I’ve given up fried foods for Lent, in a show of solidarity with my Catholic husband. And also because they’re awful for you. But this meal from Ferry St. BBQ is always delicious. So is the chicken, shrimp, salmon and everything else they have. Yum.

My other fabric had these long stripes of flower. I wanted the pattern to wrap around the short end of the pillow, so I cut my 2 yards of fabric lengthwise {instead of in 1 yard pieces like Version 1}.

1. Start with your long strip of fabric that’s been ironed nice & flat.

Sometimes it’s easiest if you use a pre-made pillowcase as a template.

Fold the ends up about 6″ and iron in a crease.

On both ends, fold the raw edge over about 1″ and then under itself 1/2″ to finish it.

Stitch the edges folded edges.

2. This pillow will also have a pocket, so only sew in the big 6″ edge on 1 end.

{“What pocket?!” you’re asking. The one that folds over the end of the pillow to 1) hide it & 2) keep it from falling out.}

3. Then fold in half {right sides together} and stitch down the sides.

Turn right side out & you’re done!

Super simple!

Make anything fun recently?

This is actually the first time I remember making pillowcases and I tried it two different ways. Both versions worked equally well. I would use either, dependent on the fabric’s pattern. Completely your choice.

This post is going to illustrate version 1 and works best if you have a single yard of fabric for a single pillowcase. Version 2 {which we’ll get to tomorrow} works best if you have 2 yards of fabric and want to make 2 pillowcases.

So let’s get to it.

Pillowcases: Version 1

1. Start with 1 yard of fabric. Iron out all the wrinkles and lay it out flat.

Use a pillowcase as a template.

Leave about 1/2″ at the top for seam allowance (you could go down to 1/4″ but I had plenty to work with).

Fold up the bottom over your existing pillowcase.

Remove your template pillowcase and press the fold up.

To finish the hem, just fold the raw edge over about 1/2″ and then tuck the raw edge up into the fold. Press.

Now the bottom raw edge of your fabric has been pressed and folded up thusly.

2. Stitch down the edge

3. Fold it back up and find the middle of your fabric

Stitch the fold down but only up to the middle of the fabric. {I like a pocket to keep the pillow in the pillowcase.}

4. Fold the right sides together and stitch up the sides & top.

Turn right side out and you’re done!

By not stitching down that one half of the fold, it tucks over the end of the pillow.

Stay tuned for version 2, coming up tomorrow!!

Happy sewing!

Yesterday I started another project simply for an excuse to be outside.

Of course it’s now sitting in pieces in the dining room but those 5 hours in the backyard – wearing a tank top! – were utter perfection. It was warm, my skin was absorbing glorious amounts of vitamin D, and several power tools (& 1 iron) were involved.

You know that feeling after a really great workout? This is my version of that. The rush. The hard work. The stress melting away. The feeling of accomplishment that you just did something good for yourself. It was perfect.

And because I played outside all day, I didn’t accomplish a single productive thing. Photos weren’t edited {Bill, Paula – by this weekend, promise!}. Chapters weren’t read for class. Homework wasn’t done. The dishwasher wasn’t emptied. Today’s blog post wasn’t written.

But after all the snow and cold, wasting a beautifully warm day inside would have been sacrilege. I hope you understand. Chapters will be skimmed quickly before class, photos can be edited tonight, and we can use clean dishes straight from the dishwasher. Tomorrow we will be back with a full “How-To” post.

In the meantime, I don’t know how long this weather will last. Lets enjoy every single second of it. If you don’t have to sit at a desk all day, go outside and play. Don’t waste it sitting in front of a computer! Shoo now. Go. Play. We’ll see you tomorrow.

I totally love her blog! If you’re not familiar, check it out. I love a girl who’s not afraid to talk about money and keeping more of it in your pocket. I’m so flattered she included our closets in her round-up!

In honor of being included, I’m going to share a couple thrifty little closet tips of my own.

1. Use what you have

Our laundry/linen closet makeover cost a measly $8 because I used materials we already owend and just freshened things up with a coat of paint {which we already had!}.

