House Project #9: Laundry Room, Phase 2

The laundry/pantry is a small room with big doors. The door to the back room stays open most of the time since we keep the food & water for the animals out there and access the back yard and garage. The pantry doors are regular interior doors and take up most of the space when they're open. In addition, they're stained wood, and work against the creamy orange walls to make the space feel gross. I painted the same doors that are on each of the bedrooms and the bathroom, but I've been trying to come up with a solution beyond just painting for these.

I swear the builders got these doors on special. . .
every room has one, and this room has three!!

DIY Planter Chairs - A quick and easy project

The idea for chairs repurposed as outdoor planters came across my pinterest feed back in March, and like most things I pin, this idea gathered dust for a while before I decided to commit to it.

In part because annuals are on sale at most places right now, and given that I have two sets of broken-seated chairs in my garage awaiting a new life, it seemed like the perfect crafternoon activity post-work on Monday.

I had originally planned to remove the broken caning from the seats and simply drop a couple of old hanging planter pots into the openings. . . easy enough, but where's the challenge and fun in that? Not to mention that once I got the pots out and surveyed the amount of plants I had brought home, I realized that there wouldn't be quite enough space in the pots for the plants to be happy enough.

Plants!

Thing 1 and Thing 2; both seats in disrepair!

From 1970's cocktail party to 2010's winery wedding

**Update - scroll to the bottom for a picture of the dress in action!**

I've had this dress tucked away in the sewing room for about two years now. I picked it up at a secondhand clothing shop for somewhere between $2 and $5, having fallen in love with the fabric pattern. I've debated what to do with it, never quite sure if I really wanted to alter it, or leave it in its '70s glory.

love, love, love this pattern

Gifts for Little ones, Fall & Winter edition

Fall was a busy time for birthdays and birth days (I suppose it's that time of my life, when all the friends & coworkers are popping little ones out!), so here's a little round-up of five projects I managed to squeeze in between school obligations and house & yard chores. . . 

Small tote bag, with monogram, for the niece's 2nd birthday:

It was a big hit.

Pocket!

House Project #8: Doors! Phase 1

Four rooms off the main area (kitchen/living/dining/reading/mud); four ugly brown hollow core doors.

This, times 4 (or 7, if you count the two pantry doors
and the door through to the back mancave). BLECH.

I'd love to be able to full-on replace these doors, but that's not in the budget. Paint, leftover from other upgrades around the house? Definitely within the budget. I found a few ideas on the interwebs about dressing up flat doors with trim to create faux paneling but went even cheaper and painted "trim" to give the impression of paneled doors.

Step one, prime the heck out of them. Even that was loads better looking!

Christmas Cards, 2015 Edition

Coming soon to a mailbox near you!

Garden rehab & Other outdoor updates

Stick season is well underway here in the valley, and while it's been busy off and on since summer, I've still managed to get a bunch of outdoor projects done over the past five months or so. It's been quiet here on the blog, and I probably could have squeezed in a minute or two here and there to share some updates as things got done, but alas, that didn't happen.

So, please bear with me as I give a somewhat abbreviated house & yard update, in no particular order. . .

Halloween 2015!

Last year, Gwen and I managed a pretty fantastic 90s era costume. If you missed it, check it out here. This year we went more whimsical, honoring some beloved yard art.

Gala Hats, 2015 edition

I've been terrible at finding the time to sit down on a (semi)regular basis to write here, let alone do any regular crafting. Summer felt hurried and full, and the school year, as always, has been in 5th gear since day one. Even when the kids were off on their fall training trips - Alpine in Chile, Nordie's in Italy - I was still occupied with things other than crafting. That being said, I have found some time to do a little knitting, and over a few days in early September, I knit up some hats to donate to the scholarship fundraiser the ski academy holds every fall to provide financial support to some of our families.

a family of hats

Early July Blackberry Pie

I'm ashamed to admit that this blackberry pie is my first pie of the summer, back in early July.