Best Toy Ever!

Gotta teach the DIY young :)

We got this Mighty Digger at Menards for $20ish!

PS...renovations are starting on the house!

Porcupine's "Lovey"

I might be wrong but...there's probably a lot of DIY in this kid's future.

How to Make Your Own Decaf Iced Coffee & Vanilla Syrup

Brian and I have tried various methods of making our own delicious iced coffee at home (to save a few dollars each morning!) and we've liked several, but here's what we're doing now.

In an effort to get some better sleep, we're using a lot more decaf. We still get that yummy coffee flavor and smell in the morning, but without the (for us) disastrous caffeine side effects. The Keurig is amazing, but when regular hot coffee hits all that ice, it just gets too watered down. But then I found these extra-bold dark-roast decaf K-cups on Amazon! Woohoo! Now we make fresh, delicious, perfect decaf iced coffee at home.

The other secret to our yummy iced coffee is my DIY vanilla syrup. After being too lazy to run out to GFS to buy another bottle of vanilla coffee syrup, I started Googling for a homemade alternative and found this post. I have tweaked the recipe to make a bottle-filling, countertop-friendly, no-refrigeration-needed version that has been serving us well for months now.

DIY Vanilla Syrup:

Ingredients -

-3 cups white sugar

-1.5 cups water

-1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine water and sugar in a 4-cup Pyrex measuring cup or some other microwave safe container. Microwave on high for 2-3 minutes. Remove and stir thoroughly. Add vanilla. Mixture may be cloudy, but as long as the sugar granules have dissolved, it will clear up as it cools.

I have been reusing my old vanilla syrup bottle, but I’ve reused a 750mL liquor bottle as well (for a simple syrup – the above minus the vanilla…great for sweet tea!) I’ve gotten this pump and this pump off of Amazon.

Perfect DIY Iced Coffee:

-1 extra bold, dark roast K-cup (regular or decaf) brewed with 8-10 oz water

-approx. 1/2 cup half and half or coffee creamer, to taste

-approx, 6 pumps vanilla syrup, to taste

Fill large (28 oz.) cup with ice. Add half and half and syrup. Pour in hot coffee and stir vigorously (with reusable straw!) till the whole thing is cool. Enjoy a little bit of morning heaven. :)

 

This isn’t the cheapest way we’ve found to make our own iced coffee, but lately it’s proven to be the easiest and tastiest! Is coffee a part of your morning ritual? Brian drinks his iced, even in the dead of winter!

Chair Ideas

As if I need another project to remain unfinished (ahem, sewing room dresser, bathroom, nursery, etc), I’ve been thinking about what I can do to update this chair.

 Forgive the cell phone pic!

With new baby in the house, this chair from my mom’s has been a godsend. It’s in great shape (my mom had gotten a new cushion for it a while ago, so it feels new), it’s comfy, and it’s easy to get in and out of while carrying a heavy baby. :)

I think a getting it totally reupholstered in a silver-gray, keeping the tufts, would be gorgeous.  Something like this:

 image via

But truthfully, that is probably not going to happen. So I have been dreaming about a DIY-type covering that I could do. I’ve been toying with the idea of smocking. Wouldn’t something along these lines look cool on the back?

Image via

Or something like this…

But, truthfully again, with a little baby in the house and trying to find that baby/work/life/life-with-baby balance, this project will probably remain one I am just dreaming about for a while…while I spend my time looking at/sitting in this old green chair. :)

So for fun, here is a baby picture. :)

What projects have you been dreaming about lately? I should also attend to my yard at some point…I have big dreams for out there, too. :)

New Year Updates

The bathroom is pretty much finished!

Okay, okay, so we actually have quite a few more projects to go. But we are using it and it is amazing!

In between the vanities, I will buy/build something to make everything look more seamless and super functional.  My plan is to put up a subway tile backsplash in the whole vanity area, too.

