Newborn Cradle Refashion

After much reading/debating about what to do with baby boy as a brand new little newborn, I was really leaning toward a cradle. Mostly because my mom used one for all five of her babies and my sister used the same cradle for her baby. I'm a sentimental person, and wanted the same. Too bad my sister couldn't easily ship over my mom's so I could use it too.

But the only cradles I was finding online were starting at like $100 and the cheaper looking bassinets were still like $50. It's only going to be used for a little bit, so I did not want to pay that much. If you can't tell already, my whole mindset with all of this baby supply business is to try and get a bargain: mostly because that means more money for our travel fund ha.

Then one day I walked into my favorite Japanese thrift store and found this!

 It looks very very similar to my mom's cradle. Maybe a little crappier. But for the price tag of thirty dollars (!), I snatched it up. It was pretty dinged up, and I wasn't super crazy about the pad, but I really did like the stain of the wood because it matches our bedroom, so I didn't want to strip it and paint it.

So I gave it a good cleaning with lemon oil, then used some wood scratch touch up marker things a friend let me borrow. I covered the pad with a water resistant crib mat thing given to me by another friend, and sewed two separate envelope type covers for easy removal for cleaning.

And this is my finished product!

 I am really happy with how it turned out. I also made the minky blanket because I fell in love with that animal fabric. It's a completely different color scheme than the baby's actual room, which I like because I love the softer colors for a newborn, and that it goes well in our bedroom.

And honestly nothing makes me feel better than the fact that the total price of all of this was like $50. Yay for thrifting and refashioning!

Now we just wait and see if baby boy actually likes sleeping in it. I sure hope so.

Nursery Sneak Peak: Some Refashions!

My baby boy's nursery is almost done which makes me really happy! It feels nice. Basically this room is a labor of love because of two big obstacles: the lack of options here for baby furniture, and the cost of things that they do have. 

Starting out, we have a rocking chair. Now, I do not like gliders generally, but all those cute rockers you see at Target do NOT exist here. Boo. So if I don't like gliders, there is no way I'm going to pay a bunch of money for one. So I didn't. I got this thing for $20 (ottoman included but not pictured because I'm not sure if I'll ever get the motivation to finish it).

It smelled like a thrift store, so I just chucked the cushions and made my own with some foam padding. I had to get creative because they don't just have foam pads like you could find easily at Joann's. So I cut up a foam mattress pad and stacked pieces together. Like I said, labor of love. 

The finished product! No it's not perfect. But it will do. And you get to see the baby quilt I made. These fabrics carry through the rest of the room. I'll show you soon. But as you can see, I'm going for just a nice happy colorful space. I read it's good for their developing eyesight and brain development. 

Next project is the curtains. This is what I had in mind:

Only in a different color, and preferably not over $150 for two panels, as Anthropologie wants to charge. So I had my mom send me some good old $10 Ikea curtains, and I ordered some royal blue pom pom trim from Amazon. It was so easy sewing it on. And there you go! I love the playful pop of color it brings to the room. 

 The last refashion was this fun globe I found here. The small one is a constellation globe. Japan loves globes! I have so many I need to stop I know. Anyway, it used to look like this:

Not bad, but I wanted to make it a little more fun since it's in a child's room. So I just took it apart, used some of the same paint I used for the chair, and there you go. 

Can't wait to show you the rest. I've been sewing like mad this last week so I want to show you that. In the meantime, hope you like it so far :)

Guest Bedroom: A Room of Refashioning

It's been fun putting together my guest bedroom but kind of a challenge because the room is full of the government loaner furniture that I whined about a few months ago. You know? The furniture that I can't paint or do anything else to? Let me refresh your memory:

So, the first project was the bed. Thanks to a suggestion from an amazingly creative friend, I decided to buy a bunch of fabric and sew a slip cover of sorts for the headboard. This project was so much easier than I anticipated. It literally was two seams!

