cyndi | Beneath My Heart

Burlap Bird Pillow

July 19, 2010 AT 12:19 am 25 Comments

July 19, 2010 By cyndi 25 Comments

Well, I was inspired so much by the bird pillows that Suzanne from Just Another Hang Up made that I decided to try and make one for myself.

Now don’t go a thinkin’ that my pillow will look anything like hers, ’cause it won’t! I just wanted to make a pillow with a bird on it..that’s it folks! No fancy ruffles. :)

Since we stained our patio concrete floor brown to look like tile, I decided to use some leftover brown burlap material to make my pillow.

I followed Suzanne’s instructions and found a picture of a bird online. I found it by googling “bird silhouette” to see what would come up. When I found a bird that I liked, I printed it out on my computer.

Then I placed a cutting board underneath the paper, and cut out the shape of the bird with my exacto knife.

I cut two 14.5 x 14.5 inch pieces of burlap for my 14 x 14 pillow. The extra half inch on each side allows for the seam.

Next, I centered the bird cutout in the middle of the burlap.

Then I used some white acrylic paint I had and a sponge brush to paint the bird on the material.

brown burlap bird pillow

I wasn’t sure I was liking my bird, but I put the pillow together anyway.

I sewed the right sides together, leaving a big enough space in the seam to slide the pillow form in, then I sewed up the opening.

To be honest, I wasn’t real crazy about the way it turned out.

But she’s kind of growing on me! :)

The more I see the pillow outside on the patio, the more I kind of like her.

So I think I am going to keep her for now!

I found some pillows for my patio table and chairs at Target and Garden Ridge today that I think I like. I was hoping to have my patio finished already, but it is taking me fo-eva since I am now working full time this summer.

But I am getting close!

I am definitely going to visit Kimba’s DIY Day this week! She is hosting a special DIY Day–Outdoor Edition!

If you have an outdoor project that you have completed this summer, like a front porch or a back patio, then link up and join the fun!

I will be checking out all the great ideas!

Have a blessed day.
Linking to…

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Wednesdays with Wanda

July 7, 2010 AT 8:27 am Leave a Comment

July 7, 2010 By cyndi Leave a Comment

Today is a very special Wednesdays with Wanda post.

It is special because it is written by my sister, Cyndi.

Each week I share with you how much Mom’s life and death has influenced me. But she didn’t just change my life by the way she lived, my whole family has been touched by her amazing faith and love.

My sister, Cyndi, adored Mom. They too were best friends. Cyndi is so much like Mom, especially in her love for Christ. Cyndi is the oldest sibling (though she definitely doesn’t look like it!) and has take on the role of the leader of our family. She has watched over my brother and I so many times in our lives, and Mom’s passing was no exception. She was the “rock” of our family during that difficult time…helping us tie up loose ends, selling Mom and Dad’s house, providing a place for Dad to live, planning and hosting family gatherings, and on and on….

She has even stepped in to help me with my boys. She has helped watch them for me, and she spoils them rotten just like Mom always did!

I cannot tell you how much I love her!!!

The post she has written today is beautiful, and I know you will enjoy it…

*********************************

Today as I was thinking of writing about Mom, I had some things shared with me about people I know who are going through difficult times in their lives right now.

I know where they are and how hard life can be, but in the midst of those trials……….. God will show up.

Traci and I have shared many times about how Mom faced death with such a peace and she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt she was going to be with Jesus.

I can’t begin to tell you how comforting that was and still is for us. As painful as losing Mom was, knowing she had a “peace that passes all understanding” has helped all of us.

We still marvel sometimes at how she handled the news of having stage IV gastric cancer. She never panicked, she hardly shed a tear. Mom knew she was in God’s hands and He would see her through.

This was Mom’s secret; she didn’t just wait until her life on earth was almost over to know Christ. She spent her whole life getting to know Christ.

She didn’t just go to Christ in the difficult days; she went to Him every day.

Mom had a consistent dose of God’s word. She read it, she studied it, and she lived it.

Mom knew to live victoriously she had to live out Phil 3:10….. “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.”

I tell you all this to say, I know that life is not always easy. Many of you reading this may be going through some difficult trials. Look for Jesus…..find the blessings……. He will show up!

I wanted to share this poem with you because it reminds me of Mom. I can just hear her reading it.

