The Wingback

Here's the wingback:

Here it is before:

Here's the during:

And one more time:

 I made the little pillow with fabric from Value Village that cost $2.99. I made 3. The chair cost $5 from the Restore in Charlottetown; new buttons were $3 and the fabric was $96 from Fabricville in Charlottetown. I still have to sew on the back panel and re-sew the pillow as my seam allowances were too small!

Today was the first day I walked without a jacket!

:-)

Swivel Chair

I'd been looking for a round tub chair that swivels.  One day, while we were in Charlottetown, we stopped at Sears. They have nice round swivel chairs there, but they cost almost $600!  Way too much.  I looked at buying the swivel part, but it costs between $80-90.

Fast forward many months later and I came across this nice chair at the Restore in Summerside.  It was only $15.  It swivels and spins, but when I got it home I realized that it's not exactly round.

I decided to try and work with it.  I used the material for our old couch to sew a slip-cover.  I was able to use some of the cushion fabric that was already sewn and curved for the curves of the arms. 

 It's a bit slouchy, but I'm going to keep it for now.  I'm still on the lookout for another chair (wingback?) that I may just put the swivel part on. :-)

BTW, I realized I didn't need to re-sew my sad middle cushion on the couch.

It just needed more stuffing!

:-)

Tasty Tuesday

I can't believe May is almost over! I'm not ready for June! Well, I guess I am, but still.... :-)

This week's meal plan:

• Mon- Chicken & Potato Hash Cakes, carrots 
• Tues- Pasta
• Wed-Beans
• Thurs-Peppered Salmon with Yogurt-Lime Marinade
• Fri-Leftovers
• Sat- Pizza
• Sun-Frozen Beet Pasta with Ricotta

Last year's meal plan:

• Mon- Miso Glazed Haddock
• Tues-Lentil Soup
• Wed-Mac and Cheese
• Thurs-Frittata
• Fri- Homemade Naan Pizza
• Sat-Cajun Haddock
• Sun-?

That's all for today! Now I've got to get to work! :-)

Memorial Day

We had a nice weekend. DD had a friend over Friday night so DS went to his grandparents. The kids also had their last Sunday School class of the year and helped with the church service on Sunday. DS read the responsive reading and DD took up the collection.

HH is working in Charlottetown this week and we're pretty busy with stuff to do Tues-Thurs evenings.  I think the progress on the front rooms will be delayed a bit.

I finished the last coat on the floor and it looks like I thought it would! Yay!  It's hard to see the graining, but with the right light, it's there and I like the effect.

We are a bit behind schedule.  Because it was super cold this weekend, (only like 7C on Sat!) and we don't have the front heated yet, I let the 2nd coat dry 2 nights before doing the final decorative finish yesterday after church.  I had taped off my triangles before the 2nd coat to seal the tape (I don't think I'll do that again, it always seems not to work for me). Now the tape is a bit hard to get off. I tried to take it off yesterday, right after painting, but the tape pulled and fell on the wet floor!  So, I had to walk over and pick it up and redo one section to cover up my footprints!  I went back out this morning, and it's still a bit tacky. Not sure how long it will be to dry, but I'm guessing we won't be doing any major work til the weekend so we'll just be in the back room a bit longer...

I started packing up DD's room, and at times feel a bit overwhelmed with all the stuff we have left to do.  And I wonder, what are we doing all this for?  I need to get some Motivation. :-)

I'm Floored!

Everybody was up early this morning, including me, so I had my walk before I even made breakfast for the kids. It's supposed to rain, rain, rain all weekend (and it's actually raining now!) so I'm glad I got my walk in.

The first coat of paint is on the floor!

I really wanted to get the floor done first, so we can move our bed in there asap.  I can still do the little bit of drywall work with the bed in there.  Once we are sorta moved in, DD can move into the back room while we finish her room.  I will get all her drywall work done before she moves in. I hope it goes quickly and we can have a big final moving in day! Just like on tv!

Back to the master bedroom floor.  Here's how it looked before:

Then during:

 I filled all the seams and screw holes with wood fill and sanded the whole floor with the little hand sander.

 Here's DS helping with the first primer coat of floor paint (paint thinned about 10% with water).

I had an idea last night to do an X design on the floor with the wood grain tool.  So, instead of just straight wood grains, I'll tape an "X" with thin tape and wood grain the sections with longer wood grains on the end and shorter towards the middle. I think I'll have a small square right in the center.

