Apron A Day Series - # 1

Here it is, the apron series I have been talking about for a couple of weeks, I will be sharing aprons I made over the years some of which are now considered vintage by today’s standards.  In addition I will be sharing some of the aprons my mom designed and made for me as gifts.  If you have been following me for a while you know my mother was a master seamstress who made her living from the things she designed, stitched and sold at craft shows and other venues, she is my true inspiration every single day. I grew up working the shows with her and eventually we both designed and sold our products together, sometimes I don’t even remember who designed what since we traded patterns back and forth regularly.  I have most of those patterns, her sewing notions and some of her fabric, the rest was divided up among my two sisters who also sew and crochet.  I think of her everyday when go into my studio to work, I really feel her looking over my shoulder, especially when I pull out some of her notions, fabric and patterns to begin a project. My mother wore an apron everyday of her life whenever she cooked a meal or cleaned the house to protect her clothing from stains. Because of her strong influence I grew up with a fascination for aprons both in wearing one when I cook, clean or work on messy craft projects and with collecting and making them.  I have books, patterns and a good size stash of fabrics set aside just for apron making, I am obsessed.  I dedicate this series to my mom who passed away from breast cancer fourteen years ago this month, this one is for you mom.

I had so many aprons to pick from I had a tough time deciding on an apron to start with so I just picked the one I took the first picture of.  This pretty blue and green print with the polka dot waist band, tie and trim is one of my own apron designs, very simple with lots of coverage and very eye catching.

I added a loop in the back so a light weight hand towel could be hung there for easy clean up, no more searching for a clean towel.  This pretty little apron only took a couple of hours to make from start to finish, quick and easy with great results.

Thanks for letting me share the first apron from my new series, I hope it inspires you to start sewing and wearing aprons by the time the series is done.  For those of you who are not in love with aprons, like I am, there will be several new projects inserted in between the apron posts, for example, I have some Thanksgiving craft projects and more photos of the toy room makeover projects so keep checking in to see what is on tap for the day. There will be a lot of creativity going on in the studio during the next couple of months as the holidays approach, I hope the projects on my blog will be a hub of creative inspiration for all of you so keep reading, get out those glue guns, paints and sewing machines and get busy with me.

See you soon.

Laurette

Retro Laundry Room

I am back from my August Break and my week off to celebrate my birthday and our 35Th Wedding Anniversary.  It is unofficially the close of summer and the beginning of the fall season with the conclusion of the long Labor Day Weekend.  It is now time to get back to creating fun projects to share with all of you over the up coming fall and winter holidays.  I managed to work on a few projects and pieces while I was away from my blog, up first is my laundry room makeover. 

The laundry room was just a simple boring beige color with lots of holes in the walls and one cabinet over the washing machine, I absolutely detested that room and I was always embarrassed whenever the door was left open and company came to visit.  I love color and beige was not going to cut it so we went out and looked for something to inspire the makeover.  We went to Target where I found the basic pieces I would use as my jumping off point.  I chose the era and room colors of retro turquoise blue and tomato red from the art piece which hangs front and center in the room.  Here are some photos of the laundry room prior to painting it and the rest are the after shots broken down into segments.

Before:

After:

From all the photos you can see I used only small accents of the tomato red spread throughout the room, the other accents were the oak cabinets and the small wooden laundry wall hanger.  The rest of the accents were all in white with the turquoise blue being the predominant wall color.  The laundry room is now such a bright fun room too walk into, with lots of new storage and great new lighting replacing the old, loud fan light.  I am very happy we spent some of our vacation time working on the laundry room which is part retro but mostly colorful and updated, I love it.

Thanks for letting me share my new laundry room with you, I hope it inspires you to take a look at the space where you do your laundry and consider updating it and making it a fun place to work in.  Remember even a laundry closet, basement or garage could use a bright coat of paint to bring some sunshine into your laundry space no matter how large or small it is. Watch for more new projects all week long, I have some really easy ones anyone can do.

See you soon.

Laurette

The Red Door

I wrote a big impressive posting about the red door and the family room/kitchen makeover, edited it a million times, saved it all the way, chose lots of photos and promptly lost the whole thing through some kind of computer or user error (sigh).  Boy was I mad at myself, I am sure it was some dumb thing I did but I lost three hours of hard work.  So…… I am only going to tell you about the red door today and break it up into two different posts, since I cannot remember everything I wrote the first time, this one will be a short one.

Our front door started out a kind of light brown/mocha color which was surrounded by a creamy white trim and tan walls, kind of a neutral non-descript looking home, basic curb appeal but no real pop of color to draw the eye in, totally not my kind of house.  We just were not ready to re-paint the whole exterior of the house since it was painted less then two years ago by the investors we purchased the home from.  The best way to give it some new curb appeal was to paint our front door red so it could be seen through the white screen door.  I originally wanted to paint the door a nice glossy black but decided to go bold instead, because as most of you know I love color, it does not have to be super bright but it does need a bit of bling to make me happy.

I chose Ace Hardware Exterior-Latex paint, semi-gloss, Dried Tomato; the color is not an orange red more of a deeper darker red with a black base.  No matter which red you use it will take more then one coat, mine took three to get a nice even glossy coat of full coverage.  No matter how careful I was when applying the blue painters tape, some of the paint came off around the door handles and the glass when I pulled off the tape.  I will have to go back and touch it all up to cover the primer coat and the original mocha paint color, one of the hazards of doing a DIY project instead of using a professional painter, not a big deal just a bit more work, good thing I like to paint, more lessons learned.

Thanks for letting me share my Red Door painting project with you, my door came out a really beautiful, rich, red which pumped up our homes’ curb appeal and brings a smile to my face every time I open the front door.  I hope my little curb appeal project will encourage you to make some small changes (painted flower boxes, rod iron accents over windows and doors, painted shutters or a new rich front door color) to the front of your house so you can smile every time you arrive home.  I have more painted projects headed your way, keep reading you never know what I am going to paint, sew or craft next.

See you soon.

Laurette