How To Recover A Vintage Train Case

I love my aunt Jaymee. She gets me. At age 1 she would put red lipstick on me. They're some of my favorite pictures to look at from childhood. We've always lived on opposite sides of the pacific, but when I went to college in California, I actually could drive and meet her for lunch. She would buy me Starbucks gift cards, (which I loved!) and she let me crash in her guest room whenever I needed.

2 years ago, Ivy, my mom and I went on a trip to California to visit family and friends. (After that trip, I blogged about my aunts adorable cottage here, my cousins uber-chic apartment here, and my very first train case here). I got the awesome vintage train case from my aunt (see pic on right). She actually had them just chillin in the trunk of her car and willingly gave one to me and one to my best friend. Little did she know that gift gave huge definition to my decor style, and that I would rip out its guts and give it a whole new look. 

Recently that old post has been getting a ton of attention via Pinterest, and the pics from that post weren't the greatest (pre-iPhone 5S, if you know what I mean). I actually picked up 2 more train cases last November in Oklahoma, and just recently recovered the inside of them. I feel like it's time to show my updated collection. Incidentally, all my train cases happen to be blue. I'd give my pinkie finger for an avocado green one. I'd give my pinkie toe for a grey or yellow one. 

For now, I'll have to settle with my blue collection of 3.

Here's my grey arrow print with mini mustard pom pom fringe.

What To Do With A Vintage Train Case

Train cases are the perfect catch-all. Of course you can revert to their original use and store your beauty products in them, but I've also used them to hold remotes, DVDs, lotion and perfume bottles, jewelry and even jars of coins. Kids love 'em - Ivy had a mini one that she would put her "treasures" in. There's a pin on Pinterest of a yellow one holding baby supplies like diapers, wipes and burp cloths. I love that! I'm all about cleaning up old things and making them clean, cute, and usable.

So how do you achieve that awesome inside?

Let's take a look at what some actually look like inside:

How To Recover The Inside Of Your Train Case

1.  Tear out the insides, save for a possible template. 

2.  Scrub the insides with a soapy rag, baking soda, a magic eraser, something! These things smell like old dog and cigarettes. I have yet to find one that doesn't wreak. 

3.  Pour ground coffee in the train case, close it up, and let it sit for a week. 

4. Clean out the coffee and febreeze it. 

5. Find a base material to give it a slight cushion-y layer to hide imperfections. Here's what I've used: felt, fake "snow" from Christmas time (the kind in rolls), and pieces of my sweat pants that I cut off cause they were too long.

Here's what mine looked like with fake "snow" sheets in it.

6. Next, cut out a piece of fabric to go in the bottom of the train case. It can be a square, with rounded edges. It should be bigger than the bottom of the case, so that it goes up the sides of the case. Do the same thing for the lid of the case. Every time your cut out a piece of fabric, iron it well, because you can't iron it once it goes in the case!

Your corners can be folded over one another. Use modge podge to initiate the adhesion, then use a glue gun to glue down the edges of the fabric. 

7. Measure the length from the top (usually metal) edge of the case, down to where the case starts to curve under at the bottom. Measure the circumference of the case. Cut a piece of fabric a little larger than these measurements and sew a seam along the top and bottom edge (It will be a long rectangle that you've cut out, and you will be sewing seams on the two longer sides.) This piece then gets glued around the circumference of the case, starting in the center back, using modge podge and a glue gun on the edges. The top seam edge should lie right below the metal edge of the case. Repeat for the lid of the case. Make sure the edges meet in the center back of the case, near the hinges. 

8. The next step could be skipped, but it really puts the icing on the cake: trim! I choose a trim to line the edge of the inside of the case, and it really hides any imperfections you might have along the top edge. I've used mini pom poms, and a cotton 3/4" beige ribbon. Just glue gun around the top edge. Again, the ends should meet in the back, near the hinges

 9. Final step! Cut out a square of fabric, wide enough to cover the hinges, and tall enough to reach the top and bottom edge of the case. Hem this square on all 4 edges. (You may want to cut it a little bigger so you have room to turn under the seams). Glue gun it on the back edge of the train case, to cover all the raw edges you had meet in the back near the hungers. Don't glue gun it on the metal, just the case. Finish it all off with some scotch guard or spray modge podge just to stiffen it up a little and make it slightly more durable against stains.

And that's it! Here's my red, white and blue case. With a little peach thrown in…

I love recovering these cases. I'm constantly trying to figure out how to get me some more cases all the way out to Hawaii. (By the time I finished this post, I gave in and ordered an avocado one off Etsy...) They're rare gems here! If you've got any you don't want, please mail them to me! If you've got any you want to hire me to recover, please mail them to me! 

