Awesome Find and Giveaway Alert!

Hey Everyone! I hope your weekends are all going well. I have a quick post today then it's off to work in the wood shop before the severe weather we supposed to have here in OK gets here.


I couldn't believe my luck last week when I saw a guy driving down our street with a bunch of junk in his trailer. And what was at the very top?


These awesome Wassily Lounge chairs!

The guys said he was taking them to the metal recycling plant here in town along with the other junk. I asked him if I could have them instead. He sold them to me for $30 for the pair!

If your not familiar with Wassily Chairs they were designed by Marcel Breuer in 1925-1926 while he was the head of the cabinet-making workshop at the Bauhaus, in Dessau, Germany. They were the first bent metal lounge chairs to be made. You can buy reproductions of this chair from Design With Reach for up to $2000.

Of course those are the chrome and leather ones; these that I bought are aluminum and vinyl. They sell online for $200-300 each. So I think I got a good deal. I don't know where the guy found them or why he'd toss them but I'm glad they're mine now!

In other exciting news be on the lookout for an awesome Giveaway at the beginning of the week!!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

I Can't Believe It's Ikat!

I might be a little late with this trendspotting- but I thought that this Ikat craze may go away after a while. It seems like I was way wrong. Ikat is still going strong and is popping up in some new places. 


Ikat is an ancient Eastern technique in textile design- so technically it's not anything new. But it is being used in new and unique ways; both in color and use. 


What first caught my eye and spurred this post is the new Beacon Hill Ikat Outdoor fabric collection. Makes me ready for summer! Wouldn't these fabrics be fun for outdoor pillows? Or on a lounge chair on the patio?

Source

Ikat looks great on furniture and pillows indoors as well:

Source

Source

Source

Wondering how to incorporate Ikat into your home? Here are some ideas!

Source

Source

Source

Source

Source

And here's a cool Ikat DIY if you want to go that route.

Source

I think if I found some pillows in the right colors I could incorporate Ikat into our living room design. What are your thoughts on Ikat? Love It, Leave It, Not sure what to do with it? 

Land of Nod Duvet Knock Off

Happy Monday! How was everyone's Easter Weekend? We had a fun time with family in Houston and now we are on our way back to Oklahoma.

I'd like to share with you how I made the duvet cover for Con-Man's new bed. A few weeks ago I was blabbing about how versatile sheets are in DIY design. Well here's the main reason why- I used sheets to make the duvet cover for his new bed!

I had seen this duvet cover on the Land of Nod Website. I thought it would last a long time; it doesn't have a "theme", has lots of colors to pull from in case we change Con-Man's room in the future, and I thought it could grow with him as he gets older.

Problem; it costs $100! Ouch. The cost of the duvet plus a comforter to go with it was out of the question. Solution- make one myself! Check it out:

I think it turned out pretty close to the original. Here's how I did it. Looking at the image online here are the measurements I came up with if you want to try to make this your self. I added a few inches to the end and sides to account for seam allowance. Make sure to measure your comforter and account for any difference in length of width.

Now here come's the part with the sheets. Walmart sells twin flat sheets in single packs and they come in tons of colors for only $6 each. I bought one in each color I needed and set to work.

I started by measuring each color strip to the length and width I needed.

Then cut them all out. The measuring and cutting took the longest.

Then pinned them all together to ready for sewing.

I sewed all the strips together for the main side- pretty straight forward. For the other side I wanted to change it up a bit in case we wanted something a little less colorful down the road. Using the leftover sheets I made a brown and blue side. I added buttons since I hate how duvet covers always get messed up inside the duvet and I think it adds some interest.

And since I know I am not a professional seamstress my sewing machine is pretty simple. Here is a link to a tutorial on how to sew a button hole without a button hole foot or setting on your machine. I had no idea before this how to sew a button.

Then I added velcro to the end so I can take the duvet off easily for washing.

In all for the sheets and the comforter this project cost me $50.  Not to shabby considering the cost of the original I copied.

Have you ever made a duvet cover? What sort of material did you use to make it?

Linking Here

Cadbury Cupcakes!!

