DIY Easy Knit Baby Booties

In my opinion handmade baby things are the best! I love the idea of being able to create something for my little one. However, I have absolutely no experience with knitting or sewing, so I needed an easy project to start with.

I found a cute knitting project for baby booties, here. It seemed very basic, so I decided to give it a go. I bought a set of bamboo knitting needles in size 5.0 mm / size US 8, yarn that matches this needle size - I picked a type of yarn that is machine washable, and a tapestry needle with a large eye for weaving the ends and sewing the pieces together.

When I started the project I realized the original instructions weren't really working for me, so I had to adjust things a bit. I decided to create two individual 'squares':
- For the first square I cast on 6 stitches and knit 22 rows;
- For the second square I cast on 26 stitches and knit 10 rows.
I ended up with two little patches.

After weaving in the ends, I had to connect the two pieces together. In the diagram below you can see that I put the smaller piece on top of the bigger piece, making sure they overlap right in the middle of the bigger piece. Using the tapestry needle and the yarn, I sewed them together (sewing along the dotted square).
Once the two pieces were connected, I connected A with A, B with B, and C with C, making sure all the edges were tightly fastened.
When the first side was done, I did the same for the second side and attached it right over top of the first.

Because I had zero experience with knitting, I looked up some tutorials on youtube. I found the following videos were very helpful:
1. Slip Knot
2. Knit Stitch and Bind Off
3. Weaving the Ends
4. Joining Squares
The tutorials are made for kids, so a little childish, but very easy to follow.

Following all the steps, I ended up with two cute little baby booties. I have to admit, they are definitely not perfect; One is a little bigger than the other and the edges don't all look equally 'nice'… But it was a great first project and I'm super happy I finally took the step to create something for my baby. Can't wait to put them on her little feet in a few weeks!

Bedroom Makeover Part II

We've been busy over the holidays!! It's still a work in progress, so I can't show any final results yet, but we've made some impressive improvements.

We started with checking the state of the floors by lifting the carpet. We weren't sure if maybe the carpet was covering up something, or if there was even a full floor of hardwood underneath. Since it's an old home that has been divided up into apartments, you never know what you might find. So we lifted all the corners (as much as possible, but so that we could put it back if we had to) and found gorgeous hardwood everywhere!

Once we had established that, we put the carpet back down so we wouldn't have to cover the floors while painting. Since there we so many holes in the walls, we started with repairs. We also took down the window treatments and filled those holes and painted the ceiling while the filler was drying.

Because we wanted to clean off the hardware and hinges on the doors, we decided to just take them out. Oh yeah, and did I mention we had some holes in the walls?!

After the filler was sanded down and the ceiling, the woodwork (windows, doors, etc.) and the heater were painted and dry, it was finally time for the walls. All the preparations and repairs are a lot of work, but don't really show much progress, but painting the walls is so rewarding! By the time we got to that stage, things went so quickly.

And finally, the big moment of taking out the carpet (and a million staples!) - beautiful floors!!! I couldn't be happier. We finished the baseboards and cleaned everything up, but that's about it for now. The husband is back to work and I need to figure out how we're going to furnish and decorate this room (and how we're going to arrange for the little one to join us in there).

Bedroom makeover Part I

When we moved into our new rental home last year, the finish was in a very poor state. However, we fell in love with the space and knew that we could turn it into something great if we put some effort into it. We had just moved out of our student rooms in the Netherlands and basically had nothing but a suitcase full of clothes, an old mattress, and a few personal belongings. 

We didn't just want to go to one store, spend a fortune, get everything at once and be done with it. We wanted to make it our own, with one-of-a-kind, vintage, and self-made pieces. Starting from zero has been a great adventure, but also takes a lot of patience, creativity and compromise (for the longest time the only thing in our living room was a couch…). We've come a long way since then and have slowly been working our way through the house trying to refinish, furnish and decorate it.

Now it's finally time for our bedroom and I couldn't be more excited! It is a lovely spacious room, with beautiful big windows and so much potential. I definitely have great plans for this room, but first we need to get rid of some of the current 'decor'.

The biggest issue for me is the carpet. I have a thing against carpets, most of them anyway. Especially in a rental home, where the same carpet has been in place for a long time… There is some overall discolouration in the walkways and some unidentified stains. All I'm saying is, I slip straight into my slippers and avoid any direct contact. Besides, the entire apartment has gorgeous hardwood floors! I don't understand why anyone would want to cover that up with carpet. So, if the state of the hardwood floors underneath allows it, that carpet will be the first thing to go.

Then there are the window treatments, aluminum office blinds. I suppose they do their job by keeping out the light, but they don't exactly bring a warm and cozy atmosphere to the bedroom. On top of that they haven't really been treated well by the tenants that lived here before us, so they are bent and dented all over. For the time being we had put up some curtains, but those will have to be adjusted as well.

The current lighting fixture is very outdated and only works when it feels like it (which is about 10% of the time). The lampshades are stained and for some reason parts of the lamp frame have been painted. The overall look of the lamp is not exactly my taste and because it hangs quite low it is very prominent.

The state of the walls, baseboard and doors isn't great either. The walls have lots of cracks, holes and smudges, the baseboards are damaged and chipped, and the doors are only half finished and chipped as well. But with a little drywall compound and a fresh coat of paint they will look fresh and gorgeous in no time.

Time to get down to business, stay tuned for updates!

Bedroom Inspiration

We plan on redoing our bedroom over the holidays, so I decided to get some inspiration.

What do you like better, Light and Bright or Dark and Dramatic?

Source Images: Pinterest

Source Images: Pinterest

Seven Easy DIY Christmas Projects

Do you want to decorate your home with some gorgeous DIY Christmas crafts, but need some inspiration? Look no further. These great projects are easy to do and will have your home looking holiday-ready in no time! Pick your project and follow the link for the instructions. Enjoy!

1. Paper Snowflakes
2. Advent Calendar
3. Rectangle Christmas Wreath
4. Felt Ornaments
5. Jar Candle Holders
6. Clay Gift Tags
7. Mason Jar Snow Globes