Before: A 1980's Beach House & Busy

Friends, it has been nine months since I've written anything for this blog! 

The past three years have really done a number on me and I have often wondered if anyone even cares about little things like making a home comfortable and pretty. It seems so trivial to me at times to even consider it in light of the problems of the world so I have allowed it all to keep me quiet... at least through this medium. I've talked to you about these things before here. 

God, however has given me other avenues to express myself. More about that later. Today I will just talk about one of those avenues. 

I took on a big project last fall.  A friend of mine purchased a beautiful, albeit dated (think 1980's) home on the ocean . The home is entered from the side. Upon opening the door the visitor was met with a long hall that spanned more than half the width of the house before being forced to turn left of right. A right turn would then reveal the ocean view. This is noting short of tragic in my opinion! 

The kitchen had only one entrance and was a U-shaped layout. If someone had the fridge, oven or dishwasher open you're trapped. There was a cutout on the left so that you could at least see the view. 

These photos were pulled from the original listing:

                                                                                                                  this is the hall way ^^^

                                                                                           behind those doors was the washer & dryer

Not bad, right? But it was dated and other than the view doesn't really feel beachy to me. 

The winter allowed for much planning time while we waited for work to begin. Contractors have their hands full as the force ages out and not many young ones are wanting to do this type of work. Thankfully, timing and scheduling worked well together on this project. The lag time before beginning allowed for many items to be ordered and stored so they were on sight when the project got underway.

Work to be done:

My main problem with the layout was that if I am at a beach house I want to see the beach! I don't want to be greeted by a long, dark hallway, like a ships hull-I WANT OCEAN! 

Solution: Cut an entrance into the kitchen right next to the main door so you walk in the door and see the sea. 

The next problem is that they are a family of seven and that kitchen was not going to cut it. They needed options. You can't trap people nor leave it that only one person at a time can comfortably work in there. 

Solution: Take down walls and reconfigure the kitchen. 

Full disclosure here-I am not a trained designer, I have no schooling, and no CAD software. I use graph paper and cutouts for furniture and cabinets! It's kind of like paper-dolls but more fun.

And demolition began! Immediately I could see opening up a door in the hallway was the right decision. What a blessing to find that there was a large support beam running the width of the house! That meant the two other walls enclosing the kitchen could come down! Drywall went up quick and it was looking good! 

Well, as it turned out, that beam was not spanning the entire width of the house, it was cut in two, supported by a post in the corner of the wall. A little configuring with the cabinet maker, the contractor, the owner and myself and we ended up incorporating it into what will be an unconventionally shaped  island. 

The sliders all had to be replaced as the seals were broken. We thought we wanted the ones with the blinds inside but that took up several inches of the view! That was NOT the effect we wanted!  

^^^ new slider(bad!)                 ^^^old slider                        ^^^old slider       

Can you see what we were loosing of the view? Plus they were smaller than the original and fixing the wood walls would have been a nightmare. The size we needed to fill the existing openings wasn't available, smaller wouldn't work. The husband took one look at the new slider and said we could go bigger! Whew! 

So, we went bigger! But you don't get to see that yet!

The downstairs, main floor, has two bedrooms with bunkbeds, a full bath, kitchen, living room, and dining room with a large deck facing the ocean. Upstairs in the master bath and bedroom. For this project we are focusing on the downstairs. 

The bathroom is getting a facelift...

So this was the beginning. The next post  will show you how it turned out. From the start of demo to the last photos took about three and a half months. 

I  did tell you I have other things going on that have been keeping me busy, right? So here's what's been going on...  

I got to speak at a women's conference in May about our steadfast God. We were expecting thirty-five women but prepared for fifty. "Who knows what God will do", my optimistic side quipped! Well, He shut my mouth when we had to scramble to find seating for another ten! It is so encouraging to see that so many women find encouragement and rest in the teaching of God's Word, especially in times like these.

But that's not all that is going on...

My youngest daughter got engaged to a sweet young man the day after Christmas! She completed an intense one year nursing program last month and is getting married next month and moving south, as he is in the military. There has been much joy intermingled with reflection, tears, new friends, old friends and new family members.

In a nutshell I haven't been writing much because we have found it essential to do life face to face, intentional, and practicing the "one anothers". 

