Vintage Chairs!

Sorry for the horrible lighting. We found these awesome vintage chairs on KSL (local classifieds like Craigslist). I paid $40 for the pair of them. I love the caning and the tuffed back. However rose colored velvet is not going to cut it, so we are trying our hand at reupholstering. I know everyone in the blog world has been using drop cloths for reupholstering projects since it looks a lot like linen. I was thinking about this and noticed our kitchen drapes. They are from Ikea, and are a natural color. So, I thought why not buy some more panels from Ikea and use them for our chairs. This is just what we are going to do! A tutorial and after photos to come upon completion!

Family Room

We are in the process of redecorating our family room. Here it is in its before state:

All I see in this picture is blah, blank, boring! When we moved into the house the wall with the two windows was forest green...yeah it was pretty much horrible! So, we had a painter paint that wall and all of the others in the house that the previous owners had painted. For some reason EVERY color that they picked was, well just not our taste. Luckily they only painted 3 rooms. Anyway, in effort to bring more color back into the room (since we just paid someone to paint the wall white) I hung some red curtains, bought some red lamp shades, pillows, throw blankets, an ottoman and called it a day. We already had the painting on the wall, which is black, white and red, so I just went with it. Fast forward 3 1/2 years later, and I am so over the red! Thus, we have started the process of redecorating the room! Mostly just with accessories, paint and a few upholstery projects! I will be posting our progress as we go, so check back soon to see the progress!!

Making Beaded Jewelry

So don't let the idea of making beaded jewelry from when you were like 12 throw you for a loop. It isn't made out of hemp and plastic beads (Do you remember those?). I posted on facebook that I was making jewelry, and my cute friend Jonie @ Just Between Friends commented that she hoped it wasn't like the jewelery we made when we were younger! I thought that I would post a little how to on making beaded necklaces and earrings. Here are a few of the necklaces and earrings that I made during Christmas. I am sorry I do not have a picture of the earrings finished for some reason-so you are going to have to use your imagination! :)

To get started you are going to need a few items including a bead board and some beading wire. You will use the bead board to set out the design of the beads that you want to use, so that you can see how things look before you actually string them.

















You are also going to need the appropriate "findings". This includes clasps, earring hooks, the long posts to string the earrings, and little pieces you use to hold the clasps on. You can usually find all of these in a pack. I bought mine at Roberts.












After you have laid out your design, you need to attach one end of the clasp to your wire. You do this by first putting the clasp at the end of your wire and then looping it through your finding. You then secure the finding in place using a crimper.


















Next, you can start threading your beads. After each bead I add "filler" beads. You continue this until you have threaded all of your beads. Then you put the other end of the clasp on just like you did the first one.




















Now for your earrings. These are very easy to make. You just take the long posts and thread your beads as desired. Once finished you slide the earring hook on the post. You use a pair of round nose pliers to bend the post around until you have made a circle, and the earring hook won't fall off.
















The last step you use a pair of cutters to cut off the excess post outside of the circle you have created!
















Congratulations! You have now created your first necklace and earrings! Feel free to let me know if you have any questions! If you attempt this email me your photos and I will post them on my blog!

Hello Blogging World!

Well we decided it was time to create a blog dedicated to home improvement, interior design, crafting and the like. We hope what you find here will spark inspiration and creativity! We would love to hear your thoughts and feedback, so please leave us a comment. Keep your eyes out for what is to come!

Until next time,

Tiffany