Chair Makeover Finished!

I'm so excited! This weekend I was able to finish my latest project- the living room chair!

Last weekend we found this chair at the Salvation Army, and it was the first thing I saw when I walked in. I knew that it had a great structure and look that I wanted, but just needed some paint and new fabric. So, that's what I did!

Here is the chair before--

It was only $14.99!

It was a bit difficult to get the upholstery off, because it was stapled in this tiny groove, so I had to pull out literally every. single. staple!



So it took a few days to do that, but finally I was able to prime it, give it several coats of white spray paint, and reupholster the cushion!

Doesn't the white really bring out the detail on the legs?

We went with the Kimono Gypsy fabric, and it looks great.

I'm so happy that I now have a fabulous, one of a kind chair that matches perfectly, and was under $40! Our chair hunt is officially off :)

Lovely cushions

I've been spending a lot of time out on our back porch recently, with the mild temperatures and great weather we've been having. We have a pretty private spot, with afternoon/evening shade so it is great for eating dinner outside or just studying or enjoying a cold beverage in the afternoon.

We have a nice patio set that I bought from Home Depot when I moved into my first apartment several years ago. It's not bad as far as comfort, but it could definitely use some more padding, especially for lengthy use, so I made some!

It was really simple and again, I didn't do any sewing. I am actually thrilled that I can rip the staples out of the fabric and throw it in the washing machine, since it is outdoor fabric.

This is the one I chose, from Waverly's brand new Modern Essentials line.

Isn't the color / print gorgeous?

The teal pillows were a clearance buy from Target last year.



IKEA shower bench turned shoe storage

This project was one of my favorite things. I am not sure HOW on earth I even got the idea, I just know that I was browsing the IKEA website and somehow happened upon this shower bench and decided I should paint it, make a cushion for it, and put it in our entryway to hold our ever growing pile of shoes by the door.

So that's what I did. And here's how.

I assembled it myself. That's right. I was pretty proud of that. It was terribly easy though.

So I gave it a coat of primer:

And then the next day, I gave it a coat of white paint. By the way, painting on a beautiful day is so therapeutic.

And then another:

And then I got to working on the cushion while it dried. I picked up a yard of fabric at Joann's, and this was the one that we both liked a lot and agreed on: a Waverly lattice print.

We also got two of these foam cushions:

The measurements of the pad had to be 15" wide and 32" long, so we were going to have to do some cutting. I put them both together (the 15" wide was perfect, so I just had to cut the length), measured, marked off where I should cut, and just used fabric scissors.

Then, I laid the fabric around, pulled tight, and wrapped it like a present. Don't tell anyone, but I didn't sew a cushion for this- no way. I staple gunned it....

The staple gun = my favorite ever way to do something you would normally have to sew, without having to sew, and making this extremely non-permanent. If I ever want to change the fabric, it will be sooo easy, and the original fabric can be used on something else!

Here is the finished product. Yes, there was a huge crease down the middle, because I am lazy about ironing fabric. Don't worry, because I ended up ironing it after I saw this horrible crease.

So all that was left to do was put the bench in the hallway, plop on the cushion, and fill with shoes!

I took of the pillows in the last photo because Aaron thinks that the embellishment I did to the one is "weird" and "ugly". Haha! The pillows my mom made me when I moved into my first apartment four years ago. I'm still thinking about the pillows... I don't know if the patterns are too much! What do you think?!?!



Recovered Ottomans: The After Pictures

Reasons why we love these so much more than our coffee table:

1. They can be easily pulled up to the couch to act as a foot rest

2. They are soft

3. They can be moved around however we want them

4. They double as extra seating

5. We can change the fabric whenever we want at a very low cost

6. The fabric we bought is "outdoor" which means liquids just roll off- in the instance we have any spills

7. They just make the room look bigger, more open, lighter, prettier!

Recovered Ottomans: DIY

I am SO excited about the latest project I did. Beyond loving it.

If you'll recall in this post I did about our living room, I mentioned that I don't really like our IKEA coffee table and I really wanted to do something softer like an ottoman. Well, I spent months scouring the internet and stores to find the perfect ottoman, and it just wasn't out there! There was a lot that was either the right shape, but not the right color / material or vice versa.

One day we were in Target and I saw they had a bunch of ottomans on clearance. I saw this one, that of course was not on clearance, but would look awesome reupholstered. So, we bought one, lived with it for a few days next to our couch, and LOVED it. I definitely went out the next week and bought the second, then started my search for the perfect fabric.

I went to JoAnn's, Hobby Lobby, and Hancock and did a lot of shopping online. Hancock had definitely the best selection, and we decided on a light blueish outdoor fabric that was only $6 a yard. We decided to do a solid because we already had quite a bit of pattern going on with our rug, art, and pillows.

So, before I go ahead and share the details, here's some pictures:

Before, with the coffee table:

The benches, before the project:

After: (So much softer, prettier, and beautiful lines)

Step One: unscrew the top. They each had six screws, and it was really easy to get them off with a phillips head screwdriver.

Step Two: measure out how much fabric you need and cut. I used two yards for both of these stools, and it was more than enough but it probably would have been tight with one yard, so I am glad I bought two.

Step Three: Wrap fabric around and staple gun.

I did it just like wrapping a present. I am sure there might be a better way to do it so that you don't have the folded corners, but I don't mind them and I didn't want to ruin my fabric trying.

Step Four: screw the tops back in to the base! (or get a cute guy to do it for you)

Voila!

Total cost of the project:

2 Target X-Bench Ottomans at $79.99 each = $160 plus tax

2 yards of fabric = $12

Staple gun and staples (if you don't already own) = $15

A low price to pay for custom ottomans that you can change as MANY times as you want, for very little cost!

Our living room!

So since I've already shared our kitchen, dining room, and our bedroom, I need to share the living room!

After this, there's not much else to share! We've got two bathrooms, a guest room/ office, and a lot of closets. I'll try to share every square inch of the place ;)

It won't be too difficult... our little apartment is small, but it is just right for the two of us!

I'm pretty sure we love everything about it...

its small size makes it easy to clean...

our rent is pretty cheap comparitively speaking...

it has high ceilings and crown molding...

it has so. much. storage space and a total of five closets...

we have a big patio with no neighbors or street to the back...

when something goes wrong, we just call someone to fix it and its free...

we don't have to spend money on improvements or repairs...

and most importantly, its our first home together! how could we not love it?!

And the only thing that is on our list of "annoyances"...

noisy, upstairs neighbors!!!!!

So anyway, here come the photos!

View from the kitchen:

Our couch is the Rowe "Cindy". We spent so much time looking for a couch we both liked and was really comfy, and this was the one!

We loved that we were able to choose a custom fabric. What we got is somewhere in between microsuede and velvet. It is really soft like velvet.

The diamond pillows came with and we got to choose the fabric on those.

The light blue pillows I got at the Pottery Barn outlet for about $15 each and they are SO soft. Probably the softest thing you've ever felt.

The end table and coffee table are both from Ikea. I really want to replace the coffee table with a soft ottoman.

The basket holds books and games and stuff.

The rug is also from Ikea. I think it was only $20. Aaron spilled red wine on it, and it came out. Amazing.

This is the door to our patio and one of three windows that run the wall between the living and dining room.

Media cabinet from Pier 1. Got a great deal on it!

View of the laundry room and front door from the back door.

For this "art" I printed out gray chevrons and just stuck them in these white Target frames. In the middle is a black & white wedding photo of us.