Have a (Window) Seat

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Heather Hawkins

One of the things we loved the most about this house when we first looked at it were the windows. There are lots of them!! And some fun ones. Skylights in both upstairs bathrooms, a cute little round window in the master bedroom and a window seat in the front room. The previous owners had cushions for the window seat, but they were custom made and matched the fabric on the dining room chairs, and even though I doubt they bought a house with the exact same size window seat they took the cushions with them.

We lived without cushions for 3 or so years, but it wasn’t a big deal because we didn’t use the room much. Though, maybe if I had a comfy place to sit I would have used the room a bit more. One day, though I was still quite the beginner when it came to sewing, I finally got up the courage to make some cushions!

You can see them looking all sad in the old before room. I was pretty impressed with myself at the time. So much so I took on the job of making some for a friend’s house, too!

With the redo of the front room into a playroom it was time to update the cushions, too. They served us well for the last 6 years, but they don’t work in the new room.

I had a plan!

I found these gorgeous table clothes on clearance at Target after Easter and picked them up for half price. $12.99 total for a lot of fabric! I couldn’t have gotten a better deal at the fabric store. The color is perfect. I love the print. I originally thought about using them for Cupcake’s birthday party this weekend, but decided I didn’t want to chance getting a stain on them, so I started sewing!

I decided I wanted some contrast piping on them this time so they would look more polished. The key to piping is to use a 1/4″ seam allowance and baste your piping on the right side of the fabric lining up the edges. Sew along the stitch lines on the piping. Use contrasting thread on your bobbin so when you go to sew your fabrics together you can just go over your basting line.

My cushions measure 41″ x 22″ x 3″, so for each cushion I cut 2 each of 41.5″ x 22.5″ for the top and bottom, 41.5″ x 3.5″ for the long sides, and 22.5″ x 3.5″ for the short sides. I only applied piping to the top and bottom pieces. I needed 1.5 packs of piping for each piece, so I had to piece some piping together. Here’s how you do that.

Use your seam ripper to open up the piping to expose the string inside.

Snip the string back without cutting the outer fabric.

Fold the fabric under, slide your new piece of piping under the fabric and butt it up against the snipped piece of string.

Lay the fabric down over the new piece of piping and sew. Do the same when you reach the end of your piping (So when you start basting the piping don’t start at the very end. You need to be able to put the fabric under the beginning). Also, if you notice in the picture above the corner of my fabric. You’re going to curve the piping around the corner of your fabric, so make two little slits in the fabric (don’t cut too far!) so you can “bend” the piping around the corner. Make sense?

Once you’ve sewn the piping around the outside of your top and bottom pieces you can sew all your pieces together, leaving one short end open to slide your batting-covered piece of foam into the cover. I prefer to attach all my side pieces together on the short ends first and then sew the whole thing on, but you could also so each individual piece to your top, then attach them all at the corners. Whatever you’re most comfortable with!

And then you get this!!

Doesn’t it look so much better with the piping!?!?

You can see on the old cushion I whipstitched around the end to close it off after I inserted my cushion, but this time around I used an invisible closure. It’s a cleaner look! Though with the old cushions that was always the underside so you really didn’t see it any way.

There’s my new seat!

I love the lighter color in there! The old cushions were quite dark (and so was the old wall color!).

The lighter color, the geometric pattern, the sunlight coming through the big windows all make me happy. What would make me even more happy would be something to cushion my back when I lean up against the wall.

Wait, what’s that? A pillow!!! I still had a good bit of fabric left (I only cut one piece from the second table cloth), so I picked up two pillows and some more piping to add a little more comfort to my seat.

Don’t you just want to grab a book, put your feet up and enjoy the sunshine? I look forward to curling up with my girls and reading our favorite books or snuggling with my pup and people watching, or watching my girls play together on the floor while sipping on my ice water.

And did you notice the pink something or another up above? I also hung a new lantern in there! We didn’t have any overhead lighting (the switch controls a plug to the left of the window) so I bought a Vate lantern at IKEA and a Hemma cord and hung it in the center of the room. It give the room a fun, pink glow. Cupcake loves it!

I would like to replace the blinds in here, but it’s not in the budget right now. There is also a cafe rod already installed, so I’m thinking of adding some simple curtains to soften up the window a bit more (and because it’s silly to have an empty rod up there!).

There are a few more things I want to do in there (hello naked walls!) but for now I’m enjoying my new comfy seat!

This is where I link up!

