dwelling on a dime

Chalkboard visitor's book

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie@dwellingonadime) — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 04:16:00 +0000

Long time no blog. That's what having a job does to me. Sucks out my creative energy.

Weekends have become a time to do nothing as oppose to do nice things around the house. This must and will change. In anticipation of a new phase of creativity, I'm sharing our chalkboard visitor's book.

The thing is, proper visitor books are nice, really nice. But we don't have a villa in the south of France, we don't have a quaint seaside cottage in Cornwall. We have a comfortable apartment in Santa Monica, which is enough to persuade friends and family to come visit. Which is Awesome.

I printed pics we had of when people had visted and pinned them up next to their messages. I also had a bunch of pictures on my phone which i hadn't got round to printing yet - these are some of my Santa Monica faves.

And that's it. Chalk board, messages and photos = our chalkboard visitors book. Love.

"$40" dresser makeover

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie@dwellingonadime) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 04:58:00 +0000

I guess if, like me, you like to buy furniture from thrift stores you probably already know how big your car is, you know, so you don't buy anything that won't fit....

I evidently didn't when I bought this guy;

It was taller than we ideally wanted but it was priced at $40 which was far cheaper than anything else I'd seen so I bought it but as I was on my bike I arranged to come back at the weekend with the car and husband to pick it up.

So the following Saturday we came back to get it. It didn't fit in the car. We tried every possible way for 20 minutes. I felt like such an idiot!

So faced with either donating it back to the shop for free (no returns obv) and losing $40 or hiring $19 van from the Uhaul across the street to get it home, we opted for hiring a van. $19 seemed like a good deal.

$19 is a LIE is what it is! It may be the starting price but with tax, insurance, per mile fees etc etc. It ended up costing us $35 to get a van and drive the massive 3 mile round trip to our flat and back. So, $75 down and half of our Saturday wasted messing about with U-haul, I started to really felt like an idiot.

Anyway, once it was home, I started to forgot all of that and I think it was just about worth it in the end - it now looks like this;

It has 2 coats of Founding Father from dutch boy and then I lightly distressed the edges and details. I then finished it with a clear Behr faux glaze with a regular black craft paint mixed in it (3ish parts to one) applied with a cloth (inspired by lovely makeovers like this). I didn't change the hardware, just sprayed it with Krylon oil robbed bronze spraypaint.

It was my first time using glaze and I love that it breaks up the solid colour and gives it more texture. I just did one coat though as I think it may just start to look dirty with any more- its a fine line between well-used and well-grubby!

I may go back and use it on this project too.

PS don't my fabric covered corkboards look nice above the desk? Remnant fabric too. SCORE.

sophie

Have sewing machine, will sew.

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie@dwellingonadime) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 21:59:00 +0000

I've been going a little cushion crazy this week - I made a foam one with piping for a bench, and another for a rocking chair and a matching toss pillow to go with this one.

We bought this storage bench a while ago from Craig's list for our hallway

and also this rocking chair from a charity shop for one of the bedrooms

and ever since, they've both been needing seat cushions.

The bench was evidently smaller than the average bench as the only ones I could find to fit were for kids toy chests with yacky material and a steep prince tag ... Then I found this amazing tutorial from Pretty Handy Girl via CSI project for a piped bench cushion so I went about making one instead.

The tutorial is really clear and detailed so I'm not going to repeat it step by step but here are the main steps and materials:

2" foam to fit
Carving knife
Batting to cover foam twice
Fabric
Piping (about 6 yards in all)
Sewing machine
Pins

I cut the foam to size using a bread knife - I've read that an electric carving knife is good for this too but I don't have one of these. I found that just pulling the knife backwards rather than in a sawing motion helped make a much cleaner cut. I then wrapped the batting around to cover each side twice and secure with tape temporarily to stop it from unrolling whilst making the cushion.

The I cut all 7 pieces of fabric (6 sides and an extra piece for the back flap) with around 1.5" excess for hemming and placed over the cushion and pinned

Then ironed and sewed along the lines to make a guide to follow for the piping

I actually found the piping rather difficult to deal with - it had a tiny hem of 1/4 inch so not much to grab hold of and too small to both pin and machine sew so I just had to hold it in place which made for a wonky seam in places.

