Before and After: Living Room Edition

During our months at the 'Oakhood' I waited impatiently for notification of our housing assignment. I had seen photos our friends were receiving of their future accommodations overseas. Some were good. Some were really good. And some made me shake my head and shout at my husband, "why, why are you torturing me?!"

Knowing we were going to get something in the city, I tried to keep my expectations low so I wouldn't be disappointed. Because if you really want to know the truth, it broke my heart a little to pack up our little ranch home and move. I missed the rooms that I painstakingly decorated. The nursery in white and brown with the little birds. Our bedroom with its enormous bed and mother-of-pearl decorations. I tried to be cool and tell our family and friends what a horrid decorator I was, but in honesty every little detail and photograph hung on those walls was carefully selected by me. Over almost seven years. And then it was all boxed up and stored away. So here's the truth.

Living in a furnished apartment wasn't that bad. But I missed adding my own touches to our space. Missed it so much.

So much that, when these photos of our next home arrived, I had a little Pinterest frenzy over what to do with all. that. space.

 

So fast forward three months of waiting, some temporary housing, and finally. At last I could make this place our own.

First came the fabric. I ordered some cheapo slipcovers because it turned out our furniture and carpeting was like, four tones of flesh. Eww. I selected bright prints to cheer up the room, and broke out my sewing machine as soon as it arrived.

But alas, the pedal to my machine was not here yet.

 

So I cursed waited some more.

Luckily, with our next shipment came the rest of my sewing supplies, all our wall decorations, family photos, and furniture.

And this is what we have so far:

 

 A few lamp changes, some pictures on the wall, and some cheerful slipcovers (after I finally got the pedal and all my thread!)

 

More changes to come, for sure, but I am wide open to suggestions! Those curtains, I can't even begin to tell you how much I dislike them. Again, a strange yellowy fleshtone with a few stains for added charm. Luckily, we are in Bangkok after all, where I can find pretty much anything on the cheap.

Well, anything except 96" curtain panels.

A Five Dolla' Makeover

If you follow me on Pinterest, you probably know what a window-shopping addict I am when it comes to clothes. I luuuurv clothing, but most kinds of shopping I hate. Can't stand malls, megastores, and department stores. I swear, clerks run away from me in department stores, I do not know why.


What I DO love is unique clothing, things not everyone can afford (of course), and things I make myself. So when I saw distressed denim cutoffs with lace here and here I went gaga for them. So I grabbed a pair of jeans in my closet that are inexplicably too large all of a sudden (how did that happen??) and about five dollars worth of wedding trim from the local fabric store.

First, I carefully marked how short I wanted these cutoffs to be-no sense wasting a good pair of jeans by cutting them distastefully short! Then, snip snip.

I washed the jeans to get the edges frayed nicely. Then arranged the lace the way I liked it and the outer left and right, and pinned it into place.

It took a while, but with some white thread I handstitched around the lace to ensure it stayed in place. All those loopyloos, but the more it progressed the more I loved these, so I finished it in an hour.

Finished, and I absolutely love them. Just in time to move to Thailand too!

Vintage Finds and a Home Decorating Idea

Sundays we do anything we can to be outside. This weekend that involved a trip to see maple syrup being boiled down at an old mill. Since that was pleasant, but over quickly, we decided to take a trip further outside the city to a place we had been told was pretty cool. Turns out, it really was.

This is outside the Old Lucketts Store. I would only loosely call it an antiques shop, because it is anything but a crusty old junk shop. On the property they even have a 'design house' which is really nifty, and so cool I wish I took more pictures because I would decorate my house JUST LIKE THAT. If I had a house.

So I behaved myself, but walked away with a few gems. Like these iron pieces from an old fence. Can you just see the potential?

