A Big Reveal....not of my own doing....

If you've been reading my blog, then you already know I have a partner in redecorating crime, Deb, that is self taught in reupholstery. Did you get that - self taught, like never took a class!!! She does amazing work!!! I really need to do more of her before and afters. We traded talents. I got a new chair for my neverending bedroom redo while she is getting a dresser painted for her girls room (more to come on that). Above is the before - awful peach velvet chair and below is just ......AMAZING!!! I have a hard time not jumping up and down literally!!! It's beautiful!!!

After - it really is the same chair people!

And, it's nestle across from my bed. I've got some ongoing ideas to finish the space which I'll save for another post because the chair is just "ENOUGH said"!

Big kudos and hugs to Deb - I love your talent and drive! You keep us moving forward in our adventure!

Before and After of the eat-in kitchen area

Before

After

Ah... much lighter and a nice change! Still have some major work on the table top to get it right but ya can't really tell by the photos:)

New bed

Here's my new bed with the upholstered headboard I made with major help from my friend, Deb. (I need to post some of her projects - reupholstery queen!!) Before and afters of the room when it's completed:)

Chairs transformed

I forgot to take a before picture and I really wish I did because these were super ugly chairs! The have the 60/70s decade cane back with the brown stippled paint effect. I primed them and painted them a creamy white then used my sander to distress them.

I padded the cane with batting then covered it with this gorgeous fabric. I have the same fabric for my kitchen window valence so it'll bring to over to the eat-in kitchen area. The green velvet is the original fabric on the chairs and with the original paint it looked horrible. I actually liked that color with the fabric I added but decided to go with a textured brown microfiber. I do have a 2 and 5 yr old!

Here's the finished product! I used nail head trim to finish it off.

Beautiful!!

Plywood becomes headboard

Lately, I've a ton of projects going on at once. About a month ago, my friend, Deb, and I made a upholstered headboard. I actually cut out the design myself - bring on the power tools! I don't know what it is but a saw make me feel powerful - strange but I liked it:) Once the design was cut out, we cut 1 inch foam with an electric carving knife (hard to find these days!!). We cut it 2 inches from the wood boarder then wrapped with batting. I wanted this nailhead trim so we went around the foam border with a staple gun to flatten the batting so the trim would lay flat. It worked! I was using the nailhead trim with every 5th hole that's a nail. Easy and straight! But, it took FOREVER to get the trim the mail! Finally, it was here today and I couldn't wait to finish the headboard.

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Looks amazing! It'll be hanging on the wood soon. Saved about 500 bucks making this for a king size bed!!

Moving onward and upward to the master bedroom

During my marathon pillow making, my hand-me-down 20 year old Singer machine broke. So, here's my super shiny fancy new Viking Emerald 183 machine. It is AWESOME! I can do the basic sewing now but it comes with 2 two hour classes to teach you how to use the machine - SERIOUSLY! WOW! I'm seeing many future projects - one day making dresses for Julia. If you told me even a month ago I'd care about having a sewing machine, I'd think you were crazy. But, I've got the bug to sew! It's fun to see what I can do and I LOVE picking fabrics.

And, here are my choices for my master bedroom. I'll be doing reversible euro pillows with the stipes and floral using the green/white circle fabric for cording and for a center 22 in pillow. The blue geometric will be a 14x36 lumbar pillow in the front. I was inspired by Sarah's House (a HGTV show that is about Sarah redesigning rooms). It's going to look fabulous! Can you tell I'm ready for Spring!!

Family room pillows completed

Finally, I finished the family room pillows. I love them! Most are reversible making it easy to change things up some.

I only have one of my two chairs because one was delivered with a broken leg. Once I get the new one and make my curtains for the bay window, I'll some the finally product. Oh and I'm waiting (seems like it'll never come) for warmer weather to spray paint some vases etc for the shelving that flanks the fireplace.

Kitchen window valence

Here's the before

Gorgeous fabric with all the right colors and more of a cool tone to off set my never ending warm color palate.

I cut a 1x4 to the length on the window. Because I'm hanging it above the casing, I included the wood casing into the measurement. I purchased 1 yard of fabric but you could definitely get away with 1/2 yard especially if you didn't want to pull up the fabric to far.

I sewed drapery backing to the right side of the print fabric on the 3 sides the flipped it like a pillow to create clean lines. I used the whole length of the fabric (I believe it was 50 inches) and created a pleat on each side as you can see below. Then, you staple it into the wood board and hang with L-brackets. Easy enough and very inexpensive. These cost several hundreds if purchased.

I used small plastic circles that I sewed to the back in 2 inch increments to create a roman shade effect. You could buy wood to fit the inside of the window encasement (I probably use a 1x1 board) and use the circles at the far corners to create a totally different look.

And, here's the finished product. Plus, a new shiny fancy faucet:) Next to come is a tile backsplash. I'm thinking of a creamy subway tile with some distressing of the tile edges. Hope I can find it. And, despite pleas from my decorating partner in crime, that job will be left to the professionals. Sorry Deb!

