This Little Light of Mine

August Blues - Alphabet Lamp from Joss & Main

We have been slowly working on making the boys' rooms more reflective of their distinct personalities. For our oldest's room, I found inspiration in this lamp...

Source

He has always loved all things to do with letters, numbers, and books. I try to keep his room calm and uncomplicated, but I thought something like this would bring a little of his personality into the room.

So, today I thought I would share a REALLY complicated project, so pay close attention ;)

Step 1: Gather your materials. My lamp was on clearance at Target forever ago. The shade was a Christmas shade from Lowes - I just removed the sparkly green and red ribbon trim (it was half the price of a plain shade!). I also used scrapbooking alphabet stickers, a wide Sharpie, Mod Podge, and a foam brush. Can you see where this is going?

August Blues - Materials

Step 2: Add your trim color to the shade. I just used a black Sharpie because I was tired of looking for plain black Washi tape. The Sharpie works fine if you keep it on the trim - it tends to bleed a little on the fabric, so I wouldn't use it on the main shade fabric. And, obviously, use whatever color coordinates with your stickers.

August Blues - Sharpie Trim

Step 3: Put stickers on the shade. Do it however you want! I started with his name, and then filled the rest of the shade with random letters. IDHTBPTBB!

August Blues - Alphabet Stickers

Aren't those stickers great?

August Blues - Finished Lamp

Step 4: Brush on a thin layer of Mod Podge. I just wanted to make sure the stickers stayed stuck.

Step 5: Put the shade back on the lamp and you are done!

And here is how it looks in his room...

August Blues - Alphabet Lamp

Just a little something that is just for him. And here is is brother's version...

August Blues - Sticker Lamp

He got tired of waiting for me to do his, so he did it himself! He had picked race car stickers, so he created a racing scene on his lamp. His stickers were more stiff than the alphabet ones, to it was a little harder to get them to lie flat on the curved shade. But a little extra Mod Podge helped. And now it's all his!

So, did I stress you out with all those tricky instructions? Happy crafting!

Sherri

Favorite Finds

Today was an "odds 'n ends" day - do you ever have those? For me, it's a day to catch up, get the little stuff done so I can clear head space for the other stuff. So, this is a bit of an "odds 'n ends" post, just a few of my favorite finds of the last few months... This stool!!! It will forever be a reminder of Trinidad, Colorado, one of our favorite stops when we travel in the summer. The town has a rugged beauty to it and lots of interesting architecture that is a reminder of what the town once was. The stool also a reminder of the summer our youngest broke his arm :(  I only got the stool because we went back home in a hurry and "happened" to go back through Trinidad, so I had a second chance to pick up this stool.

August Blues - Vintage Stool

The tag said it was from 1945. I just love the color, the patina, and the vintage industrial look (and the fact that reproductions are selling for way more than I paid for this!).

August Blues - Vintage Stool

These porch balusters were a great find at Homestead Antiques in Hico, Texas. I was happy to get the last two! Hico is another little town with history, and this store is really a feast for the eyes. Even our youngest enjoyed wandering around with me :)

August Blues - Porch Baluster

They are quite fragile, so I have hung them on the wall for now. I love the naturally aged, chippy paint and the curvy shape. Hard to find this kind of wall art at your typical big box store!

August Blues - Porh Baluster

An authentic, actually used buoy! I love this piece! I found it at  Elements in Marble Falls, Texas towards the back of the store in a basket under a table (it pays to look everywhere!) The basket was actually full of them, so choosing "the one" was difficult; with a bigger budget I definitely would have picked up more than one. It will be perfect for our summer mantle in the family room.

August Blues - Vintage Buoy

I love all the colors, now permanent record of its working days. And you can still make out an identification number on the strapping.

August Blues - Vintage Buoy

The best thing about these things (and they are just "things"), is that they remind me of special family times - all of them were purchased during family vacations, times when we get away just to be family. We sit in the car together (because we are a road-trip family), see new places together, enjoy (mostly) someone else's cooking together, juggle all our travel paraphernalia together, and just be together. And those memories are what's worth hanging on to!

So, how do you remember special times?

