Coffee Bean Sack Napkin Holder

Anyone who knows my family, knows that my creativity comes from my parents. My mom and dad are the epitome of "necessity is the mother of invention." Years ago for Christmas, my parents came up with this pattern for napkin holders to give as Christmas gifts. At the ripe old age of 3?, I finally got one of my own! My dad gave me a "napkin holder kit" this summer. He called it a kit because he brought me the parts in raw wood and I got to decide how to stain and clothe it. Here it is after I gave it a nice layer of dark Espresso stain by General Finishes, one of my favorites, and five coats of poly.

The sides of the napkin holder are fabric that attach on the dowels like a curtain rod top and bottom. I decided to go with a coffee bean sack logo to keep with the vintage feel I like decorating with and also to play on the espresso brown stain! I did a little looking online and found a logo I liked the looks of to replicate. 

I like text in decorating, especially when there's a mix of fonts. Here's my version designed in Photo Shop Pro.

I started with a piece of drop cloth fabric cut a bit larger than the finished product would be. Drop cloth fabric is nicer to work with than actual burlap, cuts and sews nicer and frays less. It still has that "old" look of burlap.

Next, I printed my logo on Avery brand "stretchable" T-shirt transfer paper. Notice that the print is mirrored. My printer does this automatically when I select T-shirt transfer as the paper type. Some printers you need to mirror your image first. 

Lay the logo face down on your drop cloth fabric. I used my clear ruler to center the image.

After the image was transferred, I used the center of the logo to determine where the right, left, top and bottom hems needed to be. the top and bottom hems are sewn as a pocket like you would in a curtain.

And here it is!

I love it. I got to thinking, a larger one would make an adorable magazine holder too. Dad???

Fall 2014 Extravaganza Window decor

Well, it's now turning lovely shades of red, orange and yellow outside, I've had the heater on in my car, worn a jacket regularly and purchased fresh apple cider. Time, I think, to change my window decor from Easter/Spring to Fall (I know, I know, I completely skipped summer in there. Poetic considering we barely HAD a summer this year!)

A friend introduced me to an amazing store recently, General Store of Minnetonka. What a fun two hours that was! Everywhere you looked, the store was decked out in fall decor, colors and even scents. It definitely got my creative juices going. I picked up the metal letter 'F' there and that was the jumping off point for this season's display. I added the word "Fall" and the oak leaf decals, but the 'F' was already painted the lovely shade of orange. All of the other items I got from "shopping" around my house. 

Happy fall to you!

Spring 2014 Extravaganza window

This post is short and sweet. It's been almost a year since I restyled my window display, so I'm replacing spring decor with...spring decor! This time I went a lot softer with the colors and the overall feel.  A recent trip to The Buffalo Nickle in Buffalo, MN and Shop 501 in Chaska, MN stirred up some great treasures that found their way into the window box.

The promise of spring is in the air and everyone in this neck of the woods is more than ready for it. I'm enjoying my little reminder that spring is right around the corner!

Craft Room Reinvented

Well, nearly a year since my last post. Shameful! I have been extremely busy with various projects, but the one I'm highlighting today has been the biggest to date. After 6 years of simply "existing" in one of our spare rooms functioning as my craft room, I made the move to turn it into the room of my dreams. From the beginning, I decided this was a project I wanted to do without the help of my (very handy) husband. I set out on my own for the challenge, for the hopes of a rewarding sense of accomplishment at the end, and well, frankly, because he's not as invested in my "crap room" as he calls it. I have to admit that now with the room makeover finished, and looking back on before photos, he pretty much hit the nail on the head. I suppose there was a reason we always kept that door closed when company came over! The starting point for the project was 1.) learning that my husband's employer was going to be throwing away some fantastic pieces of Formica desk tops (the kind used in office cubicles), and 2.) the desire to create custom storage to hide all of my functional yet cluttered-looking craft bins. Hopefully I don't bore you with all the details, I'm just going to post some striking before and afters, with a few fun links to several of the places I got some of my inspiration.

Northeast corner of the room "before." Yes, it had become a dumping ground.

Northeast corner "during"

North wall "during"

Northeast corner "after"

Northwest corner "after"

magnetic bulletin board "before"

Magnetic bulletin board "after" covered in this fabric from Joann Fabric.

Northwest corner and closet "before."

Because the main part of this spare room was quite filled up with a bed and other furniture, this closet used to be my work space.  A closet board laid across two small base cabinets sufficed as my desk.

Closet conversion into a reading nook. I built this shelf from the inspiration at this amazing blog, which I rabbit-trailed to from Pinterest.

Reading nook "during." Dutch Boy "Soft Terrain" on the closet walls (mixed in Behr paint, because I'm a fan) and Behr "Creamy White" on the trim. Creamy White is my ALL TIME FAVORITE white for trim and furniture.

Reading nook "after."

This shows the construction of the floating shelves I used in my reading nook. I got the instructions on this blog. They stained theirs. I covered mine with fabric I got on clearance. Yay for clearance!

Floating shelves "after."

