Before our Zack was born, Tom and I had a set of really awesome coasters from Crate and Barrel in our living room. They were slate and chunky and natural and cool. I loved them.

We’ve been without coasters for nearly 3 years now. We didn’t really care because we had old cruddy end tables. However, we bought new end tables about a month ago, and I’ve been making Tom put his Diet Pepsis on notepads and magazines so they wouldn’t leave a ring. We needed coasters before I became Joan Crawford-esque by yelling, “No drink rings on the table!!”

Have you been in the market for coasters lately? I found this one:

And this one:

And then this beauty:

Um, no me gusta. Are you kidding me? And more importantly, who is buying these?!?Anyway, I figured that the perfect solution was to make my own. It’s really a pretty easy thing to do.

I bought 6 cheap ceramic tiles (they were 16 cents each!) and some felt dots at Home Depot. Then, I went over to Michael’s and picked up 2 sheets of 12×12 scrapbooking paper that matched my living room decor, a bottle of coordinating acrylic craft paint, a foam brush and a bottle of Mod Podge.

I measured the tiles and cut squares of scrapbooking paper that where 1/8″ smaller than the tiles. I cut them smaller than the tiles because I didn’t want the paper to overlap the sides of the tiles if I didn’t get the paper on them exactly center.

I laid out a garbage bag so I wouldn’t ruin my kitchen table with the glue. Don’t use paper towels or newspaper. They will stick to the tiles when you put the Mod Podge on them, and it will make a huge ugly mess. Don’t ask me how I know that.

Next, I used the foam brush to spread a thin layer of Mod Podge onto the tiles and then centered a square of paper on the top. I smoothed any bubbles out with my fingertips.

Once the paper was applied, the tiles looked like this:

I let the Mod Podge dry for about 20 minutes, and then I broke out my brown paint. I wanted to paint the edges of the tiles and the edges of the paper so that they looked a little worn. I used a dry paper towel to wipe off any extra paint on the paper. You could use colored tiles, stone tiles, or just leave just leave the edges white if you don’t want to paint them.

Lindsay tip: Did you notice that I started with six tiles and now only have four? That’s because I dropped one on the floor and broke it (doh!) and put too much paint on a second one and it looked awful (double doh!). Since this project is so cheap, buy a couple of extra tiles, just in case.

After the paint dried, I applied a coat of Mod Podge to the top and let it dry for about 20 minutes. I repeated that process five more times for a total of six coats. I used the “hard coat” Mod Podge, so that it would really seal the paper and make a solid surface.

Once the tiles were dry, I added four felt dots to the bottom so that they wouldn’t scratch my tables. See? You can even see my sloppy paint job! No one is ever going to see the bottom of your coasters, so it doesn’t really matter.

And there ya go! Four coasters that coordinate with your living room decor instead of having cats or fish or eagles on them. Now wasn’t that fun?

 

Now, my tables are protected from those evil drink rings. I’m not sure these are actually any safer for Zack, who will probably now use them as weapons, but they sure are cute.

I have this weird little quirk in which I cannot touch textiles or objects with a certain “quality.” That quality is hard to describe in words other than “sends a cold chill down my spine.” I just cannot handle it without thinking I’m going to have a seizure. I wish I was kidding, but I am not.

At the top of my list of things I cannot touch, you will find velvet. Just typing the word makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Several years ago, I was working in a ladies’ retail shop and thought I would have to quit when the holiday collection began arriving in the store. It was all velvet – all of it! The worst part was that customers would come in, try on the velvet, and leave it wadded up on the floor of the dressing room…which meant I actually had to touch it to put it back on the hanger. Luckily, my co-workers thought it was funny (if not a little insane) and helped me with my velvet phobia by touching the velvet I encountered.

The next texture I have to avoid is sponges. I’m not talking about the kind that are hard when they’re new; I’m talking about the kind that starts off soft.

People use them to wash cars or to clean up grout. I remember my mother cut one in a triangle for me to use as a chin rest for my 4th grade violin lessons. On second thought, I may have just figured out where my phobia originated. Who needs a therapist?

This week, I discovered that I can add window seat cushion foam to my list of items that I can’t touch.

I’ll admit to putting off the making of the window seat cushion for our breakfast room since April. Oh, I’ve had the fabric since before we actually moved into the house. I was just really scared of the whole concept of a box with a zipper. Insane, I know.

I decided to bite the bullet this week when I realized that it wasn’t actually as difficult as I was making it. I measured the window seat, headed to Jo-Ann for some foam (at 50% off!), and sat down to work. Really, I just took the measurements of all sides of the foam and added 1 1/4 inches (for 5/8″ seam allowance on each side) to each measurement. For the zipper on the back of the cushion, I followed this great tutorial and had absolutely no problems.

The problem came when it was time to insert the foam into the cushion cover. The thought of having to handle the foam for that long made my teeth hurt, so I asked DH to do it for me. Knowing of my issues, he agreed, but somehow managed to put the cover on the foam as crooked as possible. Then, he turned to me and said, “Is this good enough?”

Um, no.

So now, I had to touch the foam so that I could get it in there straight. I kind of had a cold chill the entire time, but I was able to pull the cover onto the foam so that it laid exactly how I wanted it to lay.

Sometimes, I don’t think people realize the sacrifices I make in order to make my home beautiful.