Autumn Leaves

Last week, after B headed back to BC, Halle and I stayed behind in Massachusetts for a couple of extra days with his parents. We always love our time there and with all of the wedding planning behind me we had some time to get crafty with B's Mom.

I did some looking around on Pinterest for inspiration and found a great Pin (can't find it now) where you made a tree out of your child's hand print and leaves for them to glue on using on fabric. It was just our luck that B's Mom had a great big box full of old fabric samples in wonderful fall colours. So, last Monday night I sat down and cut out a ton of little leaves from different fabrics so that Halle could pick and choose which leaves she wanted on her tree.

On Tuesday before lunch, we all sat around the kitchen table to create a little fall craft. B's Mom traced Halle's hand onto some brown paper to make our tree. (We actually cut out four tree's in total for some extra's).

Next, Halle helped put glue on the back of the tree and we stuck it onto a piece of white paper...

Lastly, we started dabbing glue all over that handprint tree and let Halle go nuts sticking whichever leaves she wanted to it.

She only lasted for one tree that first day, but it turned out so lovely and she was pretty proud of it. I have plans to frame that tree and put it out this fall season. 

It was such a fun and easy craft for all of us, and a great way to use up some scraps of fabric that my Mother-in-law had! Plus it was a nice way to get into an Autumn state of mind (even if the few days following that felt more like summer).

Have you been thinking about fall yet? Have you started any decorating, or maybe some DIY projects for around the house? 

It's Coming Along

Okay, so I finally have a little update on our garage sale chair... which still isn't done, but we are so close I can taste it! It's become one of those projects where I desperately want to finish it, but can't be bothered to finish it all at the same time. We all have them... right? Please tell someone else out there does this?

But yes, back to the chair. It's been sitting in our sunroom (which is once again leaking as our west coast rain has returned full force), mostly painted with the fabric cut and draped over the seats for quite a few weeks now. Back when my parents were visiting, I recruited my incredibly talented Mother to help me cut out the fabric pieces, and she was a saviour. What I am about to share with you was 100% her idea. I am sure other's would have done it this way, but I am not one of them. So here is what we did...

If you remember from my last post, I spent an insane amount of time pulling upholstery tacks from this chair, to carefully remove the old red fabric. I'm glad I took my time because each old piece of fabric came off perfectly, and I was left with great templates for my new fabric pieces. 

First, we took our brand new fabric and folded it in half. Then, we took the red fabric from the seat of the chair and folded it perfectly in half as well. We then lined up the two folded edges of both pieces of fabric like so...

Next we cut just outside the edge of the red fabric in order to get our perfect new piece of fabric.

It was really that simple - for the seat anyway. We started with that piece, as it was the largest. This left us with very little waste, and also helped us figure out how to line up the checks for the next two pieces we would be cutting. Since our new fabric was folded in half, we already had it worked out so the checks should line up perfectly once all of our pieces were cut and stapled to the chair. This would have been perfect - but of course the two pieces for the back rest were a little more tricky.

Our original plan was to continue matching up our folded edges. Unfortunately, if we did it that way for the two smaller pieces, it would've resulted in a considerable amount of wasted fabric. Instead, we played around with our two (smaller) pieces of fabric and how we folded the new fabric. It turned out, we could fold the new fabric in two spots and end up with the same repeat of the checks, running in the same direction so that our back and seat would line up nicely.

I don't know why, but I'm finding it a little hard to articulate our process in this post. I hope I have been clear enough, but if not, please feel free to ask any questions. I would happy to answer any specific questions, or to clarify on a certain point if anyone would like to know more. 

In the end, all of our new fabric fit perfectly and the lines matched up well. We have a problem with the checks on the back not being the same colour where they meet, but in the end, the lines match up so it still looks good. Here's our almost finished chair...

We are SO CLOSE! Seriously, so incredibly close and maybe this will be the weekend that we finally finish it up and put it to use in the house. 

