American Girl on a Firefighter's Salary - Part 3

Back down on the work bench,
in order to keep it from my nosy
girls!  Ugh!

I am finally done!  The armoire I told you about last week is finally done, the bed is done, all just in time for the birthday party tomorrow.  Hallelujah!  I did really cut it down to the wire, though.  I wanted to have the armoire done before I picked the kids up from school.  That meant I had to finish the last drawer in the car, while waiting for the kids to come out of school!  But, none-the-less it is done.  

My FF finished the addition to the armoire last night, so I could watch the season finales of Grey's and Scandal.  So sweet!  Megara has to have a place to put her boots, I mean, really! And then today, I put on the final touches - the contact paper (that wouldn't stick) the hardware, with one hinge that would not cooperate.  And now it is done.  I will post non-workbench pictures with better lighting once the Muppets are in bed.  There is a new outfit, complete with accessories, as well as a poodle skirt, courtesy of Fire Wife Elly.  So exciting!  I also believe Grandma is working on a blanket for Megara as we speak as well.  D will be so excited, I cannot wait for her to open them tomorrow!

I'm so glad we kept the mirror in!

I was almost ready to for get this and glue in a dowel!
Scotch Tape was my friend, holding the second screw in place for me!

Ugh, one more drawer to finish, but I have to go pick up the kids from school!

So, you take it with you and do it while you wait, instead of freezing
on the stairs with the other mommies!

Poodle skirt courtesy of the lovely Fire Wife Elly! 

Accessories and a new outfit!

New shoes, what a nice surprise!

Happy Friday, again!  The party is tomorrow.  I will add nicer pictures tonight, staged a bit less hastily. My FF is on shift - go figure, when there is cleaning to be done!  ;)  My dad is coming by to hook up my water to my fridge, I am so spoiled, having gone a week and a half without water from the door! And the weekend is officially upon us!  Enjoy the weekend and your FFs. 

American Girl Furniture on a Firefighter's Salary...Part 2

So...I get an idea in my head and I head off to Pinterest.  Pinterest is my friend and my enemy.  It gets me in trouble because I never do anything half way.  I posted about the bed I made for D's doll Megara earlier this week.  I was sooooo proud of how it turned out.  But, I never do anything half way.  Clearly, Meg girl needs a place for her clothes in her bedroom, so I decided to get her an armoire as well.  Originally I found an ad on Craigslist that included an armoire, some clothes,  a horse, another doll (that I would have given to O), a beauty chair, a tent...for like $40.  SCORE!!  Until the hubby I had been chatting with, emailed me on the day we were supposed to meet to tell me his wife had promised them to someone else.  Ah well.  On to Pinterest I go. 

I found several to buy, again, too expensive for the cheap materials they were made from. But, there was one that jumped out at me.  A blog called Gold Shoe Girl had a post on taking a jewelry box from Goodwill and redoing it.  PERFECT.  So much easier than starting from scratch.  I found one on Craigslist  and got it for $5...again perfect.  

Being my usual impatient self, I started tearing the insides of my jewelry box before I took a picture.  So, here is the closest thing to a before picture I have for you.  I was seeking opinion on proportions.  And yes, we decided to enlarge the armoire for proportion sake - and so Meg has somewhere to store her boots.  

And so I started taking out all of that velvet lining...
it took a putty knife, some acetone and a lot of patience. 

After that, of course comes the fun part of removing all the teeny-tiny little hardware bits and pieces.  Baby food jars are still around and come in handy for just that purpose.  I even got to the screws that hold in the necklace holder.  One of those times I am grateful to have suck small hands.  Some pliers were needed to break the glue on the knobs for two of the drawers, but all came off in the end.

From there it was the messy job of sanding the finish off the jewelry box.  It looked like a dye pack went off in a failed bank heist!  Aye.  All over my hands and my jeans and... I was oh so careful not to touch my face. It was everywhere!

As the afternoon continued, the mirror covered in painters tape and the pieces all stripped of hardware and roughed up to prepare for painting.  Unfortunately my spray paint can did not last.  And with life getting in the way and oh yeah, D coming home from school, it has to wait.  Saturday is packed FULL, Sunday is Mother's Day...so maybe Monday we can get back to this.  My hubby has already developed his plans for adding height and storage for Megara's Uggs!  The wood and finials have been purchased, we should be good to go next week.  

Here is where we are...

Sand and paint the drawers in my make-shift spray box.