As you can see, the nightstands are pretty ugly too, so in an effort to jazz them up I bought some paper and put them in the drawer panels to give a splash of color and hopefully distract from the ugliness. Honestly, I'm not completely satisfied with it, but I guess that's just how it goes with ugly government furniture.

^^^photo bomb of my current house guest^^^

Also, that glass decor thing on the night stand used to look like this. Yay for spray paint!!

Another refashion that I had fun doing was refashioning a bunch of antique doilies last seen at my wedding. I love love love doilies but it's hard to decorate with them without having your house scream "old lady." That's why I love pinterest. So many great ideas for doily crafts. 

 So there you go! I just really want the guest bedroom to be a space where you can relax and feel at home. It's pretty feminine, but since most of our guests so far have been girls, I'm ok with that. I also like to come and chill in here sometimes since it's the one room in my house that's guaranteed to be clean all the time.

What do you think?? Any other suggestions welcome!

Chair Refashion

Remember my ugly government chairs? Yeah, I do. I had them picked up and I am in the process of acquiring/refashioning new (to me) chairs.

The first project were these chairs: I bought the two for $15

So, I took them to the wood shop on base and sanded them down. (I had to take a safety course before I could use the sander and it was me and like ten other men. It was amusing)

 And then I primed and painted them, and voila!

I might make new cushions, but I got these at the 100 yen store aka the Dollar Store, and I think they're pretty cute for only being one dollar. What say ye?

Stay tuned for the next set of chairs! Yay for chairs that don't look like this!

Desk Refashion

I bought this desk from Craigslist a year ago when we first moved here. I had high hopes for it and I bought new knobs and some paint to change it up. 

And then nothing happened. 

I swear it's what I do best. Get all prepped and supplied for the project and then not do it. You'll hear a "true that" from my husband about that statement. 

There's the before shot. Pretty dated. Looks like it came from the early 90s. This desk is actually pretty cool, because the sewing machine folds into the desk and those side panels cover it up to make it compact.

So anyway, I finally got 'er done. I used the spray paint I bought almost a year ago, giving myself no time to reconsider. So, maybe it was a drastic color that I might not have chosen now, but I wasn't going to procrastinate any longer.

The finished product:

Now don't look too closely, because you will see imperfections, and you will see that I thought there were three drawers instead of four, so I need to get another knob.

But, answer me this: is the yellow too much?

Either way, it was actually pretty fun to paint. Makes me want to do it again. I hope they have spray paint and thrift stores in Japan.

Refashion: Wedding Cake Edition

Once upon a time, I had a very delicious wedding cake. I only got to eat a little bit of it, so luckily my mom saved the top layer and put it in the freezer for me.

A year passed, and my mom decided to be even nicer by overnighting it in the mail for me, so I could eat it with my husband for our one year anniversary. Despite her best efforts at packing it up, it arrived looking like this:

But the cake still tasted delicious, so I thought it would be a good time to test my culinary skills by making the oh-so-trendy, and kind of overdone treat called "cake pops." I guess all you need is a baked cake that's all crumbled up with frosting, and considering that step had already been done thanks to the United States Postal Service, these were pretty easy to make.

I used this tutorial, which was very easy, so I'll probably make these again sometime for entertaining or something. Here is the finished product:

 That top layer of cake sure made a lot of cake pops, I must say. So if you want any, come and get them!

Refashion: Fashion is Cyclical

So, remember how chambray is totally in right now? Something else I've seen lately is polka dot chambray. Pretty cute. I just saw a really cute polka dot chambray top from J. Crew but can't seem to find it to show you. But, you get the idea with these ones. One is from Levis, and the other...I don't know. 

So, remember that chambray was also in style in the early 1990s? It's no secret that trends these days are almost always traceable to another decade because fashion is totally cyclical. So if you want to buy a  "new" trend, check out old stuff first!

After I saw that cute top from J. Crew, I found this little number at Goodwill that was probably made in the early 1990s. Not exactly the cutest thing in the world, but the fabric is a polka dot chambray, which is SO HOT right now!