I promise all the after photos in the next post! Stayed tuned, this is just the beginning! 

Coastal-Junk-French Country-Cottage-Dumpster Diving-Chic-With-A-Nod-To-Traditional

While I linger a while longer in with my summer decor (aka:drag my feet about decorating for autumn) I thought I should find something to write about. As I linked up my last post to my favorite parties I kept seeing new and different things. My familiar blog inspirations had gotten a bit of updating, header changes, ect. Boy! I can't manage to change my dining table flowers and everybody else in blogland is bustin' out mega changes. I have seen lists of upcoming Fall Home Tour parties and I am thinking maybe next year if I pretend I am a part of one of those it may motivate me to get moving! I tell myself that I am just waiting to see what everyone else has done and then I can grab ideas from them!

Since I have nothing in my home worthy of a post this week I decided to share a couple of projects from the past! (...and a bit of blah, blah, blah.)

I have learned two things about my decorating style. (Yes, there are more than two things but I am talking about just two today.)

#1) My decorating taste buds are constantly changing. At one time I was all about Southwest decorating with two big paintings of Native Americans, a woven blanket over the couch and some macrame’ tree-of-life wall hangy thing. Then the late 80’s-early 90’s ushered in the Wedgewood blue, country geese and all things mauve. Scary. Home Interior parties (remember them) were my source of inspiration and my mom had a knack making her home look just like the magazines. I followed her lead right into the Americana/Primitives stage.Today, there is little left of those early decorating days. I don’t know if Coastal-Junk-French Country-Cottage-Dumpster Diving-Chic-With-A-Nod-To-Traditional is a style but I think that just may be what I am….. for now.

Then, one day and out the blue I decided to strip a dresser that had been a hand-me-down and, with the help of Mister, we refinished it. I have not looked back.

#2) I love a bargain. I don’t need to buy everything new. There is plenty of quality furniture out there to repurpose and recycle. That knowledge and the love of a challenge has led to a wealth of decorating inspiration.

One day I found a vanity! Yes, I did. It was on the side of the road; a cast off from an auction held at the church across the street from me. FREE! It had no mirror but seemed stable enough so I commandeered my daughter to help me carry it home. I washed it down with TSP and water but it still did not smell good. I sprayed it with vinegar and water and allowed it sit outside a few days in the sun. That did the trick. A fresh coat of paint and ta-da!

 

The chair was a set of two and was purchased on Craigslist and I painted it for one of the girls. I saw a picture in a magazine many years ago of a painted chair . I liked it so much that I tore the picture out (pre-Pinterest era) and kept it for future reference-that was the inspiration for this little chair. My girls are getting older and neither of them wanted it anymore....something about it being too juvenile. So, their cast off became my vanity chair.

Sorry about the ugly cords.

The next “vanity” I made from an old tea cart my neighbor was getting rid of. Cost to me...$0!  It is metal and had some rust issues. I sanded down the bad parts, washed it up, let it dry and gave it a coat of Rustoleum in gloss black. The glass top was cleaned up. I painted on the underside and put some shelf liner over a piece of plywood cut to the same dimensions as the glass and put it all back in. It became the perfect vanity for my daughter’s Paris Pink bedroom. A new life and a facelift for something ready to be discarded-my favorite type of makeover.

What girl doesn’t love a designated place to keep their make-up, hair pretties and perfumes!

The dresser is a Freecycle item! The chair is the 2nd chair to my Craigslist purchase above. The artwork was made from scrapbook paper, ribbon and thrift store frames painted with the leftover Rustoleum gloss black. I made the curtains using a large piece of sketch paper as my pattern. I drew out the design, cut two pieces in different fabrics. This fabric is thin cotton so I had to add a black out liner so the patterns wouldn't show through. Of course, a little ball fringe was needed as the cherry on top! They are reversible! The chandelier was a Home Goods cast off that I got discounted because some of the bling was detached. Never hurts to ask! I fixed the 'crystals' with a set of needle nosed pliers and it was as good as new-but a few dollars less than than the price of new!

