a Moen facet that is rather similar to the previous faucet.

The new sink has no corrosion! And its poreclain, not cast iron, so it shouldn't rust quickly. We easily put her in place, and now my bathroom looks GREAT! Next up...replacing the light fixture?

Before:

After:

Linking to:

Bathroom Bathroom

2011-11-17T12:28:00.001-05:00

The bathroom has to be one of my favorite rooms in my condo. Let me explain. It [was] wallpapered, and the previous were very serious about their wallpaper. The light switch plate was wallpapered to match, as was the SCALE.

See, I'm not joking. Unfortunately they did not leave the scale for me (I took this picture during a walk through)

Here's a view of most of the bathroom and I inherited it- the same cabinets as the kitchen, the ugly brown counter, the wild west salon doors on the window...

The shower doors...

I think my third day in the condo involved ripping out those shower doors. It was easy, really. It was held to the wall with 3 screws on each wall and some glue. Once I removed the screws, the doors came off really easily, and then I just had to pry off the tracks. Then I just had to remove the icky leftovers.

I started using "professional strength goof off", which worked OK, but then I pulled out the big guns-

Motsenbocker's Lift Off- Caulk-Silicone Foam Sealant Remover. This stuff worked like a charm.You put some on the offending ook, let it sit for a minute and then scrape it off using your favorite scraping tool. Shortly the bathtub edge was clean.

The next thing I did was pull down all the wall paper, and luckily for me it came down really easily. I also got wild and pulled down the mirror that went across the whole wall!

I thought it would look much better with a smaller mirror centered over the sink, like this one (borrowed from my living room)

I painted the walls with the same paint that I used in my previous apartment- Martha Stewart from Home Depot "precious metals" collection "Bone" paint color matched in semigloss latex. I really still love the color, and I love that it looks slightly different in this room.
I then actually got another mirror almost identical to the test one, at Walmart for just under $30. It wasn't the color I wanted, but that didn't stop me as I knew a little spray paint could fix that.

See the shower curtain!

Below you can see I removed the "wild west salon doors" in favor of a mini blind. Much more my style!

Next up- what to do with this empty space on the wall? Some sort of storage I think, but I can't decide if I'd like open shelves or a cabinet.

Linking to:

Coffee Tables

2011-11-15T22:04:00.001-05:00

One of my neighbors recently offered me a retro coffee table she had in her basement. Like the true hoarder I am, I couldn't resist, even though I had a coffee table already.

Now I am totally torn about what to do. I am slightly attached to this light blue, $20 coffee table from Ikea (was black, I painted it)

but I also LOVE this 1960s Mersman coffee table.

Which one should I keep?

Kitchen Progress

2011-11-14T09:54:00.001-05:00

I'm kind of torn about whether to show progress pictures or wait until its all done, but here they are.

One of the first projects I dove into upon moving in is painting the kitchen cabinets.

The cabinets were actually wood, but they were a medium brown that really didn't look great with the faux-butcher block counter tops.

I immediately knew I would be painting the cabinets white and adding some brushed nickel knobs and drawer pulls. So I was super anxious to start that project once I moved in.

I don't have a lot of "process" pictures, but here's what I did:

- washed the cabinets down really well with lysol or something similar

- did a light sanding

- used Kilz oil based primer-- for most places I just did one coat, but where stains bled thru I did a second

- Then I brushed on a coat of Valspar paint called "Dove White". I didn't have a strong opinion about which white color I used, and I liked how this looked on the swatch so I just went for it. No planning.

-After the first coat I did another light sanding. Maybe a little heavier in places where there were imperfections or drips.

- Brushed on a second coat of Dove White.

- Let the doors dry for a couple days

- drilled holes and added knobs

At the same time, I was taking care of the hinges. I decided it wasn't in my budget to buy all new hinges, but the ones I had needed some work. They were like a dirty bronze color. I took them all down and gave them a scrub, then I spray painted them with Krylon's Satin Nickel spray paint. It took about thin two coats on each side to get them looking great! (Anyone else a Young House Love fan? Every time I started spraying I heard " If you’re a-sprayin’ your arm better be a-swayin" but its good advice!)

