Cord Catchall

Before

I have so many things that need to be plugged in/charged on my desk, that I have a mess of cords, surge protectors, etc.  It's a challenge to keep track of them as well as the issue of some cords can stay permanently here, but others need to easily be removed (for vacations, school, etc). Now as soon as I get a cord, I label it, so that I know what it's for.  But I also created a quick box to hide them all. Not sure if the fire marshal would approve, so please don't come after me if they catch on fire. Here are the steps:

1. Gather your supplies: a box (I used an Ikea box), and an Exacto knife.

2. Cut a hole for the cords to go in/out of.  I used the hole already on the side of the box and just connected it.

3. Make your box, and put the cords inside that you want to hide. I have a surge protector strip inside the box, that's the thick cord coming out of the box, and going down the hole in the top of my desk to the plug below. It's easy to take cords, by just opening the box and unplugging it.

After

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Envelope Pocket Pillows

Okay, the only purpose for all the pillows on a bed, is to cover up the messy, wrinkled pillows that you actually use at night. But rather than having a bunch of fussy pillows, I wanted some pillows that you could pile up to read at night. These pillows hide the interior pillow within an envelope pocket.  They are easy to make, by following this tutorial. But I didn't have a sheet that I liked, so I made my own "sheet" by adding a yellow pleat to some grey fabric (all the fabric is from my stash, so I'm not sure on the yardage, but just use the tutorial to get the approximate size).

1. Gather your supplies: fabric for your pillows (I think I had about 2-3 yards), and fabric for the contrasting strip, thread, sewing machine, pins/scissors, iron.
2. Cut your length of main pillow fabric (refer to the tutorial). I had one piece about 44 inches wide and 80 inches long. I then cut off a ten inch piece pillow length. So I had two pieces of pillow fabric: one that was about 44 inches wide and 70 inches long and another that was 44 inches wide and 10 inches long. (This will be later cut in half to make two pillows.)
3. Cut the contrasting fabric into 3 inch wide strips (of course you could do narrower if you want a slimmer pleat). Putting right sides together, sew the strips together so you have about a 44 inch long strip. Fold the strip in half length wise, wrong sides together, and press with your iron.

4. With right sides together, sew a strip on one edge of the narrow end of your pillow fabric.

5. Then sew the other pillow fabric piece onto the opposite side of contrasting fabric, right sides together. Press.

6. Now fold the contrasting fabric back together, wrong sides together. Should be using the fold that you ironed in step 3.  And press towards the short ten inch piece of pillow fabric.

7. Now along the ten inch pillow fabric piece, fold it over 1/2 an inch and press.

On my ugly ironing board

8. Fold it over another 1/2 inch and press.  Now fold this in half (wrong sides together), so the double folded edge lines up with the seam of the contrasting fabric, covering the contrasting fabric. Pin into place. This part is going to be hidden so don't worry about it too much.

9. Now on the front, sew a top-stitch to secure all the layers. I sewed two to make it a bit more finished: one along the contrast, and one along the left about 1/4 an inch from the previous stitching.

That's it, now you have a piece with contrasting trim, that you can make the envelope pillows for, just follow the instructions here. 

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Reversible Headboard Slipcover

We made a padded headboard awhile ago with an old sheet, using a tutorial much like this one. We would just swap out different quilts and coverlets, by pinning it using safety pins.  But as part of our bedroom makeover, I wanted a more permanent solution. So I rummaged in my fabric stash for some cool fabric. I found a cool (I know it's trendy) grey chevron and a piece of my daughter's dorm room curtain.  I thought I could create a reversible headboard slipcover using both pieces. It was really easy. I thought I could just slip this cover over, but I had to add in a zipper to make the slipcover fit nice and tight.

Before

After

After - reversed

1. Gather your supplies: two large pieces of fabric, and one piece of contrasting fabric (I used yellow), scissors, pins, measuring tape, sewing machine, 16" or longer zipper, and thread.

2. Measure the length and width of your headboard, and add one inch to the width and length. For example, if your headboard is 80 length x 36 width, you would have 81 x 37.  Using these dimensions, cut from each piece of large fabric. If you want, you can finish the bottom of each piece, but I didn't because it doesn't show.

Get off of there!

3. Measure the depth of your headboard, and add one inch.  For example, my headboard was approximately 3 inches deep, so I need strips that were four inches wide. So cut strips from your contrasting fabric 4 inches wide, sew the strips together so you have one long strip that is at least as long as two widths and one length of your headboard.