This next picture is a little blurry-sorry about that. I would go in and take another but this was a while ago and I have not seen the room this clean since these pictures were taken! (My girl is going to hate that I said that.) The bed is from Ikea but I bought it on Craigslist for a fraction of the price.

There, now I am feeling a little motivated...maybe. How about you? I do have another vanity down in the basement just waiting to be loved. Wait, I haven't decorated for fall yet.

It's In The Bag

Warmer days have my mind dreaming of various fairs and yard sales and days on the beach. I know there are big and little junk treasures just waiting for me to pick them up. You can never have enough bags for your treasures when you head to Vintage Thymes or Brimfield or The Vintage Bazaar.

Last year I had seen a lot of cute bags on Pinterest and in a couple shops that I frequent. I wanted something that was large enough to take shopping with me that could hold my phone, wallet and still have plenty of room for those must haves but I just did not want to spend the money on something that I would have to be careful with. I wanted something that could take a beating, get thrown into the wash and go again but I also wanted it to be cute. This is what I came up with:

I used some material in my stash. I used a left-over cotton canvas I had used to make a slip cover with many years ago but I think I could also use a drop cloth or really anything you have. Either way it was not an expensive piece of fabric. I had gotten it for $1 a yard when my Walmart used to sell fabric. For the lining I used a piece of cotton muslin I had in my stash. I'm not the only one who holds onto fabric scraps "just in case", am I?

I used a piece of paper to cut a square pattern (approx 17" x 17") that would become the sides and lining of the bag. With the pattern I cut two pieces of the canvas and two pieces of the lining material.

I then folded the pattern in half and used it to cut two strips of canvas one and a half times the original length. (approx 8 1/2" x 25 1/2")

Inside the bag I need a couple pockets to keep my "stuffs". I cut another piece of paper to determine how big I needed it. I folded it here and there and came up with what I thought would work best. I cut two pieces of lining material; approximately 10" x 8". In these pictures my pattern was 5" x 8" and I cut it on the fold line so it was double thickness.

Pocket piece

Finally, I figured how long I wanted the strap to be by measuring where I wanted the bag to hang on me. I wanted it low on my hip when I wear it cross-body. I cut my fabric to about 40" x 3". 

Time to sew! First, fold and iron 1/2 inch in on either side of the length of strap piece. Fold in half and iron flat. Now sew length closed close to the open edge. I used the pressure foot as my allowance guide. This gives you a stitch line that is visible. I could have sewn it and turned it inside out then pressed it so that stitching did not show but the fabric is thicker and I did not relish the idea of trying to turn out a strip of fabric 40" long!

Next, I worked on the pockets. Fold the pieces in half so they now measure 5" x 8", right sides together.(It doesn't matter with muslin.) Iron flat. Sew with 1/2 inch seam allowance leaving a 2" opening. Clip corners. Turn inside out and iron flat.   When sewn onto lining the hole will be at the bottom of the pocket and closed up with top stitching.

Place pockets on the right sides of lining, approximately 1/3 down from the top. Pin pockets in place. Top stitch close to edges (again using edge of pressure foot as seam  allowance guide), leaving the top opened. Make sure to back stitch when starting and stopping. On one pocket I then sewed down the middle making two smaller side-by-side pockets that are now out 3" x 5.

Two-pocket pocket

Place muslin pieces, pocket sides together. Sew sides and bottom, Iron seams open. Set aside.

And here is where I dropped the ball in the photo area. Just read the directions carefully if you want to try this. Sorry.

The longer strips of canvas (8 1/2 x 25 1/2) will be the ruffles for the bag. With the canvas I wanted a raw edge that would fray a bit so I did not turn this under and give them a finished edge. I did top stitch the bottom of the ruffle about 5/8" from edge. This will keep it from unraveling too much in the laundry.

Do this step with both ruffles. At this point I purposely unraveled some threads to make the edges look frayed. Next, sew along the top of the ruffle using an extra long stitch. Pull the bottom thread to gather your ruffle so that the finished ruffle measures  the width of the bag; in my case 17". Do the same on the 2nd ruffle.

