"I love my cats because I love my home, and little by little they become its visible soul." Jean Couteau

Thursday, August 15, 2013

it's the little things (part 2)

Closet Organization
The first was inspired by Jessi Makes Things (scroll down past the awesome wall stenciling). It wasn't something I'd really thought about doing before, but I saw this post and thought, "I need that!" The hardest part was finding a curtain rod that was narrow enough. I went to my go-to store, Target, but the smallest rod they had was 30", which was too long for my 24" door. I happened to be heading to JoAnn next to check out fabric options for my curtain project and, as I was in the curtain area, I stumbled upon curtain rods that were adjustable between 18" and 30" -- perfect! I also got the rings there because they were on sale (otherwise, I'd have been the crazy person who went BACK to Target where rings were cheaper).

I came home and got right to work with my rulers, level, pencil, and drill. I was a bit concerned about accidentally drilling all the way through the door, but I managed to not do that. The screws that came with the curtain rods looked like they'd just barely be short enough to not come through the other side of the door, so I went ahead and used them. It was straightforward enough, and now I have hat and scarf hangers on a closet door!




 




Cord Wrangling
I got this idea from Small Home Big Start. Like the closet organization above, it was something I didn't know I needed until I stumbled across this post. But I'm frequently annoyed with cords, especially the iron cord, and this seemed like a lovely solution.

I basically just followed the tutorial above. I added about 2" to what I measured around the cord. I used this cute polka-dot fabric that I had leftover from making a T-shirt quilt several years ago.



In the little foot box that came with my sewing machine (which I got free from a lady at church several years ago, which made me even more excited that it came with the user's guide and a box of feet!), I discovered a buttonhole foot, which I never even knew was a thing before.



Using the buttonhole foot and instructions in my user's guide for using the buttonhole foot, I sewed the hole for my button, then snipped out the inside of it with my small, sharp scissors.



Next, I deviated from the tutorial a bit. I decided I wanted my cord wrangler to be actually attached to the cord, as I thought this would be easier for using it and not losing it. So next, I hand-sewed the non-buttonhole end together around the iron cord. I wound up the cord and wrapped the wrangler around it to see exactly where to attach the button, then hand-sewed that on. I used an extra button that came with an old green pea-coat that I don't have anymore. 



I'm pretty excited about this cord wrangling. Maybe I'll wrangle some more cords down the road. I could do it for all my hair stylers -- blow-dryer, straightening iron, curling irons. It's not super necessary most of the time, but it would be nice for traveling. Right now, I have some other project ideas in the pipeline, so more cord wrangling will have to wait.

No comments:

Post a Comment