Sewing Room Re-do

Last February our son moved out of the house and then he got married in May.  That left us with a completely empty bedroom with its own 3/4 bathroom.  We turned it into a very cozy guest room.  That left me with the ability to turn my sewing/craft/guest room into a dedicated sewing room. 

It was in a different layout for most of the year, with the sewing table facing a wall.  My back was always to my tiny TV and to the door.  It was a little tight that way.  We removed the writing desk and reoriented the sewing table and cutting table. The cutting table can still come down and an air mattress put up when we have a house full of guests. 

The sewing table is four small book shelves from Target.  Two face the back wall and hold necessary sewing items close at hand.  The other two face the side walls and hold things not used as often. The top is a piece of plywood cut to fit and then painted the same purple as the walls.  the front board had to be added to keep the dog and cats from playing and walking under the table constantly.  It has two yards of a fun print stapled to it.

This picture shows where the ironing board can stay.  This is where the sewing table was before. The closet holds all my costumes, aprons, and current projects I'm working on plus fabric. Dress form stays in the corner when not needed.

This is the view from the sewing table toward the door.  You can see all the way through the house from here to the door to the mudroom! It is a long house.

And of course no sewing room is complete without a cat.  This is Pence.  I don't know where Posey was hiding during the photo session.

I hope you enjoyed this little tour of my sewing room.

Blessings,

Jeannine

Refinished Oak Floors

Last year after we had the French doors added to the back of the house, we were left with hardwood floors that had been painted white.  Painted White! We have no idea what the previous owners were thinking. 

We researched and thought about renting the equipment from our local home improvement store. Then we realized it would most likely take us more than a weekend just to sand the paint off and smooth the wood out.  Our best recourse would be to hire a professional.  We asked at the local carpet/tile store and they gave our name to several guys who came out to give estimates.

 

 

 

The guy we chose was able to do the job the first week in February.  He was able to sand, stain, and seal plus paint and install baseboards in four days.  He was professional and personable!

 

 

The original floors are red oak.  They are laid out in a "log cabin" pattern, as you can see from the pictures.

 

They came out beautifully.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love the way it turned out.  

This is an inspiration photo for the rooms overall look. It is a photo of Bill Blass' home and can be found on Mark D. Sikes website.

 

 

Most of our items were purchased on our travels.  One globe is inherited the other an estate sale purchase.

I hope you enjoyed the "tour". Let me know what you think.

Blessings,

Jeannine

 

Days of Grace

You may wonder to yourself, "Why Daze of Grace?"

 

Well, for one thing "Days of Grace" was already taken on Blogger!

 

 

 

Second reason is because we are living in the Days of Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

This morning our pastor preached from Hebrews, chapter four.  He started with God is Love.

 

And he ended with Genesis 2:3.  He explained how as God created on days one through six, there was evening and the days end.  On the seventh day, He rested.  But the day did not have an evening nor an end.  These are the days of grace.  God has left His day and His grace open for us.

 

Hebrews 4:1 "Therefore, since the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it." God's grace is still open and available-accept it while it's available.  Grace and Mercy are only available as long as we live (physically.)

 

That is why Daze of Grace.  We are living in God's grace and should accept it while we can.

 

Grace and Blessings,

Jeannine

D-Day

Remembering D-Day, June 6, 1944.

 

 

 

Thank you to all who served to protect our freedoms.

 

Blessings,

 

Jeannine

Closet Transition

When we first bought this new house I knew I wanted to use this mudroom or back entry as a closet.  We have other entrances to the back yard.  The sole purpose of this room is to be able to bring firewood in from the yard and stash it in the wood box next to the fireplace.  The door you barely see comes in from the yard.  The fully visible door leads to the living room.

 

 

This is the door to the wood box and is directly across from the exterior door.  There is another door in the living room where you can access the wood.

 

I mixed some leftover wall paint from my craft room (mulberry) and the white paint from the bedroom (Dry Martini) together and painted the interior including the ceiling.  It took me all of an hour. The space is only about 66 inches by 59 inches.

 

 

Husband then installed a cute little chandelier a friend had given me over a year ago.  I couldn't pass on a freebie even though at the time I had no place to put it.

 

Because we didn't want to permanently alter the room, we purchased a closet  insert. It is a Target Threshold product. I also had a little bookcase that I painted a darker color of the purple. The outside of it is painted in Silver Screen, a grey color.

 

The spring tension rod only holds my scarves. That way they are hung but the rod does not have to support much weight.

 

The rest is made up of baskets and shoe racks we already had on hand. There is also just a scrap of the house carpet laid over the linoleum.

 

I adore this little closet.  It is perfect for me.  We also bought some closet organizer systems to update the closet I had been sharing with Husband.  He now has his own closet with double hung racks and places for his shoes.  He also put a rod in the tiny little closet that is completely cedar lined.  This is where his suits now live, instead of my shoes and sweaters.

 

Thanks for stopping by this little tour of my new closet.

Blessings,

Jeannine

House Hunting Part 2

 

Between July 28 and September 16 We looked at seventeen houses and put in three offers. During that time we were really able to narrow down the parameters of where we wanted to buy a house.