Grab one canvas square and place your ruffles. The bottom ruffle I placed even with the bottom edge (my bottom ruffle will hang slightly below bottom of bag when finished) and pinned it in place.Reset your stitch back to normal. Pin across the top of the ruffle and sew in place from the right side leaving about a 5/8" edge for fraying later. (I sewed two rows side by side at the top of each ruffle.) Place your 2nd ruffle overlapping the first by 2" or so. Pin in place and sew.

Grab 2nd piece of canvas and right sides together. Be sure to catch the sides of your ruffles into the seam but making sure to keep the rest of the ruffle gathered toward center and out of the way of seams. Pin in place along sides and bottom. Sew with 5/8" seam allowance.  Trim corners. Iron seams open

Now it gets tricky and this is usually where I mess up. Leave canvas inside out. Pin the strap to the inside of bag.  Sew in place at 5/8". REMOVE PINS. (from experience, you do not want to forget this move.) Leave the strap inside the bag.  

Place lining, turned right-side out into canvas, which is still inside out. This will leave the two right-sides (canvas and  lining) touching. Pin in place. Sew around top of bag leaving a 4" opening. Turn right-side out and press flat. Top stitch around top of bag.

On my bag I added a flower. I used some scrap canvas and some material from an old sweater and made a "flower". I cut a length of fabric approximately 3feet by 2". I baste-stitched  one edge and I used the stitch to gather the material as in the ruffles. I rolled the gathered cloth onto itself in a spiral, stitching it in place as I rolled. I hot-glued, then stitched for extra measure a pin to the back so that I can remove it before washing. 

It is perfect for what I wanted! I love it and have used it many times in shopping. Also great for a trip to the beach, farmers market, ect.  I made another for one of my girls but used a light weight cotton and muslin and made it a little smaller for her, 15 x15". I also doubled the width of each ruffle for a little more frill. She did not want a big flower on hers. What!?!?!


This is my bag a year later. It has been washed several times and still looks great. This weekend it will be used for the thing it was intended as we head to the Brimfield Antique Show. The ladies from Vintage Thymes and Vintage Bazaar have booths there and I will be sure to find them and there are plenty of new friends to make along the way! If you are headed there tell the ladies you heard about them here! Happy sewing, treasure hunting, or what ever you planned for this weekend!

Linking Up:
Lambert's Lately, Common Ground,From My Front Porch To Yours, Shoe String Elegance French Country Cottage, The Shabby Nest, Chic On A Shoestring, Dictator, Whipperberry, My Romantic Home, DIY Village, DIY Vintage Chic, Imparting Grace, Too , Much Time On My Hands, AKA Design, Snazzy Little Things, My Repurposed Life, The Charm of Home, Pieced Pastimes, DIY Showoff, Dwellings-The Heart of Your Home, Sew Can Do, I Should Be Mopping The Floor, Karen's Up On The Hill, The Dedicated House, Creatively Living, A Bright and Beautiful Life, Cedar Hill Farmhouse, Coastal Charm, Flamingo Toes, Skip To My Lou, Huckleberry Love, Sand and Sisal, The Stitchin Mommy, A Stroll Through Life, Elizabeth and Co.,DIY Dreamer, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Our Home Away From Home, Cozy Little House, Savvy Southern Style, The Blissful Bee, Simply Designing, DIY by Design, Crafty Allie, DIY Vintage Chic, The Cottage Market, Behind the Seams Sewing, Gingersnap Crafts, Mad In Crafts, Inside The Fox Den

,

Something Sew Small

It has taken six months or so but I finally got the kitchen window treatments completed!

I say that excitedly in type but in reality it does seem more like a statement followed by a less than enthusiastic sigh. It was not a difficult task per se and yet it has taken all this time! I can procrastinate like it's nobody's business.

The kitchen gets sun in the morning from the southeast streaming through the back door and window next to it. In the afternoon we have to wait until the sun moves around to the other side of the house. We don't get good natural light until late in the afternoon. For these reasons I really don't want to cover the windows much. A "dream home" for me would be one where no window treatments were needed at all.... like this:

Source

Source

I knew I wanted to mount the treatments high enough to just cover the window frame at the top but not obscure the light. I wanted them clean looking. The hardware needed to be simple. When shopping I realized that curtain rods would be a major problem, especially at the window adjacent to the back door. The old window treatments were on spring rods fixed inside the window frames so I never gave it a thought before now. Come to think of it, maybe that is why I had done spring rods before-I really can't remember.

