Sugar & Spice in the land of Balls & Sticks: Throwback Thursdays

Showing posts with label Throwback Thursdays. Show all posts

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Before Blogging Throwback Thursdays #8 - Have a Seat

It's Party Time again! Can you believe it's been a month already? Seems so much shorter for me since I flaked out on blogging that whole week before Halloween. This month I'm sharing the loveseat in my bedroom. This was my very first reupholstery project ever, and I'm really proud of it. One of the reasons, I've been dithering about redoing my bedroom is that I don't really want to cover up my first ever big project.

When you're young and first starting out, relatives tend to offer you their castoffs, and you oh so gladly take them. Who am I kidding? I still gladly take castoffs. ;-) I searched and searched for pictures of this loveseat pre-makeover, but couldn't find one. My in-laws might have one(it was theirs, first in the living room, then the basement rec room, then our first apartment.) I can show you the textured 80s tan, pink & blue fabric that it was covered in.

The back was a couple of large cushions on top of more cushions - like an overweight man at the beach, or something like this sofa. I smoothed it all out and added the buttons.

The wood was an 80s honey oak. I used some gel stain right over top without any sanding to make a richer cherry color.

I think that when I redo my bedroom, I'll be making a slipcover for this loveseat, because I'd hate to rip off my first upholstery project. I'm linking this up to Primitive & Proper's Piece of Work Wednesday, Chic on a Shoestring's Flaunt it Friday, and Remodelaholic's Remodelaholics Anonymous.

That's my look back. Now let's see what you have to show off this month. Remember this is a party for anything you made, did, or bought Before Blogging. Grab a button and get linking.

Sugar and Spice in the land of Balls and Sticks Before Blogging Throwback Thursdays

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Before Blogging Throwback Thursdays - Halloween

It's time again for our monthly Before Blogging Throwback Thursdays party. Sorry about skipping last month's party, but the flood & flood cleanup really kicked my tail. Read more about it here. I can't wait to see what you all bring to the party. This month I'm sharing some pictures from past Halloweens. I've only been bloggin for a year, but in that time have had about 20 posts labeled Halloween. It's the time of year when adults can dress up, play pretend, and act silly. Here's CG and I way back in 1999 dressed as Obi Wan and Darth Maul. Sorry for the grainy pic, but it's pretty old.

When we moved down here, we started throwing a Halloween party for Whirling Dervish's friends. It's a party that's evolved each year. At one time we had good old fashioned apple bobbing as one of the games.

It turns out that apple bobbing is disgusting. The water gets all yucktastic from makeup and spit.

Back before our kitchen remodel, we had a small table in the kitchen, and had a gypsy fortune telling station set up with an older neighborhood kid as the fortune teller. I remember that being a fun activity that we'll bring back this year. We'll have to set that up at our bar stool peninsula seating.

Eventually SB was born, and the party had to evolve even more. Here he is as a viking baby. I remember how excited I was when the little viking hat fit. I had sewn his costume, and there was no stretch to the faux leather, so it needed to be a good fit on the first try.

His room had formally been cleaned out of furniture for the party, but now we had to use the crib and rocker recliner as part of the decor. We chained up a ghoul in his crib and another in the chair as part of the mad scientists laboratory.

Now with the party being for SB's friends, it's still changing, and it's fun being able to go to the past for some recycled ideas.

Now it's time for you all to share something you did, bought, or created Before Blogging. Don't forget to grab a party button for your post.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

BBTT#6 - Ottoman Empire

It's time for another monthly Before Blogging Throwback Thursdays party. Today I'm sharing the ottoman in the sitting area of my bedroom. I had found some animal print upholstery fabric in the flat fold red-tag section of the fabric store and had to bring it home. This is a project that grew out of my need to use the fabric. It turns out that it's Socks' favorite place to nap. (Don't look to closely, both the ottoman and the rug need a vaccuuming.)

I used pineapple fence post finials for legs.

