Sandy!

Hi friends! 

I just wanted to take a quick moment to shout out to my friends, family, and any of you reading this who are in the pathway of Sandy today. She's forecast to be quite nasty, and the sheer size of the storm (especially in comparison to Irene who hit the East coast last August) is mind-blowing. Be safe, and make sure you have a plan in place to evacuate should things get out of control! 

xoxo!

ET: Extra Terrarium

Happy Monday! Can you believe that we are already at the middle of the month of October? Time has been flying by lately. Todays post is something I completed over a month ago but wasn't able to share with you until today. If any of you were drooling over the terrarium trend we saw this spring and summer, then this project is the one for you! Feel free to make your own and share it with me. It's really easy to make your very own.

For the LONGEST time I have wanted to create a terrarium, and that day had finally come. I pinned images to my Pinterest board for months and months, dreamed about how awesome it would look sitting on top of our fireplace mantle, and even wrote the materials on my "To-Do Shopping List." It was high time I got cracking on it, especially since I planned on doing it on a budget. I finished this little project for less than $3!

Here are the materials you will need to make your very own:

Glass container with lid (I used a large apothecary jar)
River pebbles (I purchased these from the dollar store, and used approximately 2.5 bags)
Soil (I had a bag of leftover potting mix)
Moss/plants (I dug up some moss from our backyard)
Water
Decorations (Optional. I added a gnome to keep the moss company)

The first thing you need is to layer the river stones at the bottom of the container. I bought two bags of large stones and two bags of smaller pebbles, and mixed them up. This will provide some drainage for whatever plants you use. I ended up only using about two and a half bags for my container, so the rest I will keep handy for either a second terrarium (bet you can't just build one) or some other project.

Next, you want to add the soil. Be sure to leave enough room for your plant to fit inside comfortably with the lid closed. I used leftovers from a bag of potting mix I had in the garage, but you can also dig up some earth or compost from your yard/garden.

Then, it's time to add your greenery! I chose moss from my back yard because it was free and easy to use. We had lots of it growing in an area beneath one of the trees, so I simply harvested it by carefully prying it up from the ground with a butter knife. Planting the moss was as simple as placing it on top of the soil. Once you have your greenery firmly planted, feel free to decorate. I used a few leftover stones and a cute little gnome to tend my "moss garden". I also left a bare spot in the soil which will give me the option to add another plant later on.

Lastly, water! Depending on the size of your container add enough water to dampen the soil, but don't flood it. You don't want to create a mud pit. The rocks will provide drainage, and with the lid closed your new little habitat will retain and recycle the moisture. Don't forget to put your container in a place that gets a little bit of sunlight each day. I love gardening, but I don't always have the greenest thumb. This is one of the best ways to keep plants, especially if you're like me and forget to water them! My husband and I have always talked about building an aquaponic system, but in the meantime this was an easy and affordable way to bring a little bit of nature into our home.

And that's it! Easy peasy. Kind of makes me wonder why it took so long for me to put one together! I can't wait to see how my moss garden will grow, and I've got room to expand by adding another plant. Has anyone else succumbed to the terrarium trend we saw this year? I'd love to see what you've created if you made your own, so please share!

Our Fall Mantle

Fall is here! One of the things my daughter and I both look forward to is redecorating the house for season changes and holidays. It was something that my mother did with us as a child, and even though she worked a lot to support my sister and I, I valued that time we spent together. And I always knew that it was a tradition that I wanted to pass along to my children.

Our daughter LOVES the holidays, and Halloween is probably one of her favorites. And while I the decor we chose may not necessarily be so creepy or spooky, it's definitely fun and colorful.

It's also still a work in progress. I'm hoping that this weekend we can hit the pumpkin patch and bring home a few mums to fill my empty basket and some pumpkins to carve. I basically used things I had already had on hand from the previous year, and also a few things I had brought home from my mom's house (remnants of my stuff that lingered in her attic since I moved out). The garland (it's actually 3 pieces) is from the dollar store, the witches are German heirlooms, and the pumpkins I bought at Hobby Lobby and Target last year. Let's take a closer look, shall we?

