An Improvised Vanity Table

I have been wanting a vanity table for makeup application forever.  But in our smaller house, and the configuration of the chimney as it relates to our bedroom (right in the middle of one wall), we have to pick furniture carefully and are limited in where we can place it.  I thought about looking into a new dresser that might just have a makeup space in the middle, but our dresser wall just wouldn't accommodate that, and besides, I'd rather not spend the money on that right now.

So I looked around, and realized that a small desk we have in our room could easily be re-purposed into this makeup station for me.  It's a nice desk, an antique, and had the blessed feature of sitting fairly flat against the wall, thus fitting perfectly into the "nook" to one side of the chimney in our room.  I really don't use the desk as a desk, since all bills are paid online and letters have morphed into emails, so it was mostly for storage, and (ahem), clutter.

I went through and purged a lot out of there (old cancelled checks from back when they still sent you those each month, unnecessary papers, index cards, you name it), found a mirror online that fits "just so", and has a magnetized little magnify mirror that you can take from the back of it, stick on the bigger mirror, and see yourself close up to do your eye makeup), and a small plastic makeup storage caddy.  All of my cleansers and moisturizers stay in the bathroom.

I needed a small chair or bench to use with this.  I found this one online, that is small, and stows off to the side nicely.

The desk 

(still a lot of stuff in the side cabinets part, but I'll get to that!).

Close-up: the mirror (reflecting my flowered shirt), 

to the left is the makeup caddy, 

to the right another storage box, and a "tea facial" kit.

The desk with the new bench in front.  

I love the floral upholstery!

The bench placed off to the side  

and the desk folded up after use, 

so I can get by the corner of the bed easily 

to go around to my side.

Another Fireplace Snafu

I think we finally have it right.  It took some doing.  Last night we lit a fire.  We (thought) we had the flue open, the flue fan (installed last year, see here) was on.  But wouldn't you know it - smokiness.  We figured maybe we needed some sort of "turbo-booster" in the flue to propel more air out.  I dashed off an email to the fireplace guy (who ended up responding almost right away, good guy, that one), but then the smokiness got really bad, ending with a scary comedy of errors where Paul had to get the fireplace log out into the snow in a metal tub (don't ask).  Then Paul was testing the flue, trying to figure out what on earth was wrong.  Well since it has been gajillion degrees below freezing here, the flue had frozen shut (our first clue should have been that the flue fan did not sound very loud, even on high, which we now know means - it isn't open!).  Once Paul had tugged the flue chain several times, it finally opened up -we knew because the fan sounded loud, about the same time we got an email back from Fireplace Guy suggesting that very thing.

Today I was very brave, and asked Paul to light another fire before he left with the kids to go see his mom.  I was contemplating doing some quiet journaling after a very busy morning away from the house.  I really wanted to sit by the fire on this freezing cold day, with a cup of tea, and a chance to work in a new journal I got (more on that later).  All was well!!  No smokiness, a beautiful fire, and I enjoyed my respite.

And I captured a nice picture of Tyler 

in front of the fire right after it was lit.

Bedside Table Scarf Craft

A while back, I needed a quick nightstand scarf for our guest room (which was Robert's room, and he still stays here when he visits home - which will be tomorrow!!).  After Robert moved out to Portland, we decided to do some long needed renovations to this room that were too involved to do whilst someone was living in it.  These included:

• Gutting, insulating, and wallboarding the closet (still in the works, but mostly done, no secret passageway yet though)
• Revamping the electrical in the closet
• Tearing down the ugly tile ceiling, replacing with wallboard
• Fixing the venting system in the floor (the pros did that)
• Removing the old wallpaper and painting
• Sanding and refinishing the large dresser (but only the top of it; the rest was in pretty good condition)
• New carpeting

We also found a cute bedside table and a "banker's lamp",  which this room was lacking the whole time Robert lived here (poor boy!).  This is what I wanted the nightstand scarf for.  I found and inexpensive, washable, cloth placemat at the nearby hardware store, and saw that I could easily cut it down and stitch it with very little time involved.

I measured the table top, and cut the placemat to size, keeping the existing hems on two sides 

and allowing seam allowance to turn under for a matching hem on the other two sides. 

New hem pinned and ready to sew.

The little table fits perfectly in this awkward little corner next to the bed.

I love the vintage feel of the banker's lamp.  The placemat will allow a water glass to sit without ruining the finish of the table.  Paul ran an extension cord unobtrusively for alarm clock or a cell phone charger.  There's a shelf below as well for books, tissues, etc.