I never made a fortune
It’s probably too late now
Oh but I don’t worry about that much
Cause I’m happy anyhow
As I go along life’s journey
I’m reaping better than I sow
I’m drinking from my saucer
Cause my cup has overflowed
Haven’t got a lot of riches
Some times the goings rough
But I’ve got a friend in Jesus
And that makes me rich enough
I thank God for all his Blessings on me
And the mercy that he’s bestowed
I’m drinking from my saucer
Cause my cup has overflowed

Oh sure, I’ve been through some storms
And yes, I’m sure there were times when
my faith must have got a little thin
But you know what it seem like
One day all at once those dark clouds broke
And that old sun she started shining again

So Lord help me not to grumble and complain
About the tough roads I have told
I’m drinking from my saucer
Cause my cup has overflowed

And if I should go on living
If the way gets deep and rough
I won’t ask for other blessings
Because I’m already blessed enough
May I never be too busy
To help another bare his load
And I’ll keep drinking from my saucer Lord
Cause my cup has overflowed
Yes I’ll keep drinking from my saucer Lord
Cause my cup has overflowed

Praying you see Christ today,

Cyndi

You can visit Cyndi here…

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Wednesday with Wanda

May 26, 2010 AT 4:22 pm 23 Comments

May 26, 2010 By cyndi 23 Comments

Hello, ladies.

I apologize for being late with my Wednesday with Wanda post today, but both my computer and laptop were not working last night or this morning.

I called my internet provider, and we finally got things figured out! :) Whew!

Today I wanted to share with you a post I wrote about my mom on another blog in January. I was trying to win a ticket to the Blissdom conference and many of you stopped by that blog to vote for me. Thank you!

It was a HUGE blessing in my life.

But I feel there are many of you who didn’t have the chance to read it, so I wanted to share it with you too. :)

Here it is…

Count Your Blessings

Sometimes we think that our greatest influence on others will come in the way we live our lives. But for me, the greatest influence I have ever had on my life was in the way that someone died.

That someone was my mom.

In August of 2009, my mom was diagnosed with Stage IV gastric cancer. It was the most difficult situation I had ever faced in my life. I wanted to be angry with God. How could He do this to my mom and my family?

Mom told me that she didn’t understand why God was allowing this cancer into her life, but she trusted Him. She said that despite our circumstances, we needed to be looking for the blessings God had in store for us.

So that’s what we did.

For the seven short weeks that Mom lived after her diagnosis, we counted our blessings every day.

I remember a time when Mom was lying in her bed. Her legs were swollen 3 times their normal size. She was unable to sit up or stand on her own. She had lost over 20 pounds and could barely eat. The cancer was winning the battle. She looked at me and said, “I feel so blessed.” I said, “Mom, you are lying there with cancer throughout your whole body, how can you say that?” Her response? “Well, I could be writhing in pain, and I’m not. Some people with cancer are in a lot more pain. So I am thankful that I’m not.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. She felt blessed? Mom continually found blessings through the most difficult days of her life.

(Dad’s birthday, Sept. 4th, 18 days before Mom passed away.)

If the sun was shining on the way to a doctor’s appointment, Mom would look at us with a smile and say, “Blessings!”

If someone brought us food to eat that evening, Mom would smile and say, “Blessings!”

When money was given to help with medical bills, Mom would say, “Blessings!”

If she could taste her food better that day or maybe eat more than usual, she would say, “Blessings!”

There wasn’t an hour of the day that went by that I didn’t hear my mom say, “Blessings!”

Do you know what it feels like to be covered in God’s blessings all day long? I do.

The fact is…we are all covered in God’s blessings everyday of our lives. Oftentimes, we simply do not take the time to recognize them.

It took Mom’s illness for me to realize it.

She told me one day in the kitchen that she had lived her whole life trying to teach us kids how to live for Christ, and now it was her time to teach us how to die for Christ.

Mom’s example in dying changed my life forever!

Now I try to live each day to the fullest by counting the simple blessings that God has given me.

When I am standing in a long line at the grocery store….

I thank God for the legs on which I have to stand.

When I am overwhelmed by loads of laundry….

I thank God for a house full of loved ones who wear those clothes.

When I am frustrated when I don’t get what I want…

I thank God that I have all that I need.

