Hmmm…

Does anyone know what WordPress means when it says: “Unable to create directory…  Is its parent directory writable by the server?” All I know is that it means I can’t upload photos which means that it is impossible to really show/tell you guys anything. Hopefully it will all be sorted out soon. In the meantime, how was everyone else’s weekend? I’m working hard to compile all my tax receipts. See, there is definitely a reason that I need to be able to show pictures! Just know that I had a fun filled, productive, home improvement weekend and I can’t wait to share the progress with you guys!

xoxo,

Jamie Lee

Best.Find.Ever.

Last night we drove to Lockhart, Texas and back all because of a little ad on Craigslist. It started when I got bored at work and read this article about a mom and daughter design team. The two were talking about decorating the daughter’s first apartment and how so many pieces were found at thrift stores and then fixed up. I asked myself, ‘Why don’t I ever find anything on Craigslist?’ (Yes, I’m weird like that.) And I decided that the answer was that I don’t frequent thrift stores and Craigslist enough. So, I turned on some happy music and started flipping through the tens of pages of furniture that was posted today. And that’s when I saw this fainting couch for only $30. At first I dismissed it thinking, “Oh, we don’t really need that,” but I sent the picture to Peter anyway. Then I decided to email her, just in case but my email turned into telling her that we wanted it. Then I realized that she left a phone number and probably wanted us to call, so I called Peter and asked him to call her–I was at work after-all. Time ticked by and I hadn’t heard anything from him. I started searching for other fainting couches and the prices were popping up at $600, $1000, $3000. After a slight panic attack, I realized that I was already attached. Peter had no luck calling, but the moment we stepped off the elevator to get into the car, I made contact! After driving awhile into a somewhat dreadful neighborhood we found it. The girl was so sweet and even helped us load it into the car. To be clear we drove for about an hour like this, except imagine the rope slightly more secured.

But when we got it home, we decided it was definitely worth the $30. (Yes, sorry we’re normal people and our house is a bit of a mess.) Let me shut up for a second so that you can get the full effect.

Of course the dogs checked it out for us to make sure that it was OK.

The last picture gives you an idea of just how ugly the fabric really is. It has some slight wear. Plus, let’s be honest, it was never an attractive fabric to begin with.  Luckily, I was able to look at the ad and see past the ugly fabric and see potential in the great legs and beautiful tufts. I honestly don’t think I would have done that a year ago when I wasn’t so home blog obsessed. The best quote of the night was when Peter and I were driving home trying to maneuver that car around (very safely, of course Mom!!) and he said to me, “It’s never a dull moment with you, is it?”

$30 later a brand new project is born. I’ve never upholstered anything before, but I have some ideas.  This may be a tough project to start with but I have a few books on upholstering things upstairs and I feel like we did so well with the price that even if I mess up a couple of times, it’ll be alright. Maybe I should recover the little cushion on our dining room chairs just to build some confidence. What do you guys think? Is this the totally amazing find that I think it is or should we have passed it up? And for those of you who actually have upholstered something before, do you have any advice? I’m all ears right now.

Best $3 Ever Spent

This is about to get really personal: somehow both Peter and I have a knack for tearing holes in jeans. I don’t know how each of us does it, but it happens. The  worst part is that the last time I ripped a pair of jeans, I had no idea it happened until I was digging in the laundry to put them on again. Now I have images of myself walking through my office with all my co-workers whispering behind my back…. Hopefully the washing machine is at fault. Anyway, while out and about on one of my Target excursions I happened upon these:

Iron on patches seemed much easier to use than having to sew patches myself, especially since I’m still so new to my sewing machine .

I had these with the mystery tear.

And a pair that tore a long time ago. (This tear was too massive to not notice when it happened.)

I’m happy to say that the process was quite simple and it worked like a charm. Basically you just turn the clothing inside out and arrange the hole so that the ends of the fabric meet. Press it throughly with a warm iron, taking extra care to press the edges down well.

