A Tip with Toothpicks

Here's a little trick I learned from my dad. 

When you have a hole for a screw that has become stripped, to the point that the screw has nothing to grip to inside the hole and just goes round and round, there is an easy solution. 

I recently used the "toothpick method" in 2 different places in my home. Once, while installing a new doorbell button by my front door. The holes were stripped and the screws couldn't secure correctly. And then again when I was fixing up our glider rocking chair. 

Here's how it is so simply done.

All you need is some wooden toothpicks (flat are best).

Break a few toothpicks to be about the length of the hole you are screwing into. Drop them into the hole and stuff in as many as you can to fill the space. 

Then screw right into those toothpicks until the screw is securely in it's hole. The toothpicks give the screw some new wood to grab onto and makes it nice and tight. 

Thanks dad for knowing everything there is to know about screws (as well as many other things).

~ Chelsea ~

Bar Keepers Friend

I learned about Bar Keepers Friend from a wise woman who worked as a house cleaner for many years.

Bar Keepers Friend is a powder cleaner that polishes ceramic, makes chrome look great and removes stains, even rust and really hard stains. It makes my kitchen sink look so shiny and new, even after all the paintbrush rinsing going on at my house. It also works great for bathroom tubs and showers.

My sink BEFORE: 

And AFTER:

I really like using this product because it does not require a lot of scrubbing and energy to get the stains gone. I just sprinkle the powder all over the inside of the sink and then use a moistened sponge to rub in a circular motion all around. 

I hope you are thinking about a dirty spot in your home-made home to go try this stuff out on! 

~ Chelsea ~

Wonderful Whites!

This is an awesome solid oak table with gorgeous pulls. Something odd is that the 2 pulls over the back plates were too large for the space and were making deep gouges in the wood.

To solve that problem I bought a couple of brass knobs that had some detail to distress and put them in place of the large (yet gorgeous) pulls.
I love the serpentine front. I think I'm going to keep this one for myself!


This awesome huge dresser had so much potential that it was worth the much needed effort to fix it up.

I really enjoy copying Pottery Barn!

And I really enjoy painting over knotty pine furniture.

Solid wood and scrolly detail all in one square table! Yes, I do get excited about these things!

Oh so PRETTY now!

Attach a couple of gorgeous glass knobs & you've got Shabby-Glam or Holleywood Style.

Of course, I had to get a close up of this beautiful detail. My daughter, Chelsea, said scrolls are my signature. I seem to have many around our home. I had to sell this one though.

I almost forgot to take a before pic of this set. As you can tell I started sanding the chairs already. Look at all of the fun detail on these chairs. It's kindof funny how painted cane-back chairs are so in style now. It's also kindof funny that the gorgeous detail and cane on these chairs is made out of plastic. I guess that's how they stayed so nice all these years.

Wow! What a CHANGE! That is so fun to do!

I wanted to keep this dining room set too! Thankfully, I had a buyer before I even started refurbishing it.

Nice Legs!

I LOVE THIS UPHOLSTERY!
(I don't mean the real kind of love)

One more close-up of the distressing to give it that beautiful aged, worn look!

Also, I would like to give a huge THANK YOU to my handy husband who sprayed the paint on all of these pieces for me! He does a beautiful job and then I go and mess it all up.

LOVE THE LOOK!

~*~Lynda~*~

Dresser - White and Black

This dresser is solid knotty pine and had quite a bit of cracks and damage to it. We had it in our little girl's closet as extra storage, but since we just moved out the changing table/dresser, I wanted to use this as her main dresser and have it out in her room. I am so pleased with how it turned out!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

~ Chelsea ~

"Painted" Shoes

My little girl grew out of her only church shoes, so I was on the hunt for some new or used shoes. I wanted either black or brown so they would coordinate with most of her dresses. I have had the best luck with finding children's shoes for great prices at the Deseret Industries (D.I.) thrift store here in Mesa. So, off I went  to the D.I. in search of perfectly cheap shoes (most kids shoes are $2-$4).

I found some just her size but they were navy blue. I settled for them and bought them since I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for.
Then, when I got home, I had the idea to use black shoe polish to "paint" them black. I first cleaned them up really well and the velcro needed to be cleaned out a lot (hairs and fuz). Then, I got to my painting project.

I am so pleased with how they look so perfectly black! I also really liked how the polish turned the threads from dingy white to black to make the shoe look new again.

Sorry, I forgot to take a before picture. But here they are now.

Try it yourself and transform shoes into just what you were wanting!

~ Chelsea ~

Trying out some new GLAZE!

Oh, no! It's all cracked up! This cute little shelf needed some LOVE!

First I scraped all of the loose paint off.
Then I filled everything with this wonderful spackle.
Because I knew this shelf would be hanging on my bathroom wall, I didn't feel that it needed the strength of wood putty.

