One Little Corner

Back in August I said I was working on a project with my sister that I would blog about. Well this project actually started about a year ago. I had a side entry to my home that needed a little more umph! So one day when my husband had come home from a business trip he found this...a closet that I had started to demo. The plan? Give us a little more elbow room in this cramped entry space, add a little storage & have fun in the process.

Now, I can't even believe I didn't take photos of the next several things that happened, but I didn't. There was some drywall repair that had to be done and since I was doing it I decided to remodel the half bath that you see in the picture above. I took off one of those big wall mirrors that had been adhered right to the wall and so...more drywall repair.

 

I painted the vanity black, bought a granite counter top and sink off Craig's List, bought tile off the clearance rack at Lowe's for the backsplash, dug out the faucet I had bought and stored away, picked up the mirror at Home Goods, painted the walls a new color & it was all tied into the old valance.  But I'm getting side tracked.

Being the thrifty person I am I found some 2 x 4's and began to construct a box in my new little corner of the world. This will be a bench for sitting and storage. I sided the bench with some of the tongue in groove paneling I had removed from the family room when we remodeled that.

I purchased a piece of pine and called on a good friend that has a table saw. (A table saw is at the top of my wish list for Christmas.) After he helped me cut the wood to my specifics I was back home in my basement. I painted the lid black with the same paint I used on the vanity. As you can see I used a satin finish in Kettle Black.

To help it flow better when painting furniture I used Floetrol. It is a product I bought at Lowe's that you mix with the paint. It works wonderfully. As you can see I also used a sponge roller. If I had this to do again I would put a coat of polyuerathane over the black paint. The seat will take alot of abuse & the extra protection would help. I could add it now and may, if time allows.

I screwed the long strip to the bench at the back and the short strip to the bench on the side. Attach a piano hinge and covered the screw heads with wood putty and touched up the paint. It turned out great! Now comes that weekend I spent with my sister. We started our antique door knob coat rack! We're frugal sisters so we used lumber we had hanging around and this is what we did......

I had originally stained a piece and didn't like how rough it was so I found another scrap that the edge was already routered and stained it.

This is crown molding I purchased and you guessed it, I painted it black with the same paint with the Floetrol in it.

You'll notice I wrap my brushes & rollers in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator. I do this in between coats of paint. It saves me time to have to clean a roller or brush between each coat.

And I want to share one of my favorite things. This Mineral Spirits for cleaning up brushes. I was so tired of throwing out brushes because I couldn't get stain or paint out of them. This stuff cleans them up so well they are soft and smooth ready for the next project. And it's eco friendly!

 

Ok, so now the trip to see my sister, Brenda. This is us, having coffee before we begin our project. This is a great coffee shop, archetechural salvage place. I came home with salvage that I will turn around and earn a little money from but that will be another blog at a later date.

 These are her pieces of wood she found around her place for her coat racks. She's making 2 of them. They will be a little shorter than mine and only have 3 door knobs on each. Mine will use 5 door knobs. We drilled through the back side of the base wood where each door knob will be placed.

 

 

 Screws up through the back ready for door knobs. Place construction adhesive into the knob and place over screw.

I love this knob. The raised detail is beautiful.

 

Now we're ready for the crown molding. Study up on how to cut mitered corners before you tackle this. It's not for the weak. I enlisted my husband to help with this part.

But first back to my sister to check out her progress. Here she is being helped by her son, Thomas. They have taken scraps of molding from their basement remodel and are adding character and interest to the top of her coat racks. She plans to paint the entire piece.  And there they are... ready to be painted and touched up and hung on the wall!

 

Here is my finished coat rack. And to the right with the storage bench! And of course here is my favorite twin sister with her finished coat rack.

Projects always go better, are much more fun and add loving memories to our days when spent with family or friends. Thanks for checking in on me. I'll be busy dreaming of my next project so I hope you leave me some notes in the mean time to let me know what you think!   Linda

 

Team Apparel T-Shirt Refashion

I love a challenge. I was to travel with my husband on business. One night was a tailgating theme. We were to wear our favorite Team Apparel. I had t-shirts and could wear it with jeans but how boring is that? I wanted something cute. So I sent a text to a couple of my K-State friends and sent out a plea for t-shirts to refashion. Thanks to Tim & Dianna for their donation! This is what I started with. It's a 2XL. The bigger the better in the refashioning world. You never know what you could do with all the extra fabric!

First cut the sleeves off. Set the sleeves aside for later.

I looked in my closest to get ideas of how I might want the final product to look like. I liked the neckline in the pink top. The navy and red paisley had the elastic waste and length I wanted. As you can see the clock on the oven says 7:27pm. I leave for the airport the following morning at 10 am. :)

Now cut the neckline to your liking. I cut half, fold it over to cut the other half so the neckline is even.

I decided where I wanted the elastic waste to go. In this case it will be more of an empire waste. I also decided how full around I wanted it to be. Pin and try on, pin and try on. Don't go crazy and jump in and cut too much off. I have done this and ended up throwing away two Royals T-shirts this summer. I rushed to have a new refashion for the game and ended up wearing a pink top instead of my powder blue on Royals game day. Anyway. Be cautious and certain before cutting off fabric for side seam. All my seams are 1/2". It just makes it easier when doing the math for where to sew. Cut excess fabric off and sew down side seams. You'll notice I left the original hem on the T-shirt as it was a length I liked.

I'm frugal and strapped for time. Using this satin ribbon for a casing is soft & flexible and fits the bill! Pin in place and sew to garment. As I said mine is more empire waste. Be sure to leave an opening to insert the elastic. Measure elastic to fit comfortably and thread into the casing. Sew ends of elastic together. I used 1/4" wide elastic.





Grab those sleeves you set aside. Cut off the seam so it is not bulky when you reattach it to the garment at the sleeve. Trim down the circumference of the sleeve to fit. I wanted elastic around the sleeves so next I cut elastic and stretched it as I sewed it on. This automatically draws it together like you've gathered and then sewed but my way is easier and saves time. Sew sleeve with right sides together, pin sleeve into arm hole and sew it on. You may want to remove more fabric so the seam sits at the edge of your shoulder. I left the original hem on the sleeves...a big time saver.

I dug out another old t-shirt to make a ruffle for around the neckline. Cut 1" strips twice the length around the neckline. Sew stips together to make one long stip.

Baste down center of strip and gather. Fit to desired look, pin to neckline and sew right over the basting.

And the finished product. We had a great time at our event! And our team won! Now you know how to refashion your favorite T into team apparel you"ll be proud to wear.

Tip for Zucchini Cake all year around.

Wow, I have been busy and it hasn't been blogging. I'm pretty sad about that but I am happy to be working a temp job.  Anyone can work a job for a short period of time right? Plus this job has been a blessing. I have met new people and learned new skills. The people are great and it is such a pleasant atmosphere to work in.
I do hope to blog soon about that project I worked on the weekend of my birthday. In the mean time a tip for the Zucchini Cake. I had a huge zuchinni and wasn't able to use all of it in the cake AND didn't want it to go to waste. So I shredded it in 2 cup portions and put it in freezer baggies for use later. I made another cake just last week and took it to the office. The girls said it was delicious!
Have a super week and thanks for checking in on me.
Linda