there were bunches of questions about the play room and i love that!
1. Is that an original Fisher Price doll house from your childhood?
it IS an original but it wasn't mine.
my mother-in-law got it for lauren at an auction.
we tried to get the bag of people too but we were outbid.
and now that i realize they are choking hazards i am glad about that.
when i see it i always think of the church nursery when i was little.
and i love that doorbell still.
2. When can i visit?
you girls are funny. if i had a B&B, i'd have booked the year with just blog readers.
but seriously...imagine how UN-relaxing it is visiting here.
the kids wake up at the crack of dawn and our bathrooms have no locks....
just ask my grandma.
sean walked in on her.
and didn't leave.
3. Did you paint the blue cabinet?
It came this way from Salvation Army all chipped up the way i like it.
It also had 80's spaceman contact paper over the top.
There are still handwritten labels taped to the front "undershorts pants socks."
4. Is the pinwheel fabric a pillow?
This was a baby blanket (crib size) that i found at the antique store....$6.
the front was the pinwheel quilt print and then someone (a grandma, no doubt) stitched those nubby ball
things through the white backing which is why the back is red polka dot.
i cringed as i did it but i cut in in half and flipped one side then sewed it together again.
it took 3 bags of stuffing to fill it!
5. What color paint are the walls?
Behr Antique White.
All 7 of us were in Home Depot and craig and i were stressed.
he showed me some whites...i pointed to one and he said "are we good?"
that was the extent of that decision.
6. How do you make your duvets...a little more detail please?
On a queen bed you would use queen flat sheets or king if you wanted it really big.
i am pretty sure these were full/queen...so kinda small for me but i didn't realize till i was finished.
here's how i did it... the very unprofessional way -
pin your sheets together wrong sides out.
sew the 2 sides and bottom together but leave the top (the finished edge of the sheets) open.
then mark where you want your button holes and use the button hole setting on your machine.
sew button holes on both sides if you are using ribbon
or sew one side button holes and sew buttons to the other side.
instead of sewing on buttons i strung some ribbon through and called it done.
7. Can i hear more about the curtains?
there are five windows in this room...which means 10 curtain panels.
i bought 6 yards of good ($$) fabric and 10 flat twin sized sheets (the cheap wal-mart brand $3 each).
i took the top of the sheet and folded it under 7 inches.
then pinned on an 18 inch panel of the good fabric.
i sewed a zig zag stitch over the top of the panel which also made the sleeve for the curtain rod.
the edges are sewn down but the top and bottom of the panel are left with frayed edges.
they were just touching the floor but barely...
so i cut one fitted green sheet into ten 6 inch strips.
i folded a ruffle and pined it on and sewed on top.
very basic messy zig zag stitch.
so now they drape a bit more.
it took awhile because i don't like measuring things and having to have straight lines.
8. i like that polka dot lampshade!
ok...that's not a question but i said i would show how i did it.
it was a gold lamp with a gi-nomous shade. i bought it for $7 at our antique store...it was ugly!
but it had good bones.
and i put in my stroller and made annie walk home. i looked like a bag lady for sure!
i stripped the shade of it's nasty smoke smelled OLD fabric.
i laid the shade on the fabric and cut a few inches bigger and ironed it flat.
after pinning it around the shade i took it off and sewed the seam to make it a tube shape.
i pulled out my trusty glue gun. working very slowly in small amounts i hot glued the top all the way around.
then pulled it tight and hot glued the bottom.
i trimmed off the extra fabric with pinking shears and glued own any loose spots.
it didn't look finished to me so i tied the brown wide ribbon around it. it's just tied on.
9. Did you paint that bed?
this was in the backyard when we moved into our IL. house.
it was black and rusty.
a friend of ours welded it two sections smaller for us and we used it as our headboard.
then we moved here and it went to the basement for over 3 years.
it has a new life...in a new color...in a new state!
spray paint is the best invention. i love instant gratification.
it's bolted to the california bed frame.
10. Where do you find the time to be crafty?
i just have to make stuff. i see things in magazines, stores, blogs, books and think "i have to try that!"
and then i forget what it was.
just kidding...i keep notebooks of ideas all over the place.
so i "find" time by choosing to make things over cleaning the house or folding laundry
or getting things done that i should have or by staying up way too late.
it's so much more gratifying to sew a cute pillow than to load the dish washer!
they will still be there when i finish the pillow.
thanks for asking me. i don't claim to be an expert on any of this...just having fun making stuff!
hope you are still awake.
this was loooooong.
