Curtains for the Craft Room

This craft room has (and still is) been a work in progress for going on two years now. It IS looking pretty good, but has been very slow going, and has a bit left to go in my opinion. Most of the bigger stuff has been handled, so that's good!

I made curtains! It took me a full year to get both of them up. The first one was easy. There was already a curtain rod. The second curtain rod was purchased in August of 2013, but wasn't put up until my 2014 August Staycation. And boy did it feel good to put that second one up!

The curtains themselves are really just a rectangle of fabric. I don't sew anything all that exciting or complicated. I think their beauty lies in their strong graphic nature.

Here's the naked window. No central air in the house, so window units are a must. Kinda ugly. Gotta cover that up.

Much prettier!

Black Cat photo-bombing. This curtain was made, and went up in 2013. The window below...that one didn't have the curtain rod. The ONLY window in the house without a curtain rod.

And...since the corner of the wood was already broken, I was afraid I would end up breaking more of the corner off.

I didn't. Yay!

I should probably have cleaned off my work surface before taking the picture. Oh well. I was on a roll. There are several projects that got completed that day...on the table in this picture.

What do you think?

Small Metal Chest of Drawers Makeover

I've constantly got a list in my head (and a lot of the time on paper) of what is needed for the house, so I can keep an eye out for just the right piece to fit my needs, frugally.

I was in need of a "leg" for my work surface in my craft room. I'm always trying to re-use the things I already have. I already had the work surface. I have a degree in Interior Design, and the work surface is actually my old portable drafting table. I knew I wanted to save space by using the radiator cover as the other leg. I took a measurement to the top of the radiator cover, and it told me how high I needed to have the other "leg".

I found this absolutely hideous little 4 drawer metal chest at my local thrift store, on an extra 25% off Monday. It's the only day I shop there. Too expensive for a store that has 100% of their stock donated. ::gets off soap box::. I first wrote about this little bugger, here.

Why yes, that is faux wood grain. Ick. I can't find a picture of the price I paid for it, but I'm almost certain it was $4.99 (minus 25%). With the exception of the wrinkle on the top, it is in pretty good shape, and just the right height.

I did try to bang the wrinkle out, with a hammer. Didn't work, but that's totally OK. Drawer (pretty much) shuts, and for $5, I'm not really arguing. I did buy some new drawer pulls for it. I think I got the cheapest ones at Lowes, in the color I wanted. While I was there, I got a little 4 oz (maybe 8?) tester of black paint. There color scheme of this room is Black, White, and Tiffany Blue.

To start this project, I removed the drawers, and placed the shell of the chest onto the top of a Rubbermaid tote (to protect my floor). I was on my "Staycation" when I completed this project. I found (thankfully) an un-used FOB card. I work in the medial field. It was only partly funny that even on vacation, I can't get away from something reminding me of work.

  

I painted the front, the drawers, and the back, black. Paint covered quite well, so I think I only did one coat. I used the sponge brushes, kind of like a dabber. It worked, and was cheap! Now looking at these pictures (a year and a half later) I'm not sure if I did one or two coats on the back. I hate painting so much that maybe I just left it like that, since the only thing that will really be seeing it...is my knees when I'm sitting at the table!

Yeah. I hate painting that much. Sigh. Ok. Moving on. The outside! I had purchased some vinyl table cloths to protect my furniture from Fat Cat from peeing on it. Poor thing passed away, so I had a few of them left over (un-used). I happened to have picked just the right color for this room. Yay! They were on sale to begin with, and now I have a second life for them. I'm going to guess I paid maybe $1.57 for them at Target. I used one for this project AND the shelving project (you can see that here, after I write it up). That's one table cloth between the two projects, not one for each project.

I used the factory finished edge on the drawer side. I hot glued the table cloth to the metal. And...the above picture answers whether or not I painted a second coat on the back. I didn't. I don't even know why I thought I might have done a second coat. Painting. Meh. The back side is  not pretty at all. There was no point in making it pretty. I just folded the fabric over the back, and the bottom and hot glued it in place. As much as I hate painting, that's how much I love my glue gun!

