Turning Antique Boxes into a Headboard: IT’S FINALLY FINISHED!

Dear Amy,
We’ve been talking about this for months. And yes, IT IS FINALLY FINISHED! When we first agreed back in January to take our tiny house off of the market and stay here for awhile longer, I was forced to find some creative space-saving solutions. We had just moved our bedroom from upstairs to the main floor. Although we now have an attached bathroom, which is nice (even if it is the smaller than the average closet), our bedroom is a mere 9’ x 11’. The master bedroom closet in our 1930s bungalow is VERY small. In fact, I think I have only a couple of shirts and a few pairs of pants in the closet. It is completely filled with Rit’s clothes. And she really doesn’t have that many clothes either. I dream of the day when I can actually keep my clothes in my bedroom. For now, there simply isn’t enough space.
I digress. So, I had to find a way to fit a queen-sized bed, chest of drawers, large dog bed and a nightstand in this tiny space. Add to that the fact that there are two windows, a freestanding radiator, the bedroom door, the double closet doors, and the bathroom door to contend with when arranging furniture. A nightstand seemed to take up too much space, but I’m a reader and I really want some place to put my many books I'm reading simultaneously, a clock, a lamp, the baby monitors, the phone, etc. Hmmm…dilemma.
Then I came up with an idea. I have long collected “stuff"…old stuff that most people would term garbage. Not “vintage” stuff, but really old stuff from people’s garages, basements and barns. And we do have a lot of barns out here in Wisconsin. I think I got my collecting gene from mom. I remember the first time she came to visit me here. She was like a kid in a candy store…looking around wide-eyed and gasping at my many finds. Yep, it’s in the blood.
I have a rather large collection of old wood boxes…beverage boxes, fruit and potato boxes, etc. I pictured a type of shelving mounted on the wall above the bed. My vision was awesome, but how to make it into reality. I assigned Rit, the family problem solver, to figure out how to firmly mount the boxes to the wall. The last thing I wanted was to be knocked unconscious by a falling box while sleeping. She came up with a great idea involving mounting strips used for closets. Two mounting strips, with a 150-pound weight limit each, are anchored into the wall and the other two are mounted along the bottoms of the boxes. We cleaned up and disinfected the boxes. And magic!

Yes, the cords are an issue. We’re working on that. And things still need to find their place, but I love the look of it. It’s EXACTLY what I wanted! and it has freed up so much floor space!
Next on the list: I just ordered matching chests of drawers. Cheap, but useable. They will replace the one chest of drawers we have. They will fit flush with each other along the short wall by the door, hopefully appearing as one piece of furniture. I’m hoping that the streamlined look of the chests won’t overwhelm the small room. That should give us the extra clothes storage we’ll need.
I’ll keep you posted! Beautiful day today! The bike trailer arrived Friday and I’m in love. We went on a ride this weekend and I swooned the entire time.
Have a great day!
Love, Kate

Metamorphosis Monday

Tutorial: Jean top Skirt

Kate,
I finally finished a little skirt for E. She loves it. It twirls a little and she has a hard time standing still when she wears it. She loves to twirl! I took some jeans of hers that were a bit short and had a hole in the knee and this is how I reused them. I used the basics from this website.
It was very easy and turned out cute. I did let her pick the fabric, so it is very E.

First cut off jean top just below the zipper...make sure you leave enough room for a seam. I did cut off part of the back pockets, but I pulled up the inside of the front pockets so those weren't affected.
Then I cut the length of the fabric I wanted for the first tier...make sure it is at least twice as long as the jean width so you have enough to gather. I then gathered and attached it.


Continue to do that for the next layers making sure you increase the width of fabric for each tier so it is at least twice that of the previous layer. I then hemmed the bottom and top stitched each layer... that's it!



Very simple and fun for summer.
Enjoy your day!
Amy

Tutorial Review: Toddler Sleeping Bag

Dear Amy,

Happy April! It’s getting warmer here,but not quite warm enough. So, we spent Tuesday night at a nearby resort with a huge indoor water park…a little spring break vacation to get us ready for upcoming summer trips. We only stayed one  night, but we had a wonderful time. The boys loved it. The water park was a huge hit. Eric, age 1, was fearless and his 2-year-old brother, D, was much less so.

This was a bit of a test run for our big road trip to Utah this summer. I’m so excited! Last year, we were somewhat nervous to make the drive as brand new parents with an infant and a one-year-old. But the sheer volume of necessary baby gear was far more overwhelming than the actual drive. We had such a fun time! I’m looking forward to the trip this summer even more. The boys are a little older now and I can only imagine that travel with a two-year-old and a very alert one-year-old will be much more…um…exciting.

I’ve started to get a few things ready for our road trip. I’m nothing if not a super planner. I found a great tutorial for a toddler sleeping bag on Ruffles and Stuff. I got the basic idea from Disney on her blog, but I tweaked the concept quite a bit.

