extra goods: on facebook!

come on over to facebook and "like" bovagoods.
i post extra "goods" there.
i just posted a CRAZY story about something my mom found in my grandparents attic.
come on over and take a look....

...........HERE..........

~elisabeth

ikea goods: how i made my dining room drapes

happy monday everyone!

it's going to be a big bag week! my goal is to get at least 10 bags done this week. i think i'm going to tackle the attic, and maybe, just maybe my sewing room....yikes! i'll let you know how it goes.

i have had some questions about the drapes in our dining room and some of my friends and family who have seen them in person are very curious about how i made them. so, here goes...

one of my favorite parts of my dining room is the curtains.

i think it's not only because i like the way they turned out...but they were insanely inexpensive and easy.

they are the "lenda" curtains from ikea.

$24.99 for two 118"X55" panels.

they also come in 98"X55" panels for $14.99.

let me repeat, this is for TWO panels!

i cannot tell you how pleased i am with these babies. nice thick cotton, great weight, super quality. amazing price. the possibilities are endless...you could add ribbon, fringe, fabric appliques, borders, etc. they come in a few different colors...a friend of mine has the oatmeal/natural color in her family room. that color is great. looks like natural linen.  the choices are limited on ikea's website though, you are better off to shop for these in the store.

of course, i had to go and bovagoods mine all up. ;)

first i cut off the tabs.

then i folded the top hem over and stitched.

(i used drapery hooks to hang mine but you could also make a rod pocket during this step if you wanted to hand your drapes right on the rod.)

no pinning necessary. just fold over and stitch.

i stitched right over ikea's stitching. you can see where i cut off the tab in this picture. that's why i folded the top over. so the "cut off tab" wouldn't show. and it beefs up the top of the drape and gives it nice weight.

next, i threw them in the washing machine.

i didn't hem the drapes because i knew i wanted them to puddle on the floor like this...

... but almost all of the ikea curtains come with hem tape if you aren't a puddle-on-the-floor kind of person. so nice of ikea, isn't it?

i wanted extra drama in this room so i hung the curtain rods almost all the way up to the crown molding.

this really helps make the ceilings look taller. i wish i had done this in all of our rooms with curtains.

see the drapery rings?  i got those at the habitat for humanity restore for around $1. (i had to spray paint them white.) the rest of the drapery hardware is from the home depot.

i also picked up the drapery hooks at the restore.

wanna see that price a little closer?

i LOVE my restore!!!

moving on....
i took my curtains out of the washing machine and hung them up.
yes that's right,
.
.
.
wet.

i wanted the look of linen and/or silk dupioni...not being picky here.
by letting the curtains dry while hanging they dried a bit crinkley-wrinkley...

 like the look of linen or dupioni.

.....or at least that's what i'm telling myself.

i like it.

a lot.

see the drapery hooks? i just slipped them under the hem that i made and between the stitches.

i slid the rings on the rods and voila!

every time i come in here, i find myself "primping" the "puddling". :)

let me know if you have any questions.

i am off to clean out our attic. it's pretty cold here today so i think i'm going to take advantage. cleaning out an attic is no fun in the heat. well, it's really no fun any time, but at least i won't be a hot sweaty mess.

that's all for now!

have a great week,

~elisabeth

misc. march goods

hello everyone!

spring is in full force where we live and we have been having some beautiful weather. the azaleas are blooming like wildfire. they are just gorgeous. i know that most of you up north have had a really long snowy winter...i sure do hope spring comes soon for you. you deserve it!

i am still working on my 40 bags.

it's coming along slowly but surely. so far i have about 10 bags of trash and donations and i have cleaned out these areas:
~master bathroom linen closet
~master bathroom vanities
~laundry room
~armoire that houses our bedding
~my jewelry dresser/table
~my closet

this week i am hoping to work on:
~attic
~kitchen
~girls' bathroom

there are quite a few of you that mentioned you are doing this with me....how is it going???
.
.
.
.
.
.
did you notice you can now "like" bovagoods on facebook? over there on the right...go ahead...i would love it if you would!
.
.
.
.
.
.
my father-in-law came for a visit and while he was here he painted our back porch.
it looks awesome. brand new.
he also re-painted our cedar furniture that's out there. ahhhh...much better.
papa even had a helper some of the time.
well, if you consider this "helping"...



thanks papa bova!
.
.
.
.
.
.
we built and planted a square foot garden a couple of weeks ago.

so far nothing has sprouted. this is my first time doing this. wish me luck!
.
.
.
.
.
.
i won a giveaway!!! chassity over at look linger love did a stella and dot giveaway for a $50 gift certificate.  i was super excited to win. this is my first experience with stella and dot and i couldn't be more thrilled. these are the earrings i chose:

let me just tell you...this company is smart! first of all, the earrings came three days from the day i ordered. wow. fast. second, oh my goodness, the packaging! i have never been so excited to open a package. how cute is this?

and this...

and this....

the packaging says things on it like, "you have a good eye!" and "you couldn't look more fabulous in your stella and dot!" and i just wanted to say, "why thank you very much!"

chassity, thank YOU very much for offering this giveaway!  ;)

.

