Sewing – Old Things New

It’s Perfect Weather for a Sleeping Porch

April 30, 2017 by Patti 58 Comments

Has there ever been a time in your life when you were absolutely sure about something but you turned out to be wrong? Maybe it was the lunch date you were supposed have with someone, only you got there a week early. Maybe it was the directions to a place you know and have been before, but this time you got hopelessly lost. Maybe it was as simple as laying your glasses down in a safe place and then, when they go missing, blaming someone else in the house for moving them! Nope they were on your head all along. UGH!!!

Mr. OTN and I are quite alike in believing that we are right ~~all~~ most of the time so it often comes as a surprise when one or the other of us is proven wrong. I say often because it seems the older we get, the more often it becomes.

Now I have a new motto:

What does all that have to do with a Sleeping Porch? Well, I won’t go into details, or tell you who was in the wrong. Suffice it to say that I’m thankful that Amazon accepts returns of BIG items and hubby is thankful that I have a sense of humor 😉

Sometimes the best choice is to laugh! Click To Tweet

Today, since the weather is feeling a bit like Summer, I’m finally sharing pictures of our Sleeping Porch. We actually started using it last Summer but I never got around to posting about it, other than on Instagram. I’ll tell ya’, you are missing out on a lot of the day-to-day excitement of my life (tee hee) if you aren’t following along on IG.

Here is a picture of our Screened Porch where we spend much of our time – Spring, Summer, and Fall.

We swapped out our love seat, and two chairs with ottomans for daybeds. This created more floor space in the room and didn’t take away any seating. What it did do was give Mr. OTN and I each our own spot to take a nap.

NOTE: I’ve included links at the end of this post to full enclosure mattress and pillow covers, similar to those I used on my porch as protection against moisture.

I recovered the old throw pillows we already had in this room with thrift store and drop cloth fabrics.

I really lucked out as our local Habitat store had huge bins of fabric samples, large enough to make pillow covers.

For back support I ordered large wedges of foam online and made washable drop cloth covers for them.

I purchased bed pillows to use in front of the bolsters and made envelope pillow covers for those too. Here is link to post I did last year that tells how to make Envelope Pillows.

They are super easy to do!

I covered the beds in fun quilts I found on sale at Stein Mart (they have the best prices on bedding and you can make purchases online) and added dust ruffles that I made from drop cloths. The bed springs are high from the ground (15″) so I can hide storage bins beneath the beds. I keep outdoor pillows and cushions here when we’re going to have a long stretch of rainy weather.

Here are a few other details of our screened porch/sleeping porch. We found this old farm table when we first moved to SC and I added a drop cloth skirt around all four sides. It hides dining supplies and other fun stuff under it’s skirt 😉

The dining table chairs have pillows to match those on the beds.

Maybe you remember these drop cloth curtains (Pollen Proofing the Screened Porch) from last year. I also did a tutorial for Quick, Easy, & Affordable Drapery Tiebacks.

We’ve hung large candles on the porch for those nights when we like to sit in the dark watching the lightening flash. We get a lot of thunder storms here in the Summer.

Since our porch is a warm weather room it has a Coastal theme going on.

Right outside the screened porch is a fountain by which we can lull ourselves to sleep. 😉

Thanks for coming along on the Sleeping Porch tour. I hope to have plenty of guests this year that will be adventurous enough to have slumber parties in the woods with me.

But for now, I do believe it’s time for a Sunday afternoon nap.

Blessings friends,

The following are links to total enclosure mattress and pillow protectors, similar to those that I purchased for my Screened Porch. A good idea for humid climates. They are not only 100% waterproof but also bed bug proof and hypoallergenic. 🙂

I’ve been known to link up to the following great parties!!!

Sunday:

TheDIYShowoff, LifeOnLakeshoreDrive, SilverPenniesSundays, RusticAndRefined, Spiritual Sundays, GiveMeGrace

Monday:

IShouldBeMoppingTheFloor, TheDedicatedHouse, Dwellings, ProjectInspired, InspireMeMonday, BetweenNapsOnThePorch, CelebrateYourStory, Making Your Home Sing Mondays, What Joy is Mine/Monday Musings, Darling Downs Diaries, The Art of Homemaking, SmallWonder, MomentsOfHope, Glimpses, SittingAmongFriends

Tuesday:

TalkOfTheTown, HomeStoriesAtoZ, AStrollThruLife, CoastalCharm, CedarHillFarmhouse, TuesdaysAtOurHome, TheWinthropChronicles, Rich Faith Rising Unite Linky, Testimony Tuesday,Cheerleaders of Faith,Tell His Story

Wednesday:

SavvySouthernStyle, Posed Perfection, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, Woman to Woman Word Filled Wednesdays, ChristianBloggerLinkup, Mom’s Morning Coffee, Women with Intention, Coffee for Your Heart, MessyMarriage, ThreeWordWednesday

Thursday:

ShareYourStyle, ImpartingGrace, EmbracingChange, HaveADailyCupOfMrsOlson, MyRepurposedLife , ADelightsomeLife, KatherinesCorner, I Choose Joy, Thought Provoking Thursday, SincerelyPaulas, ThankfulThursdays, ThoughtfulThursday, Tune-inThursday

Friday:

