Switching up the Ottoman

I went back and forth on selling this monstrosity, ottomans are ridiculously expensive and I could not find a replacement that I liked that had wheels... I bought and returned stuff to redo this sucker multiple times but when I decided on the chairs and the fabric my thoughts on this finally came together. This ottoman is really large 33"x21" just a huge box - no storage. I recovered it right after we moved into the house it started out a dark emerald green velour and was a hand me down from my grandparents (thanks!). Microsuede was an improvement at the time but now ... not so much... 

The whole storage thing got me thinking... why can't I have storage? It's totally set up for it already

Note Management checking out the situation

Uber made me a bottom (hurrah for seemingly never ending pile of scraps)

 And then I ordered some Linen in Elephant and Premier Prints Suzani in Slub Charcoal   and got to recovering

 It's definitely on the funky side... and far from perfect

 But I am so thrilled with the way the storage turned out

The hinge and spring loaded bracket were found at Lowes 

 And now all of Micah's toys can be hidden in a few seconds

It doesn't get much better then that!

I'm a copy cat

That's right I was so jealous of Mum recovering chairs that I decided I had to do some of my own... not really... well sort of... 

I had my over sized living room chairs up on craigslist for the last few months. It really hurt to sell them (especially at the ridiculously low price I ended up getting) but we really needed the floor space the old chairs were 35"x35" and the only time they are sat on is when company comes over = not that often (which is funny because we have been having loads of company over recently). I actually had found replacements I wanted on craigslist but I (to make a long story short) made myself wait until I had the others sold before I could buy anything else... and of course the other chairs after being up for weeks sold the day I called : ( 

So plan B I had seen these puppies at Costco but they wanted $180 for them... which is a lot considering I was going to rip them apart and I wanted the entire bill for the new chairs to be covered by the ones I sold. So after getting the no go on the others Uber and I decided we would just go check out these at Costco again and as luck would have it they had clearanced them down to $130 - SO MUCH BETTER!- and these new ones are 25"x24" big difference! Micah now has a lot more floor space to spread his gooey fingers on. 

So as I mentioned earlier I got them home and unboxed and immediately started them ripping (literally) apart. Because this fabric is just not my thing and I am really trying to get more color and pattern into our house. 

 I recovered them in Anna Maria Horners old Drawing Room line Nouveau Bouquet in Teal. I had bought a few yards of this a couple of years back for under $5 a yard and mailed it to Mum to make me a dress thank goodness she said it was too heavy weight so it has sat in her cupboard until recently when I realized it matches my house perfectly.

 I am so totally in love with them. And as most people know this is sort of bold pattern is definitely not my usual style but staying home makes you re-access your surroundings. I used to want it to be calm and quiet because I spent all day out in loud spaces but now I want my house to be fun and a little more loud.

I was very sure I had a more recent before picture somewhere on the blog already... oh well since I don't have time to locate one at the moment here is an old one that shows the chairs.

and here it is today

***this wasn't supposed to go up today but what ever here it is... getting so fed up with blogger...***

Corner Cabinet

There is an empty useless corner in our upstairs hallway that is big and yet small at the same time, it sits right outside of Micahs room which has french doors. I have been diligently searching craigslist for corner cabinet possiblities for MONTHS and finally succeded the weekend before we left for California this popped up- it looked terrible on the post but I figured hey why not go check it out.

I'm so glad I did!  It ended up being exactly what I have been looking for (minus the beach scene). It is solid wood and the lady was more then happy to sell it to me for $100 - What!? Ridiculous! She could have easily got double from what I have seen (I found it online, unfortunately they don't list a price).

I finally found time to sand it down, repaint it and add some pretty crystal knobs. Uber also anchored it to the wall and redid the quarter round so it fits into the corner snuggly.

I am so beyond thrilled about this I have more plans for finishing off this upstairs area - it's going to be the  'travel' themed section of our house...

Master Bedroom

Uber was nice enough to help me make a headboard while he had a few days off with the holidays. I LOVE it! I finally (5 years later) feel like we have a complete master bedroom!

Here's a reminder of the before with the new side tables

And here is the after!
I went back and forth on buying verse DIYing and finally after looking everywhere I decided I just had to try it myself. I was amazed at the high prices in the stores and the not so great quality! Plus I wanted a bed skirt that matched to make it look completed since our room is a little small for the whole bed frame thing.
The nail head trim was key for me- it took a few hours but I think it was totally worth it!
And a not so great shot of the bed skirt.
So the project break down:

Fabric- $55 -6 yards of Coffee Divesitex Whitney Linen/Rayon Blend...

Joanns-$15 -2 yards of kona cotton to finish off the back, and 2 yards of 90" muslin for bed skirt

Foam and upholstery batting- $50.80 - I am so happy with this company! I completely recommend them to anyone needing quality foam. They had excellent and fast customer service. I told them what I was making and they told me what I needed (and their recommendation saved me money!) Shipping was fast and inexpensive- it's part of the total above!

Home Depot-67.48 - this included the 2x4's, sheet of mdf, bolts to attach headboard to bedframe, screws, wood glue, and a ton of upholstery tacks!

So total is $188.28 for the headboard and bedskirt- not bad!

and here is Micah with his Uncle... just because the photos made me laugh! He is not into babies so it's fun to make him hold Micah!! Micah finds him very interesting to watch but not so much on being held by him... I think it has to do with Beau holding him completely awkward I know they'll be good buddies when he gets a little older... and doesn't randomly spit up/poop!

