Vintage DIY Books + My Crafty Story

I'm pretty sure my craftiness started because I watched Gone With The Wind in the sixth grade. I know I was too old to still be playing with Barbies at that time, but I was so in love with the clothing in that movie that I started buying fabric and sewing antebellum-style dresses and accessories for my dolls. It got really out of control when I discovered the remnants bin at Hobby Lobby.

Anyway, I got crafty, and at some point I developed enough crafty courage that when I came across my mom's set of Better Homes and Gardens DIY books, I bought a few supplies and taught myself to knit and crochet. Suddenly my Barbie dolls started getting scarves and beanie caps.

Next I moved on to embroidery and eventually to knitting human people-sized things, but it wasn't long until I had moved on and all those things I had created and learned were packed away somewhere.  It was only a couple of years ago that the box they were in finally resurfaced and my mom let me take them home. They've been with me ever since.

I've been crafting and thrifting it up real nice lately so I decided I better step up my photography game a little by building a light box. I took these photos this weekend during my first photo session with it and I love it! It makes things so pretty and bright. I thought my little collection (See? I've added two more books, so it's a collection!) would make a nice subject.

I haven't picked up knitting since that short time when I was a kid, but I did create my string art project recently using ideas from String Things You Can Create, and I want to make a rag rug at some point, like the happy lady in the picture. And even though I have no interest in appliqué or needlepoint at the moment, I am in love with the photographs inside of fifties and seventies interiors and crafty turtleneck-wearing friends gathering to braid a rug.

Where can I find friends who want to do that on a Friday night?

 

Jordan Valley Park + Downtown SGF

Today it has suddenly gotten very cold around here, which reminded me to post the photos I took this weekend, when the weather was beautiful. Rand and I decided to go out and walk around our city's downtown, and I took my new camera. We went to the top of a parking garage, and then we walked around Jordan Valley Park and the downtown area. The leaves on the trees were amazing shades of red and orange, and there were families and photo shoots happening everywhere. It was a great day to have a camera in my hands.

At first, carrying a big camera around was a little awkward, with people watching you and having to wait a few seconds longer for you to get out of their way. Eventually I got over it and started snapping happy, and it was a wonderful feeling. I'm taking it with me from now on.

See that weird half circle of light happening in a couple of shots? I'm trying to figure out why that happened in just some photos but not others and what I can do to fix it. Maybe I need to take it apart and clean it.  If you know anything about this, please share!

My Bedroom Makeover Reveal

Hello again!

The One Room Challenge is wrapping up this week, and I'm really excited to see all the reveals. My room is not quite done because there is one big, glaring thing not finished, but everything else about this room is complete, and I am so much more in love with my bedroom than I was six weeks ago.

A couple weeks into the challenge, my husband and I ripped up our bedroom carpet and made a plan to paint the hardwood floors underneath. This is definitely the most economical option, and we had planned for this to happen last week. As luck would have it, and as I mentioned a couple days ago, my car suddenly needed a new fuel pump last week, which seriously cut into my DIY budget. As a result, our floor project has been bumped back a couple weeks.

This project won't end up costing very much to complete, but it will cost more than zero dollars, which is what I have to spare at the moment.

But it's still okay! Aside from the floors, this room has had a dramatic makeover, which I am thrilled to show you today. Here is a little collage I made to remind you where we started and how not great my first bedroom makeover was:

So here's the tour!

We repainted the trim and the walls, and hung new Kvart lights from Ikea on either side of the bed. I hung up the wahoo board above the bed and switched out our old bedding for an Ikea duvet and floral sheets from Ross. The lamp is new from Kirkland's, and I repainted our old white dresser and chest of drawers and added leather drawer pulls. 

The saucer chair came from the living room, and I thrifted the little mid-century bookcase.  The bookcase makes me feel like I finally found a purpose for this little dormer space!

I painted the doors Benjamin Moore's Onyx. Now I want to repaint all my doors this color.

I also brought the impatiens inside and made a jute plant hanger for them.  They love their new home!

I couldn't get the right angle to photograph the stuff on the dresser, so I gave up and decided to be in the picture. Those are my grandparents on their wedding day. The E is thrifted, and the mirror came off of an old dressing table.

It was time to bring the plants in anyway, so I brought my citrus tree in here. I made those hanging lamp shades a couple years ago, although I'm not sure if they will stay in here. They looked a lot better hanging from the 9' ceilings downstairs.  But look at those impatiens!!

It needs its floor painted, but I'm so happy with this room!!  I'm kind of a minimalist with decorating and I'm in love with bright white, so this room is just right for me. Thank you so much to Linda for dreaming up and hosting the One Room Challenge! It was great motivation to get moving on this room, I've discovered several new blogs to follow, and I loved connecting with other bloggers!

Be sure to check out the rest of the participants' reveal posts here. And if you stopped by this little blog from the One Room Challenge, thank you! I'm so glad you did.