Fun with Burlap!

So I have been having lots of fun making these screen satchels.  Made a black and red toile one for me.  A gift for a friend and one for my Aunt!  They both loved them.  But did I take pics, no sir I didn't.  But I did take pics of the latest one I made.  It is for a friend who is donating it to a Silent Auction at the school she works at!  Should give me a good idea of how it sells!  Here are a few pics:

I used burlap on the outside and black and white toile on the inside.  Then I made rosettes out of the burlap and toile.  Stole the technique from the Shanty Girls!  Love them!  And loved how they turned out.  Easy Peasy and I put another 3 on the other side.  Here is a pic of the inside:

Love those pockets!  I am having fun with the zipper pulls as well.  Like a little bling there!

Here is a close up:

I made a little key fob as well, a matching set!

Let me know what you think!  I have to make another one for the auction.  Going to use some blue fabric for a more beachy feel.

Toodles


Laura

A Little History

We have lived in this house 23 years!  Never figured we would be here that long!  But as you can imagine a house that old needs a little sprucing up!  In 2008 we decided to do a whole house 'refresh'!  And it sorely needed it!  Here is a pic of the house before we started:

Not bad, but the paint was getting a little tired and the porch posts were rotting from water damage!  Yikes!
So the first project was to fix the porch posts.  One had to be totally replaced, then we, I mean our awesome contractor/friend Mike, bricked around the post 2/3 of the way up, so no water could ever damage again.
We then added slate to the porch and had the whole house painted, colors approved by the association of course!  Then I added a new screen door!  And here is the finished product!  Oh forgot to add we got new windows for the whole house as well!

This shows the whole house, here is the front door and porch.

Since then we have added a new gate on the side of the house that leads to the new side yard garden.  I thought I had a picture of that, but I can't find it.  We are one of the first houses you see when you turn into our tract, so we wanted it to look good and make a good impression.  We have received a lot of nice comments from our neighbors and I hope it inspires them to take pride in their house as well.

Have a great day!

Laura

Finally!

 Do you have something you have been meaning to do for years, but just never got around to it?  Well this is just one of mine!

 
I have had this pattern for years, I mean long time like 6 or 8 years!  Yeah I am slow.

You use a mesh like screen fabric.  I found it at Lowes it is used for pet doors!  It was $13 and is 36x84".  The bag I made used a piece 18x24 plus the straps. So I can get maybe a few more out of it. 

Here are a few other options.  I just recycled some old jeans and use a remnant for the lining.

Here she is!  I loved how it turned out!  It really wasn't that hard and I knew once I did one that it would be easy to do another.  Of course using the jeans and piecing that together took a little time.  But I like it!

It has lots of pockets inside and out.  Which is great!

Now off to fill it up and figure out what fabric to use for the next one!

I will have to make a key fob to go with it, stay tuned!

Toodles,

Laura

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Good Sunday Morning to you!

This is what greeted us this morning!  And I am in So Cal!

We had heavy rain last night and this is Saddleback Mountain behind us.  Beautiful.

Hope you are having a great weekend.  The kids were off Friday and will be off tomorrow, so nice to have them home for a change.

I have to show you this great idea that DD came up with.  She wanted to have somewhere to hang her long necklaces that she has.  They have so many cute ones.

Well we found this shelving board at HD and got the glass knobs at Target.  Easy Peasy, and looks great!  It would be easy to emblish and even add a picture or two behind the necklaces.  Love how easy it was.

Have a great rest of the weekend.

Laura

The Evolution of a Bathroom!

 (Sorry this is long ") )


When DH and I moved into this house 23 years ago there was just the 2 of us.  It seemed like such a big house with 4 bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths.  But 14 mos later DS came along and 4 years after that DD.  It has never seemed big since!  The hall bath, or 'kids bath' as we refer to it, has had many transformations!  First it was just a guest bath never used.  Then it became the bath to give babies and toddlers baths.  Teach potty training and hygiene habits!  Now with an adult and one soon to be, it takes on a different purpose.  There are 'jams and jellies' as Candice Olson would say.  Razors and curling irons.!  More stuff than I ever had at that age!

Here are a few pics along the way.  This first one is right before we decided it needed to be 'refreshed'.  As you can see the builders oak cabinet is in terrible shape.  See that small window in the reflection of the mirror?  That is the only window in this small bath!  Oh how I hated those faux marble counter tops.

I can't remember when we did the first update, but I do remember that I wanted to do a $500 makeover like they did on Decorating Cents.  Remember that show?  Here is a pic from then.