The window frame almost touches the bathroom door frame. No room for
a curtain rod.

I really want extra colors in the kitchen to come from accent pieces leaving the foundation neutral. I also wanted something that could be washed. I looked at several semi-custom valances to buy but all of them were dry-clean only. I have a smaller kitchen and grease, smells, ect. need to be washed away occasionally. And, well, we're messy. I realized I was going to have to bust out my sewing machine partly because I wanted something I could launder that still looked nice and partly because I was too cheap to pay what they wanted in the stores. Let me preface the rest of this post by saying I am not a seamstress. I can sew straight lines....sometimes. (I use dressmakers chalk or washable quilting pens and draw on my fabric sometimes if a straight line is proving too difficult.) I found a fabric that I thought worked well with the wall color.  This is what I settled on. I had a Groupon coupon that I used to purchase my fabric making it very affordable!

I scoured the internet and found the shape of the valances I wanted. I did end up modifying it a bit.

Source
This was my inspiration.

I measured the windows (width including the window molding) and went to work. The three windows were roughly the same, give or take an inch, or so and I adjusted for that on each valance as needed. I took some craft paper and drew out my pattern based on the smallest window making sure to leave enough for a 5/8" seam allowance. I also added 31/2" to either end for the wrap around. Each valance will have a return on both sides back to the wall to cover the mounting board. Before cutting the pattern out I folded my paper in half  to be sure that the pattern was perfectly symmetrical.  I pinned my pattern to the fabric and cut out my piece then cut out a piece for the lining. Right sides together, I sewed the pieces leaving room open at the top to turn it right-side out. I clipped my corners and notched the curves so that everything would lay flat. Once that was completed I turned it right-side out and ironed it smooth. At the very top I sewed the loop part of hook-and-loop tape to the lining side of my valance closing up the opening I used to turn it out. I did not want to put the hook side of the tape on the curtain for fear that it could catch on the fabric and pull it when I wash them.


 I did one at a time which turned out to be a very smart move because I pulled a major rookie mistake.  I am working with a geometric pattern and I did not take that into account while cutting my fabric as I was excited to just get going on this. When all was said and done, sewing, mounting, ect. THEN I noticed my pattern was off. Ugh! I know better than that!

Can you see the pattern at the top and the bottom! It still makes me mad!

Well, that took the wind out of my sails.....for weeks. Christmas was on the way and I did not have time for these things, I told myself, so it got put aside. Queen of procrastination. You could catch glimpse of it here in a photo from my Christmas post:

I eventually made it back and completed my oh so delayed mission.

To mount the valances I cut pieces of 1x3 to extend 1/2" on either side of my window molding. I wrapped each piece in the white lining fabric I had used on the valances and secured the fabric with a staple gun. I then used a staple gun to attach the hook part of the hook-and-loop tape to the edge of three sides of the wood.

 I used L-brackets to secure the wood above each window.

You can see the hook-and-loop already attached.

Once the board was secure I put up the valance. Here is where that extra amount of fabric on the ends was important because of the wrap-around effect on the ends of the wood.

Pay no attention to my yet unfinished island.... another project waiting...

I did remake a valance for the window next to the back door. I thought originally that I would dress the window on the door but can't figure out what to do there.

I think it would look odd right next to the window and the height it would have to be mounted at on the door is an issue. For now I am not going to dress it at all. This project wasn't so hard but did require I pay close attention to the pattern. A small floral pattern or solid material would have removed that level of difficulty but where is the fun in that? All-in-all I am pleased with the overall project and glad finally have that off my to-do list.

There are other projects waiting.....


Linked up to: Imparting Grace
                       French Country Cottage
                       The Shabby Nest
                       Chic On A Shoestring
                       To Much Time On My Hands
                       Cedar Hill Farmhouse
                       Savvy Southern Style
                        Lamberts Lately
                       Someday Crafts
                       The Blissful Bee
                       Coastal Charm
                       Nifty Thrifty Things
                       Tatertots and Jello
                        Romantic Home
                        The Girl Creative
                       Sand and Sisal

Woot! Woot! I've been featured at:

 and at A Stroll Through Life