Category: Our First House

Our first house, a 1960 ranch home.

We’re Nutty for Fall

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A few days ago, the weather in Montana changed and we finally got a touch of fall.  So I sprang (get it, spring is the opposite of fall, yes, I’m that lame) into action and whipped up three fall inspired table scapes. 

Cocktail Hour Centerpiece:  This table setting, complete with snacks, is geared toward a cocktail hour with hors d’oeuvres, rather than a sit down meal.  

Here we have a few thrift store flower bowls, both white porcelain and patina brass, holding almonds, peanuts and shells.  I happened to have almonds and in shell peanuts, but any nuts would work great, or candy, too!  See that set of pillar candle holders?  Those came from Goodwill for only $0.49 each!  The wooden wine holder was a gift that a relative made(!) and it holds a bottle of sparkling apple cider, my fav.  I scored the large vase from TJ Maxx for $5.99 and filled it with a pillar candle and free nuts I gathered from my parent’s yard while in Minnesota. 

Here’s a tip:  If you don’t have a tall pillar candle, give it a boost with an upside down glass. 

The wood slice was something I’ve had lying around for a long time, but you can pick up something similar at a craft store or make one for yourself. 

Brighter Cocktail Hour:  Here we have another cocktail hour table scape, but with a little twist. 

We’ve kept the wooden wine holder around, but we’ve added fall flowers for a nice pop of color.  A wooden clearance tissue cover is turned upside down to disguise the clear glass vase, adding another natural element.  Nuts fill hand stitched felt and tweed leaf bowls (more on those next week).  Mustard yellow napkins round out the centerpiece.

Dinner Party:  We’ve finally gotten around to dinner and incorporated a bird theme.

This is a simple setting using basic white dinner plates and everyday silverware, so we’ve added a pop of yellow with the napkins.  Fancier glasses dress things up a bit.  A TJ Maxx bird and nest candle holder serves as a simple, low profile centerpiece filled in with white ceramic bird salt and pepper shakers and a few bowls of nuts. 

Here’s a tip:  If you have small, rambunctious children (like we do), forgo a tablecloth or runner to prevent a catastrophe.   Instead, add color and texture through cloth napkins.

Most items used were already on hand, but the great outdoors are wonderful ways to add natural elements, without costing you a penny!  Do you have any tried and true thrifty ways to decorate for fall?  Please do share.

Lions and Tigers and Chairs?

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I love Minnesota, land o’ lakes and home of Target.  I know Target stores are everywhere, but you haven’t lived for Target unless you’ve been to the Target stores in Minnesota.  What’s so great, you ask?  It seems the Minnesota Targets have the best clearance deals, ever.  Six or so months ago, I purchased this set of modern stacking chairs for $69.99 from our local Target. 

A few weeks ago, our Target had a clearance sale of said chairs, for $49.99.  I decided to buy another set, but was disappointed to find that both of our local Targets were sold out of the espresso color.  Wah-wah.  Imagine my delight when I spotted about 12 sets of chairs in a Minnesota Target on our recent vacation.  I snatched two sets (yes, four chairs.  Hey, they stack so we’ll save space, but have extra seating for parties!) for $69.96.  Yep, four chairs for the price of my original two. 

I also scored a few other deals, like this tissue cover for $3.74.  I know you are wondering why I would want a tissue cover, but I do have a plan for it.  And it doesn’t involve covering tissues.

I also got a super cool Umbra double soap pump for the kitchen for $3.49 and a new quilt for Vincent’s bed.  Stay tuned for details soon.

Refinished Bookshelf: Reveal

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Last week I shared how I refinished an old wooden bookshelf for our boys’ room.  It wasn’t quite done then, but it is now and we love it.  Ben was skeptical when I started sanding, but he does admit that it’s pretty now.  I really love that we’ve brought new life into an old, seen-better-days piece of furniture, without paint.  Well, there is some paint.  The back panel had a little damage.

I knew I couldn’t fix the back and keep it stained, so I filled the damaged area with putty, let it dry, sanded, primed and painted everything.  After three coats of plain white paint, hours of drying, and a vacation in Minnesota, I was ready to finish what I had started.  Using a pin nailer, I carefully attached the 1/4 inch plywood back to the bookshelf.  I chose the pin nailer because it shoots nails that are literally the size of pins, without a head.  It’s great for small pieces that might split if larger nails were used. 

Once the back was secured, all that was left was to bring the shelf back inside.

Have you refinished a piece of furniture to give it a new lease on life?  Do you have any tricks or tips to share?

Pillow Talk

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Yesterday, I shared a felt circle pillow that tickled my fancy.  After looking at the picture for a few minutes, lusting after it, I realized it would be pretty simple to recreate the look.  I remembered that I had a few yards of a similar yellow colored felt that I bought on clearance last year, so I used that. 