I started with the top cabinets ...because I wanted to.

BAM!

You can see the swatches behind the sink. I had the darnest time picking a color. At first I thought I would use Wild Aster, as I did in the living/dining areas, but after painting just a small portion (as seen on the wall behind the coffee maker) that color just wasn't doing it for me in this space. Next I thought maybe yellow, and picked up two samples from Lowes- I can't remember there names but one was a light yellow and the other a light greenish-yellow. Too pale.

Next I got a little more crazy and picked up the two samples at the other end of the paint chip from the first two yellow colors, which you can see in this picture.

Neither color was what I wanted. Both are too...yucky. So then I pulled out the samples I had used in my bedroom, and low and behold, I liked one! And even better, it happened to be the one I used in my bedroom! (The grey on the bottom right) So I went with that. The color looks totally different In the kitchen, I think.

In the midst of all this painting, I also installed some under-cabinet lights. So here is my final "progress" picture of the kitchen, walls painted, most cabinet doors installed, and some drawer hardware showing plus the under cabinet lights....

Other lights off

Other lights on- ignore the mess!!

Before:

After:

Can you believe that is the same kitchen? I am super, super excited about how good it is looking! And it will look even better when I get pictures with the remaining doors installed and get the mop out of sight!

Linking to:

Closet Crazy

2011-11-09T11:20:00.000-05:00

What happens when you have leftover closet organizer pieces, and a poorly designed hall closet?

Another closet redo!

My hall closet had that same crazy backwards hanging system, and just one shelf about 2/3rds of the wall up the wall--which seems like a waste of space. I would have loved to put in rows and rows of shelving, but I do actually need a little bit of hanging space for my coats and those of any guests I have over.

I decided to do half and half. One side would be a hanging bar and the other would be shelves.

I followed a similar process to my bedroom closet- I cleaned out the closet and this was what was left. This closet is over the stairs that lead to the basement, which is why the floor is strange, I think. Even with the sloping floor, my long coats hang freely so it's fine.

I again ripped out that strange shelf and put a coat of paint on the walls and the bottom (its yellow in the picture above). I gave it a few hours to dry, and then I had this:

That bottom portion still looks kind of yellow, but it is definitely much better. Looks much cleaner for sure!

I then set out hanging the closet system. I did have to buy a new horizontal rail for this, and also a 2-foot hanging rod, but I had all the shelving and vertical rails left over from my first closet. So in all, I spent about $20 more to finish up this closet. That brings the total to about $150 for the two closets--or $75 each. But, I STILL have other pieces left over that I can use in another closet--the second bedroom perhaps.

Putting in the railing system is quite easy. Find how high you want it (ClosetMaid recommends 84 inches, I think), find the studs or use anchors, and secure it about every foot. Then you hang the vertical rods on the horizontal one, and screw those in the same way.

You cant really see the vertical rod on the left, but its there I promise. Also, since I knew I was only going to put a hanging rod on the right side, I didn't use a full length vertical rail. I can always add an extension to the right side if necessary.

Now comes the fun part-- putting in the actual shelves and rods! I put a shelf across the whole top of the closet, and then another 3 shelves down the left side.(the hanging rod overlaps about 2 inches because my closet is just under 4 feet wide- really, like 3 feet 10 inches, but I think this will work out fine.)

Next I loaded the closet up with the things that were in it previously, plus some more. I decided I would keep my cleaning supplies (that aren't kitchen-specific) in here, because its a centrally located closet. I also have my winter coat collection and some spare hangers for guests, plus my hats/mittens/scarves for winter.