Sherri

“Don’t store treasures for yourselves here on earth where moths and rust will destroy them and thieves can break in and steal them. But store your treasures in heaven where they cannot be destroyed by moths or rust and where thieves cannot break in and steal them. Your heart will be where your treasure is." Matt. 6:19

Breakfast Bar Transformation

Since my next slipcover project is not ready to post yet, I thought I would share a project that we completed a couple of months ago. It is changing how our kitchen/family room looks and functions, and aren't those the best kind of projects? Our kitchen has a sort-of pass through from the counter with the sink to the family room. It keeps the space open, while concealing the clean-up zone by the sink. But it always felt like it should be more of a breakfast bar, than just a pass through. I don't have a good before picture, so this was taken mid-demolition :) There was just a 6" wide board across the bottom of the pass-through, with casing trim underneath.

August Blues - Breakfast Bar Before

Fortunately, the board and trim came off easily! We added mdf beadboard paneling underneath (to match the beadboard in our hallway/command center), unfinished wood brackets to fit the new countertop, trimmed it all out, and painted it in our trim color. But, the best part is the new top we put in!

August Blues - Breakfast Bar After

Much better! I knew I wanted a chunky, dark-stained wood countertop to go with the dark wood tones of the kitchen floor, and to add a touch of the rustic. We looked around at the home store and found this: a thick 10" wide pine plank with minimal knots and rounded corners. I think maybe it's a joist? Anyway, it was perfect for what I had in mind. The plank was 8', so we had them cut it down to 5' to fit our opening (and that left a piece perfect for testing out a variety of finishing options).

August Blues - Breakfast Bar Countertop

To finish the top, I started by distressing it - great fun with a hammer, screwdriver, putty knife and other tools! Then I sanded it down in preparation for staining.  Since the wood was pine, I started with wood conditioner to make sure the stain went on evenly, and then added the color with 2 coats of Minwax Polyshades in Mission Oak Satin (Polyshades has the stain and polyurethane in one - perfect!). When it had dried adequately, we fastened it to the half wall with Liquid Nails and a large screw at each end. We finished the seams with a bead of clear waterproof silicon. The brackets underneath are mostly decorative :)

August Blues - Breakfast Bar Brackets

The last part of the project was a new faucet!!!

August Blues - New Faucet

This new faucet (from American Standard) works SOOO much better than the builder-grade one that came with the house and I think it is helping us use less water - good looking and efficient :) (And the old sprayer will be replaced with a soap dispenser, eventually.)

One more look at the finished project...

August Blues - Breakfast Bar After

Now, our barstools (with slipcovers!) have a home, the counter is wide enough for the boys to have snacks or meals there. And, as a bonus, it also works great as a standing desk for my laptop.

Have you made any changes to your house to make it more functional and/or more "you"?

Sherri

A Little Valentine's Loveliness

August Blues - Valentine's Mantle

My boys got quite excited when I did a little Valentine's Day decorating last year, so it was time to break out the hearts again ♥

Do you decorate for Valentine's Day? I found it challenging to decorate in the spirit of the season, without overriding my usual sense to keep things simple.

August Blues - Red Pillow

I started by adding a couple of red pillows to my pillow mix. I think Valentine's can be joyful, too, don't  you?

August Blues - Valentine's Mantle up close

Then I went to work on the mantle. I started with my frame and LOVE banner. I made the frame from 2x2s, mitered at the corners and fastened with L-brackets on the back. A little paint and distressing and it's ready to go! For the banner, I cut dropcloth into triangles with pinking shears, painted the letters with stencils, and sewed the triangles onto kitchen twine. I  added some favorite family pictures, a wire "R" that I purchased years ago, and some floral art. The tealights are nested in cinnamon hearts - for just enough sweetness and color ;)

August Blues -- Wedding Picture

Any guesses what year that picture was taken? Yes, it was a little while ago :)  It's one of my favorite pictures from that day.

August Blues - Heart

Do you have any special decorations or traditions for Valentine's Day?

Have a lovely day!

Sherri

"Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." 1 John 3:18

Scrapbooking Supplies and Organization

August Blues - Command Center

So, you can probably tell that this will not be a slipcover post as I promised :(  . I was waiting for a new presser foot for my sewing machine to arrive in the mail, so I could finish the slipcover I am currently working on; it just arrived yesterday, so hopefully the finished slipcover will be ready for my next post?

