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april pinterest project: t-shirt shag rug

April 23, 2012 by Lindsey T

I’m loving doing my Pinterest projects! This month I made a t-shirt rug using old white t-shirts of Al’s. For awhile I’ve been wanting a small roundish rug at the top of the stairs between each bedroom. It’s a tiny landing and I thought it would look better with a little rug and it would be nice and cozy on cold toes just waking up.

I started with a large pile of t-shirts, collected over a while. Every time one would be worn out and grungy I’d take it from Al and put it in my pile. I wanted all white but you could do all different colors (like in the tutorial I followed). I followed this tutorial that I had pinned on Pinterest.

I started by cutting one t-shirt in half and then cutting out an oval shape for the base of my rug.

Then I cut two entire t-shirts worth of 6 inch long, 1 inch wide strips.

I then made vertical and horizontal snip-its in the oval shape. I alternated doing one row horizontal, one vertical and so on. When I was done I had a big oval with lots of holes.

I started to thread the strips through the holes. I’d pull it through the hole and then loop it around back and pull the other end of the strip through another hole close by. Then I’d start with another strip and thread it through one of the same holes that there’s already a strip in and loop it through to another empty hole. Is this making sense? The tutorial probably explains it better!

And then I get really excited and on a roll and forget to take photos of anything during the process. Check here for photos during the process.

I did this for a long while, easy but time-consuming and a bit tedious. I sat and watched the Bruins game while I did it. Definitely a mindless, in front of the TV project.

Once all the holes were filled I went through and made a few extra, random snip it’s where there were open spaces. I threaded more strips through until it looked fuller.

I was really pleased with the outcome! It’s just a tiny rug, I’m not sure I would have had patience for much more than that, but it’s the perfect size, texture and dimensions that the top of the stairs needed.

For cleaning purposes I figure since it’s not a high traffic shoe area, I’ll probably shake it outside gently pretty often. When washing is needed I’ll put it in a mesh bag to wash so that all the pieces stay together.

What about you guys? Have you been working on any Pinterest projects lately? I’ve been working on them a lot more now because I’m just loving the inspiration and ideas!

Posted in Fabric Leftovers, Pinterest Project, Repurposed Clothing, Simple Decor, Small Spaces | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

sibling birthdays

April 19, 2012 by Lindsey T

Yesterday was my brother’s birthday and tomorrow is my sister’s. Instead of a post for each of them I combined it for today. Don’t birthday siblings hate stuff like that? Combined parties and such just because their birthdays are close to each other? Whatever, they’re old enough they’ll get over it.

I love them equally, but due to the fact that Hayley’s birthday is a milestone I must embarrass her more. Plus, Tim handles embarrassment much better than Hayley so it’s way more fun with Hayls.

Point is I love them both to the moon and back and they’re the best siblings EVER. Even if they do get to celebrate their birthdays together… and this many years later it still annoys me. Ahh poor middle child syndrome.

Happy, happy 29th to brother Tim. Don’t worry, next year you’ll have lots of embarrassment to celebrate the big 3-0. Might even break out the baby pics. Have the best day ever!

And Hayls, 25. It’s a tough one. It’s that time when you’re officially in your mid-twenties (eeeek) and you’re starting to realize you need to be an adult. Though, maybe you won’t, who knows, it’s up to you. Hope you have the greatest day. You have a huge year ahead, get ready for it, 25 is going to be awesome!

Love you both lots. And now for the slide show… Happy Birthday sibs! xoxo

In case it was unclear to you, that’s Dora the Explorer and Diego two photos up. And she totally took one for the team when she rode the camel with our cousin!

Posted in Celebrations | Leave a Comment »

it’s spring cleaning time!

April 16, 2012 by Lindsey T

It’s Marathon Monday here in Boston today! It’s fun to relive that day a year later and remember all the amazing memories. I can’t believe it’s been a year. We’ll be out there showing our support today!

The weather here in New England is slowly starting to warm up so we took advantage and got started on some spring cleaning this weekend. It felt great to have the windows open and the fresh air circulating.

