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Category: DIY

Categories
DIY Fashion Home Projects Uncategorized Vintage

Mama’s Got A Brand New Bag!

Vintage clothes, antique hats, old fashioned frippery, they can all be so chic, so stylish, so hip and so dirty! Stains and smells easily ruin the look and contaminate cachet.

What do you do with those gorgeous gowns or prestigious purses bedazzled with beads, especially if you are working on a budget or don’t have access to tailors or others who are used to working with antique fabrics.

In the course of wading through my mother’s things, I found a beautifully beaded evening purse that I just couldn’t give to Goodwill or a local Theatre group or throw away. It is awfully pretty and awfully stained.

First, I tried using a stain remover, something guaranteed to remove any discoloration, but it just did not work (for me at least). In fairness, that purse is old and the stain is probably almost as ancient. So, getting it out might be a fools errand, so to speak.  I might do more damage to the bag if I bleached it. So, if that’s the case …. why not just go with it and try covering up the stains with a new stain?

A few years ago I learned about tea-staining linens from a lady who I knew.  She had a real flair for decorating and mentioned that she often dipped clothing and towels into tea to achieve a certain effect. So, I tried her idea and dyed a dust ruffle by soaking it in a big bucket of hot tea. It occurred to me that I could accomplish the same thing with this little evening purse.

Using tea is a simple, affordable and easily accomplished solution, so I decided to give it a go.  In essence the purse became an extra large tea bag!

Start with a large pot of water …….

  and, bring it to a boil…..                                                                                                                   

Add a Tea Bag         

      Let it steep.

Pull lining out of the purse.

 

Lower purse into hot tea and let it steep for an hour or more.  Remove and let dry.

 

It sports a new shade of chic-ness!  Let this dry for a day or more….And, Mama’s got a brand new bag!

 

Categories
Death DIY Estate Legal Documents Uncategorized Wills and Trusts

UPDATE ON “DEATH AND TAXES”

CHUCKING OUT AND BALANCING THE BOOKS

I have been away because I have been working assiduously on my mother’s estate and now have some new information to impart.  Again, my experience has been, at least partially, determined by the fact that I live in Virginia, and, thus, am subject to the laws of the Commonwealth, but, I think that some of these points are universal.

In terms of getting rid of stuff:

This sounds easy, but, believe me, unless your relative/friend was uber organized or had already given everything away, and/or designated which items were intended for specific people, this can be a huge job.

There are a number of options:

Goodwill and Salvation Army are two obvious choices. The Salvation Army will accept/pick up furniture that is clean (i.e. in good shape, not covered in pet hair, etc.)

Other choices include: The Celebration Church and some “Pickers”/Junk Shops.

1-800-Got- Junk charges to pick up.

In some cases you may want to go to Auction houses — usually you will have to transport the furnishings yourself.  Frankly, after a million trips to Goodwill and the Dump, I am tired of hauling stuff. Find someone who will pick up!

Some thrift stores will accept old clothing — but, they will want clothing that is very fashionable and, frankly, they don’t pay you very much for the beautiful old dress or coat that reminds you so much of your departed loved one.

I got an excellent tip on another place to dispose of those old, cool pieces of clothing and other items: high school and college theatre departments.  This is especially true with high school theatre departments because they truly have no budget for costumes or props.  It makes me feel better that these clothes/hats/dishes, etc. will have a new and dramatic life!

THE ACCOUNTING

I have been told that some people actually enjoy this aspect of handling the estate.  I think I would not have minded it so much if I haven’t felt like the stakes were so high.  I’m probably too nervous about it, but, here’s the skinny:

If you have to remember anything, remember to SAVE EVERYTHING and MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A PAPER TRAIL.

Specifically;

1. Make sure you have bank statements from the date of death, which is frequently not the date that the Estate opened. The Commissioner of Accounts will want this to verify the value of the bank accounts as of the date of death. And, will want to see the expenses (funeral, etc.) that between the date of death and the opening of the estate.