2. Wait for sales & watch for deals

As you may remember, we went with the free-standing Elfa system from The Container Store for our walk-in closet. The Container Store runs an annual 30% off ALL Elfa components sale every January. For those in The Container Store “know” this is a well established fact. If you can hold out until January, do it.

ALSO – this year The Container Store ran a holiday promotion from Thanksgiving to Christmas. Buy a $100 gift card, get a $25 gift card for yourself! That’s basically a 20% sale right there {hellooooo free money}.

The promotional $25 gift cards didn’t expire until February 2010. The 30% off sale started in January. And there’s no limit to the number of gift cards you can use in one transaction {even if there were, all the components could be purchased separately}.

Add all that up and we got a tricked out closet worth $2,383.99 {including 7% sales tax} for $1341.54. Over $1,000 savings?!? Thrifty!!

Thanks again, Kasey!!

I don’t save a ton of inspiration pictures. If I see a post in my google reader I like, I’ll star it. If I think other people would like it too, I may share it. But to actually save something to my hard drive and upload it to flickr has happened 10, maybe 15 times.  I’m sure that’s shocking to many but getting back to the topic at hand…

These inspiration photos I just re-found.

It’s interesting how many similarities there are between them and our final master bedroom design.

In the first photo, wall color is a similar tone to ours (though obviously more gray to our blue/green). The white velvet drapes that pool on the floor. The dark gray comforter with a lighter bedskirt and nubby light carpet. The comforter even seems to be a Matelassé type pattern!

Check out the tall, light colored diamond tufted headboard with what looks like a matching bedframe. While my diamond tufted headboard has a dark wood frame around it, it is also pretty tall and matches our bedskirt. Again with the velvet drapes (although their radiator is white). Their dark floors are a little darker than ours but a similar idea. What REALLY stands out to me though is the light fixture. Have you seen ours?!

Almost exactly the same!

Crazy right?!

I remember saving these when we were looking for paint colors. I had already purchased the theatre curtains and remember thinking it was cool these pics showed similarly textured drapes. So was everything else coincidence? Or subconsciously influenced?

{Photo credit Canadian House & Home via The Bab’s Blog}

I don’t have a big post for today. I’m spent after yesterday’s whopper. Sorry!

But we do have a few things in the works, so stay tuned!

1. Pillowcase tutorial {super easy!!}
2. Medallion for our closet light
3. The final diamond tufted headboard “How To’s” {here’s round 1, in case you missed it}

In the meantime, we’ve been asked, “What’s next!??”

To be honest, we’re not sure. What do you think we should do next?

{For those of you in a reader, you may have to pop out to the actual site to see the poll}

We love to hear your thoughts!!

Thanks again for all the love! If I could reach through the computer screen and hug each & every one of you, I would.

Ready? Lets do it.

If you’re feeling like the master bedroom and walk-in closet are the only things we’ve talked about on this blog since September, you’d be mostly right. Aside from buying a dishwasher, our Christmas cards, and a few bouts of entertaining, it’s been all bedroom {& closet} all the time. This won’t be the last bedroom post; we’ve still got that headboard tutorial to finish and a few other How To’s but the wait for a completed room is over.

First, lets take a trip down memory lane.

When we closed, the future master bedroom looked like this -

Sage green walls with peachy beige-ish tan trim and RED red painted wood floors.

Lovely, isn’t it?

Over the summer, all the floors were refinished. We replaced the badly damaged plaster with drywall {which took immense amount of spackling & sanding and spackling & sanding, etc…}, primed & finally painted. For a refresher on that saga, check out this post. As part of that, we also added & moved some electric outlets.

With the bones in place, we could move on with the decor.

We bought a rug.

Made a bedskirt {here’s the ‘how to’}.

Fashioned 2 bedside tables.

Hung up some salvaged theatrical curtains {click here for the installation ‘how to’}.

Made over the laundry closet.

Installed some quick shelves.

Floated the painting.

Made a diamond tufted headboard {sweet victory after getting frustrated and starting over}.

After some minor obsessing about bedding, we decided to shift gears and paint the radiator orange.

And all that brings us to today, my friends.

