Started a new project at my daughter’s house that involved this…..
and putting it in here….
adding this…
and I couldn’t have done it without my wonderful helper!
After all her hard work, she still had time to put on her new kuffie and posed for her MiMi!
We hit a little bump in the road installing the chair rail but that will soon be remedied and I’ll be sharing photos of daughter’s new Pottery Barn look alike bathroom.
Have a great week!
Today in Sunday School Taylor told her Sunday School teacher she wanted Jesus to come into her heart. For quite a while she’s been saying she knows Jesus lives in our hearts.
What a special day for our family!
Today I’m joining two parties…..please check out my contribution along with other fabulous ideas at Miss Mustard Seed and DIY Showoff!
When I redecorated my dining room last year I ordered some Louis slipcovers from Ballards for 6 of my 8 dining room chairs. That left 2 of my chairs covered with some really ugly, nasty orange crushed velvet that jumped out at me every time I went in my dining room to ohhh and ahh over its new look. After seeing some amazing transformations other bloggers had achieved by simply stenciling a monogram or letter on their chair seats, it got me to thinking that would be a great fix for my chairs. And what better treatment on those seats than to use drop cloths and black lettering, same idea as my drop cloth drapes in the dining room? Easy, right? Well, not for me. Seems like everything I do gets complicated and never turns out like I want it to.
My first impulse was to simply make my own stencil and stencil our monogram on the chair seat. That turned out a mess! I won’t even go into the problems I encountered with that idea.
Next, I saw on Robyn’s blog how she printed off a mirror image on her computer onto transfer sheets and simply ironed it on to her fabric. I quickly found out that none of the computers at work or home would make a mirror image. Don’t even try and give me “how to’s” on creating a mirror image….trust me….I tried every suggestion and NOTHING!
So Robyn took pity on me and created a mirror image for me and emailed it to me. THANKS ROBYN! Hey, if ya’ll haven’t checked out my Southern sista’s blog, go here now and see what you’ve been missing. You won’t be sorry.
Of course, the transfer sheets have to be printed on an INK JET printer and not a LASER JET printer. Sooooo, I finally got my images printed and I’m really happy with how my chairs turned out.
Here’s the old crushed velvet seat. Ugly!
This is the transfer paper I used.
After you print off your image, cut it out close to the edge of your design.
Lay your design print side down on your fabric.
Ironing my design on my drop cloth seat cover which I had already cut to fit the seat, allowing for wrapping around the seat to staple on the back.
I held my breath while I peeled away the transfer paper. I know you see a “shadow” from the transfer paper but when you see the finished product, unless you look REALLY close, you don’t see it, so I won’t worry about it.
Boy Howdy, was I a happy girl! Instant monogrammed chair covers!
Yes, I know it’s not perfectly centered, but ask me if I care!
See what I mean about not being able to see that shadow?
I love the way my drop cloth chair covers it turned out. And let’s just pretend the twin to this chair is done and sitting on the other side of the sideboard. All I have to do is staple the fabric to that old ugly orange seat and I’ll have a “new” pair of chairs.
This was a fun project, even though I had a few road blocks along the way.
I’m finally “done” in the dining room. Now on to the sunroom…..
I L-O-V-E my job and my boss! And I can safely say I’m “in love” with him cause he’s not much older than my son-in-law plus he’s a cutie-patootie!
I’ve worked as a legal secretary all my working life. I got my first job as a legal secretary working for a friend who eventually became a district judge. Her husband was our mayor for several years and is now a state senator.
The majority of my years as a legal secretary was working for a firm that believed in “cracking the whip”. (You girls out there in the legal field will relate to this post). I worked under some pretty stressful situations. Whenever there was a trial, the attorney was in what I called “trial mode”….stressed to the hilt. His wife would call me in the morning to warn me he was on his way to work and I’d call her in the afternoon to let her know “Elvis had left the building” (he did a great Elvis impression). Don’t get me wrong, there were some fun times too, but mostly lots of drama! If court was at 9:00, it was not unusual for me to get a tape to transcribe at 8:40! Judges calling from the bench dictating an order and they wanted it yesterday! I could go on and on but thankfully, those days are in the past.