 Here's a good link for How to use a wood grain tool.  This afternoon, I'll lightly sand the floor and do the taping. Then tonight one more coat of the base coat and tomorrow is the fun part!  I hope to have our bed moved in Monday evening with DD in the back room! :-)

I've been Framed!

I got off to a slow start this morning.  I just got back from my walk and it's already 10:00!  I was able to get new shoes Tuesday when the whole family went to town.  HH had a meeting, so it worked out that we all went in together.  DS went to Cubs and DD went shopping with me.  Today was the first day for walking with my shoes. I think they're ok.  I went up 1/2 a size so there's plenty of room for my toes!

Anyway, I've got some work to do on the front master bedroom floor, so I'll be brief.  Here's a fun little before and after of all (almost all) of our picture frames.

Here's how they looked before out in HH's office:

 A bunch of mostly wood frames.  I see a colorful one that I got when I went to LSU!

Here they are after priming with Zinsser 123.

After priming, I painted all the frames off-white.  Then I glazed some of the details for fun!

Here the matts  and the back of the frames in the kitchen, in front of the plywood which blocked doorway to the front.  This was the first time we blocked the front back in 2011.  I'm always amazed that we can live in such a small space...  Ok,  I painted the matts and the back of the frames either off-white or chalkboard paint black.

 Now, here they are spread out on the bench in the kitchen....

 Here is the first day of school, Sep 2012. We'd opened back up the front room!  The kids had to take their school supplies on the first day, so their backpacks were loaded!  You can see the frames behind them.  That wall will be torn down to make a new wall for DD's room and the hallway. Her door will be on the right side next to where the red curtain is.  DS and DD are standing in what will be the master bedroom.

 So, one more time. Before:

And After:

Right now the frames are in our storage room, but when the front hallway is finished they'll go back up.  These are pictures of  the kids and their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins!

Tasty Tuesday

Back in the swing of things....  Today feels like Monday!

I missed my walk yesterday, but did a lot of digging to remove the sod for our garden, so that counts, right? It's misting today and I thought I might go for a walk later, but decided to get my raincoat and rainboots on and go anyway. It was a nice walk.  Fun to wear rainboots since my walking shoes are starting to hurt the little toes on my left foot. Mama needs a new pair of shoes! :-)

This week's meal plan:

• Mon- Whole Wheat Rotini, Lentil Veggie Balls  (Natural Healing April/May 2012, Krispy Kale
• Tues- Pan-fried haddock, green beans, quinoa
• Wed-Sesame Stir-Fried Lentils and Veggies (All about Vegetarian Cooking pg 86)
• Thurs-Chicken & Potato Hash Cakes Roast Chicken, Mashed potatoes
• Fri-Pizza
• Sat- Slow Cooker Chili (use frozen beans)
• Sun- Frittata

Last year's meal plan:

• Mon-Pizza
• Tues-Tuna, Ramen
• Wed-Trout
• Thurs- JC Pasta outside (not sure what JC means??)
• Fri- Leftovers
• Sat- Milligan's Wharf Restaurant
• Sun- ?

:-)

Victoria Day

Today is Victoria Day, so it's a holiday- no school for kids or work for HH!  It feels like Sunday!

This weekend, we got a few little things done.

Here's the progress on the chair:

I need to buy some coverable buttons in Charlottetown to finish the back, but I'm pretty pleased with the results so far!  Here's how it started out.

It was nice weather-wise so we got a bit of outside work done.

Here's how the side of the trailer looked at the end of April.

Here's how it looked yesterday. I transplanted 4 hostas and another plant from the wild flower garden behind HH's office.

In the side yard, we've had a hump of dirt for years. What's left of it is in the back right, in front of the plywood leaning in front of the fence.

Here's a picture from our kitchen window.  The hump is almost gone! 

Here's a close-up of the trellis which is on the right-hand side of the above pic.  I transplanted some bulb plants from the old trailer garden.  There is a clematis plant that will grow up on the trellis.

The clematis came from this part of the yard.

   We moved some of the dirt from the hump to the firepit. Here's a picture in April

 and one this morning.  We had to cut the grass for the first time this year yesterday. Doesn't it look so nice and green?

Here is the new placement for the walkway to the trailer.  You can see the old path on the left. It got filled in with dirt from the hump.

