Cameron’s Room (Deployment Projects #177-178)

OK - - just a quick post tonight - -probably with lots of pictures!  I have finally finished Cameron’s room.  I think boys rooms are tough.  Not so much when they are babies, or even toddlers, it’s that 9 year old, going on 10 that I have found tough.  I had lots of ideas of what I wanted to do, but Cameron is now developing his own creative ideas and opinions.  That’s hard for me.  One, it tells me he is growing up, and I really don’t like the thought of that and two, it means I need to allow him to express his ideas and not just do what I want to do!

I learned that Cameron is a very neutral guy.  We must have gone shopping 10 times looking for a comforter.  I would point out something I liked - - he would hate it every time.  You know what he wanted?  Plain brown - - he let me choose between a lighter or a darker brown!  I learned that he doesn’t like color - -except blue.  He doesn’t like patterns.  And he doesn’t like my idea of organization.  He is a no nonsense, either it’s right or it’s wrong, no frills kind of guy!

He wanted an adventure room.  I’m still not sure exactly what an adventure room entails, because every time I would suggest something he would, in his sweetest, most kind manner tell me, “I don’t want to hurt your feelings Mom, but that’s not what I was thinking of having in my room.”  He was so concerned about hurting my decorating feelings - - it was so sweet!  Finally I told him to just start pointing out things he liked and we would make it all work.

I don’t know if it all really works together, but it was a process and really, it was more of a process of a mom letting her son grow up and express himself, and a son learning how to voice his opinions and not worry about disappointing his mother.   Does the room have things I would change if I were just decorating it myself?  Yes, of course.  It’s hard working a frog habitat, legos, rock rugs, and all brown into a room.  But he loves it and really, that is what it is all about.  A room for my little man to love hanging out in, a room to bring his friends to, a room to feel comfortable in!

 

See these mini cloches?  They were Christmas bell ornaments that I bought on clearance after Christmas.  I took the bells out and they turned into perfect small cloches to “highlight” the bug collection.  The picture on the right is what is under the cloche on the right!

Nothing helps set the theme of the room like an Adventure pillow with the definition of adventure embroidered on it!  I used zipper edging to trim it out and a pieced together back to give it a very “adventurous” feel!

 

If you look closely, you can see his two fire belly frogs hanging out in their habitat!

The wall next to Cameron’s bed it like an ever growing bulletin board.  We put up “invention” pictures and shelves to hold treasures.   And of course pictures of him with his favorite people!!

 

*In non decorating news, we are so close to Handsome Hubby coming home for R&R -- - I think I will only have one more post before he gets here, we’ll see!!  I have been super busy finishing up orders - - in fact, in the past two days I have made 18 pillows and I have 11 more to finish up by tomorrow night.  I still have our bedroom to finish, and in a perfect world, I would have a whole week of posts showcasing the bedroom all pre-written and ready to post while Handsome Hubby is home.  But who am I kidding?  That would be a perfect world! - - I certainly don’t live in one of those!!

Dining room slipcovers (Deployment projects #163-170)

They’re Finished!!!

I’ve finished all my dining room chair slipcovers!!  Eight big chairs – what was I thinking?

They look soooo much better now! 

 

Look at these before pictures.

They weren’t bad in our last house where we had orange in every room, but here, they just clashed!!  It was too much in that room!!

Now, with all the new neutral slips, this room now fits with the rest of the house.  Calm, peaceful, light and bright!!

 

If you are wondering about the walls in this room, (remembering that we are renters!) you can read all about them here. 

So, here is the quick and easy tutorial of the simplest slipcovers ever made!

 

All of these steps will be done with the right side of the fabric next to the chair.  The fabric I used was a hopscloth linen look fabric from JoAnne's.  I prewashed it in hot water and dried it on high so that all possible shrinkage had taken place!

1.  Lay the fabric over the front of the chair from the top to the bottom.  Allowing about 4” extra on both the top and the bottom, cut off your length of fabric.

2.  Lay your fabric on the floor folding it in half lengthwise.  Split (cut) your fabric along the fold.  These two pieces will become the front and the back of your slipcover.

 

3.  Pin your front piece of fabric so that it lays over the entire front of your chair and over the top back.  (You are just pinning it so that it doesn’t fall as you work with your fabric.

  

4.  Lay your second piece of fabric down the back of your chair and start pinning around the shape of your chair.  I like to use my pins as if I was drawing a line with them.

5.  Continue pinning all the way around the entire top of your chair.

6.  Once the entire top is pinned, it is time to move to the two side panels.   Cut two squares of fabric long enough to cover the side panel. 

7.  Pin around the top three sides of the square, curving it around the corners of the seat, and matching it into the back “seam” of the chair.  Repeat this for the other side.