Playroom Phase 1

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Heather Hawkins

What started out as an unused, catch all room is well on it’s way to becoming a playroom for the girls. I’m super excited about this project. I never wanted to make this room a playroom, but I really wanted the living room back. And really this room was not being used. It held my desk and all my Thirty-One stuff, but it mostly just collected odds and ends. Oh, and I hated the color.

Hold on to your hats people, here comes the mess!

Oh, so dark! And cluttered! My desk was always a mess. This was the landing area for all my reusable shopping bags. The bag of stuff that I removed from the CR-V before we traded it in. Leftover wood from the bathroom shelves.

Cake stand anyone? Photography props. Sorority project supplies.

The pile o’ things to be donated in the corner. The room things went to die. Not a functional use of space.

Just with the room cleared out and a fresh coat of paint it makes a world of difference!

The view from the dining room. The color on the walls is Going Gray by Olympic. I love me some Olympic paint. Great coverage, no stink. We picked up an Expedit at IKEA over the weekend for toy storage. I liked the glossy while Expedit, but I didn’t $20 more like the glossy one, so we just went with the regular white. And while I would have loved to find a fun piece of furniture to refinish for toy storage I don’t think I could have found a piece as functional as the Expedit. Seriously, this piece of furniture is awesome. It’s great for a craft room, play room, living room…..any room!

I still need to touch up some paint inside the window seat area, recover the cushions, figure out what I want to do for curtains, put up a light switch cover, hang some art work, clear out the construction mess.

As you can see Cupcake has already taken to playing in here. That girl loves to sit at her table. And she made me some cupcakes in her kitchen. She didn’t finish the dishes before she went to bed, though. I’ll have to get on her about that.

See what I mean about functional? These Your Way Cubes from Thirty-One fit perfectly in the Expedit and I love the colors in the print. I can’t wait to bring in some more of these colors throughout the room. Each of the cubes has toys in it, but there’s still room for more (which is good since Cupcake has a birthday coming up!).

So that’s how far I’ve come in the last week with this room. We have a ways to go, yet, but I’m excited about how light and bright the room is. And there’s plenty of floor space for the girls to play. I’ve got a pile of boxes on the front porch being picked up this morning and we got our living room back!

What do you think so far?

Life in Progress

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Heather Hawkins

I have a lot of in progress going on around here. Such is life. I bounce back and forth between projects. I’ve got project ADD. OK, not really. I have “I’m a mom of two kids who can only do so much at once and can’t drop everything to run to IKEA to buy a large piece of furniture whenever I feel like it” syndrome. So projects don’t come together as quickly as they used to.

Bathroom update – I restyled the shelves. Once I hang some art on the wall I will declare the room done. Though I’m still on the hunt for a small bowl to hold some potpourri I picked up at IKEA.

Playroom – Yeah, I’m working on a playroom. I’m so tired of seeing the mass of toys in the living room. And we have a mostly unused family room, so it’s going to be our new playroom. I’m happy to finally get rid of the BLUE!!!!!

This room has gotten on my nerves since I painted it years ago. I originally envisioned a lighter blue in the room. I bought some paint, painted one wall, hated it. (this was after I dropped the full can of light blue paint in Home Depot splashing the register, myself (luckily I was in painting clothes) and my designer handbag with it and having to get a whole new can of it made) I made the mistake of taking hubby back to the hardware store with me and he picked this color. Anywho, see those bins on the window seat? Those are my playroom inspiration. And here is my wall color now.

Much more mellow. I love the gray with the white trim! And it’s just begging for some fun colors!!! And fun colors it will get! I’m way excited to plan this room around a girly theme! I’ve got a long to do list………..

The yard – Oh, the poor neglected yard. Other than mowing grass and the occasional weed pulling the yard has seen no love. We had gladioli growing out of control, a spot where a dead tree was removed and nothing put in it’s place, ugly bushes, half dead bushes, more ugly bushes and flower beds with no flowers. I thought the to do list for the playroom was long, but the yard tops it. And it’s not all getting done this year. Gladioli have been attacked, though.

That’s out of the small. There were at least 3 times as many bulbs in the bigger bed. And I was back at it this afternoon after a few sprouted, making themselves known.

I’ve made 6 hardware store trips in a week. That might be my new record. I’m presume there will be a few more trips here soon. I know there will be. I’ve got flowers to buy.

Birthday Party – Cupcake turns 3 next month!!! I’ve got a massive amount of birthday party supplies piled up on the dining room table and fabric running through both sewing machines at lightening speed. I can’t wait to share the details with you! Cupcake has a laundry list of wishes for her party.

What project(s) do you have going on?