Contrasting yellow

4. To sew the strip to one of side of your headboard fabric, pin rights sides together, starting at the bottom of one edge of the width, along one side of the length, and then back down to the other width. I don't like to use pins, so I didn't, I just lined up the fabric and sewed, contrasting fabric on the top. When you get to the corner, make sure your sewing machine needle is down at the corner, turn the fabric to 90 degrees, where you would start along the length, clip the contrasting fabric from the raw edge towards the needle. Bunch up all the contrasting fabric on the left, but make sure the raw edge is almost lined up with the headboard fabric, then sew, trying not to pleat the contrasting fabric. Keep sewing all the way around.

5. Now attach the other large piece, and place where the zipper will go (the bottom of one side of the headboard fabric). Now sew the contrasting fabric to the other side of the headboard, but don't go all the way down to the last part. Just to the zipper.  Now sew in your zipper. (I am not great at it, so just look up a tutorial that will work for you). As you can see from my pictures, I had to unpick and resew in the zipper.

Zipper when chevron side is forward.

Zipper when teal side is forward.

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Bedroom Makeover

Our bedroom has never really functioned well, especially the bedside tables. We have a lot of books, so we had two low bookcases for tables. They worked great for storing books; but the tops were too narrow for lamps, jewelry, magazines, clocks, reading glasses, etc. So at our garage sale, we got rid of them, without anything to replace them. We just knew we didn't want them anymore. So this is what our bedroom looked like: with books piled up against the wall, a lamp on top of a stack of books, basically a mess. This is a before photo. I intentionally didn't make the bed, which is similar to a person's face for a before picture of plastic surgery. They are rarely smiling. So my bed isn't smiling. We made the plain padded head board from an old sheet to drape quilts on, and then safety pinned them in place, but it looked too feminine and a bit dated.

Before

So, since I like to be as efficient as possible, I made a list of all the things we needed our bedside tables for: reading, storing books/magazines/etc, storing jewelry, writing, charging phones/tablets, last minute work stuff (checking email before going to bed or making tomorrow's to do list), etc.  So that means we needed desks. Desks? Yes, desks. They provided everything we needed as well as making our bedroom a little more practical with another quiet place for working, writing, and reading. 

After

The Bed

I kept the head board, but I covered it with some scrap fabric I had around (tutorial coming). I know that the chevron pattern is pretty trendy right now, but I had a large piece that would work just fine. The black pillows are from Ikea, but I made the other pillows: the pocket yellow trimmed grey ones (tutorial blog coming soon), blue with black stripes, and the yo-yo black pillow (leftover from Zoe's dorm room). The coverlet, quilt and bed skirt are from Target.

The Desks

The desks I bought from Overstock.com. They look vintage, the top is glass, so it's easy to clean. When I made them I actually reversed the top, since it wasn't as shiny as the other side.  The lamps are from Ikea. I also got a little magazine storage bin for Scott's side, as he likes to go through his magazines at night: New Yorker, Bicycling, and Believer. The chairs are from Target. 

Most of the baskets/boxes are empty. I fill them up with items from my closet that I don't wear anymore so it's convenient to send off to Goodwill.

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Lounge Chair Redo

I saw this chair on Craigslist and finally convinced Scott to get it, it was also my birthday.  I liked that it was made of aluminum and had the retro look.

And this is what I turned it into -

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Gem Show Finds

I love the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show. I try to keep to my list, but it's often too hard.  Here is a picture of some of my finds.  My favorites are the skull bracelets (50¢ each) and the scarf ($3).  But at least I kept my purchases to a similar color palette.

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A couple of cute accessories

Here are two quick things I made to add some details to Zoe's apartment.

This first one I made by finding a mesquite driftwood looking piece in the desert.  I then soaked it in water w/ a bit of bleach to kill off any critters inside of it for a couple of hours.  Then I scrub it to remove any dirt and loose bark.  I let it thoroughly dry for 2-3 days.  I then put three coats of polyurethane with a sponge brush.  And then let it dry. That's it.

They second thing I made is just a little air plant (bought on etsy), that I put inside a little candle holder and rocks (both from Michaels).  Air plants are easy to take care of, especially in humid areas. In drier areas you need to lift it from the container, dip the roots in water a bit, then let the roots dry and return it to it's container.  In humid areas, you don't need to "water" it as frequently.

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