The back is an envelope fastening so there are two pieces that overlap - one sewn to top and sides and one to the bottom only. This is secured with velcro so the cushion cover can be changed.

And that is that. I'm a beginner sewer so I found this challenging but very doable.

I'm contemplating stenciling the fabric to make it a bit less ...well beige...will keep you posted

and since I'd now got the hang of it, I then made a smaller one for the rocking chair with gorgeous but cheapo remnant fabric. Same basic method but I added rounded edges for the back corners and little tie tassles at the back too

Then I was really on a roll. I had some leftover fabric from making this union jack cushion so did a quickie stars and stripes one to match...

Sophie

goodwill sweater pillow

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie@dwellingonadime) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 22:26:00 +0000

I feel like I've seen tons of sweater pillows on Pinterest but I think it may actually just be the same few pics that have been repinned over and over! Anyway, when I saw these 2 bad boys in Goodwill at half off I grabbed them quick.

The small one is Ralph Loren no less, not too shabby eh? Almost too good to cut up. Alas it's a kid's size 8-10 and since I don't have any kids and it pretty much fitted a 12x16 pillow straight off, I decided to make it into a pillow cover after all.

I turned it inside out, snipped off the arms and sewed from the arm seam straight down on each side and across the neck (as per the black lines on pic), leaving the bottom open.

There wasn't enough body left to make a fold over enveloped style flap so I got 3 large buttons and used the piping from the sleeves to make loops for the buttons - looks a little scruffy on the inside but fine on the outside - maybe I can get away with calling it 'rustic'

Buttons on, pillow in, finished. I like how you can still see the neckline! No mistaking this was previously a jumper!

Sophie

homemade crimbo decorations

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie@dwellingonadime) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 05:52:00 +0000

I've been crafting this afternoon....turning this little lot

...into this:

Clear baubles from Michaels - filled with strips of left over paper music and animal print paper from this project

Old sauce and jam jars spraypainted with a snowflake stencil and looking glass/ silver/white spraypaint plus a wire handle to make make candle holders/latterns

and wooden letters modpodged with the same music paper

Just need a tree now....

Sophie

union jack cushion

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie@dwellingonadime) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 04:54:00 +0000

Looky looky....

I just turned these....

...into this:

Isn't it loverly jubberly? My dad has suggested I may be a little homesick.... He's probably right...ah well

I'd been lusting after a nice vintage-y union jack cushion like this or this for a while but couldn't really justify the £80 price tag. Here's how I did it.

Materials I used:

2 thrift store tops and some left over fabric from these chairs
Old pillow case
Fabric glue
Sewing machine
Cereal box
Pencil
Ruler
12x16 pillow

I took the old pillow case and cut down the long edges and along the bottom so I had one complete side. I slotted the pillow and pinned an envelope shape wrong side out.

I removed the pillow and ironed the creases so I knew the area I had to work with.

Next I made a template for the flag - I was tempted to do it all by sight but realised that could have gone seriously wrong so played it safe. I used a cereal box because I didn't have any other card to hand (good old Cheerios).

I made the strips first - the "+" one was upholstery fabric and quite thick so I ironed and sewed a seam on it so it was easier to work with.

The "x" was from the shirt - it had a handy horizontal stripe across the chest (why i chose it in the first place ...) so this was easy enough to cut straight - I didn't bother doing a seam on this one.

I also made a separate template for cutting the 8 triangular pieces from the cotton blouse.

Then I layered pieces making sure there was clear space between for the base fabric to come through.

I then sewed the "+" onto the pillow case, glued the "x" and the triangular pieces.

When dry, I turned it inside out and finally sewed along the crease line I had made earlier and cut away any excess material from the glued pieces. This ensured when I turned it back right way and all the edges were nice and clean.

Finished. I love it.

So does Archie....

