shalt not covet

Bad habit: loving expensive things. If we could possess only one piece of non-handed-down upholstery, I would pick the Kensington sofa in charcoal linen. And if I could avoid sewing a replacement duvet cover for our bed, the choice would be Georgina, also in grey.

on the brain: masculine play kitchen?

image via Ana White

Working on a play kitchen hack for birthday/Christmas gift. Parents are crafting some cute stuff & posting lots of inspiring photos, but mostly a la femme.
Goals:

• neutrals colors
• durable & believable play
• room for 2-3 kids at once (Os will be crawling soon)
• stove, sink & cutting board
• knobs that turn
• storage for play food/utensils

reeling them in

The "one that got away" quickly piles into nagging, half-ignored restoration endeavors, I'm afraid. So we reel them in, one at a time. Recover piano benches in ticking stripes, done. Sew taggie blanket for car trips (Os), plus one for a friend, done. Fashion baby gate out of roadside-found headboard, done. Quilt topographical map for miniature play on-the-go, done.

Mari Makes: Project Tutorial - Budget Anthropologie Duvet

Shameless plug for the well-crafted work of a friend. I envy her ruffle foot like no other.

Mari Makes: Project Tutorial - Budget Anthropologie Duvet: "...just completed a week long project, making a cheaper version of Anthropologie's Cirrus Duvet cover! I made ..."

arachnophobe

Yesterday morning I saw a large/swollen looking & weird shaped bug under the porch, right by the pumpkin plant we were watering. Thanks to this recent piece by friend Ashley Lewis, I knew what I was looking at & snatched E up so fast he cried. It was certainly a black widow, possibly full of eggs, out in broad daylight! Not long ago a friend of ours (full grown woman mind you) was hospitalized for two days after a bite from one of these nasties. Needless to say, Mama went into fight-or-flight mode.

Wondering how many more might be lurking under cover (back outside sans babies, confirming a red hourglass on the abdomen), I called an exterminator. The nicest old gentleman came before lunch, took stock of the situation & put down several insecticides: powder under the porch, spray around the foundation, sticky traps indoors. We vacated for an hour while the crawl space was fogged. Upon returning home, the widow was belly-up & dead on the porch. Now I don't feel so hunted.

finished dresser

yay! Now we each have our own. His is taller, brown & claw-footed with an unfortunate amount of clutter atop. Working on that.

before & after: our dresser

Recently a friend  handed down a dresser to us, just before moving across country. It was perhaps butter cream yellow (front face in first photo). After scraping through three colors of paint & a dark stain (side shown in first photo) with various grains of sandpaper (60, 80, 120, 150), a coat of sunbleached stain & a coat of beeswax sealant make it as grainy grey as driftwood. Mission success! Now we're hunting down some marine rope to knot into drawer pulls.

a goldmine of beeswax

image of beeswax, via IlluminatedPerfume

While browsing for bulk herbs I recently decided to make beeswax part of the order, thinking I would only use it for salves & perhaps candles. Then stumbling around pricing options for non-toxic, food-safe furniture polish... I found a trove of beeswax recipes! (Think high-chair tray, wooden bowls & utensils, toys & dining table that will certainly all be gnawed by little teeth.) Ultimately, I'm sticking to the principles listed by Etsy vendor woodmouse.

Ingredients

• 1 part beeswax
• 4 parts oil (in our case, coconut oil)
• lemon juice or essential oil
• cotton rag
• wool for buffing

Prep

• Fill a measuring cup with one cup of your chosen oil
• Add beeswax shavings to your measuring cup until it reads 1.25 cups
• Melt beeswax into oil using a double boiler on the stove top; melting temperature is just under 150 F.  Stir during melting process so all beeswax is fully dissolved.  Mixture will now look like a liquid oil.  If you want to add lemon juice or essential oils, blend them in before it cools.
• Pour into container with a wide enough opening to stir mixture as it cools, to prevent separation of wax from oil. A few times over a couple hours is enough & leaves wood polish even & creamy.