Quick Dinning Room Redo

So I mentioned this last week after the Orlando trip and never got back to you about it- mainly because I am not done... but what ever I am really busy and who knows how long it will be before I'm 'finished'.
Here's a reminder of the dining area before:

I LOVE my James Christensen painting but it is WAY to small for this wall. I really felt like the dinning area felt claustrophobic and tiny because of it. But was hard to find something to go there because I didn't want it to compete or clash with the living room art.

I have been stalking really neat shelves for a while now you should see my folder of ideas I have pulled from decorating blogs and magazines. But there were two problems 1) I can't afford any of the store bought ones that I want and 2) I can't find any corbels large enough to make my own (plus Uber is REALLY busy with school.

I think this one was pulled from simple song:

Don't remember where I got this one but it is by far my favorite I LOVE it!

Hmm... this one either oh well thanks who ever posted them! (I suck at sourcing!)

Then I ran across this picture, it is from This Young House which is a totally fun blog and the couple who runs it completely sources everything in all their rooms so you know where to find it (I mean everything people) Can anyone guess where they came from? IKEA that's right! They are 75 inches long and only $25 a piece can you believe that? Just the deal I was looking for.

I was originally planning on beefing them up with molding and corbels but after getting them up I am actually happy with them just like they are for the time being ... this has NOTHING to do with the thought of having to paint them... hahaha

I'm not done accessorizing yet. The second frame still needs art work that I will get to...someday... mainly I want to keep this shelf light and airy.

Here is a close up of the left side I am totally digging the green pitcher it is from Crate and Barrel it is recycled glass which explains my immediate attraction to it I love the color. I almost didn't get it I was worried that it would be to dark - in the store it sparkled but you just never know if it is the display lighting and the nearest C&B is 2 1/2 hours away if it didn't work out. But Uber of course told me to get it, so I did and it is perfect.

The rhino is from Zgalleries something I also saw on the TYH blog. Most of you probably don't know but I have ALOT of animals tucked around my house... I try to keep it classy though, not so much of an in your face animal obsession... I hope, oh dear...please don't send me them I do NOT collect them they are carefully chosen and adopted! ...just saying

Hope you had fun. I have some more really neat Ikea ideas up my sleeve but since we live to far for a quick trip (in my opinion) they will all just have to wait until the next time we happen to be in Orlando. Uber is sighing in relief, I think he is sick of hearing about them!

Also they are having a giveaway at This Young House and it is all Zgallery booty! It's open until Thursday so go check them out.

Because I think I can do anything

I thought I would show you all a pre-blog project.

Meet ugly pink chair that I am for some reason wierdly attached to. Uber was like un-huh... that's special, but he rolls with just about anything so it sat in our room like this for quite awhile. I am not really sure where my mum got it from. But it is an art deco (I think) period chair and it was covered in a dusty rose pink velvet fabric

I was totally digging the velvet but not the pink and it was falling apart so I figured I would recover it... I had done a couch before (I need to scan those pictures in to show you so... yeah that may never happen) Anyway the bottom was also falling out and needed to rewoven and nailed so I went for it and took it apart.

When I pulled off the bottom I found this label... which was really neat and then I realized hmmm... I probably should of made sure I am not destroying anything of value... but it was too late so uh... forgive me if this was a no no. This picture is kind of blurry but it says it was made on the 2 March 1910- how cool is that?! This chair is almost 100 years old!

I chose a brown velvet fabric. I wanted to keep the chair similar to what it was just with a color change. It went really well, though I do wish I had taken an upholestry class before because then it would have been perfect

I covered the seams with cording

I found this funky trim for the bottom. There was no fringe in the right color and personally I think this is better.

Here is it completed

You can see how long ago this was since there is still carpet on the floor in the living room... and the vertical blinds over the window... I didn't know they still made these until moving to florida... yuck!

from the back

It's a little different than the original but I dont think it lost anything in the redo.

Matt is crafty too...

I thought I would show you all some projects Uber and I have done together. You see he is crafty too he likes to hide it but I know it is in there so I make up these insane projects and drag him to lowes. It's his favorite thing when ever I mention lowes he runs and hides in a closet and weeps...ahem... I mean he jumps in the truck and makes manly grunts.... ANYWAY.... there is nothing like quality project time together! I thought I would show you one of my favorite projects it is a window seat/bench for our study/craft room. Pottery barn sells something like this but theirs was too big for the space (not to mention to much) so I ripped out the pictures and gave matt the correct dimensions and asked politely (ordered him) and he went directly to the garage (dungeon) and came back with this a little while later.

I really like it fits perfectly into the little nook. I whipped up a cushion for the top and added some pillows my mom sent me to make it comfy it is a great spot to sit and read while waiting for uber to get home (you can see the driveway from the window) then I know the exact moment I need to run downstairs and act like I've been working all day long. I haven't found the right size/color baskets to fit in the slots yet which was fine because they were loaded with books for a while I was waiting for uber to build some bookshelves. Which brings me to his next project these are also something pottery barn carries also out of my spending buget and though I found them alot of other places I wanted very specific things like I wanted each back of the shelf to rest on the wall for added support and for larger shelf spaces and I didn't want them to look puny. So none of the cheaper ones filled those specifications so Uber was put to work on these too.

I would like to interject here that I get the lovely job of sanding and staining all of the projects which I feel is the most miserable part of wood working. The shelves fit all of my nic nacs perfectly with a little room to spare this is my Germany room one of the most comfortable rooms to me in the house... just need to get a chair for the corner so I have a comfortable place to sit other then the bed. Also see in picture the headboard that is our first project. Lots of fun.

Alright enough sharing I am off to do other things.... maybe later I will show you the art on the walls in this room... Oh and the stained glass in the picture is my moms.