We’ll get rid of all the extra tools and paint :)  Above the toilet will be some cool shelves, and I want to hang some art and/or mirrors. These inexpensive and functional Algot drawers from Ikea will be surrounded by a faux-cabinet to match the vanities and make them look like a built-in.

The shower still needs a real curtain (we’re just using this liner for now on a curved shower curtain rod, which is amazing).  There’s a little touch up caulking and painting that needs to get done, too.

And we need some artwork and other fun things to fill this large bathroom up.

But overall, I am so happy with what this room looks like and how it functions compared to 4 months ago and the 3 years before that!

A little run-down of what’s currently in the bathroom:
- Martha Stewart Vanities from Home Depot
-Toto Toilet from Amazon
-Price-Pfister Faucets from Lowe’s
-Delta Showers from Amazon
-Tile from Menards
-Allure Flooring from Home Depot
-Vanity Schoolhouse Lights from Destination Lighting
-Exhaust Fans/Lights from Menards
-Medicine cabinets from Lowes
-Hooks and hardware from TJMaxx/HomeGoods
-Zinsser Perma-White Mildew-Proof Paint (colormatched to Pittsburgh Paints Splash) from Menards

My goal is to go back and show you some more progress pictures/steps. Cross your fingers that I actually do it :) and of course more progress pictures as it gets more finished/decorated. :)

---

In baby news, I am 34 weeks along and should really get started on that nursery…baby’s due March 1st and that is really coming up fast!

But for now, try to stay warm!!

The Bathroom Has Drywall!

The bathroom is about 90% drywalled (only 90% due to some snafus) and it has been for about a month now.

To do the ceiling, Brian and his stepdad rented a drywall lift from our local Menards, and they said it was worth every penny!  (Call around when you’re renting tools. We’ve rented lots of tools from Home Depot and our local rental place, but for some reason renting this drywall lift was half the price at Menards than anywhere else!)

This amazing contraption holds the drywall up in the air so you don’t have to! You can use it to hang high vertical sheets as well, but we just used it for the ceiling. Having it was like having a third set of tireless hands and arms on your side and gave us the opportunity to make the many many cut outs we needed for all the lights/fans/etc.

This isn’t a terribly big room, but all those cut outs took time – and we’re no pros! The ceiling took about 5ish hours including breaks and mess-ups :) and only cost about $20 in drywall-lift-rental.

All in all, most of the drywall installation has been straightforward and quick. The mudding is a pain as always, but it’s coming along…if only there were some magical tool for mudding and sanding the ceiling, I’d be set!

The shower installation is becoming a dramatic saga, and that’s what’s currently been holding this project up. Ah, the joys of home improvement and DIY. Once we actually get near a “finished” stage on that, I will tell you all about it!

Bathroom Demolition

So last week, we got the bathroom demolished :) and began working on construction (which of course goes much more slowly!).  Here’s a little re-cap of the demo.

Here’s where we started. Our goals were to take out the hardwood floors (originally, we weren’t sure what we were doing with the flooring in there and we built that wall on the left side of the picture on top of the existing floors) and to take out some of the drywall on the exterior walls so we could put in new insulation.  That stuff would pave the way for the new plumbing and electrical work we’d have to do. We also realized we’d have to move some of the heat ducts.

Taking down drywall looked like this:

Then we got to work removing the floors. Like I said, the wall on the left was built on top of the existing hardwood, so we needed something that would cut the wood right against the wall – which a regular circular saw won’t do.  Luckily, I watch a lot of This Old House and I discovered that there is something called a toekick saw designed exactly for this purpose. (Really, it’s to cut flooring out from next to the toekick on kitchen cabinets.)

We bought ours at Harbor Freight Tools – our favorite place for inexpensive tools that we amateurs really won’t be using too often.

Here’s the toekick saw in action.  Look how it cut right next to the wall – and you could guide the saw against the wall to make a perfectly straight cut.

