furniture

The months of August and September have been crazy busy for me! I thought for sure that when the kids were back to school that I would have SO MUCH TIME to get all of my housework, work-work, volunteer-work, and DIY fun-work done that I would be literally searching for something to do…WRONG!

Housework has been on hold, work-work has picked up, and volunteer-work comes in almost daily. This means that DIY fun-work gets squeezed in at all hours of the night while everyone is in bed and I am desperately trying to catch up with my “Mom-only” guilty pleasure shows (Mistresses, Devious Maids, Real Housewives of Miami…)

Here’s my latest midnight project:

My Easy DIY Vintage Sewing Cabinet Makeover

My daughter has been asking for her own desk since school started, but she doesn’t have a lot of space in her bedroom. As I was searching for a small table I could transform into a desk, I came across this vintage sewing cabinet at my local thrift.

These are a fairly common item at garage sales and thrift shops. In fact, there were two different ones for sale on the day I found her. Yep, it’s a her….

She was marked at $35 because she came with a working sewing machine installed, still a pretty good deal, but I really just wanted the cabinet. The tag showed that it was the 7th day since she had been put out for sale, so I asked the manager and he brought the price down to $20, machine and all.

This girl weighed a good 40 lbs, so even if I wanted to just tuck away the machine, I knew it would just be way too cumbersome to keep installed. I unscrewed the bolts and set the massively heavy machine aside for my upcoming charity yard sale.

As part of my search for a desk, I had come across a new (to me, at least) line of chalk paints at a local home goods consignment shop and I decided to try some out.

I fell in LOVE with this coral color called Gypsy by Vintage Market & Design Furniture Paint. I coordinated it with some Annie Sloan Provence, used the Annie Sloan clear wax and left the hardware with its existing patina. Not much work, but boy, what an update!

My daughter LOVES it, and it fits right into the little corner of her bedroom. I’m still debating whether to hang a basket in the hole where the sewing machine was or to cover the hole completely with a thin piece of board, but for now she can do her homework in the comfort of her own room.

Adorable, right?? Now on to search for the perfect chair!

Click here to see the amazing sites where this and my other projects are linked!

Other\ fun parties:
Saavy Southern Style

It’s here…back to school time. I’d been dreading this since June, but I knew it was inevitable. In the blink of an eye we were back to 6 a.m. wake-up calls, packing lunches, car lines and homework.

This year, my son (now 13 and in 8th grade) decided to take a “break” from the school band. Break=quit, I know. I don’t try to block the sun with one finger, like my mom would say. In his defense, he never aspired to be a concert trumpeter (he wants to be a robotics engineer), and there were some technology classes he wanted to take before leaving middle school. As a plus, he no longer has to carry a 20 lb trumpet case around the school, which I believe is at least partly to blame for his recent referral to a radiologist for a scoliosis survey.

My daughter (now 10 and in 5th grade) has been excited about going back to school and seeing her friends again. More excited, I think, about the possibility of an entirely uninterrupted school year. In 3rd grade she broke her leg during spring break. Because she was in a full cast and would need assistance using the restroom, the school recommended home bound instruction. She was taught at home for 5 weeks. Last year, as you may recall, we moved back to Florida three months into the school year.

That move, in fact, is what pulled the emergency breaks here at AquaSeventy6…good segue, right? (And, yes, it’s “segue”, not “segway” like the scooter. Trust me, I Googled it.)

AquaSeventy6, the blog and the shop have been suffering since my move. I pop in every few weeks to apologize and promise to do better, only to get wrapped up in life and end up apologizing all over again. But, my friends, this time it’s different, and that’s a promise. I finally have all of my sewing supplies under one roof again. The kids are back to school and I am no longer commuting across town. That said, there are going to be some changes going on as well.

I am first and foremost a writer. I’m neither Fitzgerald nor Hemingway, but I do think in monologue, and have since I was a kid. I plan on adding more anecdotal and family related posts in the future, which may or may not include anything crafty. (Anyone else get all Grandma’s-Crocheted-Santa-Potholder when you hear the word “crafty”? Trust me, I avoid it as much as possible. I prefer “handmade” or “DIY” myself.)

As far as my shop, I do plan to reopen it at some point. I don’t like to list special order items, I prefer only to list what I have on hand so my clients can get their goodies ASAP. This means I have to get on the ball and make inventory. I love inventory because I have so many bits and pieces of amazing, often discontinued fabrics that I can use to make some truly unique pieces. But inventory takes time, so the shop reopening time frame is currently TBA.

I also plan to get back to featuring my furniture revamps. These may be items in my own home, or possibly something for a friend or client. I’ve been painting and updating vintage furniture for several years now. Just this summer I’ve redone 4 or 5 pieces of my own furniture…I just haven’t gotten around to photographing any of it! 😦 Revamping furniture was my first DIY passion prior to sewing, and sadly I let it fall to the wayside.

Finally, I will continue to toss in some fashion and style related posts here and there. Wow! I guess I actually AM excited that the kids are back to school, because I truly have missed this!

I will be back soon with a new post, but for now I am hitting the sack!! It’s almost 1 a.m., y’all!

PS….what do you think of my new blog design?