Droplets of Color Abound!!

If you're up to seeing something really cute, then you definitely want to take a peek at members of The House celebrating Easter!

To accommodate their fun, I made sure they had an egg hunt! I proudly present polymer clay eggs, a go-go!

I had one of The House members hanging out on the table with me so I could make sure of the size! Then, I went to town making eggs in each clay color that worked for Easter! I made six of each simply to remember how many to find! If you've hidden or looked for eggs, you know how that goes ...

After baking, each got a dip in the semi-gloss poly:

I dunked them, tapped the tweezers lightly (working to avoid dropping the egg into the vat-o-poly) and put them on parchment paper. After letting them sit for a few minutes, I transferred the dunked ones onto a new piece of parchment so they wouldn't sit in the pool that accumulated under them after the dip-and-tap. They sat on the new parchment for about a minute before I rolled them off of their spots just to make sure they weren't sticking. This little process worked like a charm!

And, the outcome is fabulous!! They are oh-so-shiny looking just like plastic eggs! This particular process was very satisfying! It was better than the traditional egg dying. You know. The kind where you drop the tablet into the vinegar and let the egg sit only to have a faded representation of the dye color OR you let the egg sit in the dye forever-and-a-day which is just frustrating and dumb.

But, who cares about yesteryear when this is the current result!

My Girl said they look like Nerds candy! They, do, too, which is a good heads up for down the road should there be littler hands interested in the dollhouse goodies! Anyway, My Girl joined me in creating the hunt:

This one served as my model, so she got in on the hunt fun:

And, sure, the basket is a little big, but you use what you can to get the loot!

This is where the Big Bunny was a little mean:

On the roof?! I blame Hal for that.

I love the eggs, and I also love the Easter garland across the front and sides! I'm pretty sure I picked that up from Hobby Lobby many weeks ago ...

I'm glad I had help from My Girl because I would have never thought to just put the eggs out like this ...

... but, I love how they look! It's good for the tots to achieve egg hunting success, too! 😊

Across the way ...

I know you don't recognize these people. I barely do. They're new, and I love them! They came in to quarantine with family for now!

Some of the family is still inside enjoying a little brunch!

In my real-life world, it's our family tradition to have colored pancakes for Easter breakfast. Check 'em out from yesterday:

So, of course, The House needs the same! I made them out of polymer clay, too. The syrup is liquid clay that I colored with shavings from chalk pastels!

Some people are more interested in dessert, though ...

I most definitely did not make the cake! I recently ordered it from Miniatures.com. I ordered it because I knew I would never, ever make that cake. 😁

And, up on the sun deck, we have Grandpa Buddy and Holly Ann having a peaceful play date because they are good buddies:

She has an egg for each of the dolls on the table, and Grandpa Buddy has the chips stash ready for snack time!

Putting the eggs out and adding so many splashes of color was just delightful! It felt like punctuating little bits of hope and happiness all around both in this house and our own! More signs of life to come!! After all, signs of Spring are due ...!

More Updated Looks!

The updates for today aren't huge, but they are definitely nice, little touches that make The House feel like Home Sweet Home ...

We'll start in the bathroom:

I've had a particular vision for the bathroom in my head for months. And, that vision was to have these signs hung in there:

They're just made with scrapbook paper mounted on card stock. I've had the Doodlebug rub-on letters for.ev.er, and they're a favorite! So, they had to be used for this!

Let's get a close-up of the toilet area, shall we?

That stand is actually supposed to be for holding fruit, but I think it looks awesome here!

Across the room ...

... is the view of the new bathmat and towel rack. The towel rack might or might not stay where it is, and it's definitely getting new towels at some point, but it's good there for now.

Finally ...

I love this little basket for not only extra bathroom supplies, like toilet paper, but also for the necessities like the rubber duckie. Yup, you read that line correctly. I'm so glad there's a basket for goodies but not yet a shower curtain ...

ANYWAY! Right below the bathroom is the eat-in area where I finally made and hung some wall decor:

Don'tcha just looooove?!?!? I do! I had a piece of scrapbook paper that I bought, ohhh, 10 or more years ago 😮 which was entirely patterned with the vegetable squares. I cut and mounted them on pieces of balsa wood, and they hang with the fabulous Elmer's putty stuff. Because balsa wood is so light, it was a little tricky getting it to stick to the putty. But, a little perseverance made it work.

Take a look across the room:

Do you see what I see? Yeah ... asparagus is on its side! Whoopsie!

There. That's better! I would have never noticed if not for taking a picture of it! Oh, and the artichoke is the very reason I bought the entire piece of scrapbook paper. Artichokes are, in my opinion, the world's most perfect food, so I had to have it. And, more than a decade later, I'm so glad I did! And, how perfectly do they go with the color of the walls?! A plethora of jewel tones surround the casual diner!

There are the latest details! More to come ...

