Reupholstery Part 1: Counter Stool Makeover

      One of my big must-do thing in the bucket list was to do atleast an upholstery. Something I can consider a little over a huge project I suppose. So then last week I was fixating my eyes on my fave spots in the house and I noticed that our counter tools' color wasn't really getting along with the rest of the balance in the kitchen. I  thought that black wasn't really a nice pair to our already brownish cabinets and white-ish counter. So there goes the 'light-bulb' ding in the eyes of my head. I wanted to change the stools. But of course, as always budget is in my way so creativity has to interfere. Woot. Reupholstering and repainting were the perfect solution. 

         

         Alright, here are they...by far, my semi-major DIY.

        I got this fabric at Joann's and it was on sale for 50% off per yard. I only had 2 stools planned to redo so I only bought 1 yard. It cost roughly about $6. Not bad considering the fabric to be really nice. Did I tell you this fabric has been the apple of my eye for 20 minutes before dwelling on the other shelves in the store.

   
        With some basic crafting tools I was ready to go.

         This is my ultimate should-be-in-the-collection shelves from now on type of paint. I used Rust-O-Leum Hammered Brown spraypaint. Such an amazing partner in this great journey. ;-) 

  

So, this is the baby. It's a bar stool that the old owner has left the house when we bought it. We thought it was pretty new so we decided to keep them. Plus they add some function in the counter when some of us are just lazy to set up our dining table.

          Off to the backyard to spraypaint the first one. Here it is. I was in awe to see how gorgeous brown hammered worked perfectly with this metal.

       
          See the difference? ;-)

       

          These were them after. I let them dry for a good 2-3 hours just to be sure.

          And the real fun began when I had to remove the seat cushion off. Good thing the stool was just screwed so it was easy to take it out of the chair frame.  Then with some good and tough grip I covered the cushion with the fabric I bought. I used thumb taxes on the first cushion but since this homo sapien realized that'll be too much work..I bought myself  gun stapler (which was a great savior by the way) for a whopping $6.99 on sale at the Harbor Freight Tools. Woot woot!!! Just getting luckier with this project. ;-) It took about 15  minutes to perfectly wrap the cushion and staple it.  And then screw it back up with the help of my ever heroic dad. hahaha.

           Voila!!! Here it is. My new added fixation in the home. Please welcome our newly dressed up counter stool.

           Have you finished that one semi-major project you've started lately?? ;-)

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Fixations in the Home

Have you had that instance when you just can't stop staring at something and then realize that you have unconsciously glued your eyes on it...it becomes so beautiful and your favorite object of stare? Well, I certainly have experienced that and I am not going to lie that I love it.  And what better to fixate your eyes than to the objects around your home sweet home. It's almost a reminder of some great things you have done either to accentuate or just to basically add more functions to a once-foreign object.

In this case, my objects of fixations at home are more on the decors and accents on each part of the house. Well, maybe some functional tools too but because our home is really not that spacious, adding some decors can really be challenging since you don't wanna overdo it and crowd the already-space-challenged areas.
 Thus, to see that we succeeded in putting up all these accents to our home is really an achievement and I just can't stop staring at them. ;-)

These are some of those in passing.

 This is the latest addition to our princess' room. Remember when I wrote something about  our walls that are painted white and how uninspired we were to paint it because it will just ruin the texture?  Well, here's one of the millions of possibilities to an alternate. Jaida loves to scribble since she was 9 months old and I have kept all those and put them in a ring binder. So one day I chose my favorites and I framed them and asked the hubby to mount them all in the wall to showcase her art pieces. ta-duh!!!  (Too bad I wasn't as good as citing the dates so I had no idea what age she did all these...but I am sure these were between 1 - 2 yrs old).  [More on this project soon!].

Another favorite accent is the second shelve of this handed-us-down shelves from my husband's uncle and aunt who now lives back in Manila. Since I am and never a fan of clogging open shelves with stuffs even for immediate use I assured that this shelve will be for aesthetic function only. So, here it is.

This should be the top of the shelf. My husband loves the bistro theme and its figurines so I had a chance to grab a few when I drop by Ross and collect a few for him. So far, I haven't added another one yet. I think the space just doesn't need one more right?

