Update on the apartment decorating …
Well, with the water-heater alcove curtain and matching kitchen window scarf all nicely hemmed, I began to think what a shame it was that the living room and bedroom window scarves — again, long pieces of fabric were unhemmed at the ends. The scarves are long enough to puddle on the floor and hide their long ends, but these ends were becoming frayed and stringy. I LOVE Stitch Witchery fusible bonding tape! … I spent a recent Sunday afternoon using it to hem the ends. These ends, beside being frayed, had a ragged cut, so I folded them several times over, ironing the folds in place before using the tape. Because the milk-chocolate satin scarf on the triple living-room window would be too hard to rehang, I pulled the ironing board up and ironed the hems in while the scarf hung. I had my doubts about fusible bonding working as well with black sheer fabric, but work it did.
The sides of these scarves still bear their raw, but neat, unfraying, "fabric-store" edges. These I've opted to leave alone and tuck out of sight. Hemming the sides would be TOO much work.
I did indeed darken the bathroom storage unit and tissue-holder basket but not with oil-rubbed bronze paint. I did so with the mahogany stain I'd used to freshen up my other furniture pieces. I also used that stain to darken the gold window-scarf holders in the kitchen and bath; enhance a pair of fleur-de-lis wall hangings; and redo an over-the-door wreath holder I'm using as a robe hook in the bathroom. (I love the stuff, but it stinks to high heaven and can make you sick even through those cheap little white nose masks.)
Again, I'd decorated the bathroom around our brown/paprika/copper/tan/champagne shower curtain; most of the accents are oil-rubbed bronze and cast-iron pieces with bits of bronze, tan and copper. I "pimped out" the place so much, in fact, that the silver-framed mirror on our stuck-shut, unused medicine cabinet started to look really pitiful. But we're renting, so what to do? I measured the mirror; it was 14 by 20. I went BACK to Hobby Lobby, took advantage of its 50-percent discount on open frames and bought an elegant, lightweight, dark-brown14x18 frame whose edges are wide enough to cover the length of the mirror, and added hanging hardware. The top corners of the mirror frame were still exposed, so I also bought a 11x14 mat to fit a 16x20 frame, cut the outer edges to fit the 14x18 frame, inserted the mat, and now have the frame hanging over the mirror frame.
The biggest bathroom challenge: the ceramic tile. Its burnt-peach color with terra cotta trim was a challenge in itself. (The aforementioned shower curtain popped up in a Google search for curtains matching the tile.) But then, as is the case with a number of other bathrooms in our older apartment building, the tile on the outer bathroom wall is riddled with deep cracks … deep enough that some of the edges are raised. Our friend and next-door neighbor speculates that the walls were damaged when the bathroom fixtures were updated, and the powers-that-be simply opted not to fix them. We naively thought the tile would be addressed by the time we moved in. Nope. The tile trim also had deep cracks in spots. And, there is a crack running over the tub near its updated faucets, which would bear out our friend's speculation.
The property manager gave me the go-ahead to camouflage the cracks in whatever way I wished. I read online where one woman had bought paint to match the tile, then mixed the paint with "tile filler" to smoothly patch the cracks. This is what I would do, I thought, but put the plan on hold to concentrate on decorating with items we can take with us when we move.
Finally, I went hunting last weekend for paint to match the bathroom tile and of course, couldn't find an EXACT match. I also discovered that there seems to be no such thing as "tile filler" per se, so I'm wondering what product was used in the tip I read. I ended up with some crack repair stuff that's like caulking (comes in a similar tube) that was really too thick and tough to "mix" with anything. Long story short ... since the paint wasn't quite a match I did a rag-and-bag texture all along the tile wall with the cracks, then separated a cup of paint and mixed it with a little bit of brown hobby paint to try to repair cracks in the tile trim. That wasn't an exact match either, so I just did an intermittent two-tone-trim thing.
As for the main tile, I should have stopped at just ragging and bagging over it. I put some of that tough crack repair on top of the cracks to try to smooth them out, since some of the cracks have raised edges. It went on clumpy … and the stuff is not sand-able. So I just repainted over all that. The clumpy areas irritate me, but again, the wall looks better than it did.
Only "major" things left to do in the bathroom is:
1. Take white paint and a small brush to go back over some of spots above the tile trim, since I didn't have painters' tape (didn't think I'd need it, ha ha).
2. Wait for another 20-percent-off sale at Big Lots and buy a couple more of the large, decorative tin tile hanging on the wall over the tub. The one I bought hangs over the foot of the tub. I'd like two identical ones to hang over the side of the tub.
Of course I'll still be buying linens whenever I can. I have to start all over again with bath towels … the cheaper ones I got to match the decor when we first moved wasn't the best quality. I'd at least like them to be as nice as the upscale, dark brown tub mats I didn't think I'd ever find until I discovered them dirt-cheap in Tuesday Morning.