So without further adieu, I bring you

.

.

barump bah bummm!!!!

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.

.

our

MASTER BEDROOM!

{the above & following pictures were taken with a wide-angle lens, so our room looks a lot bigger than it really is}

I’m still working out what to put on top of the tall dresser. I think a lamp, a place for our spare change and some decorative items would be ideal but for now part of my doll mold collection calls that space home. They’ll probably eventually move but I like to leave a little room to grow & change.

The duvet is West Elm’s Organic Matelassé duvet in slate. It fabulous.

The pillowcases I made from fabric found at Halsey St. Fabrics. It cost $4/yard & each pillowcase took 1 yard {“How To” to come!}. The Kramare bedside lights were $9.99 at IKEA. I made the bedside tables back in October out of a couple magazine organizers and frosta legs.

A non-wide angle view of the bed -

Our new light is from Overstock {10% off plus free shipping!}. YAY NO MORE STARING AT A BARE BULB!!! My retinas are incredibly appreciative.

Before & After

Before & After

Before & After
 

Before & After
 

Thanks for visiting!!

We’ll get to the reveal but first, a little inspiration.

My friend Thalla was poking around a bookstore and stumbled on a book that she knew I’d love.

Restoring a House in the City by Ingrid Abramovitch was immediately purchased from Amazon.com and poured over the day it arrived. It was that day I saw these pictures:

What popped out at me were the bright red glossy radiators.

I’d been struggling with how to paint our bedroom radiators. They looked like this:

Yick. Obviously they were white at some point but desperately needed to be repainted. White? Cream to blend with the curtains? BM’s Quiet Moments to blend with the wall color? Silver?

NOPE!!

Pumpkin Orange.

And a quick shout-out to Frank! When I gave hints about our secret project, Frank guessed that we were putting orange covers on our steam radiators. You were SO close. Great guess!

The process for painting the radiator was simple but very time consuming. First, it needed a really good wire brushing.

Rob ended up using several different sized wire brushes. The big one on top & a more medium-sized one for the outer parts and the little narrow ones you see at the bottom of the frame for getting in between the sections.

After the paint was scraped off, we vacuumed and wiped it down with wet rag. When it was all clean, we started painting.

One section at a time. Back & front. Front & back. Front and front again. It took 4 coats of Glidden’s Pumpkin Patch in high gloss enamel. This Old House says you should use oil based paint for painting radiators but a book we own called “We Got Steam Heat!” {highly recommended, btw} says latex or oil based is fine {p. 112}. The temperature of the radiator won’t go about 220 degrees F and that’s well below regular paint’s melting or igniting point.

I never thought we’d be finished with it. Each coat (front AND back) took 4 hours. FOUR HOURS. {I may have only done the back twice, so don’t look too close at the back.}

And yes I took the painting to the store with me so that I could find the orange that best coordinated. It is the accent color in our bedroom, after all.

And there you have it!

Not 24 hours after seeing those pictures, a decision was made and the first coat of orange hit the metal. I guess when something feels right, it’s pretty easy to pull the trigger.

So are we crazy for painting our radiator orange? Or does it a wonderfully fun pop of color? Have you painted anything recently a wild or unexpected color?

Today, Newark got pounded with more snow. I’m sure my brother in Alaska is laughing at our measly accumulation but, for New Jersey, it’s a lot. Work closed and I, for one, am grateful for another snow day. I love snow days. Of course it puts me behind a little but I’ll catch up. There’s just something magical about an unexpected free day. I almost want to make snow angels or have a snowball night. Instead, I’ve stayed mostly tucked up indoors.

The secret project is finished. It seems fitting that what was started on a snow day is finished on a snow day. I’ve also mounted a medallion and the closet light fixture, put the clean clothes away (no more IKEA bags to trip on!) and started to clean the bedroom. All steps to FINALLY finish one room in the house. OMG you guys! We’ll actually have a room done. Like DONE done. Well, with maybe a few decorative details left but lets leave room to tweak, shall we? Great.

Now, back to wrangling those dirty socks & finally trying out our new duvet. Stay warm!