Today, I wish I was telling you about how awesome John Giddy was at the Home Show…but as I frequently say, “Life Happened” and I was unable to go.  You see, mom duties supersede everything else, especially when little bit has a fever and dad is off on his next business trip.  So, instead of taking in what I’m sure were wonderfully practical decorating tips, I did laundry and cleaned up a bit.

The most exciting part of my weekend (if you can believe it) was my upholstery class on Friday.  It had been 2 weeks since the last class, and in that time my job was to continue to strip down the chair, make repairs and paint.  I forgot to take a picture when I was done.   That’s probably because I was so DONE looking at that thing!   I did my best to repair the arm and tighten everything else up.  I had to keep telling myself…It was only $10!!  Glad I didn’t pay a penny more!  Take my advice, when you are in love with a piece that is broken, you need to pay like pennies for it because you will be in for a lot of work if you are not a skilled craftsman!

Remember the inspiration chair that I posted last time?  Well, that’s not my inspiration anymore.  Big surprise!!  Instead, I’ve been inspired by something else….VELVET!

I ordered this from Fabric.com and am still waiting for it arrive.  I hope it is as lovely as a sample that I saw at Calico corners.  I am a bit hesitant because I didn’t order a sample (shame on me), but at $11/yd. I wasn’t taking a huge risk.  Plus, the stuff at Calico was $25/yd. and I gave myself strict instructions NOT to pay that much (on the $10 sad armed chair)!!

I decided to go this direction because I ultimately wanted a solid colored chair.  I deal with lots of fabric in my office and I didn’t want to get dizzy with too much pattern.  Also, because my desk is stainless steel (IKEA) I wanted to paint the arms of the chair with this.

I spray painted the chair with gray primer first.  Then, it took 2 light coats of the metallic silver and turned out pretty well despite me trying to spray paint in my garage in 35 degree weather.

And for the finishing touch I bought some of these for some fun detailing…These were ordered from Online Fabric Store and cost about $4 for 100.  Seemed pretty cheap to me and the quality is really nice.

So, here’s how I’ve progressed on my chair…

Here’s me working on the webbing.  Easiest step thus far.  And here’s how far I got at the end of class.

Webbing and burlap done!  Now for all the comfy layers of foam and whatever else Shelly tells me to stuff in there.  More progress to come…Stay tuned!

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One of my next major house projects involves these…

All 22 of them.

Which means…

All 44 of these!  Grrr!

So, it got me thinking.   If I take all the doors off (one at a time of course) I should probably give them a fresh coat of paint.  And when you give me a can of paint, my mind starts to race though the internet for inspiration.  Just like when you give me a pancake, I’m going to want some syrup to go with it   Sorry…couldn’t resist!!

I LOVE Holly Mathis’ blog  where she has lots of examples of painting interior doors (not the trim) in a darker shade (generally BM-Chelsey Gray).  Here are some examples:

via Holly Mathis Interiors

Here is a great picture to show the contrast of the painted and white doors and how painting the door warms the entire space up.

via Holly Mathis Interiors

Don’t most of us have that tan wall-to-wall carpet with tan walls and white doors?  I do!  I love how this adds interest and warmth.  What I’m wondering is are the insides of the doors painted as well?  Holly?  I just don’t think I’d like a dark door facing the inside of my daughter’s ballet slipper pink room or my other daughter’s light mint room.  Hmmmm!

And gray is not the only option, people.  Check out these wonderful interiors too!

via Pinterest

via Pinterest

via Pinterest

Black doors are the truly high class choice.  They won’t work in my house, but I can always dream!!  What are your thoughts on the topic?  Are you going to give it a try?  I’ll let you know what I decide to do.  But before I do, what is your favorite source for lots of doorknobs & hinges?  Can’t wait to start this one (insert sarcasm)!

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Back in November, I was perusing the latest issue of Indianapolis Monthly when I came across an article about a great upholstery class in town which is taught by Shelly at ModHomeEc.  I mentioned it to my husband who was sitting beside me watching TV and he gave me the ole uh-huh (which really meant that he had no idea what I said, but that an acknowledgement of my voice was necessary).  I thought it would be great fun to learn some basic upholstery skills for my own bag of design tricks and personal projects (sorry people if you think I’m going to be your go to upholstery gal).

Fast forward to December 23rd.  I had pretty much forgotten about the article I read, but my husband didn’t.  For our anniversary, he packaged up the upholstery class schedule with a lovely card and handed it to me with excitement (he loves a great surprise).  I couldn’t believe he was listening remembered.  I was so excited to get started, but little did I know that finding a simple chair would be so difficult.  The requirement was to find a chair with an upholstered seat and back with no fabric on the arms.  After hitting all the local Goodwill stores, antique shops and consignment stores, I finally found this little baby…

This was a great deal…$10 at the Logan Antique Mall in Noblesville.  But, there is one small problem that needs to be addressed…

"Hi there! Fix me!!"

