Quarantine

Tags

Blogging, COVID, quarantine

I hate it when I come back, and have to figure out how to reintroduce myself to blogging. I feel like I have to explain why I’m starting up again. All I’ll say, is that its been several years, and then let the title speak for itself. :} It also feels strange, because the pictures within the blog layout are several years old now. It feels like a lifetime ago. I was younger and thinner then lol There is an additional child in the family, and a rather energetic dog in the mix. If this lasts I will eventually switch up the pictures, but for now I choose not to worry about it.

I’ve been needing an outlet lately. Somewhere to put down some thoughts; maybe figure out whats been twirling around in my subconscious. Its a strange time we are living in, and half the time I can’t seem to figure out how I feel about it. In the beginning it was fear, now its just a sense of weariness.

Memories

Tags

Blogging, Life, Memories

I just went back and read all the posts I’ve ever posted on my blog.  I have not posted anything for almost a year now.  It was really awesome to go back and read everything. It’s crazy how life changes things and perspectives.  I’m debating whether I should start blogging again.  It really is a good way to document life and get my thoughts organized.  I’m not sure if I can stay consistent though.  Life is crazy busy lately.

Writing Prompt Aug. 10, 2015 “(Yawn) What Bores You??”

Tags

BORING!!, I'm bored, What bores you, Yawn

Writing Prompt Aug. 10: (Yawn)

What bores you?

As I thought about this question at first I could think of nothing in particular.. but then all of sudden a list started compiling in my head.  This my friends is what bores me, one way or another! 🙂

1. Small Talk/ Useless Conversation
2. Books that are too predictable
3. Movies that are cheesy/ too predictable
4. Books and movies that are not realistic/ believable
5. Eating the same foods too often/over again
6. Reading the same bedtime story to my son over and over again  🙂
7. Anything to do with figures/numbers/finances 😐
8. Most commercials/ advertisements (there are a few exceptions, particularly ones with cute animals)
9. People who can’t get to the point, or who over-exaggerate
10. Rehashing old topics of conversation/issues over and over again
11. Basketball on TV
12. Nascar
13. Sports radio
14. Having the same schedule everyday
15. Practicality without beauty/creativity
16. Reading the same authors books one after another, such as books part of a drawn-out series. (I like having variety in writing style. After a while I can go back and read the author again and enjoy it much more.
17. Books in which the characters have too much of an inner dialogue with themselves, or get hung up on his/her issues, with no emotional growth.
18. Modern architecture/ style
19. Certain modern worship music 😮 !!
20. Painting baseboards 🙂
21. To much quotations on Facebook or Pinterest, particularly ones that are meant to show a person’s current emotional state…

This is all I could think of for now..

Maybe I’ll keep the list going as I think of things… 🙂

Let me know what you would add to the list..

Until next time,

Elza

 

Writing Prompt Aug. 8 2015 “Everything Changes”

Tags

Daily Writing, Writing Prompt

I have signed up for a daily writing prompt, hoping to get inspired and work on my writing skills a bit more.  Having been out of a learning environment for quit some time now, I feel like my brain needs a little stretching and my skills some practice. Thus, if I ever decide to further my education, I won’t feel like a complete bumkin.

I don’t know if I will commit to this every day… but I will try ever so often and see if I like it.

FYI, these prompts are pretty random, and I can take them into whatever direction pleases me, whether it be philosophical, biographical, narrative, or imaginary.

So here it goes:

Writing Prompt August 6th: Everything Changes

Walking down the street, you encounter a folded piece of paper on the sidewalk. You pick it up and read it and immediately, your life has changed. Describe this experience.

For life to change dramatically at the mere sight of a few words, the words would have to be powerful… The most powerful and life altering written word that I have ever experienced would have to be from the Bible. There are passages that have served, enlightened, and encouraged me throughout the years.  The words that I cling to seem to change as the seasons of my life progress.

If I could imagine this scenario playing out in my life, I would imagine it would have to be when I have felt the most broken.

As I walk down the street my head down, shoulders slumped, my thoughts consumed, and my heart heavy, I see a fleck of white on the ground. Instinctively I pick up the paper and read these words through misty eyes.

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted

A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away

A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

….He hath made every thing beautiful in his time.”

-Elza-

Dresser Progress Sneak Peak

Tags

Chalk Paint, DIY, Dresser Remodel, Sneak Peek

So here is a little sneak peak of the dresser right now.

