Burlap

My latest and most favorite?  Burlap!  Earlier in the summer, I fell in love with this rug from Urban Outfitters.

I knew I would never be able to afford but it didn't look too hard to make.  I decided to practice on a pillow before taking on such a big project.

Here's how it turned out.  Amazing!!  I was so pleased with the outcome.  I used burlap as the pillow and osnaburg as the embellishment. I love how it turned out!

I loved it so much, I could stop at just one burlap pillow.

A couple of weeks ago, Shelbie did a photo shoot for engagements of a couple who wanted a 'country' look.  I decided to make big burlap pillows that they could throw down in a grassy field as a prop for their pics.  They turned out fun too. 

I am seriously considering burlap as the fabric for my new living room curtains.  It could be fun!

Green with envy

Last time, on our color psychology series, we talked about the color grey.  I don't know about you but grey is still one of my favorite colors.  In fact, I'm sewing a grey dress as my latest project and I'm really excited about it. 

Anyways, today is all about green.  Green is probably the most adored color.  Few people have an aversion to green in some shade and form.  Think about the phrase "Green with envy".  It usually means we are feeling 'less than' because of something someone else has.  We see them as 'better' than us because of what they have or who they represent to us.

The most popular connection we have to green is money!  Green represents value. Psychologically speaking, a person choosing green as their favorite color wants to be valued.  They have a need impress others, and wants to be recognized for who they are and what they can offer.  The color expresses itself as perseverance and tenacity.  It is proud, rooted and unchanging. 

Sometimes green can be a longing for improved conditions such as better health or a more useful life.

Physically speaking, green corresponds to the smooth, involuntary muscles.  Sometimes, if you find yourself choosing green when you have never really been that drawn to it before, it can mean you are suffering with digestive problems or ulcers which are generally born out of worry. 

Have you ever noticed that products we use to make us look better, younger, are often packaged in green?  Take a look at the beauty aisle next time, a lot of the packaging, especially packaging for cleansers, age fighting things are green.  Could it be that looking good improves our perceived value?  Interesting how advertisers and marketers use color to their advantage. 

In all the medical facilities I have designed and doctors I have worked with, I  have observed that a doctor either loves green or hates green.  There is no middle shade they will settle on.  I have also found that the younger the doctor, the more they love green.  Perhaps because it is a time in their life when they are trying to find their place, their 'value' in the medical field.  The older, more established doctors tend to dislike green.  They have already proven themselves to their peers and are valued because of what they have accomplished. 

I think the same holds true for just the regular joe like you and me.  People in their 20's and 30's generally love the color green.  They are becoming established, proving themselves, needing and wanting to make money, lots of money and aquiring possessions.  By the time we reach our mid 40's and beyond, we are usually over the intense periods of personal growth.  Life becomes deeper and the meaning of it changes some. 

In my own life, when I got divorced, I fell in love with green.  Not just any green but a bright and vibrant, celery green.  Once I found my 'place' in my new life, I despised the color and couldn't wait to repaint everything I had touched with that green. 

Color is interesting... it tells alot about a person and their life....What is your favorite color?

Water stains

Last night at dinner, I haphazardly put a hot lasagna pan on my lovely kitchen table.  I had set it on a dish towel but didn't realize that the dish towel was slightly damp.  When I cleared the table, this is what I found.

I was horrified!  I hoped that I could just walk away, let it sit and when I came back it would be magically gone.... no such luck.  I scoured the internet for hints of how to remove the stain.  Several sites suggested mayo.  So, I slathered the table in mayo.

I actually did the mayo trick twice.  Each time I let it sit for 20 min but this was the best I could get it.

I was still not happy with the results and the longer it sat after I cleaned it up, the whole stain eventually came back. 

This morning, I looked for more ideas and one said to place a hot iron over a cotton cloth placed directly over the stain.  I had more doubts about this than mayo.   I spent a good hour, ironing my table...what do you think the outcome was?

It was AMAZING!!!  The stain is totally gone!  I couldn't believe my eyes and actually expected the stain to fade back in through the day but it still looks great! 

I am so relieved.  That would have been sad to have such a horrible stain in the middle of my table.   Apparently this can work no matter how old the stain is. 

So, now you know....

Repurposing

Tonight, I am going to be 'teaching' a little class on repurposing.  Mostly repurposing clothes but I am going to throw in a few little home projects that I have been working on as well.  In keeping with the upcycling track I am on these days, here is a little tutorial on refinishing bookshelves.

I bought some pretty nice bookshelves from my friend who passed away.  She had these nice shelves that were pretty narrow in depth which is what I was looking for.  The scale was perfect but I didn't care for the color or wood grain.

So, first step, sanding.  You don't have to sand long and hard, just enough to take the sheen off.  You can see from the picture below, the roughed up shelves. 

The next step is the stain blocking primer.  I did just one coat on these shelves and it worked out fine

After the primer is dry, start with your finish coat.  I mixed my own custom color from cans of paint I already had laying around.  It saved me from having to go out and buy an entire quart of new paint.  One thing to remember when mixing your own colors, mix enough because if you run out, it will be really hard to get the exact shade again.  I had no problems on this project but it's happened before

After applying a couple of coats, let the piece dry.  These shelves looked really nice like this but they were a little 'flat' looking for what I wanted so I did a walnut stain wash over the entire piece.  It gave it a richness you can't otherwise achieve. 

