My homemade headboard

Lori and I got the courage to tuft from allthingsthrifty.com. They did a tufted ottoman, which basically taught us how to do this!

If you want to see a tutorial I did on how to make one, go here!

Never really know what to put on the title...

So it's really hard for me to gain the motivation to write a post lately just cause I kinda feel like my life is pointless. I go to work every day. Come home. Usually watch tv with Clay...go to sleep. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Until it's the weekend when I feel somewhat purposeful. I can clean, cook, do some crafts...you know. But seriously? I don't know. I didn't realize it'd be like this. With school, I had this huge purpose in life. You know? GET MY EDUCATION! Blah balh. And I felt purpose in every day. Now, I'm like...what is the point of my life? I don't know.

On a lighter note, my friend Lori and I are making headboards for ourselves. Pretty much AWESOME! We started last night, will finish today. So stay tuned for pictures!

So...I've started making shakes for Clay and I each morning before work. It has CHANGED my life. It has gotten to the point that when I wake up, the first thing I think of is my shake. And how badly I want it. I crave them. Probably because there's nothing sweet in my diet...shakes are pretty fulfilling. Love em. So YUMMY! This is the recipe for two shakes: 1 cup yogurt, 2 cups berries, 1 cup soy milk, 2 TBS orange juice concentrate. YUM YUM YUM! Seriously- try it. I seriously don't think I can go a day without now...and if I do, I feel like something is missing.

Other things....Clay LOVES his new job. He doesn't really want to come home sometimes...which probably isn't good...but it's great. He loves it.

Dante is growing growing growing. Some lady at Petsmart came up to us and said, "OH he is TOO skinny...you aren't feeding him enough" and we said, "he's just a puppy still, that's how they look for a while...we feed him plenty", she says "Oh no. You don't. He is too skinny. oh and look at those eyes. they're all red! why are they so red?!" and we say, "they are just fine". She says, "he is way too skinny, feed him more." and gives us a face like we are TERRIBLE pet owners who know NOTHING about great danes. Right. So Clay and this lady are SERIOUSLY bickering as the pet trainer at our puppy class, looks in her cart, where her dog is and mouths to me, "WAY OVERWEIGHT!". About her dog. In her cart. Not on the ground walking, mind you. In her CART like a little BABY! So here she is, telling us how underfed our dog is, when her dog is freaking FAT! Then she shows us her dane on her phone, and tells us how he has champion blood on both sides for 3 generations or some crap. Then goes on to tell us how her poor dane had something wrong with him because his joints are bent. HELLO! It's cause you fed him too much as a puppy and it weighed his sensitive joints DOWN. Which is EXACTLY why you shouldn't over feed danes when they are pups! This is what Clay was trying to tell her. She was so foolish. We weren't bragging about Dante's great champion blood line....or that his legs are PERFECTLY straight. And that he's the best dane ever. We were boiling after that. Clay especially. I think he wanted to hit her. haha.

Anyway. That is all for now. Oh yeah- I think I might start yet ANOTHER blog. I kinda want to do a blog that is all about housewifey stuff. Crafts, healthy foods, sewing...ya know. Cause I've been doing that kinda stuff lots lately, and was thinking of doing it as a diff blog. Dunno. We'll see.

Ahh....this makes me feel so incredibly second-hand embarrased

More Pics of Chair

Yeah- 3 posts. I know. Anyway- Amy wanted me to post more pics of the chair so she could get a better idea of the purple on the wood. Hope this helps...it was kinda hard to get the real look of it on camera.

Anyway- below this post I have my new hair, and a tutorial on how I did my chair.

New Hair

This is my new hair. Got it done at Austin Kade Academy (Idaho Falls Beauty School) by a STRAIGHT 31 year old man with 4 kids. Nope, not joking. He was definitely straight.

Look at my next post if you want a tutorial on how I reupholstered my chair.

Chair Reupholstering: the tutorial

Alright, so...some of you have said things like, "wow, I am so impressed"..." or "I want to do that, I just don't know how"....about my chair.

So, I already told you I took pictures along the way, I just never posted them. Now is the time- to unveil the secret....it really isn't as hard as it looks! I'm serious! As long as you have the right tools, which would be: a)flat head screw driver; b)staple gun; c)fabric; d)a desire to have an awesome looking chair in your living room.

Welp, let's get started!

First thing we did, was take out ALL of the decorative tacs. We did this with flat head screw drivers, like so:
If you look at the bottom left picture, of the collage above, you'll see us taking out nails...this was HARD and REALLY annoying. In all the spots they didn't have decorative tacs, which was basically the majority of the chair...were NAILS! We could've just taken hold of the fabric, and pulled...but then the fabric would rip...and we wanted to use the fabric for a pattern.

We paid VERY special attention to the detailed spots so we wouldn't forget how to put it back together. Like the following spots:
Certain spots like the legs...were done certain ways...like, folded under in one spot, tucked in another...you know. So we had to take note to make sure we did it the same way.

