Sewing a Curtain

One last thing I needed for my bathroom was a curtain. I'm lucky enough to have a washer and dryer in suite in my apartment, but they're a bit of an eyesore in my bathroom so I decided to make a curtain to keep them out of view, but still in easy access.

I had this Ikea fabric I bought a few years ago (long before I sewed!) and this seemed like the perfect accent to the room.

I'd never made a curtain before but this seemed easy enough. A hemmed rectangle and loops at the top. Not too tricky.

And the finished product! I still need to get a hook so I can keep the curtain to the side when I'm using the machines but I'll wait a while to get that.

Contrary to what it looked like, I ironed the curtain twice before hanging it up. I blame lighting for pointing out all the wrinkles.

Bathroom Mini-Reno

As I talked about in my last post, my bathroom in my apartment has been lacking.

It's a lot of shades of beige and didn't really have a lot of character.

I decided to paint my bathroom last week with having some free time (I took a week off work for the holidays! It's been amazing!).

I did have a hiccup along the way though. The first paint color I picked out was an utter flop. It was called Silver Drop and was a light grey. However, with the lack of windows and horrible lighting in my bathroom, it just looked like the walls were dirty rather than being a COLOR.

Thankfully, it only takes about 1/4 of a quart can of paint and an hour to do two coats of paint, so I didn't have a problem with buying another can of paint and trying out another color.

The color I ended up with is called Rain Washed by Behr. I like it! It's a light blue/slightly aqua/greyish color and it looks really clean and fresh.

I made the print on the wall based off of one I saw on Etsy. I still want to get a better frame for it yet.

I really wish I could do something with my sink/cupboard area! It's so hideous. If I get brave enough, maybe I'll paint it. I'd probably lose my damage deposit though.

I hung up my pretty petal hooks from Anthropologie! I got them in May while we were in Seattle and hadn't had a chance to use them yet. I didn't want to hang them up on a white wall because I thought a colored wall would add more contrast and help them stand out more. Either way, I think they add a cute feminine touch to the room!

Medicine Cabinet Makeover

I live in an apartment and while I love it, there's a few things I've wanted to change. I don't think I'm legally allowed to do too much as far as renovating, but I figure if I'm going to live here a few years, I'm going to make it as comfortable for me as possible, right?

That said, I had this ugly medicine cabinet in my bathroom. My main problems with it were that the top was stained, and that the doors to it were glass so everything on the inside was visible at all times.

I didn't take a proper "before" picture, but I took this one once I had started blocking off the doors to redo.

I found this great product at Home Depot called Frosted Glass Finish, a specialty product by RustOleum. It's in a can like spray-paint and you just spray it on the glass surface you want. It shows up clear and then minutes later dries into a soft frosted finish! Very cool and so easy to do, and for less than $10 it's such a great quick fix.

In this picture I've already started frosting the glass (it took a few coats), but you can see the stains that I really didn't like on top of the cabinet.

I decided to paint the metal surfaces with a high gloss white paint to create a clean and modern surface.

Finished product! I think it looks a lot better than before and I'm happy with the results, considering what I had to work with (if it were my own house, I would have just ripped it out and done something else with the area).

DIY Light Fixture Facelift

I live in an apartment and can't do too much for permanent redecorating but I wanted to give a light fixture in my entranceway a facelift. All the light fixtures in my place are pretty outdated - lots of tinted glass and brass and not the most beautiful.

I had to come up with something that was removable and decided to bring nature inside. Luckily, the glass cover of the fixture is easily detachable so I thought it would be a good idea to wrap something around it. I live next to a riverbank so I walked along the bank and gathered fallen branches (not too sure what kind, they have beautiful little knubs and seeds on them though!).

A few hours of twisting twigs and gluegunning later, I had a beautiful new cover that just slips over the glass part of the lamp.

I love the shadows it casts!

The best part is that it didn't cost me a penny and I can take it with me should I decide to leave this apartment.