And here is the lower half. I still haven't gotten around to scrubbing that other half of my fireplace! The perfectionist in me didn't even want to post pics showing the brick because my laziness is a bit embarrassing. I guess there's no better motivation to get on it than that! We've also yet to paint the inner brick inside the hearth, but now that I've given the furnace cement plenty of time to dry and cure, we should be good to go. I've been researching faux hearth electric heaters available to insert in our fireplace, and so I think that it is a best, least expensive, and cleanest option at the moment. More on that in a future post. 

I love my ceramic basset hound. He was another attic remnant of mine from my childhood. I think I found him at a thrift store, and since we had a couple basset hounds while growing up, I immediately snatched him up. He wasn't nearly so pretty then as he is now, though. I washed him up, gave him a fresh coat of white paint, and stuck him in the best place any dog would naturally gravitate: in front of the fireplace. It's a favorite spot for our two pooches, too, and we haven't even lit a fire yet. 

Everything else, aside from the apples in the owl planter, were things I had collected in previous years. The apples I bought from the Salvation Army thrift store back at the end of August for .99 cents. I bought them with the intention of panting them white and perhaps glitter dipping them, but I left them original since their bright colors coordinated so well with my leaf garland. 

So, that's our fall decorating at the moment. What do you think? I'm pretty pleased with how it all turned out, especially since it all cost me a total of $1. Some mums and pumpkins will really top it off. The best part is that it will all easily transition into the next month for Thanksgiving (with exception of the witches). I love using things that are so versatile. 

How many of you have already begun to decorate for fall? Do you make it a tradition like we do? Feel free to share your decorating pictures with me!

Life Gets In The Way Sometimes...

Happy 10-11-12!

Sorry for being absent for so long, but life gets in the way of things sometimes. And that has certainly been my struggle for the past month. Health concerns and running our household (while ill) on my own while my husband was away for a month of training kind of put both my DIY plans and this blog on the back burner. Please accept my apologies for disappearing. I hadn't planned on being gone for so long, but now that I've regained most of my energy, I am ready to kick things back into gear!

Today I wanted to start things off kind of simple. I have a few things around the house to share with you, like my fall mantle, but part of me wanted to just speak from the heart a little bit on the subject of perfection. I am guilty as all get-out of being a perfectionist. Sometimes to the point that, if it isn't perfect, it's not worth doing. Anyone else feel that kind of pressure? I'll also say that in putting myself out there with this blog, I began to feel more and more like I had to do things "just right", or post a certain amount of times a week to stay fresh. To be truthful, I've never been good at keeping a routine. It's just not who I am. And while I'm a self-proclaimed list addict and I would consider myself organized, but I've never kept a journal or diary. Trust me, I've tried. And after a while I would slowly tumble off the wagon. The longest I've kept a journal was 6 months-- when I wrote to my husband nightly during our first deployment as a couple. At the time, we had been married for only two months, and I was pregnant with our daughter when he left. It was actually very therapeutic for me to use it as a means to "talk" to my husband, even when he couldn't be there, and I think it helped me relieve a lot of stress. So why didn't I keep writing once my husband returned home? Well, those of you who have children know that babies can be a handful. In fact, my husband didn't even come home until a month after our daughter was born. You can imagine my stress for that last month. I also had a relationship to resume with my other half, and after spending so much time apart, it took us time to both readjust. Deployments are emotionally hard on both parties, and it takes time to find your groove again. So much had changed for us both now that we were parents, too. I guess I felt that writing in a journal would be irrelevant now that my husband was home and I could just talk directly to him. 

So, you see, my diary days were short-lived. I think that is part of the guilt I feel in making sure that I stick with this blog and the need for "perfection". I intended it to be a way for me to relieve my stress on the projects I like to bury myself under, but it is also a way for me to communicate with our family and friends and keep them up to par on what we've been doing. Instead, I've been setting myself "guidelines" on what I should write about and how often, and I would compare myself with some of my favorite blogs to read and feel like a failure because I wasn't completing projects on the same level.

