Joyful Abode

This is sort of part two to this post, “Getting Ready for a Guest, or How I Pulled a Guest Room Out of My Bum.”

Now that my dear friend Meagan is safely on her airplane, I can tell you about the other things I did to get ready for her stay.

But… I’m going to write it like I’m telling you what to do, because that’s how I roll. You know, I make a recipe for the first time or pull a craft idea out of my back pocket, and then I act like the authority on it and you all listen to me, and then I get a mini-power-trip off of that.

And I’m also going to ask you to forgive my pictures… my camera has been getting blurrier and blurrier and I’m not sure why. It’s not the lens being dirty, and it’s not the settings (because I know how to use them). So maybe the camera is just dying.

So, I present to you…

A list of things you should always do when you are playing hostess to an out-of-town guest

1. Ask your friend what foods she’d like to have around. Buy them. Have them around. Also, read your friend’s mind and buy some things you know she likes and strategically place them around the house in bowls. See: M&Ms.
   
2. If it’s possible, clear out a closet for your guest’s clothes. If not, at least provide some empty drawers. Make sure there’s a place for her to rest her suitcase, a place for her dirty clothes, some reading material, and a mirror. Always provide 2 towels for ladies (we like one for our hair too!) along with a hand towel and a washcloth.
   
3. Put clean pretty bedding on the bed. I tried to fluff out the wrinkles in the dryer, but since the comforter is new, it didn’t want to do that… Make sure there are lamps by the bed, for night-time reading.
   
4. Make sure you have an alarm clock, kleenex, and a trash can in the room. If you want, you can add fresh flowers, a live plant, and some candles.
5. A box of goodies never hurt anyone. Make sure to include things your guest might forget, like toothpaste and lotion, a razor, soap, anti-frizz hair gel (hehe) for humid climates, lip balm, and a pad of paper and pen. Other fun things to include are fancy soaps, a loofah, room spray, and season 5 of Scrubs. Seriously.
6. Hope that your friend likes Gerbera daisies as much as you do.
   
7. Also, freshen up the bathroom, put some flowers in there, stuff like that. And when your guest arrives, go with her to McGuires Irish Pub, drink margaritas, and relax, because no one likes a hyperactive-anxious hostess.

So, since we’ve lived here in Milton, we’ve only had overnight guests once, and they were guys who couldn’t care less about where they slept or the condition of the house.Because of the lack of guests, the room intended to be the “guest room” quickly degenerated into this:

This is the room in which we store my dress form, usually have my light box set up (but I had to take it down to use the table for the craft show last week), weights, yoga ball, the “goodwill pile” of things to donate, and so forth. It’s even more of a disaster area now because of the show last week… I just dumped everything in here afterward (stock, displays, etc). And then we chucked the ironing board with its mound of fabric on top in there last night because friends came over to play games.

So, the first thing I did was take care of the ironing.

I ironed and folded all of the fabric, then put it away.

Then I started to tackle the post-craft-show-chaos that was everywhere.  I managed to get the non-apron stock into two rubbermaid bins, and stacked them out of the way in the corner.

The Man found a “good enough” home for my card display rack, which is pretty cumbersome, in the closet that houses the air conditioning.

My non-stock show stuff found a place in my craft room closet, along with the box of bubble envelopes I just ordered.

It’s starting to look better, isn’t it?

My stationery display racks and mannequin family found their way into the guest room closet (which, sad to say, isn’t for guests to use since it stores our luggage and the guy’s golf stuff and things like that).

My dimantled light box…

was rearranged so it fit into its bin…

…and sent to the garage for storage.

My craft show tables also went to the garage. Because really, why not?

And the room was clear! After vacuuming, The new inflatable pillow-top queen-sized mattress was set out….

…inflated, sheeted, and new-fluffy-pillow-ed. I also put out some lamps so that my guest will be able to read in bed if she wants to, and a little crate to serve as a nightstand so she can put her books or whatever in there.

She has a wide selection of reading materials if she’s into children’s books.

And she can put her clothes away in the dresser (except for the one occupied drawer).

YAY!!! I can’t wait until Meagan gets here.

So, it doesn’t look terribly different from the living room my apartment in Columbia, SC or our row house in Pensacola, FL BUT I have to show off our new green wall. Whoever decided on the paint colors for this house chose them FOR ME. The green in the living room is perfect, as is the yellow of the kitchen and the pumpkin entryway. The office is a sort of goldish color that is wonderful too… but on to the Living/Dining room(s)!!!

Sorry for the blurriness. I think my camera wasn’t in the mood. (You needed to see the plane picture on the left side. haha.) The door to the right of the plane picture is our bedroom door.

Isn’t the green wall fantastic?

