I'm No Longer the Only Skirt Wearer in My House

The day after Christmas, the little table underneath the television in our living room looked like this.

Yikes! Christmas brought a Wii, and a Wii brought a lot of "stuff" with it.

I've mentioned before that I have big plans for the space underneath my TV, but I'm going to need big funds to do it. In other words, it's gonna be a while. This little table is one that simply found a home here when I needed it to hold the DVR box and DVD player. However, the thing I hate about it is all the wires. My good-intentioned husband put that white tubey thing on them thinking that it "hides" them. Um, unless they make invisible tubey things that, in turn, make your wires invisible, that's not gong to work.

So, needing a new solution that would hide the wires and all of that Wii "stuff," I headed to Hobby Lobby. I picked up 3 yards of a neutral colored cotton canvas with the hopes of making a slipcover for the table.

Once home, I cut a piece of canvas large enough to cover the top of the table. I wanted it to hang down just over the edge over the table.

Then, I took the remaining fabric (which was about 1.5 times the width of the table) and attached it to the top cover with pins. The fabric was folded widthwise so that I didn't have to worry about a hem on the bottom edge of the skirt. The selvage edges are at the top where it's pinned. I pinned it on the sides first and then worked towards the little pleat in the front.

After pinning it, I tried to use iron-on Velcro to attach the skirt to the top piece. That plan failed miserably, as iron-on Velcro just wasn't strong enough to hold the canvas. So, I grabbed my trusty glue gun (really! I did!) and glued the skirt to the top piece. It worked perfectly! I had some grosgrain ribbon on hand, and I just hot glued that on top of my seam. I glued fabric to fabric so I wouldn't have to damage the table itself.

Voila! It's certainly not perfect, but I think it looks much better than all of those cords and wires! Plus, we are able to store our Wii games and accessories under the table, and it's all hidden by a pretty little skirt.

This was incredibly easy to throw together, and now I'm no longer the only one in my house who wears a skirt. Do you think you have a use for something like this in your own home?

In a Last Minute Rush?

Are you in a last minute rush and just remembered that you haven't made anything special for your Christmas dinner table?

No worries! Head on over to Dollar Store Crafts to read a guest post by yours truly. I'll show you how to put together a decorative table setting for under $10, all with items from the Dollar Tree. You won't even believe it.

Hang in there! Christmas is almost here, and then you'll finally be able to relax!

The Queen of Vignettes

In the Royal Family of vignette design, I'd consider myself a Duchess. I'm definitely not one of the head honchos, but I know my way around a tablescape. I still have a lot to learn (and a lot of people need to die) before I reach the top.

Luckily for you, I get to introduce you to whom I have deemed the Queen of Vignettes.

The owner of my favorite booth at our local antique mall, Susan Pridgeon, is the master at putting together a random grouping of items and making them look like an easy vignette. I always make a beeline to Susan's booth as soon as I walk in the doors, and I was surprised one day when I actually ran into her while she was reworking a few items in our booth.

I immediately began gushing over her (since I turn into a blabbering idiot when I'm around someone like her), and she laughed and said, "Well, you see how I do it?" She was standing in a pile of pages that she had torn from various magazines. "I find an idea I like in a magazine and just run with it."

Susan graciously allowed me to come back a few weeks later and take photographs of her booth to share with you. I think you will enjoy seeing how she puts her items together into displays.

A pearl-embellished bottle brush Christmas tree underneath a glass cloche.

Old balusters turned into candle pillars.

Beautiful vintage Christmas ornaments hanging on what I think is the skeleton of an old lamp shade.

Corsets hung on an old door.

Letters made from vintage pearl buttons. I happily treated myself to one of these back on my birthday.

Chandelier hung under a picture framed wrapped in a line of old raffle tickets.

An old patio chair holding vintage photographs and other goodies.

Dance costume hung among empty frames and vintage letters.

Isn't it all just lovely? I'm sure it's easy to see why I love her booth as much as I do.

Susan doesn't want to keep all of her secrets to herself. She has a basket of magazine pages to share with her shoppers.

If you live in the Central Texas area or plan on visiting soon, I highly recommend you stop by the Round Rock Antique Mall and head to Susan's booth, A Time for Roses. You will certainly not be disappointed. You'll probably even run into me there, as I go to stalk her gorgeous booth once every few weeks.

Thank you, Susan, for allowing me to feature your wonderful booth! You really are the Queen of Vignettes.