DIY Daybed

 

I am excited to share with you a project I worked on last week.

The main reason I’m excited about it is that I did not spend one cent on it!!

Okay, I know, it doesn’t take much to get me up in the air about something, but seriously that’s the greatest thing ever, to be able to create something using what you have and pretty much getting the look you want and not spending a penny!

It started out with moving my craft room/studio down in the basement and our youngest son into the room that used to be my studio. You can read all about that here.

That left a room upstairs available to use as a family or sitting room. We moved the TV into that room and have thus far used camp chairs to sit on and a twin sized mattress & box springs to lounge on. Last Thursday I began to think of constructing a daybed, using the mattress. The thought turned into action, prompting me to go out to my stash in the shop to look for something to use to make the daybed…

I know, this all looks pack-rattish but it comes in handy sometimes!

I found these closet doors that my bro-in-law was ready to throw on the fire and I rescued last minute. :)

 

My plan was to use the raised panels, which are hollow inside, as a base for the day bed.

I cut off the long raise on each door…

The two long raise pieces were going to be the front of the bed and the other two pieces the sides..

I needed to connect the two long raise pieces together to make one long front. I had measured the mattress and knew what size I needed it to be. I connected them by sliding a piece of wood into the hollow panels and attaching using screws.

 

After connecting the two, I set them on the floor to get a visual on how this would look…

I needed a piece of plywood to hold the mattress and four “posts” to support it..

So, basically the former closet doors would just be wrapped around this contraption for looks…

I did the rest of the assembling in the family room. Hubby’s interest was even piqued a little by this time and he lent me a helping hand.

I had an old door that was all chippy that I wanted to use for a back.

Here’s what it looked like without the mattress…

 

This is all a very simple contraption that anyone could make. I used a thin strip of wood to hide the seam where the two door panels came together in the front base. I also added a header to the old door, giving it a finished look.

So before showing you the finished product, I’ll share with you what I used for the mattress cover and cushions.

We had an old twin sized comforter that I wanted to use but didn’t want the color for this bed, so I decided to make a duvet cover for it. I used an old white flat sheet to make it. I cut off some of the comforter so it wouldn’t hang down so far over the edge of the bed. I then made the duvet cover to fit the comforter. It will be nice to just pull off that cover to keep it clean and not have to wash the comforter every time.

I also brought out my large collection of old pillows from storage and decided to use the insides of them to stuff a few cushions.

I also used a piece of fabric from a few years ago to make the large over sized cushions. I didn’t get any pictures of the cushions in progress, but they are very simply made, basically just large, square pieces of fabric sewed together.

 

So… here is the end result I got (again, for absolutely FREE!)…

 

 

 

I added the little French cushion using parchment paper to transfer. Like I always say, hopefully it says something pleasant. :o

For now, the treasure map mural will stay. I had made it a number of years ago for our son’s nautical themed room and spent a lot of time on it. I’m just not quite ready to paint over it. :/

So, now we have a place to relax and unwind, all created without spending anything!

I hope you enjoyed this and are inspired to think twice before tossing old closet doors, pillows, or anything that could possibly be used to create..

Happy Monday!

-Mary

February Projects

 

To me, February is the winter month where tiny signs of the coming spring reveal themselves. I am always tuned into this since I am so ready for spring come November February already!

This year has been no exception. The days are a little longer, the woodpeckers are drumming and the birds are singing a little more. The sun seems to provide more warmth. We hear the Barred and Great horned owls. The other evening as I stepped outside a bit, I heard a coyote howl back in the woods! I had never heard one before here at home! It may not be a sign of the approaching spring season, but it was very neat! Oh, and I smelled a skunk the other night, which may be a sign of spring since I think they hibernate a spell.

So all these little signs put a spark in my days. I love the nature God gives us to enjoy!

We got our first real snow this week. It was a clingy snow, which was beautiful! Pictures can hardly justify the beauty of it, but here are a few of the many I took..

 

I am also having a different kind of fun these days. I feel privileged to have the opportunity to decorate a  friends wedding, which is coming up in March.

I’ve told hubby already that I would want to marry him again, just to be able to decorate a wedding! Of course, I’m just kidding, but there’s just so many neat stuff now a days to decorate with. Plus, having married Amish, we were somewhat limited to the amount of glitz we could put into wedding decorations. It was still one of the best days of my life, so I guess that all really doesn’t matter! We were married just the same.

So the wedding I’m decorating is kind of my “fix,” so to speak. The bride to be told me I can decorate with whatever I want. We have the same taste when it comes to style, so this isn’t hard for me. I am going with a shabby chic, vintagey and yet elegant theme. Light pink and white are the main colors.

Weathered wood and old bottles will be some of the main decorations. Following is a little glimpse of what I’m working on.

Thirty-seven of these square pieces of wood are being worked on…

 

I’m shopping in thrift stores and antique malls for a lot of the bottles and vases. Stay tuned for the transformation of these ugly, dirty vases!

Some of the stuff I’m working on may become available to rent for those of you needing props and decorations for your wedding.

Stay tuned for the complete wedding come mid March!

Thanks for visiting!

-Mary

Oh Boy! The Blue-faced Zombie

 

We have quite a unique little critter that roams about our house. He’s about 60” inches tall and hardly ever wears a shirt or socks, even in the dead of winter. He has selective hearing, as his kind is known to have. He will go from being extremely loud and vocal to being quiet as a mouse, especially if his face has a blue tint. (this is also when the hearing loss kicks in) The best word to describe this critter, unfortunately, is a zombie.

When I use the term “zombie” I’m not referring to the evil looking zombies that have five eyes and three horns. The zombie I’m referring to is actually pretty cute and sweet looking, minus the blue-faced tint. He is capable of mastering any video games and usually comes out a winner. He will loose track of all time when his face is blue. The biggest challenge with this zombie is enforcing those “screen limits” as we call them.

Here he is wearing geekish sunglasses and a shirt… for some reason. :/

We have at times taken the gadgets completely away, but they always end up making their way back into the hands of the zombie. Part of me doesn’t have the heart to completely ban the gadgets, since it would be like taking away my favorite hobbies. (we all have our things we love to do!)

I have at times, joined in and played some of the games with him, but I just can’t stay that dedicated.

Now, here’s the ugly.. a few months ago little zombie really messed up. I thought if I share this with you maybe it will prevent anything like this from happening to you. (or maybe you all don’t have zombie issues like we do)

First of all, jumping subjects here, I need to put a good word in for Google play store. If it wasn’t for the goodness and understanding of the guy I spoke with on the phone a few months back, I’m not sure where I would be today. (or the zombie)  

Let’s just say that upon receiving the monthly bank statement and seeing the charge from the Google play store, that it nearly knocked me to the ground! It wasn’t just a hundred. Or two hundred. Okay, you get the point.

To make a long story short, the poor little zombie was punished the old fashioned way. :/ Although I think he really had no concept of what happened every time he bought those golden coins, he still needed to have some sort of punishment to help him remember so it wouldn’t happen again.

Oh, and there’s a box that you can check on the google play store account that makes sure you need to put in passwords every time you purchase something. This box was unchecked, so some of this was our own fault, but it’s fixed now!

Needless to say, I don’t believe this will happen again, and like mentioned above we did get most of our money back, thanks to Google play store!

And today the little zombie still roams about. It’s the times that he comes around and says “mom, you are the best mom in the whole world,” or the little parodies he will sing about me, that I know he’s actually not completely zombie-minded.

 

-Mary