I “retired” from full time work about 6 years ago when hubby and I got married. He didn’t want me working full time and I’ve never looked back. At first, I was off on Fridays and since hubby was self-employed, we’d go out of town a lot of time for the weekends. I remember the first week I was off on Friday….when I went to bed that Thursday night, I was so excited I could sleep in in the morning!
Then about 3 years ago, I started worked for my sweet boss. At first I worked two days a week for him and now I work 3 days from 9-3….off on Mondays and Fridays! Doesn’t get any better than that.
Mr. Wonderful is so easy-going and I boss him around unmercifully! He lets me, too! He appreciates the experience I bring to the table and I appreciate his easy-going nature. While he’s not a top-gun attorney (he could be, doesn’t want to be), he is a combination of kindness, consideration and compassion, traits not typically found in a lot of lawyers. Trust me, I know!
Just today, I got an e-mail from him where he said he realized he didn’t pay me last week and apologizing! How many bosses do that? I hope you’re as lucky as me and your boss is this sweet.
And in case you’re wondering, yes, my hubby knows how much I love my boss….it makes things much better at home!
I’m joining Rhoda’s 2009 Top Projects Party. I certainly didn’t accomplish all I wanted to project-wise in 2009 but I am pretty happy about the ones I did get around to. So without further ado, let the party begin!
A few of the projects were done in 2008-2009 but since it’s my party, I decided I could include them anyway…
After my mini-kitchen redo in summer 2008, I made two of these zebra pillows for my white slipcovered chairs. (Don’t look too closely as I have still not sewed the ends together)
My Nell Hill inspired stamped napkins
This Ballard’s inspired shower curtain in my hubby’s bathroom was done in 2008. You can see my inspiration piece and how I made it here.
First big makeover of 2009 was the dining room. About 6 years ago when faux finishes were the big thing, hubby and I painted and glazed our dining room and foyer. After being influenced by the “Something’s Go To Give” dining room, I added these pre-made picture frame moldings and painted the dining room in two complementary creamy tones.
My mahogany table, chairs and sideboard just pop off the antique white! Also added lots of cremeware.
Read about the dining room makeover here.
To go along with my dining room makeover were my drop cloth drapes. Talk about bang for your buck! Please read all about my drop cloth drapes here.
Added vinyl numbers to my Plain Jane front door…
Much better!
Found several unfinished frames at mom’s when she moved out. Painted them black and got white mats and plastic glaze (cheaper than glass) and went from this……
….to this
….then to a family collage wall in the kitchen
Added this auction purchased bench to the front porch and painted it black. Then I made the burlap and stenciled pillow to dress it up. You can see the step-by-step process here.
The beginning of the school year brought the need for a little organizing at my daughter’s house. I made the coat rack for the kid’s backpacks, lunch boxes, etc. and we hung it along her back hallway.
I also got these cute little containers at Dollar General and added their names for school papers. Here’s where I blogged about the coat rack.
Nothing wrong with this white shabby table but…..
I stained the top and love the way it turned out. This is on hubby’s side of the bed and I haven’t shown pics cause it’s loaded down with his sleep apnea machine, alarm clock, and other man stuff, but trust me, it looks good.
And finally I finished this sideboard just at the end of 2009. This is the beginning of my sunroom makeover which is set to begin any day now…..just as soon as I decide on a paint color! This room will be similar to the dining room….lots of creamy tones, seagrass rug, billowy drapes with a twist. Can’t wait to get started.
That’s about it. I may have left off a small project or two but looking back, I did get more done than I thought.
This year I’m hoping to get more organized. Plus, I’m looking forward to starting my 3rd year of blogging. I can’t believe it’s been that long.
Here’s to a blog-a-licious 2010!
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