I Painted a Dresser

It has been awhile.  Nothing much to report on the family front.  We made it through the frigid spring and it is finally HOT outside.  I love it.  I feel so much more motivated when I don't have to bundle up and be miserable outside.  Not that I ever go outside unless I have to.

I made something pretty and thought I would share.  We have these ugly old dressers in our bedroom that I bought at UI Surplus when I first moved here.  They lived through many years of dorm room torture and, needless to say, are not in the best shape, aesthetically anyway.  They are decent as far as dressers go.  Not falling apart.  Hold clothes.

But they are ugly.  Here is one of them (ignore the massive pile of laundry):

The tops are scratched to hell.

We've been using these for, oh... seven plus years.  Since beautiful matching bedroom furniture will not be in our budget until Lucy is a rich, successful doctor who buys it for us, I thought it was time to finally do something about them.  Staining was out of the question.  I was not going to put in the effort to completely strip the dressers to their bare wood.  Besides, paint is so much more fun.  So I sanded it down just to smooth it out.

Sanding with a palm sander makes life so much easier.  It's kind of fun until you have to clean it up.  Speaking of which, mine is still sitting out on the back porch waiting for me to clean it up.

The came time for a trip to the home improvement store.  We needed to buy some replacement wood for our front porch steps (that is Cory's project) and Lowe's is much more "needing to get stuff cut" friendly, so we headed north instead of going up the street to Menard's.  Of course, choosing paint color is the worst thing ever.  Hundreds of shades of every color imaginable.  I had to narrow it down before we got there.  My bedroom walls are a blue gray color.  The color is pretty enough, but also pretty limiting on color coordination - I didn't want a boring brown, black or gray.

So I needed inspiration.  And what is better for inspiration then the holy grail of DIY - Pinterest!  Those of you who are my Pinterest friends know that I pin way too much.  All of the time.  And one pin that I really loved was this one:

The color is perfect.  It is happy, and cheerful, not remotely boring, but it also isn't too overwhelming.  I had to recreate it.

I should have taken a photo of the 700 different shades of yellow Lowe's had to offer.  After staring at them for about 20 minutes, Cory and I managed to narrow it down to this chip:

It is on the National Historic Register of approved colors to paint your house if you live in a historical neighborhood, so I thought I couldn't go wrong.  As I found out when we went through the check-out, apparently choosing a color on the National Historic Register of approved colors to paint your house if you live in a historical neighborhood means the chip is special.  And special paint chips can only be made with special bases.  Special bases that cost $35 a gallon.  Shit, I wish I had asked how much that paint was going to cost before getting it mixed.  Well, on the plus side, my ghetto dressers are going to shine, damnit!

So I primed (Josie helped).

I used one coat of primer on the base of the dresser and ended up needing two coats of paint, so I used two coats on primer on the drawers, thinking I would only need one coat of paint.  Nope, still needed two.

Once the primer dried, it was time for the fun part - color!  I love opening a brand new can of paint.  I am nuts and absolutely love painting walls.  The fumes over the years have probably warped my brain.

I was a little worried at first about the color after the first coat.  Did I like it?  I wasn't sure.  Also, I learned that painting outside sucks when it is hot.  The paint was drying too quickly and my second coat wasn't going on smoothly at all.  I moved inside to paint the drawers.  Temperature control is the best.

So after some more painting, drying, and re-installation of hardware (I kept the original hardware because I sort of liked it and it didn't cost me more to reuse it), I had my finished dresser:

And you know what?  I LOVE IT!  The color looks great with the blue walls, and it just has this brand new shininess to it.  A million times better than what it was for the last 7+ years.  Lucy even likes it.  In fact, she likes it so much that she kissed it.  She was probably just happy that I was finished and she got her mommy back.

I still have to paint the other dresser, but it shouldn't take too long.  After both are painted, I am going to have about 9/10ths of a gallon of yellow semi-gloss left.  At $35, this stuff isn't going to be wasted.  I have the feeling yellow is going to be popping up a lot in my house over the next few months.

Progress

I stumbled across a website with cute patterns for beginning sewing, and I fell in love with this pattern:

Really Cute Pattern

For $6.00, I thought - heck, I will give it a try.  So I gave it a try.  And I'm sort of proud of it.  I'm afraid that Lucy was not as willing a model as the little girl in the photo.  I asked her to pose for me, and this is what I got:

Apparently asking Lucy to take a photo is a HUGE punishment.  

It turned out amazingly well.  The pattern was so easy to follow - so much better than buying those flimsy tissue paper patterns at JoAnn's.  You know, the one's where you accidentally cut on the wrong line and end up with a really cute skirt that really doesn't fit?  Yeah, those.