 

 

 

We got pretty good at reading the MLS listings.  We looked at hundreds of houses online. That's where we were able to narrow down the houses we wanted to physically look at.

 

The seventeenth house we looked at had only been on the market five days. We put in an offer that same evening and the offers were presented to the seller the next day.  We found out at 10pm that they accepted our offer.

 

Then the paperwork switched to finishing up the mortgage information.  They sure want to know all the details of our lives!

 

The inspections were scheduled for October first.  Unfortunately Husband is out of the country, so our son went along to follow the inspector around while I spoke to the pool guy. And the Termite guy. And the chimney sweep. Son (he is 25) learned some tips from the inspector.

 

The inspector was extremely thorough.  I kind of had a freak out.  So many little things wrong.  But the house was built in 1953 so I guess that is to be expected. So we are still waiting for official reports. Then we can figure out what repairs to ask for and what the next move is.

 

Thanks for reading my ramblings. It's nice to be able to sort out the thoughts over the house.

 

Now I'm trying to decide on paint colors for the kitchen and dining space.  Currently they are avocado and apricot.  Eww!

The tiles are off white on the floor and counters with fairly new oak cabinets.  The appliances are mixed, black and stainless. Any suggestions?  I have a black dining table and chairs.

 

Jeannine

Ombre Pink Dresser

This adorable little dresser is one we found at a citywide garage sale.  I wrote about it here.

Husband finished it about two weeks ago but I haven't had the chance to post about it yet.

It is only 25 inches tall.  It has three drawers in the middle and two on each side.  He wanted to paint the dresser because it was a blah color.

It is solid wood and very heavy.  It only cost us $15.

He did some stripping but ultimately just used the deglosser.

 We bought two sample size paints and one quart.  We had white on hand.  The pinks are, from lightest to darkest, Primrose Garden, Bridesmaid, and Dragon Fruit. They are Behr is eggshell finish.

The white is Marshmallow.

He tried the original handles but didn't like them, too old fashioned.  These were $3.49 each and look much brighter and cheerier!

This little dresser is for sale! As are these two.  I have gotten tons of repins of these on Pinterest!

I still have both of these dressers and they are for sale.

Blessings, 

Jeannine

Kindle Cover in a Book

This Christmas I made Kindle covers for my sister and mother.  They splurged on themselves and it gave me the perfect idea for a gift.

I looked at several tutorials on You tube and then tweaked them for my own.

This is the one for my mom.  

I visited our local used bookstore and got this copy of a Sherlock Holmes book for $4.

Then I carefully removed the pages with my craft knife.

I cut a piece of cardboard an 1/8" smaller than the inside of the front and back covers.  I get these super straight lines by using my rotary cutter and quilt mats.

I cut a piece of fabric one inch larger all the way around to cover the cardboard.

Here is the one I did for my sister, a Nancy Drew Mystery.

I glued the fabric around the cardboard and then using my Kindle (thank you Husband for the Mother's Day gift) to measure the length of the elastic to hold the Kindle in. I then sewed them in by hand. I used quilting thread.

Here is the empty cover.  I glued the covered cardboard inside and weighted it down with the 2009 California Penal Code book; it weighs a ton!  (My son has the penal code form police academy.)

Here it is all together with a Kindle.

So there it is. A Kindle cover in a book.  And you can pretend you are still reading from a paper and ink book!

Blessings,

Jeannine

I'm linking to Met Monday on Between Naps on the Porch.  Make sure you see what others have been up to by going here.

Christmas Door Decor: Ode to Pinterest

Like so many people, I am "on" Pinterest.  I love it and yes it does waste time that I could better spend on blogging, cleaning house, baking Christmas cookies etc.  However, it doesn't talk back to me or insist I repeat myself three or four times or come in tardy like students do and then promptly ask to go to the restroom. But that's neither here nor there.  I do enjoy teaching and I'm happy to have the job.

Back to Pinterest.

Earlier in October or November, this lovely picture or an urn Christmas centerpiece was being pinned and re-pinned. I promised myself that I would do this!

And so I did.  Sort of.  Husband had been given a brass urn at a garage sale when we bought a dresser and chairs.  It was scruffy and needed some TLC.  I spray painted it silver.  The candy canes in the original appear to be several different size tree ornaments.  I couldn't find these anywhere on the internet or in stores.  I improvised: I bought three packages of plastic candy canes at The Dollar Tree.  I then wrapped wire around the bottom of each cane so they could be stuck down in the floral foam.

I bought cranberry florals at Joann's. The branches are cut off an after Christmas clearance tree that my son had in his apartment two years ago.  It only cost five dollars so I figured it wouldn't be missed.

Husband and I bought the silver glittery sticks (ting-ting?) at Target.  They got glitter everywhere and in the long run didn't work out.  Ugh!

Here is the whole thing put together. It obviously is not an exact replica of the original, but it works with our other decor. I still really like the crisp white of the original.

The wreaths are left from last year.  I just added in the candy canes.

Have a blessed Christmas season.

Jeannine