Have you had any projects that just sit idle for way too long, even though you are dying to finish them? Anyone else having a lack of motivation on projects and blogging recently? Please tell me I am not the only one falling off the blogging radar. I do miss it... I just don't have anything worth writing about recently.

Getting On Top of Things

Fall is quickly approaching, and before I know it, this sunshine that we have been enjoying out here will disappear and giveaway to the grey rainy days of fall and winter. With that in mind, I've started to think about how we can make our home feel more cozy. A haven, and nest that we can enjoy when the cools days return. One thing in particular I would like to do is make it more comfortable, and more full without feeling cluttered. So, the first thing I wanted to do, was to tackle a project that has been sitting neglected for far too long.

Over two years ago now, I picked up this chair at a garage sale for only $22. I pretty much had to bargain with B to let me buy it, and now I understand his hesitation. It's just taken up space in our garage, and now our sunroom, waiting for me to do something with it for the last 2.5 years...

Well, inspiration finally struck and I have been working away on my transformation on this lovely piece. Just after B's parents returned home from their visit, I popped into IKEA to pick up a few things we needed. While I was there, I stopped into the fabric section to see what they had kicking around. When I saw the BERTA RUTE big check in beige, I knew it was perfect. 

It has pattern, but is still neutral enough to work with anything else I'd like to add to the space. Plus, it will make finding a complimentary fabric for our sofa that much easier. So, I brought home 4 metres for around $40, and was instantly motivated to get moving on the chair, which was looking like this...

Last Sunday, while B and my brother were making dinner, I popped into the sunroom and started the process of removing the upholstery tacks from the chair. I had to be careful to not rip the fabric (too much), since the pieces I removed will be used as a template for my new fabric. I started with a knife, but many of the tacks were rusted, so I moved onto pliers, but they couldn't get under the tack heads. Eventually, I ended up using one of B's chisels, and it worked wonders. (I may owe him a new chisel though).

Removing the red fabric revealed another equally as dirty fabric underneath, with a layer of batting placed over top. By that point, my hands were sore from removing tacks and I decided to stop there - after all, I had the templates I needed, so it was time to get down to business.

Seeing the chair like this had me feeling excited and anxious all at the same time. I was excited to see it looking bare and ready for a new look, but felt a little anxious when it came down to what I was going to do to that wood. I spent quite a bit of time bouncing back and forth between staining and painting it. In the end, my laziness won out, and I decided to paint it. I had already spent a great deal of time trying to sand out the stain in those carvings and it wasn't getting me anywhere fast. On top of that, I already had white paint left over from when I painted our headboard, which meant not having to put out anymore money for this project.

So, I'm now in the midst of getting the final coats of paint onto the wood, and then I'll be able to start the actual upholstering project. Hopefully, I can share it with you next week and have our new chair sitting in our living room (for the time being). 

I'm still keeping my eyes out for other pieces we can use around here to help furnish and organize our place, and essentially just get our home feeling more cozy for the cold months ahead. 

What have you been doing to prepare for the fall? Any big projects on the go?

The First Tweak is the Cheapest

I must say, after yesterday's post on making some changes to Halle's nursery, I was itching to get started. Of course, I will be trying to make these changes on a shoestring budget, so for now I have to start small. While we were out and about yesterday, my mind started turning and coming up with ways that I could make some changes on the cheap. Art can always be the cheapest way to go so I immediately went to that. 

If you follow me in instagram (firsttimefancyblog), you would have seen that last week B and I finally got some more artwork up on Halle's wall. I never shared it on here, since it was exactly the same as what we hung in Toronto, and I knew that some changes would eventually be coming.

So, what easier place to start then with those embroidery hoops? As beautiful as I think both of those fabrics are, it was time for something new. I headed down to the basement and started sorting through my box of fabric, and pulled out a sample I had picked up when I was back in school - and yes, it was completely free as I had pulled it from the sample room. As soon as I pulled it from the box, I knew it would be a good starting point for our changes, since the colours would work wonderfully with my inspiration art from yesterday:

{1 . 2 . 3}

After holding up the whole piece of fabric, I knew which part of it would look best in the big hoop, but I decided to recruit Halle to pick for the second hoop - I mean, after all, this will be HER big girl room...