I used a shower curtain from IKEA for the exterior fabric and a soft flannel I already had for the interior. I used four layers of batting as she suggested. I measured D and determined finished dimensions of 50” wide (when laid flat) and 39” long for the sleeping bag. I wanted it to be big enough for him to move around, but not big enough for him to get lost in.

As you can see, I did use a zipper. I found a 34” parka zipper at Joann’s on sale for $1.49. Joann’s has an awesome variety of zippers. They even have 100” sleeping bag zippers. I had never seen those before. You could easily use one of those to go down the side and around the bottom and simply cut it and sew across it a few times as a stopper. I went with the parka zipper and used it down one side. I sewed the bottom shut.

I left about five inches from the top of the zipper and the top of the sleeping bag so that I could easily pull it back and so that he would have more air when he buries his head. He tends to snuggle down when he sleeps. So sweet.

Anyway, I basically finished the top with a binding, like you would for a quilt, but I machine-sewed it. After a washing, the sleeping bag really fluffed up.

Our overnighter at the resort was a good test drive for D and his new sleeping bag. He was so excited to try it out. He slept soundly and long. I’m ecstatic. Not having to lug two portable cribs into every hotel seemed a distant dream…

NO. LONGER.

Yeah! Eric’s is almost finished. He’s much more mobile and quite a bit sassier than D. I’m not sure a sleeping bag will work for him. He may not stay put. But, it is almost finished and we’ll give it a test run here at home. Wish me luck!

What do you think, Internet…where do your toddlers sleep on road trips?

Love, Kate

Tutorial: Appliqué that Stained Shirt!

Dear Amy,
I LOVE the seedlings you’ve started. It makes me realize how close summer is and how I need to get a jumpstart on our garden this year. I’ve bought some books to help us plan better, utilize our garden bounty more efficiently and use our garden space more effectively. I’m so excited! The first signs of spring make me so happy!
Here’s one more idea for how to reuse kids’ stained clothing. D received a hand-me-down shirt from a friend. The shirt was still in good condition except for some staining front and center and I loved the burnt orange color. So, I set to work trying to figure out a way to keep the shirt while covering the stain.
I had some scraps of knit fabric lying around from a skirt project (Re-using old t-shirts…I’ll tell you about that later.) I decided on a number 2 appliqué because of D’s impending 2nd birthday.I picked two colors from my scraps, a dark brown and a pale blue, and cut out a number 2 freehand from each color. I made the 2 from the darker color slightly smaller for a layered look.
If cutting your design freehand makes you nervous, I recommend finding a font or picture you like on your computer, adjusting the size and printing it out to use as a template.

I centered the larger 2 on the shirt and pinned it in place. I quickly sewed it on, careful to sew through only the front side of the shirt. I centered the smaller 2 over the larger one and pinned and sewed it in place. Knit fabric doesn’t unravel, so I left the edges unfinished so they they would curl when washed.

As you can see, I wasn’t super precise, but I love the outcome. And D loves his 2 shirt. The entire project took about 20 minutes.
What do you think?
Love, Kate

Tutorial: How to Alter & Use Stained Onesies

Dear Amy,
As you know, our two boys arrived very suddenly last spring. They were five months and 17 months old at the time…just babies.

When we made the decision to take the boys and commit to making it work, we were instantly thrown into a whirlwind of preparation. We didn’t have the usual nine months to prepare for their arrival…we had a few days.



We didn’t have a room set up. We didn’t have cribs or car seats or strollers or clothes or toys. We didn’t have anything. Fortunately, generous friends and family rallied to provide us with hand-me-downs from their children. We very quickly accumulated everything we needed to welcome our little ones.

Some of the clothing we received had been worn by more than one child already, and although still in good shape, some of the shirts were showing some staining. But I hated to get rid of things simply because of a little staining or discoloration. So I got creative.

 

I looked around for some sort of solution for discolored onesies. Enter an ingenious little product I picked up at Hobby Lobby, my home away from home. For a few bucks a bottle, you can find tie-dye in little spray bottles. It comes in a handful of colors and is super easy to use.

This time, the basement worked fine for this project. Next time, I hope to do this type of project outside during warmer weather! I placed a large piece of cardboard down to protect the surface underneath. Then I spread out the onesies and started spraying. I combined orange and red on some and blue and turquoise on others. I focused on the part of the onesies that would be seen—mainly the neck and arms. Part of the fun of this project is not worrying about the color being uniform, just go crazy and spray with abandon!



I sprayed several at once and then flipped them over and sprayed the back. Once they were finished, I placed an old towel on my drying rack and then placed the onesies on that to dry. Once air dry, I heat sealed the color in the dryer. The directions for the dye are on the packaging.


Such an easy solution and so inexpensive. This was a life-saver during the winter months as the boys could continue to wear their short-sleeved shirts all winter layered with a long-sleeved onesie.

Love,
Kate