In the absence of new projects to share, I figured I would share some old ones. These will be brief descriptions, rather than step-by-step reflections because honestly I just want a list of all the things that I’ve done all in one place. Hopefully the reminder that I used to do interesting things will motivate me to start something new. So here is a non-exhaustive list of the crafting and DIY projects I’ve completed in the past couple of years.
My Birdcages: I love my house plants. I had them even before I got my cats. And I was shocked that both my cats have an insatiable appetite for foliage. I figured birdcages would be the perfect solution, keeping my plants safe from sharp teeth and claws, but still allowing sunlight to reach them. I purchased two birdcages from Facebook Marketplace. One came with a wooden stand, which I lugged all the way to my basement to sand down and repaint a green that fits in my living room. Because my apartment, especially my living room, is a bit of a cave, I needed grow lights. I tried a couple set-ups before settling on 60-watt grow light bulbs in utility clamp lights. The set-up is not as cute as I originally imagined but still presentable enough to be in the living room.
My Small Dresser: I thrifted a low, white, three-drawer dresser for my apartment my senior year of college. It suited its purpose, but the paint job wasn’t great, and after painting my birdcage stand I figured I might as well paint my dresser. I still had leftover green paint, although not enough for the whole dresser, so I purchased a complementary dark blue color as well as new knobs for the drawers. This was another project that need to be carried all the way down to the basement before being sanded down and painted in multiple stages. I thought about alternating colors every change in profile that would be too busy. I settled on painting the center of the drawers as well as a green, rectangular outline along the top and then painted the rest blue. The rectangle on top is not exactly straight into the blue is not not as dark as I first imagine, but it certainly fits my decor better than a plain white for the painted dresser.
My Utility Shelves: I sometimes surprise myself when I remember that before I had my large set of shelves, I kept my TV on a small end table and I don’t even know where I kept my crafting supplies. When the end table proved inadequate, I decided to get some larger shelves. I liked the look of the black and wood IKEA shelves utility shelves, but I wanted to make them a little more formal for the living room, and also a little more exciting. I borrowed a staple gun from a coworker and purchased 3 or 4 yards of upholstery fabric from IKEA. I spent the night watching Grace and Frankie and stapling the fabric to the shelves. I love them, even though they are a pain to vacuum.
My Slipcovers: This project was born more out of necessity. My cats kept puking on my chairs. I figured it was easier to wash a slipcover than entire chair, but the slipcover patterns at IKEA leave something to be desired. I purchased more upholstery fabric and worked in fits and starts to create slip covers for my living room and bedroom chairs. The finished project product is sloppy and beginning to fall apart, but as my first ever sewing project I am very proud of them.
My Crocheted Blankets: I was really into knitting and crocheting in high school, although I never really advanced past scarves. After bringing all of my yarn to college with me, I started to make granny squares with the scraps from my various high school projects. I worked on them intermittently throughout college and then once I graduated decided I needed to finish the blanket. I took a long time and did require some further yarn purchases, but I am the proud owner of a homemade granny square blanket that fits well over my queen-size bed. With the leftover scraps from there, because there are always more scraps, I also completed a ripple blanket, which is wonky and subscribes to no particular color scheme but it is cozy.
Countless Embroidery Projects: Countless is somewhat of a lie. I could count them for you, but I don’t feel like it. Embroidery is by far my favorite creative outlet and there is more embroidery than anything else. Before I inflicted this curtain project on myself, I worked mostly on smaller projects like decorative hoops, bookmarks, and occasionally pillowcases. Looking back on those projects, I think it might be a good time to take a break from my curtains and maybe start something a little more inspiring.
After going through this list of projects I’ve completed in the past few years I think a couple of them merit a longer reflection. Maybe that will inspire me to start a different project.
(If I do a further reflection of a project, there will be pictures in that post. I was too lazy to get pictures this time.)
-Erica
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