Then we got to work pulling out all the floor boards which were nailed in.

The subfloors underneath were only 1/2” (I wish they were 5/8” for strength) and weren’t put in in the smartest fashion (lots of corners and seams meeting in bad places) so it seemed a little weak.  But we decided that since we were putting concrete backerboard down, it’d be okay, so we didn’t replace the subfloor. We also decided that under key areas like the toilet and shower drains, we’d go down in the basement and add some 2x4 supports.

Here’s a bad picture that shows the concrete backerboard floor. :)

Lastly, but certainly not least, we ended up deciding that taking down the ceiling drywall (and having to re-drywall it later) would be better in the long run since we want to install so many things up there! Speakers :), heat lamps, lights, and exhaust fans. Doing all that work would certainly be easier with full access to the ceiling – and not having to climb into our attic with its super shallow hip roof.

But it resulted in this mess!

Luckily, Grandpa and Brian’s stepdad are amazing and did all that nasty work as well as cleaning it all up!!

So that, I think is the demo in a nutshell. I’ll be posting the cool finishes that we’re (hopefully) installing and of course, about the construction as it goes along.

What have you been up to this week?

Living Room Curtains Done!

*Thoughts and prayers going out to everyone across the US affected by tornadoes and storms.*

Over the weekend, I actually got my living room curtains sewn and installed!

The fabric is from OnlineFabricStore.net. It’s by Premier Prints – this one’s Barber Powder Blue Twill.  I ended up getting the lining from Fabric.com because it was on sale and I didn’t have to leave the house. :)

I’m so happy with how they turned out and how the living room looks now. I’m so inspired to keep working on the living room and really finish things off.

On my to-do list are:

• make/find throw pillows for the couch
• decide how to re-finish/paint the lamps
• make some sort of cool gray background art for the mantel…along these lines
• reupholster the red chairs with already purchased chevron fabric
• ugh…finish taking the behind-the-couch bookshelf to the ceiling

I also think I’ll be posting some behind-the-scenes of curtain-making, but this whole project was not full of my smartest moments…so an actual “tutorial” might not be what’s coming. :)  But I’m sure I have more to say on the matter of these lovely curtains.

Do you have any projects that have got you all inspired to do more?

We finally fixed the dishwasher!

So, about 2 months after I initially broke our dishwasher, we finally got around to fixing it.

Just for reference, we have a Whirlpool dishwasher (model #DU1345XTVQ0) and I love it.  I just put some Bar Keeper’s Friend in there and broke it.  There was a slow, dripping leak coming from the motor area. (And it turns out, somebody (coughcoughBrian) often leaves napkins on his plates when he’s putting them in the dishwasher and those napkins weren’t helping either.) 

We ended up installing a new motor.  Thanks to the Internet, I found a motor at our local appliance parts store, Bell Parts, (you can also order online!), and some instructions on how to do it.  The instructions weren’t for our dishwasher exactly, but they were close enough that we were able to uninstall and re-install everything we needed to!  (It was also helpful to have our dishwasher’s manual and parts list in front of us, too!)

Again…I do not recommend that you do the crazy things we do (like take apart and fix your own dishwasher)…but for us, it was better than buying a new one! It might be for you, too!

So, I thought we’d have to take out the whole dishwasher, but we didn’t.  We could unplug and remove most things from underneath.  It was a little tight, and Brian and I took turns working down there. 

Eventually, we got the sump and motor out of there.

Here’s the floor showing through the hole when we got everything out.

Once we had the sump and motor out, we took off the old motor.  (It was so easy compared to getting all the stuff out from underneath the dishwasher!)  We did find some nasty gunk (Bar Keeper’s Friend + napkins?!)  on some screens in there.  I don’t know if that gunk was contributing to the leaking, but I cleaned it all anyway, to be safe.

Easy peasy was installing the new motor.