My little hiatus gave me the opportunity to step back from things and gain a new perspective. I also gained a new blog title in the process! I felt as though I was heading in a direction that felt forced and confined when I would rather have the opportunity to freely share what matters to me. I am really looking forward to picking up my hammer and paint brush again, but I'd also like to add another dimension of DIY into the mix... baking/recipes, arts/crafts and sewing, and maybe even our classic car restoration. And rather than keep a library of posts stocked up and scheduled, I'd like to just write about what inspires me at that moment rather than cranking out posts like a machine.

Does anyone else find themselves in the perfection trap? What do you think of the new blog name? I happen to think it suits me pretty well, and thank my husband for his genius in coming up with it (shh... don't tell him I said that. I'll never hear the end of it). :)

Another Curtain Tutorial

Back by popular demand, I've put together a tutorial on the curtains I made for my sewing nook/spare room. They're almost as simple as the curtains I made for the living room, but has an extra step that creates a little curtain rod pocket as opposed to simply using the clip rings to hang the panels. Most of this is a repeat from my other tutorial, so if you don't need the refresher, feel free to skip down to step # 5.

You'll need the same materials as last time to complete these curtains:

1. Fabric
2. Thread and bobbin
3. Pins
4. Scissors
5. Iron and Ironing board
6. Sewing machine
7. Tape measure (I used a fabric tape measure since that's what I had on hand. A utility one will work, too).

Step 1: Install your curtain rod at the desired height.

Unfortunately I couldn't install a curtain rod this time since the ceiling is pretty low, and the second window butts right up against the corner on the other side of the room. But if this step applies to you, then by all means install away. 

Step 2: Measure.

Because I was hanging these curtains at a lower level, my measurement was going to be significantly smaller than the last set I had crafted. Be sure to measure from the curtain rod to the desired length that your curtains will hang (in my case, just barely kissing the floor), and add about three inches to that measurement. This should cover the rod pocket you are going to create and the hem at the bottom of the panel. 

Step 3: Cut your fabric.

Spread your fabric out on a large cutting space (I used the floor in the living room again), and measure the desired length. Don't forget to compensate for the hem at the bottom and the rod pocket on the top (approximately three inches unless the curtain rod you are using is extremely thick). 

Step 4:  Pin the edges.

Get your trusty ironing board and iron out, and get ready to do the hardest and most tedious portion of this project: pinning your seams. On the sides, I simply folded in the selvedge of the fabric (that white strip on the sides with fabric info). You can either simply fold this edge over once since a selvedge is a self-finished, woven edge that won't fray, or you can fold it in once more (which is what I did) to hide this edge and make your seams look more finished. Using an iron to press the seams really made the job of pinning easy, and helped keep everything straight in the long-run.

Once you've pinned the sides, press and pin the hem of your top edge as well. This will make sewing faster and easier to sew. Instead of having to cut your thread and start over on each edge, you can simply lift the presser foot on your machine, give your panel a quick turn, and keep going.

Option: If you're sewing machine challenged, or just don't have time to sew (hey, I won't judge) then you can skip the sewing step all-together, and use iron on hem tape instead. I've never actually used hem tape to make curtains, so I cannot speak to it's durability, but I've heard that it's a great sew-free option. If you try it out, let me know!

Step 5: Sew!

Thread your machine and bobbin with a matching thread, and go to town!

Here is where the directions will change slightly. Instead of sewing the bottom hem last like I did on the last set of curtain panels, I go ahead and sew the sides and bottom hem first. Once these are sewn, I bring the panel back to the ironing board, fold and iron over a 1/4 seam. Next, I take the fabric and fold it over once more, but instead of the typical 1/4 seam like you do in your hem, you make a 2 inch fold which will create a pocket big enough for you to thread your curtain rod through. Ensure your seams are straight by measuring as you pin. Creasing the fold with your iron will also help hold it in place to gain an accurate measurement. 

Once the rod pocket is pinned, I like to hold it up to the curtain rod to make sure that my panel is going to fall at the desired length. You can make any adjustments needed based on the thickness of your curtain rod before it is too late. If you have a really large or thick curtain rod, I would add an extra half inch to your panel measurement, and make your pocket fold 2.5 inches instead. 

If you are satisfied with your pinned panel, sew that baby closed.

Step 6: Iron your finished curtain panel and hang.

