A Random.org Winner and Prince Edward

If random.org is involved in this post, I might as well also include some other random insight into my life, right? Because I happen to like randomness and silliness AND Prince Edward…and who says this blog has to be full of exclusively Practical and Useful Information? We’ll save that for another year day.

But before we get to the particular brand of randomness indirectly involving Prince Edward, the winner of our This Old House giveaway is Regan from Renovating Rothenbergers!

I would have been happy to send this subscription anyone’s way, but I was especially glad Regan won because her name is Regan and that’s my sister’s name and I have never “met” anyone else with that name before. We affectionately call my little sister Beez (long story…don’t ask, because even we don’t quite know), though, and Regan of RR hasn’t given me express permission to do the same for her….yet….so for now, I can keep them straight. Usually.

But back to Prince Edward. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know that I have a thing for the following items:

-my cats

-Twizzlers

-the movie Enchanted.

My Regan likes to act out Enchanted with me, especially this scene in which Pip is trying to communicate Giselle’s impending danger to to the dim Prince Edward (we’ll forgive him for his lack of brains because he’s cute and can sing…that’s what you look for in a guy, right?) and independently switches back and forth between acting out the sweet, unsuspecting Giselle and the evil Nathaniel, who is offering her a poisoned apple. She rejects it at first, but then Pip/Nathaniel convinces her that “It’s goooood!”…

…which is our favorite part. Which means we basically have to say “It’s goooood” in a chipmunk voice at least a million and a half times a year day.

We got a little silly over the holidays and slowly recruited more and more family members into our I Love Enchanted and Am Going to Marry Prince Edward One Day As Long As He Will Sing to Me and Doesn’t Mind Chipmunk Voices Club. It all began when our little cousin looked on with envy, wishing she, too, could join us in our obsession…

We let her in and then my mom wanted in, as well, even though she’s never seen the movie. (This fact is a crime, I tell you….one of these days…maybe when she has grandchildren and they’ve been groomed to love Enchanted as much as their mommy, she will watch it with them…)…

…and then we even got Grandma on board.

Like I always say: there’s nothing like multi-generational “It’s gooooood.” Actually, I’ve never said that. But I will begin immediately.

So…who else wants to join our club? Who thinks I’m insane for saying Prince Edward is cute? Who wants to fight me for him?

Seriously. I am beyond dorky. This blog is really confirming that fact in me. God forbid any of my students ever find this ridiculous little piece of the Internet.

Have a great weekend! :)

Helpful Felines Available for DIY Supervision

Our two littlest kitties are very concerned about the amount of time we’re spending on the closet/hall renovation; time that, according to them, would be better spent petting them into a purring puddle of oblivion and/or preparing dishes of minced caviar and steak. As a result, they have made themselves highly visible as supervisors during our process.

Dad doesn’t look too busy. Now is probably an excellent time to snuggle.

 

I can oversee all of your progress from here.

 

You missed a spot, Dad. And I’d like to attack your scraper, if you’d just lower it a few inches. Please.

 

This wasn’t here 34 seconds ago. Must investigate.

 

Meanwhile, our oldest kitty, whose aging sense of curiosity piques only when the unmistakable scent of canned chicken and giblets wafts through the air, has been graciously staying out of our way—and subsequently protecting herself from the dust in the air—by hiding in plastic bags. This may or may not be her version of the Senior Citizen Rain Bonnet that seems to become a staple of every woman’s wardrobe once they pass a certain age. She is 84 in human years, after all.

In case you were wondering, though, they’re all available for supervisory hire on your upcoming house project…as soon as their eleventh nap of the day is over, of course.

And as soon as we finish getting the last coat of paint up, I’ll share pictures of the rest of our closet/hall progress!

Happy Wednesday, blog friends! :)

 

***Don’t forget: today is the last day to enter our This Old House magazine giveaway! Go here for a chance to get a new issue in your mailbox every month for an entire year!***

Master Closet Renovation: Our First Project of the Year

Meet our first victim of the year: our master closet. Technically, our master closet is not actually a closet but a back staircase from the kitchen to the upstairs, which we think may have been the servants’ entrance back in the day when the house was built and people said things like back in the day. Since we are not posh enough for servants, however, the back staircase basically now serves as a private entrance to our bedroom. (Of course, if we shared the house with anyone else, like a servant, for example, this whole “private” thing would be significantly more exciting.)

Want to see some never-before-seen-on-the-blog footage of what our closet/staircase currently looks like, pre-renovation? If you enthusiastically said “YES, I’ve been waiting all my life or at least the last 26 seconds to see Erin and Rick’s closet,” continue reading. If you said “Why would I want to look at Erin and Rick’s closet?” scroll to the end of this post to see someone else’s closet that will never, ever resemble ours.

