Our Backyard
Our yard is a mess. The landlord kept it full of leaves, twigs, branches, logs, compost piles and even garbage. We are tearing all of this up. Slowly but surely we are cleaning up the mess we inherited, and making a pretty, and useful yard. So, over the weekend we plugged away at the daunting yard. We have, of course, started by picking up and disposing of his garbage and old broken items. The other items such as old pots, tools , and yard items were collected and stored neatly away in the already packed shed. Here was where the real fun began. We had already started to rake and remove the massive amounts of leaves from the back yard, but so much more remained.
This weekend is when we started working on a fire pit. This way, once this chore is finished, we can move onto the chore of burning the branches and debris that remain. Tony dug a very nice, large, circular hole, and we started with placing the first ring of bricks. We then layered the bottom with rock (the landlord also had much random rock to be picked up from the middle of the yard!). The pit is unfinished, but looking gorgeous already! Here are some pictures:
Here is some of the mess left in our yard.
Here is a bit more of the mess. We are removing all of the compost, which is those lumps, and the twiggy looking trees are going to be moved from the clump he planted them in.
Here's the start of the fire pit. This project is going to be a fun one for the summer!
Whats In Store For Next Week
Over the weekend I have a long list of fun little projects to tackle. If I get myself into gear and get them done you can plan to see updates next week. I hope to be working on the kitchen curtains, painting some pots, planting flowers, cleaning up the yard, building a fire pit, and working on redoing a headboard for the master bedroom. It sounds like a lot, I know, but I think I have most of it covered! And, my favorite little project…
Check out what I do with this ugly little pink basket!
Check back all next week for updates, photos, and how-tos of my many projects! Have a great weekend!
Another Project Finally Finished
Remember that little stool with the opening lid I got from my grandma a few months ago? It has been on my to do list to redo the stool for a while now, and it is finally finished. See the before here: http://www.makemineeclectic.wordpress.com/2008/12/31/new-little-project/
I took the lid off, which actually made recovering and painting much easier, and ripped up the fabric. I tacked down new fabric and replaced the old black backing since it was still in good shape. Backing helps cover the ugly seems when they are on something like this, as the lid being lifted will constantly expose this back area. I then sanded and painted the wood bottom, put the top back on, and TaDa!
Much better, don’t you think!?
Bookend Project
I have said it before, but I love repurposing items. Especially in these times, finding new life for old items is the greenest option. Some things you hate to ruin by transforming them, but for the most part I believe that reusing old or obsolete items is a far better choice than letting them waste away in some one’s unloving basement, or worse yet, a landfill. Plus, repurposing is often much cheaper than buying new items, as well as healthier for the planet. So, when I get the chance to make a new addition to our home, and at the same time get a new project with old items, I jump on it!
In college I made bowls out of records as a dorm floor project. I still have mine in our office on the book shelf. The other day I saw a project online where book ends were being made out of old records, and decided that would be a perfect addition to the shelves, and even fit in with our music themed office.
I made a stop yesterday at the Salvation Army and picked up two records. They weren’t anything special, just old records in decent shape and with pretty labels. Last night we boiled some water and dumped it in the kitchen sink. The water softens the record and you use a utensil to bend it.
Overall the project was easy and turned out pretty cute!
Cooling off under a box.
Office Storage
I love the matching office supplies my mom got me a year or two ago. There is a pencil cup, tray, two boxes, and a magazine box, and they are all in different forms of black and white damask with little bits of red here and there. I was thinking lately that I just needed a few more storage pieces for office things. I had recently seen a post online about making your own magazine boxes with cereal boxes. Last night I dug into this project as well.
I cut the cereal box top off and cut the sides on an angle. I then recovered the box by glueing some black and white skull material (I have a thing for skulls right now) over all outter sufaces. It was easy and cheap and I think it goes well in the office space. Now I have one more storage box. More to come in the future.
I didn't take a before picture of the empty cereal box, but here is the finished product.
There it sits next to the other box on the shelf of our pocket office.
Also, another little office update. Tony finally installed the frame for the projector picture. The wall at least appears empty for a reason now. I kind of like it. It almost looks a little purposefully quirky when the projector isn’t on.
Bench Project
When we first moved into our new house Tony and I bought a vintage vanity on Craigslist for $20 to go in our spare bedroom. The vanity is used to hold all of my “get ready in the morning stuff”. The vanity came with a little vanity bench. The problem was that the bench didn’t match the vanity. The bench was painted white and had obviously been recovered with some purple material. I had thought about painting the vanity a shabby white, but that wouldn’t solve the whole problem. The styles and sizes of the vanity and the bench didn’t even match. So, I put the bench up for sale on Craigslist, again. After a couple of weeks the bench still hadn’t sold. Well, another project for me!
I liked the chipped white paint of the bench, so I decided to keep it. I also decided that there were too many things, including another, smaller vintage vanity seat already in the spare bedroom. I thought that the front porch could use something, so that was to be the new home of the bench. We have a small, white ice cream table and two chairs on the porch, but nothing else so far. The white would be a perfect match. I have also had my eyes peeled for some of those vintage metal lawn chairs. I want two of them in red, or to paint red. That helped me make my choice for fabric. I chose a white material with a red coral pattern.