Northwest corner inside reading nook.

Rocker "before."

I've had this antique platform rocker chair for years. Not long after getting married, I decided I didn't have room or a good place for it in our house, so out to the fire pit it went. It was winter and we weren't doing any burning, so it sat out there for months, in the elements, waiting for the next fire to be kindling. By the time spring came though, I had changed my mind and went out and salvaged it. So glad I did!

Rocker "after."

With some new foam seat cushions from Joann Fabric and this great grey and white chevron fabric, it's like new! The pillow is from Home Goods.

Addendum: I later added a small footstool with leftovers of the fabric and the end pieces I cut off the table legs, which were newel posts from Menard's. You can see the DIY for this project here.

Couple of little framed pieces of art inside reading nook.

Southwest corner/entrance "before."

Southwest corner "after." The door propped up here is for another project elsewhere in our house. I've had it for a couple of years. One of these days I'll get to it, but for the time being I think it looks kind of cool here.

Entrance-facing wall. I've had this wrought iron wall hanging in there for years, but it was always lost in the clutter. Now it's the first thing you see.

South wall "before." I have long desired to find a way to hide these craft bins. I love them, don't get me wrong. They are a great size and hold a ton, but they look quite cluttered. This is one of the first thoughts that started spinning this whole project into being. 

South wall "during." I told my husband that the ONLY thing I wanted from him for our September anniversary was for him to wire in a new power supply and switch for a light on this wall. LOVE having a handy husband!

 South wall "after." I designed the two white armoire's specifically to hold four craft bins each.

I love that my supplies are now at eye level too.

Sewing machine and extra storage cabinet. I designed the drawer to be the right size to hold Cricut mats so they are easy to get at and lay flat. I used blue painter's tape and Armor Etch cream from Joann Fabric to make an etched diamond pattern on the glass doors.

Paper from Paper Source in Minneapolis in "Curry Dots" and Mod Podge in matte finish line the inside of the cabinet and pull in the yellow color from the reading nook.

Desk accessories. Found this cute little swiveling pencil holder over Christmas.

Another antique I've had for years that got lost in the shuffle.

I purchased this inexpensive barn-style light from Lowe's for over the middle cabinet/work space. I had every intention of leaving it like this, but once I saw how the galvanized steel was too cool of a silver against the warmer grey of the walls, I changed my mind.

What I came up with was this enamelware-esque look using Rust-Oleum 2X Coverage spray paint in Heirloom White (on the inside) and Warm Yellow on the outside. I dipped the rim in a pool of gloss black enamel to give it the classic enamelware look.

I had to use a grinder to remove the paint and the galvanized layer in random patches where I wanted to rust it to give it an aged look. Then I applied a solution to rust the bare metal areas. I got the recipe for the rusting solution here and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. For future reference, galvanized objects are meant to NOT rust, and while there are ways around it, it makes for more (messy) work. 

This clock was purchased at Home Goods and the rusty yellow finish inspired the look for the wall light (above).

I constructed this pegboard cabinet from 1"x 6" and bead board doors. The hardware was something I had found a few years ago an antique store and was just waiting for the right project.

A good pegboard is a must in my craft room, but I never liked how cluttered it look when fully exposed. The narrow cabinet with doors is the perfect solution! I did the same chipped paint technique on this cabinet that I showed in the "Faux Antique Wall Cupboard" tutorial here. Again I used Rust-Oleum Warm Yellow spray paint for the bottom coat and the Behr Creamy White for the top coat. 

Northeast corner accessories. 

I downloaded this chalkboard-style free printable from this website. Framed in a white frame from IKEA which, for the record, is the perfect white to go with the Behr Creamy White trim!

Wood window valance covered in batting and fabric from Joann Fabric. Gotta love those 50% off coupons!

I "re-inherited" this chair from my mom this summer and I knew it could make the perfect craft room chair. I had bought it at a garage sale years ago and refinished the wood and recovered the seat. Once I no longer wanted it, my mom took it and used it in her house for years. When my parents moved this summer, this chair was on the chopping block, so to speak. I took it back and now the life cycle is complete!

The back support had been missing when I bought this chair and it had a few wobbly joints. A little wood glue and some time in the clamps and it's like new.

A coat of black spray paint and a new seat cover and you can hardly tell it's the same chair, and it cost next to nothing.

Here's a close up of the seat cover. I used Sharpie markers and rubbing alcohol to make the floral design look tie-dyed, an idea I modified from one I saw on Pinterest.

The finishing touch was changing out the old track light fixtures. Not only are they unattractive, the spotlight style was really not great lighting as it would highly illuminate two areas in the room and leave other areas in the dark.

I had no desire to remove the old track because it would create too much of a repair issue on the ceiling. I was thrilled when I found out you can convert simple and inexpensive pedant lights to a track light head with an adapter like this one. I found mine at Menard's. Add an Edison bulb and mini drum shade and you're set...and no longer outdated. 

Well, that's the whole works. Thanks for looking! Hopefully now that I have an inspiring place to work, I'll be cranking out more DIY projects for future postings.