Project Storage?

Is it just me, or do we as crafters/decorators run out of room to either store, display, or complete our projects?

With blogland offering so many fantastic ideas to really stimulate creative expression in your OWN crafts, I've found our house overflowing before with projects in the raw, half done, or complete, and it pains me.  I love almost everything I do, but I suppose like the catalog stores, we have to rotate our goods in order to keep it fresh.  But what do you do with all your old projects?

I assume there are some options, but I'm really actually curious what the consensus is- Do you give them to the local thrift store?  Do you sell them in a store (such as etsy, or consignment)?  Do you have regular garage sales?  Or, am I going to be jealous to hear that YOU really get to store everything, and continually rotate your projects back into the decor every year?

I've made a lot of fun things in the last year, but some of them just can't stay.

So, this comes up for me, because finally, I have the mental capacity back to have the desire to craft, even though physically, I'm out of energy.  The same cheery yellow wreath I made back in February is still on the front door.  While cleaning out the garage, I came across a stash from my last thrifting trip I took- of course all with high hopes of re-vamp.  Some of it made a trip in the back of my CR-V to Goodwill.  Some of it ended up in the rafters.

Either way, I can't store it all.  So I need to know... What type of storage solutions, purge solutions, or otherwise do you employ to keep your house in order? 

Pottery Barn Bed & Bath Catalog Early Fall 2010

Well, it's always a happy day when a Pottery Barn catalog shows up in the mail.  But HOLY CANOLI, this latest one had me captivated by page 3!

Have you received this one yet?

Um, inspired by Provence?!  Yes please!

Seeing that I have no energy to actually get out of bed, I decided to flip through and go on a small shopping spree that I would share with you all.  Now of course, most of these items are reproducable in much less expensive manner, but I sure do love browsing.

Right from the cover, this Bonne Nuit lumbar pillow ($49 for the cover only), had me at hello.  Can you say freezer paper stencil though?!

 This Rosette mirror is a doll.  ($249 though.  eek.) I just love the detail on the sides, and those grommets.

Mistral Lavender foaming bath gel ($18).  The bottle screams simplicity, and the lavender color pleases my eyes.  Lavender is one of the most soothing scents. 

This Barrett media stand (while I didn't first picture it as that...) has great detail, a great color, and perfectly scaled.  However, at $699, I'll keep my eye out at some of those thrift stores I've been missing out on while pregnant...

These chippy heirloom frames, $129 for a set of 3, have been done time and time again, but they still get me.  What a great empty frame display, and use of "old" items in new spaces.  Love that texture.

Oooh, I just want to curl up in this blanket!  I love a good chunky knit throw blanket, and with our baby boy due in the middle of October, there's going to be plenty of couch cuddling to do during the winter months!  The price isn't horrible at $79, but I have one in green already.  Maybe I could retire the hunter green one? 

This cheery "Alexis Lamp" is so chunky and simple, I just love it (I really love the yellow one!).  Even on "special" the base alone is $99 (drum shade sold separately).  I suppose you could find a similar shape lamp at a thrift store, and a can of spray paint, and go to town.  Inspiration is good though, no?
 

This Windowpane Velvet Bedding looks like I could melt into it.  I love the red color- plus it's making me think of Christmas, my favorite time of the year!  The king quilt is $229...  hmm.  Maybe HomeGoods will have something similar.  :)

all images per Potterybarn.com website.

What do you think?  All of these items add up to $1550!!!  Yea, that's not going to happen.

Any of these photos tickle your fancy?  :)  Do you get the idea that Pottery Barn may be taking a hint from the blogging/craft world?  How many of these pieces have you seen someone already create a version of?  I still heart Pottery Barn, and in fact wouldn't mind working there- inspiration would overcome me.  On second thought, it's probably better for our finances if I don't work there.  :)

Nursery Progress Report

I felt it was time to show off some of the in-progress projects that are going on nursery-wise around here.  We had a big weekend planned, but that was derailed realizing I'm sick, yet again (seriously?  SERIOUSLY???)

Either way, some really great progress has taken shape, and I'm feeling less stressed than before (read: still slightly stressed, but just a little less...  :)  )

First, I'm happy to report that the painting of the walls in the nursery is 100% done!  If you recall, I used Olympic Premium No-VOC paint, mixed to PPG's Lime Green 209-5 for the walls.  I did the dirty work first, one night, of cutting in, and the edging.  This way the rolling of the paint took no time.  This paint is awesome!  It went on really well, and though I did two coats, I could have gotten away with one had I put it on a tad thicker the first coat.

Next, we have purchased the beadboard, chair rail, and baseboards- all 40 linear feet!  The beadboard is cut (the sheets start out 8x4') in half, so I have 10 sheets that are 4'x4'.  I think we'll go with 38" high beadboard, so we'll need to make some cuts for that to happen.  The garage will be set up like a workshop this weekend, so that hopefully next week some of the hard labor of wood installation can actually start.

