Category Archives: the House

Studio Spring Clean Blog Hop 2018

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Studio Spring Clean Blog Hop 2018 {an Art School Dropout's life}

A month or so ago Cheryl Sleboda of Muppin.com and Sew Much Cosplay put out a call for bloggers to take part in the yearly Spring Clean Your Studio Blog Hop. We were asked to take a photo (or seven) of our studio as it was and then clean it up and share the difference.

Due to being very sick with numerous chronic illnesses, I haven’t really sewn in my studio since last November, so it was a complete and utter disaster. It had turned in to a dumping ground for all my sewing and craft supplies, as well as my daughters supplies (I didn’t know about that part until I started cleaning). I am also redoing my fabric, craft and product storage in my workroom (I know it sounds weird that there are two rooms, but they are rather small and one just couldn’t contain everything) and I was storing a lot of the bins holding my fabric in my studio.

It was ridiculous.

When ever I needed to sew something real quick, I’d just use my machine that I had stashed away in the dining room. Again, ridiculous.

So I jumped on the chance to force myself to clean my studio up. I NEEDED the push so badly.

If you are curious about how bad it was, and then what it looked like afterwards, then keep reading…

Continue reading →

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Ikea Rast Makeover for Silhouette America

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Kids Dresser Makeover by Jessee M for Silhouette America {an Art School Dropout's life}Last week on the Silhouette America blog I talked about a quick and easy way to spruce up a set of Ikea Drawer Units using Silhouette Adhesive Vinyl!!

I explain what type of design files I used, the dimensions of these exact drawers and more. If you’d like to read more check out the post!

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Collections: Vintage Souvenir Plates

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platewall_travel_001For the past few years I have been collecting “souvenir plates”. Basically vintage plates that you could buy in souvenir shops during a road trip, vacation, etc. I think it’s my constant urge to travel that makes me love these so much. Then there’s also the nostalgia factor. A bunch of my plates are from local attractions, or one’s I visited a lot when I was a child.

I especially love amusement park plates, like the one shown above. Enchanted forest holds a special place in my art. I have a bunch of memories (and photos around here somewhere) of that place both from my childhood, and then as a stupid teenager who would sneak into it after it was abandoned and all run down. I think we paid the most for this piece, a whole $10, because my husband is also from the area and remembers it.

I am up to almost 80 plates total. I pick up most of antique malls, or thrift shops, but I also receive some as gifts because my friends and family know I love them. I have this grand plan to hang them all going up my stairs to the top level. It’s a huge wall that is about 6 feet wide and 14-18 feet tall depending on where on the steps you are. I figured I could finish it all in about a week or so.

platewall_travel_002Yeah, I was SO wrong! First I forgot that about half of the plates need plate hangers or new hooks. 40 or so plate hangers starts to add up in cost, so I’ve had to slowly pick them up when I see them on sale. Then the second thing I didn’t think about is the fact that I am 5’2″ and I don’t have a ladder that can go on stairs. It’s funny that the second problem didn’t occur to me until I hit my limit height wise! I was just so excited about hanging them all.

For now I have a good chunk of them up, give or take I believe it’s about 30. I am on the lookout for a good ladder to buy, because I know I’ll have more plans that require one. For now I get to come downstairs every morning and see just part of my collection displayed, and I’m cool with that.

Oh and as always, I’ll share more photo’s when I actually finish this project.

 

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Light Switches, Disposal Units & Decals

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restoration_lamp_silhouette_001Last year I bought this amazing lamp pictured above at a Restoration Hardware outlet on super duper sale! (it is the wood version of this model) A few months ago my brother in law installed it and it is now my favorite thing in the house.

We didn’t have any wiring where I wanted it to go above the morning room table, but we did have a hanging lamp a few feet away that I didn’t like anymore, so he just pulled the wiring to to the new spot and put a plate over the old spot. The only issue with the way we did this was the old lamp was on a switch in the kitchen, not the morning room. It’s on one of those plates with numerous switches. Those are confusing as it is, and having a lamp that’s in the next area over doesn’t help. Oh and it’s also the switch directly next to the disposal one, so that makes for some interesting reactions when you hit the wrong switch.

I’ve never switched the wrong one because I hate the sound the disposal makes, but other people have! It’s happened a few times when silverware had accidentally fallen in the disposal, and since they weren’t expecting to hit the disposal switch, no one checked first. My poor silverware.

My original idea was to just put a random sticker on the switch plate for my husband to know which one is which. Though I then figured that would still be confusing for others, and what if someone was getting something out of the disposal while someone else wanted to turn the light on?!?!

All of this led to a super simple solution…

restoration_lamp_silhouette_002A decal in the shape of the lamp. I cut it out using my Silhouette, but with patience and time it could have been cut out by hand! I used a vinyl sheet I found in the scrapbooking section of Joann’s that cost me $1.50 and since it was super tiny, I still have a load of vinyl leftover for other projects.

The disposal hasn’t accidentally go on since putting it up, and we had a bunch of people in our kitchen over the past few weeks. They all understood what the decal meant, plus they loved how clean it looked.

I have never really liked decals before, but now I have the urge to put them on everything!! For instance I now have a man/woman logo on the basement bathroom door, that way no one walks into the utility room or workroom accidentally. The bathroom is clearly marked!

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House Tour: the Living Room

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livingroom_housetour_12172013_010Today I would like to share with all of you the Living Room photos that weren’t used in the “At Home With…” post! Most are up close shots like last week, but I still love them!!

livingroom_housetour_12172013_002livingroom_housetour_12172013_006livingroom_housetour_12172013_003 livingroom_housetour_12172013_009 livingroom_housetour_12172013_008livingroom_housetour_12172013_005livingroom_housetour_12172013_001 livingroom_housetour_12172013_007The top photo is a full shot of the living room! I feel like it looks less packed when viewed this way. It’s my second favorite room in the house and I spend most mornings here waiting for CT to wake up.

Also please note that since taking these photos the coffee table has been over run by lalaloopsies and I don’t think I’ll be moving them anytime soon.

This room will be changing again very soon anyway. I have already bought all the supplies to make a sofa table for behind the couch in the middle. I’m going to attempt to make one using wood, stain and pipes. Kinda like you see all over pinterest. I’m hoping to start on it this weekend since all the holiday craziness is over. Though I do have CT’s birthday party in 8 days… Ugh. I have too many ideas and goals and not enough time.

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