And when the overwhelming pain of missing my mother wells up inside of me…

I thank God for the promise that I will see her again.

What a blessing!

God bless you all!

Traci

Linking to Encouraging Words Wednesdays at Walking in His Grace.

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Before and After pictures of my master bedroom.

April 26, 2010 AT 11:24 pm 78 Comments

April 26, 2010 By cyndi 78 Comments

You have to see this to believe it!

My master bedroom has undergone a major transformation.

When looking at my bedroom on the Parade of Homes yesterday, I was feeling a little insecure that maybe it didn’t look as good as I had hoped.

But when I looked back at the “before” pictures of my room, I cannot believe how far it has come.

I love my new bedroom. It truly feels like a master retreat when I walk in the room.

Here’s the recap of where I began:

I had a cherry bedroom suite that I sold on Craigslist for $700.00. One of my kids puked on my comforter (seriously), and I had to throw it away, so I didn’t even have a complete bedding set. I really hadn’t done much to decorate the room except throw some pictures up on the wall.

Here is my awful “before”…

And here is the “after”

I did not change the wall color or the window treatments. Those two things can cause a lot of stress. :) I knew I wanted the walls to be neutral, and I liked the way the curtains matched the color of my fireplace.

I think the wall color is called Navajo White by Porter Paints. We painted it five years ago, so I’m not real sure.

The curtains I got at Homegoods a couple of years ago for $8.00 a window. It was only $16.00 for all four panels! You can’t beat that price.

See how much space the king sleigh bed took up? I had it up against that wall because it was the only place it would fit. I tried moving the bed in front of the window one time, but it looked horrible. When you walked into the room, all you could see was that HUGE footboard. So the bed remained on this wall…

When I tried the four poster bed in front of the window…I loved it! The bed was my mom and dad’s bed, so I didn’t have to purchase a new bed which helped a lot with my makeover budget. And it’s a king bed, so we were able to use our same box spring and mattress.

One of the things I didn’t like about the layout of our old bedroom was that you saw our tv as soon as you walked into our room. So one of my goals for my makeover was to find a piece of furniture to hide our tv in.

Now our tv hides in this black armoire that I got at a habitat store for 40 bucks.

It was missing the back, so my husband added one.

He also built some shelves inside to add more storage, so the total project cost us about $90.00.

We removed the ugly ceiling fan from the middle of the room.

The fireplace was the hardest thing to accessorize, and I am still not crazy about it. All of the items on the mantle were things I already had.

The picture of the boys was a 16×20 wall canvas that I won last year in a giveaway at Reluctant Entertainer! It has been in our foyer for a long time, but I decided to frame it and put it on my mantle.

Believe it or not, I already had this frame that I wasn’t using and it was a perfect fit! The frame was gold, so I painted it black and wiped off the edges with a wet paper towel right after I painted it so the gold would show through.

I love the way it turned out! I took this picture last year on the road directly in front of our home. I love those boys!

The bed used to be against the only “solid” wall in the room…

…now my new dresser resides there. The dresser used to be green, and I bought it at an antique mall for $210.00. It was the most expensive purchase for my room.

The little lamp was a $10.00 purchase at an antique mall. The mirror frame was $4.50 and the blue vase $1.00, both from Goodwill. I got the wall mirror at Lowe’s for $25.00. It isn’t exactly what I wanted there, but it will have to do for now. I am still looking for a mirror or something else to put there.

But I love what the mirror says…

Here is the “before” view of the other side of the room…

The “after”…

I love watching tv from our cozy (dare I say romantic) bed.

Another “before”…

“After”…Look at all that floor space!

The accessories on top of the armoire are things I gathered from other parts of my house. :)

Here is another picture of my bed with my lamps all lit up…

I was having a hard time finding lamps for my room. I knew I wanted lamps made of glass, but I really couldn’t afford them.

I found these lamps at Garden Ridge for $24.99 a piece, plus $9.99 for each shade. They were exactly what I was looking for. I almost got them, but since I didn’t have much money left in my budget I decided not to.

The next day, I was talking to a family member who told me about some lamps she saw at Garden Ridge that she thought would be perfect for my room. (She follows my blog.) :)

It ended up we were talking about the same lamps! She felt like that was more than a coincidence and told me that she felt led by the Lord to buy them for me. What a blessing!

