Ottoman revamp and a new light

Hello, friends.  I've been meaning to share with you for a while a few updates we made in our master bedroom, but the sad truth is that I've been to lazy to clean my room to photo-worthy standards so that I could actually share with you the updates.  Those first 12 weeks of pregnancy really stole all of my motivation.  I am pleased to say that I finally feel (sort of) like a real live human being again.  Definitely not my crazy-always-has-to-be-doing-something self, but at least alive.

Here's a recent shot of my master bedroom.

Observant eye balls will notice the new ottoman at the foot of our bed, and the new hanging light fixture.  Really observant eye balls will notice that I most certainly did not iron my bed skirt when I cleaned my room for the pics.  Crap.

I finished my wingback chair a while back, as one of my first ever reupholstery projects.  Here's how she looked then, with my scary blue walls in the bedroom.

I didn't have the budget to replace the foam at that point, so it sat there with a saggy cushion for a long time.  I finally got the time, cash, and bravery to finish the seat cushion properly with new plump foam and a Dacron wrap and reupholster the ottoman.

Here's the much beefier seat cushion in my much calmer colored bedroom now.

It feels much better so sit on these days also.

Here's what the ottoman to this chair looked like when I originally picked it up at a thrift store.

Why didn't I just keep the original fabric?  It would have been so perfect in my bedroom... oh dear.

So here is that cute little ottoman now that I finally finished it, reunited again with its mate.

As you can see the ottoman slightly blocks the path to our bathroom, so unless I am reading or want to kick my feet up on the chair the ottoman resides here as a foot of bed bench.

I kinda like it.

Also, I found this steal of a deal at Home Depot on a lantern style hanging light fixture.  I saw one lurking out from behind another light with a clearance sticker, and had to take it with a price tag of $60.

Slowly but surely, the little additions to our bedroom are making it a complete space.  I still need to decide on my decor to fill this wall, but other than that it's almost done!

Any suggestions? 

~PW

Custom Media Center Inspiration

My poor husband gets the most difficult requests from me for gifts.  Most hubbies (other than my fellow DIY'ers) get requests like jewelery, shoes, clothes, even gift cards.  Unfortunately my sweets is not lucky enough to hear such requests.  This Christmas, my wish was to have him build me a custom media center for our TV, all other A/V stuff, storage for toys and blankets, and to decorate with and be the focal point of our fairly boring family room.  When we built our home 2 years ago we opted not to include a fireplace in the family room to cut back on costs, but I wish so badly we had done it.  When we build out our basement (hopefully in the next 2 years), we will definitely put one in.  For the upstairs though, I still want a beautiful center piece even if it doesn't get to include a fireplace.  SOOO that's what I asked for Christmas.  Oh, and crown moulding all around the kitchen and living room... minor details...  Being the incredible man that he is, instead of laughing at my request, he sighed, took a few seconds to respond (while he was likely trying to remember why on earth he married me in the first place) and said "show me what it needs to look like".  Man, I love that man.  :)

So after pinning my life away on pinterest, I found several different ideas for inspiration but nothing was quite exactly what I wanted... until I saw this gorgeous piece from Ethan Allen:

Source

Suddenly I head the heavens open up and the angels sing, "Hallelujah!"  Okay, not really but that's how excited I was.  HOLY. COW.  It is beautiful.  So, we got drafting and plotting.  Here comes the best part.  I had to run into my mom's attic the next day for a costume and saw some cabinet pieces lurking out from behind some boxes.

She had these extra cabinets and door fronts wasting their lives away in her attic from an order they had placed where the color was done wrong. So, they had to re-do them but my parents had to keep the first set.  They had tried to sell them at a garage sale, but had no luck?!?! Needless to say I became her yard sale buyer and we get to use them as a part of our design.  They look just like the Ethan Allen one also.  So my friends, here's a rough sketch of what we're (as in my dear sweets along with my inspiring words of encouragement) building:

We recruited my talented bro-in law who does carpentry work to help us with this project, and it should be going underway soon.  I can't wait!!!

Pictures of the end result and hopefully a detailed tutorial of what we they did will be coming soon.  If I'm really lucky, I may have my Christmas gift finished before next Christmas.... :)

Have any of you done any built in/ entertainment units in your home?  Want to share some words of wisdom?  Anything you wish you would have included for storage? I hope I've covered all my bases here...

~PW

Chevron Curtains and a living room update

After much debate over the fabric choices that I shared with you fine folks HERE, I decided to go with one  of my favorite and trusted prints, the blue and antique chevron print from Fabric.com to make extended length curtains for my living room and kitchen.