Future buys we need SOON: Storage bins for the closets — clothing, linen, kitchen pantry. I've put those purchases off for WAYY too long, telling myself we could at least close the door on those messes ...
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
The very thing I feared came upon me: Starting a new blog, and then failing to add an entry for months. Life happens. But to pick up where I left off ...
I've been thinking a lot about that scripture where Moses, in his first personal encounter with God how on earth he was going to get anybody to believe God sent him to do what God sent him to do — get His people out of Egypt, no less. God asked him, "What's that you have in your hand?" Moses said, "A rod" (Exodus 4:2) I've seen where this verse was used to show us that so many times we're waiting for God to send us the tools, literal or figurative, to do what He has assigned us to do or to meet a need we have.
Also, one of my favorite parables involves the stewards who made good of their talents (Matthew 25) who were told that since they'd been faithful over a few things, they'd be made ruler over many things.
In the months since my husband and I moved (November 2014), I've thought about this verse often as God has showen me how to repurpose things we already had in order to meet our needs. And these ideas have really led me to love being a DIY-er (do-it-yourself'er), a role I've taken on before but not to the extent to which I've taken it on lately.
Our last apartment had, unfortunately, devolved into a cluttered mess. Many things needed to be put into storage, given away, sold or retired altogether. Especially things I'd had since my first marriage ended in 1997 and which were too shabby to survive another move. I wanted this new space would have a fresh vibe.
• One of my biggest concerns when we moved was finding a dining table. Before, all we had was a large wooden circular tabletop that we'd perched on the base of a glass-brass-and-black-laquer dining set my folks had bought my former husband and me back in the 1990s (its original glass top was long broken; its chairs long gone). I'd tarted the "table" up for years with sheets and an animal-print table topper, and used two antique-mall armchairs as its seats. When we moved, I decided we needed to retire the makeshift table along with the topper. But not only did we not have new-dining-set money, we now had an apartment that lacked a dedicated dining area but did have a spacious living room that would have to be carved up for multipurpose use. I thought of a bistro set, but even that would cost money we'd had to give to movers and utility companies ... and I was concerned that the set would be TOO small.
As I wondered what to do, my eyes fell on the little mahogany-finish, leather-topped, Duncan Phyfe drum table we'd used for years as a living-room accent table and family-photo holder. It had its issues, including being quite wobbly. But it occurred to me that it would make a great little dining table for the two of us, as well as a guest or two if need be. Taking the suggestion of one of our movers, I used wood glue to steady the table's pedestal, reinvigorated it with mahogany stain, made a couple other minor repairs that could, ahem, stand to be redone at a later date, and finished it off with an elephant candleholder centerpiece and decorative placemats. The antique-mall chairs, whose seats are upholstered in a leopard print, were sponge-painted with the stain to darken their original shabby-chic finish. The table and chairs, along with a lamp on a pedestal, now sit right in front of our triple-wide, second-story living room window. We enjoy having meals and coffee/cocoa there while looking at dog walkers, joggers and strollers go by on our scenic street. My full-time freelance writer husband also uses the table as a writing and interviewing desk, since it's located conveniently next to the home-office area of the living room. (The one thing we miss is the fact that the bigger makeshift table also served as a food-prep table. Our kitchenette has no counter space, so we're hoping to be able to add one of those rolling kitchen carts.)
• Then there was the matter of a headboard for our bed. The inexpensive, powder-coated metal canopied bed I was so proud of in the mid-1990s seemed to be more difficult to put back together with each previous move, not to mention the fact that some of the special screws went missing. In our last apartment, whose bedroom was small, we got rid of the canopy poles and the footboard and left the headboard propped against the wall. When we moved, we decided it was time to retire this one last piece of a bygone era. I got a rude awakening when checking out headboard prices online. But then I realized that not only were people using some of ANY and EVERYTHING as wall-mount headboards, I realized we already had the perfect candidate — a lightweight, korhogo-print throw from the Ivory Coast, stretched out on a frame and the exact width of our queen-size bed. Its dark-brown designs on a natural background matched the color scheme we wanted for the bedroom. That took care of that.
• I'd originally thought I'd get rid of our massive coffee table from the '90s — since no one is doing "massive" anymore — and find a smaller replacement piece. We tried to sell it cheap at our pre-move garage sale but no one was in the market for it … and I realized I was glad. The table is a magnificent piece I'd found at Dillard's as part of a living room set called Renaissance (there was a matching console table I dearly wish I'd also purchased, as well as a side tables). The table features a subtle burled-wood surface, carved sides and legs, and and ball-and-claw feet. I'm embarrassed to say it's taken some abuse over the years, bearing scars it shouldn't (it's so NOT a piece on which to do any tasks involving nail polish remover), but it's still a "beaut." And again, the new living room is quite large, so the table fits in better here than it did in the other apartment. This table, too, received a new coat of stain. Draped with an animal-print runner, it bears photo books along with a 2006 Nigeria trip find ... busts of the Oba and Obi of Benin. At some point will be "updated" with decorative under-the-table wicker baskets.