Sophie

fabulous fabric

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie@dwellingonadime) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 18:57:00 +0000

My mum came to stay with us a couple of weeks ago all the way from Manchester (UK). It was so brilliant to see her and spend time just hanging out. She came bearing gifts - this beautiful quilt she made for us. I really really love it and it must have taken her ages. How lucky am I?

I love the bright colours against our plain neutral sofas. We spent a lot of time whilst she was here at various fabric stores like Jo-ann's - evidently fabric is much better value in the US so mum stocked up on pieces for upcoming projects.

Unlike my mum however, I am pretty much a sewing novice. To date, my projects had been limited to wood and repainting and a touch of reupholstering - I haven't sewn anything from scratch yet. But at least I'm one step closer - I now own a sewing machine, gulp.

It's a very basic model which is perfect for me and the too long curtains in the bedroom have now finally been properly hemmed and look far neater than my previous hand stitch *pats myself on back*

I want to make covers for some sofa toss pillows and I've pinned a whole load of fabrics I love on pinterest but there are too many, how do I choose?!!

the $12 console table and that ooooops paint

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie@dwellingonadime) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 18:55:00 +0000

So I found a nice little project to use that bargain ooops paint on - a bargain console table in salvation army for $12.50.

The lid is hinged and lifts open and has storage but we're just going to use it as a table in our bedroom I think (currently zero furniture other than our bed and nightstands).

The lid was marked so I power sanded that and then sanded the legs by hand. A couple of coats of primer, 2 coats of the semi-gloss ooooops paint and some pure white inside and it was done. SO good to have a simple project to do, especially after those chairs - I was done in a afternoon practically. YEY.

I like the thin rim of white showing around the lid - what do you think?

the $15 chairs and a helluva lot of elbow grease

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie@dwellingonadime) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 00:23:00 +0000

So, remember these chairs?

I had been looking for a pair of nicely shaped chairs to do an easy update on. I was worried the ones I'd ended up finding were actually going to be a bit more work than a simple re-paint and re-cover

Well... I was right, they were.

First of all I removed the seats and put to one side. I had to sand off all that thick black paint on the frames by hand - my electric sander was too unwieldy to deal with the curves. I went through all my sandpaper so I went and bought some more.... and then I went through all of that. There were so may globs of thick black paint it was so gross. I swear the previous owner must have just poured paint on them.

Then I had to address the broken back. There was glue residue so someone had tried to fix them before and not very well so I sanded it all back to get two smooth edges and spread a little wood glue on them and wrapped in blue tape to hold in place over night whilst it was drying. Then I removed the tape, filled in the remaining gaps with wood filler, again left it over night and sanded off the excess in the morning, ready for painting.

It took 3 coats of primer and sanding between each layer to cover the colour and get the right base for the paint. I went with a creamy colour - Behr's Stable Hay in a semi gloss, 2 coats. lovely.

So then I thought the seats were going to be the easy bit - Just undo the staples and re-cover with my lovely new material (a red/beige Waverly print from Joann's).

Not so.

There were about 200 staples in EACH chair and 3 layers of material. I even roped my poor mum in to help when she was over visiting.

So the foam and batting was moldy and needed throwing out. One chair had an MDF base that was bent and the other had a wood base that must have been from another chair because it didn't actually fit the frame! It dawned on me I would have to replace all of the seat, sigh. I guess you just don't find out this stuff until you peel it all back.

Anyway, I bought some 1/2' thick plywood and a saw (yep I now own a saw!). I used the bent MDF seat as a template and marked out where I needed to cut and got sawing. It was actually pretty easy once i got going. I did the second and then just sanded off the rough edges to get it nice and smooth.

I bought 2' foam and some batting from jo-anns and cut to size. 2' foam is pretty tall for a seat but that's what I wanted. I pulled the batting as tight as possible to try and round out the square edges and stapled. Once they were covered I positioned the fabric so the image centre was on the centre of the seat and pinned at the front so it wouldn't slip.

Then I stapled it in place, dropped them into the frames and voila, finished AT LAST.

I really like them and think it was worth the effort and additional cost (about $20 in foam, batting and plywood) but I will definitely think more carefully about the condition of whatever I buy next!

