jilly's breakfast nook and a mini-tutorial

Even though I don't feel like this space is quite ready to show the world, it's as done as it's going to be for awhile, and the white tile floor (aka: the bane of my existence) unfortunately isn't going anywhere anytime soon.... 

This is the breakfast nook in our home and this picture was taken a week or so before we moved in while I was cleaning out all the stuff the previous occupant had left behind.

You've got to love the vertical blinds, cultured marble windowsills and a ceiling fan that unfortunately wasn't captured in this photo.

Here it is today:

This space was largely "completed" (will it ever really be done?) just a couple weeks ago when this piano bench, previously adorned in this hot pink Asian silk was given new life.

It was reupholstered in a sturdy, wool, herringbone curtain panel I found at a garage sale for $1.  One of my best friends and fellow members of {Club Project} who is often referred to as "G" here on the blog, upholstered this at the last project day at {MY house}.  I finished it off with a contrasting welt cord, and thought I would give a mini-tutorial on how I did it. 

Have you ever wondered how the pros make the welting look like there is no starting or stopping point?  Well, YOU are going to be a pro after a quick how-to!

First off, make (or buy) enough welt cord for your project.  Pull the fabric back a bit to expose about an inch of the cord on one end.

Snip off an inch of the cord and smooth your fabric back out.  There will be about an inch with no cording inside.  Don't panic.

Pick the stitching out until you reach the cut end of your cording. 

Start stapling a good two inches from the start of your welt cord.

Continue on around until you get close to where you started.  Leave plenty to play with.  Now is not the time to have cut it too short!  I always make my cording at least a few inches longer than I think I need.

Now find the end of your cut cording inside the little sleeve, and cut the other end dead even with where the the other one starts.

Fold back the fabric where you picked the seam out and make sure your cording edges butt up to each other.  You don't want to leave a gap at all.

Fold your cut and raw edge under a 1/4" and tuck the side you just cut right inside.  Staple it in place really well where it joins.

 Look, now YOU can be a PRO!  The joined edge is hardly noticeable at all.

I've seen one too many bad upholstery pieces where they cross the welt cords over each other and it looks so bulky and unprofessional, not to mention clearly obvious as to where it starts and stops. I hope this little tutorial helps you!

The windows of the nook were a little bit involved.... I can't lie.  Back in the early 80's when this house was built, they must have sought out the squattiest windows available. They never made sense to me, and since ripping them out and replacing them with taller ones wasn't a viable option (trust me, I checked!) I had to come up with another plan.  I decided to run some moulding all the way up the sides of the windows to the ceiling and make some custom roman shades to hang over the dead wall space above the window to make the window appear much taller.

Melanie helped me work on adding trim to this bay window area for an entire day of  a Club Project session about a year ago, and then me and my man finished it off.  We used MDF for the whole thing, except for the piece of pine trim we attached to the front of the sill to dress it up a bit.  There were some sizable gaps due to my lack of knowledge in trigonometry about how angles and corners come together.  Thank the heavens for wood filler and caulk. You'd never guess there was a problem.

Mia is such a sport, although that's no surprise.  These are the SECOND set of window treatments she helped me make for this space.  (We aren't going to talk about the first set, they were my bad idea)  I LOVE the current roman shades though!  We made them out of fabric I got for $1 a yard at Wal Mart, and the gray trim was found at SAS for $2 a yard.  They are casual and comfortable looking and add some much needed softness to a space with so many hard finishes.  Mia posted a {great tutorial} so you can make your own shades, too. It has great pictures and instructions.  You know you don't need a sewing machine, right?  These are no-sew shades!  Be sure to use black-out lining if you plan on hanging your window treatments above your window to help them appear taller.  The top of the window is about 3 inches above the bottom of the new shades.  By mounting my shades to the ceiling, I added 2 feet to my window height!  I have some cheap roller blinds mounted at the top of the window that we use in the summer afternoons when the 672 degree sun comes blaring in.  They are completely hidden by my new roman shades. 

The table was a $30 Craigslist find and I'm obsessed with it!  The marble is so pretty and the rest is shabby and worn.  This is the bench on the opposite side.  Thrift store piano benches were the perfect size!  I painted the base and stripped the top, then sealed it with wax.  It gets used and abused every single day and still looks great. 

I gave the chairs a makeover a year ago and I detailed the process {here}.  Remember when they looked like this?

