We Love Curbly...

We've been remiss in sharing information about a new favorite site, but we thought it would be the perfect thing to share for over the weekend.  Curbly.com is a wonderful site full of DIY goodness.  The creative gurus from Curbly were even kind enough to feature one of the Before & After projects from our little Babs Blog not long ago!  (How humbled were we to be included in the super-talented Curbly population!)  If you are hankering for a little inspiration or are looking to relax with a project this weekend, might we suggest perusing Curbly for some ideas?  There are so many great ideas to be checked out on Curbly---we especially love the repurposing ideas!  Also, if any of you have a fantastic Before & After, take pictures and send them our way.  We'd love to feature you on the Babs Blog!  Have a terrific weekend and we'll see you back on Monday!

---Jill & Kari

Girls Who Network...

While browsing the 'net for mingling/networking opportunities for women, one of us stumbled across Girl Power Hour, based out of Seattle.  Um,  j e a l o u s.  So wished we lived in Seattle because this idea rocks.  It's a mingly bunch of ladies who are from a variety of professions who get together once a month at swanky, of-the-moment spots in town to just chat, make a friend, and share a cocktail with other women.  (Okay, their next social is called the Sorbet & Shoe Social...who can deny that this is a great group?!)  What a great way to make business contacts or just make friends?  If you live in Seattle, you might want to check this out, ladies.  If you don't live in the Seattle area (like us), you might want to check out the website to get some ideas as to how you might spearhead a completely amazing and relevant group such as this in your own neck of the woods.  Face it, all of us women probably would like to meet more girlfriends, right?  Even if you feel like you have enough friends (who are you, anyway?!), you can't argue with the idea of being with other great, motivated women like yourself for an hour a month to chat.  Hmmmmm...got to think of a way to bring Girl Power Hour to Visalia and Grass Valley...

How about y'all out there?  Anyone have any great ideas how to get women together to network, mingle, etc?  We'd love to hear from you!

P.S.  We are sorry for using the word "totally" in our graphic.  It's a bit sophomoric, isn't it?  Our apologies...

Having It's Moment: Yellow

Yellow is such a summery, fun, happy color, and we are so thrilled to see it having it's moment in the design world. Just a punch of this sunny color goes such a long way! Check out the above images plus more at Canadian House & Home.  Be prepared to be inspired to add a little yellow to your rooms or to your next party!

Feelin' Pretty...

We stumbled across a most fabulous dress-maker on Etsy.  Sohomode makes "vintage-inspired clothing for the modern eccentric."  We are smitten with these oh-so-pretty tea dresses.  We can imagine each one of them perfect for something different:  "This one would be so perfect for hosting a shower...  This one would be lovely for cocktail hour...  This one would make me want to hop a flight to Paris for some shopping...  This one would be perfect for..."

Check out sohomode on Etsy for more cute designs.  We think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the prices and you might just find something perfect for you!

For Wedding & Party Enthusiasts:

We have a new site to add to our list of favorites. Lollipop Events & Design has been on our radar for awhile, but only recently have we become slightly addicted to their fabulous blog, dubbed their 'Lolliblog.'  The pictures of real events are gorgeous, the ideas are utterly fantastic, and the inspiration is limitless.  We have heard from many of you who are in the throes of party-planning and wedding-planning.  Check out the Lolliblog, please!  You'll be so, so, so glad you did.  Even if you're not in the midst of planning a big event, this site offers so much eye-candy and so many good ideas, you're bound to be inspired to start planning an event!  Happy browsing!

(The images above give a sample of what you'll find on the Lolliblog).

Crowd-Pleaser Cobbler

Looking for an easy dessert to whip up for your 4th of July festivities?  We stumbled across a most delicious, simple cobbler recipe from Williams-Sonoma.  Yum-yum (or, if you speak French, Miam-Miam!).  It was gone very quickly, and there were rave reviews from all our party guests who tried it!  Now is a wonderful time to make cobbler because of all the beautiful berries present.  We made this recipe with a combination of blueberries and blackberries, because that's what the grocery store had.  We think a cobbler (or any berry dessert:  galletes, pies, and buckles work, too!) is great for a 4th of July celebration because it's down-home goodness at it's best.