Linking to
All Things Thrifty - Week of Chairs

"ooooops paint". Aces.

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie@dwellingonadime) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 04:52:00 +0000

I was in Home Depot buying wall paint (we have 2 lime green walls I've lived with for 2 months and will not live with them any longer) and by the paint mixing desk there were lots of cans of paint with 'oooops' written on them. These are evidently tubs of mis-mixed paint for sale, CHEAP.

I spied this:

This was aces for 3 reasons

1) lovely pale green colour
2) its Behr premium paint - primer and paint in one
3) the best bit. It was $2. TWO DOLLARS.

Now I must simply find something fabulous to paint.

Sophie

Hmmm I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew.

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie@dwellingonadime) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 04:48:00 +0000

I picked up these chairs for $15 for the pair.

An impulse buy - Great shape, solid wood BUT....

1) they are already painted in thick black paint and have been viciously, horribly distressed with what looks like a chisel rather than fine sandpaper - not sure if the surface will be revived with a good sanding so I may have to get paint stripper as well, eek

2) one of the chair backs is broken - will need to glue and fill gaps, eek.

3) both are wobbly, eek.

4) the seats are covered in paint splattered green velvet (gross) which I will need to replace but I have never reupholstered ANYTHING, EVER. Double EEK.

Gulp.

This may be a mistake. But a $15 mistake at most, plus paint, fabric etc. Hmmmm, Ok. Need to stop panicking and stuck in. Wish me luck.

Sophie

the $20 desk and 3 lessons learned

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie@dwellingonadime) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 02:52:00 +0000

So quick recap - I picked up this desk from a charity shop for $20. We needed a desk and I was inspired by makeovers like this and this so decided to give that a try. I reckoned at this price it was a good opportunity to try something different (and learn a few lessons along the way....)

The top was pretty marked and a little dented so i sanded it smooth and managed to remove most of the marks. My electric sander is ~~the most amazing bestest thing~~ very good at doing that.

There was a dent and some nail heads that needed filling and hiding so I used some latex wood filler and a spatula and filled away.

When it was dry, I sanded down the excess filler by hand, taped off the top, removed hardware and primed and painted the body and spray painted the hardware.

I had never used stain before so, I got hold of a few different colours (around $5 each from home depot) and a bit of scrap wood in roughly the same colour as the desk and tried them all out

I chose English chestnut and (top middle). I primed the surface with one layer of wood conditioner - I'd read about this on other blogs and thought this would do the trick to even out the few remaining marks. It didn't cover the wood putty but that didn't put me off. I went ahead and did a layer of stain with a foam brush....

So lesson number 1: Wood stain doesn't stain wood filler... clearly because wood filler is latex, not wood, duh...you may already know this, in fact I'm sure you do, I didn't....good job this is a cheapo desk! Disappointing though I have to admit. I was tempted to paint over it in white to match the body but my husband persuaded me to just go with it, mistakes and all ("it's only for us it's not going in a museum"). The rest of it was such a lovely warm deep colour. So I agreed and went ahead and worked on the side panels.

I picked up some wrapping paper from paper source (my favourite place for this kind of stuff - so many amazing prints and colour palettes to choose from) and some mod podge (like PVA glue I used to use in school). I chose a silver and white print to match the newly painted silver nickle hardware. I cut it to size.

So, lesson number 2: Paper really does expand when it's wet. Ignoring what I already knew, on my first attempt I painted the paper with glue and tried to fix it to the wood. This was a disaster- tons of bumps, bubbles and creases. I quickly pulled it off and discarded it. Second attempt - I applied the glue to the wood and fixed a new piece of paper to it. This worked much much better although it is still harder than it looks! Thin paper is so difficult to work with. I wonder if wall paper or scrapbooking paper is easier?

Anyway, when it was dry and applied another thin layer of mod podge over the top with a foam brush and repeated when that was dry - 2 or 3 top coats in all I can't quite remember. Then I chose a different paper to line the inside of the drawers cut to size and just placed this in the drawers, no glue.