I'm not crazy about the pink fabric, but it was the only fabric I had on hand that I had enough of.  I didn't want to buy something until I knew I would end up with a decent finished product.  I love the little ruffle sleeves.

The back is really cute too - no zipper (thank goodness!).  Just some loops and buttons.

It's a little big on her right now, but by summer it should fit great and look cute with little sandals.  I bought some blue fabric that I like so much more today for Round #2.  We will see how that goes!

Sew Tired

I decided to give sewing from a pattern another try - but this time I was determined I would be a good girl and actually do what the pattern told me to do instead of taking short cuts.  Two evenings later, I have completed a skirt.

First, let's recap all of the mistakes I made:

1.  Using chevron stripes.  How the hell are you supposed to match up chevron stripes??  If anyone out there knows how to do this, you are a wizard.

2.  Cutting the fabric in a size that is too small to fit yo' lard ass.  In my defense, I did what was proper - I measured around myself in all the places the pattern told me to.  I looked at the incredibly tiny and confusing chart and determined the correct size.  I pinned all of the pattern pieces to the fabric in the proper way.  And then I started cutting.  The biggest, most visible piece.  The piece that consumed approximately 50% of my fabric.  And I started cutting it a size smaller than I needed.

At that point, I decided I could either start crying or just go with it and hope I measured wrong.  (I didn't measure wrong.)

3.  Zipper installation.  I tried going by the directions in the pattern, but I could not figure out what the heck they were trying to get me to do.  After ripping out a bunch of thread, I decided to go with the technique I use for pillows.  It never looks good on the pillows (and it doesn't look good on my skirt).

4.  Stretching the fabric too much while sewing the waistband.  Yeah, when you do that you end up with too much fabric.  And then you have to figure out what to do with that fabric.  In the above photo, to the left of the zipper, you can see where I just said screw it and sewed over the extra fabric, creating an ugly bubbly mess.


However, I did make my first item with pockets, and it is just adorable with them.  I also made a yoke for the first time, and learned a way to finish my edges without a serger.  I also successfully gathered for the first time.  So the experience wasn't a total loss.

So there you have it.  I am now the proud owner of a decently cute gray and white chevron striped skirt that I am too fat to wear.

Out With The Old

I felt like sewing tonight. I really want to try a jersey knit skirt but I'm too scared of the disaster that will inevitably ensue (apparently sewing stretch fabric is really hard). So I decided to experiment. I had this old blouse that I LOVED once upon a time. But because of my love, the shirt aged pretty quickly.  RIP dear Target blouse.

It was destined for the trash, so I figured I had nothing to lose. I grabbed one of Lulu's tank tops to use as a reference and just started cutting. And pinning. And sewing. And cutting some more. A few hours later, I was done.

Considering the knowledge and equipment that I currently possess, I think it turned out pretty good. No, my ends aren't serged and despite being pinked they will fray.  The hemming around the sleeves is a big mess.  The upper back piece was sewn on the wrong way (luckily it is really hard to tell).  But despite these things, I think it is adorable and will look darling on my Lu.

The true test will be tomorrow morning when I try it on her!  If it fits, I might just be brave enough to try my hand at that knit fabric.

Balancing Act

I'm not willing to accept that I can't do it all - and it really bothers me.  The fact that I can't do it all really bothers me.  Am I the only mother who works full time, has a ridiculously messy house, never fixes her hair or puts on makeup, and has a child who would starve without a microwave?  Probably not.  Definitely not.  But it still really bothers me.

I feel like if just one aspect of my life didn't exist, then I would be able to get everything done.  No job - easy!  No children - easy!  Someone else to clean the house - easy!  Personal chef (or a husband who loved cooking) - easy!  No hobbies or friends - easy! 

But I like my job, worship my child, and would go NUTS without friends and hobbies.  If only I could have a housekeeper and personal chef.  If. Only.

So what is the secret to balancing everything?  I want a beautiful home.  I want to be a good mother.  I want to feed my family healthy meals.  I want to look presentable when I go to work every day.  I want to spend time with my friends and make pretty things.  There has to be a way to get it all done and still retain my sanity.  And to top it all off, I only have ONE child.  Just one wee little toddler (who has the energy and destructive power of a herd of elephants). 

I know that no one's life is perfect.  Life is always tidier from the outside looking in.  I just wish I was better at balancing everything. 

Graphically Challenged

Well, I can now say that I've been really thrown up on.  Not just "sort of" thrown up on (or baby spit up thrown up on) but projectile-it-isn't-stopping-anytime-soon thrown up on.  Out of nowhere.  I didn't even have the luxury of being able to see it coming.