• I began to wonder what I could do to cover up the floor-to-ceiling opening of the alcove, located off the kitchen, that houses our water heater. The idea came to me to use a floor-to-ceiling curtain on a tension rod. For a curtain that was at least 8 1/2 feet long, I figured the most economical thing to do would be to buy about four yards of cloth (brown to match the color scheme) and hem/rod-pocket the ends. I even knew what cloth I'd buy: The same chocolate-colored satiny cloth I'd bought at Hobby Lobby a couple years back with the original idea of having a seamstress friend make me a fancy cloth for the (now retired) makeshift dining table. Two super-long pieces of this fabric were now teamed up with black sheer fabric to serve as double window scarves in the living room and bedroom. The moneysaving solution here: Divest the bedroom scarf from its black partner, cut it in half, and use one of the halves as the curtain, using fusible bonding tape to form the rod pocket and hem. Next project: Use a piece of the remaining half of the fabric for a short matching scarf for the kitchen window.
• Our previous bathroom color scheme was black, with champagne and off-white. This bathroom features a color scheme centered on its Manor Hill Sierra Copper shower curtain, with its shades of brown, paprika, copper, tan, and champagne. We were stuck with a black metal, over-the-toilet storage-shelf unit. By necessity, the unit is now an over-the-laundry-hamper unit by the bathroom sink. And it's redone .. sponge-painted in brown and bronze. (I'm planning to add a few dabs of oil-rubbed bronze paint as a nod to the bathroom accessories. A metal-and-wicker basket that holds extra rolls of bathroom tissues has gotten, and will receive, the same treatment.
• And after years of saying I'd do so, I finally transformed a small, blond bookcase from Target into a mahogany masterpiece using that same stain. I've even used this stain on a couple of polyresin bathroom wall hangings as well as window-scarf holders.
Just about everything I HAVE bought, I've gotten through taking heavy advantage of off-price store chains like Big Lots and Stein Mart; Hobby Hobby's frequent half-off specials, and Bed Bath & Beyond discount coupons. The one big splurge so far: a nearly $50 wicker hamper from Target.
Yeah, it'd be nice if money were no object. But necessity is truly the mother of God-given creativity.
I've been thinking a lot about that scripture where Moses, in his first personal encounter with God how on earth he was going to get anybody to believe God sent him to do what God sent him to do — get His people out of Egypt, no less. God asked him, "What's that you have in your hand?" Moses said, "A rod" (Exodus 4:2) I've seen where this verse was used to show us that so many times we're waiting for God to send us the tools, literal or figurative, to do what He has assigned us to do or to meet a need we have.
Also, one of my favorite parables involves the stewards who made good of their talents (Matthew 25) who were told that since they'd been faithful over a few things, they'd be made ruler over many things.
In the months since my husband and I moved (November 2014), I've thought about this verse often as God has showen me how to repurpose things we already had in order to meet our needs. And these ideas have really led me to love being a DIY-er (do-it-yourself'er), a role I've taken on before but not to the extent to which I've taken it on lately.
Our last apartment had, unfortunately, devolved into a cluttered mess. Many things needed to be put into storage, given away, sold or retired altogether. Especially things I'd had since my first marriage ended in 1997 and which were too shabby to survive another move. I wanted this new space would have a fresh vibe.
• One of my biggest concerns when we moved was finding a dining table. Before, all we had was a large wooden circular tabletop that we'd perched on the base of a glass-brass-and-black-laquer dining set my folks had bought my former husband and me back in the 1990s (its original glass top was long broken; its chairs long gone). I'd tarted the "table" up for years with sheets and an animal-print table topper, and used two antique-mall armchairs as its seats. When we moved, I decided we needed to retire the makeshift table along with the topper. But not only did we not have new-dining-set money, we now had an apartment that lacked a dedicated dining area but did have a spacious living room that would have to be carved up for multipurpose use. I thought of a bistro set, but even that would cost money we'd had to give to movers and utility companies ... and I was concerned that the set would be TOO small.