The ottoman was constructed with 3/4" plywood, 4" foam, some quilt batting, and about nine million staples. I pre-drilled where I wanted the tufting to go, and covered some buttons with the upholstery fabric. I didn't bother with ribbon or fabric to pretty up the bottom, because if you're crawling around on my bedroom floor, you're probably beyond judging me.

I'd like to say that I put my feet up on this all the time, but I wouldn't want to disturb the cat. What do you think, will she ever forgive me if I slipcover it in linen?

Alright, Let's Party! Grab a button and link up your posts showing something you bought / did / created Before Blogging. I'm sharing this at Fireflies & Jellybeans Show off Your Stuff Party, French Country Cottage's Feathered Nest Friday, and A Glimpse Inside's Catch a Glimpse party.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Before Blogging Throwback Thursdays #5 - Soapstone Counters

How quickly a month flies by! It's time for my monthly Before Blogging party where you can link up anything at all from before blogging whether it's something you did, made, bought, found, traveled to or whatever. I can't wait to see what you all bring to the party.

3 years ago, we ripped out our kitchen down to the studs and replaced everything. This could be a before and after kitchen post, but it's not. I'm just talking counters today, specifically soapstone counters. I've dreamed about soapstone counters since my very first apartment when I was 18. This was long before they became so popular with the movie Something's Gotta Give. When we started kitchen planning, I knew that's what I wanted, but the cost of stone fabrication was way out of our budget. Lucky for us, we're fearless DIYers, and all it took was some basic woodworking tools, and the stone which we purchased from M. Texeira in NJ.

Here's where we started. 2" thick laminate that was coming loose, stained, and burned in spots.

Soapstone comes in many varieties that have varying colors and hardness. It took me a while to pick my stone. When I finally picked in mid-November, they shipped out our slabs, and we were hit with a nasty snow storm which made it impossible for the delivery truck to get up our hill. We rescheduled delivery then were hit with another 2 feet of snow. When the slabs were finally delivered to our driveway, it was nearing Christmas. So I let them sit in the driveway until after the holidays. Those slabs were ice cold & heavy and we needed several beefy friends(and a half a dozen ribeyes, and a case of beer) to help with moving them.

The penninsula piece was cut with straight lines before moving into place. The curves were made using a belt sander afterwards.

For those of you who know DIY, stone dust is about 10 times worse than drywall dust. I'm wearing a mask, my glasses(contacts kept drying out,) and ski goggles for a better seal and high impact resistance in this pic. I also recommend doing a leave in conditioning treatment on your hair both before and after you work your stone. Talk about split ends.

Here's the penninsula after the first oiling. Look how young SB is here.

My prep corner,

and my baking corner. Love!

Obviously the kitchen is a lot more finished now, but this is where it all started - my love of soapstone counters. Every other decision came afterwards.

I'm linking this up at Stuff and Nonsense's Fridays Unfolded, because a little bit of countertop petting unfolds every week for me, The DIY Showoff's DIY Project Parade, and Between Naps on the Porch's Metamorphosis Monday.

Let's get this party started. Grab a button and link up anything you made, did, bought, etc. Before Blogging. This link will stay open until next Thursday.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Before Blogging Throwback Thursdays #4 - One Fish, Two Fish

This month's party snuck up on me. I've been super busy with the end of the school year's physical party planning, and the blogosphere has been jumping with the big Blog Party being co-hosted by a dozen fantastic bloggers. Last month we had a great turnout, and hopefully we'll get a nice turnout despite my lack of planning. So having done absolutely no planning, I got up this morning and walked around the house looking for something to take pics of. Here's what I came up with. The kids' Under The Sea bathroom.

This project started when we had to rip into the wall behind the shower in the toilet alcove. We had some frozen pipes, and there was no access panel, so we had to cut a hole into the wall to fix the leaking pipes. We wanted to keep access to the pipes available, but I didn't want an ugly door, so we built this removable recessed magazine rack. It's basically a box with some doweling, and some applied case molding. The whole unit can be pulled out if need be, because it just sits in the hole with no nails or anything.