I just absolutely love them!

I was going to put a skirted table on this side of the bed, but couldn’t find any material that I liked. I’ve had this metal side table for years, and it was currently living in my den. I decided to save some money and use it in my room. It actually works pretty well.

I didn’t want this side of the room to look too “weighted down” with bulky furniture, so this piece keeps it kind of “light” and open.

The large pitcher on the bottom of the side table was a $5.00 find at Goodwill. It was an ugly tan color, so I spray painted it white!

I love my new lamp on my ($25.00) vanity too!

I don’t know if I ever mentioned that I bought the white coverlet and pillow shams from Sears. It is their Country Living brand. I got them on sale for a little less than $100.00. The tan pillow was my mom’s. I wanted to make some pillows with some blue in them, but had trouble finding material I liked.

I bought the frames on each side of my bed for $2.00 at the habitat store and painted them black. I printed the pictures off of my computer from Vintage Printables.

And of course, my favorite addition to the room is my chandelier that I purchased at Lowe’s for $145.00! I am so glad I splurged! Every girl needs a little “bling” in her room, right?

Here is the breakdown of my $700.00 budget:

$145-chandelier from Lowe’s

$90.00 – armoire

$210.00 – dresser

$25.00 – vanity

$25.00 wall mirror

$100.00 Country Living bedding from Sears

$36.00 Brown burlap/velcro bedskirt

$4.00 frames for both sides of bed

$10.00 – small lamp from antique mall

$25.00 _ (approx) miscellaneous accessories from Goodwill

$20.00 – two sets of white king pillow cases from Walmart

________

$690!!!

I did it!!!

And I love it!!!

If you missed any part of this makeover, just click on “Master Bedroom” in my sidebar labels, and you can see every project I did these past few months for this makeover.

Thank you so much for all of your comments and encouragement throughout this whole process! I promise you that I would have never taken on this makeover if it weren’t for this blog and everyone who reads it…so THANK YOU!!!!!

A couple of announcements…

Don’t forget that this Friday is my second linky party…

I will have the linky system up around 9:oo p.m. Thursday night.

This is a chance for you to share the best DIY project that you completed in April. Please keep the projects related to DIY home decor or home improvement. Only one entry per person, and be sure to link your post back to my party.

If you don’t have a project to link up, you are still invited to come by and view everyone else’s. And I like to encourage everyone to visit at least 3 to 5 blogs and leave comments for others. We all need the encouragement! :)

Also, be sure to stop by Poppies at Play today to see the next four homes on their Parade of Homes! I have loved visiting everyone’s lovely homes!

Click on the button to join the parade..

I am linking my master bedroom makeover up to these parties:

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

DIY day at A Soft Place to Land

Before and After Party at Thrifty Decor Chick!

Have a blessed day!

Traci

P.S. Check out my sister’s new fab blog!

Love it. Love her.

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Tagged makeover, master bedroom Filed Undermakeover, master bedroom, room makeovers 78 Comments

Cute Baby Shower Idea (and some announcements)

April 22, 2010 AT 6:11 am 34 Comments

April 22, 2010 By cyndi 34 Comments

On Sunday, I went to a baby shower for my precious cousin, Whitney. She is pregnant with her first child, a baby girl!

My Aunt Pat, (Mom’s youngest sister), hosted the shower at her home.

Like a goof-ball, I forgot to take my camera, but I did snap a few pictures of the decorations on my phone.

How cute is that tu-tu around the punch bowl?

My favorite little decoration was these adorable little baby booties my Aunt Pat made with styrofoam cups.

Aren’t they adorable?!

Of course, I had to have a tutorial!

We gathered around the kitchen counter as Aunt Pat showed us how she made them.

First, cut the top off of the styrofoam cup.

Then cut two slits in the cup about an inch apart…

Push the middle section between the two slits back…

Then fold the sides over the middle section…

Secure the pieces with a staple and glue a little pink or blue ribbon on top of the staple. Aunt Pat put some netting in the bootie to hold the candy mints. Too cute!!!

Thanks for the demonstration, Aunt Pat!

I just had to take a picture of these strawberries…you don’t even want to know how many of these I ate! :)

And I had to have one of these too. They were “melt in your mouth” good!

