Working With What We Have

Do you like my new sitting area?  My honey likes it mucho, probably because it is yet another soft spot to rest his feet.   Keep reading to learn more... 

I've been wanting to show you my new sitting area and my folded books, which the kids think are totally awesome.  Coincidentally,  Emily A. Clark has a link up for her series Working With What You Have.   Perfect timing, right?

I'm still sorting, purging, selling, and boxing our things in preparation for our move.  I've also been painting, de-cluttering, and deep-cleaning because our house is going on the market.  Acquiring stuff we didn't want or need just to stage the house seemed completely counterproductive.  Instead, I've been trying to rearrange and use what we already have.

Depersonalizing our home has meant putting away many of the family photos and children's items (Lego creations, Nerf discs, drawing supplies, Nerf discs) that are usually scattered around the house.  The credenza in the front room was one place that was left wanting.  My solution was to fold a few old paperback books and stick them in a bowl.  It was a simple, free and totally mindless project that makes me want to fold another one and put them in an even bigger bowl.     

The biggest achievement, however, was managing to create an official sitting area in our bedroom by pulling furniture from around the house.

The Morris chair had been out of place near the dining table.  The lamp came from the living room where it felt inadequate competing with an even larger shade.  The faux leather chest had previously served as a coffee table by the TV.  The bowl on the chest was nicked from the kitchen.  The demijohn and the little potted plant came from the living room.  The pillow had been languishing in the linen closet.  On the left (it's more obvious in the top picture) you can even seen a sliver of what used to be an orange dressing mirror that I repainted white.  Yes, the pouf is new.  It was originally destined for the porch to add a bit of color but I thought it might work in here with the red wire table.  The whole purpose was to show the potential of this area and I do think we pulled that off.

Then we hung a bit of artwork and wondered why we hadn't created this space years ago. 

I've mentioned before how I love local artists!  This piece is by Ellie Reinhold .  Even after we have moved away, I will forever be reminded of the 50+ trees in my front yard and the just-now-quick-count of the 95 out back.

It is the middle of the day, but I shall turn on the light for you anyway...

Here's a glimpse at the other side of the room.

Any pillows we want to throw from the bed get tossed into the demijohn basket.  Someday we will come across some great bedside tables (I hope that someday turns out to be soon after we move to England while we are browsing flea markets.)  The side table pictured was sold as a bathroom storage cabinet and is actually quite functional - 2 drawers and 2 shelves -  but it's a bit tall.  The other side of the bed is graced with a plastic veneered file cabinet and doesn't deserve to be in the picture.

Quick Fix Footstool

I'm more a "curl up on the couch" kind of person.  My husband prefers to take a pillow from the couch, put it on small side table and then put his feet up on it.  I put an end to that when I sold the pillows at the garage sale last weekend so a quick fix was in order.

Old IKEA nesting table to the rescue.

 The nice thing about IKEA furniture is that it is very easy to take apart. 

I'm trying to embrace patterns a bit more so I bought a small bit of fabric that I thought might give the room some subtle pizazz.  It is not as grellow (greenish yellow) as the photo below makes it out to be.  Definitely more of a deep golden.  The top picture is pretty spot on  - at least on my computer.  Everything else I used was already on hand.   I finally used up all the leftover material I had from these projects here and here.

I took some Gold Leaf Rub-n-Buff and changed the base.  It is the perfect color with the golden chevrons.  

And how did my guy respond when he discovered it by the couch?  "It's all I've ever wanted:  a soft spot to rest my feet."  






 

Mirror Mirror on the Dresser

This mirror has seen quite a few layers of paint in its day.  Although the mirror itself is quite large and has a nice beveled edge, the shape of the frame is oh so plain.  After initially choosing to prime it and change the color, I decided to sand it down completely and start fresh.   But once I got started I had a change of heart. 

I loved the pattern of color that started to reveal itself when I began to sand away the layers.  I stopped, wiped all the dust off and brought it inside for a few days to see if I liked it. 