The shelves are really almost too short, so I may adjust them down one slot later. That way my spray bottles will fit easily. One thing I learned by putting all my cleaning supplies in the same place is that I have an awful lot of redundant supplies! I guess I won't need to buy anything new for a while now.

These new and improved closets are just making my day. Every time I open them I get happy. I could not be happier with this system! It's so easy to put in and rather inexpensive, but still attractive enough.

Have you ever redone a closet like this? Am I the only one who is closet crazy?

Punch List, November 6th

2011-11-06T22:47:00.001-05:00

House Punch List, November 6th:

Here is my room-by-room list of things to do as of today...I think this list will probably grow before it gets any shorter!

Throughout whole house:

Replace lightswitches and outlets with new, white ones
Replace lightswitch covers and outlet covers

Kitchen

Paint Cabinets (in progress)
replace counter tops?
replace floor
Decide on color and paint walls
paint trim
Install under-cabinet lights
Replace Fridge, Dishwasher, Range

Living Room

~~Paint Walls "Wild Aster"~~
Paint Trim
Replace carpet with laminate!??
Hang Curtains
~~Get new Couch~~
Hang Art, mirrors
~~Hang curtains~~
Hang blinds?

Bedroom

~~Decide on color and paint walls~~
Paint trim
~~Paint Closet~~
~~Redo Closet system~~
~~Hnng Curtains~~
Hang art, mirrors

Bathroom

~~Remove shower doors~~
~~Hang shower curtain~~
~~paint vanity~~
~~paint trim~~
Replace or Frame mirror
Remove Wallpaper
Decide on color and Paint walls
Clean grout or regrout?

Second Bedroom

Decide on color and paint walls
Paint trim
Redo closet?

Basement

Paint paneling white
fix water damaged walls (probably a contractor will do this)
replace carpet
Finish basement bathroom (what a nutty set up!)
organize and set up sewing area
replace washer and dryer?

Closet of my Dreams

2011-11-06T22:20:00.002-05:00

One of the tasks on the top of my to-do list was my closet. My closet had this funny little contraption for hanging clothes that required that you hang your hangers backwards. This was really aggravating to my type-a personality.

Who invented this travesty??

So I did a little research (aka looking around Lowes/Home Depot) and decided I wanted to build a "custom" closet- with double rods and shelving and rainbows!
I decided upon this kit by Rubbermaid, sold at Lowes:

Source

I liked that it gave me the option of having double rods, shelving and full length hanging space!

I didn't take tons of pictures, but I started with emptying my closet onto my bed, and then taking out the existing shelf. It came out after about 2 minutes and very little effort. Then I discovered my closet actually had a light! The string for the light had been hiding, I guess, so I hadn't ever seen it. So check that off my to-do list!

The inside of my closet was due for a paint job. I pulled out some leftover white paint I had from repainting my old apartment (standard apartment white, nothing too fancy) and gave it a coat. I didn't bother giving it a second coat-- the first covered pretty well and I didn't think anyone would spend time judging the paint job in the closet. I did something else for a couple hours to let it dry--probably something I'll be blogging about soon--and then set out to put up this system.

I was a little scared by the weight of the box and the general complexity of the system that I might have trouble doing this myself, but really, it was a breeze. Within maybe 2 hours (not including a trip in the middle to the hardware store for drywall anchors) I had an awesome new closet of my dreams!

Wouldn't this look better if the clothes were arranged by color?? Ahh type-A

The closet is basically divided into thirds. There is a rod across the top of the whole closet. The first third of the closet on the left has a second rod in the middle, the second third has a shelf in the middle, and the last third just has the top rod. This allows me to maximize my hanging space for tops, skirts/pants and dresses. I'm using the shelf in the middle for my jeans. I'm going to have to get some pretty boxes for my purses and scarves so it looks more like the picture above.

I have many pieces of the system left--I will either add in some more shelves in the middle or perhaps use them in another closet. Lowes sells many components of this system individually, so I can buy just the pieces I need to customize any closet I want. I'm thinking maybe my hall closet will get some shelving shortly.

