X Marks the Spot

Published on by Our Humble Abode8 Comments

For a while, I’ve really wanted to make something interesting using striped fabric.  Specifically, using stripe fabric cut at an angle.  While I can’t make my vision come to life right now (hint: it involves a bedroom; don’t be dirty), I can make a version.  Actually, I got my butt in gear after seeing this pillow, shared in our latest Etsy fav round-up.

I started with a green and white fabric I bought at Ikea and a piece of plain card stock from my stash.  To minimize damage if I screwed up, I decided to make a 14 inch square pillow cover.  Then I cut my card stock into an 8 inch square, which gives me a 1/2 inch seam allowance.

To make the cool x design, I measured a green stripe and marked the center with a little tick mark at the top and bottom.

Then I placed my square template on the fabric, lining the corners up with the tick marks and traced the edges.

Repeat, repeat, repeat.  Maximize your fabric by placing the squares right next to the other, slightly staggered in height.

Cut out the squares and place together to form an x.

Now pin the top two together, and the bottom two together like this, right sides together, keeping the stripes lined up.

Sew along the edges, then pin those pieces together, keeping the stripes together.  I decided to use a gray faux silk backing with an exposed zipper bottom, but you can choose your backing and closure type.  Envelope closures are super easy.

Originally, I planned to sew a second for the slipper chairs in the family room, but the green didn’t mesh well with the chair color.  Now it lives on our bed.

The splash of color in our otherwise unchanged and boring room makes me smile.

And I like the faux silk shiny backing.  You know I can’t resist shiny anything.  I did mess up though.  For some unknown reason I put the zipper along the whole bottom.  I should have cut it down and centered it, leaving fabric in the corners for crisp edges.

Oh well, I guess that’s bound to happen when I’m sewing while watching White Collar.  Can’t. take. eyes. off. Matt. Bomer.  Seriously, he’s not even hot, he’s gorgeous. So I guess because I made this pillow while watching him, I’ve got a little piece of him in bed.  Bahahaha.

What do you think of this design?  It would work with any stripe size or color, too.  Do zippers trip you up, too?  Maybe you’re just a fan of White Collar?  Or Matt Bomer?  I am!  I am!  Haven’t seen Magic Mike, but anything with Matt is a sure hit with me.

More Doors from Mordor

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Okay, the doors didn’t really come from fictitious Lord of the Rings Mordor.  What doors am I talking about?  Two new garage doors.  Our old garage doors were dented, bent, and blue.  Not to mention, they were terribly insulated.  Because the garage is a tuck under, it’s also heated and cooled.  So insulating the space as tightly as possible should save us some money on our monthly heating and cooling bill.

And, I’m pretty sure someone hit each with a car on several occasions, and it wasn’t us.  Basically, the doors had seen better days.  Before getting pricing, I had my eye on a modern style carriage door.  A local garage door company came out and gave us quotes on various door styles.  This style would cost about $1,550 per door, including installation.  Ouch.

Then Ben heard it wasn’t as well insulated at the standard raised panel door.  So it came down to price, efficiency, and the fact that our doors aren’t easily visible from the road.  And the raised panel style won in all departments at $1,650 for both doors, installed.  Two installers came here yesterday to get the job done in a few hours.  Behold, our new, white, well insulated doors.

Sure the doors look better, but we’ve got a lot of exterior work to make those shiny new doors fit in.

But, they’re not dented and that’s what counts.  Haha.  New weather-stripping should help keep mice out of the house, too.

Oh yes, we’ve had a few mice already.  This shouldn’t come as a shock considering the location, but it still grossed me out.  We’ve already caught two (while nibbling our bananas!) and if there were more, they seem to have left.  Ahh, the life of a DIY blogger is glamorous.  Wink.

I’d never really given garage door styles much thought before this.  What about you; do you have a preference?  Or just prefer something functional, regardless of the look?

Contingency Plan

Published on by Our Humble Abode9 Comments

It seems like every project we plan to tackle requires at least two steps before we can get to it.  One thing contingent on another. For example, before we can paint our bedroom we have to scrape popcorn ceilings and install new trim.  Now we’re gearing up to install new windows on the back of the house.  Windows arrived last week (more details to follow) but we have a few things to do before that can happen.  Of course we can’t leave anything as it is.  A few weeks ago, Ben’s aunt and uncle visited.  They noted how strange it was to climb up three steps in the pool house to get to the wet bar, only to go down three more to reach the patio.

We always thought it was different, but that really got us thinking.  Why not lower the wet bar area, making it level with the rest of the pool house and therefore level with the back yard?  Yes, let’s eliminate the steps entirely.  So that’s what Ben did on Sunday.

For men, demo is the best part.  The fun part.

Smashing things, prying up pieces, and making piles of scraps.

It seems this little area was quite over built.  But Ben likes a challenge.

Being the smartie he is, he got the car jack from the garage and used it to hoist up the joists.

When the mood strikes, he’ll finish the demo work.  But how is this necessary?  Well, in order to make the inside and outside level, we’ll have to lower the sliding door by a foot or two.  So the raised wet bar has to go so we can bring in a concrete cutting guy to notch out the foundation.  Then Ben can install the new sliding door at the lower height.  See, one thing hinges on the other.

For the time being, we’ll have a demoed, unfinished space.  When we get around to remodeling the kitchen, we hope to reuse the stove, granite counters, and sink in here.  Ben will make new cabinets before that so we’ll have a functional, but small, kitchen in the pool house while we renovate.  Also, we won’t feel guilty using the oven in the summer because we won’t heat up the house.  But we’ve got one more iron in the fire.