So, for those brave enough to stick around: the tour. The only thing we’ve done until this point is remove the blue carpet from everything but the stairs, which was the same carpet that was in the kitchen. Here’s the view coming from our bedroom and going downstairs.

This is the staircase to the attic, complete with a bunch of straw filling from an old ottoman that Zoe decided to fling about.

Stairs going to the kitchen:

See the fridge?

A Special Feature of the staircase is the sawed-off wall (seen above) and a giant hole going underneath the attic steps.

The hole is obviously ideal for thoughtfully reading This Old House magazine. Perhaps the servants once enjoyed the same luxury in between cooking and laundry?

And here’s the view coming from the kitchen and going upstairs:

You can see in the following picture how the closet connects to our master bedroom (complete with a new chair from World Market; it finally went on sale!).

So. We have a lengthy list of items to tackle for this project, some of which are already completed, which I’ll be sharing over the next couple weeks. Among the many to-dos is building shelving for the closet that we can then put doors in front of. We don’t want our clothes on display, especially since the space doubles as a staircase and it’s just of weird to walk up the stairs and be all like oh hello khaki pants and sundresses. Besides, open shelving is just not for us. Our closet would never, ever look like this next picture…and not just because this person has approximately 83 more pairs of shoes than I do and enough purses to set up a stand on some NYC street:

Found here

I mean, come on, you saw the before pictures. I need closed doors. Nobody wants to see my mess.

What’s on your list for the first project of the year? Whose closet does yours resemble, the one in the above picture or ours? Is open shelving your friend? Spill. :)

 

***And speaking of reading This Old House magazine, don’t forget to go here for a chance to win a one-year subscription! The winner will be selected on Thursday!***

*Giveaway* This Old House Magazine Subscription

I’ve been wanting to do another giveaway for a while now, but was unsure what to do…until the fateful day about a month ago when one of my students approached me with—you guessed it—a fundraiser magazine.

She recommended the microwaveable bacon pan.

I balked at the 5 oz. of jelly beans for $21.99.

I was writing my rejection speech in my head when I turned the page and saw a reasonable purchase: a subscription to a magazine! Now, there was a fundraising investment that I could get behind. I immediately noticed the This Old House listing, because even though we already have a subscription, I thought it would be a great giveaway for my fellow DIYing bloggy friends and readers.

This Old House is the one and only magazine that both Rick and I enjoy, because it’s full of projects that require power tools and muscles as well as inspiring ideas for DIY decorating. You don’t even need to own an old house for the articles to be relevant. Here’s a sample from a recent issue:

• 10 new household uses for rubber bands (They do this every month! Vodka was the item of choice the previous month…)
• A 5-page “All About” section on kitchen islands (Also a monthly feature—one time it was windows, another time it was vinyl flooring—super helpful and informative)
• Before & after room makeovers on a budget
• Handmade holiday décor ideas
• Making a wine rack from a planter box
• How to install wainscoting
• The Top 100 Best New Home Products, as chosen by TOH
• …and lots more!

If you already have a subscription, that’s okay too…you can always give it someone else who would also find it helpful!

TO ENTER TO WIN A ONE-YEAR SUBSCRIPTION TO THIS OLD HOUSE MAGAZINE:

1. Leave a comment on this post. Make sure you include an email (either via your Blogger profile or in the comment itself) so that I can contact you if you win. Just for fun, you could also share: Are you an old house or new house person? What alternative uses for common household objects (like rubber bands) do you know of? What do your insides do whenever you approached by a fundraiser packet?

2. OPTIONAL: Earn an extra entry by linking to this giveaway on your blog and/or signing up to follow my blog via RSS or Google Friend Connect (for you non-commenting lurkers…). :) Make sure you leave an additional comment when you do either of these things! If you already follow, you can leave an additional comment saying so!

The particulars:
This giveaway is open to residents of US and Canada only and will end on Wednesday, January 4th. The winner will be chosen by Random.org and will be notified via email and a follow-up post on Friday, January 6th. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to the notification and claim their subscription. If they aren't claimed within 48 hours, another winner will be chosen via Random.org. The winner must provide a name and address to which the magazine subscription will be sent.

And that’s all you need to know! Happy (almost) New Year to everyone! :)

Our Year in Review: The Top 10 List

I started this blog back in February, right after we closed on our house, so “Our Year in Review” is a little bit of a misnomer…but that’s okay, right? Is it also okay that I used the word “misnomer”?

We’ve definitely stayed busy this year, some projects being big and others being small, but we had fun—and learned something—with every single one. Here are some of my favorite projects from 2011, in no particular order. For more details, you can click on the project titles to be routed to the original post.