You're heading down the home stretch now that all four of your edges are hemmed! Before you get antsy and jump up the step stool to hang your curtain panels (like I always do), you'll want to iron your new drapes to make sure any wrinkles or creases in the fabric are smoothed out. I only completed one panel at a time, so if you're like me.. repeat steps one through six, and you're done!

Step 7: Dance it out!

Yep. I'm still dancing it out to Karmin's "I Told You So" like I was back when I posted the room reveal. 

Oh yeah, I dug this guy out of storage in the garage. Many moons ago it had been the changing table in my baby girl's room, but after she became mobile I packed it up and put it away (mostly because I found her out of her crib and standing on the top of it-- talk about scary!). It's a little bulky, but right now it suits my storage needs. I needed a book shelf to organize some of my materials, and this was free. Perhaps in the future I'll be able to trade it in for an Ikea Expedit or something else that's a little more streamlined. 

So there you go! Seven easy steps to easy-peasy curtains, and if you're like me and have a tendency to hoard fabric, you'll come up with free fabric from your arsenal just like I did. Need an excuse to purchase large quantities of fabric that you might someday use? Shablam! There's your reason. :)

Light My Fire: Part Two

If you remember last week I showed you the nifty cleaning trick I had found on Pinterest for cleaning the exterior brick on our fireplace. It really did a good job in removing the baked on soot. Now that the outside was feeling clean, it was time for me to tackle the inside, and boy is this part a hot mess.

We're about to get close and personal with the dirty, sooty insert, so make sure you've got your gloves and painters jeans on!

The first step I took in cleaning out  this little nook was removing the log holder and using a small wire brush-- much like a toothbrush. I scraped it down the facade and into the crevices of the mortar to make sure all of the loose dirt and chunks were removed. Make sure you're wearing a mask when doing this job. You don't want to breathe any of that stuff in!

The fireplace had a previous patch job to repair some of the crumbling mortar, but it was not holding very well. In fact, it was peeling right off of the brick. This leads me to believe that they did not use a high temperature rated filler. I scraped and chipped all of these loose crumbly patches off the brick, and did a quick sweep with the little dust broom included in the fireplace kit.

Unfortunately, sweeping didn't seem to get a lot of the soot or dust that remained in the fireplace. After thinking about it for a few minutes, and then some heavy inner debate, I broke out my Dyson and used the wand with brush attachment to suck up all of the dust and little pieces. My vacuum was due for a good cleaning anyway, and this would give me good motivation to get on it!

After scraping away the crumbling pieces of mortar and patch, you can really see how bad of a shape this thing is. That's where the next step comes in: patching.

I made a trip down to our local Ace Hardware before the weekend, and took advantage of a $5 coupon I had received during one of their previous promotions. I love to save a buck (especially when it comes to repairing stuff like this in a place that we rent), and five of them can go a long way. That's like a free can of spray paint! After talking with the friendly staff there, they were awesome in helping me choose the tools and products that I would need for the job. I went with a black furnace cement mixture and a 6-in-one scraping tool that had a hook on the end. I also purchased the wire toothbrushes mentioned above from them. After my coupon, I only spent about $7 out of pocket.

Now the directions on the tub of cement say to stir the mixture, and dampen the surface of the brick you intend to apply it to. I  broke out an old hand towel, a bucket of warm water, and a paint stick. The consistency of the furnace cement is pretty thick. Almost like a black peanut butter. I used my paint stick to make sure it was mixed well, and then used the same 6-in-one tool that I had used to scrape the old mortar from the cracks to help fill them. That tool was a great investment since I could use it as a putty knife to apply the cement. Working my way around the fireplace walls and eventually to the floor, I filled the cracks and scraped the seams clean and even.

The hardest part was definitely the ledge where the brick meets the tile on the floor. Here, there were huge chunks of mortar missing in this area, and it also has a slight incline that creates a smooth transition from tile to brick. After I patched and smoothed everything out as best as I could with my tool, I also used a damp finger to smooth out any rough edges and harsh lines.

Now that the mortar is patched, the container says that it will need to be cured at 500 degrees. The cement is sandable after that step should you choose to do it. At the moment, I haven't any idea as to how I can cure my patch work since the fireplace is still inoperable at this point. After looking up the chimney, I can see lots of soot clinging to the walls, and this will have to be cleaned out before we can even consider using the hearth as it is a huge fire hazard. The soot trap will also need to be cleaned out.