As you can see, I live on the edge...staining on my bedroom carpet but you may want to make sure you completely protect the surfaces you are painting on.  Rubbing the stain in is easy but does take a little practice to get your technique down.  You can't see from these pictures, but I let the stain pool a bit in the edges of the trim and along the corners.  It adds to the aged look.

Painting old pieces is a great and inexpensive way to dress up something old and make it new again.  I think these pieces must have been through the flood because they were pretty musty smelling.  The fresh paint took care of that too. 

The Transformation

So, here is the transformation of my bedroom.  The last post was all about the mess I was in, this post is how I cleaned all that mess up.  Remember the cluttered closet full of books?  This is what that little closet looks like now.  It's my computer closet! 

 I know, it looks a little tight but we love it!  When we are through using it, we just shut the door, mess gone!  It also means, strangers don't have to be wandering in and out of my bedroom.  I just need to get a keyboard tray so it can be mounted below that shelf but that's it.  It has been a functional move.  Have you ever noticed how space is an awful lot like time and money?  If there is extra space, we fill it...but usually with junk.  That big computer desk was just a clutter collector.

What became of the books piled high on my bed...I'll get to that.  For now, this is the bed.  Still a lot of work to be done here.  Paint would be the next logical step but I am hunting down some new bedding.  I am so sick of the brown sueded comforter.  The pink sheets are an improvement from the red but they make me want to get sick.  Pink is just not my color but they will do for now.  Both sets of sheets are over 6 years old and that's old when they were so cheap to start with. 

Here is the wall where the coputer desk use to be.  Now it is home to my books!  I love this corner of my room and spend more time than I thought I would.  My books are finally organized!  I have sat down to read books I forgot I had.  I love it.  The chair is an old, old chair I inherited from my Grandma.  It's pretty comfy and though hard to see in the photo, it has threads of the most beautiful shade of blue so I think that will become my accent color.

I have a word to say about bookshelves.  Ideally, bookshelves look really nice when merchandised with accessories rather than wall to wall books.  In my case, these shelves really need to be more functional than beautiful because I have so many books and these are the only shelves I own.  For me, this works.  I love, love books! 

Well, I bet you're wondering what became of the old door I had used as my computer desk?  That door was an old one I found in a house that was being demolished some time ago.  The house was built in the mid 1900's so it was a great find.  I dragged that door home, enhanced the old beauty of it.  I hated to get rid of it altogether so I cut it up and built me a coffee table!  I love the way it turned out!  I kept the old worn edges.  It really helps to anchor the room.

The Cobbler

You would think that a designer would have a spectacular home.  Some do have awesome, well designed, showcase homes.  I, on the otherhand, do not.  I'm kind of like that joke about the Cobbler whose children go to school without any shoes. 

I'm the designer whose house is definitely 'cobbled' together.  I had less than three weeks to buy a house, furnish the entire house and do it all with hardly any money.  My entire savings went towards the down payment.  There are very few things I enjoy about this house but it doesn't appear we are getting out of here anytime soon so we are trying to make the best of it and turn it into a place we call, HOME.

The space planning for starters, leaves a lot to be desired.  I don't like homes that don't adequately house all the tasks that take place.  For instance, we have no place for an office so my bedroom became the computer, catch all place.  No wonder I couldn't sleep at night.  The last thing I see before closing my eyes are bills to be paid and they are also the first thing I see when I wake up.  No matter how hard I tried to keep it clean, it always felt cluttered.

 Not only that, when Shelbie would bring clients over to look at photos she had taken of them, they used my room as their meeting place.  The same would happen when I had people that I needed computer access to show them projects as well.  It just wasn't professional.

 This is another problem in my home.  I own no bookshelves so this closet became my book storage.  Nice eh?  I was so disgusted by the organization of this, I tried to avoid it, hence all my great books were left to collect dust.

I started by taking all the books out of the little closet to see what I had.  I spent an entire afternoon, ripping and tearing, tossing and keeping. 

I bet your anxious to see what I did next.  Well, check back and see the final results of my bedroom 'mini' make over.  I am just about done...well it won't be done for awhile but I will reveal the improvements, next post. 

I'm back

Well, it's been awhile.  I took a little break from the design blog...in case you didn't notice.  I have been thinking about it all summer.  I have decided that the format I had planned on wasn't working for me.  In fact, it was causing me a bit of stress.  I don't want to just abandon the plan so I am going to revamp.

I will be posting a couple times a week and still highlight some of my favorite websites, home improvement projects and little tips and hints you can do around your own home.  I have done some fun projects around my house lately and will start posting some of those projects for you to see and try yourself. 

I am going to pick up with the series on color psychology I started before my hiatus because I think it is so interesting and I hope you too find it fascinating.  So, stay tuned and don't forget to leave me feedback...that's what makes a blog interesting, the interfacing and connecting you can do with people all over the world.