As I wondered what to do, my eyes fell on the little mahogany-finish, leather-topped, Duncan Phyfe drum table we'd used for years as a living-room accent table and family-photo holder. It had its issues, including being quite wobbly. But it occurred to me that it would make a great little dining table for the two of us, as well as a guest or two if need be. Taking the suggestion of one of our movers, I used wood glue to steady the table's pedestal, reinvigorated it with mahogany stain, made a couple other minor repairs that could, ahem, stand to be redone at a later date, and finished it off with an elephant candleholder centerpiece and decorative placemats. The antique-mall chairs, whose seats are upholstered in a leopard print, were sponge-painted with the stain to darken their original shabby-chic finish. The table and chairs, along with a lamp on a pedestal, now sit right in front of our triple-wide, second-story living room window. We enjoy having meals and coffee/cocoa there while looking at dog walkers, joggers and strollers go by on our scenic street. My full-time freelance writer husband also uses the table as a writing and interviewing desk, since it's located conveniently next to the home-office area of the living room. (The one thing we miss is the fact that the bigger makeshift table also served as a food-prep table. Our kitchenette has no counter space, so we're hoping to be able to add one of those rolling kitchen carts.)
• Then there was the matter of a headboard for our bed. The inexpensive, powder-coated metal canopied bed I was so proud of in the mid-1990s seemed to be more difficult to put back together with each previous move, not to mention the fact that some of the special screws went missing. In our last apartment, whose bedroom was small, we got rid of the canopy poles and the footboard and left the headboard propped against the wall. When we moved, we decided it was time to retire this one last piece of a bygone era. I got a rude awakening when checking out headboard prices online. But then I realized that not only were people using some of ANY and EVERYTHING as wall-mount headboards, I realized we already had the perfect candidate — a lightweight, korhogo-print throw from the Ivory Coast, stretched out on a frame and the exact width of our queen-size bed. Its dark-brown designs on a natural background matched the color scheme we wanted for the bedroom. That took care of that.
• I'd originally thought I'd get rid of our massive coffee table from the '90s — since no one is doing "massive" anymore — and find a smaller replacement piece. We tried to sell it cheap at our pre-move garage sale but no one was in the market for it … and I realized I was glad. The table is a magnificent piece I'd found at Dillard's as part of a living room set called Renaissance (there was a matching console table I dearly wish I'd also purchased, as well as a side tables). The table features a subtle burled-wood surface, carved sides and legs, and and ball-and-claw feet. I'm embarrassed to say it's taken some abuse over the years, bearing scars it shouldn't (it's so NOT a piece on which to do any tasks involving nail polish remover), but it's still a "beaut." And again, the new living room is quite large, so the table fits in better here than it did in the other apartment. This table, too, received a new coat of stain. Draped with an animal-print runner, it bears photo books along with a 2006 Nigeria trip find ... busts of the Oba and Obi of Benin. At some point will be "updated" with decorative under-the-table wicker baskets.
• I began to wonder what I could do to cover up the floor-to-ceiling opening of the alcove, located off the kitchen, that houses our water heater. The idea came to me to use a floor-to-ceiling curtain on a tension rod. For a curtain that was at least 8 1/2 feet long, I figured the most economical thing to do would be to buy about four yards of cloth (brown to match the color scheme) and hem/rod-pocket the ends. I even knew what cloth I'd buy: The same chocolate-colored satiny cloth I'd bought at Hobby Lobby a couple years back with the original idea of having a seamstress friend make me a fancy cloth for the (now retired) makeshift dining table. Two super-long pieces of this fabric were now teamed up with black sheer fabric to serve as double window scarves in the living room and bedroom. The moneysaving solution here: Divest the bedroom scarf from its black partner, cut it in half, and use one of the halves as the curtain, using fusible bonding tape to form the rod pocket and hem. Next project: Use a piece of the remaining half of the fabric for a short matching scarf for the kitchen window.
• Our previous bathroom color scheme was black, with champagne and off-white. This bathroom features a color scheme centered on its Manor Hill Sierra Copper shower curtain, with its shades of brown, paprika, copper, tan, and champagne. We were stuck with a black metal, over-the-toilet storage-shelf unit. By necessity, the unit is now an over-the-laundry-hamper unit by the bathroom sink. And it's redone .. sponge-painted in brown and bronze. (I'm planning to add a few dabs of oil-rubbed bronze paint as a nod to the bathroom accessories. A metal-and-wicker basket that holds extra rolls of bathroom tissues has gotten, and will receive, the same treatment.
• And after years of saying I'd do so, I finally transformed a small, blond bookcase from Target into a mahogany masterpiece using that same stain. I've even used this stain on a couple of polyresin bathroom wall hangings as well as window-scarf holders.
Just about everything I HAVE bought, I've gotten through taking heavy advantage of off-price store chains like Big Lots and Stein Mart; Hobby Hobby's frequent half-off specials, and Bed Bath & Beyond discount coupons. The one big splurge so far: a nearly $50 wicker hamper from Target.
Yeah, it'd be nice if money were no object. But necessity is truly the mother of God-given creativity.
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