Creative Space

I bought this pretty little desk over a year ago for my sewing machine/craft space.  But it didn’t offer enough space so I passed it on to the girls.  I also found this poor old chair abandoned on the curb a year ago.  I tore it apart and it sat in the basement waiting for the right inspiration.

Well the time finally came when I moved the white desk into little bears room in an effort to clean up the loft to show the rental property so we can hopefully get new tenants in here before we move.

I got some beautiful fabric from a friend of a friend and I knew it was perfect for this chair!  Well the excitement got the best of me and I mis-cut the fabric!  I wanted to do a bubble skirt but ended up having to piece together two sections for a regular ruffled skirt with a hem.  No biggie just an oversight on my part.

I’m still debating on painting the desk Antoinette/old white.  Since the rest of the room has been painted in Antoinette and Coco I don’t want everything matchy matchy.  I thought maybe a 1/1 of Antoinette and Old white would be a nice soft color pallet for the desk.  What do you think?

Here is how I finished the chair.  This was the first time I ever made my own piping and it was soooo easy!  I just took the chair seat and traced it onto some 2in foam and cut it out.

Next I covered the seat with my fabric and stapled in place.  Then I made the piping and skirt.  To make the piping I just got 2 yards of cotton cording.  I cut a 2in strip of my coordinating fabric and folded it over the cording and pinned in place.  Then I ran a tight straight stitch from one end to the other and cut off the excess cording.

Then I doubled the length of fabric I needed to go around the front and sides of the chair and ruffled it by hand down to the exact length I needed.  I then attached the cording with pins and ran another straight stitch to hold them together.

Next I flipped my seat over and laid the skirt wrong side up and began to staple it around the edges.  Making sure the piping was sitting right along the edge of the foam seat cushion.  I just flipped my skirt up every few staples to make sure it was in place.

I know some of you upholstery experts are probably turning green at my methods here but I simply couldn’t think of a better way and this was easy and functional.  In the end I think it turned out perfectly.  It looks professional.

Oh and since I had this vase I wasn’t ready to pack away that I never bought flowers for I just couldn’t resist getting some pretty pink wild flowers from Hobby Lobby to top of the entire look.  Aren’t they pretty and springy?!

 

~Sommer

Time To Wash

I thought it was going to take me some time to get used to the ASCP before I started trying new techniques.  I also thought I was going to love the Louis Blue on my antique buffet.  I even played it safe and mixed in some grey.  But alas after a few days of looking at it I knew it was too colorful for my neutral tastes.  Beautiful, just not me.  So I did my first wash.  I think I’m happy now.

Dining Room Reveal

As many of you know I've been working tirelessly on this stubborn table.  Okay maybe that is exaggerating a bit but I'm a woman, it's what I do.  I picked up a beautiful dining room table a few weeks back on my birthday trip garage sailing.  You can see the table before here.  Go check it out along with the many other treasures we piled up on top of the truck, then come right back to see it finished!  I decided the table would sell better with chairs, ha what a concept right?  So I found a set of four on craigs list for only ten dollars.  I also paired it with a buffet I had waiting to be refinished.  All in all the entire set finally came together and turned out beautifully.

This table took me nearly two weeks to complete.  Of course I was working every single moment of every single day!  Even if I had though it would have taken some serious time because this baby had like 50 coats of poly on it.  I sanded it down twice then let Mr Garden have a shot.  We had to sand so much that we nearly sanded the lip of the table top off!

When it came to painting and staining.  Well the primer dried yellow for some reason which looked like a dog lifted it's leg and urinated on the table legs.  But the paint when on smooth. Whew! 

Then the stain wasn't looking cohesive from one side of the table to the other.  One side took really dark and the other not so much! 

In the end everything leveled out and now matches perfectly. 

And for those of you who love a beautifully staged table... This ones for you!  Because I don't have a lot of staging props due to limited storage space.  So this all came out of my kitchen =)

Go get your good Karma

Okay so some believe it and some don't.  I'm a karma believer.  And these freebies I scored yesterday were definitely a sign of good karma that I was due!  My baby sister has recently had some changes in her life and we opened our home to her over the weekend.  We also moved one big ol' heavy dresser, some sofas, a queen sized bed and other misc items into our basement to make a home for her for a while until she gets back on her feet. 

