Zoe's Apartment

During our visit during Parent's Weekend, I was able to take a couple of pictures of Zoe's apartment. She lives on campus with one roommate.  They each have their own room and bathroom, but share a living room/kitchen.  It is really modern with grey walls.

 This is the view when you first walk in the door.

Her roommate and her father made this cute love shelf, that sits in the entry way, in front of a locked utilities closet.

The couch on the right came with the apartment. Zoe and her roommate and another friend made the mobile.

I made this lamp, well painted it and changed the shade, see previous blog post.

I made the "H" pillow, Zoe made the back pillows and stuffed the rice bag.  The side tables were two Ikea lack tables glued together with upholstery tacks lined up around the edges. You can buy tacks that are already pre-spaced you just need to nail in about every fifth one.  Easy to do.

Zoe and I dip dyed the curtains, starting by dying the Ikea curtains all grey and then bleaching out the top. Apparently the curtains had polyester so we couldn't get them to white, but instead to this yellow, which turned out okay anyway.  There is a border of fabric at the top that is a floral yellow pattern.

Well, this apartment won two awards "Most Pinteresting" and "Best Overall." Pin It

Frame Modification

Zoe and I found an old wood frame at Goodwill.  I removed the glass, cleaned it up, and then painted it roughly with teal paint.  I used eye hooks to attach picture wire along the back. I also added some hooks along the bottom of the frame, for keys and lanyards.  I also got some small wood clothespins and spray painted them a rust color.

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Door ID & Mail Board

Zoe wanted a unique board to hang outside her room. It needed to have a pocket for mail and notes, and some hooks for keys and other stuff.  We were inspired by string art and this tutorial for a mail organizer (http://www.noodle-head.com/2010/05/mail-organizer-tutorial.html). We combined the two into this:

Materials:
12 x 24 canvas
3 cork squares
spray adhesive
fabric to cover canvas
embroidery floss
fabric for the pocket (I used an old shirt.)
small nails/linoleum nails
two picture hanging hooks
hooks

Tools:
staple gun
hammer
strong scissors
glue gun

1 - Using your glue gun, glue the three cork squares together, just run the glue around the edges.  Place something heavy on top to flatten them while drying.

2 - Trim the cork to fit inside the back on the canvas, see the next three pix. I used my kitchen scissors to cut through the cork, using a exacto knife makes a mess.

3 - Glue the cork to the canvas, again just on the edges.  Staple the cork to the edge of the frame.

4 - Cut the fabric about 2 inches wider than the edge of the canvas.  Spray the front of the canvas with the spray adhesive and stretch the fabric around the front and staple in place on the back.

5 - Add the two hanging hooks to the upper corners of the back.

6 - Print out your initial. We used the font DeLouisVille, size 1200.  You want to fill up an 8.5 x 11 paper as much as possible, also if possible, use the Outline font function (just to save ink).

7 - Use the nails and press around the edge of the initial. For the most part, you can push the nails into the canvas, but you might need to use a hammer. Then carefully tear the paper off.

8 - Just knot the floss and go back and forth between the nails.

9 - Now refer to http://www.noodle-head.com/2010/05/mail-organizer-tutorial.html  for the pattern and directions for making and adding the pocket.

10 - Add hooks to the bottom. I spray painted mine.  And you are done!

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Kitchen Vignette

Dorm room possibility - for the pantry door

Zoe and I made a couple more things that could hang from the pantry door.  The memo board is just a spray painted dollar store frame, with a piece of fabric behind the glass.  The holders for the markers and notepad are made by folding a piece of fabric for the bottom pocket and then putting them in an embroidery hoop.  We found the mesquite branch, washed it and soaked it in some water with a bit of bleach in case there were scorpions or spiders living inside. We painted the rings around it and added hooks.  

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Dorm Room Winner

Okay, some of you have asked for pictures of Zoe's dorm room. Zoe and I spent time during the summer putting together several pieces for her room:
1 - Duvet cover
2 - Pillows
3 - Curtains
4 - Desk organizers and sink organizers
5 - Towels
6 - Decorations (paper lamps, wall stuff, and organizer board).
We also got some rugs and bins from Ikea/Target.
FYI - Her room won Best Overall Dorm for her college.
Here are some pictures -

Her duvet cover is reversible, one side is this black w/ white ric rac, the other is multi-colored.

I made matching trays for her and her roommate, they are made out of fabric w/ glass lining the bottom, with their initial below the glass.

Her roommate's quilt is from Anthropology.

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