There were beautiful pink roses that greeted us when we walked in the front door..

A cute little vignette with Whitney’s framed baby shower invitation…

I wanted to steal this bear! Shhhh…don’t tell anyone…

A few baby decorations hanging from the chandelier…

And look at one of the presents Whitney got…

My mom’s cousin, whom we all call “Baby Doll”, ordered this from one of my sponsors, Red Letter Words. It was absolutely beautiful!!

It was a wonderful baby shower and such a blessing to celebrate this very special time in Whitney’s life!

************************

I also wanted to share an announcement with you.

Monday I will be participating in a blog Parade of Homes at Poppies at Play!

I was so honored (and a little intimidated) to be invited. I don’t really feel like my home is worthy of being in a parade of homes, but I had to take advantage of such a wonderful opportunity.

I am trying to get my master bedroom renovation finished in time for the Parade. My home (3 rooms) will be featured on Monday, and the Parade will c
ontinue throughout the week. I hope you will join me!

Secondly, be sure to mark your calendar for my second linky party, “Best DIY Projects of April.” It’s next Friday, April 30th!

That’s only one week away!

I hope you can come!

Have a blessed day!

Traci

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I found a side table that I love!!!!

April 18, 2010 AT 11:45 pm 49 Comments

April 18, 2010 By cyndi 49 Comments

Okay, I am feeling really brave today because I am sharing a video of me with you.

I found such a great deal that I had to share it with you “in person”.

(I took this video from my phone, in my son’s room, late at night, and I’m looking pretty rough. I must really love you guys!) :)

Here is what the vanity looked like when I walked into the Antique Mall…(insert bright light from heaven and choir of angels singing)…

Here is what the top looked like when we brought it home. I loved it despite it’s flaws…(we had started sanding it a little already)…

My hubby helped me sand it with 80 grit (coarse) sand paper to get some serious work done on top…

Then he sanded the whole top with 120 grit sand paper, and then smoothed it out with a 220 grit sand paper.

Now, I apologize for not taking pictures of the next steps. I was so excited about this project that I truly forgot. But I will tell you what we did.

I wiped the dust off the top and applied two coats of Miniwax “Dark Walnut” stain with a clean cloth. (Be sure to let it dry in between coats.)

Then I cleaned the bottom half of the piece with a wet cloth and a little bit of Murphy’s Wood cleaner.

Then I put a coat of Minwax Polyurethane (satin finish) all over the entire piece with a large sponge brush. Be sure to put on a thin layer.

When it was completely dry, I lightly sanded the top of the vanity and applied a second coat just to the top.

And here it is….(It looks orange-y out in the sun, but it is really a dark brown.)

The drawers work perfectly even though they have some big scratches on them, and I love the way they look. The scratches give the piece so much character…like there is a story behind every scratch.

And here it is in its new home…aaaahhhh….

Doesn’t it fit just perfectly?

I may put a mirror over the vanity…I haven’t decided yet.

The top turned out silky-smooth! I got that mirror picture frame at the Antique Mall too for just $4.99. I thought it would add some more “bling” to the room.

I love the details on this piece….the engravings, the cute little round feet…

One more reminder…$25.00!!!!!

Seriously? You can’t beat that with a stick!

So can you tell I love this piece? Hope so!

I am sooooo close to having this room finished. I am mostly looking for some lamps and some material for pillows.

The “big reveal” will be coming soon….

I am linking this party to DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land!

And Home is….@Reluctant Entertainer!

Be sure to mark you calendars for my next linky party.

All you have to do is link your favorite DIY project (related to home decor or home improvement) that you have completed in the month of April. One entry per person please.

If you don’t have a project to post, then just come and hang ou
t at the party and check out everyone else’s great projects. :)

I will be posting more details about the party this week.

Have a blessed day!

Traci

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Tagged furniture makeover, makeover, master bedroom Filed Underfurniture makeover, makeover, master bedroom, Uncategorized 49 Comments

$4 Artwork for my room

April 15, 2010 AT 6:39 am 26 Comments

April 15, 2010 By cyndi 26 Comments

Well, you know that I am trying to accessorize my master bedroom on the cheap, so today I stopped by the Habitat store and picked up a couple of frames.