As long as we were ripping into walls, I figured that was as good a time as any to replace the salmon colored toilet with a white one, pull down the apricot & blue floral wallpaper, remove the speckled tile wainscoting, and pull up the yucky bathroom carpet(why?!) The tile floor was ugly and missing in a few spots, and we didn't have the budget to replace it. I found an ugly $12 remnant piece of sheet vinyl flooring and flipped it to it's back side and painted it a sandy mix of colors with a couple of trompe l'oeiul accents like this starfish.

I found a remnant piece of green shag carpeting that I thought looked like anemones, and had it cut and bound into rugs for in front of the sinks and tub.

The whole room was painted including the ceiling. I wanted the walls to look like a giant picture book, so I painted my sea critters in a cartoony style. These floating shelves went in over the toilet.

The window needed an easy care valance, and what could be lower maintenance or more appropriate than a fishing net. I got this net at the craft store, and boy did it ever stink when I pulled it out of the package. If you're planning on recreating this look, make sure and give yourself time to air your net out outside for a couple of days before bringing it in.

The bathroom had a giant plate glass mirror like you'd find in a movie theater restroom. I created a frame for it with 1x4 lumber and wrapped the frame in hemp rope. It was easy to do, but my hands were torn up something awful by the time I finished wrapping the frame even with leather gloves.

Not wanting to miss a detail, I painted a switch plate cover at the local paint your own pottery store,

and hung the shower curtain from little fish hooks.

I'm linking this up to A Glimpse Inside's Catch a Glimpse Thursdays, Paisley Passions' Thrilling Thursdays, Funky Junk Interior's Saturday Night Special, Remodelaholic's Anonymous, and I <3 Naptime's Sundae Scoop. That's my Before Blogging entry, now let's see yours.

Remember this is a party for anything you bought, made, or did Before Blogging. Could be something big or little, just something you'd like to share. This link will be open for a week, so you have plenty of time to take a pic and link up. You can grab a party button here.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Before Blogging Throwback Thursdays#3 - Fondant Cakes

With all the prep going into this weekend's camping trip, boy is it ever nice to be able to write a post without actually making or doing anything new. When I posted my Swamp Monster Cake last week, there were a lot of comments and e-mails from people who had never tried working with fondant, but had always wanted to. And to that I say - Just Do It. Nothing could be easier. It's just like working with play dough, except you can eat it and it tastes like candy. I always make mine with Wilton's Liquid Glucose. The recipe is right on the plastic tub.

You cut powdered sugar into the warm glucose & egg white or glucose & gumtex mixture with a knife,

and then knead it like a dough until smooth.

Then color it using gel colors.

Here's a few that I made Before Blogging: A baby wrapped in a fringed blanket surrounded by toys for a baby shower cake. The polka dots rimming the cake are fondant, too.

Poker cards and chips for a poker tournament. The chips are colored fondant, the cards are white, but drawn on with food color markers.

Sometimes I'll just make a few fondant touches for an otherwise buttercream cake, like the rocks and tree branches for this military ambush cake(WD's birthday cake last year.) There was a sniper at the top of the hill.

There's been bunches of other fondant cakes, but you know how it is. You never took a gazillion pictures of everything until you started blogging. So lets get this party started. Grab my party button and link up something you did/made/bought before blogging. This link will stay open for a week.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Before Blogging Throwback Thursdays #2 - Floor Me

This month flew by. I can't believe it's the third Thursday of April already. Last month's party was terrific and I hope everyone's ready to party again. With all the running around for Easter, it was nice to be able to snap a couple of photos of something without working on a tutorial. Today I'm sharing my foyer floor.

When we first moved into this home, there was the original red-grey-green, slate-look, vinyl tile floors from the 60's. This was long before I started blogging, so forgive the lack of a before pic. I knew I wanted to replace the flooring with real tile, but having just bought a house, our money tree was bare. I was walking through Home Depot one day and found a couple of boxes of "Cherry Blossom" marble tiles clearanced for $1.99/ft. I snagged them.