2. DO NOT use online bill pay. This is something that no one really tells you. The Court wants a true paper trail of all financial transactions and online bill pay makes that difficult to establish. So, play it safe and pay by check!

3. Be sure to keep your deposit slips and copies of every check that you deposit — even little ones.

4. Keep all copies of invoices/bills, etc.!!!

5. If you do a distribution to the heirs, make sure that they endorse the checks, rather than having a spouse or someone, deposit the check directly to the bank account. The Court wants to make sure that the person to whom the check was written was actually its’ recipient.

You are going to need those invoices, cancelled checks, bank statements, even deposit slips, as back up when you submit the Accounting. Make copies of everything for yourself, because the Commissioner of Accounts will take the originals.

In Virginia, the Commissioner of Accounts can charge you extra if they don’t “like” the way the Accounting was done.  It varies from locality to locality, mostly because some Commissioners of Accounts are more persnickety than others. 

I’ll keep you posted. I’m thinking, give everything away, go off the grid and get a trust. This ain’t pretty….just sayin.

Categories
DIY Home Decor Home Projects Lighting Uncategorized

Light Up Your Life, or, At Least Light Up Your Room!

 

SHINE A LITTLE LIGHT…..

I think it’s a pretty safe bet to say that the unadorned lightbulb, hanging from the ceiling casting harsh light is not a pretty picture. Memorable and stark, maybe, but not beautiful. We all want to suffuse our rooms with gracious lighting, but, lamps are expensive. There’s no doubt about it. Even when you go to purchase a light fixture at a discount store you can plunk down a lot of jingle. The one possible exception can be Goodwill or the Salvation Army, but, it’s often hard to find something that you want.

So, I have forayed into the “Land of Lighting” and stopped at the nexus of “self-reliance” to figure out and EASY and inexpensive way to make my own lamp.

I’m emphasizing EASY because I went in search of an attractive vessel that has a hole on both ends — because otherwise I would have to hollow out the middle from top to bottom. I can do that, but, BABY STEPS….

So, I found this glass wasp trap with a cork at the top. It’s PERFECT for a lamp! It’s a nice size, nice shape, has a hole in the bottom and has “feet” which lift it up from the surface.  This is important because otherwise I would have had to make base or some other accommodation for the cord.

Other ideas that I entertained were:

 

Vases

Flower Pots

Piggy Banks

Baskets (if the weave is large enough, you could slip the cord through…)

Wine Bottles (although you’d have to drill a hole through the glass)

But this wasp trap is a great place to start!

 

Next, I went to my local ACE Hardware and purchased this lamp kit.  I was THRILLED! They have done the heavy lifting for me! It really is sort of “Plug and Play.”

The cork in the opening of the wasp trap comes out easily and makes an excellent “base” for the neck of the lamp.

 

Here are the tools that I used:

A ruler

Pencil

Pliers

Knife

Philips head screwdriver

Regular screwdriver

Drill

Use the ruler to find the center of the cork.

 

Open the lamp kit and find the post that will fit into the cork. Drill a hole a hole into the cork that will accommodate the post.

Put the post into the cork.

Put the neck into post, using the washer (found in the kit) to set the height of the neck.

Screw in the socket.

Take the cord and

 

put it up through the hole in the bottom of the vessel.

 

Pull it up through the neck of the lamp.

Pull the cord apart, so that it you have two wires.

Wrap the wire around the screws on either side of the socket – going clockwise.

Using the Philips Head Screwdriver, tighten them firmly (but don’t overtighten) going clockwise.

Put the cap onto the socket. It will “click” in.

Screw in the light bulb and you have MAGIC!!!!

Shades….Another story!

I did a little research and basically, you should match the shape of the shade to the shape of the base. And, in terms of sizing, your shade should be about 2/3 the size of your base. The shade that I chose might be a little big, for the base, but, I still think it looks nice with the patterned glass.

When it came to attaching the shade, I opted for EASY again. This shade, which I purchased at Bed, Bath and Beyond, just screws onto the socket. Easy Peasy, Lemon-Squeezy!

Eh-VOILA!!! LET THERE BE LIGHT!!!