They have held up amazingly well.  I scrub the painted upholstery seats about once a week, and they still look just about as good as the day I finished them.  If you find a well-upholstered chair that you want to use at your kitchen table, I highly recommend painting the upholstery.  It becomes almost like a really soft vinyl and is a breeze to keep clean.

The light fixture is just a very temporary $5 fix found at Habitat Restore. The stuff on the table is all thrift store finds, and I always have a fresh plant or flowers in a small pot.  Right now it's rosemary and everything I cook gets a few fresh sprigs!

The wall adjacent to the table is another area I've had a lot of fun with recently.  I have no mud room per se, so it's the main drop spot upon entering the back door. (which is more like the front door for our family and friends)  I'm going to blog about it next week.

Thanks for checking in and spending some of your time here.  It's fun to hear from you, and we just got our first male follower.  Thank you, Sebastiono P.    We really hope you're a legitimate human, because this is BIG!

   

    

clean potty talk

While working on my bathroom and changing everything out for bright, crisp white finishes, I couldn't help but notice this sad little bisque colored toilet tucked in the corner.

There was nothing wrong with the toilet, except for it's dingy color.  Which in fact, made it all wrong.  I was stewing about it because I really didn't want to replace it.  But I really did.  My poor brain.  (and husband) 

It just so happened that my friend Tom had rescued a boatload of  toilets from a warehouse that had burned down.  Nothing was wrong with their functionality or porcelain finishes, but they had some soot and grime on them.  Pshhht.  This girl is not afraid of a little bit of dirt.  So, {Melanie} and I found our way over to the toilet hoard to see what we could hunt up.

I really wanted a one-piece toilet because of the ease of cleaning and the overall aesthetic.  There was ONE toilet that fit the bill, and it was love at first sight.  Sleek, one piece design, compact and stunning.  

It didn't have a seat with it, so I went and sat in my car (out of the 110 degree sun) and googled the toilet to see if I could order the seat.  And look what my eyes beheld....

Do you SEE that price?  $1,564.95.  That's when I nonchalantly asked Tom how much he wanted for the (brand new) filthy orphan toilet with no seat.

$65.

You guys, I didn't even try to talk him down!  And I sort of felt like a thief as we drove away with that beautiful mess.

Since Melanie is a legitimate contractor, she ordered a seat right up for me, paid for it, picked it up and delivered it, complete with a bow and thoughtful card as a gift to me and my family.  She's so amazing and I feel like the luckiest girl in America to have her living three doors down.

After I got the toilet all cleaned up, Melanie came over for the big install.  Of course we thought we would get-er-done in an hour's time......until we realized we were missing a $10 part.  And it was a special order.

What a shocker.

It's fine.  The kids haven't had a bathroom for over a year now, what was another week and a half?

Meanwhile, I went to Goodwill.  A practice that always clears my head.  I was looking for a canvas that I could paint something on to hang behind the toilet.

BAM!

The perfect size and shape, with no raised texture.  Since it's basically the first thing my kids will see each and every morning, I really wanted it to be something that would stay with them all day.

I considered the same cross-stitch phrase that hung behind my Grandma's toilet:

"If you sprinkle when you tinkle, please be neat and wipe the seat." 

But it was too long. :)

After really searching, I found the perfect quote and instantly knew it was the one.

I wanted it to look like subway art, so I taped off the frame of my newly acquired ($10) treasure, and painted the canvas with chalkboard paint.  I suppose I could have used any black paint, but I had the chalkboard paint on hand, so that's what made sense.

After I spray painted the frame in a satin nickel and painted a 1/2" white border around the perimeter of the canvas, I decided how I wanted the quote to look.  After printing it, I got busy tracing it onto the canvas with some white transfer paper.

Then came the fun part of painting it with a steady hand, small brush, and some white paint.

We (meaning Melanie) finally got the toilet in.  I was an excellent assistant.  I was in awe that she knew how to do every single part of it.  When she started drilling through the tile and into the concrete foundation, that's when I knew plumbing might be out of my league.

I was excited to hang my subway art up over the most anticipated toilet of the year.  NEVER has a potty been more appreciated!

One more time, just for fun.

 I love it!  I wish I could show  it to you from several different angles, but it's a really tight space.  The lid closes softly and you flush it by pushing a button on the top of the tank.    It's probably the nicest thing in our house. 

And now my friends, we've made it to the home stretch.   A new vanity, mirror and lighting is all this bathroom is lacking!  It should be done in another year.  I kid.  Hopefully.

Just wondering, does this look like fun to any of you? 