There is lots of outside gardening to do!  Along with all the inside stuff! Should make for a busy week. :-)

Wingback Chair

It's still cloudy today, but at least I went for a walk so I'm feeling a bit more energized. :-)

So, here's where I left off yesterday.

Wednesday night I tore off the rest of the upholstery and was left with that! What had I gotten myself into?

Yesterday, I pretty much worked all day on it.  I used the old material for a pattern and cut out all my pieces.  I didn't really take many pictures.  I tend to not cut my fabric enough (I like big pieces!) so I tried to really cut the pieces the correct size, but I'm afraid the fabric for the bottom cushion is too small! Luckily, I have extra and I planned on making a cushion for another chair anyway!  I think the rest of the pieces are fine though, except maybe the top which I'm changing from the original. I'll have to double check that.

I had to sew piping for the first time ever!  I found a good tutorial which I watched along with some of her other ones.  I removed all the piping from the chair so I just reused it!  It was pretty easy since I have a zipper foot for the sewing machine. Once I sewed all the piping, I just used the old fabric pieces again for a pattern and laid the piping sorta on top of the new fabric and pinned it in place. Then I sewed it on! 

I had to re-do one of the front arm pieces.  I pinned them inside out (upside down?) on the opposite arm. For the first piece I sewed the piping to the bigger arm piece then I attached the front piece sorta upside down.  But that made the bottom part of the arm piece look backwards (if you really look closely.) So, for the second, I sewed on the front arm piece and then sewed that upside down to the bigger arm piece. This is the one I had to redo, since I couldn't really see what I was sewing and I don't have "normal" seam allowances.  (I don't really like to measure ;-)! )  I think it looks ok, although I may run another seam across on both of the front arms.

 I hadn't really realized there was so much sewing in upholstery. It makes me think I should just do a slipcover.  But I've already removed the old fabric (Plus I have a "autumn" slipcover already.)  Now it should come together pretty quickly. I'm ok with all the stapling, and I have to figure out how to sew the upholstery to other pieces when they're on the chair. I borrowed a nice round needle from my MIL so I should be all right!

 I also have to really think about the bottom cushion. I cut the pieces to go around the zipper, but they're too narrow. I didn't really measure and it turned out my pieces were crooked. When I ironed them (which I also don't like to do), I found out, but decided to go ahead and sew 'em on anyway.  So, I'll have to redo that.  

I've made lotsa cushions (I redid our couch) and did a pretty good job on them, once I figured out that size matters! My top cushions are a bit crazy b/c I thought since they are "slouchy" cushions, it wouldn't matter if they were square! Well, it matters! Plus, one cushion insert is way smaller than the other 2(how did that happen? I think it was from the middle of our old red couch and it got leaned on more). Anyway, the cover is also smaller. I really should re-do that one...

So much work to do, so little time!  This weekend is a long one (Victoria Day is Monday) so I might not post again until Tuesday! :-)

Target Stool and Chevron Rug

It's a blah day today. Rainy, so I didn't have a walk. And I think I may have gotten in over my head!

At least I've got dinner already cooking in the slow cooker, though!

Here's a little stool I painted.

Here's how it looked before:

We got this stool after seeing it at my middle brother's house many years ago. He and his wife are both architects and very stylish. 

For a while we had 3 stools, 2 light and one dark.  Plus we got shelf brackets from Ikea which are very similar to the legs and we cut out round circles of plywood to have round shelves. It was quite nice for a  while.  Here's a picture right after DD was born in 2005. My mom is holding her. You can see the little round shelf on the right above the guitar and some more round stools on the left.  (This is the old front room, where the new hallway will be!)

So, the stool was old and scratched and needed an ombre makeover!

First, I lightly sanded, then primed with Zinsser water based primer.  After letting it drying overnight, I painted the top and part of the legs pale blue (from Restore) and the bottom part turquoise (from a tester).  It dried overnight again and I repeated.  Then I painted the middle part blue (from Restore again, same as the Dresser and inside the bathroom cabinet), with "fade marks" on the top and bottom.  This needed another coat of paint. I let it cure for 7 days.  Then I put it by the front door and it got dinged, so I put a coat of wax on it.  

The chevron rug was easy.  I just taped off the design and painted with the turquoise paint. I think I should've done a different design, though, so it doesn't look like there's an "X" in the middle. 