Use
Once fully cooled, gather all the wooden items in your house & rub it into the wood. A little goes a long way, so wipe the excess with a cotton cloth & buff with wool if you have some around.

Store
In an airtight container, away from direct sunlight.  Jojoba oil based polish lasts two years; olive oil will last one year.  If you don't think you will use your polish very fast & are worried it will go rancid, store in the fridge to double the shelf life. 

listless

image via DesignSponge (from a sneak peek)

We probably need one of these in the entryway, to motivate not only myself (once preg nesting hormones subside) but everyone else in this house as well. Long term, of course. Under normal circumstances I am, shall we say, not fastidious about housework of the cleaning/maintaining nature. New projects are always calling, especially as they have a definite "done" endpoint, unlike many other list items.

baby safety & bikes

I'm so delighted with these bike pulleys, it's ridiculous. They mount from joists in the ceiling & remove the danger of littles pulling bikes on top of themselves whilst investigating the forbidden hallway that leads to the forbidden-without-mama stairway.

On a related note, I'd like to show some love for Bunny Hop Bike Shop for:

• telling husband his homemade handlebars were "a matter of life & death" & shouldn't be used
• installing a brake on the new handlebars
• selling him a helmet he actually wants to wear
• being pleasant when super preg wife shows up with toddler

image via GroupHomeBikes

We are exclusive patrons of Bunny Hop, & Nic will very emphatically/sarcastically list why other shops in the 804 no longer make the cut for us.

something old

Sometimes I have compulsive, very specific urges to make stuff. Friday was such a day, especially after seeing clearance tablecloths at World Market. Suddenly, all the pillows/cushions in the living room needed slipcovers. Then I really wanted the nursing pillow to match, using the pattern from Lotta Jansdotter's book (thanks, Chy!) The more I stared at the floral in this fabric, the more it felt I had seen/loved it before & began wanting it with me in labor & possibly at the hospital?

Then I remembered this photo from right after my brother was born. I loved those bedsheets, & we used to sneak into my parents bed to cuddle because they were so soft. Asking mum about it, she says they used to take the pillowcase with us if I needed to fall asleep somewhere other than home, that the pattern seemed to comfort me as a baby. That very early memory is perhaps why it had to be this fabric, at this time, on pillows. Strange but lovely, & I hope Elijah will show affection like this when surprise bump comes home. He cuddles with such delight & enthusiasm so far.

washing up

image via Manoian

So, I hate doing dishes. Even the pretty teacups. Twice a week I pack our dishwasher to capacity so very few things will need handwashing by moi. But non-toxic cleaners are expensive & sold in small quantities. So I'm on the hunt for a simple homemade dishwasher-powder recipe & am thinking the following might do the trick.

Dry Ingredients

• 1 cup borax (disinfectant & base)
• 1 cup washing soda or 1.5 cups baking soda (water softener & base)
• 1/2 cup kosher salt (catalyst to speed up & intensify chem rxns)
• 1/4 cup citric acid (water softener & acid, natural antimicrobial & germicidal)

• each load, fill rinse agent compartment with white vinegar

Yield & usage

• each batch yields app. 20 oz of resulting product (keep very dry)
• 1 Tbsp per load will suffice, though you may need to alter proportions depending on your water type (untreated well water vs. city water)
• if you find a film on the dishes, use less (2 tsp) & consider turning up the threshold on your hot water heater. the key to a clean rinse is often water temp (also handy for cloth diaper wash)
• Can add 3 drops essential oil or few drops liquid detergent per load

Note: I source these ingredients in bulk, usually via Costco. It's much more affordable per load than any box, even if you source in smaller quantities from the grocery store. Also, the citric acid is what makes the powder clump but it also eliminates a film on the dishes.