Have a wonderful 4th of July!  (Oh, if you try this recipe, we want to hear how it turned out!)

We're Back!

So sorry for our absence! We had such a wonderful time visiting with our parents, Dave & Babs, while they took a brief break from their work in Liberia. Following are some photos of what we've been up to the last few weeks. Stay tuned, because even though we are playing catch-up in our work and home lives, we're back to the Babs Blog! We hope the last few weeks were as happy for you as they were for us. (Isn't family wonderful?!)

While we were gone we...

Threw a fun party in honor of Dad and Mom:

Spent some time relaxing at a friend's house in Pebble Beach (as demonstrated by Kari's hubby, Robert):

Drank a little vino while checking out the waves of the Pacific:

Enjoyed family dinners with Dad & Mom:

Played a few competitive rounds of Chicken Foot:

Happy July to each of you...and we'll see you right back here tomorrow!

---Jill & Kari

Yes, We are still gone...

Hello, all. Yes, we are still taking a blogging break and enjoying spending really great time with our family before Dad and Mom (Dave and the real Babs) return to Liberia for another year.  Thank you for being patient about the lack of posts, but if you all love your families like we do, you'll understand why we are just delighted to get to enjoy some major fam time.  :)

We'll leave you with a recipe for a new favorite cocktail, the French Martini.  Ooo La La!  Nope, it's not really a new cocktail, but it has won our a place in our hearts.  First of all, it's pink.  Secondly, it's delicious.  Third, it's easy to make so you can whip a batch of these up for your next girls' night in.  Enjoy, and we'll see you soon with more regular Babs Blog posts.  (Oh, and thanks for the nice emails wishing us good times and fun memories with Babs this week!  We appreciate each of these nice little notes!)

Cheers!

---Jill & Kari

French Martini Recipe:

1 1/2 oz vodka
1/4 oz Chambord® raspberry liqueur
1/4 oz fresh pineapple juice
1 twist lemon peel

Please Excuse Us...

We're sorry for the delay in posts, but we do hope you'll understand. It's likely that we will be out for the rest of the week as we are enjoying some family time. Our parents, Dave and Babs (the namesake of our little blog) are visiting from Liberia! We have not seen them in over a year, so we are soaking up every last minute of time with them before they return to their commitment overseas. (You can read about what they have been up to here.) We'll be back next week with more Babs Blog goodness. In the meantime, we hope ya'll have a lovely week, and we hope each of you has a chance to do something wonderfully creative this week. :)

See you soon!
---Jill & Kari

What I Wanted & What I Got

Was coveting the bracelet with the black background. It's J. Crew and it sells for $75.00.  Ended up buying the bracelet with the red background.  It's vintage, high-quality, and came from Etsy for $16.00.  It's prettier in person than in the picture, too.  Don't you love a good deal?

Moral of the story:  Etsy rocks.

On Graciousness and Christmas Gifts...

 

Call us crazy, but summer is a great time to start thinking about Christmas.  Or, at least the gifts!  You may remember that this past Christmas season, we talked about the Advent Conspiracy.  One of the things the Advent Conspiracy promotes is a reduced focus on the materialism that generally goes into the Christmas Season, with a greater value being placed on time spent with loved ones and a pure focus on what Christmas stands for.  The Advent Conspiracy challenges people to make gifts and then donate the money that otherwise would have gone to department stores or online Christmas shopping to help give fresh, life-giving water to parts of the world that desperately need it.  (The Advent Conspiracy is amazing!  To be a part of it this year, check out this site and register for free.)  So, summer is a great time to start considering your gift list and start crafting some things (out of love) to give.