Until then, I am extremely happy with how better everything is already starting to look. I can almost imagine how great it will look once I get the inside painted with a high temperature paint rated for the fireplace.

Until then, I still have the right side of the exterior to clean, as you can see from the picture above. I'll get on it... eventually. :)

Here's what our "To Do" list is looking like for this project:

Scrub the right side of the exterior hearth
Find a way to cure the furnace cement
Inquire about a chimney sweep service
Clean the soot trap (into basement)
Paint the inner hearth
Repair, prime, and paint the hearth log holder.
Paint the "door knob" that operates the flue-- perhaps an ORB to better blend with the hardware

Slowly but surely we'll get this thing going. Until the next update, does anyone have advice on whether or not I have to wait until the cement is cured before applying paint? I don't foresee sanding being a necessity since I pretty much got everything smooth. Any help is appreciated!

Have any big projects you've completed lately? Anyone else looking forward to a warm crackling fire this winter? I can't wait to see how picturesque it will be at Christmas. We've never had a fireplace before, so this is very exciting to us!

House Crashing: Boldt Castle Yacht House (part three)

Hope you all had an amazing weekend! We took the opportunity to get a few more projects done around the house, and I can't wait to begin blogging about them to you all!

We're coming down the home stretch with our very first house crashing post, featuring Boldt Castle located in the Thousand Islands region of upstate New York. We live in the local area, so it was great to check it out when my parents came up to visit for their camping vacation.

The last two days were spent covering our boat tour, the castle and Heart Island grounds, and finally today I bring you the Boldt Castle Yacht House. This place is just as grandiose as the castle, and the architecture is stunning. Inside, the building features a collection of boats that I believe belonged to the family or have significant importance to the area. We couldn't just walk over to the yacht house, however. We had to take a ferry as it was located on another island just on the other side of the river.

Look how expansive this building is. Isn't the woodwork on the ceiling just beautiful?

I don't know if many of you are that into boats, but the place is amazing and you should check it out if you ever get the opportunity. The other amazing part about this yacht house, is that it also included a small household quarters.

Look at those beautiful hard wood pocket ceilings and the ornate board and batten. Unfortunately this stairway was closed off to the public, so I have no idea what is upstairs. I believe the upper floor is still undergoing restoration.

The yacht house also had a nice dining  area. I am also unaware if the furnishings in the yacht house remain original to the property.

A second stairway leading to the upstairs. This was also closed off. I assume this would lead to bedrooms. It looked as though things were still undergoing renovation.

This little storage area was located beneath the parlor, and I thought it was in the funniest of places. It looked as though it had some pieces that either belonged to the yacht house or the castle, and were in the process of being restored.

After touring the yacht house, we waited to catch the next boat back to Heart Island so that we could catch the ferry back to the mainland. We sure did get our fill of boating that afternoon! My feet hurt and I was starving by this point, but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Boldt Castle was truly a monument of love. It looks as though not a detail was spared. It's a shame that his wife died before work was completed. I don't believe the family ever lived on the property, as they had a summer home on Wellesley Island.

Here is a final shot of the yacht house as we made our way back across to Heart Island, and eventually home. Look how wonderful that tower must have been. I could imagine sitting up there on some wicker furniture with a lemonade and a beautiful view of Boldt Castle across the water.

I'd like to thank my parents who joined us for this amazing excursion. We had a wonderful time, and I came away so inspired by the beautiful rooms in both the castle and yacht house. Thank you, too, for coming along with us on a virtual tour. I'm sorry that I'm not exactly the best historian when it comes to this location, but they do have a website with an online tour that gives you lots of additional pictures, information, and family history of the Boldt family. If you ever find yourself in upstate New York, be sure to put Boldt Castle on your list of places to see!

House crashing has been fun, and I hope to be able to do more of it in the future. If any of you are familiar with this area or have suggestions of great places to see, please let me know! Until then, we'll be bringing it with more house projects. I've got a bunch of low-budget upgrades to feature, and it's almost time to start decorating our mantle for fall/Halloween! I can't wait to get into the spirit of the holidays! How about you?