.

.

.

.

.

well, i think that's about it for now.

tomorrow i'll be posting about the drapes in my dining room.

so, until then...

be good!

~elisabeth

before and after goods: $7 chandelier

hello!

first off, i want to assure you that as you read this i am more than likely in my master bathroom....purging and cleansing!  (no, not the usual purging and cleansing that happens in a bathroom.)  this kind of purging and cleansing. i wonder how many trash bags will come out of that room?  i'll be sure to come back and tell you all about it. until then....

i'm going to show you the before and after of the chandelier in my dining room. we had a wonderful chandelier in here before. it was perfectly fine and i loved it. i just didn't love it in my dining room any more.

here's why:
1. i hated the black next to the gray/brown walls.
2. the shades were all wrong in here and new shades are really really really expensive.
3. it was too big with the green table.
4. it was too heavy in the room.
5. i wanted the painting to be the first thing you notice in the room. that big black chandi was just getting in the way!

(different paintings are pictured below. those are apples- also original watercolors by my brother.)

i had no intentions of replacing the old chandelier as we didn't have a budget for it at all. but then, my good luck charm came into town. my mom!  when my mom comes for a visit we love to go to the habitat for humanity restore. this time, we went to a new one. good decision! 

it was $7. no joke.  i have proof.

it was missing a couple of crystals.
it was a hideous brass color.

the glass was splattered with plaster.
it was really dirty.

but we knew.....

so it came home with us.

i took it completely apart.

my mom washed all of it's girlie parts.

i taped it up and took it outside...

...for a little date with mr. rust-oleum.

i couldn't be more pleased with the results.

for the amount of money i spent, i am thrilled beyond belief.

if you have never tried installing a light in the ceiling...go ahead and do it.

there's nothing to be afraid of. i was scared too, but i did my research, made sure i was attaching the wires correctly and had the breaker turned off. (please make sure you have help!)

and it was fine! and actually quite easy!  nothing a little youtube.com "how to install a chandelier" can't handle.

(i am no way qualified to give advice on how to install anything requiring electricity. do so at your own risk.)

did i scare you off? hope not. i just felt like i needed to say that. you never know.

it's exactly what the room needed.

so, again, here is the chandelier before:

and here is the after:

and here is the room before:

and the room after:

ahhhhh......much better!

next week i'll show you more on the china cabinet and the drapes.

i hope you are having a great ash wednesday. i am headed to church and then home to start bag #1.

blessings,
~elisabeth

do goods

my head is ready to explode. do you ever feel like you have so many projects or potential projects on the brain that you feel like your head might just burst?

that's me. right now.

i am one project away from total overwhelmdom. and when that happens, i get paralyzed and nothing gets done.

but that's not happening this time. it's just not. why? because:

1. this wednesday is ash wednesday and i am really inspired by what i am doing for lent.

2. my father-in-law is coming to stay with us for a bit and he is ready to work! he told me to have projects ready because he doesn't want to run out of things to do. yeah, we are THAT lucky.  and you better believe i have a list. so excited for him to come. he is going to help keep my head from bursting.

 here's why i'm excited about lent:

so, last year i was really inspired by sarah from memories on clover lane. for lent she did a project she called "40 bags, 40 days".  she went through her house and collected 40 trash bags of stuff to either throw away or donate.  brilliant!  i really need to do this and i am confident that i won't have any trouble coming up with 40 bags of stuff.

(my laundry room. keepin' it real)

so far, i have numbered 1 through 40 on a piece of notebook paper and i've listed the areas in my house that i want to clean out. which happens to be every single area. from the attic to the garage.

(my kitchen...a previous attempt)

i am really going to fight my urge to sell our stuff on ebay or take it to a consignment store to get some money out of it. i have done this in the past and it does feel good to get some money out of things that may still have some value. but this can prove to be very time consuming; especially ebay.  right now my time needs to be used in better and more productive ways. sure it would be nice to have a few extra bucks but when i think about the bigger picture i realize what a blessing it is to be able to donate our stuff.  there are people out there who aren't shopping at goodwill because they want to post a dramatic "before and after" on their blog. they shop there because they have to.

(my sewing room. the "dumping ground".)

i am excited to give it away.
bless someone else with it.
focus on what's important.
be less materialistic,
less greedy.
cleanse my spirit,
cleanse my home.
own less,
appreciate more.

i will be sure to post updates on how it's going. i am soooo ready to do this! want to do it with me?  leave a comment and let me know...we can do it together!

thank you to sarah for being my inspiration in this. i have read every single post on her blog related to the 40 bags, 40 days topic, more than once. here is the link to all of sarah's 40 bags, 40 days posts.


have a great monday!
~elisabeth

linky goods....

i linked up to the shabby nest's frugal friday. check it out...ton's of great ideas here.


have a frugal friday!
~elisabeth