Then finally a couple of coats of this all over (except on the mod podge bits)

So lesson number 3: A few light coats is nearly always better than one thick one. A universal truth. I tried to spray as lightly as possible but despite my best efforts it managed to turn the white paint slightly yellow in places which can only be from excess dried spray. Thankfully it's not really noticeable unless you're close up but annoying none the less. This was so hard to spot when I was applying it - anyone have any ideas how to prevent this in future?

Anyway, after all the drama,and all the lessons it now looks like this;

Pin It

and it's in the guest room with a few books hiding the ugly woodfiller-that-won't-stain-mark

What do you think? I actually really like it and all it's imperfections. Just need to do the chair now to match.

Sophie

Linking up to:

the $10 shabby chair

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie@dwellingonadime) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 21:24:00 +0000

I picked up this chair at the charity shop down the road (proving a very handy shop to have nearby).

You can't really tell from this pic but it was a very shabby 'shabby-chic' chair. Someone had been there before me with the crackle glaze, a couple of contrasting colours and had distressed the hell out of it. I'm not the biggest fan of crackle glaze anyway and after a bit of wear and tear, the legs looked like dried old crocodile skin, the seat was bumpy and both were rough to the touch;

So I set about sanding down as much as I could but the carving on the legs was hard work and I coudln't really get into the gaps sufficiently. I did as much as I could and then did the seat. As I started sanding though, the beautiful colours below started coming through and so I then used a finer sandpaper to buff it up. I loved how it looked so decided rather than paint the whole thing, to just paint the legs and back and leave the seat as it was. 2 coats of primer and 2 coats of white later it looked like this and is now the towel chair in the guest room. Best of all it is smooth to touch unlike the scaly crackled piece it was before. Love it.

Sophie

the DIY picture wall

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie@dwellingonadime) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 04:15:00 +0000

As soon as we moved into our new place I'd wanted to do a picture wall with family photos. We had so much more wall space than we had had previously and we were far from home, it seemed a really nice smart way to have lots of photos up around us without looking too chintzy.

We knew we wanted the frames to look organised rather than random but we had a mix of colours and sizes. To bring it all together I spray-painted all the non-black frames a matt black which still showed-up the detail of them but looked a lot more together. Love a bit of spray paint:

When we'd finished deciding what photos were going in what frames, and arranged them on the bed into how we wanted them on the wall, then the fun really began.

We marked out a horizontal line with a spirit level and tape so the bases or tops of each frame along the line would either hang above or below it and bring a bit of organisation to the chaos.

That was the easy bit. Its too long-winded to go though what we then did over the next 4 hours but suffice to say there was lots of measuring, leveling and hammering plus a few broken frames and sighs of despair. But I LOVE how it looks now and it's the first time any wedding photos have gone on the wall since we got them over a year ago (!)

Pin It Word to the wise DO NOT attempt to do this a) in a hurry b) by yourself c) with a hangover - you will give up and have a lot of holes in the wall to remind you of your failing!

Sophie

the $15 bedroom bench

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie@dwellingonadime) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 03:59:00 +0000

So also on the wishlist was a bedroom bench to sit at the end of the guest bed for people to be able to stick their luggage on when they stay and these things don't come cheap...$200 up for nice ones.

And then I found this little beauty in a charity shop for $15. Sweet.

Essentially in great shape, just a little scratched and not in need of much except it was FILTHY

So I got to work with a some fairy liquid, water and an old toothbrush. My cat even tried to help, kind of...

Then i just touched up the legs with white paint and in less than 1 hour it was good as new and sitting pride of place at the bottom of the bed

I do like it as it is with the clean white leather but the question is, to reupholster or not to reupholster? Thoughts?

Sophie

the $3 balcony side table

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie@dwellingonadime) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 03:39:00 +0000

I'd been looking a bistro table for our balcony that wasn't a typical plain old expensive bistro table if you know what I mean. After looking on all the usual websites for a new one and I just didn't love any of them. So I ended up with a project instead - this $3 side table from a charity shop:

It was in very bad condition, so I wasn't concerned with making it look 'pretty' and instead opted for something fun and functional until we find/transform another table we really like.

