Part two is more like part 105 with all the time that’s past since part 1!   Life has been crazy with baby on the way, but its the most rewarding kind of crazy there is.  So I did eventually finish Baby Lang’s quilt.  Here are the remaining simple steps:

Finish sewing the quilt lines. This took the most time; I ended up using several different thread colors.

After my lines were sewn, I trued up the edges.

Notice the cute ottoman?  I recovered that….and hopefully I’ll post on it one day.

Next came the trim.  I used pre-packaged blanket binding, and sewed two together before attaching to the blanket.

Blanket binding is now one.

Next I pinned to the blanket, right side to right side.

The corners were a bit tricky, and I ended up on Mr. Google to figure out  how to do this.  I sewed right side to right side until I was 1/2″ away from the edge, then folded the trim upwards and then down for a perfect L.

Up….

Back down….

Eventually I had to connect the other ends, and I just overlapped and pinned.

To finish, I folded my binding over and top stitched (this is cheater method, on a good quilt you would hand stitch this).

Done and done.

It’s now the perfect blanked for the nursery bed.

Pretty simple huh?

Lately our weekends have been full of painting, hanging stuff in the house (blinds, pictures, curtains, light fixtures) and enjoying some much needed cooler weather here in Dallas.  I ended up repainting the front hall fairly quickly, and this has led to our first decorating fail in the new house.

Here’s the front hall from the MLS pictures:

Here are some shots post painting:

The top color is Olympic Horseradish and the bottom is Olympic Steel City.

Though I love the beach, and am sad we didn’t get to take a true beach vacation this year, this was not the look we were going for in our front hall.  What I was going for was a crisp cool welcome, not a Beachy cottage.  I think this combo would look great in a more traditionally decorated house, just not in ours.

Here’s the hall on paint job two:

Bottom is Olympic Distant Thunder.

I’m not sure about this either, but Nick and I like it a whole lot better than the first color.  We’re hoping to create some kind of wall paper or stripe effect on the white above the chair rail.  That’s still up in the air though.

Up next for the front hall….a replacement for this builder grade light fixture.

Hooray for one room being closer to done!

I like to pride myself on being a pretty good seamstress, but I’m no quilter.  I do like to make baby blankets for friends who are expecting, and this of course applies to our future Christmas baby as well.

This is one of the projects I did for our future little ones nursery. Here’s how I tackle what I like to call a simple quilt. These techniques are self taught, so please don’t judge my non-professional quilting instructions!

Supplies:
-Fabric – I like to use basic cotton quilting fabric for my blankets, but had already purchased 2 1/2 yards of decorator weight fabric for another project that didn’t pan out. Make sure you pre-wash!
-Batting – I always use needled cotton batting.  The size for this quilt is what they call “Baby Size”. It’s 45″ x 60″.
-Quilt binding
-Thread
-Pins

I cut my fabric in half, on grain of course, and then pinned one piece to my batting.

I then basted these together at the edges on stitch length four.

Then I repeated this with the other piece of fabric, putting wrong side of the fabric to wrong side of the batting. This created a batting sandwich.

Next I basted these together, and began the longest step of “quilting” the sandwich together.

I chose to do long lines across, but you could choose any design you want. I’ve done random, criss cross, and even attempted a waffle pattern once.  The blanket will have puckers in it, as it may shift some during the process.  I’ve found that a lighter weight fabric has less puckering, but again I already had this fabric and Tim Gunn would be proud that I’m making it work!

Here’s what I have so far.  Up next, more quilting lines and the binding.  This will be my first time working with quilt binding, I usually use a corded trim on blankets.

Simple Quilt….to be continued…..

Life has been a bit busy around here, and this is mainly due to our move about a month ago.  There are SO many projects to work on in this house; and we thought we were getting off easy because this house was much less of a “fixer”.

Here’s a little sampling of our To Do List:

Paint Kitchen

Paint Ceilings (Thanks to some hired help this is crossed off)

Paint Master

Paint Master Bath

Paint Guest Room – today’s project

Paint Guest Bath

Paint Nursery…that’s right, Nursery.  Nick and I are expecting our first baby in December!  SURPRISE if you didn’t know .