I wanted to share a little project I finished this week while I waited for the part to arrive. A few months ago, we created a family command center/mudroom in the central hallway of our main floor. This hallway connects our family room, kitchen, Master bedroom, and utility room/garage entrance. It’s a high-traffic area! Sometime I’ll give you all the details of the project, but for today I’ll just show you the finishing touch.

August Blues - Labels

Labels make everything easier… well, in theory anyway :)

When I first planned the project, I was hoping I could eventually put labels on the hooks to help the boys keep their things organized (and therefore, be more independent). I finally went looking for label holders online and was a little discouraged by how expensive many of them were. And the space where they needed to fit was not very big. And, they had to be the right color, since they were going to be so close to the hooks we already had.

August Blues - Scrapbook Label Holders

Eventually, I found the perfect solution! Well, I realized it was the perfect solution when they arrived and I went to install them. These label holders are scrapbooking supplies! Now, I am not a scrapbooker, so I would have never thought to look in that section of the store. But, these are a reasonable price (since I needed 9 of them - there are 5 in a package), the perfect size and color, and they are self-adhesive – doesn’t get any better than that! I found these here, but I suspect that Hobby Lobby or Michael’s or other such stores would have them, too. A few of the label holders were a little bent from shipping, so I straightened them out and used a little hot glue to make sure they stayed stuck on the board. Then I just added my own labels made with my label-maker.

August Blues - Jacket Organization

Now the boys know exactly where all their things go and that makes this Mama very happy!

Have you found any new organizing tricks or tools lately?

Sherri

Miss Mustard Seed Inspiration

If you have not encountered Miss Mustard Seed in your wanderings around the web, or when browsing home/diy magazines, you have been missing out! I first found her when I began to search the web for others who were doing custom slipcovers. I found her blog post about slipcovering a wing chair with dropcloth and I was hooked :) Then, even before I ventured into this crazy, wonderful business, she generously featured my own slipcovered wing chair on one of her Furniture Feature Friday posts. We share a love of blue and white, recycled furniture, and family-friendly budget-wise home decorating. Have you read her new book, Inspired You? Very inspiring :)

It has been fun to watch her business grow and change in the last couple of years. When she announced she was developing a line of milk paint (with a Canadian company, no less!), I couldn’t wait to try it. I had the perfect piece in mind…

August Blues - before MMS Milk Paint

I found this little cupboard/side table on Craigslist. It has been the perfect piece for this spot next to the fireplace (and it handily stores my stack of “to read” magazines). Structurally it was in good shape, but you can see that the finish was definitely showing its age and not in a good way. I had a difficult time choosing what color to use - our family room mostly has shades of cream, sand, and blue (with some black courtesy of our tv and console), so a number of her beautiful shades would have worked. In the end I decided to go with Typewriter…

Auguust Blues - MMS Typewriter

I love the way it turned out! The color is the perfect counterpoint to the black technology stuff on the other wall, but it somehow soft enough to not be stark.

If you haven’t tried milk paint before, Miss Mustard Seed’s video tutorials are very helpful. Since this was a small piece, I just ordered a sample size of paint. Then I was concerned I wouldn’t have enough, so I think I added too much water; it ended up being more of a “wash” than a solid covering of paint. I was hoping for some of the natural chipping that the paint is famous for, so I didn’t add any bonding agent. But, no flaking happened! I think I did 3 thin coats, distressed it (it distresses like a dream!), and finished it with her furniture wax. And, I think it looks perfect without the chipping :)

August Blues - drawer close-up

I replaced the knobs with some that I found at Hobby Lobby. They are not traditional, but the metal tones complemented the wood tones that peak through and the maps pay homage to my husband’s love of all things geographic. And, in a happy “accident” the green in the knobs picks up the green of the lamp that sits on the table.

August Blues - door close-up

So, would I use milk paint again? Yes! In fact, I have a table in the works… and it is more than making up for the lack of chipping on this project. I am still deciding how to finish it – I’ll be sure to let you know when it’s ready to show :)

Have a great week!

Sherri

P.S. Slipcover post coming next :)