House projects...

The problem with spending multiple hours every day nursing Charlie is that I am also spending multiple hours every day staring at my house. While I nurse I make grand plans and come up with all sorts of ideas that I have absolutely NO TIME to accomplish. This doesn't stop me from trying though. I've started a good number of projects, but haven't finished a single one of them. Maybe by Charlie's first birthday I'll have a few of them finished. Why do I do this to myself?

Here are a few of them...

1. After John graduated from college he needed a dresser, so we found this one at a yard sale and I painted it and added new knobs with the help our friend, Mark. I really like the dresser and I'm kind of sentimentally attached to it, but it isn't great for kids. You have to pull on both knobs at once or else the drawers won't open correctly. So, instead of it taking up space in Charlie's room, I thought I'd try it out in the front room as an entry table. It totally doesn't work here...way to huge, but I don't know where else to put it, and I don't have a plan B for the entry. So here it sits.


2. I moved this bench into the house from the patio so that I can have a comfy place to feed Charlie while Henry plays in the front room. The problem is, the white cushion cover on the bench is totally ruined and needs to be replaced, so I have temporarily covered it with some blue and white gingham fabric...which totally bunches up and looks awful most of the time. When I was up in Fresno with Denise (literally less than 24 hours before she gave birth to Levi) we went fabric shopping at a great discount fabric store in Fresno. I bought fabric to make a bench cushion and recover the pillows on the bench. When do I think I'm going to have time to sew those? I have no idea...


3. While at the Fresno fabric store I bought some gray and white stripe fabric to make new curtains for Charlie's room (which are actually already done...hooray!) and decided that I would take the old white curtains and hang them in front of the closet...I was completely over the sliding closet doors! Henry kept smashing his fingers and you couldn't access anything in the center of the closet, so curtains it needed to be. But...the white curtains are too short to completely cover the closet opening. No big deal, I bought fabric to add to the bottom to make them long enough. I just don't have any time to do this. So, for now, these closet curtains are sporting the high-water look...


4. I also need some additional toy storage in Charlie's room. Henry LOVES playing in here, so most of our toys have made their way in, I just don't have anywhere to store them. I'm sort of toying with the idea of moving Charlie in with Henry and then designating this as a playroom. John just rolls his eyes at me when I tell him this. He thinks we should see how Charlie sleeps in the crib before we do anything drastic. He's probably right...


5. I moved the armoire (that was formerly housing our old, beastly, TV) into Charlie's room for more clothes storage (keeping track of hand-me-downs takes some serious organization!). I want to paint it white but I don't know when I'm ever going to get to that project...


6. We replaced the armoire in our family room with the billy bookcase that was formerly in Henry's old room and added doors to the top portion. We got a new flat panel TV and it fits perfectly in the center section. We did this because the armoire/old, beastly TV combo wasn't working for us anymore. This has been a HUGE improvement for us. We also reoriented the couch so that it faces away from our bedroom door in the corner which is so much better. I hated having people sitting on the couch and staring into our messy bedroom! (I guess technically this would be considered a completed project...yeah me!)


7. I was kind of done with having all of my W's on the wood panels, so I took them off and have started to try to create some sort of gallery wall. When will I finish this? Who knows?

8. We have quilts/blankets EVERYWHERE in our house. I love this, but I want a way to store/display them. I'm on the hunt for an old wooden ladder that I can put in the family room to serve this purpose. I found one in Fresno for $40, but I'm hoping to stumble upon one for cheaper. Anyone have one they want to get rid of?


I am, however, keeping up with my 2 most important projects...



My house will be in disarray for a good long while, but my boys are coming along nicely, I think. And really, that's all that really matters, right?

More Christmas Decor...

We are still working on trying to recover our lost Christmas pictures. It seems as though someone (Henry) managed to change the year on the computer to 2006. Which means that the pictures I uploaded were placed in a very old folder. Not a problem, except for the fact that I accidentally deleted the folder while trying to rename it. We think that the recycle bin saw that the pictures were from 2006 and just got rid of them. So, in between lots of basketball film watching, John is trying to recover the pictures. It may be awhile. So there will be a few random posts for awhile, but I think we should be back on track soon...hopefully with Christmas 2010 pictures to share as well :)

I just thought I should post a bit of my Christmas decor. I try to keep things fun & minimal. Here's a bit of our Christmas house...

Our stockings (made last year):



Our Christmas card garland...probably my very favorite part of our holiday decor:


Our Christmas bunting:

Our Christmas trees...

We opted not to put up our regulation size Christmas tree this year. Quite frankly, John hates everything Christmas tree related. Real...fake...it doesn't matter, all a Christmas tree means to him is lots of extra work during the busiest time of basketball season. So, I decided that I would take over all Christmas tree set up duties. Which means, I went out and purchased 3 small trees (2 ft, 3 ft, and 4 ft) and created a small little Christmas forest for us to enjoy this year. It's perfect for us, I think. Plus, they were super easy for me to put up, and should be easy to take down as well. So, here's to our Christmas compromise...

