DIY: Up-cycled Filing Cabinet

I found this busted up beauty last weekend at a yard sale,

and I knew she was going to be the perfect addition to my new office.

All she needed was a fork lift to get her home, 

because she ways a metric shit ton,

some TLC and elbow grease.

See that $10 price tag?

I talked them down to $5 and convinced them to load it into 

my car for me.

The frist step to bringing this cabinet back to life was to remove all of the hardware.

I knew that it was missing pieces and that I was going to have to 

replace all of the handles.

Once every thing was taken apart,

I got super sweaty and dirty giving this giant hunk of 

metal a really good sanding.

Using a medium to coarse grit paper. 

I used circular motions

(think Karate Kid)

and really concentrated my attention

to the areas that were rusty.

After sanding, I used a wet rag to remove all of the dust.

It took a few good wipe downs to really make sure that I got it all,

and the last cleaning I used mineral spirits and a dry rag.

Once all the surfaces were thuroughly cleaned,

I used a spray paint primer to cover the entire cabinet.

I also salvaged the label holders off the front of the drawers and sprayed them flat black.

The original cabinet had spindles that ran inside each drawer, but one was missing.

I opted to just fill the hole with a screw, hex nut, and acorn nut for decorative purposes. 

Lastly I sprayed the cabinet this beautiful and cheery

Marigold color and started calling it my happy cabinet.

After the paint had a full 24 hours to dry,

I put on all the hardware and labels.

This was such an easy project that really brought a dead piece of furniture 

right back to life, and provided so much storage and sunshine in my office.

#housewifeproblems : Stinky Yoga Mats

Does your downward dog stink? No like literally smell bad?

Maybe I can help.

How often do you clean your yoga mat? 

I used to try all sorts of methods to clean my mat.

I soaked it in the tub with lysol.

I scrubbed it with clorox wipes.

I've even sprayed it down with a hose and let it dry in the sun.

However, non of these methods ever really seemed to do the trick,

or my mat would be soaked for days.

So, I finally asked my perfectly holistic yoga instructor 

what she did to keep her mat clean and stank free.

And this is what she told me.....

Stinky Yoga Mat Spray:

You will need an empty spray bottle (preferably one with a finer mist), 

witch hazel, and tea tree oil.

If you want to jazz up your bottle you will also need some decorative tape and a sharpie.

Step 1:

If you are up-cycling a bottle your first step is going to be to clean it out 

with hot soapy water.

If you are going to make it pretty,

wrap that sucker in your favorite decorative tape.

I used packaging tape, but you could also use duct tape or even washi tape.

Step 2:

So I have to admit here that I didn't really use any measurements.

I filled my bottle half way with witch hazel...

Then I added about a tablespoon of tea tree oil.

Step 3:

Give that bottle a little swirl and shake and label it.

Spray the solution all over your mat and give it a really good wipe down.

I was shocked by how much came off of my mat, so I actually did it twice.

The beauty of it all....

My mat dried instantly!

So I am throwing this in my yoga back to use after every class from now on!

Enjoy!

wardrobe re-fashion

this re-fashioning was one of my favorite/hardest things i've made. between the directions for creating my own chevron fabric to the directions for installing an invisible zipper (which i have not done in about 15 years) there was a lot of confusion. there were many moments where i would just find myself staring at all the cut up fabric thinking "was this a good idea? should i have just destroyed one of my favorite skirts? is this even possible?" but the pencil skirt turned out exactly how i wanted it too... thanks to the help of my new favorite book... the little green dress. i highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning more about pattern making. i might cry when i have to bring it back to the library! so here is it the before & after. hope you like it.

before

after

oh, and i totally realized that i got so caught up in making this skirt that i forgot sunday's 10 things i couldn't live without. my bad. it will be back next sunday.

DIY: toddler pj pants

yesterday the hubs brought me this pile:

a stack of old boxers that have been buried away at the bottom of his under ware drawer. never warn. as he explains, "they are too skinny, someone made them wrong."

since i have been on such a up-cycling clothing mood lately, all i could think was i could make these into pj's for the boy. this is such an easy alteration. it literally took 5 minutes to convert one pair.

here is a little updated picture of the boy in his new pj's