Unfortunately, Mommy wasn't completely on board with Halle's pick, so that big flower was spared (probably for a later) project. I really love how everything turned out though, and it's really energized me to make some more changes in her space. Here's how her art wall is looking now...

Let's not pay any attention to Halle's memory box that is crooked, and driving me nut, and take a closer look at those pretty embroidery hoops...

 

I think this was the perfect way for me to get started on changing up Halle's space - especially since it was absolutely FREE! B was pretty happy about this as well! For now, I'll continue to try to shop our home to make changes, and in time share with you the process of her how her room is coming along. Of course, we still have a lot of time with guests coming up, but I'll do my best to keep sharing what's happening! For the time being, if you are interested in what we are getting up to everyday, you can follow along on Instagram. Find me over at firsttimefancyblog. 

Have you been making any small changes around your place by shopping your home?

A Mobile for a Little Man

Life is pretty exciting these days! Things seem to be changing (for the best) every day, and every time that I turn around someone else has great news to share. Right now, I am most looking forward to the arrival of two special little people this fall. Two of my cousins are expecting babies, about one month apart, and what's more exciting than that? 

During my last visit home, one of my cousins mentioned she wanted a bird mobile for her little man's nursery. I instantly thought of all of the fabulous ideas I've spotted online (mainly Pinterest), and asked her if I could sew her some little birdies. She agreed, and I couldn't wait to get started on my own addition to this sweet babies space. 

She had picked "Night Owl" in Natural as her inspiration fabric (this will adorn the cushions on their glider), so on Sunday we went on a little shopping trip to find some coordinating fabrics for the little birds. 

The colours were PERFECT and I couldn't wait to get home and start working on those little birds. Of course, a ton of birthday party stuff got in the way and it wasn't until late last night that I finally had the chance to sit down at my Mother's sewing machine and get to work. For those of you interested in how I went about making these birds, here's what I did.

After stumbling across this blog post via Pinterest, I printed off the pattern found here and started tracing my shapes.

I used plain white chalk for the darker/coloured fabrics, and pencil for the neutral fabric that you can see pictured above. It worked well, and then when I started cutting I found most of the fabrics edges frayed - pretty badly too. My Mom suggested I buy some fray check to keep everything smooth while I worked, and let me tell you - this stuff is fantastic. It smells pretty bad, and left some white residue on my fingers when they came in contact with it - but it did the job wonderfully.

Now for the sewing part. The tutorial that I read suggested hand stitching these little birds, with the rough edges of the fabric sticking out. I tried, but the weave on all of the fabrics was too loose and wouldn't really hold my hand stitches - so we opted for the sewing machine. We tried the first one with a blanket stitch, and it looked pretty cute, but for me was too much of a pain. For my others, I just used a regular old stitch, and it worked great.

I wasn't able to get any more pictures as I was flying solo on my mission, but what I did was sewed the head onto the body and closed up the entire back of the bird. I then sewed half of the belly closed and then half of the other side of the belly, leaving me enough room to stuff the bird. Once the fiber filling was in there nice and tight, I finished sewing the bird closed. At the moment, I have three birds finished, and I am almost done the fourth. (My bobbin ran out before I closed up the fourth bird, and I had no desire to fill a new one at 1 in the morning). Here are the three so far...

I still need to add eyes, and I also plan on adding some little brown felt beaks to them to make the ends look more clean. It's such a fun little project to work on, and has given me a bit of a break from only working on birthday party projects. I can't wait to share the final product with you once it's hanging in the nursery (which is still in progress).

Have you been working on any fun projects recently? Have you ever tried making any small stuffed animals, or your own mobile?