I bought the fabric on clearance and lined 4 pieces with blackout drapery lining that was also on clearance at Joann's.  It makes the curtains extra thick, and they really do black out any light.  They also help to keep the home more energy efficient. I raised the height of my curtain rods, and opted to use curtain rod hooks for a more airy feel.

I love them.  It's amazing how much bigger the rooms feel with my curtain height extended. 

I've been holding off on showing them to you because my kitchen and living room are still very much in progress, but this way you can enjoy the ride with me.  Here's the status so far.

We added a custom cut glass top to the dining room table that I shared with you all HERE to protect it and to allow for much easier cleanup after each meal.  This investment was so worth it to me.

I treated myself to this darling fork and spoon for my birthday (purchased on sale from Hobby Lobby) instead of my originally planned "EAT" sign above the sink.  I saw them while browsing and decided that a fork and spoon say EAT just as well as the text does. 

I added some small plates above the buffet, and will hang that fabulous silver tray above them soon.  I found that baby for $5 at Salvation Army all tarnished and couldn't believe how gorgeous it was once I polished her up.

 

The real dilemma in my kitchen right now is the bar stool situation for the island.  That story is going to be reserved for an entire post.  Hold on to your seats, my friends.  Try your best to just ignore what's going in in these pics at the island... :)

In the living room, I basically sold everything that was in there before with the exception of my couch and coffee table.  I wanted to start with a completely blank canvas and build up. 
Here's a few of the living room "before" decor.  I was so done with all the dark colors in the orange/red/
brown tones.

The couch was positioned the other direction, facing towards the large wall where the espresso colored entertainment center was, closing the space off between the kitchen and living room.

Here are the changes we've made so far in this room.

I got this fabulous new rug from my sweets for my bday, and added a few new pillows. 

Don't look too closely at the pillows because many of the "covers" right now are just loose swatches of fabric waiting to be sewn.  You get the idea though, right? I am very aware of all of the geometric print action that's happening, but I think it will all come together once all my pillows are finished (with more prints coming in) and the items that are really going on the wall have been hung.

On the main wall opposite the kitchen, I would like to build a huge custom unit from floor to ceiling with lots of moulding, but my hubbs and I are trying to figure out how to do it ourselves and decide if we're brave/dumb enough to attempt it on our own.  I think we are both. 

This poor space over here is where we currently have everything shoved so that we can still watch sesame street every. blasted. morning.  Yup. 

That's it, friends!  There's the very long version of what could have just been:

"Remember the curtains in these two rooms before?

this is the WAY before shot... like right when we moved in :)

Here they are now!"

Loving you for listening to me ramble on and on when I should be showering/cleaning/grocery shopping/sewing my pillows/choreographing/the list goes on and on forever...

PW

Curtain indecision

Friends, family, followers- I need your help.  I've been searching for fabric to make new curtains in my kitchen and living room.  I regret to tell you that I can't make a decision!  I really love bright and geometrical prints right now, but worry that I may regret going for a trendy pattern on curtains.  I'm starting to lean very much towards the blue and cream chevron print that I used on the Chevron Chair a while back.

It's got a funky print but the colors are more subdued.  The current price of $6/ yard is enticing also.  What do you think about creating super long curtains (ceiling height) for my kitchen?  The ones shown in the picture below were loaned by my Master Bedroom for the sake of this photo shoot... unfortunately they don't really reside here.  I do love the light and airy feeling that they provide, so I want to stick with a lighter color. 

Here's a full view of the kitchen currently so that you can envision it with the chevron.  I have also just purchased new bar stools to sit up to the island that I am planning on upholstering in a bright print to bring some color into the space and add a little personality.  

So, what do you think?  Here's the Chevron print again:

Here are a few of the prints I am considering for my bar stools:

This one is my absolute favorite but it's not available in outdoor canvas, and I really want to go that route for the bar stool fabric so that they will wipe off spills more easily.  Isn't this print to die for?  I can promise you that it will be used one way or another in my kitchen/ living room. 

I love this one also, but the pattern is very large so on bar stools I worry that you might not be able to see enough of the print.

Love, but it's not as bright as I think I want it to be for the pop of color and attention in the room.

Super fun, but is it too bright???

If I decide not to go with the Chevron print for curtains, one alternate is:

I also really love this print, but don't want the curtains to be this dark in the kitchen.

One last question to my dear friends.  Do you think the curtain print needs to be the same in the kitchen and living room if they are right near one another?

