A Not-So-Average Denim Skirt

One day I got out of the car in a not so lady-like fashion and tore my long denim skirt all the way up the back!!! Thankfully I was at home! Anyway, the tear was beyond repair and it wasn't a favorite skirt to begin with. So I threw it in the scrap pile. I kept looking at it on top of the pile...hmm...I really had no plans; I just started playing. I cut off about 15" from the bottom and cut out some 4" squares. I have saved some of Keith's old torn jeans and cut some more 4" squares out of contrasting denim. I used dark, medium and light denim squares. I just sewed them all together and attached it to the bottom of the skirt. I liked the diamond edges and I didn't want to hem each diamond so I made a lining out of a lightweight pink cotton.

Denim skirts can be boring; but I think this patchworked version is interesting; maybe even a little retro! It makes me happy to wear it; should we all wear clothes that make us happy?!

T-Shirt Quilt

A few months ago my sister-in-law asked me to make a T-shirt quilt for my niece using her extensive collection of cheerleading T-shirts.

My niece, Cassie, is going to college now and the quilt would be a nice way to share her high school memories, enjoy her collection and free up some closet space!

I agreed to make the quilt even though I have never made a T-shirt quilt before. There were soooo many T-shirts. I felt a little overwhelmed and I admit I was a little nervous about cutting up Cassie's cherished tees. What if I screwed up?!!! They're irreplaceable!!!

I swallowed my fears and just started cutting! When I realized all the tees were about 12" wide, that made things a little easier and gave me reassured that this was going to be a cool project! I'm really satisfied with the way it turned out! It's so colorful, fun, soft and cozy!

I used the backs that weren't printed on and extra parts of the T-shirts for the back of the quilt and bordered both sides with a navy blue knit. There is a layer of extra fluffy batting in the middle and I knotted navy blue embroidery floss throughout to hold the layers together.

So this is my first T-shirt quilt and I'm sure it's not my last! It is an easy project and a great way to display and enjoy a T-shirt collection!

So...the moral of this story is don't let fear stand in the way of making memories!

Wine Station

My husband, Keith and I are really proud of this piece. We had so much fun designing and working on this together! It's one of our best pieces!

I found this small child's size dresser in the trash on the side of the road. A couple of the drawer fronts were broken on the bottom, but the rest of it was still in pretty good shape and I thought it would be no big deal to fix the broken drawers and just repaint it. But then I starting thinking that leaving it as a dresser was pretty boring. I considered converting it into a bar, but that wasn't quite right either. All of a sudden it came to me - a wine station! My original idea was to put cross bars in the bottom to form racks to hold the wine bottles. But once we took the bottom drawers out and saw the bars that held the drawers we had the great idea of cutting rounded slots into them and creating bigger scalloped bars in the back to hold the wine bottles. Another part of my plan was to use dowel rods close together on the side to hold the wine glasses by their stems but Keith came up with the great idea of using the fronts of the broken drawers. He cut the drawer fronts in half; because they already had an attractive beveled edge; and then cut channels to hold the wine glasses. This was such a better idea than my dowel rod idea! We added a rack on the other side to hold a towel and this was created from a wooden toliet paper holder and a small table leg. I replaced the super ugly Colonial drawer pulls with new more attractive pulls and painted the whole thing a nice glossy black.

The wine rack holds 12 bottles of wine and holds 8 wine glasses. The remaining drawer can be used to store your wine supplies such as corkscrews and bottle stoppers.

Keith and both love this piece, but we don't drink wine! So we are offering it for sale to all you wine lovers out there!

The Open House was a Success!

Thank you everyone that came to the open house. It was quite a success and we received a lot of positive feedback. We have quite a lot of ideas for future projects and we hope we inspired you all as well!

Getting Ready for the Open House!

My husband and I have been busy these past few weeks getting ready for fawn's repurpose First Open House! This is just one of the pieces of custom furniture that will be for sale. I'm really excited about this piece..I LOVE IT...but I don't love it enough not to let it go, I'm hoping someone else will LOVE IT!

I found a box full of porch railing post toppers; so simple but yet so interesting - very graphic. Architectural pieces make great wall art. I'll be selling this group of four as a set and I have a few others to hang individually.
There will be lots of good stuff for sale and for inspiration at the Open House - June 16 - 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. We hope you can all come and visit us! And remember to bring your friends along!
For my address and directions, please email me!

Open House - Saturday, June 16, 2012

Well, I've decided to do it! I'm having an Open House! Saturday, June 16th, 2012. 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
So readers and fans, bring your friends and tell them to bring their friends! I'll be selling Repurposed Furniture, Chalkboards, Quilts, Pillows, Purses, Antiques, Organic Lavender Items and much, much more!
If you need directions to the Open House which will be held in Mountville, PA, please leave your email address and I will email you my address.