We painted, replaced the linoleum with slate looking peel and stick, got a new vanity with more storage and a new sink and counter in one.  We took down the mirror that was the length of the room and had it cut to fit the vanity.  I think I decorated in a tropical feel.  This worked fine until 2005!

In 2005 we were in the middle of a kitchen remodel.  We were installing the old cabinets in the garage when we noticed that there was a wet spot on the ceiling of the garage.  Right under the bathroom!!!  UGH!!!
In order to figure out where the leak was coming from without tearing out the walls, DH turned on the shower and sat there for an hour before he could see where it was coming from.  It was in the wall and running down the lip of the tub to the floor!  So we had a choice, just tear out where the leak was or redo all the tile after the leak was fixed.  Problem was we would have to do the tiling ourselves as we had no monies left since we were redoing the kitchen.
So tear it out it was!  Here is DH being funny after tearing out the tile.  Besides having the leak fixed we decided to move up the shower head!  It was very short and DH is 6'3"  and DD is 5'10" .  I think in 2005 we moved it up to 6 ft.

  

 

Don't look to closely at the tile job, we did the best we could!  This is as we were grouting.

 

This is after we finished!  Yeah!

 Now you think that would be enough! But in 2008 we were doing a whole house 'refresh' and that bathroom was on the list again!  But this time we would take it down to the studs!  Fixtures stayed in the same place, couldn't really add on any space, but we glammed it up a bit!  Oh and when we tore down the tiling job we had done in 2005, contractor found that the place were it had been leaking before and supposedly fixed, was still leaking!  So much so that we had to replace floor boards!

Here are pics from the new and improved hall bath!  DH says it is too nice and the kids will never leave!

Added a plug to the side of the vanity for all of DD"s 

hair accessories that plug in. Love it!

Tiled up the wall and wrapped the backsplash onyx around the whole room.  Love how it turned out.

Tiled up to the ceiling, raised the shower head again and used a curved shower curtain rod!  Plus love, love the niche!  We put in a jacuzzi tub, which someday I will get to use more, when the kids leave!  I also put in a barn door or outside pocked door!  This give so much more room inside the bathroom.

Well that is my evolution of my 'hall bath'.  Sorry it was so long.  Just goes to show that if you wait long enough you can get what you want!

Have a great week.

2 to College!

So DD is graduating this year and heading off to college.  She applied at five of the Cal State schools here in CA.  Here first choice sent her an acceptance email on Christmas Eve!  She was so excited.  DS is leaving too!  After 4 years at the JC, he finally decided what to major in and God willing he will pass all 6 of his classes this semester and he will be heading up north, to the furthest State campus!  Empty nesters and we didn't even plan it this way!

Well DD has been looking at bedding for her new adventure.  They have XL twins on college campuses and she is in a double bed now, she is not happy about that.  Being a bargain hunter like me she was starting to look now so we could start gathering up her supplies.  So off to Bed Bath and Beyond yesterday.  I really didn't think we would find anything, was I wrong.  Everything is on clearance!  Here is what we found! It included the comforter, sheet set, sham, throw, towels, a hamper and wall dots.  It was regularly $80 but we got it for $20!  Now we can start looking for accessories in these colors when they go on sale!  We also found a shower curtain for $5!  We figured if her roommate comes with one too, they can switch them out on occasion!  For $5...

DS has a Woolrich quilt I got him at Target last year.  He hasn't used it here but I am sure he will in the north country!

Anyone have any suggestions of things needed for college!  This isn't something I planned.  Kids born 4 years apart one is supposed to be done when the other one starts right?

Have a good day!

Laura

Love my Chickens!

Before Christmas I found this picture at HomeGoods.  Loved the silhouettes of the chickens but the frame not so much.  It was only $3.50 cause the thingys on the back to hold it in were missing.  Easy Fix.

So I remembered I had some of the beadboard like wallpaper I had gotten at Lowes when it went on clearance.

Perfect!  I cut the paper to fit and pasted it on, using tacky glue when needed!
Then I spray painted it red with paint I already had from another project!! It is a  little bright in this pic.

After a few coats and a good drying I wiped on some gel stain in walnut. Which I always have on hand! Lurve it!

Here it is hanging over my stove, there was nothing here before.  I used extra strength velcro to fasten it to the slate.  Worked great. 

Here is another pic.  The only cost was the cost of the picture, I already had the paper, paint and stain.

Oh and I just used the staple gun to shoot staples on the edge of the back to hold in the pic.

Easy Peasy!

Toodles,

Laura

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