If you are not "crafty" or "artistic" (such subjective terms anyway), this may be scary to you.  Yes, when you give a homemade gift, there can be real feelings of anxiety:  Will she like it?  Is it "good" enough?  Does it look too homemade?  If a person doesn't like what you made for them, isn't that worse than if they didn't like something you just bought for them?  Even if you are very crafty, you can still experience hurt if someone doesn't like what you made for them.  This happened recently to one of us.  One of us spend an entire afternoon making something handmade for a person we care about.  It was a painstaking project, but so much love and thought went into it.  And time.  LOTS of time.  The gift wrapped carefully and given.  And then, it got back to us that the person wanted something different (as if it was an order that had been put in!).  It hurt to think that the gift was not appreciated.  It made us mad that the time had been spent on something special for a person who obviously had no idea what went into the project.  And it made us not want to make anything for that person again.

BUT...that's a wrong attitude.  We have put so much focus on giving something that a person wants.  But that's not really what gift-giving is all about.  Sometimes, you give something because you want to give it.  Sure, you take into consideration that person's tastes, but the act of giving should be a joy all it's own and should not hinge on the receiver's reaction.  Another thing is that you rarely will find someone who is boorish enough to complain about receiving a homemade gift.  Most people are gracious and so very grateful that love was poured into the object.  If you run across a person who complains about the homemade item they have received, chances are that person has never made anything special and homemade for another person and, therefore, they don't understand the time and care that goes into something lovingly homemade.  If you change your attitude about giving homemade from nervous to joyful, you'll not worry about whether or not the receiver of the gift is as gracious as they ought to be.  In turn, if you receive something homemade from a loved one, be gracious.  Understand that effort and time and love and care and smiles when into the project just for you.  Enjoy the imperfections because they are beautiful, too.  (And don't ever, ever say rude things about the gift to anyone else.  Gossip has a nasty way of getting back to people and you will look like an absolute heel.)  It is so, so easy to give a gift that came from a store where it can be returned later on, but it takes thought and time to make a gift for a person.

This summer, we will begin on our homemade items for Christmas.  We are going to do our best to look at each project with joy instead of worrying about how the receiver might look at it.  We are going to think carefully about the people on our Christmas list and what they need or might enjoy, and then we are going to dive into those projects with gusto.  No fear or trepidation.  We encourage you to join the Advent Conspiracy come Christmas time, and we encourage you to start on those little gift projects now!  Happy crafting/sewing/stitching/knitting/quilting/painting/drawing/building/etc.!

Easy Weekend Project

My phone rang earlier this week.  It was a good friend.

"Kari," she said urgently.  "I need your help."

"Need me to babysit?"  I asked (because that's generally how I help her out).

"No...I need decorating help.  Today."

Turns out, my friend was having her husband's business associates over that night for dinner.  She was panicked because her dining room did not have anything on the walls, and that's where they would be spending the evening.  It was the room in her house that she had not decorated because she had run out of ideas.  (Can you relate to that?  Don't most people have a room in their house that's not quite right yet?)  On top of being out of ideas, she was on a very strict budget and couldn't spend much at all for wall art.  I love being asked to help a friend with decorating or party planning.  It never feels like work to me---just fun.  (And I don't get asked to help much by my female family members because they don't need help.  I have a sister {Jill} and a sister-in-law {Meagan} with impeccable taste and I like to steal ideas from them!)

I went over to my friend's house and we began rummaging through what she already had in her garage.  We came up with some fun old frames (we spray painted them high-gloss white) and then began to hunt for something to put in them.  We kind of came up short.  

"You know what I think would look fun?"  I asked.

"No...please, tell me!"

"Framed fabric.  Do you have any great pieces of leftover fabric somewhere?"

"Framed fabric?  I've never seen such a thing,"  she said, doubtfully.  "I don't think I have anything laying around.  You wanna go to the fabric store real quick?  I trust you..."

So, off we went to the local fabric store, and in the bargain bin was a fabulous vintagey print that had all the colors we needed.  We took it back to her house, put it inside the frames, and hung the frames on the wall.  (I wish I had taken a picture, but because of the urgent nature of her call, I had not thought to bring a camera.)

"That's amazing,"  she breathed.  "I cannot believe we did that ourselves!  It's perfect."

