A Halloween Costume for Claire.

So I decided to make a Halloween costume for Claire this year instead of buying one. I was planning on sewing some grand costume, when I saw this idea on Martha Stewart. All it took was a white onsie, some coffee filters and a glue gun to put together. Then I added a couple of little touches with some ribbon and fabric. All in all...I think she's going to be the cutest angel ever! We'll have to get a better pic for later, but you get the idea for now. I think I'm going to make matching wings for the dogs, so stay tuned. On a completely unrelated note. If you live in Nacogdoches and feel like dropping by my house to take a couple swings at my bathroom with the sledge hammer...feel free. The excitement of demolition is waning and my back is killing me. :)

Dating...from out to up. A work in progress.

So....the projects have been plentiful and the number of things on my half-done list seems to be growing in the wrong direction. I get nervous to update the blog when a project is only partially done, but as a good friend reminded me, it's the process that makes it interesting. So..let's catch up.

Project(s) completed:

Reupholstering the headboard for what will be the guest bedroom (as is currently our bedroom). You've seen this dwell studio fabric before on a post I wrote. Loving it every bit as much now as I did then. :)


This is Claire's room. The giraffe has yet to go up on the wall, but progress has been made. You can see a close-up here of the fabric I used to make the curtains. Pretty in pink.

 

Project(s) in progress:

First an update on that old mantle I bought off of craigslist. It has been stripped, sanded, primed and painted. We still have to do the tile inlay to make it look legit.

I decided to embrace my impulsiveness and love of painting and move outside the house to the banister on the front porch. Which I painted white...and then black. And then decided I hated it. But I thought maybe I could save it by painting the door black too. It got a little better....but not great. We drove by a house that had their window trim painted to match their front door, so I started to paint our window trim black and then decided I really hated that. I'm thinking black shutters might tie it all in. Or maybe just scrap it all and find another color, but stay tuned. Our house could be a rainbow before this is all done, in which case we will be handing out skittles for Halloween.

The one you've all been waiting for.....the sofa. I just want you to know reupholstering has become a dirty word to me. Please don't use it in my presence. Of all the projects I have tackled in my life from changing the alternator in our car to ripping off someone's roof....this one takes the cake, and for the moment it has the best of me. The sofa is a cushion and a half shy of being finished, and after realizing I sewed the last cushion backwards, I've decided to take a few days and come back to it. But I will leave you with a progress pic as long as the next time you see me you don't ask me how it's going.

Last but not least, I know you're expecting to hear an update on the blue bathroom, but we have decided it would make more sense to tackle the pink bathroom first. And thank God, because that much pink is giving me a headache. So...yesterday we officially started demolition. We're taking it slow because I'm pretty sure Chris would have a heart attack if I started smashing everything with a sledge hammer. Yesterday we shut off the plumbing to the bathroom and removed the sinks. If you know anyone who wants some retro pink sinks they are sitting in our garage and they are yours. Keep checking back for updates, and thanks for reading. I love getting to write this blog for everyone!!

 

Budgeting: DIY pest control and Toygaroo

So. New house = new budget and my tasks today were to find some new toys for Claire and figure out how much pest control costs (we've never had to pay for it before). So step 1 was calling Orkin, Terminex, and a local place....basically the only services I've ever heard of, and it didn't take long for me to realize pest control is stinkin' expensive. Too expensive; if you know me at all...you know I have a HUGE fear of bugs, but there's nothing like a budget gap to help you overcome your fears so.....I googled until I found doyourownpestcontrol.com. I called their 800 number and talked for about 30 minutes to a man who I'm pretty sure lives only to kill insects. 40 dollars later I should have enough poison on the way to last me a year. :) That was the easy part. Actually doing the pest control....well, I'll let you know how it goes.

The next task for the day was some new toys for Claire. There are about a million toys to choose from and before I knew it my shopping cart was over $100. At which point I emptied it and decided to try a different approach..........www.toygaroo.com. Someone once told me this was the Netflix of toys. Let me just say this site is A-mazing! You pay a monthly subscription price and you rent toys. Your child plays with the toy, gets bored with the toy and you send it back. Your house is never filled with old toys your child doesn't even play with anymore. And, these are top of the line toys. Baby Einstein, Fisher Price...some of these toys retail for over $60. Money I will never have to spend. So thank you Toygaroo.com. For less than $30/month, my child will always have new toys and my house will never be a museum of lost toys. I have a feeling Woody and Buzz Lightyear would be proud. :)