And then it was just a matter of putting it all back together.  Somewhere in the un-installing process, Brian got all kinds of cuts on his hands and he’s not sure how.  In the whole fixing process, we only got on each others nerves once and had to take a dinner break. Not bad. :)

Once it was all back together and running, it was soooooo great to see a dry floor underneath the motor! No leaks!

And now I have my dishwasher back.  I actually haven’t had a dishwasher for that long in my life…but it’s amazing how quickly I got addicted to it.  I mean, you put your dirty dishes in this magical machine and press a button…and pouf! They come out clean and dry! It really is like magic. :)

Have you lost anything lately, no matter how small, that you normally take for granted? :) Did you get it back? And are you as happy about it as I am? :)

Happy March!

I think everyone’s naming their post today “Happy March!”

Well, it IS happy! Spring is on its way and I can’t wait. I can’t wait to see if the things I planted in the fall will grow. (I also planted a lot of daffodil and crocus bulbs, as well as more wildflower seeds!)  Never mind all the snow that’s been falling today…

In the meantime, my little nephew, Cole, just turned one!  We’re going to head to his birthday party tomorrow, and I hope to get some cute pictures of him and all the things I’ve been creating for him. :)  I’ve been sharing some previews on Facebook, so here are a few more now.  His party is going to be sock monkey themed, so I made some shirts and bibs…

(letters cut out on the Cricut. Fabric from here.)

(embroidery from here! I adjusted the smile and ears a little bit.) :)

And a big ol’ paper banner/bunting that says “Happy 1st Birthday Cole!” on it!  I printed it all out on the computer (thank you, Microsoft Publisher), then my amazing friend Jessica cut it all out and strung it on some jute twine for me.  It’s too big to take a picture of until we hang it at the party, but here’s a preview:

:) :) :)

I am so excited about it!

And “trying to be healthy” news, I bought a juicer on clearance at Aldi for $19.99.  I know there are nicer ones, but for the price, I couldn’t help but give this one a try…just to see how we like it.  I made my first glass of juice with a Granny Smith apple and a cucumber. It was pretty good! So, now I’m hoping to add fresh juice to our nutritional arsenal.

Any juicing or baby-present making on your agenda? Are you excited for spring (even though it’s snowing?)

How Should I Refinish This Dresser?

Wow, I’m just asking for all kinds of help lately, aren’t I? But isn’t that what blogging is all about? :)   So, do I paint it or stain it?

Images from here and here.

Okay, so here’s what’s going on. As a part of the great sewing room organization of 2013, I figured I should actually start working on this dresser I got from my aunt.

See all that junk on top? Yeah, this dresser’s just been sitting here collecting junk, which is pretty much the opposite of its intended function. (The junk is supposed to go inside the dresser, not on top.)

Last year (or longer ago than that?) I got this dresser from my aunt. It used to be my lola’s (Filipino grandma) and it’s just been sitting in my aunt’s garage.

I generally don’t love dressers for sewing room storage – they’re meant to hold clothes, not sewing gear. The drawers are usually too deep, don’t slide easily enough, and the dimensions of the dresser itself is usually all wrong. My dream is to have kitchen-type cabinets of all shallow-ish drawers. (I had something pretty much ideal when I was living at home with my parents, so I’m spoiled!)

But this dresser actually is pretty great. It’s 6 feet long. Yes, 6 feet long. So its proportions are more along the lines of something you’d special order in the kitchen department. And it’s just over 29” tall, which is almost exactly the height of my sewing table – so as an added work surface it’s going to be ideal. The drawers are still a little deeper than I’d like, but they generally slide very well, so I think I can make this piece work.

You can see that the style is such that all the drawers touch. Well, over time, they’ve sort of started to stick to each other, probably from swelling and expanding and whatnot. So I’m getting on sanding and planing down the drawers a bit.

I'm using an old planer of my dad’s that I found in the garage. :) Hey it works! I think the blade could use a bit of sharpening, which I’ll get on. I learned all about hand planes from Tommy on Ask This Old House.

