Tablecloth turned curtain panels

On the second floor of an antique mall in downtown Jonesborough(the oldest town in Tennessee) is a booth full of old embroidered tablecloths & napkins, piles of doilies and other dainty knick-knacks. This is my favorite place to go to find sweet patterned fabrics...it almost never lets me down.
I found this tablecloth with a pattern I adore. The border is my favorite part, and the colors are perfect! 

I brought it home and cut it in half using my rotary cutter....

Notice the porch surface? This happened before we painted our porch....so glad we got that done!

The cut wasn't perfect, but I knew I'd be sewing the edges eventually because I had decided to turn this tablecloth into new curtains for our kitchen window!

I originally was looking for a quilt top, which is probably terribly hard to find, to use for curtains like in this lovely home...

Seriously, I love everything about this home. I think it's the reason my tastes have started to change.

I used the sewing machine and talent of my friend Jamie during one of our craft nights and started hemming the edges and leaving enough room across the top for the curtain rod.

During this process, I realized that I need to ease up when it comes to sewing....I had an awful experience with mine about a year ago and have sworn to never touch it again....anytime a sewing machine makes an odd sound or even the slightest jam and I get anxious. Jamie was a good encouragement and watching how fast she zips the fabric through was exactly what I needed. It was so simple! It took about 20 minutes from the time we started ironing the edges to completed curtains.

I got them hung up above the sink and I am so happy!

For holdbacks I found these beautiful knobs from Hobby Lobby and spray painted them Olive Green.

Then I added a little something extra to the center of the window.

I had this oval frame with no glass so I decided to string a strip of fabric through it and cut out some scrapbook paper, adding a few words I need to remember while washing the dishes.

Anytime I needed text on a project before I got the Silhouette, but didn't trust my own handwriting with a paintbrush(which is pretty much always) I would use these rub-on letters.

They are pretty amazing, and look almost exactly like they came right out of a typewriter.

Then I spray painted another hook I had at the house and hung it below the words for a dish rag or towel to hang.

Sorry about the picture quality, these were taken at night, since it's the only window in the kitchen, I just couldn't get the lighting right. But here's a peak at how they look during the day when the sun shines through...

For a pair of new curtains I paid $8.00 plus the cost of some white thread for Jamie's sewing machine. Win!

Before:

After:

If your response to this change is something like "wow that window looks a lot more old-ladyish" then we're on the right track. I'm going for more old-fashioned (old lady) charm.

PS. This is what happens when you take a pee-break and allow your crawling son to continue venturing on his own around the kitchen when you have the dishwasher door open....

He got stuck. Why is it called child-proof when we alter our homes in order to keep our kids safe? I think this photo is proof enough that we have a child! Just kidding mom, I'm working on it!

Allison

Thrifting & Style Changes

Today in Elizabethton, Jamie and I definitely got lucky with our purchases, especially when we found items that had no price-tag and a friendly old man in gingham gave us his best deals...which really were perfect steals. 


I got a Fire-king teacup and saucer for $6.00 and I'm waiting on four more from etsy to show up on my front porch...I can't wait to start my teacup collection!

I found this sweet tea kettle for $10.00

The orange and white striped apron was $3.99 and after Jamie mentioned that it would look good in my home I couldn't pass it up. I screwed two decorative hooks from Hobby Lobby on the wall next to the dining room hutch and now my aprons are on display.

The orange & white was purchased today. The apron next to it was a Birthday gift from my friend Kristin, made with the fabrics I used in our wedding. The brown gingham apron was Steven's grandmother's and she gave it to me for a wedding gift, she even tucked a hanky into the pocket and said that was what her mother used to do. The apron on the far right is from Anthropologie, a gift my brother picked out for me(way to go big bro!)

I found this old charm upstairs today during our trip, I immediately fell in love with the color, so if I ever do a new paint job, I hope to find something similar! 

These embroidered napkins were handmade by Amish women who used old bedsheets for fabric. Aren't they gorgeous? Found those on etsy! My plan is to start gathering a hodge-podge of mismatching cloth napkins. It's been a lot of fun so far!

I've also found two yellow linen napkins and I've decided to keep them stored in this milk glass piece that was Steven's grandmother's as well.

I've already mentioned that I'm becoming an old woman with my new love for embroidery, lots of colors, and all things cottage and farmhouse...it's definitely true, I can't get enough! Anything that reminds me of a quilt has become my new favorite. 

I've also become incredibly excited about fabric patterns and using them in new ways....also an inspiration from quilts. And for the first time, in a very real way, I'm thinking about making products to sell.......!

Allison

Outdoor Seating on the Cheap

Yesterday while I was dropping off donations at the Goodwill, I picked up a light blue wooden chair for $5.97! Which got me thinking.

Since I was already on the "stealing from my son's room" kick, I decided to pair the new Goodwill chair with the wooden chair I painted and covered for his room a while ago. I thought they would look nice together outside on the back patio in some little nook.