Updated Looks

Did you ever see the "Brady Bunch" episode where Carol wants to wallpaper the master bedroom? And, when they finally choose a pattern, she's all, "Oh, now we have a problem. Because, if we wallpaper our room, then we have to wallpaper the hall. And, if we wallpaper the hall, then we have to wallpaper the girls' room because it's connected to the hall." And, it goes on and on until the decision was to paint. Even that elicited the same, "If there's fresh paint here, then we need to repaint everywhere" concept.

While I've not been working on walls in The House as they did in the Brady residence, I have been redoing some furniture. And, that's what ties into the Brady Bunch thing because, as soon as something gets a sprucing, I see the other pieces that go with the set and think, "Oh ..."

But, what's a little mismatched furniture among friends?! Here we go with the current makeovers!! First up! You've already seen the outcome of this one, but here's the process. Months ago, I bought this bed at Hobby Lobby:

I loved the sleigh design, but I was no fan of the cover! Fortunately, months prior, I bought this at an antique mall:

It's actually a skirt apron. I saw quilt for beds. 😁 I realize that wasn't a stretch, but still. You gotta have vision, amiright?

This was an easy remodel as the mattress simply lifts off of the frame. And, who knew, but it's really a piece of foam glued to a piece of card stock (like poster board -- I think I expected something fancier). I moved the mattress around underneath the apron fabric to figure out how I wanted it to look, and I got to cutting and gluing:

I pinned and taped it where necessary to hold it down long enough for the glue to dry. In the meantime, I covered a pillow I had in my stash of, "Will I ever really use this?"

Apparently, I will use this! The ends are simply glued. I know. My skills are boundless!

By the next day (because I didn't check sooner than that), all was dry and ready for use. Voila!

(Look at the chaise lounge, and think Brady Bunch reference. It all comes together now, doesn't it?)

Okay, that's not all! This next one is a favorite of mine! Here's the spoiler before and after:

I can pull off this before and after because I actually have two of the same bed. This bed, along with other furniture I acquired in that killer estate sale last Fall, was purchased because it had good bones. I figured, at some point, I'd redo them. And, here we are!

The bed pulled apart in four pieces (bottom/box spring, mattress, headboard and headboard padding). I really had no idea what I was doing. I just started ripping parts off of it. I figured the worst case scenario was I'd really mess up and pitch it because I had a spare bed. Fortunately, all turned out well. I'm thankful I didn't break the mattress which has a styrofoam base. A base I did or did not crack ...

I didn't take a lot of pictures because I was on a roll when I got going. But, this gives you an idea of the primitive way of doing things:

That's the "box spring" section. I measured absolutely nothing. I just fit the fabric on. (This was good training for the final project below.) Everything was glued on with Alene's Tacky Glue.

After I covered the bottom and the mattress, I glued them together and weighted them for a while so the styrofoam wouldn't pop off of the base to which it was supposed to adhere:

A pack of baby wipes and the ceramic owl I made my junior year of high school in ceramics class worked like a charm. I let this dry overnight because I really wanted the mattresses to stick together!

Fortunately, I had already made pillows from this fabric to, one day, go on the bed. And, today was the day!

HOW cute is that?! It's hard to see, but the lace trim serving as a bed skirt shimmers. 😁 Don't look too close, or you'll see the corner of the chair that now needs to be recovered since it matched the original bedspread fabric. Seriously. Stop looking. Look, instead, at how cute this is with the area rug! Yum!

Finally, this is my real success story. You might have noticed floral patterns ran rampant in The House as the couch and love seat also sported the look. I didn't like it so much that I actually forgot to take a "before" picture before absolutely tearing into these pieces to recover them. But, I have something of a before and after just to show the fabric:

She's a beauty on the left, don't you think? Gag ...

For the sake of documenting my own history, I will divulge that the inspiration for the color of the couch comes from one of the pairs on, "Before the 90 Days: Pillow Talk" on TLC. This is a show where previous participants watch the latest episode and commentate. One of the women has a navy couch with yellow pillows, and I find the combo stunning! I find myself staring at the couch more than listening to her (which requires rewinding because she's really funny). So, I needed the look in The House.

I foolishly originally thought I could find some fabric to cover and kind of tuck into creases of the existing pieces without tearing them apart. First of all, that's just not going to look good. At least, it's highly unlikely. Second, the fabric I had and wanted to use was denim. And, yeah. That's not going to neatly tuck and crease. So, I got a hammer and a butter knife (because that's what you use instead of a screwdriver to pry things), and I took these suckers apart! Each cushion, each arm rest, the back and two pieces for the base all required massive hammering. They. Were. Stuck. I put a dent or two in my work table, but I got 'em!