This is our mini-bar so-to-speak but not really a bar as it barely holds any hard drink. hahaha. But I think it's just so cute that we were able to finally set this wine rack up after a year of being in its original box (thanks to our cousin, Richard who gave it as our housewarming gift).

Lastly is this newly dressed up cork board that I did a week ago. It's weird to fixate my eyes on this object but I really like the way the papers are pinned up lying equally straight on that green leafy printed fabric that I got on a whopping  99cents from Joann's.

And these are just a few of those I have loved to always look at in our cottage. ;-)  I'll definitely lend another article for more of them from the living room, small hallway, the master's bedroom, guest room and our patio.

Do you have any fixations in your own home??

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Charting Food for my Baby

         So some weeks ago I have written a blog that told that story of our challenge to make our little princess eat the right food (meat, vegetables, fruits). And after three months since we had her annual visit to her pediatrician nothing has really changed alot. Although, I must say that she kind of improved the past days because she now likes to eat my homecooked recipes (Filipino in general) and fruits on the side, she still has the moments of being too hard to feed; and that usually frustrates me and brings back dark thoughts of her being starved.  

        I thought that there is nothing more effective in seeing what and how well something is than a good tracking device. So, I created some sort of a tracking system to look into how our pretty angel does with the meals she eats everday. This was the same idea as how we did it for her when she was an infant. We would log her milk intake during the day and see if she misses a period or not. That way we were able to see if she gets enough especially that breastfeeding ceased on her third month.  [The colors of labels were inspired by Jen.]

       With some MS Excel basic know-how...I just created a table labeled with types of meals and dates used as reference in logging down the kinds of food she takes.  This also will help me monitor if she actually was taking something during the day when me and my husband is out for work. (Thanks a bunch to our mom who does this now! we love you!).
       
       This system will also help us to modify the types of foods that she takes if needed and take control over some bad binges like candies, sweets, etc. 

         Here it is....Jaida's food chart. ;-) 

        And what's really great about this chart is that the mom and dad can use it on their own diet planning. 

       Do you have any simple planning charts for your kiddos or maybe for just about anything that needs tracking and control? ;-) 

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Adding More into the List

       Home improvements and many other changes we do in our home are just endless tasks and responsibilities. It could be very challenging most of the time especially when you see that once you're done with one project another one is in need of an immediate attention. It's endless. Owning a home is not all cloud 9 and not all in bliss.  I myself would cry at night because the whole idea of 'what to dos' just come in non-stop. But...the beauty in this all is the fact that we can do something about it without restrictions.

       So, I went back on that list and checked on how the updates were doing as far as completion is concerned. Nicely, I had a browse and I did pretty good I must say. Now it's down to those relatively major ones. But as I said, this is an endless activity and as we grow with our humble abode changes are just so inevitable. There are still a continuous flow of thoughts in reorganizing, remodeling, remaking, reviving etc.

       Here's another look at my goals' list and a few additions to the bucket list including some snagshots of my planned inspirations.  ;-)

1. Create a menu plan (DIY  recipe cards from sister-in-law Lanie...thanks much for this...I finally thought of where and how to use and make it) (the menu hasn't been created yet but the planner has been nicely put together

2. Re-categorize the filed documents (get rid of that old filing cabinet) 

3. Re-arrange the bed in the master's bedroom to create more space. De-clutter the office.

4. Re-arrange Jaida's books. Buy  bookends from Ikea or create a new one.   (another make-over is yet to come for her room...stay tuned on this....i am uber excited for it!)

5. Buy the hang-in shoe rack from Walmart 

6. Remove installed hanging caddy (the one used for hanging towels)  in the master's restroom and replace with 

that wood one in the shed. Paint it gold. 

7. (Maybe)  install a holding wood on top of the toilet bowl to put in some face towels/or small towels.

