A Bench & Shoe Storage DIY

When we put an offer on our house it was a double loan short sale.  It 6 months to hear back about wether or not the house would be ours.  During that time my mind was busily thinking of ways to make our home functional.  I wanted a place for EVERYTHING including our shoes that always seemed to be strewn about.  These baskets at Target were one of the very first things I bought for our new home.


I also wanted a place where we could sit and put our shoes off and on.  One of our friends from church has a little farm close by and had a bunch of wood that had been just laying out in his field for years and years and said we could come get a few pieces.  I knew exactly what I wanted to do with that wood.

The legs on this bench are called hairpin legs.  There are many sites online where you can purchase these and they even sell them on etsy.  I got mine at a store in downtown Portland, Oregon called The Reclaimory.  They were $15 each. 

I am loving this bench and these shoe baskets in our home.  The only thing I am sad about is that for the first year we lived here we just had the baskets and no bench...I miss throwing shoes from upstairs down into the baskets and every time I made it I would say to myself "still got it."  :)

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 My husband used a wire brush going with the grain over the entire piece of wood; the wire brush gets rid of any big splinters while keeping the aged look of the wood. 

Then we used a cloth and rubbed this Natural Danish Oil on the wood to stain, seal, & protect it.  The natural finish was awesome because it really kept the aged look of our wood.

*You do not have to use an old piece of wood for this project.  Before we found our wood I had just gone to home depot and looked at different sizes that would have worked as well. 

The hairpin legs are easy to attach with an electric drill and some screws.

 

You know you need those baskets.  Make it happen.

Stencil Heart Pillow

EVERYONE needs a heart pillow!   I have been wanting to make one for awhile so Charlotte and I finally got to work.

(Everyone also needs a church pew in their home.  My good friend Jill has one and when I saw hers I knew I had to have one.  Check craigslist :))

The church pew has become a reading place for the girls.  They LOVE sitting on it.  I thought it would be a great place for the HEART pillow so they could get nice and cozy.

But it also looks great on the sofa :)



The great thing about this project is that you hardly need anything to make it:

freezer paper

fabric paint

brush

fabric

sewing machine

Cut out your front of the pillow fabric.  I always just set my pillow right on the fabric and make sure the pillow barely fits onto it.  You want your pillow to fit in there nice and snuggly!  The pillow looks so much better that way.

Cut out a back fabric piece and make sure it goes about 2/3 of the way over your front piece.

Then cut out one more back piece that goes just over half way.

Cut out your freezer paper to fit your fabric.

Then fold your freezer paper over and channel your 3rd grade self during Valentines season and cut out your heart :)

Center it onto your front fabric shinny side down and iron it on.

I used fabric paint for this because I want to be able to wash it.  If you are stenciling something that doesn't need to be washed there is no need for fabric paint.

I wanted to dark grey color so I mixed white and black.

Before you paint...make sure to add a piece of paper unto your project so it doesn't seep through all of your work space.

Paint and try not to push too much paint onto the edges so it doesn't seep under.

Charlotte helps me with any project.  Love her.

This is how I measure the fabric to make sure the pillow seems like a good fit.

Fold, iron, and sew your center edges on the back fabrics.

Place your back piece that goes about half way over face down onto your front piece.

Then place your wider back piece on, pin, and sew all the way around.

Turn inside out and stuff your pillow in.

My case seemed still to big for my pillow and sometimes this happens and I HATE pillow cases that are too big.  So I just turn it inside out again, sew closer, and trim off access.

Cutest little pillow and cutest little girl.

Give it a try.  Happy sewing!

Freezer Paper Stencil Sign

We moved from the city to the country a little over a year ago.  When we first moved in I was really motivated to make this new place amazing :)  After not too long we realized that there would be a little baby in our future by way of adoption.  All of the work it takes to get ready to adopt as well as the cost put a damper on all of my decorating excitement.

The other day I thought "You know what it doesn't take much money to decorate and this will be a fun challenge for me to get this place looking awesome on budget."  So my first project was this sign!  

The wall in our family room was missing something.  So I put this together.  It's a spay painted frame Goodwill for $3.99 and a sign I made for about $5.  

I have loved this saying for the longest time and I think it's a good one for our family to live by and see often.

I used a cutting machine to cut the saying out of freezer paper.  I wouldn't attempt cutting this out by hand unless you were cutting something much simpler.  

*Make sure your paper is shiny waxy side down when cutting.

Remove all of the letters.  Charlotte loves helping with this part.  Be sure to keep all of the insides of the letters like the one for the "0" Char is removing in this picture.

Cut out your desired shape for the fabric.

I used some material I purchased at Joann's that is a ticker canvas type material.  You can find it over by the burlap.  

Make sure it is straight and lined up where you want it.

I use the highest setting on my iron to iron the letters on.

*Make sure your paper is shiny waxy side down when ironing.  Check to be sure the insides of the letters are waxy side down as well.

You will need a sponge brush and paint.  I sometimes use fabric paint for these projects but only when it will be used on something that will be washed.  In this case any type of paint will do.

Mix your desired color.  I wanted a very dark grey.  So I chose black and white together.

Make sure your brush doesn't have too much paint on it and hold your sponge straight up while painting.  When you paint you are doing more of a dabbing motion.

Your #1 goal with this is to not let the paint bleed under your wax paper.

 I think it's best to wait until your paint is mostly dry to remove the wax paper but I always get too excited and can never wait.

For any wax paper that is left behind I use tweezers or a pin to remove.

When the paint is dry iron your fabric face down to remove any warping the paint did to the fabric.

I wanted a point at the bottom of my sign so I used a ruler to measure and then cut.

I wanted my sign to be nice and sturdy so I cut out two pieces of my fabric the same size.

Put the right sides together and sew them together across the top.

Iron the seam open.

Turn it right sides out and iron flat across the top.

I always mark where to stop sewing with two pins close together.  Sew almost to the top on both sides with wrong sides together leaving room for your stick to thread through later.

You can see here I sewed all the way to the bottom.  I left the point not sewn because there was no need.

Here is where your stick will go.

Great perk of living out in the country.  I can walk outside when I need sticks for my craft projects. :)

Push your stick through the not sewn section at the top.

Tie on your string and you are done!

Thanks for reading!