 

8.  Step back and take a look and make sure that it looks just like you want it to look when it is finished.  Carefully pull it off your chair and take it to your sewing machine!!  I used my serger for this so that it would cut and seal all my edges at the same time.  This fabric frayed really easily and I know that these are going to get washed a lot!

 

9.  Starting with the seat portion, follow the pin line (taking the pins out as you get to them) and sew/serge all the way around the seat sides.

 

10.  Next, you just have to sew/serge all the way around the back sides and top.  Remember, just keep following your pin line.

11.  I forgot to take pictures of this last step…  put  the slipcover back on your chair (right side out this time),  mark your hem-line by pinning it.  Take you slip back off and finish the hem of your slip, the same way you would for a skirt.

 

11.  Put your slip back on your chair and enjoy the beautiful new easy to achieve look of your simple slipcover!

12.  Repeat steps #1-11 seven more times so that your entire dining room set is slip covered!!

 

A Perfect Fit (Deployment Project #134)

Last Friday I drove up to Leesburg, VA and met my good friend Kristi at Old Lucketts Store.

The description from the Virginia Visitors website describes it this way:

The Old Lucketts Store, is a beautiful, 3-story landmark building that was originally built in 1910.  This historic building was once the post office, general store, then the Lucketts family home. The building has since been restored and is the home to over 20 antique dealers and is overflowing with vintage furniture, lighting, collectibles,  garden artifacts, linens, and accessories.  The Old Lucketts Store motto is, "You never know what you might find."

It’s true - - you just don’t know what you will find.  It was a quick slightly more than an hour drive there (of course, it took me 2 hours to get back home because it was Friday night DC traffic) but it was a pretty drive through Virginia country and through many Civil War battle fields.  (my kids were staying with a friend for the day, but as I drove, I was actually considering taking a “field trip” in that direction for the kids to see the battle fields and then we could somehow magically end at Lucketts! - - think they would catch on?)

I went not needing anything but knowing that I would find something I couldn’t live without!  Look what I found:

An old fireplace mantle!  If you remember back at Christmas time, I had a big mantle fiasco, all stemming from the fact that in our rental home, we just have a big hole in the wall fireplace between two windows - - no mantle, just a big blank wall.    So when I saw all the mantles at Luckett’s, I knew I NEEDED one!!

I know, it looks pretty rough here, but this is what it looked like when I brought it home.  I literally had a 1/4” to spare when I put it in the back of the truck (good thing the kids weren’t along because I had to fold their seats down!)  I was super impressed with the prices and selection.  There were probably a good 10-12 mantles there and 3 or 4 that I was seriously considering.  But this one stole my heart - - and didn’t break the pocketbook at the same time!!  The best combination!  I paid $65 for it.  I thought that was a great deal!!

I brought it home, washed it down twice with degreaser and a mold and mildew remover.  The mantle cleaned up pretty well, and I really loved the crackly paint.   It looks like it had been painted about 10 times!!  Once I got done washing it down and it dried, I brought it in to check out the size - - you would not believe it, but it fit PERFECTLY!!!  Right between the two windows with just a 1/2” to spare and the opening was exactly the size it needed to be!!

 

Do you see that little spot between the window sill and the mantle frame?

But, I didn't’ like the finish on it once I brought it inside - - it still looked really dirty to me, so I gave it a couple of quick coats of white paint.

Then I hot glued white felt over the entire back so that it wouldn’t leave any rub marks or old soot marks on the walls.

 

Next, I needed to secure it to the wall.  I didn’t want my Christmas fiasco to happen again!!  I used two super heavy duty door magnets.  I screwed the large part to the back of the mantle (there was a perfect little indentation that they fit right in.  Then I screwed the metal piece to the wall.  I had to put a 1” block of wood behind the metal plate to make up for the trim that was around the fireplace.      Let me tell you, these baby’s are tight!  This mantle is not moving!!  It takes quite a bit of muscle to “disconnect” my mantle from the wall!!

Do you see the small board with the metal piece?  The magnet is STUCK to that piece!!  The gap between the wall and the mantle is about an inch, but my curtains butt up right next to the mantle so you can’t see it from the side.  You can’t see it from the front because it is actually in the shadows and the fireplace surround is black.  The only place you can really see it is on the top, but once I accessorize, no one will notice that either!!

If this were our house, I would have just secured it directly to the wall, but since we are just renting, I needed to do something with the least amount of damage to the walls.  Plus, when we move, we can just pack up the mantle and put it in our next house, even if we don’t have a fireplace, we can still put it against a wall and have the architectural element there!

I love to sit and wonder about the history of this - - what house did it come from?   How old is it really?  Oh, if mantles could talk!!!

Just a few views of the living room with her new jewel!!