10. Love Letter Art

9. Yard Sale Lamp Makeover

8. DIY Stockings

7. West Elm-Inspired Tray Makeover

6. DIY Storage Ottoman

5. DIY Gift Bow Pillow

4. DIY Desk

3. Applesauce Jar Sconces

2. Curbside Dresser-Turned-TV Stand

1. Half Bath Makeover

Aside from these projects and buying our first home, though, one of my favorite things that happened in 2011 was this little furball:

(Does anyone else think that a cat who is loved has a pretty sweet life?)

As we finish up 2011, Rick and I are spending time with family and also starting our master closet makeover, which I’ll share more about next week. My brother is home from Phoenix this week, so we’re having fun getting caught up. I’m hoping to get some pictures of us siblings that won’t qualify for Awkward Family Photos after the fails we ended up with at Thanksgiving time.

Aaaaand that about sums us up. Don’t ask.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Be sure to come back on Thursday for my second-ever giveaway! :)

***I’m linking this up to Southern Hospitality and The Blooming Hydrangea!***

Before the holiday rush began…

Before the holiday rush began, before gift wrap, inflatable Santas, and the general belief that if you are a recording artist you must do a cover of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”…there was a baby. And a mother. And a plan of redemption made real in the unsuspecting shadows of a simple manger. This is the reason for not only Christmas, but also the peace and hope that we’re blessed with in every season of the year.

So that’s why, as we celebrate Christmas this year, we’re remembering several things.

We’re remembering that this is the greatest Christmas story.

We’re remembering that this is the greatest Christmas light.

We’re remembering that this is the greatest Christmas gathering.

And we’re remembering that this is the greatest Christmas present, sent with no gift expected in return.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6 

Merry Christmas to you and your family! :)

Tutorial: Christmas Gift Bow Pillow

As promised here…it’s tutorial time!

To make the Christmas gift bow pillow:

You’ll need:

• Approximately 1/2 yard of fabric to make the bow, ribbon, and pillow back (you won’t need quite that much)
• 16” square of another fabric for the pillow front
• Small thin cardboard circle (think cereal box material)
• Hot glue
• Sewing machine

1. Prepare your loops. To make the loops on the bow pictured, you’ll need 15 fabric strips cut about 2.5” wide and 4” long. (I didn’t actually measure each. I just eyeballed it. As I’ve said before, I like to take shortcuts I strive for efficiency with my projects.) If you want a fuller or smaller bow, though, you can adjust the number of loops as desired. Once each one is cut out, fold them in half and sew shut.

2. Hot glue the fabric to your cardboard circle. Again, no precise measurements going on here, and I just drew the circle freehand, but it took about 4 square inches of fabric to cover a circle that was roughly 3” in diameter. Better to have too much that you can trim off than not enough in the first place, though. You can use an old cereal box for the circle itself—it will be thick enough.

This is what you’ll be left with:

3. Hot glue the loops to the circle. I first had to manipulate the fabric strips so that the seam was on the underside as opposed to the edge:

And then I hot glued them to the circle, starting with the outside edge. I hot glued one end of the strip to the underside of the circle, good side up.

Then I flipped it over and looped the fabric around…

…then hot glued it into place.

Keep adding loops until the outer edge is full.

Then fill in the middle with the remaining loops, all hot glued one end at a time. And ta-da! You have a fabric gift bow.

4. Cut out the remaining pieces. You’ll need one 16”x16” piece of fabric for the front of the pillow, two 12”x16” pieces for the back (to make it removable), and two strips of fabric approximately 4” wide and 20” long for the “package ribbons.”

5. Sew the “package ribbons” to the pillow front. I first folded over and ironed the edges of the “ribbons” to make a clean edge, then pinned and sewed them to the white 16”x16” pillow front.

5. Assemble and pin the pillow back to the pillow front, then sew it all together. I hemmed the edges of the pillow back that would be showing. Make sure your pieces are wrong side out. You can trim off the excess ribbon anytime; I waited until I had sewn the whole thing around the edges just to be safe. I do exercise caution occasionally with these projects.

6. Turn it right side out and hot glue the bow to the middle, and you’re done!

Victory for me on two counts here: one, Rick actually likes this pillow. This doesn’t happen every day. Two, I think I can finally sew in a straight line on the sewing machine. There was a day when the edges of my package ribbons would have looked more like a drunken sailor had stitched them, you know, in between whiskeys and swabbing the deck and battling the symptoms of scurvy.

Now that I’ve wrapped up (har har) this gift bow pillow tutorial, I better go get started on real wrapping…am I the only one who hasn’t started that yet?

***Linking this to the CSI Project!***