Yep, it's even more attractive from behind.

I decided to make it into a skirt, since you see so many chambray tops, but not any skirts. Maybe it will start a new trend. We'll see. 

Anyway, here is the finished product! 

 Well, almost finished. You see, I'm not quite sure if the pockets on the skirt are cute, or if they look a little maid/waitress like. Do you think I should keep them? It would be easy to pick them off if you tell me to. 


I think this skirt might make the cut of clothes to take to Europe, considering so many things go with chambray. Either way though, it's a great summer skirt that cost me three dollars. BTW, did you know if you donate to Goodwill, you get 20% off your entire purchase? NICE. 

Refashion Question: Help, please.

I bought this dress from Goodwill for like $4. I liked it for the bottom pleating. I knew I was going to need to spruce it up somehow. And I did, but I'm still doubting.

My first indication that this was going to be hit or miss was when I was having Victor take my "before" shot. It didn't help that I was sick and I looked gross, but when Victor took the pictures he was all, "I don't know about this one, Annie. I'm just not catching the vision." Ouch. O ye of little faith.  But seriously, it was bad. I blurred out my face because I'm too humiliated to show it for all the internet to see.

So, for this go around, I just took off the sleeves. And did my hair and makeup before I took any more pictures.

 But alas, Victor still wasn't convinced. He doesn't really like the top part of the dress. So I decided to wear it out for a night in D.C. to ask for my girlfriend's opinion. Below is a shot with it accessorized more with a blazer and scarf. (BTW is this look too 70s??)

 Anyway, this was two nights ago. Then, today I found this skirt on Anthropologie on sale. (Which let's be honest, "sale" price on Anthro is still steep: like $90 steep. Remember how I bought mine for $4? And THAT is why I love thrifting.

Left: Goodwill. Right: Anthropologie

So now the question for all of you is this: should I leave the dress as is? Or, should I keep refashioning it to be an Anthro knock-off skirt? I need some more opinions to take into consideration.

Pretty please and thank you!!

Love, Annie

Refashion: Dinner with the General's Wife

I bought this dress at Goodwill a little while ago. It's from Talbots, and I liked the fabric, but not in the heavy dose of an entire dress.

the key to a great "before" shot is adding nice touches like my socks to make it extra ugly

So, when my husband volunteered me to go to a dinner at the general's house with a bunch of other officer's wives (more on that later), I decided I would finally fix up this dress and make myself an outfit for the event. I also convinced my husband to buy me these shoes for the occasion. He is such a dear, that husband of mine!

Here is the finished product. 

So what do you think? I guess my real question is do you think it's too puffy and I should take in the sides a little? Also, do you even like the fabric or is it so 15 years ago??

Also, do you like my sweater? Now I'm just fishing for compliments. You don't have to answer that. But I love it. And it's really soft. 

Anyway, the moral of the story is that this skirt cost me $4, so I'm pretty happy about it. 

Adventures in Dyeing

A few months ago, I bought this little dress during one of my thrifting outings with Holli. I loved a lot of things about this dress, but the color was NOT one of them! I just couldn't see myself wearing this silly pepto bismol pink.

Then Holli had a brilliant idea. Dyeing!

We met up yesterday to embark on this new adventure. I dyed this dress, and Holli dyed a pair of jeans.  We were very meticulous because we didn't want to screw up, but dyeing is actually pretty easy. I was most worried about how the color would mix with the pink.

But, I was pleasantly surprised with the turn out. A nice red/burnt orange, which I think is great for all seasons.

Here is the finished product! (the belt and shoes are Holli's--cute huh?)

i hope my white legs don't blind you

A close up of the pattern:

Now that I've learned that dyeing really isn't that hard, it really opens up ways to change up my wardrobe, or a way to fix up some thrifting finds that I may not be crazy about. And it only cost like 2 bucks, so it was worth it.

I am very pleased. The end!