Sewing Room Refresh

My office / sewing studio has gotten out of hand.  I am one of those people who cannot work let alone be creative in a room that is cluttered and doesn't function.  Sometimes I feel like no matter how often I clean, the walls are still closing in on me.  I decided that it needed a refresh and a better way to store all my supplies.  Here's a lovely view of how my sewing room was before...

Why did I think an L-shape would work??  So much space is lost in that corner.

While my desk has been working out pretty well, I feel like it's taking up too much space on this wall with all the natural light.

Ok, so this is mid clean-out for this redo, but honestly, it normally doesn't look much better...

Off to Pinterest I went to find some sewing room storage inspiration.  There are so many cleaver ideas out there, but the one that stuck with me was after seeing this image:

Photo from Sew Caroline

Pegboard, the perfect solution!  Now all those things that are cluttering up my precious table top space will be gone!  And I can paint it in a cute shade of turquoise!  Ha, maybe not because I am impatient and want this project finished during my child's nap, so we have 2 hours!

The pegboard was an easy purchase from the hardware store and cuts pretty well with a circular saw (just don't cut thru the little holes unless you enjoy having debris thrown at your face.  Learned that one the hard way.)

We slapped it up on the wall and I just started to hang EVERYTHING I COULD.  I also did some serious decluttering and threw away at least 1 contractor sized trash bag full of half done projects and other random things.  Why did I keep so many empty plastic bags??   I moved my work tables over to the wall that originally had my desk and bookcases.  I ended up losing the smaller bookcase - I just didn't need it or all the things it was holding.

LOVE pegboards, I just may put them all over the house!

Sorry printer, you live on the floor now.

These pieces had to stay in their place, oh and don't mind my intern.

All in all, an easy project, more or less done in 1 afternoon, and under $25 for the pegboard and a hanging kit with all the little hooks and doo dads.





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Lucy's First Birthday - Lilly Pulitzer Style!

My tiny baby celebrated her first birthday this past week.  And although the guest list was small (just family), I couldn’t help but go crazy with the decorations and theme.  This was so much fun to plan that I am really dreading the age when Lucy won’t let me chose the theme of her party anymore.  Please tell me I have until she’s a teenager!

Kitchen Remodel - Part 3

Our kitchen is finished!  Not that the actual construction wasn’t pretty, but I didn’t take a whole lot of photos, so I decided to wait until the end to post about that part of it.  Here is our kitchen after demo with all the cabinets constructed and ready to be mounted.

Not going to lie, I was freaking out at this point because the cabinets are HUGE!  Having done all the design work myself, I was seriously doubting the design and convinced that my kitchen was going to feel even smaller than it was before, but our contractor assured me it wouldn’t, but I kinda still didn’t believe him.

Giant boxes....definitely terrified.

Also, not sure if you can tell, look above the window...see that weird looking wood?  Yup, termites.

We were delayed about a week waiting on the countertops – the cabinets had to be set before the granite guy could come out and measure for the tops, and then it took them about 5 days to fabricate.  We went with a granite called “Dallas White”, which definitely looked much different in the showroom than it now does in my kitchen, but it’s close enough and I’m not going to freak out again when we got a great deal and a relatively quick turnaround.

Anyways, here is our finished kitchen!  The whole process took about 4 weeks from cabinet delivery to moving in plates and glasses.  Not too bad.  I’ve mentioned or linked all supplies at the bottom of this post.

Like those shades?  I made 'em myself :)

My new baking center!

My grandmother's recipe for Tuna Congealed Salad, one of the most retro things in her file I could find. 

Some fun kitchen art.

Cabinets - Ikea 

Granite - Dallas White 

Cabinet Hardware - Build.com knobs and pulls both in chrome.

Knife Block - M.O.C. Woodworks, ours is in walnut.

Fabric for shades - Fabric.com

Happy New Year!

Whew!  We made it through the end of 2015 and I am so excited to get this new year started.  I thought I would round up my favorite items I customized for clients this holiday season.  Enjoy!

