287. photos framed.

This is kind of a lame thing to post about, but for lack of anything better (i worked ALOT this week and am heading out to a wedding in an hour) – this is about as crafty as I got today. I chose the photos and put them in the frames. Now this wall collection is complete!

280. frame configuration.

Today I did something I wanted to do for a looooong time. I hung frames. ALOT of them. Ive been wanting to have a wall of family photos since Milo was born, I just couldn’t bring myself to put it together. I had a half ass one in the condo but when we moved into the house I knew I wanted to have photos by the stairs. We don’t have a huge staircase by any means, but we definitely have the space to make something happen. I went to ikea a few months ago and bought some frames. I always buy the Ribba frame in black, and then I get home, start configuring and then realize I didn’t buy enough…So I gave up on that. I went to target last night and just picked random frames in various sizes. Then I picked from my Ikea stock, as well as some others I had laying around and just starting hanging them until I got here. And Im pretty happy with it! We recently took family photos, so I have all kinds of photos from the shoot, as well as other favorites from the past few years to get into those frames. I had a shutterfly gift certificate from two years ago that I redeemed to get the prints. So now I wait.

In the meantime, WHAT do we do with that hideous railing?? We desperately need a new one, but have no ideas where to even start. I found this, but Dj didnt really care for it…

273. roller blinds.

Our bedroom came with those cheap, vinyl roller blinds, so shortly after we moved in I bought fabric from Ikea to replace the vinyl with fabric and make roller blinds, using this tutorial. This morning I felt ambitious and thought I would attempt the small window and see what happens. Well, about 20 minutes later, I was done and I think it looks great! I used hot glue to adhere my fabric to the roller, stuck it back up in the window, put the dowel rod in, and just like that instant room make over. I still have to do two more larger windows…then maybe I will finally start hanging art on the walls.

Overall, i was shocked at how fast and easy these came together! If you are considering doing something like this…go for it! I

265. chevron pillow.

Ive pinned lots of things chevron, but cant’s say I own anything with the pattern yet. I really want a chevron rug, and I almost bought a chevron chair, but I think its too on trend and after a few years I will find myself looking to replace it. So when I realized the big pillows that came with my couch have zippered covers, I realized this would be my perfect opportunity to sew some new covers for them – and finally introduce some chevron in my life. I went safe with grey; although I think a teal or orange could be nice too.

Last summer I took my very first sewing class ever at the Needle shop in bucktown and we sewed a pillow case with an invisible zipper. So i took those skills and applied them to this giant chevron pillow. Only back then it would take me about 3 hours to make this. Now it only took me about 30-40 minutes! The pillow to the left of it, with the birdcages, is the pillow I made in that class last summer.

205. house update: milo’s room!

Milo’s room is painted and just about ready. We’re still trying to find a nightstand but other than that everything is in place. We opted not to hang anything framed around his bed since he’ll probably end up knocking it on top of himself. He got a full size bed from his grandma for his birthday and I got him the star wars sheets from pottery barn since I had an unused gift card from our wedding (um…that was almost ten years ago! )

My friend kristen came over and helped me map out the wall with the book shelf. I’m so happy how this turned out!

I hope to eventually finish this dresser for him, but I’m not sure that is going to happen anytime soon unfortunately.

I chose a grey color for his room, but it actually looks more blue than grey. Oops. But overall I’m really happy with how it turned out and so is milo! His words were “wow! It looks really cool!”