Switch-o Change-o

Posted on March 24, 2013 by Heather Hawkins

When I was pregnant with Pumpkin I really wanted to change the gender neutral nursery to a more girly nursery. Silly me for doing everything gender neutral and then ending up with two girls…….. I refrained, though, since I had just finished creating a new guest room (which I have yet to blog about!) and Cupcake’s big girl room. I was hugely pregnant after finishing those two projects and swearing off painting any more rooms.

So the nursery has basically looked the same since before Cupcake was born. Aside from moving a few things off the shelves to take into the big girl room and taking Cupcake’s name off the wall and adding the yarn wrapped A. So here’s how it was looking (in all it’s messy glory!)

The view from the door. The swing is temporary. The glider (which is no longer covered in bathtub paint, thank goodness) has been sitting next to that window so long there’s some nice dents in the carpet. I like having the little side table there so I have somewhere to set stuff (nail clippers, Vitamin D drops, my phone). The basket on that shelf holds burp clothes. The baskets on the floor under the recessed shelves hold toys. The crib sits on the wall that is shared with Cupcake’s room (and her bed is up against that wall, too).

This is the view from in front of the closet. The diaper pail in the corner is a little hard to access. I suppose I could move the dresser over toward the door more to make more room for it, but I’d like the dresser off that wall. The hamper is in the closet so when I change her clothes I can toss the clothes in the hamper instead of on the floor (like her sleeper is in this picture!). Clearly it was diaper laundry day since there is a basket full of clean diapers on the floor.

And then there’s the blank wall.

My goal was to get the crib off the shared wall since Pumpkin goes to bed first and naps more and Cupcake has a tendency to be loud in her room. It’s a small room though with weird walls and built in shelves (that p.s. I hung all by myself when I was 9 months pregnant with Cupcake). I had two handy helpers to rearrange.

So I moved the dresser to the blank wall which is where I really want it. And then I tried the crib on the wall where the dresser used to be.

And moved the glider over.

But I didn’t like the way it blocked the shelves and then I had an empty wall next to the window. I did move the swing over there, but it was too close to the glider and blocked the shelves even more. I also tried moving the crib so the short side was on the wall, but then there was this long narrow area that led to nowhere on the side. I liked the openness of the floor space, but it still felt awkward.

And then it was nap time………

Later I tried the crib on the other side of the room.

It only fits with the short side against the wall. I don’t want it to block the window or the shelves.

And I moved the glider over into the corner. And the swing next to it (darn swing takes up so much room, but it’s so needed!!)

I want to change out some of the wall decor with these adorable letters Pumpkin’s godparents had made for her.

They’re from Dippity Daisy on Etsy and totes adorbs!!!

So while I still have a long narrow space it at least leads to the shelves now. It’s important to note that this room has no overhead light. The top plug is the one connected to the switch. So that further complicates things.

I like the dresser there, but the wall above it sure feels naked! (When this was Cupcake’s room her name was there, though that felt silly because nothing else was on the wall)

So that’s where it sits for now. I don’t know if I like it. I’m going to live with it for a bit. At least it’s clean, now! The room is so awkward shaped!!! I think I’d like it better if the swing wasn’t in there since it’s right inside the entrance to the room.

And I’m really itching to get some color in there! I saw this fabric at IKEA the other day and I want it for her room!!! Maybe some curtains……

What do you think? Where do you think I should put the crib?

Pumpkin says thanks for your help!!!

Nap Time Craft Time: A is for Alyssa

Posted on October 15, 2012 by Heather Hawkins

This project is nothing new and exciting. Believe you me if you Google yarn wrapped letters you’ll find plenty. But this is my project and my blog so I’m sharing anyway!!!!!! When the nursery was Cupcake’s I had painted all the letters of her name and hung them on the wall. Obviously I took them down to move Pumpkin in, so I needed to do something personalized for her, too! I decided on a yarn wrapped A. Ready to finish letters were on sale at Joann’s and apparently A is a popular letter, but I found one to suit my tastes! Yarn was also on sale. Score!

Luckily for me both girls napped in their beds at the same time yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A momma’s dream come true! 2 uninterrupted hours of crafting time! Yeah, I could’ve been napping as well, or cleaning house, but a girl’s got priorities.

I started by wrapping my yarn top to bottom to cover the ends. I used some Tacky Glue to hold the edge pieces in place.

Then I went side to side.

And ta da! My letter was covered!

It needed a little something more, so I dug out some scraps leftover from the scalloped bunting I made and ran them through my Big Shot machine with the Scalloped Circle die.

I used one large scallop as the back and folded each of 4 large scallop circles into quarters and stitched them down in the corner. I then folded 4 small scalloped circles into quarters and stitched them down as well.

