Fit for a King (or a Queen)

Saw this on Pinterest, had to do it!

I took a piece of lace almost 2" in width, hand stitched it together (just large enough to sit on the "king's" head) and spray painted it with gold spray paint - ever so softly (three coats) - let it dry in between . . . you see I can be patient with some things.

Here is the final result!

A Table to Eat at . . . in front of the TV . . .

This is a post about a fail . . . for now . . .

I have been eating in front of my TV for as long as I can remember - in this house 9 years and 5 months;  that's when I moved here and it's just a regular occurrence because I live along - and it's not a sad thing - it's just life!

Currently I am using an 8" X 8" square outdoor collapsable table and occasionally when I have a plate in one hand and am moving the table in the other the table actually collapses or I put the plate on the table and go to move it with one hand (forgetting that it does collapse) and the food goes all over the floor - oh JOY! 

It's time for a new table.  So I purchased one from Pier One and brought it home - really excited - it's one of those that slides under the couch and it's quite a bit bigger - I could even put my laptop and a coffee on this one ... but I sit down to have my first meal and it's two inches higher than the one I have been using and I feel like I may as well be sitting on the floor - it was actually pretty funny.

So back to Pier One I go and pick out another one that I was actually looking at in the beginning but would have had to "embellish" it a bit to bring it up to my standards; and because it's exactly the height I need I do a quick exchange.  I can't WAIT to get in the door with this little table and have (in the meantime) purchased a package of gold leaf, the adhesive and sealer. 

DO NOT DO WHAT I DID . . . I sprayed it right in the kitchen (knowing I'd get spray adhesive all over the floor but I didn't care) - I was in WAY too much of a hurry - sprayed it, and immediately tried to put a piece of gold leaf on it - oh oh that didn't stick - place my fingers on it and now I have gold leav all over my hands and I can't get it off - try another piece - you nana you still have glue on your hands and the glue is still drippy so I DO IT AGAIN! 

Now I have to read the instructions . . . long story short - I read the instructions, get back to work and realize I don't have enough gold leaf . . . back to the art supply store and they don't have any more of the colour I picked . . . buy something that is reasonably close and finish off the job.  It's a bit too shiney for me . . . so I sand it down a bit and I now actually like it . . . BUT WAIT I have some other gold leaf that is in strips and put some more spray adhesive on the table - press in the other gold leaf and pull it off and it pulls all of the gold leaf off from the original application and now you can see bard spots where that has happened - no worries - I have gold spray paint - I'll try that . . . and I spray too much so I try and sand it off . . . are you getting my drift now!

So it sits for another day . . . I'm going to go back to square one and post the finals soon.  For now here is what it looks like in stages!

This is adding the gold leaf before sanding:

This is after sanding and after pulling the sanded parts off down to the bare wood!

Today's Design Tip - Drapes

Design Tip - How to lengthen drapery panels.

I know you've all been there - purchased drapes (probably on sale) and you loved them so much you just HAD TO HAVE THEM and they are either not returnable or you will just make do.  But you get them up and you think . . . What have I done? . . . they look horrible . . . and I don't know what to do to fix them.

Well that happened . . . not to me but to my niece and her fiancee who just moved into their first home together.  She purchased eight (yes I said 8) grommet panels to put in the living room and dining room.  They have 9 foot ceiling height and the drapes were only 84 inches.  That made them approximately 20 inches too short (and for those of you who only understand metric you can do the math - I only work in imperial)!

So being the good mother that she is, my sister (remember it's my niece) and niece went out and purchased a contrasting fabric to lengthen the drapery panels. 

Long story short . . . they thought the lengthening should go on the bottom - I thought it would look unbalanced and suggested the panel should be somewhere around 1/3 from the top, and the window mullion is how we decided where it should be.  We also decided I should do the sewing because . . . well because I offered . . . and, my sister just let me offer . . . and I got to work.

I measured 21 inches down, cut the panels (21 inches so that there was a 1/2 inch seam top and bottom); opened up the "hem" on either side just enough so I could insert the panel; straight stitched the panels in and then serged all seams; straight stitched the side hems back up and pressed everything into place.

Here is the final result:

Before


After Dining Room

After Living Room

SO fun and both niece and fiancee are super happy with the results.

Flower Blog - September/October

Well this blogging about flowers monthly is not really working . . . I think next year I'm going to choose another subject matter . . . maybe just "projects" which I am still doing a lot of you just aren't seeing any of the pictures (weddings, gifts for weddings, reinvented jewellery from the "cast off" stuff etc. etc. etc.)

But . . . Thanksgiving was quickly approaching and as I sometimes do, invited myself to my sister's for dinner; not only because I know the food is going to be awesome, but because the conversation is interesting and can get a bit intense at times (that's when her mother-in-law nudges me and says it's time to get the pies ready)!  So because I invited myself and didn't ask what I should bring I offered to bring a flower arrangement for the table to go with what she was already planning.

Three White roses, a bunch of white berries and the tops of the tall grasses from my front yard all sitting in a gold spray painted (albeit fake) pumpkin with the top cut out so I could put a glass (or tin can inside) and Bob's yer Uncle!

Here is a picture of it sitting on the table - she had already spray painted all of the pumpkins existing and twigs from her garden.  Then placed triangular shaped votive holders on a burlap runner (which was all sitting on top of a lace table cloth).  The chargers were all different (some were patterned, some were plain but all gold, brown and tan). 

Hopefully I behaved myself enough to be invited back (or if not, just show up next time). 

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

 

 

Total Cost:  $42.00 for the flowers and $8.00 for the fake pumpkin.

Flower Blog - July/August

Is this getting boring . . . perhaps . . . next year I'm going to focus on something a bit more fun . . .

You would think in July I would have had a plethora of flowers already growing in my garden from seeds planted in the spring . . . NOPE . . . had to wait until almost the end of August to get me some . . . Here's what I came up with.

These are Viola (bottom right) and Pansy (top right) - dropped the large vase and it didn't break - luck would be on my side for that one!

These are just a couple of taller jars - the snap dragons (bottom left) are just tiny but still beautiful!

I therefore, haven't purchased flowers at the "market" for two months now - so I'm going to really punch it up for September!


TOTAL COST: ZERO

Chair Recover

There comes a time when things just need to be redone . . . and slipcovering is my schtick these days (remember the chairs slipcovered for the condo in Radium?)

These two outdoor lounge chairs came from my sister's place because no one there wanted the "ugly" things any more . . . I had recovered them in a stretch black denim a couple of years ago but because they've sat outside the fabric faded AND because outdoor fabric is now on sale it's time . . .

I simply measured around the metal frame and added 1/2" for the seam; then measured the length of fabric required (and added 1" on each end for hemming)

and voila - new chair covers!

SOLD for $120.00

Flower Blog - June

Ah June . . . I LOVE June . . . I take my summer vacation the last two weeks of June, I plant seeds and clean up the outdoor raised planter beds, I water and watch things grow, I paint exterior doors and fences and watch for things on sale for the next year . . . what more could you ask for? Well an arrangement in the living room while the lilacs are starting to bloom, that's what you ask for . . .

This one was pretty simple (aren't they all?)! Lisianthus, some dark purple leafy twigs, a white something or other (because baby's breath is apparently "so 80's"), some square vases and a naked male white sculpture!

TOTAL COST: $13.50