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Tuesday, April 24, 2012

LaForce Likes #8

I don't know if you are like me but if you are them you like drooling over gorgeously decorated rooms in magazines, on pinterest, in other people's homes, etc. Through Home Stories A 2 Z, I happened upon an interior design site called Fieldstone Hill Designs.

Each Monday they do something call Ditto - where they post a gorgeous picture and talk about things to "ditto" from that space. This is a picture of one Darlene did on a post for A2Z.

source

Definitely a dreamy living room! I like the colors in this room and the open feel. I really love open layouts especially for living rooms and kitchens.

The little light teal table has inspired me to think about how I can paint a piece of furniture for our loft room (the room with the dresser redo and teal lamps) that color. Like it a whole lot!

What great sources do you go to for interior design and decor inspiration?

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Closet redo with bracketless shelves

To the tune of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air  Now this is a story all about how my hubby and dad built closet shelves. And I'd like to take a minute, just sit right there. I'll tell you how I ended up with extra storage space.

Eric previously posted about our half bath transformation into a smaller half bath which allowed for making a new closet accessible from our living room and so he's baaaaack with a post about the closet!

Hi everyone, back with an addendum post to our bathroom/closet redo.  This is part two where I explain how we built shelves in the new closet.  Emily's Dad helped us out with these.  He likes to joke that we would be rich men if we worked by the hour.  While it's true that we worked at a snail's pace, I think it worked to our advantage and ensured we created some quality shelves.

Now Emily and I envisioned these shelves being a step up from your typical wire frame closet shelves that most home builders use.  We wanted some nice wooden shelves that had clean lines.  Emily's Dad had the good idea of building "bracket less" shelves.  This is the type of shelves they have in their kitchen pantry.  It has two benefits.  First, you don't see some ugly brackets sticking out from the bottom of the shelves.  Second more practical use is that it allows you to utilize the full space between shelves.




As you can see, we used some simple pine wood to build out the framing of the shelves.  We build the frames such that we could simply lay down the shelves on top of the framing with minimal fuss.  I bought some prefabricated shelves so they would look polished and clean.  They were of course not the right size for the closet, but it was just a simple matter of using the miter saw to chop them down to the right length.


The closet was big enough for four shelves, but as you can see we chose to only put in 3.  This gives us a very large space up top if we want to any tall items in this new closet. 

yes we like games

 The light from the bathroom redo came in handy here and really lights up the closet to make it easy to find things.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Ruffle Butt Onesies

I recently made some onesies for a friend's sister who wanted them for a baby shower she was going to. She told me what she wanted them to say and that she wanted all pink. I came up with the designs using my silhouette software and  used heat transfer to make them.

I think the little pink elephant is so cute and I love playing around with all the different fonts with designs.


As you can see and read in the title she also wanted ruffles on the butt of two of them. I decided to do those on the ones with her first name. Doing the ruffling is definitely not my favorite due to all the hand basting and since I don't have a serger to make finishing really easy, I used lace hem facing and ribbon so the long edges were already finished. Even though the ruffles are a challenge for me I do admit they make the onesies so darn cute so it's all worth it in the end!


This little girl will be all decked out in pink for sure! If you want to make onesies and you don't have a silhouette you can always try the freezer paper and fabric paint method.



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Monday, April 16, 2012

LaForce Likes #7

LaForce Likes lucky number 7 is... the "how did I totally luck out and find t-strap black sandals that fit me and are cute!" post.
Swivvel by Steve Madden
Let me briefly back up... I have narrow feet. And I mean very narrow. I have even bought narrow width shoes before and my heels slipped right out the backs. Finding pumps for work is a job in itself.

I have been wanting a pair of black t-strap sandals for awhile now but every pair seemed to be too wide for me where the t-strap part was loose and not fitting against the top of my foot.

I was ordering something else and decided to order a few t-strap sandals from piperlime since I noticed they started doing free shipping both ways. The first couple pairs I got were exactly the same as others, but then when I got to these beauties from Steve Madden they were perfect! Bless you Steve Madden. Not only did they fit my very narrow feet but they were cute and comfy and I can tell they were well made.

If anyone else has a narrow foot out there, this one is for you!

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Ravioli Veggie Soup

Of course I found this on none other than pinterest and immediately pinned it on my main dish board. We made it a couple of weeks ago and I thought I should share it with all of my lovely readers.




Ravioli and Vegetable Soup
From eating well, Serves 4 with 2 cups each (we ended up with about 5 servings)
264 calories per serving

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups frozen bell pepper and onion mix, thawed and diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
15 oz can vegetable broth or red. sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 cups hot water
1 teaspoon dried basil or marjoram
6-9 oz package fresh or frozen cheese (or meat) ravioli, preferably whole-wheat
2 cups diced zucchini (2 medium)
ground pepper to taste

Heat oil in large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add pepper-onion mix, garlic, and red pepper (if using) and cook stirring for 1 minute. Add tomatoes, broth, water, and basil/marjoram. Bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Add ravioli (I used frozen mini cheese ravioli and used a little more than it called for) and cook for 3 minutes less than the package directions. Add zucchini and return to boil. Cook until the zucchini is crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Season with pepper and serve.

