Monogrammed Pillow

So now that I have curtains up in the family room, I needed some matching pillows for the couch, right? I thought so, too.

I wanted a monogrammed pillow, so we picked up some white fabric from Joann's and started with this:

We just used thread that coordinated with the green fabric from the curtains and Mom put it through her fancy sewing machine.

Then we added some Wonder Under to the back of leftover green fabric and cut out an H.

Here is where the pictures stopped happening. Between Zaxby's, recorded episodes of The Glee Project, and someone bleeding massively due to a sharp needle, no more action shots were taken. The gist of it is that we ironed the H in place on the front of the pillow, then did a satin stitch around its perimeter to ensure that it lasts a long time. After that, we added cording and then attached it to another piece of white fabric to complete the pillow.

Isn't it lovely? It feels so Pottery Barn-ish to me.

Non-Shower Curtains

When I was growing up, my mom made sure that my sisters and I knew how to run a household. She taught us how to cook and the basics of sewing. Luckily for the hubs, I retained all of my cooking knowledge. But sewing? Not so much.

I needed some curtains ASAP for the family room to add some color to the otherwise bland room. We have an open floor plan and it's all painted builder's neutral.

Nice blinds, huh?

I found these shower curtains from Target and fell in love with the pattern. I thought maybe I could cheat the system and manipulate the curtains so that they could fit without me having to sew.

Sadly, that didn't happen. Windows are a lot longer than showers.

Duh.

I bought three curtains and some coordinating fabric and headed over to my parents' for a refresher course on sewing. I ended up ripping out the seams of the curtains and sewing all three of them together. We then added a two foot strip of the green fabric to the bottom. Hemming 18 feet of fabric was a chore! However, I must publicly admit that it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it might be and I'm glad I didn't try to just staple the fabric together or anything.

Thanks, Mom.

Banana No More

I've had this project done for a week or so, but before I could post pictures I had dental surgery which knocked me out for a few days, jury duty, and an allergic reaction to a yellow fly bite that made my foot swell to twice its usual size. Therefore, I am just now getting around to blogging.

A few weeks before we moved, we found a dining set we liked on Craigslist. We got a china cabinet, dining room table with six chairs, and a buffet for around $200.00. It was a horrible color, kind of yellow with brown speckles on it. It reminded me of a banana.

Here is a bad before shot of the china cabinet that was taken in the dark:

I used the leftover white and green paint from the bookcases.

I spray painted the hardware with the same paint I used for this mirror.

It's so nice to finally have enough storage for gifts we got for our wedding over a year ago. I even have a place to display the tea set my parents got me when I graduated college three years ago (purple pansies to represent my sorority).

Linked up to these parties.

Lucy on the Shelf with Pearls

A few days before we signed the papers to buy our new house, David and I went into Goodwill and saw a bust statue. I loved it, but fought the urge to buy it. For some reason I have regretted it ever since and have been on the lookout for one.

So a few days ago, the hubs and I were running errands and went into a furniture store that was going out of business. We were wandering around the shop when, suddenly, we spotted her (you can tell we were excited if we saw it from that far away!).

We grabbed her, came home, and placed her on our new bookshelf with a strand of costume pearls.

We named her Lucy so that we could have a witty blog title. I love the bust and it makes me laugh every time I walk past.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall...

Once upon a time, this lovely mirror hung in the dining room of my family's old house.

When they moved, the mirror traveled across the river to my grandparents' house. After many years there, the mirror came to its final resting place at the Hayes' house.

But in a room full of silver chandeliers and accessories, this golden mirror was an outcast.

One coat of spray paint later...

...the mirror will now live happily ever after.

Bookcase Reveal

We are 90% done with our bookshelves!

(The blue tape marks places to secure the future ladder railing. It is not a permanent fixture.)

We still need to add crown molding and attach the rolling library ladder, but it's nice to finally be able to unpack our boxes of books!

Making progress

For the past month, our garage has looked like this:

I wanted to paint over that light wood color to make it have more of a shabby chic look.

I put one coat of primer on it, then started on the white paint. Here is what the can looked like:

This is a more accurate description:

The big reveal is coming soon!