FrenchCountryCottage, TheCharmOfHome, RootedInThyme, TheDedicatedHouseAnythingBlueFriday, ShabbyliciousFriday, Sweet Inspiration, Faith’nFriends, Missional Women Faith Filled Fridays, Dance With Jesus FreshMarketFriday

Saturday:

FunkyJunkInteriors, OneMoreTimeEvents, SaturdaySparks, TheInspirationGallery, Make My Saturday Sweet

French Pillows & Ruffled Slipcovers – Part 1

August 22, 2016 by Patti 19 Comments

On Saturday morning Mr. OTN and I sat on the back porch drinking coffee and planning our day. It wasn’t long before our talk turned to more serious life matters and, as the discussion became hard Mr. OTN said,

“Let’s get in the car and go exploring. Let’s go somewhere we’ve never been.”

My first reaction was to remind him of all of the things we needed to take care of at home, unfinished projects, finances, yard work, etc., . . . and the more I talked about all that we needed to do the more I too, wanted to escape.

So we did. With a promise that Monday would be an all day work fest here at home!

We drove up to Talulah Falls in the Georgia mountains where we hiked a little and enjoyed some spectacular scenery.

Then we drove down into Lakemont, Georgia and came across a small artist’s village where we had lunch on the front porch of Annie’s at Attic Annie’s.

As much as I love being at home, sometimes getting out of my own environment is what I need to hit my refresh button.

My senses were filled right here, sitting on the front porch of the diner. And the overwhelming sense of contentment I caught in this place stayed with me the rest of the weekend.

Summer breezes blowing round me, watching people come and go, a Reuban’s delicious aroma, the sweet-tart tingle of lime Perrier on my tongue, the sound of mountain birds behind the chatter of other diners. Being together here, was a beautiful place to be.

Now it’s Monday and I’m ready to seize the day, beginning by sharing this tutorial and some photos of our very own favorite place to share a cup of coffee.

Earlier this summer I wrote a post on how I gave a French Courtyard Feeling to my backyard deck. We have thoroughly enjoyed this space this summer and when I look at these earlier pictures I can really see how much our plants have grown!

I do believe our flowers like it here in South Carolina.

From that post I received requests for tutorials on the French Pillows and Ruffled Slipcovers I made for my patio chairs. So before the summer is over, here is Part 1 where I’ll share with you how to sew an envelope pillow. These are just the EASIEST pillows ever as there is no hand hemming or adding of zippers or other closures.

I HEART envelope pillows!

For both the pillows and the slipcovers I used one of my very favorite fabrics for projects, painter’s drop cloth fabric of course! I washed it first in hot water and dried it on the highest heat setting to be sure there would be no shrinkage after sewing. Let’s get started:

Envelope Pillow Instructions:

Step one: Measure your pillow form and add 1″ for seam allowance.

Step two: Cut your first piece of fabric to that measurement. (my 14″ x 14″ pillow insert needed a 15″ x 15″ piece of fabric). This will be your pillow front.

Step three: Cut a second piece of fabric the same width but add 6″ to the height (for a 14″ x 14″ pillow insert mine was 15″ x 20″).

Step four: Cut your second piece of fabric in half horizontally (this gave me two pieces 15″ wide x 10″ high). These pieces will be the back of your pillow.

Step five: On each of the two back pieces make a 1/4″ fold on the edges that you just cut in half. Press with an iron. Fold this same edge over a second time making a 1″ fold and press again. Stitch hem in place on sewing machine.

Step six: Lay your front piece of fabric face up. Lay your two back pieces of fabric over the front piece face down, matching the raw edges of the fabric. Your hemmed edges will be overlapping. Use straight pins to pin front and backs together.

Step seven: Sew the pinned pieces together in a 1/2″ seam all around the four sides.

Step eight: Make a diagonal cut across each of the four corners of the pillow cover,

. . . turn right side out, and use a pencil eraser or other non-sharp object to push out the corners of the pillow cover.

Insert your pillow form into the back opening and you’re done!

For my French Courtyard look I used French lettering stencils and acrylic craft paint from Michael’s. I also embellished them with rosettes made from strips of drop cloth fabric. You can find a tutorial for making Rosettes right HERE.

That’s the end of Part 1. I’ll be back with Part 2, Ruffled Slipcovers next time.

Sew Easy French Envelope Pillow from OldThingsNewBlog

Don’t forget to PIN me!

Now, tell me. Do you have a favorite way to hit the “refresh” button in your life? What does that look like for you? Is it always something “spiritual” that you find renewal in or can it be something like my Saturday getaway? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Blessings friends,

I’ve been known to link up to the following great parties!!!

Sunday:

TheDIYShowoff, LifeOnLakeshoreDrive, SilverPenniesSundays, SundaysAtHome,RusticAndRefined, Spiritual Sundays, GiveMeGrace

Monday:

IShouldBeMoppingTheFloor, TheDedicatedHouse, Dwellings, ProjectInspired, InspireMeMonday, BetweenNapsOnThePorch, CelebrateYourStoryMaking Your Home Sing Mondays, The Beauty in His Grip What Joy is Mine/Monday Musings, Darling Downs Diaries,The Art of Homemaking,SmallWonder, LifeGivingLinkup, MomentsOfHope, Glimpses,SittingAmongFriends