They were only two dollars each, so I spent a whopping $4.00!

They are matted for a 8 x 10 picture which is exactly what I needed.

I spray painted them both black and sanded the edges just a bit.

I got my artwork for the frames from Vintage Printable online…just printed them off of my computer right at home!

There is a wealth of vintage prints that you can download and print for FREE! Love that!

I turned the mat around in the frame so it would be white instead of cream, and added the bird’s nest prints that I downloaded…

I still do not have the side tables for my room figured out, so right now I just have a table from around the house sitting there.

I am wanting to find a desk for this side of the room..

As you can see, I am trying to add touches of blue to the room. It was needing some color!

Not bad for FREE!

This one is my favorite. I love the little blue eggs…

I am hoping to find some matching lamps for both sides of my bed. Lamps are so expensive, so I am trying to find some at a thrift store.

Another great site to get free prints is The Graphics Fairy.

Here are some I downloaded from her site…

She has a ton of cool pictures, not just birds.

The pictures I made really added a nice touch to the room, and they were totally worth only $4.00!

So if you are needing artwork for your room, be sure to check both of these sites out!

If you haven’t already, be sure to enter my Lisa Leonard giveaway!!!

Click HERE to enter.

The two winners will be announced Friday!!

Have a blessed day!

Traci

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Black Dresser for my Bedroom

April 4, 2010 AT 11:23 pm 51 Comments

April 4, 2010 By cyndi 51 Comments

UPDATE: I have had a bunch of questions about my Easter outfit. :) You girls are so funny! The dress is Calvin Klein, and I got it at Marshall’s on clearance for $44.00 (which is actually kind of pricey for me). The shoes I got at Payless for $14.99, and I already had the necklace and earrings. There ya go, sweet things!

I hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend.

The weather here was absolutely perfect, and I enjoyed spending time with both sides of our family.

I did get a couple pics that I wanted to share with you.

Me and my boys…

The loves of my life!…

The whole crew after church…

I missed Mom terribly. I have such wonderful memories of Easter as a child. Mom played a big part in making it so special. I pray that my boys will also look back on these days and feel the same love that I did growing up.

The best part of the day was being in the Lord’s house and celebrating Jesus’ love for us all!

**********************************************************

Now to another piece of furniture that I finished for our master bedroom makeover.

Remember this inspiration picture I shared with you?….

And remember this dresser I found at an antique mall?…

Well, I broke down and bought her. They were asking $250.00 for the dresser. (Remember I had a $700.00 budget from the money I made selling my previous cherry bedroom suite.)

I did NOT want to pay that much!! I am sooo cheap! I knew that as soon as I bought the dresser, I would find one like it at a garage sale for like 25 bucks, and I would be totally kicking myself!

So I waited for about two weeks as I looked at every used furniture store, Goodwill, and antique mall I could find, and I saw NOTHING like this dresser.

I went back to the antique mall and offered them $200.00 cash, but they didn’t take it. So I called my Aunt Sue who buys and sells antiques, and ask her what I should do.

Long story short, my Aunt Sue went to the antique mall and talked the dealers down to $210.00. That’s as low as they would go, and since it was exactly what I was looking for, I decided to get it. :)

Thank you, Aunt Sue!

And here she is now…

Isn’t she cute?

I followed the same painting steps on this dresser that I used for my black armoire, except I cover the whole dresser with primer. You can read about the details HERE. I also will probably be putting a coat of polyurethane on this dresser for extra durability.

I did want to share with you how I did the drawer pulls.

They looked like this at first…

My husband primed them with some self-etching primer that he uses on his cars. (You could use regular spray primer.)

Then I spray painted them black (look at the handle at the top of the picture.)

I used a Folk Art paint from Walmart called Metallic Antique Gold ($1.25) and wiped it over the black handle with a paper towel.

It gave me exactly the look I was after! Can you see the difference in the picture below?

I love the way they look on my dresser…

Pretty close to my inspiration picture, don’t ya think?

LOVE IT!

Now for the hard part…accessorizing! I always struggle with this step. I’m not sure what I want to put on it…lamp?….pictures?….flowers?….we’ll see…

I am linking this project up to these wonderful parties…

Before and After Party at Thrifty Decor Chick,

Thrifty Treasures at Southern Hospitality,

Make it for Monday at Cottage Instincts,

DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land

Furniture Feature Friday at Mustard Seed Creations

Blessings!

