So a while ago with the return of sleep and a bit of sanity, I got a stroke of, no, surge of energy and creativity. I thought, 'I am going to make this house liveable, by jove!' But no English accent. So I sat down and got out my favorite program, Excel. I plotted how exactly I could make our house awesome within a year and with a tiny little budget. Alas, the outside of the house is another story. So if you drive by and notice it still looking as sad and ghetto as ever, that's because remodeling the outside of a house is not something we are financially ready to take on yet. Nevertheless, the inside is in the works. So come on in.
Each month I am taking on a room/area to decorate and make functional and pretty. I've discovered that despite swearing off Pinterest (mostly because of it's popularity and tendency to make me feel like a huge under achiever), it is quite helpful in gathering ideas and information. So I used it to get a feel for what I want in my front living room.
Now it looks like this:
The next thing I did was realize we have this crazy old rocking chair that belonged to Justin's great grandmother Henderson. Don't get me started on why family heirlooms rock and why they're important. But anyway, we had this chair that looked like this: (Sorry I don't have a front on picture)
And I was like, 'Hey, I can turn this into a pretty piece of furniture and not have to buy a new chair for lots of $$.' So I read and read and read on how upholstery is done. It turns out it's quite labor intensive, particularly if your chair is 50+ years old, has already been reupholstered once, and is held together by 4597854125987934 nails and staples. So I began.
I got a tack removing screw driver and pried that sucker down to nothing. It took DAYS. And I discovered this thing was stuffed with hay. Ew. And also that there were several quarters stuck in it. (Bonus.)
Then I purchased material from Ebay that was SO cheap. It's the exact fabric that our Lovesac is made out of. I went with micro suede because it is durable and will be ok with our dogs and kids.
Then I went to work for three weeks and added foam and stapled/sewed the chair so that it turned out to look like this:
Richie was of course not included.
My next project was this table I bought from the D.I. months ago. See, our $20 Ikea coffee table just doesn't match, nor is it even remotely durable. Also, I am getting tired of looking like we moved a dorm room into a house. Definitely time to look like we are adults.
I sanded it, stained it with a weathered oak stain, Justin cut out a hole in the middle, and I put a pot of succulents in the middle. Booyah. Unique and awesome.
Next I realized my GINORMOUS front walls were so bare and that the scale of my pictures just didn't do it. So I bought some large canvas from Michael's and used my 40% off coupon. Painted with acrylics in my color scheme, and used painters tape to create a neat herringbone pattern which I spray painted over. Abstract art for a huge wall. Boom.
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I also wanted to use a pallet and turn it into art. My favorite quote by Walt Whitman had to go up on the wall. I thought about just writing "Love Live Laugh" in giant letters or "Believe" on the wall... but then I realized that I didn't want to copy millions of women in the western world. So here is the before and after...
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So that's all I got for now. When I put it all together I'll write again. It will all look cooler up on the walls and put together. I'm becoming a project junkie... Yay, a new hobby!
This last week we also celebrated a monumental day-Justin's nursing school graduation!! Here are some pics from graduation and celebration breakfast at Ruth's Diner. Not that he's done... He's still got another semester of clinicals and three classes. But we're that much closer! I'm so proud of Justin. Even though it's his second Bachelor's degree, this one will definitely be more marketable. I can't believe he started a year ago. And now he's almost done. Yay! Congrats, babe. You are amazing and I adore you.
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Each month I am taking on a room/area to decorate and make functional and pretty. I've discovered that despite swearing off Pinterest (mostly because of it's popularity and tendency to make me feel like a huge under achiever), it is quite helpful in gathering ideas and information. So I used it to get a feel for what I want in my front living room.
The first thing I did was redo this nasty old chandelier. We had Justin's uncle pull it from his great aunt's house by the U of U. I love family heirlooms. I saw potential. So I cleaned it really well, repainted some of it, stripped out the 1950's nylon wiring and re-wired it (the hardest part) with special wire I had to hunt down at a local light fixture store. Then I found crystals to hang on it that matched on Ebay.
Now it looks like this:
The next thing I did was realize we have this crazy old rocking chair that belonged to Justin's great grandmother Henderson. Don't get me started on why family heirlooms rock and why they're important. But anyway, we had this chair that looked like this: (Sorry I don't have a front on picture)
And I was like, 'Hey, I can turn this into a pretty piece of furniture and not have to buy a new chair for lots of $$.' So I read and read and read on how upholstery is done. It turns out it's quite labor intensive, particularly if your chair is 50+ years old, has already been reupholstered once, and is held together by 4597854125987934 nails and staples. So I began.
I got a tack removing screw driver and pried that sucker down to nothing. It took DAYS. And I discovered this thing was stuffed with hay. Ew. And also that there were several quarters stuck in it. (Bonus.)
Then I purchased material from Ebay that was SO cheap. It's the exact fabric that our Lovesac is made out of. I went with micro suede because it is durable and will be ok with our dogs and kids.
Then I went to work for three weeks and added foam and stapled/sewed the chair so that it turned out to look like this:
Richie was of course not included.
My next project was this table I bought from the D.I. months ago. See, our $20 Ikea coffee table just doesn't match, nor is it even remotely durable. Also, I am getting tired of looking like we moved a dorm room into a house. Definitely time to look like we are adults.
I sanded it, stained it with a weathered oak stain, Justin cut out a hole in the middle, and I put a pot of succulents in the middle. Booyah. Unique and awesome.
Next I realized my GINORMOUS front walls were so bare and that the scale of my pictures just didn't do it. So I bought some large canvas from Michael's and used my 40% off coupon. Painted with acrylics in my color scheme, and used painters tape to create a neat herringbone pattern which I spray painted over. Abstract art for a huge wall. Boom.
So that's all I got for now. When I put it all together I'll write again. It will all look cooler up on the walls and put together. I'm becoming a project junkie... Yay, a new hobby!
This last week we also celebrated a monumental day-Justin's nursing school graduation!! Here are some pics from graduation and celebration breakfast at Ruth's Diner. Not that he's done... He's still got another semester of clinicals and three classes. But we're that much closer! I'm so proud of Justin. Even though it's his second Bachelor's degree, this one will definitely be more marketable. I can't believe he started a year ago. And now he's almost done. Yay! Congrats, babe. You are amazing and I adore you.
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