The first class was a fun filled 3 hrs. of chair tear down that went something like this…

Start with the bottom

Pull out a million staples

Who knew there was this much stuff under there?

Making progress despite trying to slice my finger off

Class 1 finished...and this is as far as I got

Like any good class…I’ve got some homework to do over the next 2 weeks.  Continue to take the chair apart, make much needed repairs (that should be interesting), paint, and purchase foam & fabric.  Whew!!  I’m exhausted just thinking about it.  But excited too!!  Here’s my inspiration chair…

via Pinterest

I’m in love with the combination of the Zig Zag fabric and the quieter fabric with contrasting trim.  I ordered by back fabric today but I’m still searching for something to go on the front.

Premier Prints Zig Zag in Blue/Natural

Wish me luck!

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Today is not going as planned!  I was hoping to get back on the tennis court with all my pals after a long injury induced hiatus.  Instead, I’m at home nursing a little sickie.  I don’t know about you, but when there is sickness in the house I go into hyper clean mode.  Bleach, ammonia, vinegar,  Lysol…whatever it takes to stop this mad nastiness in its tracks!  Inevitably, my cleaning goes into overdrive and I start digging into a project that I never intended.  Today, it was the dreaded spice cabinet.  It had been getting a bit cramped in there, but nothing to lose sleep over.  Obviously, since it hadn’t been cleaned out in well over a year.  And just for the fun of it, I decided to check expiration dates (yes, most spices have them) and rid of everything past its prime.  I had a few that dated back to 2007 (yuck)! And why in the world did I have fish bouillon cubes???  Anyway, I cleaned out 12 in all and it felt oh so good!

And, while I was at it I tackled the entire cabinet and my day is now complete.  Funny how a little bit of organization can get your engine revved up!

So here’s my challenge!!  See how many spices you can eliminate too!  Post your results and the top eliminator wins a $5 Starbucks Gift Card (you need to earn something for your hard work)!  Be honest with your expiration dates…I mean we are in 2012 for heaven sakes!  Can’t wait to see how well you all do!  Happy cleaning!!

p.s.  I case you were worried about miss sickie…she’s downstairs playing Just Dance.  I guess she’s on the mend

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A few weeks ago, Jon & I made our semi-annual road trip to IKEA in Cincinnati.  The goal was to find more seating for the newly decorated living room.  I liked the chair and sofa together, but the chair was too big and it really never felt like a conversational area.  There is no TV in this room so the whole point is to converse…and it usually helps to look at the person your conversing with (without straining your neck).  I’ve also secretly pined for that chair and ottoman in my bedroom to cozy up with and read a book (or pile clothes on).

So began the hunt for a pair of inexpensive chairs to face each other.  Here’s what we found…

The EKTORP JENNYLUND (I so love all IKEA product names).  This is about as economical as you can get for a new piece of furniture.  And it shows when you unpack it from the box to put the feet on.  It’s a sad naked little thing.  Thank goodness for the slipcovers!!  You would never know what lies beneath.  There were a few slipcover options, but we opted for white.  It was the most versitile choice and although white seems really scary for most people, I decided that I can throw the slips in the wash & bleach whatever stain comes my way!  And they are comfortable too.  The back is high and they are pretty cushioney.   Here’s how they look in the room…

Now we have an area to converse, play a board game, read, listen to music and more!  I’m still working on pulling all the pillows together and I need another end table to balance it all out but that will have to wait.

Are you wondering what the “Ugly Duckling” is?  It’s this…

I wish this picture could really capture how grotesquely stained this little number was.  After went spent like 4 hours in IKEA, we went around the corner to the Ballard Design/Grandin Road/Frontgate Outlet.  Let’s just say that I was really bummed that the back of my van was already full!   Tons of treasures…if not for me, for my clients too!  We found this ottoman at Grandin Road.  I think the original price was $150 & we took it home for $35 with the risk that these stains would never leave.

It was covered in warehouse scum but I didn’t care.  The size and shade of blue were perfect for the living room and the best feature of all…BRACE YOURSELF…

HIDDEN STORAGE!!!  The perfect spot for books, games, pillows and small children!  See why I took the risk?  Let’s just say we lucked out.  After borrowing a friends carpet steam cleaner the stains (pretty much) vanished and it fits the room perfectly!

Good bye “Ugly Duckling”…hello perfect ottoman!

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