Finding the Time to Unwind

We just hit 50 posts with the previous post!  Woohoo!!  This has got to be some sort of landmark.  Other bloggers start giveaways and whatnot, but I think we'll wait until around 100.  That will actually give us some time to make something to give away and not just spend all of our time on house stuff.

Before we began to do house renovations, we actually worked on other projects.  Over the course of limited free time in the past week/end, I found some things I had made before and finished others that were new projects.

Earrings that are not made out of broken electronic pieces (OHMen Jewelry on etsy):

I know it isn't recycled, repurposed, saving the world, but every now and then, I like to make things that are a more "traditional" pretty.  Plus, the bee earrings are great for pretty much all the women in my family since they are all beekeepers. 

Now onto my beautiful new jewelry display board that was a boring old cork board...but an excellent $1 garage sale find.  It needed a little spice.

As for the fabric projects...

Buying sheets from Goodwills and thrift stores is the best way to get inexpensive fabric.  Several yards for under $5, typically.  As you may be able to see, there is a mix of some vintage sheets along with some more modern cutesy stuff to make skirts and dresses out of. 

Don't discount the fitted sheets, pillowcases, bed skirts, curtains, tablecloths or anything else you can find at a secondhand store, especially if you love the print.  Just get a simple stitch ripper or a pair of scissors and you have a few yards of fabric.  Voila!  Speaking of vintage sheets, if you are interested in other projects to create with them, check out Jen at The Vintage Sheet Blog.  She has a ton of ideas, tutorials and advice on all things vintage sheets. 

My pile of pillowcases and shams to disassemble.  Though sometimes tedious, if I just turn on a movie (actually, it is typically "The Office" or "How I Met Your Mother") and shut my brain off for a bit, I can whip through several of these babies.  Some will go to quilts, potholders, bags/clutches while others to dresses and skirts...of mostly my size and style.

What I can't use for bigger pieces, I use for making rosettes.  When the little 4"x4" square can't even fit on the fabric, I know it's time to cut the leftovers into strips and make some rosettes.  This is my first REAL batch of them.  Last time I made them, they were so incredibly tightly twisted and instead of adhering them with a glue gun, I decided it would be fun to put myself through the torture of sewing them together.  Never again.  Anyway, here is just a scrap rosette that is about a total of 3"x1.5".  The plan is to make this into part of a necklace.  With all the weddings coming up (the season continues!), I figure there will be at least one occasion to wear a cute necklace. 

In conclusion, I don't JUST demo and build and refinish.  Here comes the confession: I'm also a girly crafter too. *sigh*  My secret is out. 

Anyway, I'll pester Tom into posting something soon to break up all of this non-construction talk.

Jessie 

Currently Listening to "Day After Day" by Badfinger 

Manic Monday...Wait...It's Wednesday.

Recently, I have managed to have a little bit of rage in me.  I think I need to start doing some roller derby again or something else that will give me a way to get rid of some of that.

Why hello Wednesday.  You provided me with the perfect motivation to get out some rage.  

Our house is a mess.  We've been staying in our guest bedroom since we moved here.  Well, we actually have 2 guest bedrooms, but one of them is going to be turned into the master bathroom, so we don't consider that a guest bedroom...not really.  Anyway, the closets in the guest bedroom are incredibly horrible.  Somebody nailed up a few 2x4's to set stuff on.  While we are in the process of getting and redoing furniture, we STILL don't have enough room for all of our "stuff".

I went into our room to find shoes today and this was the best I could do.

Luckily I have more than one of the exact same size of New Balance shoes.  Yay ebay!

Anyway, we finally splurged (of course it was on sale) and ordered a beautiful new bed off of overstock.com that is an 11" foam memory mattress.  It should be here in the next few days, which also motivates me to finish my headboard and built the platform bed with storage underneath.  Now I just have to figure out how to I want to design the platform and draw up some plans.  Ahh, the life of the unemployed/domestic engineer.

To clarify, that is not our frame - just the mattress.  I'm sure the UPS guys will be thrilled to deliver that 78lb package.  If you are looking for a bed and have been given the run around at the mattress stores (we did that for a few months), I would highly recommend the online route, especially using overstock.com method.  While it is nerve-wracking to spend money on something you haven't actually tried out, the reviews are wonderful. 4.5/5 stars with 283 reviews.  Pretty good, in my opinion.

Anyway, besides giving me an itch to make an Anthropologie inspired quilt for our new bed, this also pushed me to start getting our room underway.  I'm sure Tom is THRILLED about this since I have a million and three other projects going on as well.

To give you some perspective of how my day went... (in pictures, of course)

Oh, what a beautiful wall.

...you never know which tool will be right for the job until you get started working (at least on old houses)

I couldn't find safety glasses, so this had to suffice.

So the fireplace on this side does not exactly match the one on the other...I think there is a shelf of brick on this side of the chimney.  Hard to explain, I know.  It is so hard to peel 3" of plaster/concrete off of brick.  Any suggestions besides chisels?

Bonfire, what, what!

Hello future closet!

Why hi there future bathroom....WAYYYY future. 

Hello drywall.  What a nice? surprise to see you in an 87 year old house on top of lathing strips!

They even used screws as fasteners.  Tom is going to freak out that our house has some element of the "best, most sensical, logical, hardcore, most awesome ever" fasteners in it. I was fairly certain we just had nails.  Wrong.  There is a lone screw (ok, maybe about 4 to hold up that piece of drywall)!

Future doorway from master bed to bathroom.  This is what it looks like from the "bathroom" side with my pseudo-finished headboard in the background.

Oye.  Now what?

In the process of this mess, ahem, I mean PROGRESS, I managed to knock one of the platinum prongs off my wedding ring, which means...no more diamond.  I was even wearing gloves!  What the heck.  Oh well.  We'll find it.  That pile of rubble is only so big.  Sometimes I curse myself for being so hardcore.

...and this was only one of the things I did today.  More to come.

Jessie

Currently Listening to "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga (Yes, I have guilty pleasures.  Don't judge.)