Happy Easter Weekend Everyone! We're down in Houston visiting family for the weekend so just a short post today. 


I swear I've gained 10lbs since the invention of Pinterest. Here's another great idea I saw and just HAD to make. 


Cadbury Cream Egg Cupcakes! Cadbury Eggs are my favorite candy of all time. So when I saw this recipe online I had to make them.

They are super delicious and were met with rave reviews from the entire family. You make the icing from the centers of Cadbury Eggs. Yum! For this recipe and a ton of other yummy treats check out Sweet Tooth Blog. You will not be disappointed.

And since it was Good Friday we had our usual family tradition of boiled crawfish- another one of my favorite treats. Con-Man wasn't too sure about them. Maybe he'll try one next year.

And finally in unrelated news I made 24 weeks with Tiny Falcon #2. 16 weeks left to go!

Have a safe and blessed Easter Weekend everyone!

Easter S'Mores!

Easter is coming up this weekend! Con-Man's MDO class had an Easter Party on Monday and I made these cute little gifts for his classmates.

I originally saw this idea on Pinterest from Confetti's Blog and had to try it out for Easter. These are super easy and turn out really cute. They were a big hit with the Kiddo's!

The print out says:

Easter S'Mores!

*Place chocolate on graham cracker half

 *Place peep on top of chocolate *Microwave 10-15 seconds & watch 

*Top off with other graham cracker half & enjoy the gooey goodness. 

Your one of my favorite Peeps!

Happy Easter!

For more Easter fun check out these past posts:

Spreading Easter Cheer

Personalizing an Ordinary Easter Basket

What sort of Easter Crafts do you do? How are you getting ready for Easter?

Big Boy Bed

It's finally done! After about a few months of on and off work Con-Man's Big Boy Bed is finished!

I built the bed following plans I found on Anna White's website for the Haley Twin Bed. Pottery Barn doesn't sell this bed anymore bed as we know the beds they do have for sale cost around $400 - $600. I built this one for $150- wood, hardware, paint and all. It took me a while to finish because I only worked on it 1 day a week for 3-4 hours in the wood shop on Base.

I won't go into to much detail of how I put it together since Anna's plans are pretty easy to follow, but I will tell you about some things I learned along the way. This is my first real wood working project so if my descriptions are confusing I apologize. If you need clarification let me know!

First off- if your going to build this bed keep in mind that her wood supply list only included material to build one of the support storage benches. Thankfully I realized this while I was buying my wood and not after!

The support benches came together pretty quickly.

One thing I changed about her plans was where the support legs went. On the outer box I put the legs on the ends like the plans stated. But in the inside of the bench I moved the legs in so you wouldn't see them under the footboard.

Then I built the headboard and footboards. One of the things not explained well in the plans was how to attach the legs of the head/foot boards to the center panel. The legs are 2x4 and you'll have a hard time finding screws long enough to screw through that and into the panel to attach it. I took a picture of how I did this but it was lost on my crummy camera. Basically I drilled 4 3/4" holes about 2" down into the side of the 2x4 legs. Then used a 2" screw and long drill bit to screw them into the panel. Then filled the holes with 3/4" dowels. You can't see it to much after I painted over it.

I drew a diagram of how I attached the legs so it would be easier to understand.

Then the doors. Anna's plans do not describe the doors. I measured the width and height and cut all my pieces to size. Then used dado joints to create the frames. I routed out a space in the center and filled the opening with plywood panels.

After doing the finish/ touch up work (sanding, smoothing out rough edges, filling in screw holes with wood filler) I painted the bed with white paint. I used the kind for door trim. It's durable and goes on smooth.

Then it was time for assembly! 

I used these corner braces to attach the headboard and footboards to the storage benches.

Evidence that Con-Man was "helping" me while I assembled...

And the finished product! I have bed rails for it but took them off for the pictures. I just need to find some hinges to fit the doors and buy some baskets for the other cubby holes. 

I love how the bed turned out and I also love all the extra storage it gives us! 

Con-Man is enjoying it too.

And be sure to check out  how I made the duvet which is a knock off of one I saw at Land of Nod! and the wooden Step Stool.

Linking here