I added a button to the center and glued it onto my letter. And now it sits on the shelf in Pumpkin’s room!

It was a quick project (it didn’t take me the whole two hour nap time) that turned out really cute! And it cost me just over $5! That’s my kind of project!

And because who doesn’t love a sleepy baby, here’s a pic of Pumpkin snoozing while momma worked.

Did you work on any craft projects this weekend? Or did you take a nap instead?

Linked Up: Not Just a Housewife

Nap Time Craft Time: A Bunting for Baby

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Heather Hawkins

I was perusing the aisles of Hobby Lobby one morning with the intent of finding items to make an I Spy bag for Cupcake. I was happily ogling fabric when I came across two pieces of fabric that were meant to be in a fat quarter bundle. And I was all “come to momma!!!!” but I couldn’t find the rest of the bundle. And I couldn’t find another bundle with those pieces in it. I was devastated. And then my toddler ran down the back aisle and I had to chase after her all 9 months pregnant. Luckily she had a bag of beads in her hand that were making a jingling noise so I could follow her by using my supersonic momma hearing. And then we left.

Sad day for crafty momma. Sigh.

And then Cupcake actually took a nap (a long one) on Sunday afternoon and I had no idea what to do with myself. I had a project in mind, but I didn’t have any fabric for it. I really wish I had a fabric store in my craft room. But alas I don’t have the storage space (or monetary resources) to just buy fabric and hold on to it waiting for the perfect project.

Luckily I’m a super nice wife and when hubby didn’t feel like taking Oscar to get his nails clipped I volunteered! Joann’s is in the same strip mall. Sneaky, sneaky.

I scanned the quilting fabric wall. I couldn’t decide on anything. Nothing was appealing to me. I wanted something a little modern or bright or something with some plum and different patterns. The only fabric I liked was polka dots. So I checked out the fat quarters. Still nothing. But then, I remembered……….they have an end cap with fat quarter bundles! I moseyed over (or waddled, whatever you want to call it) and low and behold…………I saw the same two fabrics I was feverishly searching for at Hobby Lobby!!!!!! This time they had all their friends with them! And they were mine! I bought two!

Wanna know which two pieces I loved?

Gorgeous!

I saw Dana’s tutorial over on Made to make a scalloped bunting and I knew H2.0 needed one! I now had the fabric to do it! To make my circle template I used a paint can lid. It measures about 6 1/4″ around.

I was able to get 3 circles from each fat quarter. I picked 4 fat quarters to make my scallops and one to make my bias tape.

In Dana’s tutorial she cut her template in a half circle……..I went ahead and did full circles.

I stitched them all the way around and got really dizzy from going in circles over and over and over.

And cut them in half.

And snipped the curves, flipped them right side out and ironed them.

I made bias tape.

And then sandwiched my half circles in my bias tape and stitched and stitched and stitched until I reached the end.

How cute is that?

I’m so excited to hang this sweet, girly bunting in baby’s room. It will also make a great photography prop, so don’t be surprised if you see it again.

Oh, and I only used half my half circles and half my bias tape, so I can totally make another one!!!!

And speaking of baby…………..

Nap Time Craft Time: Chevron Mirrors

Posted on August 10, 2012 by Heather Hawkins

The big girl room is almost done! Cupcake is already living in it since the furniture is all in. It’s just a matter of finishing touches (AKA wall decor) that is keeping me from revealing it to you. There are two walls that need a little attention. Well, after yesterday’s Nap Time Craft Time make that one wall!

So this is what I started with.

The narrow space next to her closet. I was originally thinking I wanted a long narrow print or painting, but then I spotted this chevron frame at Hobby Lobby.

And I thought, how cute would that be next to the closet? Except it is the wrong color. And I didn’t really have anything in mind for inside the picture frame. And it was a little bigger than I would’ve liked. So, naturally I decided I would make my own!

I started with these.

Malma mirrors from IKEA. I think they cost $2.99 each (pregnancy brain!). These great little mirrors have unfinished wood frames perfect for crafting! Perfect for making chevron mirrors!

So I picked up some paints. Only to come home and discover that I had colors I liked better.

The frames got a base coat of white.

And after they dried I scoured the craft room for my ruler, but couldn’t locate it. The downside of a clear ruler. Good thing I have a quilting grid. So, I measured out lines every 2 inches and marked them very lightly with pencil.

Make a grid.

Next, tape out the chevron pattern by laying the tape corner to corner in your squares.

Work your way up your frame to create all your stripes.

I went ahead and erased my pencil marks before I started painting just to make sure they wouldn’t show through (and I wouldn’t need 5 coats of paint to hide them). Paint!