Bean bags

I have a sweet two year old nephew who I lived with first the first 14 months of his life. My sister recently asked me to make a few bean bags for him for her to keep in her purse. She's really big on homemade and wooden toys for Ben.

After a bit of delay from a jammed sewing machine, I finally got them done recently! I made a lining with a thick fabric and put the rice inside of that, so that even if Ben gets a hole in the beanbags, the rice still won't spill out.

I made three different bean bags - one with patches of Guatemalan handmade fabric, one of a ladybug (Ben's favorite animal) and one with the letter B on one side and Thomas the Train on the other.

The cutest thing was when I gave the beanbags to Benjamin, he thought they were tiny pillows and promptly put them on the floor and laid his head on them and snuggled with his blanket, his Curious George, and the beanbags.

Before and After - Telephone Bench

I got this telephone bench a few months ago and absolutely fell in love with it.

But the upholstery was outdated and worn out, with a little hole on the seat.

I've been meaning to upholster it again since I bought it, but had been waiting around for just the right fabric. Well, I decided yesterday that I'll probably never find the perfect fabric, and decided to just use some leftover Amy Butler fabric I had from creating pillows in my living room.

I just did a quick hack upholstery job, without removing the old fabric, but I think it'll hold up fine until I find that perfect fabric!

(For a second, I was considering leaving it like this. I'm glad I didn't.)

I'm happy with the results, it looks cute and summery.

Before and After - Blinds

This is a bit boring, but it's something I've been meaning to do for a long time!

When I moved into this apartment, it came with these bamboo-ish blinds in the bedroom. They aren't good for much, in fact, I think the sun shines through them more than is blocked out, but since I don't have anything to replace them with, they're staying up for now.

My problem with them is that A. there was an unnecessary curtain rod in front of them, B. the cord was perpetually tangled and had a twist tie wrapped up in it and was so long it dangled on the floor, and C. they were about 9 inches too long for the window. So I decided to hack my blinds and customize them to the window.

Scissors and a glue gun later, and my blinds now fit perfectly and have a neat, small cord! And no more unnecessary brass curtain rod! I'm proud.

Linen Grocery Tote

I recently finished another crocheting project. I made the linen grocery tote with a pattern from Purl Bee I had mentioned earlier. It was nice to do a knitting/crocheting project that only took a week or so opposed to a few months!

Anyways, I'm really happy with how it turned out.

I'm thinking these may be good to make for gifts. Yes.

I used the project's recommended linen, Louet's Euroflax linen, in Mustard. It's tough and incredibly strong, while still being gorgeous and soft when you wash it.

It's also really stretchy and fills out a lot so you can fit lots in it!

My next crochet project

Since I took up knitting this summer, I haven't done much crocheting at all.

The other day though, I saw the coolest project posted on Purl Bee.

It's a crocheted linen grocery tote, perfect for putting fruits and vegetables in.

When I go grocery shopping, I usually avoid putting my fruits and vegetables in plastic bags because it just seems like such a waste.

This seems like the perfect alternative! It's super stretchy, and when it isn't being used, can be squished down tiny enough to fit in my purse.

I can't do any crazy crocheting, but the pattern seems simple enough and has pretty pictures. You can check it out here.

DIY Antique Frame Update

I bought this antique frame a few months ago with the plans of redoing it.

The frame has great shape and details, but the gold paint wasn't working for me. Plus, whoever painted it gold didn't do the best job and left a lot of big drips.

I finally spent a few hours an evening last week on the frame. I sanded it down (turns out before it was gold, it was a beige-pink-white-ish color) to get rid of the dents and paint drips. After many many coats of a glossy black paint, it's looking great!

I bought a vintage National Geographic map of Central America from the 1970s on etsy and fit it behind the frame. There isn't any glass (or way of putting in glass), so i just taped the map to the back of the frame.

I used some more of my favorite Command3 strips to hang it against the concrete wall in my apartment.

I'm really happy with how it turned out!