I had been lusting after all the wonderful vintage union jack cushions on notonthehighstreet.com amongst others and was talking about making one myself for one of the chairs when my husband suggested painting one on the table instead... clever him....so that's what i did.

2 coats primer, 2 coats of off -white (dutch boy DB 356-1). Then I masked out with painter's tape the areas I wanted to stay white - I didn't measure anything as I wasn't after a pristine look.

Then i just filled in the gaps with a dark blue and a plumy purple (bit more subtle than pillar box red...)

When it was (mostly) dry I removed the tape and viola, a cheesy, cute, sweet reminder of home whilst we're sipping beers or Yorkshire tea in the Santa Monica sunshine. yey!

Sophie

the $0 kurbside chair

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie@dwellingonadime) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 03:16:00 +0000

Finding this chair right outside my home was awesome. I had been looking for a chair for the guest room anyways and this was a simple enough classic shape ripe for a painting. Plus the $0 price tag meant if I messed it up, it was no big deal.

so before...

I didn't sand it a whole lot to be honest, just enough to create some roughness for the primer to stick to - 2 coats later it was covered.

(It was cold on the balcony so had to paint inside dangerously close to the new TV...shhhh don't tell the husband). I was tempted to keep it white but stuck to my original plan and went with dutch boy 'founding father' in a semi gloss and 2 coats later it looks like this....

Not bad i don't think and I really like the semi gloss finish on this one. Just a nice simple lovely blue chair. for FREE. yey.

Sophie

a free chair - it's a sign!

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie@dwellingonadime) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 03:01:00 +0000

So the day after I had bought the nightstand i didn't really like, I was suddenly became a bit doubtful of my ability to a) turn it into anything that wasn't a disaster and b) make into something I actually wanted in my home. I was in need of a bit of confidence and encouragement.

Then right outside my home was this chair, just on the path, waiting to be given a new home. My first kurbside pickup!

Nothing spectacular but 100% free so that was it, I got off my backside and got to work

Results of both are here:
my first project - the $30 night stand /chest
the $0 kurbside chair

Sophie

my first project - the $30 nightstand/chest

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie@dwellingonadime) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 23:53:00 +0000

So on my list of 'stuff we need' was bedside tables for the guest room and I still can't believe how expensive these are to buy new. Plus I couldn't find any I really liked anyway. So the charity shop hunt started and I found this at Goodwill for $30.

It wasn't the prettiest thing in the world - those creamy handles on the top drawer, ewww and its a bit of an odd size - I didn't really like it at all actually which meant for my first project it was perfect. If it didn't turn out well I hadn't ruined anything I liked in the first place. but if I made something vaguely pretty it was a bonus.

I knew I wanted to paint it but didn't know where to start with colours. I have a Orla Kiely duvet cover I was given for a wedding present which I love and wanted a colour to go with that and so picked the blue tone as a starting point. Several paint charts later I chose Dutch boy viridian tint (DB548 -2).

I knew I had to sand and prime (because every blog tells you too) so I sanded. And it took forever to even take the slightest edge off the layers and layers of varnish. So I caved in and bought an electrical sander for about $30. It was SO worth it - about an hour later it looked like this

You can see I took all the varnish off the main body but left the drawers with the surface taken off.

I'm not sure how much you are supposed to sand btw so if anyone has any tips please comment below...

I did two coats of primer because I figured 2 coats were better than one?? and then 2 coats of paint.

I also spray painted the hardware matt black which was the easiest part of this whole makeover...

l liked the finished chest but not the inside of the drawers. I got 2 pieces of wrapping paper from paper source which i cut to fit all 4 drawers, so they went from this to this;

And here is the before once more and the finished chest next to my lovely bedspread and I quite pleased really - not bad for a first attempt;

If I were to do it again;

1) I would use a semi-gloss paint - the surface of the matt paint is fine but I think a little glossier finish would look better

2) I would also have used a finer finish of sandpaper - 60 is very coarse and whilst it took the varnish right off it also left it quite rough - finishing with a medium or fine paper would have been better I think.

Lesson learnt. Now what next...

Sophie