Target & Thrift Finds

Yesterday my husband planned a fun event for his travel baseball team. We went to Celebration Cinema's Flick's Family Film Festival to see Free Birds. All kids are free and adults are $4.00. (Today they are starting Walking With Dinosaurs!)

Anyways, being at the mall got me in the shopping mood. (It doesn't take much, really)

I've had a Target gift card(s) burning a hole in my beautiful new purse. So when we got home, I headed off to Target- BY MYSELF!!

(put on your sunglasses. pale legs alert)

I didn't get the above pictured shirt because I loved it more in green.

I found the deal of the day. I was fortunate enough to find these pairs of shorts hanging on the clearance rack. I couldn't believe my eyes when I looked at the price tag!

Yes, that's right. I got them for $5.06 each. What a steal! There was even a third pair but I left them for someone else to find. Two pairs of shorts are enough.

I also got this dress. I believe it is black and white but in the store I swore it was navy and white. Either way, I love it! (sorry, dirty mirror!)

Merona- $25

I was trying different shoes with it to see what works best.

These are some thrift store finds that I got a while ago. It is finally getting warm enough to think about wearing them. Those capris are sooo comfortable.

The shirt was a surprising find. It isn't easy to find white shirts without stains at thrift stores.

I even found a white Gap t-shirt with no stains!

These items I found at Paradise Bound. All of them were $5 because they were on the designer rack.

Nike pants for one of the middle boys.

Swimming trunks for the youngest.

And swimming trunks for the oldest.

I even found a suit for myself. Not at a thrift store, but at Kohl's using my 30% off coupon.

I love it!

I need to save some money for shopping while on vacation. I have found some great things while thrifting or shopping at Ross!

Have a great weekend!

Chair Dye Job

So, if you remember I professed my profound love for this chair here.

Sadly, this chair does not work in my house. But I am unwilling to let it go to someone else.

So, I am going to make it work, whatever the cost. (as long as it isn't above $10)

I have seen some interesting pins on Pinterest about dyeing the fabric of chairs. I thought this would be my best bet for making it over. My upholstering skills are not up to the level to be able to tackle this chair quite yet.

I went to JoAnn's and picked up some liquid RIT dye. I wanted a bluish type color. Not anything too dark. So I combined a denim blue and an evening blue. I bought a spray bottle especially for the project. I heated up some water in my electric water heater. I put in four cap-fulls of denim blue and three of evening blue and then added the hot water. Tip#1: Do not add the water right after boiling. Wait a little. I learned the hard way and have a very deformed spray bottle now.

I brought the chair just outside of my garage and put flattened cardboard boxes underneath it. I worked on this when we had semi-nice days (before the latest snowfall).

 This is in the middle of the second coat. I did three coats.

I decided that it wasn't the right color after all. It was a good start. But I wanted a little green added to the mix. I went back to JoAnn's and bought the RIT liquid dye in the color Teal.

That was the perfect addition. I put the final coat on Saturday night. It was freezing outside and I was ready to be done. I left it in the garage another day and then brought it into my entry where it was warmer. I left it there for a day. I just brought it into my house. After seeing it in decent light, I'm thinking i may need to do another coat of Teal. It looks a little splotchy. But the fabric has a pattern to it and it could partly be that. If I rub my hand across it, it is clean. But I am leery of setting any white or light colored clothing on it yet.

I tried to keep the wood clean by wiping it down after spraying a coat on the chair. I can see some places where the blue dye has settled in the wood.

Once the weather warms up again, I'd like to sand down the arms and legs and put some kind of finish on it. I'm not sure what yet. I like the idea of a white wax.

What do you think? Does it need another coat of dye? What should I do to the wood arms and legs?

Warm Wishes

That is what I am sending out- warm wishes. I am wishing for warmth.

It is a little depressing to look outside.

Soon enough we will be heading south for some warmth.

I'm going to start packing tonight. Maybe that will warm me up some.

Here are some photos to help warm your day.

This vacation isn't about visiting new sites or exploring new places. We go to the same place every year. We relax. We soak up the sunshine. We eat. We play cards. We swim. We spend time with each other.

We love it. And I cannot wait.

Purple Ottoman

My purple ottoman was one of my weekend projects.

I had plans to make it over some day. That day came sooner than expected.

I have other reupholstering projects started. Like this. So, I figured if I started with something a little more simple it might help me gain some confidence and motivate me onward.

This project wasn't too bad. I had a little trouble with one of the corners, but other than that it came out better than I expected.

Here is the before-

I recycled some parts of the old upholstery job and got the rest from my craft room. The top fabric is some I had left over from my upholstery job I did on my camper's cushions when doing a makeover on our little Skamper. The teal fabric I just bought for $6 at the Holland Restore to make over my orange chairs.

The boys love this foot stool because it is on wheels. The grooves it makes on our soft pine wood floors just adds to the rustic charm I love, right? Right!

I thought I would try the old legs that my new couch originally came with. But, there was no way those were going to work. Too big.

I started by removing the black fabric underneath (which I kept to reuse). And layer by layer kept removing all the purple fabric, paying attention to how it was put together.

The white piping was removed from the purple fabric and reused. It was already the perfect length and shape!

First I sewed all the piping into the teal fabric. Then I laid my top fabric on the ottoman and cut it to shape. The piping was already sewed together so I put it on top and pinned it in the right place. Then sewed it.

I used the paisley fabric again for the next layer down. I sewed all four sides together and then sewed it to the top.
I then broke out my never-been-used staple gun that I bought two years ago.

I systematically worked around the ottoman pulling down the fabric and stapling it in place, trying to get all the sides even.

I layered the next sewed piping over top of those staples and stapled that in place. (Does that make sense?)

Then I sewed a long strip of the teal fabric together to go around all four sides. This is where professional upholsterers use cardboard strips to get a clean, straight line. I just folded the top under, right below the piping, and stapled. Once I got back to where I started I folded the beginning back to get a folded edge. I then pulled all the teal fabric under the bottom of the ottoman and stapled all the way around.
Sorry, I am so terrible at explaining the process of how I do things!

For the skirt I did the same. Stapled the piping at the very bottom. This time I had to hem the sides and bottom of the pieces since they would be showing, not stapled under. I did not connect them either. I made four separate pieces and then four small pieces for the four corners.
Anyway, enough of me confusing you. I stapled the black piece back on the bottom.

And here it is-

It definitely is not perfect. But now it kind of coordinates with the living room!
On to the next piece.....maybe!

Weekend Project Peek

I started two projects today. Two projects that will help the living room look more complete.

They weren't on my to-do list but they were bugging me. A sore spot in the window reveal pictures.

Can you guess what two things I am talking about?

One involves this-

And the other, this-

(Excuse the school mess, please)

Tune in next week to see what's happening!

Have a great weekend.