Kitchen Changes Coming

I am thrilled to pieces that Mr. Bill said I could paint the kitchen cabinets.

Yeah!!!

 They are just builder grade cabinets from 1990.

 They aren't super quality but I think they are better than what we could afford now.

 The doors and facings are solid wood. 

We refaced the sides of them with bead board a few years ago. 

I even aged them by wiping black oil based paint in the crevices. It helped tone down the golden oak, but didn't cure them of the overall goldness!!

I added the pulls and knobs a few months ago. It was a last ditch effort to help me fall back in love with these cabinets.

Didn't work.

I took two doors off and made some display niches.

I had painted cabinets when we lived in Lubbock for three years.

They weren't painted correctly and they were constantly chipping. I had two small children and an infant. I didn't have time to deal with white cabinets.

 There were always peanut buttery fingerprints.

Ohh. I wish I had a few peanut butter fingerprints now that the kids are all grown up.  

I was going to do it myself, but I just couldn't muster up the energy.

I knew it would take a few weeks and that there would be paint everywhere.

We are having these done professionally.

I can't wait to show you.

Sprinkled with a kitchen cupboard redo,

Katie 
Linking with,
1929 Charmer Blog  
Feathered Nest Friday 
The Brambleberry Cottage

Burlap Pumpkins

I saw some cute burlap pumpkins on Pinterest.
Here. I have been enjoying burlap but I haven't really gotten on the burlap bandwagon. 

I have used some ribbon for wreaths, but that is pretty much it.

Last October my sister-in-law had a birthday party for my brother out at their ranch. She used burlap and sunflowers. It was too cute. She had some left over and gave me a couple of yards.

:)

I used some as a scrunchy tablecloth for my new kitchen table. I will show that off soon.

I had these pumpkins.

 They had seen better days. 

I guess a few years kicking around in the fall totes had grunged them up, and not in a good way.

I think that one of the animals played with them a time or two. I tried to clean up where they got pilly from being used as a cat toy. 

I decided rather than throw them away I would try to recover them.

I pulled off the old felt.

It was actually pretty easy to strip them down to the foam.

I spent about an hour doing two pumpkins.

I went with white cotton string in the ripples instead of rick rack.

I put back the old felt leaves and stem and curlicues. They were just stuck in with wire. 

I love, love them. 

I think they actually look better than they 

did originally.

Burlap Pumpkins

 I got the little squirrel years ago at First Monday Trade Days in Canton, Texas. 

I love that flea market.

If you are ever in Texas, you should go!

 I painted the acorn to mimic burlap. 

I used two tones of tan and painted with a dry brush two directions.

 I tied a burlap ribbon on my fall spray of flowers. 

My living room display shelf is ready for fall.

Before:

 After:

Sprinkled with burlap pumpkins,

Katie
Linking with,
Savvy Southern Style 
I Gotta Create 
Debbie Doos; Copy Cat Challenge 
The Brambleberry Cottage  
No Orange Autumn Decor Link Party @ Homastyle  
French Country Cottage  
2805 for Potpourri Friday  
Burlap Party My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Loveseat in the Sunroom

Now, over the years Mr. Bill and I have had a problem. Okay, It is more me, but I collect random seating from the curb or the thrift store. I don't really do that too much anymore, because Bill says I had a chair adoption problem. 

This has caused our house to be a place where there are tons of places to sit, but no where to sit because everything looks too dainty.

We have taken steps to rememdy this now that the kids are out of the house.

We got new kitchen and dining chairs 

 and new comfy seating for the man cave.

But the man cave is upstairs and  guests don't go up there much unless they are watching a game with Mr. Bill.

It was time to get rid of the demure settee in the sunroom.
:\

That breaks my heart because this little sofa is sooo stinking cute. But it is the most impractical thing I own. Nobody ever sat on it except me. It's not a modern height. I took a nap on it once and almost ended up on the floor because it is not very deep either.
I hope to re-purpose it soon, so stay tuned.

I shopped and shopped for a smallish sofa for the sunroom. Everything was too big. Even the stuff that was apartment sized.
So, I moved the brown loveseat from the living room  to the garden room.

It was only in the living room because Bill thought we should have a loveseat.
 I liked it okay, but wasn't in love with it. It got moved around the room a lot. That is usually a sure sign I am not completely satisfied with something.
This was a piece I pulled off of someone's  curb a few years ago.
I  upholstered it in brown chenille. It is super soft. 
I didn't think it would work in this room because of all the black. 
But... I was wrong.
 I love it. I love the black and the brown thing going on. It looks too cute with the antique spool cabinet

 and the little school desk.

I love the black and white checked fabric of the pillow against the brown loveseat.

It really was not a something I thought would work.

I resisted putting it out here for a couple of years because I didn't want to recover the loveseat.

I really think that this is the last big reupholstering job for me. It is too physical for someone my age. ;)

What a pleasant surprise.

We have already had an occasion to sit out here and have coffee with our daughter. Perfect!

Have I mentioned why we love this room so much?

This is the view from the window of our sunroom. 
We live in the middle of a metropolitan area, but
from back here you could never tell.
We love the views from this petite room.

You can read about the building in of it here. 

Even though this couch is on the smallish side,
I have still curled up and fallen asleep while enjoying this relaxing space. 

Sprinkled with black and brown,
Katie
Linking with, 
Debbie Doos  
1929 Charmer 
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

The Owls Have It (Fabric Owl Tutorial)

Owls are getting a lot of press out there on the internet.

They are just so stinking cute.

I love owls.
I will use them in my fall and Christmas decorating. 
I pinned a few fabric owls to one of my Pinterest boards last spring for inspiration. 

Crafting for the Home
It was too late to do anything with them then, but I was determined to give making them a try for this coming autumn. 
For my first owl,
I started playing around with a pattern for a one dimensional owl.
I cut a rectangle that was about 3 by 4 inches.

I turned it right sides together.

  I tapered the sides to make the head.

I also cut a slight curve for the ears.

 I turned it out right sides together and sewed around the owl shape leaving a small opening in the bottom.
Drop cloth material became the circles for the eyes and the triangle for the beak.

 
I did a very amateur looking stitch on purpose.  

  Two black buttons for eyes.

He will  go in my fall tree in a few weeks.

The second incarnation of the owl came at my crafting weekend at the lake.
Here:
I was going to make some more of my simple variety but my sister-in-law asked if they could be more two dimensional.
Together we worked out a pattern.

These we wanted to be green and black to go with the white pumpkins I was making.

It started with the same 3x4 inch shape.

 We added some rectangle sides that are tapered toward the top. 

 The sides are about 1 1/2 x 3 inches.
 You can adjust the sides smaller if you don't want plump pumpkins.

  Start sewing them to the owl under the tapered head.

I sewed one of the sides to the front and one to the back and I sewed the two sides together. 

 I turned it right side out and stuffed it.
The selvage of the side will be sewn into the bottom of the owl. 
My sister-in-law and I did the faces of our owls with some felt, buttons, upholstery tacks. 

Finally we added some two different types of wings. 
One is a little fabric wing held on by buttons.

This other one has wings made out of leaves.

I won't put these out for a week or two, but I thought you might like to get crafting.

I am a amateur bird watcher and I love listening to and looking for owls in the winter.  They are so elusive and hard to spot. It took me years to see one.

A few years ago on our perfect, magical Christmas, 

an owl showed up in the tree that hangs over into our yard from the neighbor's. There he was on this magical, snowy night the perfect end to a wonderful day.
I think I am going to make some white owls for Christmas.

Sprinkled with owls,
Katie
Linking with,
Funky Junk Interiors