So I saw this thing on Pinterest...

Oops this is unlike me. I haven't blogged for 2 months! But I have been busy, as a new mom other things and a little person take priority.
We recently discovered mold in our  bathroom, yuck! So for the last month we have been renovating  a room thatwe first had other plans for, but with the mold, we vetoed those plans and just did a simple gut and renovate. It's not quite done yet but I will post pics after. All I can say is I can't wait to have a working and proper sized bathtub back. The old shallow tub was useless!
We have also been renovating our bedroom. Not big renos, just putting in a walk in closet and some paint to freshen up the room. again, it's not quite complete yet because we were using free skid wood for the wall and because of the ridiculous snow, the wood has been to wet and we need to wait for dryer weather to get more wood to finish the project.


So what have I been doing to be thrifty these past 2 or 3 months?

1. I made a new k'tan style carrier for myself.  My previous k'tan worked fine, but the material was thicker and it will probably be very hot if I wanted to use it for the summer, so I made anew one out of athletic mesh.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to make myself a Moby style wrap as Hans get's heavier and bigger.

2. I saw a pinterest project online on how to make your own cardigan onsie. It was quite simple to do.
I bought a simple onsie fromthe thrift store of course, cut the front in have and cut out av-neck. The I sewed on some stretchy, ribbed knit and added some buttons. Pinterest told meto replace the cuffs to match the edging but I don't think it's necessary. I then made a little tiny bow tie which can be snapped onto the onsie underneath (rather than an around-the-neck elastic) I also sewed some fake suspenders onto the white onsie. And of course I HAD to make amatching

3. I have a pantry in my kitchen with a really bland door. The door is too solid looking. I had a menu board on it but it didn't help. Plus menu boards, as fun as they are to make (I have a post about it somewhere) are really annoying to use. I don't have a fancy glass door in my pantry but I need something to break up the colour on this door. So I created along chalk board. Now I didn't just purchase chalk paint and slap it on the door because chalk board paint is a rip off! it costs at least $22 for a small can. Instead I bought the cheapest can of paint at Lowes that I could find, it was $11 and a box of plaster of paris, about $4. So I only spent a little less, but this amount stretches a lot further. I mixed according to instructions : 2/3 C PoP mixed with 3 T water, add to 2 C paint and voila, calk board paint. Ad a border and  now I can write a menu on my door, groceries, to do lists etc. No more frantically looking for paper when I need to write down a message or number,I can just scribble it on the door.

I think a lot of things are going to get labeled with chalk....lets hope I don't go too crazy with this!

Rocker

Every year, Burford,Ontario holds a town wide garage sale. I found this chair for $20 and my husband bartered it down to $13. I am terrible at bartering. if it had been me bartering for this item, I would have ended up paying more than the offered price! But for $13 this is an amazing buy. Both my husband and I wanted a rocking chair, but I never wanted one of those typical rockers...you know which ones I'm talking about. Then I found this and got it for very little. All it needed was a little TLC. 

I purchased some fabric at Ikea, some tacks at Walmart and some new staples for my staple gun at Home Depot. I mixed some old paint colours (pewter grey and a greenish teal). I started painting the chair and then came across a smallish problem. thepaint was covering fine on the entire chair except for one arm.... this red colour kept bleeding through...I swear I put like 20 coats of paint on that arm before it stopped bleeding through. I should have used a special oil primer first I guess but I got the job done and that's what's important...maybe.

Anyhow  I stripped the chair of the existing fabric,but kept the original padding, weaved some fabric for the back and this is the finished product. the tacks at the top are not quite symmetrical which is a little irritating but those darn things are so difficult to tack in without destroying each and everyone of them . 

I have also been busy working on somebaby/nursing gear for Simply Yellouw Designs.Those can be found here. 

Time off, Projects, Paint etc

*** this post is from  6 weeks ago.... turns out I never published it. I'm not sure why. Perhaps I forgot about, maybe never really finished it, not really too sure. Either way here it is, 6 weeks late I guess. Or did I publish it and now I just duplicated a post? Who cares, I'm really pregnant and anything goes and everyone understands...at least those who have been in my shoes does.***

At  33 weeks pregnant, it gets difficult doing many things. Things such as walking at a normal pace, breathing, or not peeing while doing the previous two to the best of my ability. But I am still able to craft and work on some DIY projects. And now that I'm on Mat leave, I have a little bit more time also. 