Perhaps you can see in these pictures that I have also been busy painting other areas of the condo, like bedroom walls. Details shortly!

Allison

The New Digs

2011-11-02T14:24:00.002-04:00

Well, I have been fully moved into my new place for a full 6 days now! The amount of work I have ahead of me to get this place in the shape I want it is just beginning to settle in. I have already done a fair amount of painting, cleaning and updating, but there's still a lot to go.

A lovely mess!

For starters, I painted the dining room/living room and hallway. I used Benjamin Moore's Wild Aster, matched to Valspar paint at Lowes. I also painted the trim in the hallway (so far) using valspar's off-the-shelf white.

In addition, I've replaced all the light switch and outlet covers. I'm planning to replace some of the outlets themselves, as the current ones are both that ugly bisque color and are rather dirty.

Mess from another angle

I have already had some excitement- you may notice in that first picture the carpet is pulled back. Well, we walked into the condo just an hour before closing, final walk thru time, and there is standing water in the kitchen. In addition, there is a huge puddle below in the basement. Turns out there was a broken nut where the hot water supply is connected to the faucet, causing the flood. We had to scramble to come to an agreement about how clean up and repair will be handled in time to close, as I was NOT delaying closing.
In the end, there was a plumber there THAT afternoon and a cleanup crew (complete with fans and dehumidifyers) the next day. An insurance adjuster came out on Saturday, and at this point I am waiting for word from the insurance company about what they will pay to repair.

Basement before

Basement after!

In the end, it sounds like I will at least get a new kitchen floor and new paneling in the basement. You see, some of the paneling in the basement was wet and had warped, so it was ripped out. But paneling is not standard- there are different colors/kinds (who knew?) so matching 30 year old paneling could prove hard. Thus, insurance will pay to replace ALL of the paneling.

Later this week I'll post more details about other improvements I have made--including my very own new Karlstad couch from Ikea!

First Habitat for Humanity Project

2011-10-31T22:16:00.001-04:00

I spent a couple hours at the Restore over the weekend working on my first project! I picked this ugly worn looking little card table that they said they have had forever, and despite being marked just $10, no one had even given it a second look.

A Way before or two:

After a coat of primer:

Below is the fabric I intend to recover the top with, and the table and chairs with a coat of white paint.

Imaging what how the chairs will look if/when I reupholster them (Having trouble getting the dang seats off the chairs!)

Not bad for my first go. I'm excited to get back there later this week or over the weekend and finish up!

Allison

Completed sewing projects

2011-10-23T10:25:00.001-04:00

I've been bad about getting my sewing projects photographed and shared on the blog..so here are several projects I have done recently, modeled by Gertude, my dress form.

The first is Butterick 5649, made with a fuschia corduroy.

This was the first project I made with button holes, and I'm only kind of happy with how it turned out. Between the top and second down button hole the fabric doesn't lay flat for some reason--probably the button location compared to the button hole is the problem. Regardless, I found this pattern easy and am happy with the result. I keep thinking maybe I will make this in other fabrics, but I have yet to do so.

I used the button hole maker that comes with my machine and I am really impressed with it so far.

The next project was an unplanned one, New Look 6082.

I was looking for a pencil/straight skirt that had a wide waist band. This skirt is unfortunately only one of those two criteria- it has a wide waist band, but it is definitely more A-line than straight or pencil. In addition, its pretty short. Kind of sad because with this skirt I tried my hand at lining things that aren't lined in the pattern. I think it came out rather well.
However, I wore this guy to work once and then removed the zipper and put it in the dud pile. I still am on the hunt for a pencil skirt with a wide waste band, and once I find it, I will make a new royal blue skirt!

The next dress is a hot mess, and McCalls 5927.

I think the problem is just me working too fast because I'm excited to get it done. I need to take this baby apart and make it look right. You can see all the puckering on the front waist line below, and the creasing along the back zipper.

