Fabric Pouf

"Poufs" are very popular now, basically it is a bean bag but without the beans and with stuffing. I found one I liked at World Market, Restoration Hardware, Crate and Barrel and Target but they were all way more than I was willing to spend. Even Target has them for no less than $50 some up to $190. Making one allowed me to pick the fabric to match the theme of the room - gray and white. 

I went to Hobby Lobby and bought 2 yards of gray and white polka dot fabric. I followed this really easy pattern I found on HGTV's website. 

Here are a few pictures along the way.

The pattern: printed, cut out, and taped together

Cutting out 8 identical pieces

Pieces paired up and ready to be sewn together

Two halves of the pouf - 4 pieces each

Finished Product

Hiding a Circuit Breaker Box

When the builders of your house put the circuit breaker box in the first floor hallway, leading to the backyard, it is an eye sore to say the least!

My first idea was to buy a mirror, picture frame, or piece of art to cover it. That would be an easy fix if it weren't such an odd shape. The dimensions were 18' W and 41' L. 

This project was completed by myself, my husband and my future sister-in-law's help. We used scrap pieces of trim, gave them a fresh coat of white paint, used corner hinges to secure them together and placed a cork board in the middle. Covered the cork board with fabric to make it prettier and had a great way to cover the box for very little money! It is easy to take down when we need to access the circuit breaker box. 

Growth Chart

I need some nursery decor and thought that a growth chart would be a cute and useful thing to have. This way we can track how much our kid grows each year!

I bought a piece of wood from Home Depot - 6 ft. long and 7 in. wide for $4.50. I tried to find a piece that had some character - knots, stripes, rings that would show through the staining. 

The wood needed to coats of stain (Minwax - Golden Oak). 

Then I measured the height of the baseboards in the room where the growth chart was going to be hung. If you have baseboards you can't start the measuring at zero. I decided to hang it 6 inches off the floor. So when making the marks I started at 6 inches. I used a black paint pen to make the marks. I did 1 in. marks for the inches, 2 in. marks for 6 in. and 3 in. marks for each foot.

Then I added the numbers for each foot. I bought a stencil and used leftover paint from painting my garage door. Now I am just waiting for my husband to hang it in the nursery!