Quick, Cheap and Easy "Details"

Badass Knobs and Finials are on the agenda here today.

I am working on a lamp project (not done yet, coming soon) and I had to hit the hardware store this morning. While browsing lamp fittings I discovered a few parts that would work to make lamp finials out of.  I grabbed a few and came home to experiment.

(That is the part I used in front)

I gathered some pretty trinkets I had.. everything from Christmas ornaments to old jewelry pieces to rocks and started attaching with crazy glue and epoxy...

 My favorite is the piece of seaglass from a bottle bottom...

This is what you need to look for at the hardware store:

 Bring a current finial to match up the thread sizes. I found had two different sizes on my lamps.  You can also buy pieces that insert inside a larger fitting to make it smaller. 

 (Good old fashioned hardware stores rock because there is always someone there to help you figure out what you need.)

 And another quick mini detail that takes minutes and barely any $$$ is taking plain old knobs and making them all badass.

Plain Jane knob (it is on a screw attachment because it goes right into the wall)...

 Sprayed it gloss black (my poor yard is so abused by me)...

 and then I splashed it with some Krylon Gold Paint Pen (LOVE these!)....

 I just held the the pen tip down until it got very saturated, and flicked.

The end result.  These are going in my new pink office soon:

Getting Stuff Done When I should be Getting Other Stuff Done

My porch ceiling.

It was white...

I had lots of work stuff to do, so procrastination struck.

I decided my porch ceiling needed a pattern on it, 

so I broke out my drug of choice: paint and some blue tape.

Got a little lazy and made my design based on 3' squares.

2' would have been a much better scale, 

but that was more work and I was trying to avoid work... remember?

I mixed up some left over blue & white paint I had.

Literally had just enough paint to do this! 

End result is subtle, and it killed a good 2 hours of work time.

Shame on me. 

But, on the bright side evening cocktails are more interesting out here now.

And anyone whose work I blew off is welcome to come over for a mojito.

Unfortunately these days the cocktails out here are slim since the mosquitos around here are fierce and laden with West Nile & Triple E.  They have me on freak out patrol fearing my kids are going to contract something terrible and be hospitalized. (Thank you local news for the paranoia.) 

The mosquito net curtains and fan are no match for their sneakiness. 

We still get bit.
I want to move to California, not for the ridiculously great weather, but for the sheer fact that there are much less bugs. Sad!

So to recap. 

Procrastinating, painted porch ceilings and drinks=good.  

Disease carrying insects= f*cking bad.

Hope it is bug free where you are!

Closer to home

I having been wanting to post this for a while,
 but I didn't want to jinx anything any more than it has been.

I am really excited for my parents- they finally sold their house in NY.

  

The best part is they moved to a new house only 30 minutes away from me.
They bought this house last fall, but right after closing on it and right before they were suppose to list their old house my mom fell, torn her rotator cuff and fractured her pelvis.. that added months of rehab and kept them in NY.
(hence my jinx aversion)
Luckily the house sold within a week in a bidding war- great way to end a whole lotta drama.

So, they are finally here!  

The new house is pretty awesome and has lots of space for everyone to crash come the holidays.

 (my favorite part is the backyard patio):

 Both my parents are big gardeners, and now 

they have a great sized yard to have at it.

 Over the next few months I will be posting some before and afters as they settle in and complete projects- and do they have a list!  You will soon understand where my project neurosis comes from.

  My mom and I are scheming up some paint ideas and designs, and my husband is just glad that I will be painting someone else's walls instead of changing ours again.

I am already amazed at the fact that she has her family room almost set up, it is already starting to feel like home.

(those are the pillows from last years how to post...)

To add to all this moving closer goodness, I had another awesome surprise... my good friend 

Nancy and her family moved back this month from Florida.  

She left last fall, I was sad, now its like she was never gone.

My kids are over the moon to have their friends back:

Joe got to add another "wife" back to his girlfriend list.

He somehow thinks he going to marry ALL of his girl friends. Yeah, good luck!

 And sleepovers are back in high swing!

P.S. School starts next week for the guy above and one week later for my Kindergartner.

T-minus, can't wait... it has been an awesome summer, 

but I am definitely a bit frazzled and in need of "serenity now".  