Annnd… the Pensacola Training Area Chart and a sectional chart… the joys of decor when you’re married to a student aviator! Also, our elliptical machine goes on that side of the couch, but we hid it because company was coming and it’s not pretty.

Across from the the couch and the pretty green wall is the entertainment center. This is the view of that side, including the pumpkin entryway, from the dining area.

The view of the dining area from in front of the laundry closet (which is to the right of our bedroom door).

And the view from the entryway, through the living room to the dining room, and the yellow kitchen beyond. The ceiling fan in here is really pretty, too.

I’m not even going to apologize about the number of pictures I just subjected you to… I love this house!

Excuse my bread machine cord and the fact that the machine is sitting on a stool… this is what happens in a kitchen with no counter space.

Anyway, I just clipped some of my favorite aprons up using clothespins. I’ll rotate some of my not-so-favorites with more-favorite aprons as I find them. You know how it is with vintage aprons… a treasure hunt!

I don’t generally wear half-aprons so this is a fantastic way to display them, and also answers the question of kitchen window treatments.

Now, I DO wear full aprons every time I cook, so I chose to display them in a more utilitarian way… the people who lived in this house before we did evidently loved SCREWS. They are in every room, randomly placed in almost every wall.

I’ve come to appreciate them in an odd way, using them for various things (You’ll see another use in my craft room once I post pictures of that). In the kitchen, there are two random screws that make great apron-hooks. If I owned this house, I’d probably replace them with proper hooks, but for a temporary abode, the screws do just fine!

What do you do with your apron collection? I’d love to see it!

(Bella dia uses her half-aprons as chair skirts. How clever!)

PS You can’t have the aprons in my personal collection, of course, but I have found lots you can have. Want to see?

Technorati Tags: aprons, decor, curtains, kitchen, display, vintage, kitchen window treatments

Little by little, I will photograph and post about our new house.

In case you missed it… We moved to Pensacola August 1, but moved again to Milton October 1st-ish. So… new house.

Ana had asked for a wide shot of how the things in the room fit together in my “Inspiration? Decorate!” post… I guess this one could qualify.

Our bedroom is bigger than it was in the old house, and I feel like the walls really need something more…

This one is “my side.” Do you remember my beautiful jewelry storage?

My few “souvenirs” (I’m not a cluttery must-have-more-stuff type person, if you haven’t noticed) from China and the Dominican Republic (along with the blue stone heart my husband gave me when we were in high school).

And the man’s dresser, work boots, and requisite plane picture.

Embroidery might be climbing the charts in my list of favorite crafts. I love the way it makes things look, and actually doing it is relaxing and methodical. So I recently decided to make some place mats for myself and my husband combining sewing, appliqué, and embroidery.

I learned a fantastic applique technique that I might write a tutorial for later, but for now, I’ll just let your eyes feast on my latest project-just-for-me. I love the way they turned out, and they grace our table now along with the place mats from Jennifreckles.

After ironing on interfacing to the yellow-dotted fabric, I appliquéd an autumn leaf onto each place mat. Then, I added a backstitched line for the leaf’s falling path.

After that, I layered two pieces of muslin on the back and bound the whole thing with handmade bias tape.

I decided to do the embroidery in two colors, for his-and-hers. I like that they match but aren’t exactly the same.

I also put one of my new tags on the back of each one, just because they make me smile.

I’ve been wanting to re-cover my office chair for a while… to match my bulletin board.

Then, this post from Design*Sponge reminded me recently, and I finally got off my butt to do it. However… I wish I had a chair like theirs, because the top part (the part your back leans on) on mine cannot completely snap out of the plastic frame. WISH IT COULD.

Also… I am very much a visual learner. SO… I like to cater to visual learners too. I needed WAY more photos than two “after” shots. So here is my version.

To begin: One Ugly Office Chair

Turn it over, and unscrew the seat from the base. Very simple, indeed.

Rip off the ugly useless cardboard if you feel like it, then lay the seat on your fabric, making sure the fabric is facing the right way if it is patterned.

Staple the straight sides using a staple gun.

Don’t work clockwise or counter-clockwise… work with opposing sides (like left, then right, then top, then bottom).

After that, pull each corner point as far in as it can go…

and staple the four corners with one staple each.

At each corner, now you have two “pockets” of fabric. Put your finger in the center of each pocket, then flatten it to the bottom of the seat to make a pleat. Staple each pleat.

Now you will have two pleats at each corner, for a total of eight.

Do some extra stapling wherever you feel it’s necessary, then trim your fabric pretty close to the staples, but not too close.

Now, cut a piece of muslin about the size of the chair bottom. Folding the edges under, staple the fabric to cover up the edges of your pretty fabric. Again, do top, bottom, right, left (or similar).