"What did you think when I said 'framed fabric?'" I asked.  "You seemed doubtful."

"I thought it would look hokey," she admitted.  "but it's fabulous.  And it was so cheap!  Can I do this in my bedroom, too?"

This is a great trick if you need inexpensive art.  I guess I had taken it for granted that everyone out there knew you could stick some leftover fabric in a frame and call it art!  But, if you're like my friend, it may be news to you.  Here are some photos that show examples.  Above is my favorite example because it looks high-end (and, in fact, high-end fabric was used, so this isn't a great example of a low-budget solution, but it is framed fabric, so you get the idea!)  The photo above came from my new favorite magazine's website, Canadian House and Home.  (P.S.  If you miss Domino magazine like I do, you might find that Canadian House and Home helps fill the void at least a little.  There's a lot of similar style going on there.)

The photos below are from blogs & sites that offer tutorials in framing fabric.  You're all pretty smart and I know you could figure this out yourselves, but in case you need to see more pictures, you can link to these sites:

1.  From Real Simple

2.  From Craftpad.com

3.  From Dwellings and Decor

4.  From How About Orange

Perfect weekend project! Also nice about framed fabric is that it can be temporary or easily changed out. You can change it to suit your mood, reflect the seasons, or match your party color scheme! Have a wonderful weekend!

Kari's Summer Wishlist

As promised yesterday, here is Kari's wishlist/top ten list for the summer.  

As a recap, we were going off of this list:

1. A dress you'd like to wear.

2. An interior you'd like to live in.

3. Something you'd like to serve at your next party.

4. A piece of furniture you'd really like to have.

5. A place you'd like to be right now.

6. An accessory you'd like to wear.

7. A piece of furniture/something for the home you think should never have been invented.

8. A home you'd like to live in.

9. Something random you'd like to buy.

10. A way you'd like to relax.

1.  This dress is perfect for summer, I think.  The color will make me look tan, and I can dress it up or down depending on where I'm headed.  Love it.  (J. Crew)

2. So, okay.  This photo only gives a glimpse into an interior, but it's enough for me!  I love the color of those floors!  I think this is a kitchen I could spend a lot of time in and be quite happy.  (photo via Pink Wallpaper)

3.  At my next party, I'd like to serve pink champagne with a couple raspberries at the bottom of the glass.  

4.  The next piece of furniture I'm dying to have is a Saarinen dining table.  I'd like the oval one (96 inches) with the white marble top.  (photo via Little Green Notebook)

5.  I'd like to be in the Seychelles right now, with my hubby.

6.  I'd like to own this necklace off of Etsy.  (Doesn't it look a lot like the J.Crew bubble necklace?  Only the Etsy one is less than half the price, plus it supports an artist who is doing fine handmade work.)

7.  I feel very strongly that vertical blinds should never have been invented.  They are dust-collectors, they are always falling apart, and they never work the way they are supposed to.  If you have them in your home----I'm sorry.  (Maybe now is a good time to consider some simple curtain panels as an alternative?)

8.  I'd really like to live in this home.  It's cozy, quaint, and surrounded by green.  And I'm crazy about that yellow door!  (photo via Country Living.)

9.  I got a Roomba awhile back, and it changed my life.  Seriously.  It was wonderful to have the little bugger vacuuming while I was out of the house.  I'd return to nice, tidy wood floors.  Now I think I'd like the "Scooba" which is Roomba's savvy cousin.  Scooba scrubs floors.  Since the addition of a big mutt named Manny to our household, I'm thinking Scooba might have to join us here.

10.  I'd like to relax on a deck like this, overlooking scenery that didn't include neighbors for miles.  I'd mix up a big batch of sparkling sangria and hang out here with my husband, ipod playing some of our favorite tunes.  Maybe invite some friends, too.  Maybe we'd BBQ.  Maybe we'd nap.  Sounds lovely, doesn't it?