Doors hanging in between coats

I am going to mod podge some
scrapbook paper into the doored areas.

Kind of put together...impatience on my hubby's
part caused a drawer to be dropped...
and I am still out of spray paint.

So, from here we are going to add the addition, add the scrapbook paper that matches the bedding to the closet and drawer areas.  I haven't decided what I am doing with the glass for the doors yet.  We'll see.  Hopefully Monday we'll get it all put together.  Tomorrow, I am hoping to use my Mother's Day "card" to get dirt and river rock into the front yard landscaping that is kind of at a stand still.  But, that my friends, is definitely a post for another day.

Send love to the mother in your life, let her know you are thinking of her.  All you FFs with mothers at home who hold back the hair of your puking girls, go to school functions alone and generally hold down the family fort alone for a third of their lives, let them know that you couldn't do it without them.  

Happy Saturday, be safe and come home to your people. 

American Girl on a Firefighter's Salary - Part 1

Poor Tink, she's doesn't know she's about to
be ditched for Megara!

Our oldest daughter got an 18 inch doll for Christmas.  A tradition that we have it to open a present before bed on Christmas Eve that always has pajamas in it - makes for good pictures on Christmas morning to have PJs where the tops and bottoms actually match.  D, also got a matching doll dress, which she assumed was for her 18" Tinkerbell.  Kinda big on her, but she was happy to have a matching set of PJs not matter what.  Luckily for her, Christmas morning she had an 18 inch doll waiting under the tree for her.  

I will be so glad when she gets out of
the squinty eye/squished nose phase!

Folded neatly, as we speak.
Time for summer PJs...

They two have been inseparable since.  Now, her doll is not an American Girl, it was Kohl's Dollie and Me version that I got for fifteen bucks on Black Friday because I am just not going to put that much money into a doll for a 6 year-old.  So sorry.  She does not know the difference and was just thrilled to have an American Girl like her friends at school.  Megara is just perfect for her!

Patiently waiting for D
 to come home

Lately, she has been very particular about tucking her into her sleeping bag right next to her.  We had a plastic baby doll bed that bit the dust and I thought it was time that I started looking for a bed for her girl.



And that was a bad case of sticker shock!  

HOLY WOW!  Who is going to pay that for poorly constructed knock-off furniture??  Clearly lots of people, but not this girl!  There are handmade beds available from John Q. Public, much better quality, but still $75+.  Still not paying that for a 7 year-old's birthday present!  

So I hit Pinterest, where else, to find some inspiration.  My first thought was My Froggy Stuff - find her on YouTube.  She does AMAZING things with hot glue, duct tape and card board.  I used some of her tutorials for Barbie pieces, but they did not withstand the wrath of babyzilla.  She maybe 5, she is still rough on toys.  Then I moved on to DIYs for wooden beds.  This was my first thought - super easy to do, based on the AG Farmhouse bed.  I kept looking until I found this one and fell in love.  I was not a fan of the balls and thought that the cross beams were a bit bulky, so there were some modifications.

It took 24 hours from start to finish.  The wood cost $20 - including the finials and decorative piece , the spray paint was $3.50, the fabric was on sale for $5 for a yard and the 2" chair pad that I used for mattress was $4.50 with my 40% off coupon.  $33 is not too shabby in my estimation.  Especially if you look at the version that $45 buys you in the stores. 

Finials instead of those monster balls on the original example.

For the Headboard - it is all in the details.

By the way, you can still get high from the fumes in the basement!  Spray paint - WHOA!  

Thanks to Elly @firewifeelly for the
suggestion to use some of the sheer
curtains I have laying around...

This is where last night left off.  Definitely looking like a bed!

Finials

Finished product!
My no-sew mattress and pillows - I'm still terrified of sewing
my fingers together!

Headboard.

So, that leaves me having to figure out how to make bedding - without sewing it.  I am also picking up a jewelry box from Craigslist to turn into an armoire for Megara.  Again, $60 is not worth it for us.  

WORST part of all of this - I have to wait ELEVEN DAYS to see her reaction!  I am going to sneak them into her bedroom before I go to bed, so that when she wakes up on her birthday they will be waiting for her.  And, I have to figure out where to stash this beast...I've kept her out of the back of basement (the path to the "library" goes through Daddy's workbench area.

Happy Wednesday.  My FF is on shift, keep his safety in his thoughts, as well as that of the Wayne-Westland FF family who lost their FF today.  Our prayers are with you as you find peace .