DIY Dropcloth Ottoman Slipcover

Yardsale Bench Redo

My friend Kristin and I went to the Dove Mountain community yard sale a few weekends ago hoping to find a dresser for her new house.  There were a million yard sales but most of them were pretty blah.  At one of the last houses we stopped at, we found this little gem:

Its in near mint condition.  The only problem I can see is that the upholstery is a bit faded (oh and really really ugly).  Structurally speaking, its in great condition. The pad is still in great shape too.  For $7.00 I knew I couldn't pass it up.  I've been thinking about putting a bench at the end of my bed for a while now but haven't found one that would work until now.

Thrifted Wingback Chairs Reupholstery

I found these great wingback chairs at a thrift store for $35 each. They were actually in really good shape and were very clean.  The upholstery was a very lightweight robins egg blue silk.  Silk is pretty impractical in my house.  I had them for almost a year before this happened

One of the kids dropped a glass bottle of black nail polish on the tile right next to the chairs.  It shattered and splattered black nail polish all over one of them. Wahoooo uh crap, now I'll get to have to reupholster them!

I've always had a thing for mens suiting material.  I love old suit coat fabrics of all kinds, pinstripes, plaids, houndstooth and just about everything else.  I was really excited when I found this houndstooth at Home Fabrics on sale for $5 a yard.  I wanted to find something that would go well in my living room as well as my bedroom so I could use the chairs in either room.  I ended up buying 20 yards so I would have enough to match the pattern and also for throw pillows if I decided to make some.  I figured I'd need around 8 yards for each chair.  I've made slipcovers before and have upholstered several simple projects but these was the first big project I've done.   You'll have to excuse the terrible photos.  I took them as I deconstructed the chair so I would know how to put it back together.  I didn't plan on starting a blog.

Vintage Nightstand Redo



While helping a friend with her master bedroom update we were both on the prowl for new nightstands.  We looked through a million websites and catalogs and stores. We found a lot of them that would "work" but nothing that really excited us.  We were on a budget and weren't really interested in buying new.  We decided we'd take our time and find just what we wanted. 

One night while on Craigslist, I spotted two matching antique walnut nightstands.  They had an amazing shape but a dark, dated finish and boring hardware.  I think the seller only wanted $60 or so for the pair.  The nighstands had just been posted a few minutes before I saw the ad. I was so excited I couldn't stand it!  I called the seller right away to see when I could pick them up.  The seller told me they had just been sold.  SOLD? SOLD!?? I wanted to cry.

As soon as I hung up my phone rang.  It was my friend Sue.  She told me she'd just found the perfect nightstands on Craigslist.  I described the nightstands to see if they were the ones I'd just seen.  They were.  I sadly told her they'd just barely sold.  When she told me she was the one who'd just bought them I about died.  What luck!  I'd get to refinish them after all. 

DIY Striped Shower Curtain

Vintage Numbered Boxes

While walking thru Ikea, I noticed these dovetailed, solid wood boxes in the garden section.  They were really inexpensive and looked well made.  Each of them came with a small, removable metal tray inside too if you wanted to use them as planters or table center pieces. I bought the large square ones (I think they were around $9 each).  They also had smaller squares as well as rectangular ones.  I loved the dovetailing.  I decided to distress and stain them.  I used a hammer, my handy can-opener (handy for beating furniture, not opening cans.....stupid, crappy can-opener) and anything else I could bang on it with that wouldn't break. 

I gave it a quick rub down with an orphaned athletic sock soaked in Minwax Dark Walnu t stain. After it was dry, I used a generic 3" stencil from the hardware store and gave them a quick paint job with some black craft paint sponged on with a cheapo black sponge brush. After the paint dried, I went over the stenciled number with a fine grit sandpaper to age it a bit. The Numer "1" bin is mine to store keys and my wallet and anything else I happen to have in my pockets.  My husband quickly called the "number 2" bucket because in his heart, he is still a twelve year old boy.....

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