As you can see I went with a Paris grey whitewashed look. I am really happy with how its turning out. I am about half way done painting it. The front and top are almost done, but I still have to paint the sides.  Also I still have to wax it and add a little more distressing.

I want to finish it by the weekend… but we shall see because we have a busy social schedule this weekend.

Have a great day!

Elza

My New Project

Tags

Chalk Paint, French Dresser, New Project, Restoration

I have a new painting project.

A few days ago I got this lovely little French dresser from a thrift store. It has a few dings and scratches, but otherwise its a nice piece with dove-tailed drawers and solid construction.  However the finish is definitely dated.

 It might be hard to tell from the photograph but the finish is very cheap, and is actually some sort of laminate material over wood.  The grain is very fake looking, and the gold accent paint has a very craft store feel to it.

The hardware on the piece is gorgeous however, with a lovely aged patina. Also I find the overall form of the piece to be pleasantly French inspired. So I’m hoping to transform it into something that looks a little more high-end.

I’ve been itching to get started on this project, but I have yet to go buy the particular paint color I want for this piece.  With all the snow we have been having, I haven’t had the chance to go buy it. Hopefully tomorrow I can go get some and start mixing some paint.

I will keep you updated with my progress.

Bye for now,

Elza

 

 

In the Holiday Mood

Tags

Christmas, Holidays, Music, Thanksgiving

Well it’s official, the holidays are upon us! I love this time of the year! It’s probably the child that’s still in me, but something about the spirit of the season really makes me happy.  This feeling of goodwill stays with me from Thanksgiving to New Years day, and I look forward to it all year. 🙂

Right now I’m sitting and planning my Thanksgiving menu, Christmas music playing in the background.  Some of the best music ever written, is Christmas music! It’s always so uplifting and happy.  Today’s world can use as much happy as possible, particularly since we are inundated with one bad news story after another.

I look forward to slowing down and spending time with my family.  Holiday gatherings are some of my most treasured memories.  I really hope that I can make sure my son experiences the warmth and love of the season, just like I did when I was a kid.  Most importantly, I hope I can eventually teach him the true meaning of why we celebrate. The message of hope and joy that the Christ child brought to this cold desolate world, when he was born in a humble manger.

God Bless you, and may you feel the spirit of the season!

Elza

French Side-Table Makeover

Tags

Chalk Paint, DIY, Duck Egg Blue, French Side Table, Furniture makeover, Painting

I purchased this lovely little side table from craigslist.

This is how it looked like before I put some work into it.

The veneer was peeling up in multiple places. It had some deep scratches, and a few dents. Also a piece of the trim was broken off.

(I had forgotten to take before pictures of it, because I dived right into the project. However the person who sold it to me was nice enough to email me his craigslist photos. :))

This piece had beautiful details,  and was made of solid wood.  Thus, even though it was in a rough shape, I knew I could work with it.

Deciding to paint it was an obvious choice. I had to fill in multiple imperfections with wood filler, and I had to take off some of the peeling veneer, thus staining the natural wood was not an option  I managed to completely built up the trim piece that was broken off with wood putty.  So, after some good sanding to make sure it all blended in with the old, the coat of paint made it look as good as new.  I used homemade chalk paint to paint the piece, and it gave it a nice buttery smooth finish.

I then went on to clear wax it, and then dark waxed it around the details and legs.  The dark wax deepened the color a bit, and gave it a more vintage appearance. I didn’t want the paint to look too new, and not match the style and age of the piece. The hardware on this was absolutely beautiful; it had a natural aged patina which I did not touch.

I really love the color I chose. It is a blue/green, which looks different depending on the light. It is very similar to Annie Sloans Duck Egg Blue, which some may be familiar with.

Well that’s all for now. I hope you guys like my projects. I have another one that I just finished, and will talk about in the near future.

As Always,

Elza 🙂

Fall Is In The Air!

Tags

Decorating, Fall Decor, Happy Autumn

Fall is here! I’m loving the crisp air, and yet still warm sunshine, which calls for cozy sweaters and blazers. Something about this season just really makes me feel invigorated. 🙂 I’m really anticipating the changing leaves, that are particularly vibrant in New England. Nothing like the bright, yellows, reds, and orange colors of autumn foliage.  I don’t go crazy when it comes to fall decorating, but a few touches around the house really get me in the mood for the season.

Here are a few snapshots of my fall décor.