Recovered lamp shade

Old shade wasn't bad but just not quite right for my family room transformation ( which is progressing slow and steady).

Here's another shot of the before shade with Jackson as the lamp base.

And, here's the final product - ta da! I love it! Happened upon this brass lamp base at a thrift store for about $35 -score! It's even a 3 way light. I love the new fabrics golden thread detail and metallic hues with the brass. My husband HATES it! As one of the interior designers said to me while I was choosing fabrics, "that's the sign of a good find". True that!

It seemed like this was just a meant to be project because I found this detailed trim in the perfect colors for 39 cents/yd.

And the cutest decor in the house (along with Jackson), Julia was saying "cheese" while I was documenting the new changes. She's in her favorite PJs - the ball game ones:)

A sneak peak of more things in to come in the family room...

As I previously posted, my new chairs are set to arrive this Thursday. I've been anxiously awaiting them to make some changes in our family room. As you can see below, our ottoman is in a Florida state of mind. We've been in Virginia for 4 years now - it's time to de-palm tree the house! The geometric print in cream and brown will be the top and the silvery blue diamond fabric will be around the bottom with the stripe made into cording. It will look amazing!!

The pillows will be in the fabrics with alternating fabrics for cording and some will have fancy prefab cording.

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I'm going to find spray paint in that silvery blue color and paint some of the decorative vases on the shelves to add more contrast.

Here's another look at my fabric finds - gotta love Williams and Sherrill (especially when there's a 20% off sale!!!)

Table with some old fashion character - literally!

This is a view of the bay window area in our family room. As you can see, it's overrun by kid stuff. I'm reclaiming it as adult! My long awaited chairs from Arhaus are being delivered next week - very excited! I bought them about 8 weeks ago for a great price. They are now nearly double so I got them for almost a 2 for 1 price. I thought about finding used ones then recovering them but Scott has a serious cat allergy that worries me.

Today, on my always anticipated Mom's AM out, my partner in redecorating crime and I found an amazing table at Town and Country (a furniture consignment store I love). I saw it in the window as we pulled up and immediately loved it's shape. From the beginning, I wanted a round or oval table to nestle between my new chairs. Upon closer inspection, it had so much character. As you see above, the top has a old faint portrait of George and Betsy Washington.

The side edge has a flower metal running strip and the top of each leg has a painted bow.

The love the distressed look and shape of the table. It'll set higher than the arm of the chairs but I think it'll add the height the area needs especially with a lamp. I nearly passed on it because my husband now claims I'm added to much antiques. What does he know about decorating?!

Curtain panel becomes valence

I had these velvet dark green curtain panels in their original packages for years. In my last house, I purchased them for pocketing sliding doors. But, they weren't long enough so I just tucked them away. Several times I've considered just putting them up for Goodwill but didn't. Now I'm glad I kept them. I made them into valences for my living room. I didn't even need to sew. I cut them in half and stapled the top to a 2x1 board then L bracketed to the wall. Ok, I did have to sew several plastic circle pieced to the back to create the gathered affect. But, they were made in a matter of hours. I love them! They really polished off the room.

At Work...

This weekend I had my partner in redecorating crime come over so we could move, ponder, and attempt to recreate spaces in my house. It was so much fun! It's amazing what you can do with what you already have. You just have to move it around. We moved chairs, tables, and taped curtain ideas to windows. There was just the occasional yell for mom given that we did this with 4 kids under 5 in the house!

I came out of it with some many ideas and this urgency to find what I need. We later, with 3 of 4 kids (you know who was left at home), went to Izzie's furniture consignment shop. Early in the week, we had gone their to just see what they had and found 2 beautiful club chairs. At that time I wasn't in the market but now my family room chair is in the living room. I have a large bay window in my family room that I want to find 2 club chairs and an oval table two set in the middle with a lamp. The chairs were a pretty bluish green background with fine brown check stitched checks. Perfect to off set the dark brown rug and bring out different accent colors within the rug. Only problem - the fabric is silk! With 2 kids under 5, I don't think so! Needless to say, I'm still on the hunt.

Summertime to-dos

Since I've started blogging, I have been reading other blogs and seems to be attracted to any on decorating. So now, I'm consistently looking at parts of my house to improve. Here's a list on things I'd like to do in the next few months:

1. Get a rug for the kitchen sitting area. It gets full sun so this would protect the wood and it needs some help. Considering valences to add spark.
2. Make, or more likely have made, a valence for the kitchen window. I have been goo-goo eyed over some designs in Calico Corners.
3. Do something with the entry way - new rug, entryway table, and or carpet runner for the stairs.
4. Paint the side garage door and front door.
5. Replace the mailbox.
6. Replace (definitely a hired job) the rotten wood on our porch and paint it.
7. Paint the 1/2 bath off the kitchen and actually decorate it.

That's quite a list for me. Don't know that it'll be complete by the end of the summer. But, looking at what others are doing is inspiring. Promise to add before and afters of the projects:)