We started to clean up the yard and get it ready to plant our garden. We raked all of our outdoor space, pulled some weeds and started space planning for the garden.

I washed all of our hats, mittens, gloves, scarves and winter jackets and packed those away for next year. I love when winter concludes because it means I gain more space and less clutter from all these items!

We brought out our warmer weather clothes and went through everything, purging what we don’t need/want. We’ll make a trip to the consignment store and donation bin this week.

We started a bin for yard sale items. My family is planning another big multi-family yard sale this spring so I figured now’s a good time to start collecting sellables.

I cleaned the kitchen top to bottom. Really scrubbed, including the inside of the fridge. This is the time of year for ants and other bugs so I’m trying to keep them OUT as best I can!

I even took some time to catch up on cooking and freezing some GP friendly foods for myself. I pureed butternut squash, carrots and oatmeal.

So, all in all it was a pretty accomplished weekend. At least a good start to our spring cleaning. Still lots of other projects on the list but for now I feel like we’ve made a dent. Are you guys doing any spring cleaning? Any tips and tricks you’d care to share?

Posted in Cleaning Products, Household Helpers | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

a visit to the mile high city

April 11, 2012 by Lindsey T

This past weekend we escaped to Denver, CO for a few days. After little sleep while there – the time difference, even though only 2 hours, really messed with me – and a red eye home I’m struggling to catch up and get back to being a real person! We had such a great weekend, with great friends who gave us lots of tours and planned fun things for us. The weather was gorgeous and as always, it’s just fun to get away.

We went to a fun tailgating like party in the mountains, hiked, visited parks and spent time relaxing. First, we kicked the weekend off with a bucket of beer though. Enjoy!

Posted in Memory Lane, Things I Like, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment »

save money, work out at home

April 6, 2012 by Lindsey T

We like to workout. It’s nothing new, we’re both very active and have been our whole lives. We got engaged hiking a mountain, we’ve ridden a few 150 mile bike rides together, I ran a marathon and we have push up contests in the living room. I won the last one in case you’re wondering.

When we moved to the city we were paying a combined $140 a month for our gym memberships. Totally absurd. When we moved outside of the city we were paying about $40 a month for memberships. Much more reasonable. Until that one day I showed up at the gym and it was gone. Completely shut down.

After much consideration of other gyms in the area and costs we decided it was just ridiculous to pay for it when we could easily be working out at home with the equipment we had. Over the years we’ve collected things here and there to work out with. Free weights, kettle bells, yoga mat. We both have sneakers and we have bikes, basketballs, soccer balls, tennis rackets and more.

So we decided to give it a shot. This was the first time since I was 18 that I didn’t belong to a gym. I was a little anxious, but in reality I was only actually using the gym about 2-3 days a week, which just wasn’t worth the extra cost. We set up shop in our guest bedroom/office/workout room.

We’ve been working out at home for three months now and I’ve worked out more weekly than I ever did going to the gym. There’s no excuses, the gym is always there now!

We have a wall where we hang up different workouts and we alternate through them all. I’ve found great workouts on Pinterest and we tear them out of magazines. I’ve found great yoga workouts on Comcast On Demand (our cable provider), I’m sure you could find the same if your cable provider offers it.

Last fall we stumbled upon a 40-year-old indoor Spin bike at a yard sale. We paid a bank breaker of $5 for the thing. It looks ridiculous, but is perfectly functional.

Even though you might put some money up front to buy equipment, it might save you money in the long run. And it’s so convenient, we can work out any time of day, whenever we want to. There’s not a ton of people crowding my space and I don’t have to get annoyed when someone doesn’t wash down their machine. Wash your darn machines people!!!

We’ve bought equipment inexpensively at Marshall’s, TJ Maxx, Ocean State Job Lot and Target. The last kettle bell we bought at Marshall’s was $12.99 and it even came with a free online subscription to Women’s Health magazine. What a nice perk!