I folded the corners under separately too, because I felt like it.

Feel around for the screw-holes and then poke some holes in the muslin with a pair of scissors.

Now you’re ready to screw on the base again. (See the holes?)

So… screw it on!

If you’re lucky, like the folks at Design*Sponge, you will be able to pry the backrest of your chair off for its makeover. If you’re unlucky like me, you’ll need to use some biceps. I borrowed some biceps for my chair-prying.

The backrest doesn’t actually pop off… it’s still connected in the middle. So this stinks.

But it’s workable. Lay your backrest on some fabric, or some fabric on the backrest, and trace around it. Then cut around the tracing, giving yourself several inches on all sides. LEARN FROM MY ERROR: leave more wiggle room than I did! It will make life MUCH easier.

Make a running-stitch around the edge of your backrest fabric with some heavy thread (I used embroidery floss). The thread color doesn’t matter, because no one will see it.

Sit the fabric on the backrest, and pull the string to gather. If you’re lucky, you’ll get to tie the string ends together when it’s nice and gathery. If you’re unlucky, like me, your string will break.

Starting at the bottom, and working your way up both sides (and then to the top of course), tuck the fabric edges in-between the cushioned part and the plastic part of the chair back. A flat-head screwdriver is good for this. Then, snap the plastic back in place (just squeeze really hard and it’ll snap).

Voila! Your office chair is no longer ugly!

I actually haven’t carved pumpkins this year yet. I’m going to wait a bit longer so that the pumpkins don’t rot before Halloween, BUT… I wrote up this tutorial last year, and I thought it would be helpful to some people who might be reading Joyful Abode this year.

Before:

The pumpkin awaits its transformation. Tools await their destiny.

Step 1: Cut a lid. Make a notch in the back, so that you can easily replace it the right way.
Mine’s bleeding!

Step 2: Remove the lid and cut off all the nasty stringy stuff.

Step 3: Scrape out all the gooey stuff from the inside. Save it so you can get the seeds for baking!

Step 4: After everything is all scraped out, tape your pattern to the pumpkin. If you are drawing it on, go ahead and do that instead. I made mine in paint and printed it out. If you like my jack-o-lantern carving template, it’s available in free stuff.

Step 5: Use a poker (a toothpick or a seam ripper would work if you don’t have one just for pumpkins) to poke holes around your pattern lines. If you drew on your pumpkin, you can skip that.

Then remove your pattern.
It’s hard to see the pokey holes, isn’t it?

Step 6: Rub flour into the holes so you can see them. Wipe off excess with a damp paper towel or sponge.

Step 7: Carve away! Start with the smallest holes, then proceed to bigger ones. This will help keep the stability of the whole thing as you cut.

Step 8:
Light with a tea light, and turn off the lights! (I rubbed cinnamon onto the underside of my lid, so that when I burn the candle the room smells yummy.)

We’re moving again. We’ve actually been moving all week. But this weekend will be the final haul. I updated the “About” page to reflect this new development.

So goodbye little row house, or patio house, or whatever it is you like to be called. We’ve enjoyed our two months here.

(ooh a sneak peak of my quilt)

More pictures in my flickr.

We’re looking forward to at least 6 months in our new three - bedroom - house - with - a - bigger - craft - room - that - the - husband - prefers - to - call - the - office.

See you on Monday, blog world! I’ll come back with lots of Halloween goodies for you. I bet you can’t even guess what.

For a while, my jewelry has been lumped together in a jewelry box. When I want to wear earrings, I have to hunt for mates… when I want to wear a necklace, I must first unravel it from a tangle of its cousins.

Not anymore! If you have this problem too, you might enjoy making some gorgeous jewelry boards for your bedroom (or dressing room, if you have one… I have heard of such things).

You’ll need frames. Buy them on sale! Sometimes Michael’s has a selection of frames on clearance. I got mine at Linens n Things. Buy one get one 1/2 off.

You will also need cork. I bought 4 square-foot boards from Michael’s with a 50% off coupon. I only spent 5 bucks on them.

You will need hot glue, a ruler, an exacto knife or similar blade, stapler (regular kind), fabric, coordinating ribbon, coordinating pins, and a FEW minutes.

Remove the glass from the frames, but save the cardboard. Using the cardboard as a guide, cut your cork to size. It’s ok to piece it in order to make it big enough. No one will know.

Then, use your amazing hot glue gun to affix the cork to the cardboard.

Now, cut your fabric a little larger than your cork/cardboard mess. You can always trim it later, so err on the larger size. Place your mess cork-side-down onto the wrong side of the fabric. Stretch and staple. Staple a lot. And look out for those corners!

Now, if you just want a plain old covered cork board, you’re pretty much done.