buckets everywhere

Three years ago I found maya*made & pined for burlap buckets (as well as her mum's barn). Having acquired both the coffee sacks & heavyweight neutral lining fabric, I attempted the project without a pattern. Massive fail. Then she posted patterns for sale on Etsy, & the mamas rejoiced. Finally, on Thursday I tackled the large size. And the small size. It.is.addictive. For chunky wooden toys & books, for a car stash, for a mobile diaper supply tote, for sewing bits, for everything.

house fixin'

Pretty excited about this beeswax finish to seal the tray of our high chair & possibly the kitchen table too. They're both difficult to keep clean of sticky stuff (especially smashed bananas), but I'd love to preserve the raw wood look rather than using anything shiny/toxic. Also considering utility latches for certain cabinet doors to no longer tempt little hands slamming. This & hanging bikes from the ceiling by a pulley (where babes can't pull them on top of themselves) are among the projects I feel compelled to finally attack.

nesting in general

image via Clare Owen's etsy

Wishing I was a more dedicated seamstress. Alas, nesting is settling in & so many projects feel urgent (however unrealistically ambitious they may be). Like a cathedral baby quilt & homemade hammock bed ala Mawok! Let's just say I will not be handmaking all the Christmas gift this year.

image via hyena in petticoats tutorial & Mawok

mini rugs

image via Ohdeedoh

Wanting mini circle rugs to lay in a sort of path across the playroom kind of like this. Loving the limited edition ones by Permafrost, in Norway, however difficult to obtain they may be. They are so lovely, lonely, wistful.

peek into: Elijah's nursery

 
Furnished with family heirlooms, thrifted/Craigslisted pieces & hand-crafted bits, Elijah's room is a calm, masculine nook for sleeping & cuddling. Colors include smokey grey, white, various wood tones, red & robin's egg blue. The dresser is the same upon which G-ma changed Nic's bum, & the vintage illustrations in the book of fairy tales (also from Clinch g-parents) are quite a treasure to me! There will soon be a separate post to show its magnificent contents, & I'll do my best to find an online source in case you swoon for it as I do. Window shades are tied on to function as roman shades, keeping it dim for naptime. Ninja print (accompanied by a matching maternity shirt) was a shower gift from my friend Chyrie, who sells screenprinted items via Etsy. Pods print by Wolfie & the Sneak. The origami pieces are bravery-notes written & folded as a shower activity; they hang by the (recovered) nursing glider to remind me in those early weeks that I am not alone.

paint

After much deliberation & a helpful Benjamin Moore clerk, the living room no longer depresses me with its white walls. Not actually inspired by the nerdy Halo-edition Mountain Dew, it does coordinate & feel pleasantly submarine in a jewel-toned coral reef way. The remaining half-gallon will be devoted to the master bath, hopefully this week.

frugal franny: Roman shades

After taking a look at this tutorial on making shades out of mini blinds (which were all over our house when we bought it), I decided to simplify. After sewing a panel the exact size of the window blind I fastened ribbon ties (starting at the top) 6 inches from the sides so they just tie onto the pulley system of the blind. The ties, made of twill tape, are every every 9 inches, & they allow you to leave the blind in tact rather than removing slats & gluing fabric. And yes that glass pendant lamp shade is killing me; I really want it to be this galvanized look, for a pleasant tension of the soft floral & a chunk of hayloft.

If your color palatte changes frequently or you're renting right now... if you're pregnant, in nesting phase & compulsively moving furniture about... if you want your kitchen shades to be thin like a pillowcase & let in more light... this tie-on method can help! It works well to darken our nursery for napping as well, using upholstery weight fabric.

apron strings

Most of my life past age 7 has been spent as a tomboy. This was initially because I genuinely enjoy physical activity, but it grew into a fear of the feminine. As if girls who like girly things could not also be strong or brave. As I became a wife, it occurred to me slowly that domestic arts were beautiful, fun to execute & worthwhile endeavors. Right now I'm absorbed in the making of aprons out of not-so-great-fitting tops from the clothing swap, & after discovering organic cotton scarves for $3 yesterday we will finally have kitchen curtains (DIY roman shade style, I'll do my best to document in tutorial fashion).