This is my first time using a hand plane, and I’ll admit I’m making a mess of it in some places (from not following Tommy’s advice. Oops!).

Anyway, as I’m working on the dresser, I’m finding it’s made of some nice wood. I thought at first that the finish was that really thick plasticky finish that I’d basically have to paint over. I planned on using Valspar’s Pacific Pleasure (color #5009-10) for the body and keep the top nice and white. Something along the lines of this color:

Image from here.

Really gorgeous right?

But like I said, it’s a nice piece of furniture (Thomasville), and I’m finding it’s not hard to sand off the finish down to bare wood. So, then I thought, should I do something like this? And refinish and stain it something gorgeous like Clara’s changing table from Young House Love?

Thoughts, ideas, questions, comments? I’d love your advice! 

The sewing room is painted a neutral gray, and I’m generally trying to keep all work surfaces white. (Don’t want colors clashing or affecting your judgment while you’re working!)  I do have another desk that is blue and I plan on updating with Valspar’s Pacific Pleasure. 

So do I go with two blue and white dressers to keep things cohesive? Or bring in some nice, neutral wood tones? Opinions? Help!!

Paper-Covered Boxes for Fabric Storage

Last weekend, I spent a lot of time organizing and re-organizing and purging my massive stash of fabric.  And thus begins the great sewing room organization of 2013. :)

What I am doing is not nearly photo ready…I feel like I’m still getting a handle on how I want to really store all this fabric so it’s accessible…but I will share a small project that I did in the midst of this much bigger one!

I covered Bankers Boxes with wrapping paper.

Hahaha. Not the most exciting, but the results are cute and practical.

A couple of words on cardboard boxes for fabric storage: there are pros and cons of course. The cons are that cardboard isn’t as durable and waterproof as plastic bins. The pros are that these boxes are inexpensive, have nice handles, and are a really great size for being able to see and access what you have.  Bins that are too big can just become a mess.

So, that being said, I got these Bankers Boxes from Costco. They were $18.99 for 10 of them, so a pretty similar price to the ones I saw at Target, but they are much heavier duty. So much better than the other ones I’ve bought before. I am definitely going to Costco for more of these.

I found this cute wrapping paper at Old Time Pottery for $1.99.  It’s a little too cutesy for my normal decorating, but I thought it’s perfect for my sewing room where I can be as girly as I want.  And the colors are fantastic.

I took a few boxes out to the garage and covered a work surface with a trusty drop cloth.  I got out some spray adhesive that I got at a deep discount (at Bailey’s Discount Center!) and used a couple of spare pieces of cardboard as masking.

I roughly measured my boxes overall circumference and the height that I wanted to cover with paper. I was able to cut the length of the wrapping paper in half, which meant I got to cover 2 boxes for every cut of wrapping paper I made.

I lightly sprayed the box with adhesive, carefully wrapped the paper around it, and voila!

Exciting, right?

I sprayed a little adhesive on the edges of the paper that I needed to keep down, and I used some clear packing tape to reinforce the handles and a couple of spots on the bottom.

I even papered a couple of the lids!  (I left a couple white, ‘cause it was easier and I’m telling myself they coordinate.)

I papered some old boxes, too, with patterned Kraft paper from the dollar store.

As a final touch, I put some Contact paper chalkboard labels on and used my new favorite thing, my chalk pen, to label them.

I wish this could be on some gorgeously organized shelves to show you…oh well, one day.

As for what’s in the boxes?  I used to have my quilting/crafting cottons sorted by color into boxes like these, but when I started to do less quilting, I threw them all together in one big plastic bin.

But it became a mess.

So I re-sorted the fabric for easier access and visibility.

I’ll have to get more boxes and keep sorting, but this is a great start.

Have you decorated any plain, ugly things lately to turn them into something easy on the eyes?