Right now, I'm not even sure where those 2 pieces are.... Our house is in such dissarray...

Ok, off to make some progress on something!  :-)

Back Room Finishing Touches

Mornin! It's Friday!

(Ooops! This was supposed to be posted Friday, May 10, but I guess I forgot! Here it is now!)

This week I did a lot of finishing work, mostly in the back room. I extended the white semi-gloss paint over all the windows so they look to be the same height as the doors.

I trimed 5 of the bamboo blinds with the big miter saw.  I had a bit of a mishap, when I didn't remove the liner from the blind and the saw blade caught in it! Whew! That was a scare!  I hadn't thought the liner would be in the way, but it was, so I removed it and finished cutting. A few slats were broken, but they are hidden by the top curtain. 

I also finished the blind liners.

I had material I got in Cobourg, ON (where HH's sister lives) many years ago. We used it to drape over a cedar bench HH built that we used in our living room for a love-seat.  Now that I've gotten a couple "new" chairs, we put the bench outside w/o it's cloth cover!  Anyway, I had this material that I thought would be great for a blind liner. I'd already sewn 2 liners, and had  6 more to go. I ended up just cutting the fabric to fit with no hemming! I figure, it looks fine as is and won't be washed much (or ever ;-)) so it's good to go! 

I sewed the liners on with 3 stitches at the top and 2 at the bottom.  I had to do one over b/c I did it with the liner on the outside. And another, for the back door, b/c I attached it too tight and the blind wouldn't go all the way down. This was quite a disappointment b/c I had trimmed the top a good 6 inches and it was too short. Luckily, the bottom was hemmed with quite a large foldover, so I undid the hem (while watching "Glee") and re-attached it.

As I put each blind back up, I hotglued the window treatment to the drywall screws that hold up the blinds. Still not exactly sure how I'll finish those up... I'll probably just leave them as is for a while. :-)

Now, I have one more window to finish and the side door. I have enough material to sew together a liner for the window, but then I'm out of fabric for the door.  I went looking in my fabric bin and found the curtain with the people on it, that matches the window treatments. I temporarily hung it on the door. Here's how it looks from the outside.  

It's an ok look, b/c this door is in the breezeway, and is different.

I have 2 curtain panels so I tried the other on the back door. (If I used this on the back door, I could take the liner from it and use it on the last window, instead of using 2 pieces of fabric sewn together with a vertical seam running down the middle.) Here's how it looks.

I'm not sure I like it... Here's a pic with the plain liner.

Yeah, I think I like this one.   I do enjoy having the liner on the side door.  Before, I'd have to hang my bathrobe over the door at night to block the outside light when I was going to sleep!

Another project I worked on this week, was the baseboards for the back room.  I'd bought 1x6's a few months ago and finally got around to finishing them.  I read about coping, and realized with just using straight boards, I wouldn't have to miter cut them at a 45deg angle. I could just butt them up against each other.  So, I did. I still need to actually attach them to the wall and caulk....

 I don't like using the big saw to cut angles like that.  By not doing the corners I would only have to cut 5 angles to go against the doors. (I already had one cut for the side door for a total of 6.), instead of  13!  

Once I got all the boards cut and set off the fire alarm from the hot smoking wood! I lined them all up in the front room

  and primed with the BIN shellac primer.

Then, after 45 minutes, I painted them semi-gloss white and put them where they're supposed to go. Here's one by the back door with the angle cut.

I can go ahead and attach 6 boards and do the caulking.  But I have to leave 3 to finish later.  One on the right of the side door b/c it still needs to be leveled. And 2 on the wall to the kitchen b/c we need to widen out the doorway there.  I also notice when looking at the pic above, I need to find a little piece of molding to go under the back door. :-)

Oh, and one more thing! I finished painting DS's door! Yay! I feel like this was a pretty busy week with a lot of little projects. HH is working on the front room (our bedroom) so hopefully when that's done and DD's room is done we can just move our living room into the finished back room. 

Here's what still needs to be done:

1. Attach baseboards, 
2. Caulk baseboards
3. Attach moulding under back door.
4. Level, square up side door.
5. Attach trim to side door (after #3)
6. Widen doorway to kitchen (probably way in future)
7. Touch-up paint on floor
8. Eventually install crown moulding

Um, I think that's it.  Well, the chair also needs to be re-covered, but I think that's it!! :-)