That's what I thought....

exciting changes

Lots going on around here!  I'm imagining there's lots going on around wherever you are, too.  This is just a busy time as the school year comes to a close and long-awaited summer plans begin.

One of the most exciting events of the year took place last week when our oldest graduated from High School.  To say it was bittersweet would be an understatement.  If you follow me on Instagram, (jillegal) you might have seen a couple of the pictures I posted.  I used this one on her last day of school, along with my wish to turn back the hands of time.

And this one the day after graduation with the caption, "High School is history!  Watch out world...my girl is going to do something BIG!"

It's true and I've always known it.  I can't wait to see what she does with her future.  I love her with all of my heart, and I am incredibly proud of her. 

When deciding what to do for the special graduates in our lives, we decided cash was the best option.  I made some envelopes {template found here} and embellished them with an accordion paper wheel  and custom tag.

 

I sealed them up with a sweet little heart sticker.  They are perfect for tucking a little note and some cash inside. 

After seeing a plaster monogram on Pinterest (that I can't find again and didn't pin!),  I decided I had to make the graduates one to pair with the envelope.
 
I combined two different tutorials and came up with  my own version.  I bought the small, paper mache letters from Hobby Lobby when they were 30% off, making them just $2 each!  I bought a 25 pound bag of plaster of paris from Lowes (I had lots of them to make) and found that 2 cups of it, mixed with 1 generous cup of water made the perfect amount to fill each letter. I used a steak knife to cut the top of the cardboard off and pulled the filler out, leaving me with an empty form.

Before mixing and pouring the plaster, I lined all the edges with clear packing tape so the cardboard wouldn't stick to the plaster.

Don't skip the tape.  It's an important step, trust me. My biggest hint is to work with the tape in long sections.  Because it's so sticky, it's hard to piece little sections in, so just cut off a long length and have some patience.  Pour the plaster into the mold and then shimmy it a little to make it smooth and get all the bubbles out.  You want to fill it full.  It should be dry in about 4-6 hours.  You can make a starting cut with some scissors on an outside edge and then you should be able to peel off the cardboard and tape in one strip.  The cardboard on the back will come off by rubbing it with your fingers.  I got a wet cloth and worked the rigid edges on the front side to smooth it all out.  They won't look perfect, but that's the point.

I think that coupled together they make a thoughtful gift.  Surprisingly, the monograms look a little like marble.  Sorry I wasn't on the ball enough to tell you about this before graduation, but this gift can be for anyone, anytime!  Baby shower, wedding, birthday, hostess gift?

Want to hear about something else that is SO exciting I can hardly sleep?  It started with this thing showing up a week ago.

It was here to do some leveling because we are getting 80 yards of concrete poured at our house!

A cement driveway might not sound like a luxury to most, but we have had dirt for the past 5 years, so this is BIG news!  You can't imagine how dirty our cars, patios and home is constantly because of the dust.   It was a dream come true when I heard the men outside this morning around 4:30 a.m.  They will be pouring around 5 a.m. every day for the rest of this week.  Suddenly, I'm a morning person!

And, maybe you will remember a little project I started exactly a year ago.  It's called The Bathroom Renovation.

Oh. My. Gosh.

The shower began a little something like this.

 And my dreams were to turn it into something more like this:

Well friends, the shower is D.O.N.E!  And it even WORKS!!!  Yes, I am proud.  No, I will never, EVER do it again.  It was the hardest job I've ever tackled, it took me far too long to finish and my poor kids had to shower upstairs for an entire year.  I can only share snippets of it because the rest of the bathroom is still in shambles.  No, I will not be posting a tutorial on anything because I didn't know what the heck I was doing 99% of the time.  But, I'm going to finish the entire bathroom this summer,  and the reveal is going to be lots of fun.  So stay with me just a little bit longer if your patience will hold out. 

This picture was taken moments after setting the last tile.  My hands will never be the same.

This is the pebble floor set, getting ready to be grouted.  This was a big splurge for me, but I think it's going to completely make the whole bathroom!

Actually, there are lots more exciting things in the works around here.  I'm antsy to show you what I gave myself for Mother's Day this year.  It's nearing completion, and it's one of the best gifts I've ever given myself.  I love it every single day.  I think you'll love it, too.  The only one who doesn't love it is my husband.

Oops.

That's why I had to give it to myself. 

So, here's to a fabulous summer!  Hope you have lots of fun activities planned, projects to work on, family to make memories with, and an abundance of  {creamed lemonade}.  Isn't that what summer is all about?