So, what do you think? Are you a faithful gym-goer? Would you rather workout at home? Are you jealous of that 40-year-old bike?

Posted in Frugal Living, Health & Fitness | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

my marathon shadow box

April 4, 2012 by Lindsey T

Nearly a year later, (this year’s Boston Marathon is on Monday April 16th!) I’ve finally completed my marathon running shadow box. It took me forever because I wanted to make sure to get it perfect.

I had tried a few other shadow boxes, but they were just too small and things were too crowded. So I went big. I picked up this almost 16″ x 20″ one on super sale and with a coupon. It’s original price was $44.99, I paid something like $16 or $17.

I knew when I bought it I’d be painting it white, but it was much cheaper to buy the wood colored one than the white finished one. I used a can of glossy white Krylon spray paint. I put newspaper on the glass and taped it down with painters tape. Would have been helpful if I took a photo of that step…

I had collected all the things I wanted in the shadow box a long while ago. Now it was just a matter of laying them out and putting it together. I included my bib number, photo of me crossing the finish line, my medal, my official race time certificate and my official race splits card.

You’ll also see a hair elastic. Or maybe you can’t see it, but it’s that black circle in the certificate. That was an extra hair tie I had on my wrist just in case. A few miles into the race I started playing with it as I ran. I was holding it, stretching it, rolling it around with my pointer finger and thumb.

Turns out I did that for almost 22 miles. So by the time I finished I felt like I had to keep it. It was almost like a distraction to me while running. If I focused on that I wouldn’t focus on the miles to come, the pain or anything else.

You probably can’t see it in these photos, but in the official finish line photo you can see the hair tie on my fingers.

Anyway, I love how it turned out. And it fits perfectly on a narrow wall in our living room.

Some day I’d love to have it hung in an office or workout room. But for now while it’s still fresh, front in center in the living room is where it’ll be!

Posted in Frugal Living, Health & Fitness, Memory Lane | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

completed corner office space

April 2, 2012 by Lindsey T

I finalllllly have a completed office corner! Though, nothing is ever really complete around here because I’m always changing things. I’m psyched that it’s functional and organized and all mine.

We have two bedrooms, we sleep in one, obviously, and the other we’ve made into an office and workout room. Al has one corner with a desk and I have one corner and the rest is the workout space. I’ve been slowly putting my space together with the cork board, lamp makeover, clock and wall baskets.

Here it is!

Yes, I do sit on a ball chair so I left it in the photos. I know the whole thing would look so much cuter with a nice chair but the ball is comfy and helps my posture and core strength!

There are a lot of different colors going on, but I love the mix of colors with the loads of whites and neutrals. I used a bookshelf that we already owned and filled it with photo storage boxes. They’re filled with office supplies, paints, manuals, ribbon, etc., not photos.

My wall bins are perfect for my file folders and notebooks that I use on a regular basis.

Under the desk I used two small hooks to corral the wires. I screwed them into the wall up near the edge of the desk so you can’t see them at all, unless of course you’re under the desk photographing them.

I had everything in the photo below except the light teal colored trays. Those are from the Martha Stewart line for Avery from Staples. I love everything in her Avery line. The trays were the perfect things to collect the odds and ends on the desk.

The desk is two Ikea tables that we cornered together. I had one for the longest time, bought on Craigslist, and it just wasn’t enough space. So for Christmas Al trekked down to Ikea to get me another table. He lucked out big time and got one in the AS IS section for super cheap. It allows me a lot more space to work, write, do projects or crafts. I can easily slide the table against the window out further to provide more space too.

I’m completely pleased with the space. It’s simple, organized, clean lines, no clutter, neutral and colorful. The only things purchased new were the wall baskets, picture frame, photos boxes, one table and teal trays. I bought used, the other table, lamp, clock and bulletin board. Everything else I already had. I love coming up here to work now because it’s a cozy place where I can be productive. Have you guys been working on any office spaces lately?

Posted in Craigslist Finds, Office Organization, Simple Decor, Small Spaces, Storage & Organization, Thrift Store Bargains | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

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