Jill's Summer Wishlist:

Today and tomorrow, we are going to share with you our "top ten" summer wishlist. Jill will go first and Kari's will be posted tomorrow. Here's the list that we are using:

1. A dress you'd like to wear.

2. An interior you'd like to live in.

3. Something you'd like to serve at your next party.

4. A piece of furniture you'd really like to have.

5. A place you'd like to be right now.

6. An accessory you'd like to wear.

7. A piece of furniture/something for the home you think should never have been invented.

8. A home you'd like to live in.

9. Something random you'd like to buy.

10. A way you'd like to relax.

Here are Jill's picks:

1. I would wear this dress, but I would stand up straight while doing so.  (Dress:  J. Crew.  Found here)

2.  I could live in that interior.  (Interior via Little Green Notebook)

3.  Party Food:  I don't care as long as it's catered!

4.  Corfu, Greece

5.  Card catalog from Sacramento Craigslist.

6.  'Cause no one does comfort like Chuck.

7.  These curtains should never have been invented.

8.   I love that house, but want it on a bluff overlooking the ocean, miles away from everyone.  (Admiral's Mansion on Mare Island, Vallejo, CA)

9.  random item:  rolling alarm clock

10.  relax:  hanging bed (via Apartment Therapy.)

---Jill  :)

Easy Party Mixer

Sometimes, a party needs some sort of vehicle to facilitate mingling and mixing. Here's something we've tried a few times that always gets rave reviews from the crowd: a blind wine tasting.

A blind wine tasting is especially fun when you have "wine aficionados" in the group. (We've seen a few wine snob friends humbled through a blind wine tasting!) Mostly, though, this is a great way to get people chatting and mixing. We've done this a few different ways. The pictures we are showing you below are of a more "pretty" way to present the wine, but we've also wrapped bottles in brown paper bags and written the numbers right on the bag. It works just the same!

First, assemble a good array of wines. 

It's easiest if you stick to all reds, because it can be difficult for people to rate whites against reds---but it's your party, so do what you like! You'll want to select wine at all price points. (You might put a $2 bottle next to a $65 bottle). People often think that the more expensive a bottle, the better it must taste. Doing a blind tasting sort of levels the playing field there!

Secondly, get rid of the evidence.

Whether you wrap the wine bottles in brown paper bags or whether you fill pitchers (as seen below), don't let your guests know what wines are out there.  It will spoil the fun!

Make sure each wine is numbered:

Pass out some kind of sheet so guests can keep track of what they've tasted and what they think. Have them guess the varietal (type of grape) used for each wine, and have them rate all the wines according to what was their favorite all the way to what was their least favorite.

Here's an example of a sheet we've used in the past:

Give guests plenty of time to try and re-try the wines. Then, after everyone has had plenty of time to mingle, taste, and write down their ratings, gather your group together. Go through the wines by number and ask where people rated the wine and what varietal they thought it was. Then, take out the bottle to reveal what that wine was. Go through all of the wines this way.

We have always had fun with this one! Living in California, we are surrounded by people who think they know their wine. This is a fun game to play to see who really knows their stuff! No need to give prizes for the winner (although you could if you wanted), because usually bragging rights are enough. Have fun with this one! :)

Entertaining-Friendly Style (on a budget)

My (Kari's) husband and I love to entertain. The only problem is that our home is not really a great open floor plan for entertaining. We don't have the space to do huge dinner parties or to have all the relatives over for a holiday. We have done a lot of considering as to how we can open up our space, but there is a tricky load-bearing wall smack dab in the middle of the space. Another issue is that we know our house won't be our home forever, so we don't want to dump a whole lot of cash into those kinds of major renovations---we know we wouldn't see those dollars returned in a sale. We still entertain, but usually it's an open house kind of thing with cocktails and mingling. (This has actually worked out fine for us.) During our first couple of "mingly" parties, we noticed that everyone's favorite spot to congregate was the kitchen (If you are a hostess with the mostess, you know that this is not such an odd thing---kitchens are magnets to guests at all parties in all homes!) Our house has a little breakfast nook that was not being used to its full potential. Of course, a table and chairs usually goes in a breakfast nook---and that would have been the simple answer, wouldn't it? As I began to think about our love of entertaining and how we live our lives, I began to imagine a space that would be cozy and welcoming to guests. You can see in the picture above that I opted for a seating area in this nook. (So, yes, I am one of the only people on the planet with an apple green velvet fainting couch in their kitchen!)