First, I determined the size of my pillow.  I knew I wanted a rectangle, so I cut my piece of felt to a 12 1/2 inch by 18 1/2 inch rectangle.  Using a spool of ribbon, I traced a circle on to the felt and cut it out.  This circle was my template for every single circle to follow.  Why, you ask?  Because, dear reader, both sides of the circle are visible and I didn’t want pen lines all over.  That, and I don’t have a disappearing ink pen.  If you do, you could use that.  Because I didn’t, I pinned my template to the felt and cut one circle at a time, like this.

After cutting roughly 120 to 150 circles, I started sewing.  First, fold the felt in half to get a rough cross-section.  Pin the circle in place and sew straight across the center, in whatever direction you’d like.  Place the next circle close to the first and sew it in the center, going a different direction.  Continue placing and sewing the circles one at a time until you’ve covered the front.  There will be a few gaps between the circles, but it’s not a big deal.  Try to get most of the circles close together. 

Here’s a tip: Start from the center of the pillow and work your way toward the edges.  Once you’ve added many circles, there’s a lot of fabric and it becomes difficult to reach the center.  I learned this the hard way. 

Here’s another tip:  Keep 1/2 inch perimeter without circles, for your seam allowance.  Then, pin any loose ends toward the center of the pillow before you sew the back on.  This will prevent edges from getting sewn where you don’t want. 

For the back, I cut two  12 1/2 inch high by 12 inch wide pieces of scrap white cotton to make the back.  The process is very similar to this envelope closure pillow.  The only difference is it’s not all one piece.  Start by folding and pinning the short edge.  Fold over and pin again, then sew the along the edge for a nice, clean seam.  Once both edges are sewn, place the pillow front face up.  Add one of the back pieces to meet the edges of the front, face down.  Pin in place.  Add the second piece, keeping a few inches of overlap and pin, face down.  Sew all four edges and cut the corners.  Turn right side out, stuff with a pillow form and enjoy your work. 

 Wondering where the cable knit pillow came from?  I made that from an old sweater.  Follow the instructions above, substituting the felt circle front for a chunky knit sweater and voila!  Instant fall and winter warmth without a hefty price tag.  While we’re on the topic of pillows, check out this one for our theater room.

We’ve decided to add pops of yellow to our windowless theater room to brighten up and bring life to the space.  It also doubles as a great fall color, but can be used year round, bonus! 

Have you started any fall decorating?  What do you think is the best or quickest or easiest or all the above way to inject seasonal accents to seamlessly blend with the rest of the decor?

How To: Refinish a Bookshelf

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We have this little bookshelf in the boys’ room.  My mom gave it to us, but it was originally her grandparent’s shelf.  It’s functional and cute, right? 

Well, it’s not so cute when the books have been removed; the finish has seen better days. 

The top was even worse, too!

We have had this bookshelf for three years (or more) and have never done a thing to it.  Until now, that is.  I finally got an itch to refinish this sad little guy. 

It all began with a random orbital sander.  I started by sanding the top with 220 grit paper to completely strip the stain finish.  Then, I worked my way down the sides, sanding with the grain of the wood. 

Once I had the top and outsides sanded, Ben removed the back and I worked on sanding the fixed shelves (both the top and under sides) as well as the inside walls. 

After completing all the smooth flat surface areas, I began the tedious, time-consuming task of hand sanding the detailed areas of fluted half round and the finials.  This involved 100 grit sandpaper, folded in half to get into the crevices of the fluting.  It took a good two hours to get the detailed areas sanded smooth, but I knew the end result would be worth it.

I wanted to keep the dark wood tone, so I bought a quart of Minwax Dark Walnut stain.   

Using a synthetic bristle brush, I began applying the stain in small areas to the shelves.  Working quickly, I wiped the area with an old, cut up T shirt to remove excess stain.  I kept a ‘wet edge’ of stain to prevent any overlapping that might make the color uneven.  I continued this process until the entire bookshelf had a coat of stain. 

I let the stain dry overnight.  Once Everett went down for his morning nap, Vincent and I went back to the garage to give the shelf one more coat of stain.  The second coat gave the rich, luxurious walnut tone I had in mind.

Now that I had the color I wanted, I needed to protect my hard work.  I applied two coats of Varathane Diamond Water Based Polyurathane satin finish to seal the wood and prevent scratches and future damage. 

Just a little note:  This was my first attempt to completely refinish a piece of furniture.  By no means am I an expert, but I think the bookshelf turned out pretty great.  It was time consuming, but not very difficult or expensive.  Speaking of expenses, I here’s a budget breakdown.

Sander and paper: $0.00 (already owned)

1 Quart Minwax Stain: $7.78

Varathane Polyurathane: $0.00 (already owned)

Total Spent:  $7.78

Time:

Sanding: 4 hours

Staining:  2 1/2 hours

Polyurathane Application:  2 hours

Total Time Spent:  8 1/2 hours

Not too shabby, huh?