Re-Upholstery 101

So I bought these two ugly chairs from craigslist six weeks ago for $20. I was determined to try reupholstery. I liked the idea of getting exactly what I wanted for much less than what I would have to pay if I got exactly what I wanted. I needed to choose my fabric and I was conflicted on what colors I wanted. Again, I really don't want to paint, so I needed to pay attention to the fact that my walls are all white.




I decided to go radically different than anything I had seen recently. My friend Molly helped me choose a beautiful color of pale turquoise at my new favorite fabric store, Home Fabrics on Baseline and Stapely. It also had some gold and chocolate brown in it.

I began to take these chairs apart and was shocked at how difficult this step was. It was hundreds and hundreds of thick, stubborn upholstery staples rammed into hardwood. I just worked on in piece by piece and saved all the fabric for a pattern and slowly got the darned things apart. My mom, wonderful woman that she is, came and helped for three days and stayed all day while I ran between kids emergencies and upholstery duties.


Basically, if you want to do this yourself, you have to have time, patience, and some skills with a sewing machine (or a mother who does). Things you should avoid to keep things simple: custom made piping, overstuffed cushions involving lots of seams (the kind that are sewn onto the back of the couch or chair), skirts, and patterns with a large area of repeat, meaning look at the repeating pattern of your new fabric and if there is more than six inches between repeats, you will end up throwing a lot of fabric away. Also stripes and plaids become crooked easily and look terrible, so be prepared for this. I ignored most of these rules and lived to regret it. It was about 13 yards of fabric when all was said and done, and the fabric I chose was just under $7 a yard.


I bought four throw pillow at Ross for $34 and now the project is complete. The whole thing probably cost me $180, including an ottoman that I have all the fabric for but haven't gotten around to finishing. It's a pretty good price considering they are the perfect shape, color, and size for what I wanted. Usually when you are on a budget you must compromise what you want for what you can afford. Not so much this time. Many thanks to my mom, Molly, and my husband for putting up with the mess for six weeks.

Adventures in Decorating

I recently moved into a ward that is full of fabulous decorators. I feel we LDS women with large families and small budgets are part of a new movement I call "Recession Chic." I have been inspired to hunt out the best possible deals and have been schooled by my friends and family at watching the local bargain hot spots.

I have been attempting to decorate Jennie's room for months, and not having much success. The fact that her room is full of white furniture and since I really did not want to paint (We are renters and our landlord is OK with painting, but I don't like investing time and money into something else's house) I had to make do.

She loves the whole Paris trend, and since it is a trend there is a lot of little odds and ends at places like Hobby Lobby and Ross. I decided on black and white with very few red accents.

I started by painting the dressers, one which was high quality and had been in my bedroom when I was Jennie's age, but had been unsuccessfully stripped and looked like it was covered in dried tree sap. The other I painted for Elli's nursery when she was a baby, and it was an ugly color of blue. I painted them both black with regular glossy latex paint and a paint brush.

My good friend Rachele Oram later informed me that the best way to paint furniture is to sand, prime and paint, using spray paint in a satin finish. She said that all spray paint is oil based, and therefore is more durable and has a better finish. I wish I could go back in time and paint those two pieces, yet again. They are the only Frankenstein pieces in my whole house... and I probably need to sand them to death and just start over. But they look alright from a distance.

Then my mom bought Jennie's bed spread for her birthday, and I finally had a place to start, an inspiration. I brought out all her white furniture, other than her headboard and footboard, and painted it all black, this time using Rachele's advice. They turned out much better, even over Ikea's part plastic, part organic finish.

That same morning I had been out with friends checking out local garage sales, and we stumbled into a boutique right in our neighborhood where I spotted a great idea for bow/flower storage. My friend Kris took a sneaky look at the back of it and it was just a small canvas, covered in batting and fabric, and covered in different colors of ribbons. All of it was just stapled on.

I had a 40% off coupon for Michaels, so I grabbed a $20 canvas, slightly larger than the inspiration piece, for just over $12 and then ran next door to Target and bought a $5 satin pillow case that was black with white polka dots. I probably could have done better than that at a fabric store since it wasn't more than a half yard, but I was short on time. Then I gathered all the ribbon I could find and began my project. I am not a crafty person, and this took me just over 15 minutes to complete. It looked great for her room and I love the way it turned out.

The room turned out great and Jennies loves it. I actually sat and drew it out on paper in 3D before I started and this really helped me move the project forward. I still need a large horizontal something for over the bed, and a few other things, but Jennie's room is almost finished!

Jennie

These are two of Jennie's closest friends. They are awesome... from left, Savannah, Karly, and Jennie