I have come to love this little nook! I curl up here in the morning with a bowl of oatmeal and a magazine or the paper. My husband and I head to this little couch when he comes home at the end of the day so we can chat and recap the day's events with each other. AND, just as suspected, when we have a party and people congregate in the kitchen, this little nook is now full of people sitting on the sofa or perched on one of the arms. It really was the right decision for how we use our house! 

Read below for where I found the ingredients for this little nook, on a budget.

The green sofa came from Urban Outfitters. It was on sale at the time---I wouldn't pay full price for it if I were you. I'd wait for another sale! (By the way, when I purchased this, the green was the best color option. Now, Urban Outfitters has more colors and I kind of wish I had this one.)

The table was an ebay find, but it's this one from Brocade Home.

The pillows are Schumacher's Chiang Mai Dragon, and they came from Designer Cushions on Etsy.

The vase came from ebay (the flowers came from the grocery store!)

The rug is comprised of leftover carpet tiles I had in my garage from another project.  They came from Flor.  (I'd actually like to add a large round rug in a fun print here, but I haven't found the right thing at the right price yet.  Anyone have any suggestions?)

The wall was bare and I needed something to fill it, so I used some leftover antique gesso frames that I had in my garage (both from ebay) and filled them with a few random plates that I also had stored away in a cupboard.

If you are looking to do more hostessing in your home, look around and consider what will make your guests comfortable.  Adding little seating vignettes in areas of your home where you know people will congregate will help facilitate conversation and make your party that much better.  Of course, you don't need to purchase furniture to do this!  Sometimes, though, you should consider moving your pre-existing furniture around to make your home more guest-friendly.  :)

Learn to Sew!

Between the two of us, we've heard it a jillion times:

"I wish I could sew."

"I really need to learn how to sew."

"Is sewing hard? I have a sewing machine, but I don't know how to use it."

"My Mom tried to teach me how to sew, but that didn't go so well..."

Well, ladies, we've got a couple suggestions for you on how to learn how to sew.  There is, after all, no time like the present!  First of all, call up your local fabric store and inquire about classes.  Most fabric store chains offer classes, and the smaller fabric stores often know of someone locally who teaches beginning sewing.  This is the best way to jump in and learn the basics.  The other thing we can recommend is getting your hands on the book shown above.  "Sew Everything Workshop" by Diana Rupp is excellent.  Diana Rupp teaches sewing classes in New York City and out of those experiences comes this excellent, useful book.  In normal, everyday language, Diana goes carefully through all the basics----from what the parts of a sewing machine are to how to make a button hole.  Somehow, she is able to explain all of this in a practical, non-complicated way.  This book also includes a nifty attached envelope with ten patterns.  At the back of the book, each pattern is explained carefully as Diana takes you from start to finish on fun projects.  Even if you have a little sewing background, this book is a great way to brush up on skills that might be a little rusty.  So, ladies, no more excuses!  If you want to learn to sew, summer is a great time to jump in!  

Need your vote, please...

This very nifty piece of furniture was $20. Yes, I said twenty. Dollars.
Yes, the wood is kinda beat up and someone did a pretty ghetto job replacing the top and then doing a third-grade-level routing job on the edges, but this little desk is sturdy and sound and all the drawers are intact and functional. The scale is nice, too. I needed something small for my office and I'd like to use this desk to store odds and ends, put a lamp on, and stick some cute fabric-covered storage boxes under it, where a chair would normally go. I think it needs paint, as the wood really can't be brought back to its glory. (Trust me on this one). I was first thinking that I might paint it a pretty robin's egg blue color and then see if I could get a remnant piece of white carrera marble from my friendly local granite/marble fabricator guy (who, incidentally, owes me a favor) to top it with. But, there are really a ton of possibilities for a piece as cute as this, so...
I am asking for your opinions! Please, please, tell me what you think! How would you turn this piece into something really great? Give me your color ideas and your "top" ideas (I really, really must do something about the top!) Leave a comment below this post and weigh in. Getting my office organized and "prettified" is on my summer to-do list now that I have a break from school, and I have yet to choose a grand color scheme...so any ideas are very much welcome. Thanks in advance!
---Kari
P.S. I'll post more photos of this once the project is finished, and if I use your ideas, I'll brag you up big time, I promise! :)