Take A Seat

I know it's been silent for a while around here. We've just spending some time enjoying being together as a family, so I can't apologize for that. Even with lots of family time happening, we managed to finish  the bentwood chairs last week! Just to give you a little refresher, here's how they started out...

I was clearly drawn in by the lines of the chairs and their potential. After painting them a beautiful Cornflower Blue, by Martha Stewart, the fabric hunt began. I originally hoped to use a fabric that I already had on hand, but it turned out that I didn't have enough of any one fabric to cover all four seats. I'll be honest though, I didn't complain too much about having to go fabric shopping. So, two weeks ago now, we piled into the car and headed to the closest Fabricland. I made a couple laps of the home decor section, double and triple checking every single fabric that caught my attention. Finally, after getting the okay from B, I landed on this fabric...

I loved the pattern and the colours, and I knew that it would be mess friendly. After sitting on it for a few days, last week B and I finally got around to recovering those old seats. (Have I mentioned that B is the best? Totally supporting every little project I undertake, and always willing to lend a hand. Yup - THE BEST). Anywho - here's how it all went...

{B set up the compressor and my staple gun and then tested it out quickly before we got going}

{Halle hung out nearby and supervised the whole thing. I think she was telling B what to do here. Seriously, little miss has quite the personality}

{Pretty self explanatory - don't you think?}

{Halle was more than willing to lend a hand when B reattached the seats for me}

I guess that leaves little else to share except for the final product. So let's take one more look at the original chairs...

Followed quickly by a reveal of our final chairs...

I LOVE THEM! I love them in the awful, ugly sunroom, but love them even more in our slowly progressing breakfast nook...

I love that little hint of blue in our kitchen, and I think they will look even better once I get those two end chairs painted up as well. Something I should consider getting started on this week. In the meantime, since not a whole lot has been progressing around here, I do hope to share some more of our adventures with you this coming week.

In the meantime, what's the consensus on our chair transformation? I'd love to hear what you all think....

The Living Room - Making Progress!

It's been a while since I've given you a look at what's been happening with our living room refresh. Actually, I'm pretty sure that my last post was on how we ripped the brick off our fireplace to uncover the original. Well, not much has changed with the fireplace, but we have been doing our best to spruce up the room in preparation for Christmas guests.


One of my favourite changes has been the addition of these beautiful throw pillow covers from Nudge Home. I won them in a giveaway hosted by Vanessa over at decor happy and they are just fabulous! The colours in the Dwell Studio fabrics are perfect in our room, and the quality of the cover's is fantastic!

Oh... and B's Mom also gave us that snuggly white throw while we were visiting for Thanksgiving! We love it!


This past week we came across a great area rug while at IKEA (It's the MORUM in dark gray). We lucked out when we found it in the As-Is section for $60, after admiring it in the marketplace (the same kind of luck we had with our Manstad Sofa Bed). It's nice and dark, so it will hide any dirt or stains well (perfect in a house with two dogs and a baby), and it's the perfect texture to stand up to high traffic, while still being soft and warm under foot. 

Earlier this week, while Halle and I were getting the basement ready for B's parents, I was going threw all of our artwork that we have yet to hang, and was thrilled when I found some original pieces done by B's sister. I knew that this one would be the perfect addition to the room...

I also brought up my blue chevron blanket that I purchased at Indigo a while back. I think it's my favourite throw that we have...

A full room shot will also reveal that we've switched up the furniture arrangement, which I am extremely happy with. More than likely the couch and arm chair (which we are still looking for a new slipcover for), will stay where they are. Once I recover my garage sale chair, it will go where the Christmas tree currently is...

Clearly the fireplace and bookshelves still need some love, and I'm still on the hunt for a new lamp - but things will do for now. I'm happy with how the room is coming together, especially since we've only spent $100 to get it  looking like this, from this...

Have you been working on any tweaks in your home to prep for the rush of holiday guests? Or are you just focusing on getting your Christmas decor up?