All I needed to do was to re-cover the chair pad with fabric that would endure outdoor weather.

I already had some special plasticy fabric on hand, so 22 staples from the staple-gun later and I was ready to move this chair outdoors! 

Always interrupting my photo shoots...

I've been eyeing this tray table (in the dusty blue) from Bed, Bath & Beyond...

which I'd like to add to the nook where these two chairs will be, then a few potted plants, and maybe a new coat of paint(possibly Love Bird by Martha Stewart) to the little blue chair, yes! Oh, maybe I'll even try stenciling on the new chair, that'd be fun!

Allison

Recreated Crate

I've been stealing from my son's nursery(can I even call it that anymore? He's getting so big!) a lot lately...first the curtains and now his wooden crate.
I found a pair of these old crates while antiquing with my mom just a few short months before Finn was born. I brought them home and decided to put casters(fancy word for wheels) on one of them.
Then I put it in Finn's room to hold toys and books.

But, after seeing an idea on Pinterest, I wanted the crate for my rosemary! So I took it and lined it with some thin fabric to keep the soil inside. I guess you could use black plastic as well and it would blend in better with the soil.
I used a staple gun to fasten the five pieces of fabric.

I put some gravel pieces on the bottom after cutting a few slits into the fabric so that water can drain easily.

Then I transplanted the rosemary...I'm hoping it'll get even bigger, like shrub size!
I plan on doing the same to the crate's match and using these for little herb gardens to wheel around the back patio before I get comfortable enough planting into the ground...I have anxieties about plants dying once they're in the ground.

Oh, and we started landscaping the front yard-so excited about how "grown up" the front of our house is looking!

Allison

Up off the Counter

One day long ago I went to a thrift store and bought every single metal candlestick they had. At less than $1.00 a piece why not? At the time I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do with them, only that I had just been introduced to the wonders that spray-paint can accomplish so I figured I'd give them new life with color.


Then Pinterest happened (yes, I've had these candlesticks for that long). And when I found this fruit/cupcake tiered stand, I knew exactly what I would use my candlesticks for!

Mary Janes & Galoshes

Here's what my collection had become, minus a few that I've already converted to useful items.

Candlesticks have been a cinch for me to find. The pie tins are another story-maybe I just don't know where to look, and I suppose you can buy them brand new; I've found four without looking too hard, and they've all been purchased at antique or thrift stores. My first step is placing tins on top of sticks until I've found that perfect match up for what I had in mind.

I spray painted the candlesticks a shade of blue, the pie tins I gave a white coat, and then I used an odd sort of metal putty called SteelStik that completely hardens after a while and secured the pieces together. The guy at Lowe's advised me to use this.

This metal glue stuff STINKS. It smells just like this town called Sulfur Springs in Texas that I used to drive through on the way to Tennessee. I was hilariously amused to read the packaging where it stated that this stuff is from none other than....Sulfur Springs, TX! Sorry to anyone out there reading who has a love for this East Texas town...

So here they are, painted, stuck, and dried.

I'd planned to use the big tin to hold hand soap, lotion, and a dish brush to keep next to the kitchen sink. The smaller tin was the perfect size for bar soap for the bathroom sink. 

I also laid a doily at the bottom of the larger tin just for something extra and I found a teensy porcelain bowl for the dish brush to sit in so it'd look fancy and wouldn't drain onto the doily or spray-painted surface.

I love how everything is contained together, just how it would be directly on the counter, only somehow this elevated dish makes it look cleaner....and gives me back that little bit of counter space.

Next, I'm definitely going to make a tiered piece for my jewelry, and eventually I'd love to make something for fruit and to have on hand for little treats or cupcakes at a party. Something like this...

So there you have it, a creative way to get your necessities off the counter but still at arm's length!

Thrift Store Retro Chair meets Front Porch

Some time way back in December I picked up this chair in need of some major tlc. Then cold weather came and took away my motivation. 
Finally I got this guy out of the shed, dusted him off and went to work making him pretty again!
Here's the before & after:

Here's the progress after some power sanding....

Then I sprayed on a good coat of primer.

I used up some more of Valspar's New Avocado spray paint. I tend to rely too much on neutrals, so this was a big step for me! Normally, I probably would've gone with white, or something pretty plain, but now our front porch will have a pop of color! And my sign got hung already and I am loving it! Only downside...this song has gotten stuck in my head every time I see this sign. Woops.

There is still a ton of work to do to our porch. I'd love to get out there with a pressure washer and repaint the floor....someday! I've also got a new wreath in the works and we definitely could use some potted plants! Maybe I could even construct a small side table out of pallet wood? Hmmmmm...

 I'd love to incorporate something like this:

Via Under the Table and Dreaming

Any curb appeal/front porch ideas? Inspiration?

I'm linking up with...

A Little Knick Knack's Everything but the Kitchen Sink

Perfectly Imperfect