Fun Little Projects...

Both of us are in the throes of decorating our homes. Make that decorating our homes on reasonable budgets. We thought it would be fun to share some of our projects with you! One of the traits we both inherited from our Mom (the real Babs) is the "nesting" gene. We love to tinker with our decor and make our homes homier. Like our Mom, we both are trying to do these fun little decor projects on budgets that allow for us to change our mind from time to time! Jill is the certified Craigslist Queen, and she has some deals and steals to share with you in upcoming posts. We both love Ebay and we both love a good thrift store. There is something really fun about taking "junk" and repurposing and giving it a modern function.

Here's a project that I (Kari) recently completed. I have to thank Jenny Komenda from Little Green Notebook for the inspiration here. She has encouraged my love of Schumacher's Chiang Mai Dragon fabric AND her do-it-yourself projects always make me want to roll up my sleeves and try something new out in my own home. You really should check out her blog if you are at all into home design!

Okay, here's the project...

I found two of these little stools waaaaaaaay back, and I paid around $12 for the two of them.  (Yes, that is a total steal----isn't the shape great?)  I have had them in storage for about two years as I didn't have a spot for them and I was waiting for inspiration as to how to snazz them up a bit.  The legs are heavy forged metal and the stretcher is white painted wood.  The tops were covered in really gross white vinyl that I knew had to go!  In this picture, you can also see some of the tools that I used---spray-on adhesive and upholstery foam, both from my local fabric store:

First, I removed the tops from the bases.  Then, I got out the drill.  I knew I wanted to do a little tufting since I was going to add a little cush to these stools.  I used a measuring tape and a drill to add holes to where I wanted the buttons and tufting to go.  I originally thought I would add more buttons to the stool, but you'll see in the finished project that I stopped at five----once I got started, I realized that I was trying to add too many.  If I could go back and do this over, I would probably spread those five buttons out a bit.  Oh well, live and learn.  I'm still excited about the finished project!

I cut the foam down to size using a serrated knife (electric carving knives work well, too, but I don't own one of those anymore) and attached it to the wood top using the spray adhesive.

(After almost two years of marriage, my husband is finally used to the fact that things like really nice serrated knives get used for creative projects more than they get used to carve meat or slice bread...)

Here's a shot of the fabric I used.  Schumacher Chiang Mai Dragon.  So pretty!  I have to admit that I don't love the dragon, but I am crazy about the fun floral on the rest of the fabric, so overall, I am smitten with the fabric.  I was lucky to find enough fabric on ebay to do this project.  I totally had to stalk ebay to find a piece of this fabric, but it was worth it because it would NOT have been in my budget otherwise!

Once the foam and a layer of batting was applied to the wood top, I wrapped the top in fabric but did not secure it entirely.  I needed to add the tufting first!

I made fabric-covered buttons using a kit purchased at my local craft store.  Unfortunately, I did not have a whole lot of extra fabric for the buttons (since I bought a scavenged leftover on ebay!), so I was not able to match the buttons up to the design on the top perfectly.  At first, this bothered me....but I am over it.  I think the end product is still great.  :)

Button #1:

The five buttons are added.  Now, the fabric just has to be tightened up and secured on the back using my trusty staple gun:

And, ta da!  The finished project.  Yes, this picture only shows one.  I was so excited to take pictures, that I hadn't finished #2 yet.  I'll add the other stool under that console table, in the bare spot.  And then I'll keep working on this little vignette.  (The canvas with the French love poem will go away and a fabulous panel of wallpaper and a mirror will be replacing it.  Again, thanks to Jenny Komenda for the inspiration on this one!)  I'll post more later as more changes are made.  :)

What kinds of home projects are you working on? We'd love to see your thrift finds and how you've breathed fresh life into them! Send us pictures and a short description of what you've done, and we'll post them on the Babs Blog so you can inspire others, too!