Paint front hall

Paint Living Room/Formal Dining Room

Paint Den

Paint Hallway

Paint Master Dressing Area

Replace all Dining Light Fixtures – at least the breakfast nook is done

Replace all fans – bottom of the list

Replace Hall Light Fixtures – bottom of the list

Replace Entry Light Fixture

Replace Front Porch Light – We found the same one we loved in the last house on Clearance at Lowe’s for $20.  Score.

Replace Laundry Room Light Fixture

Paint Half Bath

Replace Half Bath Light Fixture

Hmmm……..this list has many more items on it, mainly doing with light fixtures outside and a few small electrical projects inside.  One major overhaul we’re trying to take on this fall is removing a half dead tree (we’ll hire an expert for that) and planting some grass in the backyard.  This house had been empty and neglected for years, and the yard certainly shows it.  Luckily for us the fence is pretty new, so one of the major costs of creating a backyard oasis has been covered.  We can’t even imagine working back there right now though; it’s been 10o+ degrees here in Dallas for what feels like weeks.  Couple that with being 20 weeks pregnant, and yard work would be absolute misery right now.

Check out the listing photos for our “new older house”.  As you can see it’s just another mid-century ranch that are so prevalent in the older neighborhoods around DFW.

Here are the stats:  Built in 1958/1970 Square Feet/Pier and Beam Foundation/3 Bedrooms/2.5 Baths/2 Living Rooms.  These images were taken from the MLS listing, and that’s why they state MLS in the left corner.  Is it stealing if you actually bought the house?

Front of House

Formal Living and Dining Combo

Formal Living and Dining – Towards the Front Entry

Front Entry

Den

Den Leading to Kitchen

Kitchen

Kitchen to Breakfast Nook to Laundry Room to Garage Entry Door

Pantry and Refrigerator Nook

Laundry Room – Small, but better than doing laundry in the garage like our old house.

Half Bath off of Laundry Room

Master Bathroom

Master Bedroom

Master Dressing Area – Between the Bath and the Bedroom

Guest/Sewing Room

Future Nursery

Jack and Jill Bath between the Nursery and Guest Room

Back Patio

Backyard – the tree closest to the house is covered in ivy and looks to be half dead.  I call it our very own Poltergeist Tree….remember that scene?

This thing has got to be cut down!

Another backyard shot.  There is a great flower bed to the left that I can’t wait to plant Mums in this fall.

So that’s what we’re working with these days.  This house had a lot of the work done by an investor, but you can tell that it has not been loved in some time.  Luckily we like all the major updates, like the granite and tile, so we’ll be able to put our personal touches on it with paint, decor and lighting.

We truly miss our old house, especially because it was our first house and we worked so hard to transform it into a home.  Nick and I are loving our new commutes though, and this was the main reason for moving.  We were both driving about 45 minutes each way to and from work.  My commute is now about 15 minutes each way, and his is now 25.  Life is much better when it’s not spent in the car .

I promise to update the blog on projects as we work on them; and I’ll be taking some in progress pictures this week to share.

I feel guilty about this post, as it’s for a bathroom that we no longer own. Yes, that’s right….we sold our beloved first home. In fact, Nick and I have already moved into our new house. This past month has been a whirlwind; and I’m using that as my excuse for not updating in forever. The new house doesn’t need a ton of cosmetic work like this one did, but we have a lot of changes in store for it. More on that later…

It’s long overdue, and here it is, the final reveal. We were extremely happy with the outcome, especially because it still has a vintage feel to it. We opted to not do a shower door, and went with a curtain instead. It was much cheaper, and easier to clean. Also, my biggest pet peave of the shower door was that it would leave water all over the floor when you were done showering. No bueno.

Check it out!

My favorite part is the gray tile on the floor.

Though we only used you for a month master bathroom, we are very proud of the way you turned out.

Goodbye.

Nick and I have had an extremely hard week.  We recently lost a very special part of our family, our dog Mel.  It was very sudden, he got extremely sick last Thursday night with a terrible cough and could not breathe well at all.  Mel went through this a few years ago, and after a few days at the vet he bounced back to his old self.  He’s always had a little cough (since he was a puppy), but when he got really sick he always got better and it was always with a smile on his sweet face.  We expected this time to be the same, but it was not.  His little body never fully recovered, and after a long night the vet could not revive him.  We are devastated.  There were no real goodbyes, he was so full of life the day before, and it’s just a shock how quickly life can be taken away.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of our sweet baby.  He was one of a kind, and there will always be a special place in our hearts for him.  Carrie is having a hard time as well, we think she is still waiting for his sweet face to re-appear at the door.