8. Paint the inside of the medicine cabinet? or maybe take the medicine cabinet out?  (this was the liner project I did

9. Take cabinets out of Jaida's room?  (probably not)  (i didn't take them off but painted them)

10. Re-make the document filing (print out new labels and re-file documents...update...place old docs in the ring binder and file in the garage) 

11. Create the picture collage on the cork board posted in the garage by the wall  (this is another DIY project I can't wait to show...I will make that cork board a nice treat.) -- this can be a semi-done project since I have finished redoing the cork board in the kitchen...I will soon post the article for that. ;-)

13. Print out current pictures to put on the new collage picture frame that was a gift a year ago. (This should definitely be a 'must do'...that frame has been sitting for the longest time) 

14. Re-paint dining chairs and table. (I can't hide this excitement but this could be 2nd to my major project) 

15. Put handles on the clothes drawers in the master's bedroom. (A nice hardware it is...I've looked at Home Depot and they have lost of very good choices) 

16. Rearrange the master's bedroom. Rethink of ideas to create a much spaceous area since the mini office table gets to live in this place for a long time. 

 [reference]

17. Redo lighting fixtures. 

 [reference]

18. Accentuating Walls with cheap wall decors. 

 [reference]

19. Reorganize the dining room. Rethinking a smarter space. 

 [reference]

20. Curtains, pillows, rugs....replacing some old housing treatments. 

 [reference]

Do you have any more projects in your head with you inspirations?  How's your list doing? ;-) 

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Lining it Up with a Wrap

        After that short painting fever I had the past weeks for Jaida's cabinets I must tell you how indulging it has been for me that I had to pursue the rest of the projects I have listed.  So then the next one I had certainty in finishing fast was the idea of putting on liners on cabinets and dressers.  I was thinking of the best material to use that will also be within a relatively good budget. With some short thinking and contemplating I realized that a gift wrap was the ultimate candidate.  Sounds a little odd but it turned out very nice I think.  I never would have thought how flexible gift wrappers are in improving and beautifying your household items. Armed with a little artistic inclinations and some basic crafting tools, a simple material can turn into a nice and chic product.

       
Without further a do, here are my wrapping masterpieces. ;-)


1. This is my home made menu planner. I recycled that ring from a binder that was already broken. I punched the cards of recipes into two and cover it with a glossy gift wrap I got from Ikea.

2.   Next is Jaida's plastic dresser.  Inspired by all those made-over dressers I saw from organizing blogs, I thought that upgrading this plastic storage can definitely make a difference.

I found this cute cute wrapping paper from Target and it was love-at-first-sight I must say.
My idea was to cover the clear plastic that literally showed her clothes.  I used a scrapbook adhesive to stick the paper inside the plastic.

From this....to that!

3.  My day was getting better and I thought that lining 'em up more can really bring more life and fun. So I did put liners inside the cabinets that I painted.  Our very opinionated daughter finally told me after painting her cabinets apple green, that she didn't like it. Her favorite color is pink and she wants a pink cabinet.  But since I couldn't paint the cabinets pink I made sure there will be pink in that cabinet no matter what. ;-) Here it is....

      I saw this cutie pink shade with some white accents wrapping paper that was on clearance in Target...(yup...you guessed it right. I am such a slacker of sale for anything! I almost want stuffs like this for free so getting it for like $1.30 is more than just a winning moment.) That goes the same with the striped purple/gree/pink one.  I did need decorpro roller too and some flattening rectangle rubber to even out the pasting. 

This was how the inside of the cabinet looked like. It was the perfect situation to put in some colors. ;-)

Finally..after spending an hour sticking these papers on the inside....this was how it turned out. Pardon the organizing as that will be the next steps to do on a different article. ;-)

I did the same with the other cabinet...but I used a different color to induce more fun and brightness. 

4. Here's another plastic storage that I thought deserved to get a nice line of cover too.  This used to be another storage for Jaida's clothes but I switched it to be toy bins.  It'll be nice with labels too. That shall be in my next to-do list. 

 5.  I just couldn't get enough of cabinet redos...here's the medicine cabinet in our main bathroom. I have seen alot of remodels and remakes of bathrooms that employed removing medicine cabinets and replacing them with fancy mirrors etc. But since the hubby isn't so much a DIY-persona... totally getting rid of this thing inside the bathroom and replacing it with something else wouldn't be a feasible project I can solely do. Thus, I will have to make good use of creativity and good sightings to give this thing a brand new look even for a while. ;-)

The wrapping paper was also from Target. This one I so adore and I felt so lucky to get this one remaining roll from the rack.


Whew! That was quite a work but all worth it.  Labeling could be a good one to move on to. Don't you think?

What's the most unique project you made today?

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