So after we took out all of the tacs and nails (this seriously took at LEAST 3 hours...and that is with Lori- so if I did it by myself it'd probably be like 8 hours. Yes, I know that's MORE than double the time...but she is pretty speedy) the chair looked like this:
K- I kid you not- the inside of this chair was NASTY! It had food and toothpicks and coins CAKED on. So gross. So of course, the next step was to vaccuum out all that disgustingness.

Next, I didn't take pictures of this part (should have!), but we unpicked the piece where your back rests, so that we could get a real dimension of what those pieces are before the piping is sewn in. Then we laid out all the pieces we carefully took off, onto my beautiful fabric.
We honestly traced the pieces with a pen. I wish I had a permanent marker, but I didn't- otherwise I would've done that. It doesn't matter because all the edges are tucked in the chair- so who cares if you see markings? Not I!

Then we carefully cut out the pieces...and I sewed my piping. If you don't know how to do piping- it's super simple. Google it or something. I will do a tutorial later on that maybe when I do my second chair.

Then...we used a friggin SAWEET staple gun that Patty & Paul lent us, which is powered by air...and it was P-O-W-E-R-F-U-L! The boys (Kurt & Clay) kept saying, "Don't hurt each other", "Be Careful", "blah balhbalhlahblah". We did just fine:) Anyway, we basically put it back together like so: the LAST piece we took of the chair, was the FIRST to go back on. The FIRST piece we took of the chair, was the LAST to go on. You see? You just go backwards.

So, after we did all the stapling, it was time to put on the pieces that were held together by the decorative tacs. I didn't take pictures of this...but a tip we have is, use the same holes they came out of! Makes it so much easier. Lori pretty much did this entire job on the chair, and she found that if she pulled the fabric back, poked around the wood and found the hole, it was way easier to put through the fabric and into the chair. A few times we couldn't find a hole, so we had to nail it in- which was HARD TO DO! But, we managed.

A few things that weren't in the step by step, that I would suggest:

• Use the batting that the chair already has
• Fabreeze the inside of the chair if you are using that batting- I did, and could no longer smell anything:) Gross you out?
• Use a friend- it makes it way more fun, and way easier, AND way faster
• I spray painted the legs and arms....purple. I did this after all the old fabric was taken off, and before the new was on. I didn't even remove the batting...it didn't matter if it got some spray paint on. If you don't like the look of bright colored wood, or painted wood, re-stain it!
• Reuse the decorative tacs. Why go spend a bum-load of money when you have perfectly good tacs from the old chair?

And with that, you'll have this gorgeous chair!
After you reupholster something, you will think of all sorts of things you want to reupholster. You will love it. DO IT!

We got inspired by allthingsthrifty.com. They did a tutorial on how to reupholster a chair.

Aliese's b-day, Dante, Reupholstered Chair...

Let's start with Aliese's birthday. Aliese (my niece) turned 12 this month. Rebecca has been working her TAIL off to get this dress done, and not just get it done, but make it look beautiful! I think she did a marvelous job myself. Aliese loved it and looked so so pretty in it.

















































For her birthday we went to Olive Garden, and it was great! Then we went home and opened presents and ate cake (except me).


















































I wanted to make Aliese something for her birthday- so I had a TON of fun making this cute purse.


























































It's lined on the inside, and I made the ruffles myself! So fun.

This is how Dante looks right now. HUGE! His back hits my upper thigh. I still call him "puppy" all the time though. He still has such a cute face and I just love him. He is really annoying cause he slobbers like CRAZY! But...........still...he is seriously soooooooo sweet. I love him. He is so big now that he can easily put his head on our kitchen table, as well as the kitchen counter. Kinda scary. Forces me to keep the kitchen slightly in order:-)




















































So- one thing I've been doing with my friend Lori, is reupholstering this ugly chair.


We took pics of the entire process...but I'm getting tired of blogging...so I'll probably put that together tomorrow...but it was surprisingly easier than I thought. I think it would've been harder doing it by myself...and if you do it, I highly suggest having a partner help ya. This is the final product.

I love love love it. If you can't tell, the arms and legs are painted purple...and we used a lot of what it already had. Like...batting, those little thingymabobs (tac/brad/thingys). I think it's perfect. I have another chair just like it. Patty bought 6 of them at a garage sale...and she gave two to me, two to her sister, and two to herself. So...I'm going to make another. If you want to get a head start on how to do it- we were inspired by allthingsthrifty.com. They have a tutorial on their site on how to reupholster.

Well, some big news I haven't mentioned...Clay has a new job. He starts Monday. He hated his old job, and so we were looking for jobs here and there..applying to some here and there...and whata ya know- he got one! Not just any one either, but the one he wanted most! He is now working as a web developer at a web developing company. We are so excited because he LOVES doing that kind of stuff...and it has full benefits, just like his old job, and a tincy tincy raise. As in, basically the same amount of money. But we are so excited.

I got my hair done...but I look gross right now, so I won't take a picture till lata. I love it though. I'm tired of blogging though..........so I'm gonna jet. Cya.