I really like this fabric, I'm planning to buy more (and maybe the blue version) to hold just in case I can't get this dress to look nice.

Below we have Butterick 5455.

The details are hard to see given my photography and the pattern of the fabric, but I LOVE, love love this dress and pattern. I am planning to make a black version (A girl can never have too much black, right?) in the near future. I think this dress is a great opportunity to add some bling around the neckline for the holiday party season.

The fabric is a cotton sateen that I found on Joann's clearance table during a 50% off sale. I think I paid something like $2.50 a yard for this fabric. I had never seen it there before, but I really like it and was psyched to score it for such a reasonable price.

So that's all I've got for you today, although I definitely have more pictures to take. I'm learning the value of making a muslin before trying a pattern "for real", and can really see how it makes a difference in the fit of the garment, the time it takes to make it, and the general quality of the finished piece.

However, I definitely think I am still a beginner and I'm not going to let some dud garments get me down!

Allison

New Partnership with Habitat for Humanity!

2011-10-19T10:53:00.000-04:00

I have such an exciting announcement today!

Recently I approached the Habitat for Humanity Restore about volunteering to do some furniture rehab- painting, reupholstering, just like what I do myself at home. Needless to say they LOVE the idea, and this morning I went to visit the store and their offices for a tour and to meet some people.

They have a space for me in the warehouse where I can work, and tons and tons of tools and supplies already in the store that I can use freely. I can basically pick any piece they have in their warehouse to work on, and I have total creative control! I am so excited!

The idea is that I volunteer a few hours and they provide me with a small amount of supplies (paint, sand paper, etc--much of which they already have in-store) and I turn their furniture that no one is going to buy into something they will buy!

In addition, they are allowing me to blog about it on here, and are going to feature my projects in their newsletter. I am going to be having some business cards made up (probably tonight!) which will be included on each piece I work on and up at the register.

I don't have pictures YET, but I have already picked a table and two chairs as my first project, and plan to start on Saturday!

Except an update Saturday!

Allison

Versatile Blogger Award

2011-10-18T14:16:00.001-04:00

The lovely (and versatile) blogger Iris from Bring Your Own Vegetables has awarded me with the "Versatile Blog Award"

Apparently as I result I get to talk about myself. So without further ado, here are some things about me:

I'm actually a nerd in real life. I have a Master's degree in biostatistics and currently work in health care consulting, formerly worked in molecular genetics/bioinformatics researching kidney disease.
...But I would love to blog, paint and sew full time. I'm currently working on setting up an etsy shop with some of the things I have sewn.
In college I helped write high school math textbooks. My name might be in your child's math textbook!
A lot of my DIY-ness comes from my mother. Growing up we did lots of work on our house ourselves- which is how I learned to patch drywall, paint, remove wallpaper and paint some more. Also how I learned to use a drill and saw. My mother thought it was important that I knew how to do those things as a woman ("so I don't have to rely on men", ok Mom)
My father helps to manage a hardware store, my uncle is a plumber, grandfather is an electrician, and my step father is a former flooring installer, current general contractor. These things are in my genes!
My mom will probably never get over the fact that I can't knit. I can sew, I can make beaded necklaces, but I just cannot make knitting/crocheting work for me.
I love shopping. My family jokes that my first words were "on sale?"
I'm in the process of buying a condo and its just pointing out how really inpatient I am. I've been waiting for 48 hours for a response from the sellers. 48 HOURS!? They're trying to break me! I just want to move now!! (Scheduled closing date- Oct. 24th)

I'm not sure who to pass this along to, so I pass it along to everyone who reads my blog and writes there own!

Packing...

2011-10-12T10:03:00.000-04:00

The hardest thing about packing for my impending move is that I don't really know when I will be able to move. At the earliest, it will be October 21st- which is just 10 days, but it could be later than that with no limit. Patience is not something I have lots of, and this waiting game is just killing me. Particularly because I have no control over it.