But she survived.  And I survived.  The carpet may not survive and I will now always associate the smell of Febreeze with the smell of vomit, but thankfully Alysha is going to lend me her carpet cleaner this weekend.

To top off the craziness of last night's vomit fest, I realized that I had left my flash drive at work.  The flash drive that contained my entire graphic design project.  The graphic design project that was due tonight.  Being a "temporary" employee, I do not have a key or keycard to get into Calvin Hall, so I was SOL.  After my massive Facebook meltdown (see, I shouldn't be allowed to post on Facebook!) I just went to bed.  I figured that whatever would happen today would happen.  A special thank you goes out to Eryn for her confidence in my ability to produce last minute results!

And today happened.  Thanks in part to the awesomeness of my supervisor who let me work on my project while at work, I managed to finish it on time.  At some point in the next few weeks I will be mailed my Certificate of Graphic Design.  Don't all cheer at once.

Actually, everything I learned in class will be great.  I think I will be more confident with any future invitations I make (for, ahem, maybe Lindsey Eis?).  At any rate, I should be able to make something far more impressive than some ribbon and paper glued together.

For our final project, we had to take a business - real or fictional - and create a logo and three projects for it.  One of my very best friends makes the loveliest crocheted hats and sells them at the Iowa City Farmer's Market in the summer.  She was kind enough to let me use her and her business as a guinea pig, and below is what I came up with.  Some aspects I love, and some aspects I hate.  I will let you decide for yourself.  Also, if you are in the market for some crocheted cuteness, check out Alysha's website!

Business Card Front and Back

Letterhead and Envelope (the straight line on the envelope indicates the flap - and the color is off)

Girl Sock Monkey Hat Brochure Page

Owl Hat Brochure Page (the color looks really off)

So glad it is done!

My Perfect Baby

Cory's latest adventure is trying to teach Lucy to say how old she is. He will hold up two fingers and say, "You are two Lucy. How old are you?" And she will usually reply with something random and completely unrelated.  I think she moo'ed at him once.

And this makes me so happy. Because I am not ready. When he tells her she is two, I just want to shout "No! NO! My baby is only one!"  Please don't take away these last two weeks of my having a baby. January 25th is both a blessing and a curse.  Two years and nine months have gone by far too quickly.  Lucy turning two is going to be harder on me than me turning 30.

I really hope Happy Joe's serves beer.

I'm not sure why this is hitting me so hard.  She is healthy and strong and beautiful.  I can already see her wit and sense of humor.  I can feel her empathy and caring.  She is the perfect little girl.  Maybe I'm scared that each minute that ticks away is one minute closer to the time when she realizes how uncool I am and no longer wants to be close to me (I am really really uncool).  Maybe it has more to do with that the older she gets, the sooner I will have to make an actual decision about having another baby (uhh....).

I am being melodramatic here, but I know I am not the only one who has felt this way.

I am not looking forward to the day she actually fits in my shoes.

I've noticed, since Cory started trying to teach Lucy her age, that Lucy is obsessed with the number 2.  She won't tell us how old she is, but she will bring me things - two of them - and gleefully declare "two!"  Genius.

Owl Obsession

Alysha and I are a little obsessed with these guys lately.  She and I both started making them yesterday.  How can you resist her adorable owl-face?  Lucy was so incredibly excited when she saw it this morning. 

"Oww!  Oww!  Hoo Hoo!"  (translation: Owl! Owl!  Hoot Hoot!)

The pattern is crazy easy, and they are a great way to use scrap yarn, but safety eyes are a b-word to attach.  Considering I almost ripped my finger nail off, I'm not sure how "safe" they really are.

Here is the pattern:  Baby Owl Ornaments

I gave this little guy to my coworker Jody.  I plan on making tons more this weekend.

Happy New Year!

2013 officially began.

My resolutions, thus far:

1.  Figure out this depression/anxiety/seasonal affective disorder/out and out craziness.  I made a doctor's appointment to re-evaluate.
2.  Be more patient with my ever growing toddler.  I hope that #1 will help aid in this.
3.  Take better care of my skin.
4.  Spend less.  Create more.

Speaking of ever growing toddlers, Lulu is a talking machine lately.  I'm amazed at the things that have come out of her mouth in just the last few weeks.  Actual full sentences.  Responses that make sense to my questions.  Hilarious things that come out of nowhere.  Did you know that Elmo is so big?  If you didn't, I'm sure Lu would love to tell you. 

"Emmo so big!" "Yeah baby!"  "Oh noes!"

And my personal favorite, "Hi Mommies!"

Mommies is so tired, so this is going to have to be a good enough start.

Happy New Year!