Ahh, things are coming together so nicely in this room! And, it makes me SO happy that I'm doing this relatively cheaply, when possible, using things I already have. In the above picture you can see in the corner, the bookcase hasn't been painted yet.

This corner is looking pretty awesome! I kept it this way for a while. On top of the drawer units, those are little shelves. They're supposed to hang on the wall, but I never got that far with them. They are currently on the dresser, and a three shelf black bookcase (holding my fleece) is in it's place. I'm hoping once I get my fabric stash under control, I can put the bookcase somewhere else.

Side note, that laundry sorter came from the free section of Craigslist. I took the "bags" off and washed them. They also hold fabric. Mostly my scraps. The one closest to the plastic drawers has my rolls/bolts of fabric in them right now.

So, there we go. If I had to put a $ figure on this project, I'd say $1 for the paint. $2 for the pulls, $4 for the dresser itself, and $0.75 for the fabric. $7.75 total. I'm SO HAPPY with this little project.

What do you think?

Putting My Feet Up

I think I may be a little weird in the fact I like to crochet...on my leg. I usually do granny squares. Once I get past the 4th round, I lay the square down on my leg, and start going from there. That being said, I need something to put my feet on, in the craft room, to be able to crochet on my leg. And hey, maybe I just like to put my legs up while I'm watching tv ;)

I just happen to have an ottoman that went with 2 swivel rockers that have long since been gone from the house. Why, you ask? Well...my wonderful Fat Cat was a scratch-er. He tore them up. Sigh. Anyway, they're gone, and he is too now. Guess which one I miss more. Though I would love to have a fantastically decorated house, Fat Cat (not his real name) wanted to put his special touch on anything and everything I brought into the house. His sister (yes, they had the same Mom. Different litters.) Black Cat (not her real name) is MUCH less of a scratch-er. You'll see the only damage she's done, a little further into this post.

Here's the ottoman in it's natural state. Fat Cat did a number on the corners. The original fabric just acted like a brush for his hair. It was all over the thing. I could clean it off, and the next day it was covered again. 

  

Black Cat decided she would oversee the work I did that day. Poor thing...that white on her stomach...she licks her hair off her belly. I'm at the end of her food, and I'm going to try a different one. I think maybe she's allergic to it? When Fat Cat went on a diet, she did too. I don't remember her belly being bare before they were started on this food.

I originally thought I would just do a slip cover, so I cut off the extra fuzz and stringiness that was there, but quickly decided it all needed to go.

  

I pulled out the tools and got started. I'm going to call these pliers, but they aren't. What are they? Channel locks? Anywho, they were great in assisting me to remove the staples that held the fabric on. I pulled the skirt off first.

  

I then flipped it upside down and took off the cardboard. I don't know why they put cardboard on the thing to begin with. Maybe it's just to cover up the wood. Meh.

After the cardboard was removed (though it's still showing in the picture...) I had to take even MORE staples out of the darn thing!

Finally we're getting somewhere. Staples are removed, and I unscrewed the legs too. Just made it easier not to knock myself in the face. ;) After that, I just removed the fabric.

And this is what I'm left with. A wooden box, with a piece of padding on it.

  

I thought it needed a bit more cushioning, but have you ever been to the fabric store? Cushioning is is pretty darn expensive without a coupon, and lets face it. I didn't want to go out and shop. I used some batting I already had on hand. I wrapped it around the the rest of the box.

And now the magic happens! Oh look. The bottom right hand corner is Black Cats handy (paw-y) work in action. She f'd up my box spring. Sigh. I did replace the mattress because it was older than dirt. The box spring will eventually be replaced. I just covered it up with a rug. Seriously. I used the rug I had covering the living room chair. I laid out the fabric and put the ottoman on top of it.

  

Then I pulled up the corners and pinned them. I was careful not to pin the fabric to the batting. That would make it much more difficult to remove the fabric to sew it...dontcha think?

  

After the corners were pinned, I cut the excess fabric, and pinned the bottom hem.

  

Isn't she pretty? Oh hey, Black Cat came to help! I gently pulled the fabric off, and sewed it together.

  

It was barely in place for 2 minutes before Black Cat came to check it out.

  

I think she likes it.

What do you think?