I wish that were the case.

Mel and our sweet girl Zoe, who passed away in 2009. They are reunited now.

Mel doing what he did best, saying his prayers.

Hello snow.

Christmas 2009.

Why yes, I’ll take a Heineken.

Dinner?

Farewell sweet boy.  You are loved so much.

So it’s been a few weeks, and the bathroom is finally done. The renovation process was pretty quick, as Nick and I were not the ones doing the labor. It was a messy time, and we had to move into the guest room for a few weeks while it was going on.  Sleeping in a full bed after having a queen for so long made for close sleeping quarters, and it was kind of fun staying in that room for awhile.  The hardest part of the reno was the dust that the demolition created. The house was covered in a fine coating of mortar powder. G-R-O-S-S.

Check out the in-process photos:

This was where the toilet used to be.

Shower drain and the floor around it.

Vanity.

The new shower pan – the culprit of the whole renovation.

Vanity view during the tiling process.

Shower tile, no grout or flooring.

More tile – no grout.

A full reveal is on the way!

Today is the day our Vintage Tile not so masterful master bathroom gets demoed. Because we have a leak in the shower pan, and the tile has to be busted out to fix the problem, we are getting an entire tile gut job. I am a little sad about this, but excited to see the changes happen. The current tile has made this bathroom a home for over 52 years. It’s truly one of a kind, and Nick and I will miss it. Take a look at our delicious peach sorbet bathroom.

I’m really sad I don’t have an image of the floor. It’s a honeycomb pattern, which is not made anymore. Ours is not in great condition, but I love the effect it created.

Farewell my 60′s love.

A few weeks ago my fellow co-worker/new friend/fellow blogger Andrea (check out her amazing projects at The Lottery House) and I attended a free painting tips class at West Elm.  The shindig was a collaboration between West Elm and Benjamin Moore.  They had many great tips (and great cookies) to share.  Also, just for attending you got a goodie bag complete with swatches and a free gallon of paint.  Score!

Here are a few tips and terms I picked up:

1. Metamerism – This is a fancy term for when you pick a color that ends up looking completely different depending on lighting depth and what time of day it is.  This is why our kitchen is gray in the evening and blue in the morning!  I still love it though.

2.  Pick your paint after you have chosen your textiles and decor.  I kind of disagree with this….I chose all of our paint colors before decor.  Luckily they are neutral, so I’m sure that’s why this rule did not truly apply to us.

3.  It’s OK to paint the ceiling, as long as there is crown molding or a stripe in-between the wall color and the ceiling.  I would love to do this in our house, but this would  involve some lovely popcorn removal in our future.

Love this color scheme from House of Turquoise

What if you had a striped ceiling instead of crown molding or a painted stripe between the wall and ceiling?  Genius.

Precious nursery image courtesy of Apartment Therapy

4.  Painting Techniques – They reviewed the single stripe technique, horizontal stripes, and ombre’ (ole’?)  I’m a pro at ombre’, as seen below in our den.

I’m in love with this blue ombre’ bathroom.  Maybe one day we’ll have a bathroom this beautiful.

Photo from the amazing site that is Houzz

5.  Sheen and VOCs:  There was a lot of talk about sheen which then led to discussion regarding VOCs (wiki it here).  Benjamin Moore is known for their zero VOC paint, and they have around 3500 colors to choose from.  With regards to sheen, they said that their eggshell sheen is the most desirable on the walls, semi-gloss for doors and trim, and matte or dead flat for ceilings.

I see a purchase from the Benjamin Moore Earth and Sky trend board in our near future.

Happy Painting!

After finishing the half-bath makeover, I decided I just wasn’t in love with it.  Last weekend I decided to paint it again, this time in the same color as the kitchen.  It created a much more cohesive look, and the cool tones go perfectly with the drip paintings.  I also love how the curtain valence I made (Dwell Studio fabric of course) is like a piece of art all on it’s own.  Unfortunately I don’t know the paint color because we had it color matched at Lowe’s.  I like to call it perfectly soothing.

It’s a good thing I kind of enjoy painting, and you can burn over 120 calories an hour doing it!

Oh, and please excuse these poor photos as the camera battery was dead.  RIP.