Keep it simple.

Repurposing projects don't need to be complicated. You don't need a degree in engineering or even be that "crafty". Just use your imagination and think outside the box! It could be something as simple as planting  something in a non-traditional planter. Years ago when casinos actually used coins; they supplied plastic buckets with their logos on them to collect all your winnings. I brought home a couple of these buckets and  used them as pots for plants. They were funky and fun. You can use anything that holds dirt and water for your houseplants and even your outdoor plants. I've used mixing bowls, suitcases, watering cans, buckets, boots, toy trucks, agate wash basins - the possibilities are endless! When you were in elementary school you probably brought home vegetable seedlings you planted in a milk carton. That was repurposing! Use your imagination!

My latest really simple repurposing project has been making drink coasters out of tiles. Glue felt on the back - DONE. Functional, stylish and really easy and inexpensive.
Here is a odd shaped funnel I picked up on a recent junking trip. I love the shape of it! I wrapped some twine around it and made a cool plant hanger. I had to put a small vase in the funnel of course to hold the water for this bunch of fresh mint.

Keep it simple, follow your instincts and find new ways to use your old junk! And of course look here for inspiration!

Repurposed Projects in the Bathroom

Our upstairs bathroom was less than spectacular when we moved in. There was a tiled bathtub/shower surround, a toilet and a tiny, tiny sink. The bathroom was barely functional. A lot of improvements needed to be made. One of the first things we needed to do was to replace the tiny, tiny one-sink vanity. We really liked the look of the dresser-style vanities and thought that would suit our 100-year-old farmhouse perfectly. We saw lots of reproduction made- to-look-like dresser vanities in the big hardware stores. But we wanted the real thing! So we found exactly what we were looking for at an antique market. Actually, as usually happens, we found more than what we were looking for! We found a really ugly bureau and matching glass door cupboard. They were ugly because there were Dutch tulips stenciled on them. We actually think that the pieces were used in a kitchen?! We painted both pieces a crisp glossy white and replaced the hardware. So much better looking! The bureau took a lot of disassembling to make it work as a sink vanity. We cut the back off and had to add a little to the sides because it was too narrow. We then cut out the top drawer but left the front of the drawer to look like it was still functional (the sink basins are in that space). We cut a hole in the top and left just a little lip to hold the custom-made double sink counter top. The two bottom cupboards hide the sink plumbing and is used for storage. The matching hutch or cupboard didn't make it in the bathroom but it is right outside the bathroom door and displays some of our collections. We have loved these pieces for a few years now.

Just recently I decided it was time to redecorate the bathroom. Just a fresh coat of paint and updated window treatments. I bought a new shower curtain before I did anything else - I know - kind of backwards, but I really liked it! I couldn't find window curtains to match, so I made some out of place mats and bed linens. I bought a single white sheet for the bottom half of the window, sewed a hem and a rod pocket - very easy! And made a scrunched sleeve to hide the curtain rod on the top and just draped the place mats over the rod. So very easy!!! We get lots of sun shining through on the top and we still have privacy.
The framed art on the wall are vintage souvenir postcards of bathing "beauties". I love them every time I look at them they make me smile!

Here is an old toolbox used to store hair dryers and similar small appliances. It's on the floor in the linen closet; a very charming way to hide the clutter!
Now our bathroom is functional and spectacular!

Shutter Stand

Walking home from the library one evening in the late fall, I noticed a pile of free kitchen cupboard shutters in someone's front yard! I went home - got the car - went back and grabbed four nice looking ones! When I got them home my husband was a little skeptical about my plans for the shutters. "I making a little stand that can be used as a cupboard", I said enthusiastically! So with lots of hand gestures and a little sketch he understood and improved on my structural design. As you may know, my woodworking skills are limited. So this was another fun little project we worked on together! He cut a top and a bottom piece out of 3/4" board that he had in his wood scraps. We used the existing hinges and took off the small plastic knobs. We nailed the shutters to the particle boards all around the top and bottom and left one side open with working hinges so we could have a door for the little cupboard. He cut a nice piece of the 3/4" board with a routered edge for the top; sanded it out all nice and smooth. We used big, round, biscuit-like mahogany feet that I salvaged from my sister's old sofa. When I pulled the feet off the sofa, before we took it to the dump, I didn't have any plans for them, they were so cool and it seemed like such a waste to throw them out. So when I was planning the shutter stand I remembered the sofa feet! We nailed them to the bottom and I painted the whole thing inside and out with a matte finish beige paint that I found at the Restore for really cheap and found a really cool old metal knob with some old paint left on! (shabby chic - ya know) Now we have a functional little stand made for pennies!

I'm always checking out the neighbor's trash - out on the curb when I'm out walking the dog or out doing errands! You never know what wonderful treasures you can find! I'm always surprised by what people throw away!