Again, I had absolutely no idea how to really do this. There are small juts and corners and rounded edges, and the folding-of-fabric around such areas only made it all look bulky and messy. Clearly, I needed to cut custom pieces. Somehow. I wish I could explain in words how I got this to work, but I really can't. It involved smearing glue all over the area to cover, folding fabric over that area and gluing pieces together before cutting right on the edge of the furniture so the new fabric pieces ultimately fit together exactly with no overlap. Did that make sense? I suspect it didn't. I figured this out as I went along, and I am not sure I ever did it the same twice. So, it's definitely more of a "show" than a "tell" to explain. Even if you knew, there's probably a cleaner, more precise way to make it happen, but this worked for me. Oh, and by using denim, some of the pieces didn't go back together the same because it's thicker. A little forcing of pieces together and binding with masking tape to let Alene's Tacky (Amazing-Wonder) Glue do its magic got it all back together! If it can hold The House together, it can hold arms of a couch!

And, doesn't it look just lovely in the family room?!

Yellow accent throw and all!!

I'm terribly happy with these outcomes! And, there are plenty of people in The House to enjoy it! I recently acquired some newbies, so, soon, it's more than time to meet the family as a whole!

Fabulous Flooring!

If I've learned anything about how I tend to decorate The House, it's that I let my brain just marinate on ideas until I really *know* what I want. As it turns out, one of those ideas finally HIT me just last week! And, today, it came to fruition. The decorating target? This floor:

Well, let's make that easier to see:

Designer's note: We will be ignoring the manner in which the lights have been adhered to the walls for this and, frankly, all future posts. 😊

I really wasn't quite sure what to do with this flooring given the function of the rooms. Then, a few weeks ago, I was perusing the dollhouse goods at Hobby Lobby, and I found a sheet of "Miniature White & Gray Quatrefoil Dollhouse Tile" It's the same thing I used in the bathroom except for the color palette. I really liked working with that particular flooring, so I thought this would be the perfect fit for the laundry room!

But, what about the craft area ...?

So, my Miniature White & Gray Quatrefoil Dollhouse Tile sat on my work table for a few weeks while my brain continued its efforts. And, last week, it all came to fruition. Here's the spoiler picture!

I was going through my supplies when I found the rest of the flooring I used in the bathroom. And, I definitely had enough for the laundry area. Then, it started to make sense to use that flooring there to break up all of the white from the appliances to the walls.

It also occurred to me that the craft area could really use a floor that is easy to clean. Paint spills, after all. And, the white is good there as there is a lot of other color. It looks great with the light on, too, as they bounce off of the white really brightening this happy space up!!

That's one unfinished floor down! I still have more lingering, but my brain is busy on those. Stay tuned ... 😌

So Sweet

It's definitely time for an update from inside The House!

I know I've noted that the family has very little in terms of actual nutritional value to eat, so I've been busy taking care of that! However, that show-and-tell will come in another post because this one is devoted to Valentine's Day! And, with that, well, I contributed to the household sugar buzz! Let's go inside!

First, while the picture isn't the best, I wanted to show the little heart lights that are strewn all the way from the family room through the kitchen and into the dining room:

Just to note, my string lights are all put up by slapping masking tape on them. I learned the technique from My Girl while decorating her dollhouse with her over the years. She would-and-will Scotch tape things on that house's walls with reckless abandon, so I follow her lead. It's very freeing and does the job it needs to do!

Anyway, I definitely wanted to show off the Valentine treats I made! In the dining room the kids are all a-drool:

The two plates of treats in the foreground are things I made  with polymer clay. The white plate holds fancy chocolates while the pink plate features Twinkies.

Over on one of the side tables, there are Valentine sugar donuts that are really from a string of beads I found at Michael's:

And, across the room is a covered cake plate that I filled with Valentine cookies:

These cookies are really real-life sprinkles that I made in December by coating them with Alene's clear tacky glue. I think they turned out SO cute!

Cruise through the kitchen across the way to the family room! Here, you can find more of the sprinkle cookies plus some candles I made from the polymer clay:

The candle wicks are floral stems I saved from past landscaping projects. I remember looking at these and thinking, "I really don't know why I'm saving these yet, but I'll figure it out." And, they turned out to be perfect wicks!

I wanted some more table space in this room, so I slapped together this new coffee table by gluing Dollar Store Jenga pieces, cut to desired size, onto a little chalk board found in the bargain bins at Michael's:

Ta and Da!! Seriously, this could not have been slapped together more!

It's perfect for displaying stuff!

I really enjoyed making what's on the table. You see another set of candles there which I love. Then, the jelly roll cake just makes me drool. I'll share a close-up of that when I show off the food efforts, but I'm just noting that it looks good enough to just LICK.

The candy box is inspired from a tutorial I recently watched. The top and the bottom of the box are both pre-cut and printed foam pieces. I cut a super-thin piece of foam for the side of the box, and it was glued on with Alene's fast-grab glue. Inside are more of the chocolate, polymer clay pieces with tissue between them. And, I used three, tiny magnets, that kind of pass for chocolates!, to keep the lid in place should I want.

That was Hal's gift to Polly. Doesn't she look pleased?

"Oh, Hal. I love my treats! I'd give you a big, ol' smooch,
but, if I look away, that dog is going for it!"

And, that's Valentine's Day in The House! May yours have been as sweet!