Here it is all patched up.
No pic, but next I sanded it to ruff it up a little for better paint adhesion and to smooth the spackle. I decided that I wanted some of the glaze to catch in the dings, so I didn't sand them all out or fill them all in. Before painting, a good wipe down is needed with a diluted dish detergent. I like to use Dawn because it really gets the grease & grime off.
It looks pretty good with a nice coat of white lacquer. My handy husband sprayed it on for me!!!!
You could use a can of spray paint or brush laytex/acrylic paint on too.

Here are all of my goodies to glaze with. This was the first time to use my new glaze & I am so happy to say that I like it much better than the other type I was using before. It's called Special Effects by McCloskey. Tintable, non-yellowing, low odor ~ just to name a few of it's wonderful qualities. I mixed it with a little brown & a touch of black acrylic paint in that bright happy bowl.

A tip about gloves ~ vinyl gloves are stronger than laytex. It's not very fun to get stain on your finger nails (which has happened to me plenty of times when I used to use the laytex gloves)

Here it is with the glaze applied and then wiped off with a clean rag.
It looks great to let the glaze stay in the dings and indentions of the molding.

I LOVE THE LOOK!

And I love my beautiful statue of a Mama Bird caring for her Babies.

Bye for now, ~*~Lynda~*~

Reversible Ruffle Apron

I love aprons, although I honestly never remember to wear one when I am cooking or baking. It's silly because then I get upset when my clothes have oils stains.

I really enjoy making aprons for little people, I guess because little things are always that much cuter. And, kids love helping in the kitchen, or playing pretend kitchen and an apron just makes it that much more fun.

I made this apron for a friend. I made it reversible and with a cute little ruffle. It can be made in any size your heart desires. For a toddler-sized apron, you need about 3/4 yard of each coordinating fabric and some 7/8" wide grosgrain ribbon.



Here's how I did it:

First, I cut out 2 coordinating fabrics into the desired apron shape and size, including an extra inch or so for seam allowance. One nice thing about an apron is that it doesn't have to fit just right. When I cut out the apron shape, I have both the solid pink and the pattern fabrics together and folded in half and I cut with the apron center on the fold to get the apron perfectly symetrical.

Here are my 2 pieces of fabric, cut identical using a rotary cutter (wonderful invention!).

Then, decide if you want pockets or some shape on your apron. I chose to put hearts of the opposite fabric on the front and back. One on the chest section and the other where a pocket might be. I drew out my heart on a piece of paper and used that as a pattern to cut out my two fabric hearts. Then, I pinned them on the right sides of each apron piece in place where I wanted them and sewed a tight zig-zag stitch around the edges to secure them.

Ok, on to the ruffle...

Cut out long strips of each fabric, mine needed to be 57" inches by 2.5" inches each. I needed to sew shorter strips together to make 57" strips because of how short my cut of fabric was.

Then, sew with right sides together along one long side and both short sides to form the seam for the outer side of the ruffle. Then, turn it right sides out and square the 2 corners using something pointy, like a pencil. Iron flat.

Then, do a basting stitch (increase stitch length) about 1/4 inch from the raw edges and pull one thread to gather the ruffle evenly and just enough to be the correct length to match up with the bottom of your apron.

If you need help with gathering, check out this tutorial.

Then, lay out the ruffle, matching the raw edges of the apron pieces and the ruffle. Pin in place (Don't skimp out on pins, use a bunch to keep it all in place). ***Leave about 1/2 inch at underarm corners open, allowing room for the underarm seams. Apron pieces need to be right sides together with the ruffle laying with opposite fabric patterns touching. In my case, the solid pink fabric against patterned purple fabric, as shown in the photo below.

Once it is all pinned, cut your grosgrain ribbon to make your 2 straps to tie in the back. Then, you will need to pin those 1/2 inch below the underarm corner (where the ruffle begins) facing into the apron body on both sides. Then, sew with a 1/2 inch seam allowance around the bottom of the apron, being sure to align the ruffle inside as you go.

Then, pin the neck strap facing inward and sew along the top of the apron and along one underarm section. Leave the other underarm section for turning right side out. Turn the apron right side out and make sure the ruffle, neck strap and back ties are all sewn in correctly.

Fold under the last underarm seam, iron flat and topstitch around the entire border

 of the apron.

Admire your work for several minutes. :)

I hope this tutorial was helpful!

~ Chelsea ~

Painters Tape

Here's my opinion based on my experience with 2 types of painters tape.

When I painted the stripe in my bathroom, I purchased a more expensive brand of tape called Frog Tape because I really wanted perfect lines, and that is what it promised me. My house has slightly textured walls, so that makes it hard to find a tape that is sticky enough to seal off all those bumps.

From this project, I don't think that Frog Tape works any better than just normal blue painters tape. So, in the future, I wouldn't spend the extra money on Frog Tape.

There's my 2 cents on the matter, just in case you have ever wondered for your projects.

~ Chelsea ~

Happy Love Month!

The girls & I got together to make Valentines!

We are feeling the love!

 

As  have loved you, love one another!

Spread the love everyone!
With Love, ~*~Lynda~*~