Pendant lights in the closet: Round 2

Here is my son's closet after the a wall of metal shelves were removed, holes were filled, and the entire thing got 2 coats of Olympic Crumb Cookie paint in Eggshell.  The hubs installed this Ikea pendant light.  

We added some hooks for costumes and artwork. The pictures could be better. I'm learning.  

Pendant lights in the closet

After years of being scraped by hangers and coats and stinking of shoes,  closets need love too. 

So I decided our closets would get holes patched, fresh coats of paint and nice lighting.    

Nothing is more affordable, adorable, and child inspired than Ikea's pendants.  

Here is the before picture, with my husband looking like he has the flu… when he doesn't.  Anyway, ignore bright eyes and check out the bulb just sticking out of the ceiling.  

Now feast your eyes on the after.  

 

Only $20 for this light and a couple youtube videos on wiring.  

The closet is so inviting that the kids like to play in it.  

Old Decking getting a facelift

I was already so high from semi-transparent stain fumes, that I decided to let the good times roll and paint the backyard decking. 

It was a BEAST of a job.  

We pressure washed, sanded, wiped down, and painted with 2 coats.  

Here are the post pressure wash but before sanding photos:

During photo (comic relief brought to you by my son). The product is Rust-Oleum Restore 4x in Autumn Brown.  

After (with guest appearance from my daughter).  

It's beautiful (tear). It took a long time to complete.  We hope to finish the top half next summer.  Let's see how it holds up to a brutal winter.  Stay tuned. 

Painting baby changing table

Here is another great example of what paint can do.  One night, I decided to paint the downstairs changing table.  The new color is Macaw from Pantone.  I did cover it with a coat of polycrylic for protection. All done in one night.

Bumble Bee Costume For a Little Boy

My 3 year old wants to be a bumble bee for halloween. He doesn't want to wear tights and a tutu.  He doesn't want glittery wings. He must have a stinger.  He wants a dude bumble bee costume.  I want to get it done ASAP and share it with you.  

How I did it:

The bee striped shirt- 4T sized yellow shirt painted with black fabric paint on front and back.  I used 3M blue painter's tape for the stripes.

The Stinger- A party hat with a  stretchy string. Wrapped in felt. Hot Glued on.  I glue a strip of yellow felt to make it stand out more. 

The antenna-  old headband wrapped in black felt. Pipe cleaners for the antenna part

The wings- Poster board cut into a wing shape, then pinned onto shirt.  

Semi-transparent stain on front porch

Our home has a beautiful front porch that was in much need of restraining after the harsh Midwest winter.  So washed it, hand sanded it, tack clothed it, then staining it with 2 coats.  I did give several weeks and fine sanding before coats.  

Here is the before: 

And here is the after. I used Olympic Semi-Transparent Cedar Natural tone.  I did not sand down to complete bare wood because I wanted a more rustic look. I find that imperfect wood looks better after wear and tear then perfect wood. This is half the deck, and 1 galloon was enough.   

Toddler Halloween Costume

When my 2 year old said, 'I want to be Jake for Halloween', I knew I could buy the costume from the Disney Store.  

When I saw the costume, I was shocked by 2 things. First, how thin it was.  We live outside Chicago and Halloween is cold.  I hear sometimes it snows. 

My second shock was the price. At 40 bucks for such a pathetic outfit, I would still need the sword and good chance he would have to wear a jacket over it. 

I decided to make the costume.   I have a sewing machine but I have never used it. It's so fancy that I am afraid of it and NEVER have time to read the instructions.  But I can back stitch. Thank you years of cross stitching to ease my adolescent insomnia.  

Sorry I did not use templates and I haven't saved an exact step by step of how I did it. But I can tell you that most of the costume you can by ready made.  The blue sweat pants and white shirt came from Target.  They were warm and cheap so I could cut up the shirt and have no regrets.  The sword and the treasure chest pail were purchased on Amazon.com.  

The homemade bits were the headband, the vest, the detail on the shirt, and the boot covers. Get some felt, find a tutorial on making vests, and you can figure the rest out from there.  Here are a few pictures to get you motivated. 

Please note that the cost of supplies were equal to that of buying the costume. However,you still need a sword and treasure chest pail, right?  The store bought costume was paper thin and would have not been adequate for our climate.  My son is 3 now and still wears this costume, although its too tight and the boot covers don't stay on anymore.  He had a blast and so did I. Not bad for a mother who doesn't have time to sew and doesn't care for crafts.