Tidy Brown Wren, bringing order to your nest

I love looking back on the past year and being reminded of what I accomplished during the past 12 months.  Getting back most of the feeling and function in my right leg was a big help in getting projects done.  Yay for physical therapy! Guest Room Redo : Right after Christmas last year, I started working on the guest room on the 3rd floor our our home.  This bedroom with a sitting area and 3 piece bathroom is perfect for guests.  I was able to finish the room inexpensively by using things I already owned.  I only spent money on paint and a new set of sheets.  Goat Feed Bag Grocery Sack: I finally made use of the goat and chicken feed bags that had been accumulating in our barn.  I turned a few of them into grocery sacks.  I'm still making them and selling them in my Etsy shop, but they quickly sell out and I've had a lot of local customers buying them.  I hope to add a few more into the shop soon. Rocking Chair Int...

  I'm not ready to put away the Christmas decorations yet, but the Christmas wrappings were driving me nuts and I had to do something - and fast.   My studio had become the dumping ground for gifts and wrappings and it was a total mess.  Fortunately, I have a system, so it only took about 15 minutes to put everything away.   First, I gathered all of the bags, ribbons, wrapping paper, tags, and tissue paper together.  Then I sorted it by type on the floor.  I discarded anything that was damaged.   After everything was sorted I started to put each category of wrapping in it's storage place.   The tall rolls of wrapping, large bags, and collapsed boxes were filed into the bottom of the Rubbermaid wrapping container.  It's extra tall to accommodate the tall rolls of paper.   I always use a recycled gift bag that I don't want to use again and store the folded tissue paper and small gift bags in. Ribbo...

    I'm excited to show you the floating barn wood shelves Hubs made me for my Christmas present this year.         It started out as some barnwood Hubs found along the side of the road.  Piles of old barn wood don't come along very often so you'd better snatch them when you find them.       He borrowed a rip saw from a friend at church and cut the wood down into narrow boards.   He also cut down an old piece of wood from our barn to make cleats to hang the shelves on.  Here are the cleats screwed into studs in the wall. He made the shelves using  two 4 inch boards and one 2 1/2 inch board.  The 4 inch boards form the top and bottom of the shelf and the 2 1/2 inch board is the strip you see in the front.  There are also 2 small pieces on each end that measure 2 1/2 x 3 1/2.  One shelf is 4 feet long and one is 6 feet long. Here's another view.  The right ...

Everyone loves sitting on our window seat when they visit.  After all, not many homes have a window seat.  The problem with our window seat was that the cushions were too wimpy.  I made them 7 years ago when we first moved into our home.  I bought average cushion foam and it didn't hold up very well and it was too thin - especially for anyone not having enough padding of their own (if you know what I mean).  I've gone through a few different colors of pillows, trying to make the area more cozy.  The back pillows are just bed pillows that I covered with upholstery remnants. I bought new high density foam, 4 inches thick, on sale at Hancock Fabrics.  It is a "green" foam that doesn't off gas.  I bought 2 large pieces and cut them down to size, using the old cushions as patterns.  I then wrapped each piece of foam with batting.  I used a spray adhesive to attach the batting and it went very quickly. Next, I covered the...

    I'm not usually afraid of many things.  I used to be afraid of the dark, but I got over that. (I'll admit I'm deathly afraid of frogs, but that has nothing to do with furniture).   What does scare me is buying new things - especially new, expensive, investment kind of things.   Like cars, and houses, and furniture.    When we moved into this house, our furniture didn't quite fit.  Our sofa (a large, plaid, hide-a-bed), had to sit at an angle in the living area.  Here it is with it's new neutral cover.  The window seat is to the right and the open stairwell is to the left.  The door behind the sofa is a closet that houses our HVAC unit.      The only large wall was covered up by a wall unit from our old house.  It housed our TV, books, games, candles, vases, stereo, and various odds and ends. Here it is with other furniture removed so I could polish the floors.  The dinin...

As our family grows larger, we seem to have a harder time getting everyone together for a family picture.  I was determined to get a good photo to use for our Christmas cards.    On the Sunday after Thanksgiving, all of the kids and grand kids came over after church and we gave it a shot.   After a yummy lunch and some clothing changes (the kid's clothes only stay clean for so long) we headed out into the back yard to set things up.   Hubs and I worked together to figure out the timer on the camera.  It was pathetic - we had to read the book that came with the camera.  In the end,  Ashley just used her camera on my tripod.   Then we did a trial shot with Ashley setting the timer and running towards us before the picture was taken.  While this was happening, Juan was chasing Nicholas (3 years old) around the backyard.  We took about 20 shots and this one turned out the best.  Whew!   Back i...