I do rather like it.  If I tire of it, I can always get the sander back out and finish what I started.  I don't love shiny gold but I do really like the dark tone of gold that it wore down to.

There were at least six layers that I noticed.  And that's not counting the pieces of tape I found between a couple layers.  White primer over silver spray paint over dark brown high gloss over and incredibly thick layer of matte grey paint? primer?  Under the grey is the very thinnest layer of gold leaf which had been layered over a deep red.  I'm not sure if the red is a paint or a stain because it does seem to have bled into the original wood frame turning the surface pink.

This little bunny has no name but he should.  He's been appearing around our house for the past 3 years in random places.  I thought he belonged in the kids' stuffed animal basket but he never seems to stay there.

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Thrifty Decor Chick

Three Little Birds On My Headboard Part 2

And here it is!

I actually have a headboard!  Yes, there are more than 3 little birds but the pattern is 3 different rows, each with 3 different birds so I went with it.  

Let me remind you of the Before: 

So sad.  There are a few things I should mention:
1.  We repainted the walls in BEHR Dolphin Fin.
2.  I picked out some new bedding that works well for the "I don't like ironing"aesthetic.
3.  The little bird pillow isn't a pillow at all just an extra bit of fabric wrapped around a pillow insert.

OK.  This ended up being a bit more time consuming than I initially thought it would be.  And not just because I had to get out the ironing board. 

I made my own template and some of those curves and angles were not very accommodating when it came to cutting foam or wrapping the fabric.  I actually sketched out 4 designs and asked the family.  This design was unanimous.  

Now you know where all my scraps from my Ikea stool project came from.

After covering the green foam with batting, it was still pretty obvious that there was green foam underneath.  Even with the final fabric over the top, there was still a faint green hue.  I added a layer white cotton fabric to save the day.

I hadn't originally planned on making buttons and tufting.  In fact, I only decided to do that AFTER the entire headboard was finished. But it was at this point that I began to think they might be necessary because the fabric was just not smooth.

In hindsight, I'm glad I waited until the final fabric was on the headboard before I settled for certain on using buttons.  I was able to place them exactly where I wanted them in relation to the rows of birds.  It just came down to quite a bit of measuring to make sure my marks on the back were in the right place.  Then I drilled holes through the wood, threaded a long needle with twine through to the front, added the button and then pushed the needle back through the same hole in the foam and wood.  I used a dozen spare buttons to secure the twine on the back of the headboard.  This worked out really well for holding tension when I tied knots.

Measure twice, drill once.

I took some fabric scraps that I had trimmed off and turned them into buttons with the help of some inexpensive Dritz cover button refills. 

I chose not to add legs.  This headboard is huge enough.  Might I want to position the bed not against a wall?  Probably not, but I will address that issue if it ever arises.  We hung the headboard directly on the wall.  I was thinking of using a flush mount and then we came across these awesome hangers.  Level included!  Bonus!  Slides back and forth for easy centering.  Love em.  Crazy easy to hang.  And sturdy.  Nothing is going to fall on my head while I'm sleeping.

Our bedroom had officially grown up just a little bit.

Flotaki Rug Turned Ikea Hack

1 Flotaki rug + big black dog that loves it as a bed + NC orange soil = not good

2 cheap Ikea stools + sitting for more than 5 minutes  = not good

But . . .

1 Flotaki + 2 Ikea stools =

 

The MARIUS stools were an inexpensive ($5.99 each) temporary solution last year to seating for the computer desk.  In addition to not being very comfortable, the stools were the cause of much late night cursing as toes were stubbed on the black legs as they sat on a dark rug in an unlit room.

The rug was purchased at Italian home store Ovvio.  It lived in the guest room of our previous home but didn't have a place here.  Plus, I never really took to it.  Which is why it lived in the guest room.   I like the idea of a big thick plush natural wool rug you can lounge on.  The reality of a difficult to clean floor covering in which small items get forever lost wasn't fun.  And any attempt to lounge leaves you in dire need of a lint roller.   