Fall has my permission to crash this party!

Sunroom ala Cheryle

Cheryle (my biz partner) has been a sewing machine this summer and blew my mind with her amazing transformation in her sunroom and I need to share.   She just "whipped up" new turquoise cushions with contrasting welt and a slew of gorgeous pillows. 

 (Pre -O'verlays she ran her own sewing workroom and still runs her pillow ETSY shop- so she had mad skills and makes it look easy!)

Check out her space!  Love a painted ceiling and a sea glass palette, so beachy fresh...

(P.S. she is considering making a video tutorial on how to do big cushions, so if you'd be interested leave a comment... I know I want her to.)

What's new?

So much so I don't know where to start.  A lot has been going on these parts, and I have tons of stuff to share so I might have to do it in installments.   Let me start with work.  I am so long overdue with my O'verlay updates.  We have some new (probably not anymore to most of you) stuff.  

Our Greek Key had some modifications made and now she's all big and square:

 She is available in many sizes (19" framed square above )

10" open (unframed) under my son's bum:

as well as on the fabulous Lindsay of Sadie & Stella's  office bookcase:

 

There will also be 12" and 16" options available. (Pricing ranges from $18-25)

Please email me at danika@myoverlays if you want any of the above sizes.  They are all available, but only 12" is up on the site at the moment.  I can Paypal you in the mean time.

Greek Key also got a slim down with the new Double Greek Key:

 available in 5.25"x 21" for the RAST

and 7"x30" for the MALM 

See the amazing zinc dresser tutorial here by JAX does design

We also had a new pattern baby, Xandra:

lots of sizes and you can get her in single "x" or a double starburst

ALSO she has many 1/4" thick options as well as standard 1/8"

on MALM

on EFFECTIV 

oh, I also changed my office color last week to pink due to procrastination issues.

(you know... a big pile of work staring you down but you decide the office is too dark and that needs to change. now. 

thank you procrastination gene for getting lots of shit done in my life that really didn't need to be done)

OK, well my procrastination gene also got a lot done in my house but I will save that for a later post.

I am glad to finally be back around here and can't wait to catch up.

School starts in less than 2 weeks and I will have both kids in school full time. 

A first!

Be back shortly, hope summer has been treating you well!

Danika

How to Kid-Proof your Fabric

I have been building my banquette, and deciding on a fabric for the seat cushion was a dilemma.  Problem is I have REAL messy eaters. Every dining chair I own has been reupholstered several times, and Scotch Guard is no match against Joe.  He is a non-stop messy eater:

I wanted something kid friendly and in the reddish orange family.  I headed down the vinyl and oilcloth road and nothing struck my fancy.  

Then I discovered I could laminate my own fabric using Therm O Web Iron-On Vinyl.   It comes in gloss and matte finishes.  I wanted the matte, but I am impatient and couldn't wait a week for delivery.  The gloss is stocked in most craft stores, and because I'm a need it now kind of gal I was at Joanne Fabrics that same day.  

So here is all you need to know about laminating your fabric.

1- The vinyl comes in 17" wide strips.  Bummed at first, but then I realized its totally all good because it would be a bit of a nightmare to maneuver if it was larger.  I broke out my ironing board, but that was useless.

2- You need a big ass surface to laminate.

I used my dining from table.  

First roll out a length to match your fabric and cut.

 3-Now peel off the backing in sections and stick the clear vinyl to your fabric.  This gets tricky if you are doing a large piece like I was.

 I used a magazine to smooth it as I went.

I had to cut a second strip to cover the whole piece.  I overlapped the vinyl about a 1/4" to make sure it would be covered. (The vinyl actually melted into itself and I can barely notice the seam).

Lay the paper backing back over the whole thing and iron away... 

(8 seconds on medium heat).

 Peel the paper off and you are done. 

Fancy vinyl people (if vinyl can even be fancy)...

 I then re-used 2 old shelves from my basement to make the bench seat out of. 

I am cheap resourceful.

I used mending plates to hold them together...

 I put the fabric face down, laid a piece of foam on top, and then the board...

 and stapled away...

Bench seat done!

And Joe can be as messy as he'd like. 

I am almost done with the banquette, need to add doors to front, will have pictures soon.

Hope you have a great weekend!