Christmas jumper!

LOVE the navy gingham and kelly green combo.  LOVE!

Classic white thread on the white hemstitched towel. 

How cool is this camo and orange monogram??  I need to use this font more often!  

Black on red, great contrast for this koozie.

Royal blue appliqué in the "Fretwork" monogram style

White embroidery on navy towels, so crisp and clean

Two color "Barbour" monogram in brown and royal blue

Metallic gold and black - so sparkly!

I adore blue for baby girls!  This appliqué is the hot pink on navy gingham.

My clients have the most creative minds out there!  I love making their unique items.

New Stuff and a Shop Update

It's no secret that this blog as well as my Etsy shop have been vacationing for quite a while now, but no worries, I shall return, and with that return new products will arrive!  My new plan is to reopen the shop early this fall with a new streamlined look and more focused products.  While Etsy makes it a little difficult to customize your shop online, I've decided to dive deep into photographing my products and learn a little more about my camera and the process that makes good product photos really great.

I've also been shopping for new products and taking a hard look at the sales data from these past couple of years.  Studying your customers is a great way to improve business, and my customers love shopping for babies and their own weddings.  So needless to say, there will be many more items in both of those categories.  It's hard to set yourself apart from all the millions of shopping options out there, and price is a huge reason a customer may pick you (or not), and now more than ever it's hard to decide how much my time is worth.

I'm hopeful that beautiful products plus good great photography and fair pricing will put me back in the retail game I once had.  Here are a few things to come...

Soft cotton plaid baby blankets

Cotton flannel receiving blankets with soft oatmeal dots - one of my favs!

In love with these cotton herringbone blankets in soft hues.

New thread colors!  I'm really pumped for the neons.

New 2 initial monogram.  Ready to do this one with some bright colors!

I'm loving traditional letters with fun borders.  Hand towels, definitely embroidering this on hand towels. 

New Dog Bed Inspiration

Since Pearl the pup has decided that current bed is no longer acceptable, I have decided to make her one.  This may or may not completely blow up in my face, and I will scream and yell if she destroys it, but she is my fur baby and I love her and want to make her something.

Poor thing...all alone and mushed into a corner.

 Her bed must have offended her, judging how she drags it around and simply leaves it in strange places.  I’m almost positive her attitude towards it would sound like this:  “Ugh, you nasty bed.  How dare you make me drag you around, rip out your insides and leave you in places where I would never sleep.  And you have the NERVE to show back up in my spot??  That’s it! Grrrr!”  And then I look up from my desk, find the pitiful, lumpy bed askew in the corner of my office with piles of olive green stuffing everywhere.  How is there so much stuffing in one bed?  I’ve been picking it up for weeks now.

Anyways, the new bed will be constructed with love and much more durable fabric.  But alas, what design to go with?  There are so many cute DIY’s and tutorials out there, but I think the one I like the most (because I love piping!) will be from Design Sponge.

Box Cushion Tutorial from Design Sponge

 See – adorable right??  And that sweet puppy would never eat that pretty bed, no way.

Love this one.  I love stripes (obvi) and labs, and it gives me a little glimmer of hope of the tranquility that may exist in my house once her perfect little cushion is made.   Thanks Elle Décor for the false sense of serenity.  Maybe in 5 years…

Love the size and squishiness of this one.  I may try to do this while still using a box cover pattern.  This exact bed can be purchased at BaxterBoo.

I love pugs.  But I can tell you I have never known a pug that would sleep on its own bed all alone.  This bed is similar in shape to the one above and is available through the Pampered Puppy.

Alright, got some ideas, and fabric has been ordered – I went with Premier Prints Flynn in navy blue.  I love navy, and I have a yellow dog, so that wasn’t the smartest decision I’ve made today, but hey, I’m only human.  I’m thinking some bright contrasting piping will definitely be necessary, unless that will attract the little puppy teeth even more…

Any spoiled pampered pooches in your home?