By the way, here's how my living room looked a few weeks ago when I shot the pictures of my dining room set.

That, my friends, is my "real" life.  I have sold almost all of the furniture I had in that room, and am so excited to start from scratch.  I'm hoping that my fabric choices will inspire the other decor!

I appreciate all of your input and suggestions.

Xo my friends, xo


~PW

How to Transform a Dining Room Set

Hey there, friends.  Thank you so much for all your kind words on the dining room set I recently transformed.  It was such a gratifying project to have completed after the long hours I spent working on it. 

In this tutorial I will share the steps I took to transform this set from the dated set it once was.

For those of you  reading who don't already transform furniture of your own, I encourage you to learn!  My primary reason for beginning to do this was because I couldn't afford the furniture I really wanted, so I tried to make pieces that looked nice but didn't come with the hefty price tags.  As I began to do so, I realized how much I loved it and wanted to continue for a creative outlet and hobby in addition to helping me decorate my house on a tight budget.  You may discover that it's not for you and you don't enjoy doing it at all.  If so, then at least you can say you tried and you don't need to feel at all bad about buying your furniture from a store, already finished just the way you like it.  (I might just envy you a little bit for it.)

Off my soapbox now and on to the tutorial.

When I saw this dining room set on KSL, I was ecstatic.  I have had a vision of the set I wanted in my own kitchen for quite some time but hadn't been able to find the perfect set within my budget.  This one would require a lot of work, but I was willing to put in the time.

Here's how I transformed the table:
Supplies used

• Old table in need of some TLC, solid wood
• citristrip stripper
• paint brush
• Husky paint scraper/multi use tool
• lots of patience
• 80 grit coarse sandpaper
• sander
• 320 grit extra fine sandpaper
• Minwax pre-stain wood condition
• Another large dose of patience
• Minwax stain- Dark Walnut and Jacobean
• Annie Sloan soft wax- dark
• Microfiber disc
• Annie Sloan Chalk Paint- Paris Gray and Old White
• Annie Sloan soft wax- clear
• A very large Diet Coke with fresh lime to reward yourself when finished

Directions

1) Stripped the paint

I experimented with several different paint strippers and tools, and hopefully all of my experimentation and mishaps will help you.  I found that the best stripper was Citristrip, which can be purchased from Home Depot.

I applied this with a brush on very thickly in the direction of the grain of wood.  It worked best in the areas where the stripper was applied most thickly, and will show up orange.

Once it has been applied, I waited approximately 12 hours for the stripper to do it's job.  When I tried to remove the paint before or after this amount of time, it was very difficult to scrape off. 12 hours is the magic number.  The orange stripper will become white, and occasionally the paint may appear to bubble.

Using a multi-use paint tool (from Home Depot), I scraped the paint off in the direction of the grain.  This should not be difficult and should just lift right up. 

If it doesn't, wait a little while longer, or apply another layer of stripper and wait 12 hours.

The scalloped edges were a bit trickier and much more time consuming.  I used the scraper held at an angle to carefully clean off the paint as best as possible, then finished the rest of it off with a scrub brush dipped in mineral spirits.  For more details on how to strip paint, you can refer to a previous post HERE.

2) Sanded the surface

Using a belt sander on the orbital setting with coarse 80 grit sandpaper, I worked over the full table top in the direction of the wood grain.  I followed over it with extra fine 320 grit sandpaper to smooth out any ridges or texture left by the coarse paper.  I used my corner cat hand sander with extra fine sandpaper to clean up the rounded edges and carefully get into the crevices.

3) Stained the table top

First, I treated the wood with Minwax pre-stain wood conditioner using a rag, and applying it with the grain of the wood.  Once it had dried, I applied a combination of Minwax stain in Dark Walnut and Jacobean.

The stain wasn't as dark as I wanted it, so I continued to apply several layers until it reached the depth that I wanted.

Isn't it looking so rich and lovely?

4) Waxed the table top

Using Annie Sloan Soft Wax in dark color, I applied several light coats with a brush, and buffed in between coats using a microfiber disc for waxing cars (I picked mine up at Walmart for a couple bucks).

Clear wax would have also served the same purpose, but I wanted to still try and get some depth from the dark wax.

You could also use a less expensive clear wax, like Minwax paste finishing wax if your surface is flat and without details.  This wax is much more clumpy however, and only works well on flat surfaces.  For more information on wax options, I recommend watching the video tutorial from Miss Mustard Seed HERE.