There wouldn't be enough to do the entire foyer and closet, but there was enough to make an "area rug" out of the tiles. Since I had zero interest in trying to cut the marble, I decided it'd be best to go with that rug look. So I was on the lookout for field tiles that would go with the marble. I looked for a couple of weeks when I came across these fantastic 8" listellos also at Home Depot. They were the perfect colors to frame the marble. Even better they were clearanced to 48 cents apiece. They had the exact amount I needed + one, so I bought them all.

Still on the lookout for a matching field tile, I found these very basic 8x8 marble-like swirly ceramic tiles at Lowes. They were basic, cheap, and there were enough to tile the foyer closet plus the foyer border. Plus being ceramic, I was confident that I could make my cuts with the basic score and snap cutter and tile bit on my rotozip. It took the better part of a week, but I ripped up the yucky floors and laid down the new without too much trouble. I think CG was rather impressed and I've done all the floors and tile in this home since.

So let's party! Remember to follow the party rules - they're pretty basic.

1. This is a Before Blogging party. So link up any thing you made, bought, designed, etc. before blogging. If you scored a sidechair from the curb, painted a room, made a craft, or DIYed a solution sometime before blogging it qualifies. Snap a pic and join in.

2. Grab my button from my sidebar and add it to your post.

3. Go visit a couple of other party guests. It's a great way to meet other bloggers.

That's it. Party On. This linky will be open for a week so invite your friends.
I'm linking this up to Fireflies and Jellybeans' Show off Your Stuff Party, Remodelaholic's Remodelaholics Anonymous Party, and DIY Showoff's Project Parade.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Before Blogging Throwback Thursdays - Let's Get This Party Started

I've got my party dress on, and there are hors d'oeuvres trays out on the buffet. Fingers crossed that my guests will show up. Remember this is a party to show off some of the things you've made, done, or bought from Before Blogging, and since I know you all existed pre-blogging I can't wait to see what you bring.

I showed you Snuggle Bunny's room makeover back in November. I had made it over while Computer Genius was away on business. The skateboarder/snowboarder theme should work for at least several years. When Whirling Dervish was in his tweens, I made over his room from the child like room with felt wall,

to a NY Jets theme that will take him all the way to the college years. Raised by Buffalo Bills fans, WD is his own person, and a rabid Jets fan. We hung a NYJets wallpaper border and nailed half round molding at the top and bottom of it at chair rail height. I hand painted the football field wainscoting.

I painted out his bi-fold closet doors to look like lockers.

We built a bed with trundle underneath. It could use some magic eraser action. I love the metal locker bins we found at Lowe's. I painted them Jets' green.

His bedding set came with a coordinating striped bed skirt, but we didn't need it with the platform bed. So I used the fabric to make coordinating valances, and dress up his desk chair.

There are football shaped footholds in the end of the bed. He no longer needs them as a teenager, but he was a very small tweener. He uses the one foothold as a special cubby, now.

Above his bed, is a magnetic scoreboard. I made it personal with his name being the name of the field at the Meadowlands, and painted the improbable score(Jets 42, Patriots 18) in glow-in-the-dark paint.

He has all the Jets branded accessories possible.

WD's put his own mark on this room with posters,

and autographed memorabilia, but loves the overall look of his room, and hasn't asked for any changes.

I'm linking up this room to Little Red House's Mosaic Monday, It's So Very Cheri's Party Time, Polka Dots on Parade's Wow Me Wednesday, Savvy Southern Style's Wow Us Wednesdays, Domestically Speaking's Power of Paint Party, Fireflies & Jellybeans' Show off Your Stuff Party, French Country Cottage's Feathered Nest Friday, At the Picket Fence's Inspiration Friday, Remodelaholic's Anonymous, and Grunged Glittered, and Branded's Blog Hop.

Now how about that party. First the rules:

#1 - Take a pic of something from Before Blogging, write a post, and link up the specific post here.

#2 - Grab my party button and put it in your post, so that your regular readers can find the party.

#3 - Visit a couple of other party guests & leave a comment. We all love comments, so spread the love.

You don't have to become a follower, but following will help to remind you about the next link-up party. This party will run for a week, so you have plenty of time to link up if you don't already have a post planned.

OK, Let's Party!(Fingers crossed I did the linky thing right.)

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