How to Remove a Tough Stain

A while back, my mom found a stain on her linen couch and - having a linen couch myself - I got so sad for her because I didn't think it would come out. She didn't seem too upset. She just walked into the laundry room, brought back a bar of soap and a wet paper towel and gently rubbed the stain and as soon as the dampness dried it was all gone. 

Come to find out this is a remedy that my grandmother used all the time...Ivory soap. It gets everything out. And I mean everything. I have used it to get out red wine, blood, grass stains, strawberries and blackberries to name the toughest of stains. It is truly amazing. And so cheap. I also make my own laundry detergent and instead of Fels Naptha, I use Ivory in my mixture.

P.S. I actually just cleaned a lot of blood out of David, Ezra and my own clothes last night after little man had a mean run-in with a friend's coffee table. After a few hours in the ER and 3 stitches everyone is doing just fine.

top photo c/o Ivory

Fall Fabric Wreath

I made this last night. Still not sure if i love it...

But it's really simple. Cut fabric into squares (a lot of them) and then just fold them in half and pin with straight pins into a wreath. Work in a circle and then I tied a bow with a chiffon-y fabric.

DIY Calendar

this is a calendar that i threw together when we moved into our new apartment. sometimes, david and i are not always on the same page when it comes to scheduling issues. therefore, david requested a "master calendar" so we could be more organized. when he made said request, he used as an example "you know, like the calendar on flight of the conchords." i couldn't find an image but imagine the saddest little calendar you've ever seen.

i could understand the idea, but dry erase is no where in our apartment's future. therefore, i put this calendar together. however, it's a pain to change the months and it takes me back to my teaching days and stapling things up on bulletin boards. therefore, when we get into someplace more permanent, i'm thinking something like this would be awesome.

Upholstered Panels

ok, so a HUGE part of this remodel has been asking the question "how can we use as much of what they already have" and do something new and fun with it? just because you're redoing your house, doesn't mean you need to throw everything away and start over!

well, one challenge has been my parents' current bedroom suite. the bed is a king size monstrosity that they have had since they got married. the wood is really dark and it can just be overbearing. well, step 1 is to pare it down. we are letting my dad keep his wardrobe from the set and only using one (instead of both) nightstands. step 2 was figuring out what to do with the headboard. it is a huge wall unit of sorts and has all these panels. our first thought was to upholster each individual panel but that seemed like it was going to be too precise for us. long story short, we decided we would upholster the entire head board. but given the construction of the headboard, we were allowed to upholster panels that we will slide up into the headboard (this will all make much more sense when the after picture is posted with the upstairs before and afters).

so here are the very easy steps on how to do a project like this:

step 1:

get all your pieces. you will need your fabric, batting, panels (if necessary). you will also need scissors and a staple gun.

step 2:

lay the panel (or whatever is to be upholstered) on the batting and cut around it, allowing for the length to be folded around to the back.

step 3:

staple the batting to the back of the paneling, pulling it tight as you go.

step 4: repeat step 3, only this time with the fabric. (when using a striped fabric, it's even more important to make sure you get it straight. luckily, our stripes are so close together you go cross-eyed if you look at it too long so it's not as obvious if you do mess up)

step 5:

admire.

i love using liz as a model.