Traci

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Tagged furniture makeover, makeover, master bedroom Filed Underfurniture makeover, makeover, master bedroom, Uncategorized 51 Comments

Velcro Burlap Bed skirt

March 21, 2010 AT 10:49 pm 62 Comments

March 21, 2010 By cyndi 62 Comments

I am continuing to work on my master bedroom makeover.

I found an entertainment armoire to hide our tv in for $40.oo! It needs a little work and a fresh coat of paint, but I think it will look great when I am finished. :)

A little progress has been made on my bedding. This part can be stressful. I am trying to come up with the colors that I want in my bedroom. I was leaning toward my favorite colors…tan, black, white, and red. But lately, I’ve been wanting to add a little bit of light blue instead of red to my palette.

I went to some fabric stores and found a fabric that I loved. It had some blues and browns in it, and I might make some pillows with it. Not sure.

But I did decide what material to use for my bed skirt.

Brown burlap.

Ya’ll know that I love burlap. And when I was looking at my inspiration fabric, I could picture it with a brown bed skirt. I remembered that Hobby Lobby had some brown burlap on sale for $1.99 a yard. How can you beat that?

I bought four yards of it and brought it home. I tucked it under my mattress to get an idea of what it would look like and I loved it!

So here is what I did to make it.

The burlap comes in a 45 inch width, so I unfolded the material and cut it in half. I will be able to make skirts for two sides of my bed with this.

Using one half of the material, I decided to make my hem on the outer un-cut edge by first ironing the edge over about a half inch.

Then I folded it over again about an inch and pressed it again

Next I sewed a straight stitch down the hem.

Now I have to explain this great idea I had for making a bed skirt.

I wanted to make a skirt that I could just velcro onto my box springs. I have made bed skirts before that are like the kind you buy in the store. The ones that have the material all the way across the box springs that the skirt is attached to.

It was always really hard for me to get the bed skirt to fit “just right”. One side was usually too long, and I would have to use safety pins to keep the skirt in place. Even bed skirts you purchase in stores can drive you nuts. They are always moving around when you put your fitted sheet on, or they will end up sliding over and drooping on one side. I can’t stand that.

So to keep my bed skirt in place, I decided to velcro it to my box springs. I didn’t come up with this idea on my own. My mom was a professional seamstress, and she had told me about this idea. She hadn’t tried it herself, but she said she had seen other professionals do it.

I have always wanted to try it, and my bedroom makeover was the perfect place.

So I bought some industrial strength velcro from Walmart for twenty dollars. I didn’t like paying that much, but it was a lot cheaper than the velcro I almost bought at JoAnn’s Fabrics. It would have been over 40 dollars there!

I got it because it was two inches wide, and I thought that it would make the bed skirt more durable. (You may be able to find it somewhere else for less.)

Unfortunately, I didn’t notice that it had a “sticky” back to it. (I know…it says it right on the box! Duh.) The stickiness actually became a huge pain when I was sewing the material to it.

Now you might think I am crazy, but I hot glued the velcro to my box springs. I wanted to make sure it wasn’t going anywhere. :)

The velcro strip looked something like this when I was done. (I have pushed my mattress back to take this picture.)

The edge of the velcro was 17 inches from the ground so I decided to make the skirt 18 inches long.

The next steps are not easy to describe in a post, but I will try.

The total length of my material from top to bottom was about 22 inches long (after I had already hemmed the bottom). I wanted the skirt to be a finished length of 20 inches…18 inches for the part of the skirt you would see, and 2 inches to sew onto the velcro strip
and tuck under the mattress.

I also created a one inch hem on each side of the skirt.

The next part made me almost lose my sanity!!!

I was going to show you an easy way to pin the material to the velcro strip, but there was no EASY to it! The material kept sticking to the strip when I didn’t want it to. (I’m not going to go into detail of how I literally wrestled that strip of sticky velcro…it’s just too painful to re-live.)

I finally decided to use the “stinky” to my advantage.

I just folded the material over every couple of inches and pressed it to the “sticky”.

It still wasn’t holding together very well, so I ran to my sewing machine and began sewing.