Our house number and mailbox were placed most inconveniently on our house. When there is mail in our mailbox, the lid of the mailbox hides our house number, but it's nearly impossible to get the mail out of the mailbox because of the light hanging in the way above the mailbox.  I want to change the whole front side of our house but for a start, I changed the house number display.

First I cut some planks and nailed them together for a base, which I stained using homemade wood stain

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side recipe:
home made wood stain:

place metals of your choice into vinegar. different metals create different colours. Coppers create a bluish green stain while iron creates a redish-brownish colour. I used iron shavings from my dad's workshop, and added old coffee grounds to darken it a bit. Let this mixture sit for about a week. You might want to seal this stain once it has been applied to avoid residue from rubbing off onto clothing.

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Next I found n image of a key silhouette, printed it out, taped it onto the wood, and then traced it with a pen to create an imprint of it onto the planks. I then traced in filled in the imprinted image with my wood burning tool. 

I removed the numbers from the house so that I can reuse them and nailed them onto the board.

 My only mistake in this project, is that I should have bought a new "7", since mine looks too much like my "1"

I also decided that the orange doors in my kitchen, though a bold statement, never really satisfied my style. so I changed the colour to a minty blue-green. Opinions?

this was the colour before.

the new colour.

A Place for Baby to Sleep.

In about 12 years, girls everywhere will be swooning over Prince George, the way my generation swooned over Prince William. Sure his hair line has receded quite a bit, but he's still a rather hansom chap if you ask me. Prince Harry of course has become the better looking one over time, but I remember my days of dreaming to be in the place where Kate is now. I bet their nursery looks beautiful with pieces picked out from all kinds of exotic places.
Though picking out nursery furniture has been described to me as being stressful. And I don't doubt it, I mean all those things are expensive and can really add up. I searched through some stores to see how much it would cost to set up a nursery and here I have provided one example of a lesser expensive store (Ikea) and a more average to expensive store (Sears)
If I go to Ikea and pick out average priced items, plus a can of paint, the average cost of a nursery would be roughly $800-$900.
If I went to Sears and picked out the same average priced items it would cost around $1500
Of course I'm not saying that everyone spends this amount of money on a nursery, but if you were to purchase all your basics brand new, these are roughly the costs.
 This includes the following items:

• crib
• mattress
• sheets
• bumper pad
• change table
• mobile
• curtains
• glider/chair
• dresser
• change pad
• diaper pail
• rug
• some decor items such as pictures

I think we can agree that these items are the basics a parent would put in a nursery. I have put all those items in my nursery but I have thrifted/refurbished as much as I can ( though there were a one or two items that I bought brand new):

• crib- free
• mattress - $70
• sheets- $10
• bumper pad- $10- second hand
• change table- $50 and mine doubles as a dresser
• mobile-not there yet, plan to make one out of an embroidery hoop and some left over fabrics.
• curtains- $6
• glider/chair- $50 on reupholstering 
• dresser...included in change table cost
• can of paint- $18
• change pad- $5
• rug- $25
• diaper pail- $8
• decor- $7

Total: $261

And here is what I ended up with:

Let me tell you a bit about what is in each picture starting with the top left (yes I did just look at my hands to contemplate my lefts and rights)
Top Left:
The crib was free. A friend at work no longer required it, and gave it to me. Often you can find free cribs on Kijiji also. The bedding was a gift too, a very beautiful gift. I originally made my own bedding. The chevron quilt which hangs on the back of the crib and the dust ruffle which is now a ruffle on the bottom of my glider stool. The feeding pillow was purchased second hand and I sewed a new cover for it.
Top Right:
Curtains: I bought the fabric for these curtains at the Fabricland on Upper Ottawa st in Hamilton. The top floor is full of discount fabric, and I always tell people to get their fabrics there. I paid $3 per metre for that fabric and the hoops I had laying around the house ( they were a Value Village purchase from a while ago...I knew they would come in handy!)
The glider: This chair was left in my house when we purchased it just over a year ago. I thought it was an ugly chair. However, I made use of it by reupholstering it with a bright fabric to add a bright pop of colour to my nursery. The fabric once again, from Fabricland on Upper Ottawa, and cushioning which was the more expensive part, from the same street, different store. I feel like I could have done it cheaper with different cushioning, and so this project cost me $50 plus $6 for the stool, after reupholstering cost,  which still isn't terrible considering a new glider and stool would cost around $200
Bottom left:
The dresser/change table: This is by far my favourite nursery transformation. I purchased the dresser for $40 at Value Village, more than I would normally pay for a furniture item, but I saw great potential in it and I knew it wouldn't be a toss out item after the baby grows. It used to be bright white with a honey stained top and ( I don't know if you can see it) a decorative strip of wood between the top and middle drawers also stained in a golden honey colour.  While purchasing this item, another customer also interested in the item suggested that I should leave the honey coloured as is, and then paint the rest black with an antiquing /whitish crackle...Of course I smiled and said that I would consider it, but seriously... that would look terrible, it's a good thing I purchased the item and not him, I just saved it from time travel to 1995!
I ended up painting the entire thing to an antique white and got rid of that horrid honey colour, and then added some grey stripes and a touch of colour to the knobs. I wouldn't have done it this way if it wasn't going in a nursery, But personally I think this is more nursery appropriate than honey and black.