Last night I started ripping old fabric off the bench. Come to find out there was not only one layer of awful fabric, but three! Here’s the before photo:
The next layer. Even worse:
And the final dingy layer:
But, here’s what it looks like all spruced up:
I think its really cute now. I will show you pictures of what it looks like on the porch once I get the ice cream set repainted!
Mini Bar Update
We have had the old TV armoire we found on Craigslist home for a couple of weeks now. I haven’t posted about it because we are having a change of heart. We had wanted to strip the wood and stain it black. But, when we got the cabinet home we thought it was so gorgeous we couldn’t bear to do that! I thought that going black and adding some shiny handles and mirrors would add some Hollywood Regency to the cabinet, more suiting it to become a mini bar. I just don’t know if we can bring ourselves to touch the beautiful wood. We did add a stemware rack to the top and filled it with our lovely bar glasses and goods. It is really gorgeous in our dining room, and it has already served it’s purpose. We do still plan on adding another shelf in glass and also a pull out shelf for more mixing and pouring space.
What do you think? Should we restain the cabinet black or leave it as it is?
You can't see it here because there is no stemware in it, but there is a clear stemware rack on the right side.
We really do need your advice, opinions and ideas!!
Tidying Up
I’m a neat freak. I know it. I’m actually proud of it. I like that my home is always clean, neat, and organized. I feel that everything should have a place. Junk left out of it’s place clutters up your house and really ruins the appearance. I love ugly necessities (like cleaning supplies or utensils) to have a place to be stashed that is concealed when not in use. Not only does this just look so much better, but it also means you will not lose things or forget where you left them. Our cleaning supplies are under the kitchen sink in tubs. We always keep a flashlight right under the sink as well. A few basic tools and utensils that are needed frequently are in a drawer in the kitchen island, and the rest of the tools are in the tool box in the basement. I could tell you where ever item I own is right now. This drives Tony nuts that he has to put everything back in it’s assigned spot, but he will be thanking me in an emergency when I find what we need in seconds!
Anyway, this brings me to the topic at hand. Our mops and brooms. They are too big to fit under the sink, but too ugly to be left leaning against a wall in the kitchen. I had them stashed away in the basement. But, no one wanted to go down there to get them every time there was a mess. I even caught myself on hands and knees wiping up the floor with a paper towel instead of heading to the basement. I knew there had to be a better solution.
We took a trip this weekend to our local hardware store and found a basic hook set. My plan was to hang this strip of hooks inside the basement door for easy access to brooms and mops. The strip was a bit too long to fit from one beam to another along the unfinished basement walls. We compromised and leaned the strip of hooks on it’s side. It actually worked out perfectly, and the long handled tools hang perfectly just inside the door. I’m pleased. 🙂 And, now we can save paper towels and make our lazy selves go grab the mop!
The brooms and mops hanging so nicely just inside our basement door.
The row of hooks that proved to be a simple and inexpensive solution to a daily annoyance.
We were so inspired we even added a couple single hooks to the opposite wall for hanging dog toys and leashes.
These things will no longer have to be draped sloppily over the banister!
Simple fixes make all the difference in a home!
New Old Shade
Its official. I am sick of our curtains. All of them. Every room. I knew they were bad from the day we moved in, but now I am at my breaking point. So, on my day off yesterday I did some work and started plunging into our curtain situation.
I thought I would start off small. There was no shade over the large window in our kitchen door. Our neighbors could see right in! I decided to take the old white roller shade from the dining room door (since it also has a curtain) and refinish it to go in the kitchen. I wanted to stick with the black and white theme. I used some swirly scrap-book stencils I had and a paint pen ($3 at Wal-Mart). I laid the stencils out where I liked them, traced, and colored in. Now, viola!
What a simple , inexpensive project with such great results! This weekend I plan to get some black material and sew a valance at the top, as well as simple black curtains to replace the strawberry ones in the kitchen window. Then on to the rest of the house…
P.S. Yes, there is a cute in the shade. The landlord has mis-cut part of the shade. I didn’t want to try out my new paint idea on a new shade and ruin it. We like it well enough that I will soon go through the time and effort to reproduce this on a new shade!
The Start Of A New Project
The other day I wrote about how we wanted to make a mini bar area in our home. I showed pictures of other people’s re-purposed bar areas that we loved. But, after much discussion we decided we liked the look of a closed cabinet for this kind of thing a little better. With all of my inspiration in hand, I set out to plan my own mini bar project. Yes, we found the perfect (we hope!) cabinet for the job! A Craigslist post led us to the Maple TV Cabinet.
I see much potential in the armoire! (We don’t actually pick it up until Thursday.) I plan on first painting it a high gloss black. The back inside of the cabinet with be lined with mirror and wine and stemware racks will be hung from the inside. The inside has one shelf, but we are guessing we will make a few new shelves from glass. I am going for a bit of Hollywood regency here. Overall, we think this beauty should have plenty of space for our entertainment needs!
We do have one small question, however. I think there needs to be a flat space large enough to mix the actual drinks incorporated into the cabinet somehow. I was wondering if the drawer could be used for that. It might be a bit too low to be comfortable, though. I was also wondering about making a sort of pull-out shelf inside the cabinet. Is this even possible? When I see the cabinet in person I will know if more space is necessary. Until then, does anyone have any ideas or suggestions?
We are very excited to get the project rolling, so stay tuned for updates!
Make Mine Eclectic 