Then, the remaining painting (chair rail, beadboard, and baseboards) can occur!  This part of the project I can't help much on... it kills me!

As for some of the other touches, those are definitely on their way.  If I can get some sleep today, and feel ok tomorrow, I should be able to knock those projects off the list!  Remember my design board?  Well, I'm talking about the star artwork, the mobile, and the alphabet art. 

I'm still a little frightful of sewing the replacement covers for the glider and making the curtains, since I've only used my sewing machine a few times!  (Remember these curtains, and these pillows from earlier this year?)  I think the curtains for the window are slowly turning into curtains for the closet instead, and the intention of purchasing blinds for the window is becoming a reality.  Either way, the fabric will be a nice touch- just depends where it ends up!  (Closet doors were removed, and I really want to be able to hide that mess!)

We still don't have a dresser, even though I know the one I want.  I've been striking out lately, even though I did get excited when Kate @ Centsational Girl found the same one I was looking for, and painted it white...  We're in the same area, and it seems that folks just love those dressers, and they either aren't selling them, or they're snatched up quick! But, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for one that was just posted about 30 min ago, and it's already white!  :)

I'm really having fun watching it all come together, and planning for what happens next, I'm just a bit anxious about it all getting done.  Looking at the calendar, there really are limited weekends left to work with.

How long did it take you to pull a room together?  Did you ever have a room that felt like it just wasn't going to EVER be done?  Do you work well under pressure, and deadlines?!  Do tell!

Teething Bling: by Smart Mom Jewelry?

Have any of you moms our there seen these before, let alone used them?  They're necklaces with a BPA free rubbery feeling disc on a black cord called "Teething Bling."  I found these on the daily deal website I subscribe to a called "babysteals.com" and it was my first purchase... Seemed like such a great idea.

I ordered two- one in green from babysteals.com (new discount baby/kid item daily!), and got the blue one direct from smartmomjewelry.com, since the color sold out at babysteals.com right away.

So, what do you think?  Good idea?  Will they be slobbery on our chests?

They even come packaged super nice:

Thoughts?! My doctor friend thought they were a great idea.  I have to hope her opinion is worth something too!

Recovering a Glider Ottoman: Polka Dots

I was excited to have energy this weekend, but I'm disapointed at how fleeting that little bit really is...  Sunday became the day to do some of our first nursery projects (9 weeks now, we should get moving!)

My first project- one to really dig in and finish wasn't small- well, the piece itself is small, but the project wasn't!  Today I recovered the ottoman that matches the glider I purchased for the nursery:

I've recovered furniture before... in fact, these two projects, Tiny Footstool, and the Grey bench should have given me the practice I needed for this project.  I should tell you though, that Dutalier, the manufacturer of our glider, really makes quality product, which made the initial dismantling more difficult than expected!

The blue fabric was the victim of a horrible recovering job (I purchased the glider chair and ottoman at a garage sale in a nice neighborhood by our house).  They just stapled blue fabric OVER the existing dirty upholstery!  So while the first layer of fabric came off easy, the second did not.  Using the best tools I knew, I pried about 150 staples out of the cushion until there was a clean (enough) layer to work with.

(yikes!  The fabric was just trying to JUMP off this ottoman because it had been done so poorly!)

(surprise!  There's another layer of fabric under there!)

Turning it upside down allowed me to remove the cushion much easier

Conveniently, the black mesh covering had holes cut out for where the screws held the top to the bottom

Take a look at all those staples!

Then, finally was the *easy* part: laying the fabric out, cutting to size, and stapling the new fabric around.  The corners were tricky, but I did them the same way I have on my other pieces (they have two folds rather than the typical "professional" way of having one fold on each corner.)

I left the black mesh backing on so that the screw holes would remain visible, thus making screwing it back together easier.  And also, I left a small amount of the old fabric and staple lines on the underside.  It just wasn't worth prying them ALL out.

(picture with flash...)

(picture without flash... in a poorly lit room...)

I'm pretty happy with the results, and glad that the chair/glider itself just needs the cushions recovered, which should be made quick work of with the sewing machine.

A full shot of the glider, which is next:

Until then, I leave you with a few more progress sneak peaks of the nursery-to-be.  Oh, and let me just tell you that we DID purchased the following today:

-  40 ft of beadboard
-  Chair-rail to cap beadboard
-  Baseboards (for the 3 carpeted bedrooms!)
-  Olympic NO VOC paint in PPG color "Lime Green":

Z filled holes, sanded, and painted the ceiling today.  Now we're really on our way!  I'll be hitting that green (in more ways than one!) paint up this week.  :)

Tons of small holes were filled, and the closet doors were removed...

...which left some really hefty holes that required wood fill, not even spackle would do the trick on those bad boys!

Baby steps to the finish line, but it feels like we're on our way now.  I can't wait to see the paint up!

Thanks for stopping by :)