Bottom right:
The basket on top of the dresser, which holds my diapering stash, is a diaper basket that has been passed down and used by multiple generations in my family. 

As for the diapers: ( I think I already covered a lot of this in a previous post, but here is a quick summary)

The average cost  (according to this blog)to start up is about $450. (not including laundry costs). 

How I did it:

7 flip style covers: (some were on sale)  $80

2 king sized 100% cotton bed sheets from my local thrift store cut up and sewn into 44 inserts -$10 

5 6-pack stay dry liners, I sewed mine directly onto the inserts  $30

total: $120

add on the costs for my home made newborn diaper covers (I made 7): ~ $50

new total $170

I know it probably doesn't compare to Little Prince Georges new room, but I absolutely LOVE my nursery. I think that if I had bought the big pieces brand new, it wouldn't feel the same, and wouldn't match anything in my house or my lifestyle. If I could change anything about it, I would paint the glider and the crib both antique white to match the dresser, but I simply don't feel like it, not at 9  months pregnant.


Edit/addition:

I got around to making the mobiles! Hoorah! I used a cardboard loop for one, and an embroidery  hoop for the other, some ribbon I had laying around, scrap fabric and buttons. I hung one mobile over the crib and the other over the change table.

A New Spot in the Kitchen

the new project: kitchen cart/portable island/garbage
 and recycling bin hider

I have an older home with an older kitchen. It has no dishwasher, no fancy gadgets. MY cupboards are still the originals from circa 1950, and I have no intention of replacing them. I would like to update them with some fine molding, but I wouldn't replace them. About 1/4 of my kitchen is part of at later (c.1980's? perhaps) addition and was never properly insulated and so at some point we will have to address that issue. my main concern with it is that when we open the cupboard doors at that end of the kitchen, I am literally letting the cold air in and the warm air escapes. My mom used to say to us kids when we were young and we left her cabinet doors open to "shut the cupboards, you're letting int he cold air" . I just always thought it was an expression. Not in my house!
I love the look of 1950's kitchen's , though there is always something great about those grand and clean updated ones, I love the coziness of the older style with the mis-matched floral plates and little curtains in the window. At some point I would like to replace my baby blue laminate counter top with a wooden one and maybe re-tile the floor. I'm just not a fan of baby blue in the kitchen... or really anywhere for that matter.
This is my most recent project. At first it was a bit frustrating. I thought first that I would just purchase a cart off kijiji. I knew what I wanted, but none of them were quite what I was looking for or they cost more than I was willing to spend. So I decided that I was going to make it myself. I purchased my wood, cut everything to the appropriate sizes, got out the drill, with the battery pack that had been charging for three days to prepare for this project, .... and the battery was still flat. Well technically it had full power for about 10 seconds. then it was dead. I find it really frustrating when I want to work on a project and I can't because one little thing isn't working. so I immediately called my husband, and asked him if he could purchase a new drill set for me. It's a big request to make since they don't come at a small price, but he lovingly understood my terrible dilemma and purchased a new drill set for us. so I could once again continue to work on my project.
In this corner I used to have that tiered corner shelf that just collected things and served no real purpose. So I moved it into the basement and it's life purpose is to be a book shelf. In it's place I have made this kitchen cart/portable island. My garbage can and recycling don't fit under my sink, and I didn't like it just sitting out in the open. I wanted to cover it. so I built this over top at the same height as my counter, "antiquified" it  with some leftover paints I had sitting around, added a little curtain from the leftover's of my kitchen curtains and voila, a grand 1950's style kitchen shelf. I placed some nice things on it, including my utensils crate and it ended up clearing up my kitchen a bit. I left the one side open, because Olive's food dish and water bowl are also under there, and this way she can still access them.  And if need be, I can roll it over to my counter should I require an island.