Hope this tutorial helps you out. I know it was lengthy!

Aloha, Rebecca

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Modge Podge Bracelets

I started this project MONTHS ago. Five months to be exact. But I finally put the finishing touch on it about one month ago. (No comment on how busy my life has been, except for that I hate being busy.) On the other hand, I get a lot of comments about the finished product: 

Here's what I thought you needed, 5 months ago:

*Modge Podge 

*A brush to spread the Modge Podge

*A Bracelet (open or closed)

*Scraps of Fabric (ironed flat)

I just started wrapping the fabric around the bracelet, then applying Modge Podge to make it stick to itself and the bracelet. 

On this one, I thought I was going to do a cool multi fabric style, but it looked lame. So I ended up covering all of it with the blue/white print.

This one was for Ivy. It was fabric scraps from her chair cushions (see that post here). 

And I thought I was done!

But the bracelets HURT! The modge podge dried and was so stiff it scratched up me and Ivy's wrists. So uncomfortable. So, the last items you need to complete this project are:

*glue gun

*felt

I glue gunned some rectangular pieces of felt onto the inside of the bracelets and it's WAY better. Fully functional.

Aloha,

Rebecca

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Cailin's Fall non-mantel, a.k.a. "Fantel"

Cailin got in on the Mantel spirit and sent me these pics of her non-Mantel. 

(See my previous non-mantel post here.)  

'C' is for Cailin!

I just spotted Violet Imperfection's post from last week, where she calls her fake Mantle a "Fantle!" Haha, I love it. (See her post here.)

Cailin painted the tops of these pumpkins with Modge Podge, then sprinkled some Martha Stewart glitter on top. The owls were a gift from our friend. Cailin LOVES owls.

See Jed peeking in the back? :) Cutie.

"J" is for Jed!

What does your Fantle look like?

Aloha,

Rebecca

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DIY Mason Jar Votives

Here's my Pinterest philosophy: 

I only like to pin things I think I will actually do. 

I have huge guilt issues if I have no intention of making/doing it, because I feel like a 'poser.' 

For example, I won't pin an awesome garage re-do, because we don't even have a garage!

In pinning 85 pins of different living rooms, it's all because I have a living room, and I intend on looking through my pins for inspiration to continuously improve said living room. 

I know, that's not what most people are doing on Pinterest. But, it's just my Type A personality at it's best. 

Anyway... At my parents' garage sale a few weekends ago, they had a box of mason jars. I scooped it up. I almost didn't because they were the jars with cheesy berries and such on it. But, we actually store knick-knacks and stuff in them (paint brushes, screws, nails, etc.) Once i saw the above DIY votives from Fellow Fellow's site, I knew I wanted to make some. So I did.

I looked up the original blog post. It's from www.fellowfellow.com

The whole tutorial is here. I don't want to take credit for the tutorial, but I'm just simply telling you what I did after reading their tutorial. 

First, I cut strips of fabric a little longer than the height of the jar. 

Then I mixed modge podge and a little bit of water. The Fellow Fellow tutorial used glue and water. The Modge Podge/water worked fine for me. You dip your strip of fabric in the mixture, then use your fingers to take off any excess modge podge/water.

Then place the fabric on the inside of the jar, right side facing out.

One issue I came across was bubbles. Looking from the outside of the jar, you can see little air pockets, and you want to flatten those out. 

I made two of them. Someone once told me items look best clustered in odd numbers (3s, 5s, etc), but I didn't know what I'd do with 3 of these, and didn't want to use all my mason jars! Have you ever heard of this odd number philosophy? I think it's makes sense. 

 You should have seen Kit and I photographing these things. First off, he was wary of putting candles in them. Don't get me wrong, I knew it could catch on fire, but we were right next to the sink. 

Well, I'm no good at using a lighter, so I needed his help. With much coaxing, our fire extinguisher nearby, and a pair of tongs, we got both of them illuminated and photographed. 

Since taking these photographs, I went to ACE Hardware and picked up battery operated tea lights for $7.99, just so using these things would not burn the house down. 

I demand encourage you to do the same. 

Aren't they cute? 

They're currently sitting on our "new" grey corner shelf. 

In looking at these, and comparing them to the ones at Fellow Fellow, I like how her jars went in at the top. If I did it again, I may try using those kinds of jars. 

Thanks for looking! 

Aloha, Rebecca

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