We happened upon a box of old keys too, so I picked a few for a little project. There's a lot you can do with old keys, according to Pinterest. So I came up with this:

It took me just a few minutes and about $25 to find a few pretty frames, some light batting, and a scrap of Waverly fabric at the craft store. I think a cream brocade would have been really cool, but I wanted to get this done so I grabbed what caught my eye.

People must have thought me a bit strange as I walked around, waving rusty old keys at the bolts of fabric, though.

I removed the glass from the picture frames. Then I cut a piece of batting slightly smaller that the cardboard inset and glued it directly to the cardboard. I cut a generous piece of the fabric and centered it carefully over the cardboard and batting. Flipping it over, I glued it to to the back of the inset, keeping it taught.

After I did this with both picture frames, I replaced the now cutely upholstered inset into each frame. Then I got to play with the placement of the keys.

I didn't want anything too orderly, so I decided to display the chunky key by itself.

Glue gun the keys in place, being careful to not use too much so it can be concealed behind the key. I used a piece of tweezers to remove any stray pieces of glue, and they were ready immediately to display. A very cute and conversational reminder of our adventures in Northern Virginia.

For The Birds

Chinese New Year crafts and decorations down, we are working now on Valentine's Day. First, I had been planning a birdfeeder craft for the kids, so we incorporated felt and some cheap beads I found in a bin at the craft store for $.50. And there you have it, Sweetheart Birdfeeders. Sending our love out there. Into the universe or whatever.

Step one: Save your toilet paper rolls.

Step two: Cut out the cups from an egg carton to fit. Little P and I took some scrap yarn and tapestry needles and poked a hole in the bottom of the cup and strung as many beads as we liked, so they could dangle down. I cut hearts out of felt (we have no shortage of felt in this apartment!) and stitched them onto the bottom. I then ran the yarn back up through all the beads and into the cup. Anchor and tie inside the cup with another bead.

Step three: Using Elmer's glue, we glued a beaded cup into the bottom of each toilet paper roll and left to dry a few hours.

Step four: Liberally smear peanut butter all over each roll. Then roll in bird seed.

Step five: Hang outside. Admire. Whistle to the hungry birds. Talk to your kids about winter and food supply, etc.

DIY: Hearts on Your Sleeve

Its not February yet, I know, but I've been REALLY yearning for one of those sweaters with heart patches on the elbows. Thank you, Pinterest! This would be a really cute valentine's day project to spruce up an old sweater or pair of jeans or maybe even a skirt.

Once I had all the supplies I needed, I couldn't put this project down. And once it was done, I wore it all weekend. The hubs knows what I'm like when I get my mind set on a project, so he didn't tease me at all. Not when I wore it to the Zoo saturday night. And again, when I couldn't help but wear it when we went out for pho. But I might wear it again today. Or tomorrow. Or as long as it takes until another living person says, "wow, where did you get that adorable sweater?!" Because the hearts make it scrumptious and slightly silly.

Step One, get yo' self a warm sweater that is not baggy in the sleeves. I picked up this wool sweater at Unique for five bucks. Point to Heather for being thrifty, yeah!

Step Two, pick a pretty color of corduroy fabric. Even better if you can find it in the remnant bin at your fabric store, because you only need a little-less than 1/8 of a yard (unless you have vrrrry big elbows). Cut two identical hearts in the proportion you like, and apply Fray Check to the edges. This was my first time cheating with the stuff, so I was a little heavy-handed. Oh well, live and learn.

Step Three, pin onto sleeves and stitch with a tapestry needle and matching embroidery thread. Mine didn't exactly match, but I used large stitches so it looks like it's supposed to be that way. Okay? Just humor me.

Saturday night we packed up the kids and took the train to the National Zoo for ZooLights, braving the weather and about a hundred drunken santas-seriously D.C.?

There were gorgeous holiday lights, and iceless skating rink, gingerbread barns, carollers, and a train display. Happy kids-see those adorable dimples? I took off my coat for a gratuitous sweater pic, that's how much I love this DIY. Now I must go, and pin my own project. Yay me.