August 26, 2011

Our New Addition

Before you get too excited, no were not having a baby... but almost as exciting. We've made our own coffee table! What? That's not as exciting? Well anyway, we were getting tired of our furniture store table with its shiny wood and "one of a million" look. So we decided to make our own. I looked through my ever growing inspiration folder and remembered this little beauty...


We were so excited to see a stack of old fence boards on the side of our house when we bought it. And they have contributed to quite a few projects now. I knew we wanted to personalize the table a little bit, and fit it to our needs. We have always liked the idea of a storage ottoman, but knew it would be hard to keep one clean. So often our coffee table is used more as a foot rest than anything else, so it needed to be durable and something that could hide dirt. Well it doesn't get much better than old wood.

The BIL started by building the interior frame, then nailed the fence boards to the outside. He constructed a lid and used two big black door hinges. He drilled two holes on each side, and looped through and knotted big rope. It ended up looking something like this...


There is so much room inside to store games, blankets, pillows, magazines or anything else I fancy!


It really fits in with the rest of the decor. It has some of the brown from the couches, and even has a little blueish grey like the walls.


Were really happy with the way it turned out. Eventually we would like to get some bigger hinges that go on the outside, but no biggie.


p.s. I am aware that the shelf is off centered, we recently rearranged our furniture and haven't gotten around the moving it yet. We would like to put something different on that wall altogether. Any ideas?


I am linked up at Perfectly Imperfect and Home Stories A 2 Z

August 20, 2011

Dreamy Dining Room Chairs

For a few weeks I have been thinking about reupholstering our dining room chairs. They have been through some rough times, and are showing there years. I remember the day I helped pick out this table and chair set for my mom a good 10+ years ago. Since then they have made it through a house full of pets, and more recently my nannying job. Needless to say, there are a few juice stains as well as mac n cheese smears. (It was totally worth it, to get to spend everyday with the little cutie). But today I decided, I don't want to look at our ugly, old, stained dining room seats any longer! Just look at these things...


They look like they were owned by a diesel mechanic who never changed before he ate dinner. Anyway, I just so happened to have a coupon for Joann's Fabric screaming my name from my email inbox, for a whopping 50% off one whole purchase. So off I went to buy some dreamy linen. While I was there this little picture popped into my mind. This chair I found on pinterest was love at first sight!


I have a feeling it will be a while until I ever own a chair as beautiful as this one. But I can definitely try and make my own version with what I have! So linen and lace it was.

On a more serious note, I'm thinking I may have a disorder called fearofbuyingfabric-itis. As soon as I pull that number and wait in line to get my fabric cut I start to get the butterflies, and I keep changing how many yards of fabric I want to buy. I suppose it would help to be more prepared before I actually buy the fabric. Like perhaps knowing the measurements of my chairs so I could make a more educated guess. :)

But I didn't so I just guessed and said ,"Give me 4 yards please" with the biggest smile I could muster. I figure I can always go back and get more if I need it. So with my coupon the fabric only came to $13! After I bought that I went back and had them cut me 4 yards (again, totally guessing) of lace. I made separate orders so they wouldn't use my coupon on the lace instead of the fabric. Is that cheating? At the register, the wonderful lady had another 50% off coupon so my lace only came to $9. I could have kissed her! So altogether this has only cost me $22! That is if I don't have to go back and get more fabric. 

I'm a little nervous having never done something like this before, but I think it should be fairly easy. Ill let you all know how they turn out!