In the mean time I'm trying to pack a box or two a day while keeping it relatively normal so I can still live (read: distract myself) until I actually move. This basically means I haven't packed my sewing supplies, although I have packed a lot of other creative supplies that I like to use. I've also packed books, taken things off the wall and patched holes, and oh yea....repainted every room I had painted here.

Bye Bye grey bedroom

Bye Bye Horizontal Stripes in the bathroom

And bye to something I don't think I have even gotten around to sharing- the pink kitchen. Apparently I don't even have any pictures of it! Just imagine the walls between my cabinets and counters painted "wild aster" by Benjamin Moore (had it color matched in Valspar). This project was a super-quick stress reliever that only took 1 tester to do two coats!

If you have bought a house, how did you handle yourself during this waiting period? Any advice for me about that or packing??

Thanks!

Allison

Sewing Studio

2011-10-09T13:23:00.004-04:00

In about two weeks, I am moving into a new condo that has a 600 sqft finished basement! I intend to use the basement as my sewing/craft/hobby area, but I need advice on how to furnish it.

I am currently using my dinning room table for cutting, which is not good for my back. I know that the table I cut on needs to be higher than a normal table, but how high? My inclination is that it needs to be "counter height"- but is that right?

And in terms of size- I'd want it to be large enough so that I can cut large pieces of fabric easily. So I'm thinking maybe 2 yards long by 1 yard wide, at least. Maybe a square is best- 2 yards x 2 yards?

I have a couple ideas about how to achieve this.

The first is to buy a table top and legs from Ikea.

I could use cubby bookcases like the Expedit, or any of their other options, given they are tall enough. I'm rather

Source

The problem with this plan is I'd be restricted by the size of table top available.

The second option would be to use Ana White's "Knock off Wood" Plans for the table pictured above. This might be optimal because I can fully customize the size of the table.

Besides a cutting table, what else do I need in a sewing studio? I'm particularly interested in ways to store fabric, both to keep it visible and to keep it neat. I would love to try some sort of hanging system. Has anyone ever seen this kind of system?

I'd love advice! How do I set up a dream sewing room?

Road Bench

2011-09-29T09:53:00.001-04:00

First, thanks to everyone who chimed in with ideas about what to do with the canning on this bench. I've finished the bench now!

Here's a reminder of what I started with:

I thought about using some grey fabric I have, but then I saw this piece of bright pinkish-orange fabric in my stash.

I got this fabric at Joann's, probably about a year ago. It was part of their dwell studio line in their 45" home decor fabrics. I think I probably got this for $6/yard.

I removed the old fabric (so gross, you don't want to see) and the accompanying 6000000 staples.I then did my best to totally remove the canning. I painted the frame white, and then started reupholstering.

I was sort of surprised how quickly this came together!

Even Ellie likes it!

(Ignore that small strip of brown. It has been painted now but I haven't had time to get new pics!)

A New House?

2011-09-25T23:12:00.000-04:00

I have been relatively quiet lately, but there is a good reason for that. I have been in the process of buying a condo! I've been hesitant to share because I don't want to jinx the deal, but now that I'm under contract and things are rolling it feels ok.

To start, the condo is 820 square feet "above grade", and an additional 600 squarefeet in the FINISHED basement. It has two bedrooms and 1.5 baths.

The living spaces get great light, which is a change from where I live now, and the finished basement would make an awesome space for sewing and refinishing furniture.

The condo is in really great shape, I think (hopefully the inspection on Tuesday will confirm this), but it is outdated. It's currently a very groovy, matchy matchy condo.

I plan to replace the carpet before I even move in (er, you know, pending the discovery of what's under the carpets....) and probably shortly replace the counters and paint the cabinets. A place all of my own?? I can paint whatever I want? Garden space?? AWESOME!

Here are a couple pics of the place I've taken. Don't want to give it all away yet!