I think they turned out really well. I was worried about wearing them to work because I was afraid that the patch would fall off and I’d be stuck all day trying to hide my bottom, but everything has worked out OK. I will say that the patch on my Rock & Republics is starting to come off around the edges on the inside os the jeans, but I also had to piece together three separate patches to cover the giant hole. Overall, it has stretched the life of my jeans which is definitely worth the $3 that I spent.

What inexpensive things have you found to facilitate your life?

Heart of Hearts

Around Valentine’s Day I fell in love with these hearts from the Etsy seller Sarah and Bendrix, but I couldn’t bare to pay the $76 (item plus shipping cost to the United States) that she was asking.

{via}

So, I went to the craft store and bought a heart shaped paper punch and some thick red, gray, and cream card stock.

Luckily, just about everything I bought was on sale. Don’t you just love that about craft stores?!

When I came home I started punching little red hearts. My heart punch is different than the one used by Sarah and Bendrix. Mine has a more defined point, but I like that about it. I also love that it lets you see what you’re punching before you do it.

Fold several of the hearts in half, positioning them in straight lines on the paper. Leave space for one (or more) different colored hearts and a few that have not been folded.

admi

I spaced the hearts further apart then they were in the original piece, but this choice is just personal preference. I carefully glued the hearts into place, making sure that the lines seemed organized. In my opinion the concept is interesting because it is a balance of order (the rows of hearts) and disorder (the apparently random nature of the folds). If both aspects were disorganized, then it would probably look like a giant mess.

Here’s the end result leaning against a wall:

We assembled ours using Yes Paste and an IKEA 9×9 Ribba (Shadow Bow). The total expense was less than $20 and now that we own a heart punch I could make a second one for the price of the frame plus an extra $0.50 for the card stock. For the next one I may try putting the hearts closer together and using a larger frame that would allow a border the size a a photo mat. Thoughts?

Meg over at House Notes is currently having an Anthropologie Inspired Craft Off. I didn’t manage to participate on this round, but head over to her blog to see some pretty amazing stuff.

IKEA Curtains

True story: When Peter and I first moved in together one of the first things we did was hang the curtains that I brought with me. I hated the curtains to begin with (they had some weird print on them) but Peter was so thrilled to have them because the space looked “homier.” I wish I had a picture of this. Anyway, the curtains were WAYYY too long for the windows, but Peter was so excited that we decided that we would leave them until we had time to hem them. Fast-forward a couple of nights. I woke up to go to the bathroom, my foot got caught on the huge pool of curtains that were laying on the ground, I tripped and pulled the half the curtain rod out of the wall. Peter woke up and immediately asked if I was OK. In the morning he had absolutely no recollection of this happening and wondered why the curtain rod was hanging from the wall.

It was a discouraging moment. We took the rod down and pretended that it never happened. Instead we focused our decorating efforts on the living room. But when Peter bought me my Mongstad, it was painfully obvious that we needed curtains.

(Do you see all those white spots? Those were from the previous owner and then from my aforementioned experience.)

We wanted something that felt airy but could still block out some light if we wanted to sleep in. The first curtains that I found were made of a beautiful white piqued fabric but as Peter quickly pointed out, they wouldn’t block out any sunlight. Then he came up with the brilliant idea to layer a thicker white fabric with my pretty light one. For less than $30 we were out of the store and on our way home.

IKEA’s curtains are great because they come with that special iron on hem. I’m interested in learning to sew but sometimes it’s just nice to do things the simple way. All we had to do was pin each curtain to the desired length.

Then iron an even crease. In my opinion this helps avoid ironing in the hem and then figuring out that you folded the curtain kattywompus. Lay the ironing tape toward the base of the crease, fold the fabric back over, and iron.

After you’ve finished ironing, trim the excess fabric above the crease.

Peter and I then hung both curtains together by alternating loops as we put them on the curtain rod.

Here’s the much more refined after. Yes, I realize that we need to find some matching paint and paint over the little white spots.

(It is easiest to see the pique if you look toward the bottom of the photo.)

I think the curtains add a bit of textural interest and without a doubt make the room look homier. What do you think? Do you like the white or would you have gone airier?