I’m in love with the hydrangea my mom cut me from her garden. I’m hoping they will dry like that.

Happy Fall everyone! Soon its time for apple picking and pumpkin Pie! 🙂

I’ll leave you with a picture of my munchkin enjoying the last days of summer.

-Elza-

How to Reupholster a Chair

Tags

DIY, Fabric, How To, Queen Anne Chair, Staple Gun, Upholstery

Well I tried my hand at upholstery for the first time, and I’m glad I did. It was quit the learning curve, but actually not that hard when you do a little research.

My dad had purchased a set of Queen Anne chairs for me, and though I loved their shape, I wasn’t too keen on the style.  A little too Victorian for me.  (Don’t mind the fabric swatch)

Also they were a little worn in some places.

So I decided to try to redo them. How hard can it be?

I started by taking off the old fabric.  This was not all that easy. There were hundreds of staples holding it down. In some places if I tugged hard enough, I could pull up the fabric with the staples, but otherwise, I had to take out each staple one at a time. At first I tried to do this with just a flat head screw driver and pliers, but that wasn’t working so good. After jabbing myself several times with the screw driver and making very little progress, I eventually went out and purchased this special upholstery staple remover and it was a huge help.

I have to say this is a handy little tool to have for projects like this. I actually found mine at my local Walmart in the sewing/crafts section, but it is available on Amazon also.  Look at all those staples!! Had to take out each one! The padding on my chair was in good condition so I didn’t touch it.

Next I went and purchased some upholstery fabric, and cut it to the relative shape  of the old fabric I took off, adding several inches extra, so I could have something to hold on to when I needed to pull it tight.  So I placed my fabric onto the chair and began stapling. This is when the fun really began.

I thought I could do this with my regular old staple gun. However, I quickly realized that it will not work. Every time I tried to staple the fabric, the staples would either bend or not go all the way in.  I tried using different length staples, yet nothing worked.  Frustrated, I turned to Google for help.  As it turns out upholstery staples are a lot thinner than what your average staple gun uses.  Comparing the staples I pulled out to the ones I was using, I could definitely see that they were a lot thinner and had sharper tips. Good quality furniture is usually made out of hard woods. Ordinary hand held staple guns are made for softer construction material such as plywood.  The other option would be to use an automatic air staple gun, which would have enough force, yet is also not ideal, because 1. its expensive, 2.  it requires an air compressor, 3. the staples are still bulky and if you make a mistake pulling them out is not an option, and 4. you risk splitting the frame of your furniture.

So what did I do? Did I go and buy an upholstery staple gun that is only available for purchase online and costs about $60-$200 dollars?? Plus the staples another $30?

Nope!  I don’t have enough patience or money for that! 🙂  I went and wandered the aisles of home depot looking for another option.  ..and you know my friends some times I think I’m genius.  🙂

Exhibit A: This is your regular T-50 Staple gun. $17  –> for my purposes USELESS

Exhibit B: Stanley Light Duty Staple Gun $8 –> IT WORKS!!

So this Staple gun is like the little brother of the T-50.  He is a lot smaller and scrawnier looking, and probably would go unnoticed hanging right next to the bigger and stronger T-50.  Yet why did this little guy save the day? It so happens this staple gun uses thinner staples.  So I gambled with this purchase and won! It actually worked. The thinner staples easily went into my chair and my project could go on! You could thank me for this discovery later. 😉

I will say though, if you plan to reupholster often or something larger like a couch. You should probably invest in an upholstery stapler, because this does wear on your hands after a while.  However for me, the impatient casual DIYer if worked fine.

This is my chair after I finally finished stapling late in the evening, and trimmed all the extra fabric on the edges.

YouTube has some good videos about how to place the fabric when stapling. This video in particular was helpful. –> LINK

Lastly I went back to the fabric store and purchased some trim, which I hot-glued in place, hiding the fabric edge and staples.

I have been really loving the look of velvet upholstery lately.  It is becoming more and more in style.

These were some of my inspiration photos.  Most of these chairs cost $500 and up! Definitely not in my budget..

I went with a beautiful sage green. It has a nice vintage wash to it, yet still looks modern. It was $25 a yard, but so worth it.  Total, this project cost me about $50. This includes fabric, trim, staple gun, staples, and staple remover.

It looks fantastic in our bedroom.

Now I just have to repeat the process with the second one. 🙂

Have a great day,

Elza