Upholstery Class

Three weeks ago I started an upholstery class at the community college.  When my friend asked if I wanted to take I didn't hesitate to say yes.  I have 6 chairs that need to be recovered but I was just going to pay someone to do it because well that's easier right?  This class has taught me just how wrong I was to think that way!  It's only a 6 week class because it's summer but we are taking the fall class too. 

I actually look forward to Mondays now.   I have to say that I hate staples and tacks.  I really hate them.  I've probably pulled thousands and thousands of both out of my chair among other things.   It's an old chair that I purchased at a used furniture store and being old means it had cotton, horse hair and even a few toothpicks and a lot of dust.   

The chair is gorgeous and I'm recovering it with a neutral cotton linen blend.  I cannot wait to see the final product and I'm seriously ready for Monday again!  We've learned how to sew on an industrial sewing machine {I want one} and make welting and buttons.   The whole process is a lot simpler than I thought but I can totally appreciate why it costs so much to have your furniture reupholstered.  There's a lot of time that goes into it.  I will definitely never look at a chair the same again after this class.   I'll keep the few of you who read this blog updated on my progress.  I'm off to work on another project....

Philadelphia 2010

Last month I traveled to Philadelphia for the first ever CDH Summit.  It was an honor to be invited to such an event and it proved to be more than I could have ever expected.  For those who don't know CDH stands for congenital diaphragmatic hernia.  It's a rare and often fatal birth defect with no known cause and it took the life of our only child, Parker Reese in May 2006. 

I had never been to Philly before so I was super excited to what all it had to offer.  It's a beautiful place.  So much history.  Many gorgeous photo opportunities.  

The summit was amazing.  I learned so much about what's being done to find a cause for CDH.  The speakers were all so kind and it was so nice to put a face to a name.  They had two CDH research centers there and it was exciting to see the families participate in their studies.  I love meeting CDH families.  I never imagined that my life would become what it is today.  Running a CDH nonprofit and dedicating my life to families diagnosed with CDH.  I love what I do.  And I've met some of my best friends from our journey with CDH.   We truly are blessed that God chose us.  It's taken us some time to discover that but I have come to accept that I may never fully understand the path God has chosen for my life, but find great peace in simply knowing there is one.

I am looking forward to dinner with our friends tonight and a weekend without any children.  We are keeping two of our nieces and a nephew during the week.  We love them to pieces but it's nice to have a break! 

Closet Envy

The closets in our home are small.  We are very grateful there are two in our master bedroom but it doesn't stop me from dreaming about having a huge walk in closet someday.  I have an addiction to purses and shoes and my small closet isn't exactly helping said addiction.  This is what I'm working with.  Notice the bending rod?  I pray every time I hang something else up that it doesn't fall down. 

Our plan is to move our home to the 12.5 acres we own in another part of town and add on to it.  We'd like a bigger kitchen, living room, powder room, a real foyer, mudroom, garage, bonus room and a true master suite!  Pretty ambitious we know but we;ll do things a little at a time because we don't want our mortgage to dictate our lives.  We come and go as we please now and we want things to stay that way.  So until that all can happen I'll just keep dreaming about spaces like these.....

And this must be what shoe Heaven looks like.....

{images courtesy of California closets and unknown}

I just finished painting my sister's birthday gift.  It's been dropped off at her house awaiting her arrival on Monday.  I hope she likes it.  And if not I'll gladly take it back and find a space for it in my home.  Next up is the old sewing machine I found for a mere $49.   It's a beautiful piece of furniture and is even accompanied by the original sewing machine.  I'm excited to get working on this project.  I do wish I had a building to paint in versus my kitchen turned make shift painting room. 

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Chest of Drawers

It's finally done.  After I have no idea how many coats of paint it's done.  I love the way it turned out!  I normally use Behr Premium Plus paint but was in a rush to get started on this project so I headed to our local Wal-Mart which is 20 minutes away versus the Home Depot which is an hour away.  I would advise anyone to use Behr paint to save yourself some time! 

The final product!

Hopefully I'll have some pictures of the guest room in which this chest sits soon.  I'll start working on my next project tomorrow which is a chest that belongs to my sister.  It's getting a coat of Behr's Black Suede and is a surprise for her.  She is visiting our family in Texas right now and so I'm going to finally get around to finishing the chest for her birthday on the 22nd! 

Happy Hump Day!

Using Second Hand Furniture in Your Home

I love second hand furniture.  I have a weakness for it especially chairs.  I recently purchased a chest of drawers from my favorite local thrift store and after much debating and a little intimidation I decided to paint it.  If you've never seen Mandie and her amazing work at Altar'd you're missing out.  It's okay go ahead.  I'll wait. 

So I've started on my dresser.  I don't have a before picture of the entire dresser or if I do I can't seem to find it.  So I took this picture so you could see what I started with. 

Excuse the mess please.  This is our guest room.  It is almost finished but not enough for a photo op!  I've started painting the first three drawers.  I even attempted glazing one and boy did I do that wrong.  It just looked dirty but Mandie is helping me along the way with her tips so I'm sure I'll be painting like a pro before long.  I cannot wait to finish this project and share it with the rest of blogland! 

Back to painting.....

Happy 4th!!!

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free!

Ronald Reagan