For the magical jewelry boards though, pull out your coordinating ribbon.

Turn over your boards and measure where you want your ribbons. Mark with a pen. Don’t worry… no one will see the back.

Now, wrap your ribbons and staple staple staple (on the back, of course).

See what we’re getting at? Now they’re ready for the frames!

You’ll probably have to kind of cram them into the frames, because they’re a little bulkier than a photo… but it’s worth it. Make sure you secure your board by bending the little metal thingies down.

Check it out!

Now pull out your coordinating pins and your ruler. Add pins below your ribbons, about an inch apart. These are what you’ll hang your necklaces on. I pushed my pins in almost all the way, and then bent them out a bit so they’re like hooks.

Now, hang your jewelry and you’re ready to go! Hook your earrings over the ribbons, and hang your necklaces.

I really like this because everything is out where I can see it. It also really looks like the jewelry is framed, and since I chose frames, fabric, and ribbons that coordinate with our bedroom, it’s like a piece of art.

Let me know if you make some! I’d love to see photos.
And if you have a different solution for your jewelry storage, please comment about it. Another reader may prefer your solution.

I did an Inspiration? Decorate! post earlier about my bedroom decor. Here’s the second installment, about my living room and its inspiration piece.

The inspiration piece is this pillow from World Market.

I loved the colors, the pattern, the clean but organic shapes. It really appealed to me. So I took a couple home with me.

Enter: deliciously burnt orange curtains and curtain hardware which mirrors the leaves.

Then, I mixed up some paint colors that were pretty close to those in the pillow, and went to town creating my living room art.

Add a throw and you have….

That was in Columbia, SC still. So here it is translated into my Pensacola, FL home.

So, what are your favorite inspiration pieces? How have you incorporated them into the decor in your home?

I started out with this bedding (but queen sized) from Ikea… I LOVE the bold colors, the clean lines, and the fact that the duvet cover is reversible. The other side has a brown background, and still the branch+flowers.

So, when I moved to this apartment, I decided to take this as my feature piece and decorate around it in my bedroom.

I added some art (by me)…the lines look a lot cleaner in person, for some reason:

Curtains:

And a painted flowerpot accent:

And the room looks fabulous.

You will need:

• one picture frame, whatever size you like. I used 18″ x 24″
• a piece of corrugated cardboard cut to fit your frame
• cork tiles, which you can find at Michael’s next to the whiteboards, about 10 dollars for 4 (12″ square)
• pretty fabric, a little larger than the area to be framed
• hot glue gun + glue
• stapler + staples
• x-acto knife

Step 1: Glue the cork to the corrugated cardboard. You will probably have to cut some pieces, but that’s okay. No one will see! Just make sure they are pushed close together, no gaps.

Step 2: Try out your fabric in the frame, just to make sure you like it.

Step 3: Lay your fabric wrong-side-up on the floor or table. Then place your cork+cardboard cork-side-down on top. Stretch the fabric around it and staple to the back. You can use a regular stapler for this; just open it up. Start at the middle of each side, then work toward the corners.

Step 5: Install the fabric covered cork in the frame. I took mine to Michael’s and they did it for free. Lovely!

Step 6: Hang and use!

I was sitting at my desk, setting up Joyful Abode, when it occurred to me that nothing about my desk area was working. (Click this picture to see the tags in flickr.)

Oh my goodness… horrible! I had “organizational things” but it wasn’t working for my needs. So I needed a change.

At times like this, I always do the same thing. Make sure my bed is made, then pile the offending objects on my bed. I totally cleared my desk, then dusted everything.

After that, I went through all of the junk on my bed, analyzing it. Why do I need all of my paper on my desk? I don’t! So I found a clear plastic drawer unit to put it in. That went under my desk.

Next, the mugs for the pencils and pens went into the “give away” box. They were replaced by cute tin buckets I got from Walmart several months ago. I had been using them in my classroom until now.

I had a few pieces of trash, which went in the trash of course… but I noticed something sad. I had expired coupons and things that WOULD have been useful to me, had they not been buried under a pile of sadness. I determined I needed a bulletin board.

I also decided I needed a smaller place to file my reciepts, bills, and paystubs… the tall black filing tray monstrosity had to go!

So I made a shopping trip to Michael’s for the smaller filing tool and the bulletin board. I found just what I wanted, too. These “creative home accents” are lovely, and currently 50% off! More on the bulletin board later.

I tore the fabric off of my chair to reveal a much less offensive grey. When I get a staple gun, I’ll re-cover it to match my bulletin board.

And now, I am working in a much more joyful place. Clutter-free and attractive. My bulletin board is reminding me about today’s sale at Hancock Fabrics, and I’ll make a trip there later.