I had materials left over from other projects so I grabbed some scissors went to work.

Here's is how it went down:

Cut circle of rug with a diameter 6 inches larger than seat.  The carpet wasn't very dirty but since the pieces were now a manageable size, I decided to wash them (by hand, like a wool sweater) and start with nice clean material.

Gather pieces of foam and cut to fit.

Line up the pieces and mark them so you can go outside with toxic spray adhesive and glue it all together.

Wrap foam with a layer of adhesive-sprayed batting to help it hold the right shape.

Sort through needles until you find one with a large enough eye to be able to pull a piece of ribbon.

Weave ribbon around perimeter of Flotaki circle about 1 inch from edge.  Leave about 12 inches of extra ribbon at start and finish.

Remove seat base and place on top of cushion.  Pull the ends of the ribbon up snug around the seat and tie.  Have your daughter congratulate you for making a hoodie for the stool.  Tuck the ends of the ribbon under.  The covering can be easily removed to wash or change out for something different.

 Reattach legs.

Decide that it needs "a little something" and search the stash of leftover canned and spray paint for inspiration.  Didn't find what I was looking for so I settled on using an oil based gold Sharpie...

to do this:

Debate whether you prefer them brushed-and-fluffy or more natural-and-course  Remain undecided.

Now that we have "real" chairs for the computer desk these stools don't really have a home but they still get lots of use.  We move them around where ever they are needed and they no longer get kicked in the dark.

Silver bedside table

I have a been living with a set of dressers since college that I have been wanting to get rid of.  I haven't ever liked them.  But they were free.  And solid wood.  They are also in terrible shape.  And verrrry heavy.  And not my style.  Every time we move I say that I'm going to get rid of them.  Then I realize that will mean picking out and spending money on new dressers.  And then I give up and keep them.  I've decided that instead of getting rid of them, I am going to have some fun.

I started with the single bedside table.  If there was ever a second one, it was lost in the basement of my mother-in-law's house long before we dragged these pieces into the sunlight.  I don't have a before picture of the side table but here is the tall dresser from the set:

It really is that orange.  Bits of trim missing.  Water stains.  Mismatched pulls.  Chew marks.  Sticky hazy veneer.  Cracked veneer.  Peeling veneer.  Smells like veneer. 

I decided to paint and let my daughter choose the color.  She needed a little cabinet next to the piano to keep her music in.  Her color of choice was silver.  I found a non-sparkly silver in the Martha Stewart line called Polished Silver.  I suppose I could have gone the spray paint route but I've never found a silver spray paint that wasn't laced with faux sparkles and glitter.  

I told myself that if my 11 year old was helping I was going to take a more relaxed approach.  I did sand the top because it was really rough.  I filled in a few obvious scratches and gouges with wood filler - and now that it is finished I see many more and I think "Man, I really should have done a better job at filling in and sanding!"  Live and learn.

I added an entirely new piece of trim to the left side on the front of the door.  *That sounds confusing:  it's the vertical piece near the door knob.  I was quite happy with how that turned out.  I cut a slice off a 1/4 piece of luan we had around.  It was perfect.  I glued it in, sanded it down and rounded the edges.

Then we took it into the yard and primed it inside (not the drawer) and out with Rustoleum Ultra Cover Primer.  I used a bit of cream colored paint I already had to brighten up the inside of the cabinet.  Finally finally  (11-year-olds are quite impatient) it was time for the silver paint.  My 11-year-old also doesn't mind having paint all over her hands while she is holding the paint brush.  Ugh!  So we painted and painted and painted.  This paint is very thin and it seemed to take a dozen coats.  *In reality it was about 4.  I also didn't take any pictures of the process, so thanks for playing along.

 My daughter picked the knobs.  She really wanted to use these from Anthropologie.  It bothered me a bit that one is silver and one is brass but she wanted something that made it look more funky not fancy.  She didn't want fancy but she picked silver paint.  That is how an 11-year-old thinks.