Discovering a new corner of the country...

Hello, all. Kari here.

Just wanted to share some photos with you and a little something that I learned this past week...
I just returned home from a week in Indiana, visiting my husband's family. My hubby Robert and I chose this time to visit so that we could help on the farm. (Okay, I say "we" loosely...I'm not really much help when it comes to operating heavy equipment and stuff...but I did keep my husband company from the "buddy seat" on the tractor and I was the number one supper-fetcher while we were there. Every little bit helps, right...?) My husband's family grows corn and soybeans in rural Indiana. Sure, Jill and I grew up on a farm, but we grew up with orchards and vineyards, not thousands of acres of corn and soybeans---farming is so varied across the United States! I enjoyed learning a little more about how my husband grew up. I even got to ride along with my father-in-law for awhile while he planted corn, and he was very patient to answer all my silly questions. It was a really good visit.

While I'm no photographer by any standard, I couldn't help snapping a few pictures while I was out and about on the farm because Indiana is so beautiful this time of year.  Yes, I'm spoiled to live in California where beaches and mountains and farmland and cities are readily available depending on one's mood.  Still, I was captivated by a different kind of beauty in Indiana.  Lots of open spaces, lots of green (things have already turned pretty dry here in the Central Valley), and a never-ending shortage of two of my very favorite things:  old farm houses and old barns.  I also enjoy the quaint towns with antique shops full of treasures...(I didn't have much time to browse antique shops this time, but I plan on putting that on the list for our next trip to Indiana!)  

I think one of the things that really struck me was how beautiful the United States is, and how there are fascinating things within driving distance of pretty much every place within the Union.  (I mean, Indiana doesn't usually get rave reviews for being a beautiful place, but I know that I think it's lovely each time I visit.)  With budgets tight these days, perhaps the best "vacation" consists of loading up your car and heading out on a road you've not yet traveled.  You probably don't need to get very far from home to see something amazing.  We live in a beautiful country!

Here are some of the beautiful things I saw on my trip:

Yellow fields...I know, they're weeds.  But so pretty!

My mother-in-law, Shirley, took Robert and me to see these bald eagles not far from one of the fields being planted.  You can't see the baby eagles, but they were there, in the nest!  (That nest was the size of a small hot tub!)  I had never seen a bald eagle before (except maybe at the zoo), so I thought this was pretty great.  Then, later, while Robert and I were in a different field, a beaver waddled out into the open!  Again, I've only seen a beaver at the zoo, so I thought this was quite a sight.  (I know, many of you reading this are rolling your eyes because seeing a beaver is a pretty regular occurrence for you...but it's not too common in Central California!)  We also saw two baby fawns while we were out and about.  Very cute.

Every time I go to Indiana, I LOVE to see all the farms and all the open space.  While I think I could live in New York City for an extended amount of time, eventually, I would need space.  I think it's quite nice to be as obnoxious and loud as you please, and not have a single neighbor around to hear you.    

Isn't this just lovely?  (If you are looking at this and not seeing how pretty it is, you are completely jaded.  I'm sorry, but it's true!)

This is my father-in-law, Abe, planting corn.  He is a very, very hard-working guy!  (So is my mother-in-law.  The two of them handed down great work ethics to their boys!)

Blue skies, no smog.  Can't say that about the Central Valley!

I tried to get my husband to buy this barn for me, but apparently barns aren't in our budget.  Or something to that effect...

(Isn't it fantastic, though?)

All in all, Indiana is a very lovely place full of friendly, hospitable folks.
It's very likely you have a very lovely place undiscovered near you. Why not plan a road trip and do some discovering of your own?