After the paint has dried remove the tape.

Wait for it………..

Ta da!!!! How cute is that?!?!?! OK, well, it didn’t look that cute right away. I still had to erase the pencil lines from the white stripes (one of those old school pink erasers come in handy for this project!).

And it was so easy to make! So easy, that I made 3 of them!

You can vary the look based on how large you make your grid and how thick you lay your painter’s tape.

They are the perfect size (they measure 10″x10″) for this space!

I think they make a fun and funky addition to her room. They’re not quite what I originally had in mind for the space, but I like ‘em!!!

Have you finished any Malma mirrors from IKEA?

DIY Cornice

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Heather Hawkins

I’m almost done with the guest room redo (and I promise I’ll show you pictures when I’m done). I only have 2 things left on the to do list now that the room has window treatments. My first thought was to make some fun curtains, but I was afraid of overwhelming the room since it’s kind of small. So I decided on fresh, white curtains and a fun cornice! We don’t have any cornices in the house, so this is a first for me. OK, I lied, we had those plastic, cheep “cornices” on the windows. This window included. I wanted a real, fabric covered one, though! Time for some DIY!

So here’s what I started with.

I decided to use foam insulation to build my cornice. It’s much lighter than wood and I wouldn’t need to get out the power tools (not that I have anything against power tools!).

Step 1: (We can have lots of fun – whoa 80′s flashback) Build the cornice

I measured my window and added 6 inches to that, so I would have a 3 inch over hang on either side of the window when finished. My (double) window measured 75″ so I needed 81″ of foam board.

I marked my foam board at 10″ and cut.

This made a fun mess!!

I had to do this twice and then trim because my window is much wider than the foam board. Because I had to piece the boards together to be long enough I put down a strip of Duck Tape and hot glued the two ends together.

I wrapped the Duck Tape around the rest of the way. I then found two paint stirring sticks in the back of the basement and used them to add stability to the pieces.

So I now have a piece that measures 81″ x 10″ which will become the front of my cornice.

I had also cut two pieces that measure 3″ wide and pieced them together to have a top strip. Again I glued two pieces together, wrapped them in Duck Tape and glued a paint stirrer for stability. I then glued it along the top of the cornice front.

I had also cut two pieces measuring 3″ x 9″ to use as the side pieces. Those were also glued into place.

And because it doesn’t matter how ugly the foam looks I went ahead and added a bit more Duck Tape on the corners to help hold it all in place.

Step 2: (There’s so much we can do!) Cover the cornice

You’ll want to cut your fabric large enough to cover the whole cornice leaving enough fabric to wrap all the way around it and to the back. You’ll also want to cut your batting large enough to wrap around, but not quite as big as the fabric.

We can start wrapping it!

Pull your fabric up and over and pin it into place. Fold neatly around the corners and continue all the way around the bottom, top and sides.

The best part about pinning the fabric on is if you want to change it out later you quickly and easily can!

And your done! Ignore the messy floor. There was no point in cleaning up before this project because I made a huge foamy mess! Oh, and I had originally planned on doing this in the garage, but I’m so glad I did it in the basement instead as my cornice is so long I worked on the floor. Much more comfortable on the basement floor than the garage floor would have been.

Step 3: (It’s just you and me) Prepare your window

I started with a blank slate. Ignore the ugly blinds. I really would’ve like to replace this old ratty things, but it’s just not in the budget at the moment. At least I get to hide that ugly top piece (whatever it’s called).

I added a simple cafe curtain rod to hang my curtains since it won’t be seen.

It’s a big improvement, but I’m not done, yet!

I had hubby help me hold the cornice up so I could figure out where I wanted it. You can place it high or low, just depends on the look you are going for. I wanted it a little high. I then added 4 corner brackets across the top of my window at my desired height.

Then there’s just the simple matter of resting your cornice on top of the brackets!

And there you have it! An inexpensive, simple, great looking cornice for you window!

I wish I could find my receipt but I think I paid about $10 for the foam (I bought the 6 pack precut pieces because I didn’t have a means to get one big sheet of insulation foam home from the hardware store). The brackets only cost me a couple dollars. The batting I already had and the fabric (Crazy for Dots & Stripes) I got for $8.98 a yard at fabric.com. I still have enough fabric left to make some throw pillows for the bed!! I also still have enough foam insulation to make another cornice (which I might do for Cupcake’s big girl room – haven’t decided, yet).

The cornice has been hanging for a few days now and looks great! I’m super happy with how it turned out (and I can’t imagine how heavy it would’ve been had I used wood!!).

Are you a cornice type of person or a pretty curtain rod type of person?