Oh, and I decided not to even put up on the ornaments. Henry is a ball throwing maniac right now, which will inevitably lead to shattered ornaments. Call me scrooge, but I am most definitely not in the mood to clean up broken glass. So, I used my colorful felt banner as garland on the 3 ft. tree, I used a cream felt garland on the 2 ft. tree, and I used all of my itty bitty scraps to make a fabric scrap banner for my 4 ft. tree. I think everything looks quite festive and is still very Henry-friendly. I quite like these little trees of ours :)

Bookcase curtains...

I made 2 sets of curtains to cover up the lower 3 shelves of our bookcases. I'm not a huge fan of open storage. I love the look of it, but when it comes right down to it, looking at too much stuff makes me feel a wee bit claustrophobic. Thus the curtains.

I used fabric from Amy Butler's Nigella line on the top, and a painter's drop cloth for the bottom. (I saw the idea of using a drop cloth for a curtain here first). They were a simple project to sew and I love the way they turned out.

Picture Hanging...

The "W" is from Bob & Sharon and the almond blossom picture was taken by my brother-in-law Andrew. I love them.

I like this...

I found this picture on SFgirlbybay a few days ago, and just love it. Because I've realized I'm a bit of a clutter-phobe, I'm not sure if I could handle it in my own house, but it just looks so fantastic. I'd love to do this with an array of plates from anthropologie (they have some amazing ones in their store right now), but who knows. Just thought I'd share.

My kids took their writing assessment today...

...and I rearranged my sewing and family rooms. Is it summer yet?

Things I want to do this summer...

...in no particular order:

(no, one of those things is NOT standing in an insanely long line for a baseball game, I just can't stand to publish a post without a picture...)




• paint the trim on the kitchen and family room baseboards



• install sprinklers



• plant grass



• make planter boxes for our soon-to-be-poured deck



• fashion a TV stand from our old kitchen base cabinets using new knobs and a hearty helping of black spray paint



• learn how to quilt with Grandma Net



• learn how to hand embroider with Grandma Net



• learn how to hand applique with Grandma Net



• help Denise move & get organized



• visit the Alameda Antiques and Collectibles Fair



• buy this tote pattern

...that's all I can think of right now, but there will undoubtedly be more.

Project: Wall Shelves...

You may recall this post from about one month ago. You may have spent the past few weeks asking yourself, "why haven't I been updated on the shelf status?" or "Is Raindrops on Roses withholding house information from me?" Let me take a moment to explain.

First of all, like many of my ambitious (yet sometimes poorly planned ideas...) I had an idea in my head of what I wanted, yet gave John no clear plan as to how I wanted the shelf actually attached to the wall. So, it took us about a month to figure out how we wanted to affix said shelf. I decided that I would just buy some el cheapo ($.79 each) metal "L" brackets and paint them to blend in with the wall. The plan seemed to work and the shelf looks great. John also hung another shelf on the left side of the door frame for more display space. Everything turned out perfectly, except for one thing...YOU CAN STILL SEE THE DOOR! Ugh.

So, I did what I always do when I find myself in a decorating pickle, and called my mother-in-law for help. She, of course, helped me come up with (what we think) may be the solution to my problem. We are going to take the 20" x 30" frame (already on the shelf) and frame a piece of fabric (leftover from the Cindy W. windfall). I will then hang this frame horizontally to cover the top of the door frame. Then I will layer another 20" x 30" frame (yet to be purchased) by leaning it against the framed fabric. I think it just might work. It's at least worth a shot. So anyways, that's the latest on the shelf front. There will undoubtedly be more progress chronicalling in the weeks to come, so stay tuned.

The shelves & frames (and that darn door!)

Up Close (the fabric in the largest frame is what I plan to use to cover the top portion of the door)

Spring Break purchases...

I got some new Amy Butler fabric (and the two on the end that were on sale)!...


Love these plates! A Ross find...

Shelf Painting...

I finished painting my shelves black and we (John) will hopefully hang them tomorrow morning. These are the shelves that I am hoping will help camoflauge the bizarre water heater door in our family room. Needless to say, tomorrow is a big day for me.

I'm hoping this shelf works out. John took one of our old fence boards and cut off the dog-eared side so it was flat on both ends. Then, he notched out 2 sections so that the shelf would go around the water heater door frame and sit flush with the wall. It's a gamble, but it didn't cost us anything, so if it doesn't work out we're ok with that.

Lying in Wait...

So I have this wall in my house that has been a thorn in my side since Day 1. We have a water heater closet on the main wall in our family room. The room was added onto the back of the house by the previous owner, and instead of relocating the water heater, they decided to leave the door as it stood. So now, I have to deal with the decorating ramifications of this decision. I've thought long and hard about this dilemma, and finally, I think I'm ready to tackle the problem. I've decided to hang picture shelves along the wall, and layer a variety of different black frames against the wall. My hope is that this will help camoflauge the oddity. I've purchased the frames and am now trying to pick pictures to fill them. My talented brother-in-law will be a great asset to my efforts. My goal is to finish this project over Spring Break. We'll see how it goes...

The mysterious door

Another view

The pictures lying in wait (notice the yellow post-its, I'm marking each frame with its potential picture and it's orientation-horizontal or vertical)