Then I get an email from freecycle.org from a family moving who didn't have time to sell their unwanted items on Craig's list before their move and they needed them gone asap.  I of course saw "table, buffet..." and attacked the keyboard with my response.  Anyone who uses freecycle knows there are typically no pictures attached to these items that are being given away so I went blindly to see what I had committed to pick up *gulp*.

Well my good karma had my back this go round =)

Here is the lovely... no, gorgeous ...no, stunning dinning room table that I happily delivered to my best friend who has had her eyes peeled for a while now looking for one like it!  (To my friend... remember me)

And here is the buffet I kept for myself.  The old buffet will go into the garage for a make over with the rest of my waiting subjects and be sold in the near future.  If you want a look at the old buffet you can see it here.

She is elegant.. no, exquisite...no, she's perfect. 

Her name is... Princess Georgianna.  Why you might ask?  Because this little detail on top reminds me of a tiara and she was made in Georgia =)

Just look at that detail.  Just like a gown a princess should wear.

And finally these are her earrings hardware.  Wont they look lovely in black?

Desk Makeover

Okay so I went to the pool yesterday instead of posting this for you.  I admit it, it was wrong but I have a good excuse!  My laptop power cord died on me and because I know you were all squirming in your seats waiting for me to post this I went and bought a new one asap last night for $100!  Do you know how much furniture I could buy with that? Ahhh well, whats a blogger to do?  I have to show off my stuff somehow.  So here you go =)

The mirror, sanded and prepped for paint.  We bought this 40ft tarp earlier this year when we got caught in the sleet and rain and snow and wind... sitting outside the mall for 7 hours waiting to audition for the Amazing Race.  I wondered what we'd ever use it for again.  Well I found something =)

A little help from my friends daughters.

Dresser and mirror together again.  Is it my computer screen or are those walls really dirty?  OMG I'm so embarrassed!

Hurry look at the mirror before you notice the walls lol.  I am really happy with the outcome of this set.  My 9yr old boy had been using the dresser from his baby nursery!  It was about time he had a more big boy set and let me tell you, it's a full on tween room now!  He can take this sucker to college!

Still need a chair.  I think it should be black.  I also plan to do a dry erase, cork board over this soon.  That was he can show off all his accomplishments =)

There it is folks... the big boy room in the basement.  Sniff....

E.T.A.  He's not all grown up yet... he doesn't make his bed lol.  Don't look.

Buffet Pt I

I just love friends!  It wasn't but a week ago I was helping my bff Tammy load up a beautiful buffet she bought on Cracklist for a steal.  Then being the addict she is, she found another one she liked better haha.  So the offer came in.  Did I want the buffet I had helped her bring home?  Um duh!  So sicker than a dog yesterday I brought myself to move this lovely lady once again to her final resting place.  And for the next several weeks I'll be paying off my debt to my girly pal in very small, non-husband noticeable amounts lol!

Some of you may have seen this beauty already when Tammy posted it on her facebook page.  Here she is with a few items I grabbed from around the house so she wasn't so naked. 

My plan is to refinish this like the picture below and have two of the white floating shelves put above her.  Here are the shelves I'm thinking of over at Knock off wood.

This is my hope of what she'll look like when I'm finished.  Can't you just see this with the two white floating shelves above?

I already organized all the dvd's, wii and ds games in the drawer =)

I know you all recognize this picture.  I'm thinking about putting the clock on one of the shelves above.  Should I paint it white also or leave it as is?  I don't have any red in my house.  Not a fan personally but I love this pitcher and spraying it another color will cover up the lettering on the front.  What do you think?

This poor candle holder... I've never put candles on it and have had it about a year.  I got it from a fellow freecycler and loved it.  This is definitely getting a coat of antique white spray paint.  Maybe with some blue or green candles.  I've moved this piece all over my house (the old one and new one) trying to find the right place for it and I think this could be it, finally!  Now, cylinder candles or balls?

Still not sure about these two.  The mask is from Mexico and it's a dark wood.  I've never really found a great place for it either.  It gets around moves around a lot.  I'm thinking this will not be a permanent spot for either of these two.  I can't repaint the mask, it's just one of those things you don't alter you know?  But it wont mesh well with the black and white distressed buffet when I'm finished.

So that's it for today.  Now to work on getting me a signature.  Just so you don't forget who your talkin to ; p