Please excuse this little wedding post - we've got less than two months to go, so all the DIY details are on my mind. Adam recently decided to buy a suit (actually two) instead of renting a tuxedo. He's going with a black suit/white shirt/black tie, similar to this Ralph Lauren model's look (the 'Blue Steel' pose is optional).


Source

His two groomsmen - and brothers - will be wearing something similar, but obviously their suits won't be exactly the same. When we thought they'd all be in matching tuxes, we decided to skip the boutonnieres (I'm not a big boutonniere fan to begin with). But now I'm thinking that a cute - and unique - boutonniere could help link their looks together, and add some more fun to the day too. I love the idea of fabric boutonnieres and here are a few of my favourites, found on Etsy of course.

This green, white and yellow version from Katie-byrd's shop is all kinds of cute, and a little rustic too:


Source

I also love these fabric and button boutonniere's by Luvlee Bits...


Source

and this somewhat simpler version too.

Source

Here are another couple of simple but still very cute ones from a Canadian seller
 

Source

Source

JujaCrafts has all kinds of amazing finds, but I especially love this guy:


Source

And how pretty would a boutonniere made with these bright green hydrangea blossoms be?


Source

I basically love everything in a simple start's shop, including:



Source

Source



Source

Finally, here's a more masculine version on Monicaj's shop, handmade from vintage ties:

Source

 So many great options, so little time...and I guess I need to ask Adam what he thinks, too :)

Old houses like ours usually come with old windows. And old windows usually come with cracked paint, drafts and old hardware. While we're saving to replace our windows with energy-efficient ones, we spruced up the old guys with a fresh coat of white paint. The paint made a huge difference, but it also made the dingy old hardware stand out. I tried cleaning it, but that didn't work very well, so I decided to try spray-paint instead. Here's what the hardware looked like before (unfortunately I seem to have photographed one of the better ones - most were really discoloured or paint-covered):

I removed all the locks and placed them on some newspaper outside. Then I sprayed them (including the screws) with several thin coats of Krylon metallic spray paint in silver. It was a really easy project - the hardest part was remembering to put the lock in different positions, since different parts of the lock show when it's open versus closed.

I'm really happy with how the project turned out - it's a great temporary fix until we can afford new windows - and I'm already planning to update other hardware this way...like maybe doorknobs?

Do you see it right over there to the right?

Yup.
I sure did.

I opened another Etsy store.

Nope.
I'm not crazy.

I have my stores just for fun, so I add stuff and work on stuff when I can.

My new store is all about the kids, the baby and the mommy.

With stuff like this...

These are my diaper bag organizing totes. I made some for my own use first and I am loving them! Not sure about you but for me than adding another child to your life can make things feel a little out of control. It's great to be able to add little things that make you feel just a little bit more sane!

More patterns will be added soon!

I also have just a few of these for fun! I have some ideas for a couple more items I would like to make, so keep checking back!

I also marked down some stuff in my Virginia House Store, so be sure to "click" by there as well!

When we moved into our house a few months ago, I was determined to find room for this chair, which I found at a yardsale a couple of years ago and spraypainted black (there was no space for it in our apartment, so it sat in storage for months). So I did a little happy dance when I realized this guy would fit perfectly in the corner of our newly-painted guest room.

Unfortunately my homemade seat cushion was damaged in the move (rain and moving don't mix), so I sewed a new one (and a back cushion to boot).

I love how the black and white fabrics work with all the green in the room (just wait until you see the bedspread), but mostly I just love having a place for this chair. And the price was right, too - I spent about $3.75 on fabric for the back cushion, and the fabric for the seat cushion was on sale for $2.00/m (I already had the stuffing, so that part was free). I've read a few blog posts on the benefits of taking decorating risks lately, like buying and refinishing this chair, even though I didn't have use or space for it at the time. But don't take my word for it, here's Henro giving it his stamp of approval last night (before I finished sewing and de-lumpifying the cushions).

I joined the textile link party at freckled laundry:

No, I'm not talking about the weather (I wish). While I was at Canadian Tire shopping for plate hangers, I spotted an ENERGY STAR programmable thermostat on clearance and decided to go for it (I figured if the installation went horribly wrong, we're not in danger of freezing in June).

This is the thermostat we started with - nothing wrong with it, except that Adam and I are always forgetting to turn down the heat before we go to bed, which means we're wasting heat and money, and we end up sweating the bed (gross, but true). And it's ugly...

Before installing our new thermostat, which will do the remembering for us, I read through the installation instructions. It seemed easy enough: turn off the power, remove the old thermostat, label the wires, and match those labels to the ones on the new thermostat. Except that our thermostat was so old it didn't have labels, just a lot of dust, a tube with mercury in it, and red and yellow wires.

Luckily the internet is awesome, and some quick googling revealed that I should connect the red wire to the port marked "R" and the yellow wire to the port marked "W" (I'm calling them ports because I have no idea what they're actually called, but hopefully you get the idea).

The final step was to install the batteries, replace the cover, and turn the power back on. And since the new thermostat is a different size and shape than the old one, I also had a little paint touch-up to do (because I'm impatient, the paint is still a little wet in the after photo below). The whole process took about 30 minutes, but it obviously would have been quicker without the googling. I tested it, it worked (!), and then I shut it off for the summer haha.

We can't toss our old thermostat into the garbage because it contains mercury, so I plan to drop it off at our local household hazardous waste depot later this week.