As you can see I got to make use of my colorful dutch oven. It was delicious and pretty easy. Tips: Next time I make this I will increase the spices for a little more flavor and I will put in the zucchini at the same time I put in the ravioli because it needed more than 3 minutes.


Oh and the leftovers are just as good. Bon Appetit!




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Thursday, April 5, 2012

Spring and Summer Wreath

Craft day with the girls for this past weekend was spring wreaths. After pinning many wreaths I decided to do a grapevine wreath with fabric flowers and a wooden letter so it combined aspects of various wreaths I liked.


I wanted this to be a spring and summer wreath so I chose fabric colors that would work for both. I made some rosettes, yo-yo's, a new spin on the pom-pom using squares instead of circles, and gathered burlap flowers from the tutorial here.  I arranged them all to my liking and hot glued them to the wreath. The green ribbed yo-yo is from an old Old Navy tank.




I had just purchased a wooden L in a scripty font for the wreath at the same time I bought a much bigger L I plan to hang in our bedroom. I debated for awhile on what color for the L but finally landed on yellow and it looks great with the green door. I painted it with some craft paint and hot glued it on.


I let it sit for a little bit and I hung it on the door. I really like my new wreath and I think it will be perfect for all spring and summer long with the exception of may be putting out a patriotic wreath (if I make or buy one) for a little bit of July.


If you are looking for a cheap and easy wreath, this is a great project. I had all the fabric/burlap on hand so I just had to buy the 18 inch wreath ($2.50 with Michael's coupon) and the wooden L (about $3.50 ordered online).

Danielle did a similar type wreath to mine but spray painted her wreath yellow. Katie did a fabric scrap wreath which uses a wire wreath where you tie a bunch of fabric pieces around to your liking.


Then she made a cute mini spring bunting to go across the middle. Nice and colorful!


Hope you enjoyed seeing the results of our craft day!


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Tuesday, April 3, 2012

LaForce Likes #6

LaForce Likes DIY wreaths... spring/summer wreaths to be exact since I was in need of one! Spring and summer wreaths have really caught my eye recently (which is why I was pinning a bunch of them if you are a pinterest follower) as I was planning what wreath I wanted to make at girls craft day last Saturday. These here were great inspiration and you will have to stay tuned to see what I ended up creating!


My Blessed Nest

Craftaholics Anonymous

A Turtle's Life for Me

Liz Marie Blog

Monday, April 2, 2012

Goodwill Dresser Redo (finally!)

You may recall the dresser I bought at goodwill in August 2010. Yes, 2010. What can I say, other things got in the way or took priority. When I saw it in the store, I immediately had to have it. Especially for the price of $25. Yeah, twenty-five bucks... it was a great day in goodwill.



I did some work over the next couple months cleaning it out and wiping it down. Taking off the hardware and sanding it. Then I primed it and it sat a very long time in the garage until this past fall when I decided to finally getter done. It's about time, right?





I wasn't totally thrilled with the first sanding job I had done on the top with an old sander and we had since purchased a new sander. I re-sanded the top (the rest was fine) and primed again with Kilz.


Then I painted 2 coats all over of SW Alabaster - a white creamy color. I ended up doing a third coat of paint just on the top.  A big thanks to Cassie at Primitive and Proper (now I can finally link up at her furniture party!) for suggesting this color to me and letting me know that having brush strokes on the top is normal and adds to the character of the piece. The only way to get it perfectly smooth is with a sprayer and with this being a hobby I just can't justify buying that.


I got Eric and my dad around Christmas time to fix a couple of the drawer hinges. One of them is still not that great, but that's okay by me for such a cheap dresser.

I spray painted the hardware with an oil rubbed bronze and reattached them to the drawers. I let it sit about a week before moving it upstairs to the loft. Then I did 2 coats of polycrylic on the top since that is where I wanted to put lamps and such. I could have done it all over but I didn't think it was really necessary since I will use this for storage and not be opening the drawers on a daily basis.



Then I waited a week before placing anything on top. I added 2 teal lamps that I purchased from HomeGoods shortly after getting the dresser. They are the main inspiration for the color scheme that will be in this room.


I am happy to say I finished this up before the new year so at least it was only a year-ish since I bought it before completing it  :)  It also taken me awhile to get around to taking pictures of it and writing a post about it...



I think it is worth it to get something when you see it, even if you plan on waiting awhile to work on it because who knows when land a great find again. Case in point, I have a buffet type piece (cabinets on the bottom with shelves above) in the garage now that I bought a year ago waiting to be redone. Maybe since the dresser is all done, I will be motivated to start on that.

It's hard to believe what a $25 dresser, a can of paint, and a can of spray paint can become!


I am totally in love with my redo dresser and I hope you like it too! I need advice of what else should go on top of the dresser or should be hung above it so leave your thoughts here!


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