5) Painted the legs and apron

Using my new stash of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, I mixed together Old White with a small amount of Paris Gray, and painted right onto the funky textured apron and legs of the table.  I didn't sand or prime before and I'm telling you, this paint goes on like butter!  It is amazing.

The amazing part is that I only had to apply one coat of paint, even with the dark stain that I had to cover up in places and chipped paint sections.

Although the quarts are small and pricey, they will last you a VERY long time.

6) Lightly distressed the base

Once the paint had dried, I roughed up the high points and edges with a sanding block, allowing for the funky texture hiding underneath to shine through.  The disastrous sponge paint mayhem that once was on this table worked in my favor.  Often times, you have to just go with the texture of your piece of furniture rather than try to alter it.  Usually, it works in your favor.

7) Waxed the base

Using an old brush and Annie Sloan Soft Wax in clear, I lightly covered the surfaces just as I had to the table top and then buffed it all down with the microfiber discs. 

*** Note- initially I used dark wax mixed with clear wax to try and obtain an aged look, but I felt like it looked to dirty, so I repeated steps 5-7 again.  The dark wax is fabulous for many purposes, but remember to use sparingly when your intention is to create an aged look. ***

Here's how I transformed the chairs:

Supplies

• Small pliers to remove welting
• Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Paris Gray and Old White
• Sanding block
• Annie Sloan soft wax- clear
• Screwdriver to remove seat cushion
• Staple gun
• Bleached canvas drop cloth, refer to tutorial HERE
• Double welting cord
• Scissors to trim away excess fabric
• Sewing machine and thread to make skirts, tutorial HERE
• Magic sliders to protect floors
• Drill to create pilot hole
• Scotchgard fabric protector spray

1) Removed the seat cushions and welting

I unscrewed the seat bottoms so that I could work on the frames without them getting in the way.  If I had upholstered the seat cushions, I would have needed to do so at that point when the bases were removed.

Here's a small little cheating secret on how to quickly upholster chairs, when the foam and batting are still in great condition... just upholster over the existing fabric!  This saved me hours of time.  I simply removed the double welting cord (find the starting point, tug gently and try not to pull the other fabric off with it), and stapled my new fabric right over the top.

*** I did this backwards and painted the frame first, but it would have been easier had I removed the cording first***

2) Painted, distressed, and waxed the frames

I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Paris gray on all 4 armless chairs, and Old White on the 2 captain chairs.  I wanted them to really stand out. 

After they were all painted, I distressed and waxed them just as I had done to the table legs.

3) Upholstered the seat backs

Using a bleached canvas drop cloth from Home Depot, I upholstered right over the existing fabric.  For tips on how to prepare your drop cloth and upholster, please refer to my tutorial series HERE and HERE.

The backs of these chairs had initially been upholstered from the inside, so I would have had to remove several layers of fabric, staples, batting, and more fabric to get to the very backs.  Instead, I opted to take an easier route by covering the back side with the drop cloth from the outside by stapling onto the inner wooden frame, and then cover up my staples with double welting cord.  This too worked in my favor and I think looks much for elegant than they had before.

 

4) Made skirts for seats

I cannot claim any creativity for this step.  I fell in love with the skirts that Miss Mustard made, and copied hers using her wonderful tutorial, HERE.

5) Finishing touches

Lastly, I screwed the seats back in place, and added protective sliders to the bottom of each chair leg to prevent scraping against our floors.  I experimented with several, and the ones that I liked the most were called Magic Sliders from Home Depot.  You drill a small pilot hole into the leg, then secure the slider in place with a scew. 

These aren't your dinky little felt protectors that come off their adhesive in a week.  They are pricier (around $7 for a set of 8) but well worth the investment to protect your floors.

I also sprayed the upholstered fronts and backs with Scotchgard spray to hopefully allow for an easier clean up when we get the inevitable cheetos fingers or spilled spaghetti on the chairs.  I didn't worry about spraying the skirts, as they are removable and will get tossed in the washing machine as needed.

I am also having a custom piece of glass cut to sit on top of the table.  With all the effort I put in to make that wood look as beautiful as it does, I am not willing to let it get scratched or ruined.

And that, dear friends is how I did it. 

Those of you who read this tutorial in its entirety deserve a prize.  Go enter the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and Wax giveaway that ends tomorrow, August 22. 

Please be sure to share with me your transformations.  It's never too late to begin...

~PW

I'm sharing this tutorial with Home Stores A2Z,  Tip Junkie, Miss Mustard Seed, The DIY Club, and By Stephanie Lynn.  Be sure to check out their parties!