what have I gotten myself into?

All of a sudden I find myself becoming one of those moms who follows her kid around everywhere. I'm all for exploring but man - he's a quick one!

He found the outlets today so I had to plug them up before he electrocuted himself. He loves cords, so ya, gotta do something with those. And for some reason he loves to hang out under the dining room table and chairs.

And now look at what I found him doing today! ACK! Who is this mini-person!?

mini-makeover phase 1 - cafe chairs cushion recover

I'm not going to sugar-coat it: it's hot here people. Yesterday was apparently a July record of 35 degrees (feels like 41 - or 104 f or something like that for my Fahrenheit friends). Oh and did I mention that I don't have AC? Luckily I live by the lake and there is a bit of a breeze, but really AC would be nice.

Anyway, as I mentioned in a previous post, I've been spending most of my time on the porch reading. I see the same people walking by at the same times. It's a bit groundhog day-ish. Today I finished yet another book and I thought I had better do something else with my time before I start the next one.

I decided to start small. Really small.

This is the little cafe nook we have on our front porch. We eat most of our weekend breakfasts here and some occasional dinners. The cushions leave little to be desired - they're pretty faded and the orange colour just isn't working for me anymore - so I added cushion make-over to my long list of things to do.



I put the babes to bed for his afternoon nap (or chatter-time since he's been up there for an hour now and is saying Dada over and over again) and got to work.

I had some leftover material from my nursery glider re-do so I used it to make a simple cover for the cushions. No binding (because I'm afraid of it) and no quilting stitches (because I didn't feel like it). They took me about 20 mins to do, which is the perfect amount of time to spend inside with no AC, on a sticky chair and near a hot iron.

I'm pretty happy with how they turned out!




The next phase will be some little pillows and then next summer I'd like to refinish the table and chairs.

Happy Monday!

today is going to be a great day

I love the idea of having inspirational sayings around the house and I just love this one from Fifi du Vie. Doesn't it just automatically put you in a good mood?

I bought it last night - it was perfect timing really because just a few hours before I found it online, I sliced off part of my left index finger and nail cutting garlic scapes. Sure makes typing interesting!

Have a great day!

let's take it outside

For the past couple weeks, I have spent as much time as humanly possible outside:

I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner outside.
I walk outside.
I sit on a blanket with the babes outside.
I nap outside.
I sip coffee outside.
I workout outside.
I pretend to garden outside.

I have also been reading an obscene amount of books outside. I have a bit of an obsession when it comes to reading. Like when I finish one book, I get the shakes until I get another book to read. I recently rediscovered the library (I spent most of my childhood in our local book joint) and I just love the idea of checking out the books for free. It's like an unlimited free supply of crack for me.

Anyway that's where I've been in case anyone out there was concerned ;). I haven't really been on the computer much at all, even though as I type this, I'm on the back porch outside (the mosquitoes are going to send me inside soon though I think!).

So now that I've had you thinking of outside, here some outside shots I'm loving tonight.

Source: decorpad.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

Source: littleemmaenglishhome.blogspot.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

Source: plushpalate.blogspot.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

Source: b-wellreport.blogspot.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

Source: houseofturquoise.com via Stephanie on Pinterest