How many different projects are you working on right now?  Are you starting to prep for fall?  Kids going back to school?

Puttin’ On My Painting Clothes

Published on by Our Humble Abode17 Comments

Welp, over the last four days I did a lot of prep and painting.   Thought it may not look like I did.  You know, the main bathroom is deceptively large and then factor in the trim detail I had to work with.  It took most of my weekend, but we’re one step closer to a finished bathroom.  Last weekend, Ben installed most of the trim.  He finished up on Tuesday, installing the cap and details around the vanity.  I spent a few hours filling nail holes and caulking the seams on Wednesday.  After that, I packed up the boys and we took a trip to the lumber yard to search for the perfect crown molding.  Five samples came home with me, but I had a clear favorite.  That one, at the top of the pile.

Ben agreed, and it was the second cheapest option.  Hooray!  Thursday I sanded everything and started priming.  Then on Friday I put on the first coat of white paint.  After our home-made waffle breakfast, our little family made another trip to the lumber yard to buy our crown molding to finish off the bathroom.  Ben installed it once we got home.  Of course that gave me more nail holes to fill and seams to caulk, but the end was in sight.  While letting the caulk dry, I put a second coat of white on the lower half.  Bright and early on Sunday morning, I sanded the crown and gave it a quick, heavy coat of white.  Luckily, one coat covered the crown completely, so I let that dry and worked on the entertainment center.  (More on that project soon!)  Then I taped off the white trim to give the walls and ceiling a second coat of gray.  And so I did.  Because I worked my butt off to get this all done, I thought it be best to tell you every detail of the process so you feel like you’ve painted with me.  Haha.  I told you all of that to show you this; our (almost) finished bathroom.

While I’m biased, I’m completely in love.  And it’s nice to see the trim one color.  So much whiter and brighter.

We’ve got a few little things to do, like build faux drawers for the vanity, paint the door (which means the rest of the doors in the house will get painted as well-I think I’ve landed on a color), and spray paint the fan cover.

The rest is d.o.n.e.  As I mentioned, Ben and I had a few disagreements about trim placement.  Lucky for me, he agreed to add 1/4 inch detail trim around the side of the linen closet.

The rest of the room has a decorative trim (which also functions to hide the peeled sheet rock).

The same trim wraps around the vanity acting as a back splash.

Details make me happy.  While this trim is simple, I think it works well with the modern meets traditional aesthetic we’re going for.

Simple square door casement with a touch of detail.

And let’s talk about the crown.  We had the option to use traditional crown, similar to what is in the rest of the house, like this for 55 and 75 cents per linear foot.

But it all felt too formal and traditional.  Instead, we landed on a door casement with a slightly detailed, but still clean lined profile.  For us, this works.  We used casement as crown in our first house with great results.  And, this trim is only 45 cents a linear foot.  At that price, for our 8 foot square bathroom, the crown cost only $11.25.

Big impact for little money.  And the casement is easier to work with that true crown.

What do you think of our almost finished bathroom?  Did you work all weekend?  Or did you take some time to relax?  I’m off to work on the entertainment center now.

Gimme a Giveaway Winner: A. Heirloom & Weather Reports

Published on by Our Humble Abode5 Comments

Another happy Friday, folks!  As part of the A. Heirloom giveaway, I asked which state you wouldn’t want to live in.  Well, I become a total crab if I’m hot, so I’d have to say anything south wouldn’t work for me.  Specifically Arizona and New Mexico.  Our winner, Angie, would want to live in Iowa or Georgia.  Oddly enough, Alaska, Texas, and Florida got the most votes.  I kind of agree with all, just because Alaska is sooooo far away (though two of Ben’s brothers live there).  Texas and Florida are both too  hot and humid for my liking.  At this point, I’m happy living in Montana.  Sure, there are plenty of times I yearn for a larger city and miss the Twin Cities.  But we love our property.

Even if our mountain house had been a shack on this land, we would have wanted it.  Granted, it needs some love and attention, but the views and privacy alone are worth it.  And, we don’t need the weather report anymore.  Well, that’s not completely true because our forecasting skills are slightly less accurate than the professional reporter.  We have a great advantage, because we can see everything coming in or going out.

Take a look at this crisp, clear morning.  You know you’ll have a nice day when that’s the first impression.

We’ve seen a handful of stunning sunsets, too.  Red sky at night, sailor’s delight, right?

More often than not, we see weather changes in the distance.  A few weeks ago, we watched a storm come over the mountains to our area.

Cool clouds and rain to the west.

But bright, clear skies to the south.

Last week, another storm came in, leaving the mountains in a perfect silhouette.  We decided to climb the hillside behind the house for a full, unobstructed view.  And it was totally worth it.  Here’s the zoomed out view, showing the mountain range.

And here’s what it looks like in real life, up close and personal.

Handy Sammy was using my camera, fiddling with setting, and he took this great shot.

A few nights ago, a little rain shower passed over us, leaving a double rainbow behind.  That’s the best shot I could get, but the rainbow was huge and bright.

With our crazy hot and dry summer, we’ve had smoke/haze covering most of our views.  Boo.  Eventually it will clear again.  Until then, I’m enjoying pictures.  Handy Sammy suggested I take a picture of the view each day to see how things change.  I think that’s a neat idea…and might have to start; maybe this weekend.

What are your weekend plans?  Enjoying the last few days of unofficial summer?  Taking a trip?