Banishing Brushstrokes

Posted in 2:48 PM
Remember those brushstrokes I was complaining about. Well, I did a little research and discovered Floetrol. It is an paint conditioner that you can add to your paint to eliminate brushstrokes. It seems that you add a little at a time until you get your paint to glide over furniture eliminating the drag marks that appear. So I bought some and tried it out. Not sure how much it helped but it did seem a little better.


Now back to those curtains. The last step I posted was laying down your fabric with the right sides facing each other. 


1. Do the actual sewing.




2. Iron the seams flat.



3. Measure the sides, Iron, & Pin


4. Hem all four sides. Decide what width you want to use four your top and bottom sections and if you need to leave room for your curtain rod or if you're going to use clips.


5. Cut your trim to length and hot glue onto your curtains.


6. Hang up your curtains!
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Perfect Painting & Country Curtains-Trying At Least

Posted in 8:11 PM
I have spent the whole day painting furniture. I have managed to put three coats on the nightstands and two coats on the dresser.

After three coats and ready to distress.


I have found an awesome way to decorate the tops from pinterest. You stencil the top and then stain over it. I think I could use plastic lace for the stencil. Here is a pic and the link below.



So while I was waiting for the paint to dry on the furniture, I thought I would get started on the curtains for my master bedroom. The curtains that are currently hanging are very dark and quite ugly. They were the curtains purchased by the previous owners and I haven't purchased new ones because nice curtains are very expensive.

Now that I have some time on my hands I have decided to make curtains for my master bedroom. Below are the steps that I used to make the curtains.


Supplies Needed: Fabric- I am planning on making 4 panels that will be 7 feet long. I already had 7 yards of the patterned fabric but that only gave me about 5 feet per panel. I didn't have enough fabric so I purchased the gold to give my curtains the extra length needed. I also purchased trim to add a little somethin' somethin' where to the different fabrics meet.



You will also need: a sewing machine, iron, pinking shears (have teeth), pins, hot glue gun, glue sticks, measuring tape, and a pencil.






Now that you know what materials are needed, I will show you how I made my curtains (or at least how far I have gotten).

1. Lay out fabric


2. Measure, Mark, and Cut



3. Repeat steps 1 & 2 with second fabric. A nice way to cheat with measuring is to use your floor tiles as a guide.



4. Lay right sides together and pin.




So, that is how far I have gotten. My plan is to put a third coat of paint on my dresser tomorrow and finish my curtains. I will post how to sew the curtains, where and when to iron, and they easiest way to add trim. Wish me luck.


Oh and I have a quick question. As my paint dries, I have noticed brush strokes. Does anyone know how to get ride of these? You can see them in the picture below. Will they go away when I sand or as it dries thoroughly? 



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Color Dilemma

Posted in 6:57 AM
So I have gotten everything sanded down and now I am at a dilemma. Before I ask for your help, I'll show you what I used to sand down the dresser. I aslo found two small tables for $25.00 to use as nightstands and I sanded those down as well.


I used gloves, a face mask, an electric sander, and some 100 grit sandpaper. I think that one of those spongy square hand sanders would have worked a little better for the corners than the sandpaper, but I didn't want to go out and buy one since I already had the sandpaper.



Now here is my problem...what color should I paint everything? I was thinking that I would stain the tops of the nightstand a really dark color and then paint the legs a vintage cream color. Similar to this one (http://batefurniture.com/shop/white-distressed-console-table-square/). What do you think? Any suggestions. Now onto the dresser. My walls in my bedroom are cream and I don't want the dresser to blend into the wall. My curtains that I will soon be making (tutorial on future post) have blue and sage green. So I was thinking that I would paint the dresser a light sage green color. Let me know what you think. I have to get the garage really clean today so I can paint tomorrow. I don't want any pieces of sand or fuzz sticking to my wet paint.
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Getting Started

Posted in 12:53 PM
Venturing into the land of DIY. I am making over my master bedroom and desperately need a dresser. The only probably is that I have expensive taste and don't want to fork out the money necessary to buy what I want. I like solid pieces of furniture...none of that composite wood junk.


 Step One: purchase old furniture with good bones to be refurbished.

Step Two: Take out drawers (or have hubby do it...wink, wink)
 and remove hardware.




Make sure to put all hardware and screws in a 
plastic bag for safe keeping.




Step Three: Sand down the dresser. So I haven't gotten quite that far yet, but I will update as I go.
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Here Goes Nothing

Posted in 7:56 PM

Hi there! My name's Akasha and I would like to tell you a little bit about myself and why I decided to start a blog. I am a christian, wife, sister, daughter, friend, foster mom, and teacher. I think of myself as an artsy, creative person but don't ask me to draw you a picture. My students make fun of my drawings. My creativity lies more in the ability to quilt, crochet, sew, and scrapbook. I also like the performing and visual arts and can get quite creative with technology as well.

With my creative genius (wink, wink) comes some chaos. This chaos manifest itself in my house never being as clean or as organized as I would like it to be. Now don't get me wrong. I wash the dishes, do the laundry, vacuum, etc. However, I always have a project going and with no designated spot for my projects, they end up all over the place. Thus we come to the reason for my blog. I have decided to share my adventures into the land of DIY. I am planning to make over my master bedroom, learn the technique of refurbishing furniture, and organize my craft room/home office. 

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