I sewed a straight stitch on the top and bottom of the two inch velcro strip and attached it to the box springs.

Though I wasn’t sure it was all going to come together…

it turned out exactly as I had hoped.

(I still need to iron it in a few spots.)

I ADORE the look of burlap.

I only have pictures of the left side of my bed because I haven’t done the other sides yet. :)

I used a little less than four yards for this side of the bed. I had to cut off about 6 inches of one end because there was a bad place in the burlap. Sometimes that happens.

The other half of this material will be used for the skirt at the end of the bed. I will need to get 4 more yards to do the right side of the bed and will have material left over for pillows if I need it. ;) I will have 8 total yards in the whole bed skirt which will cost me $16.00. So the whole skirt ended up costing me $36.00. I think that’s pretty good! (I already had the other supplies like thread and glue sticks.)

I am hoping to finish the skirt tomorrow, and start painting the armoire.

Update: Here is a picture of my bedskirt in my completed bedroom makeover.

If you have any questions about my bed skirt, please feel free to ask. It’s usually best to email me at

beneathmyheart4(at)gmail(dot)com

And don’t forget about my first linky party! You ALL are invited!

You can read about the details by clicking on the button.

If you would like to help me spread the word about my party, you can add my button to your sidebar or in a post. (You’ll be my BFF in you do!) :)

I am linking this post to a few parties this week:

Make it for Monday at Cottage Instincts

DIY day at A Soft Place to Land

Show and Share at Just a Girl

Blessings!

Traci

I will be announcing the winner of the $50 dollar gift certificate to Leen the Graphic Queen Monday afternoon!

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Tagged burlap projects, master bedroom Filed Underburlap projects, master bedroom, Uncategorized 62 Comments

Great “before and after” Pictures!

March 20, 2010 AT 10:08 pm 16 Comments

March 20, 2010 By cyndi 16 Comments

Just had to share with you another great email I got from one of my readers a couple of weeks ago.

I love it when I receive these emails and pictures! :)

It is so much fun to hear and see that people are actually using the ideas I post about on my blog in their own homes.

What a blessing!

My friend, Gina, had written me last fall about the steps I took to paint the hutch in my kitchen black. Here is the picture of my hutch that she is talking about…

BEFORE…

AFTER…

Here is the email I received from Gina:

Hi Tracy-

I don’t know if you’ll remember e-mailing back and forth last October, so I just replied to your last e-mail to refresh your memory. After all these months, I was finally able to get to my china hutch. Here are the before and after pictures. It’s really hard to get a good picture of it. It looks better in person. I completely copied your hutch. I hope you don’t mind. Ever since I saw what you did with yours, I’ve wanted that for our dining room, even the white dishes. It took me awhile to find dishes that I liked. I found mine at Ross for $13. I had been collecting other things for awhile. I love the white platter on the bottom that was $10 at Goodwill. The green pitcher was a fluke. I saw that at Ross also and just loved the color. I had it somewhere else in the kitchen, but I love it in the hutch. If you look closely at the pictures, you’ll see I even have birdies in there! I got those at the dollar store and sprayed them gloss white.

Here’s what I did to this $65 hutch from Craigslist, with a little help from my husband. I added the beadboard to the back of the top part of the hutch. I wanted a “Ballard Designs” kind of look. The doors on the bottom took a little more work. I was kind of “winging” it as I went along. But, I basically replaced that hideous molding around the outside edges with something more simple and added new handles. I used a spray gun attached to our compressor and I loved using it. I’m very happy with how it turned out. The total cost including the cost of the hutch was around $150. I’m working on our dining room now and have a buffet that I got for $20 at goodwill that I’ve started on. I’ll send that along when I get done. Hopefully, it won’t take 4 months!
Thanks for your inspiration! I absolutely love doing this stuff and it helps to have ideas from creative and talented people like you!
:-)Gina

Here is her “before”…

And her “after”…

Bottom half “before”…

I love the way she took the molding off the doors. I wouldn’t have thought of that!

Here’s the “after”…

She also sent me a picture of a dresser she got off Craig’s list for 40 bucks…

She repainted the dresser and the hardware for her daughter’s room, and I think it is absolutely adorable now!!!

And here are some more pictures she sent me of the buffet she refinished. I love how she changed the look of the buffet by adding different feet to the bottom.