Reupholstered Wingback Recliner

This thrifted wingback recliner was a steal!  Although hard on the eyes, it was very comfortable!  Definitely worth the reupholstery, considering the chair costed $15, and the upholstery fabric was purchased with a 50% off coupon for only $32!  Great deal for a comfortable chair!  Here's the ugly early 90's era pink chair BEFORE:

And here is the AFTER!  Let me preface, the chair that I did before was MUCH easier!!  This one was much harder, and it was due to the fact that it is a very high quality and well put together chair.  In order to reupholster, you have to take all of the original covering off, which in this case was VERY difficult because it was so well put together.  Also, the recliner mechanisms add another layer of difficulty to get around.  I'm not as happy with the quality of the results as I was with my previous chair, but I think the color and the new life look GREAT!  It was HARD work this time!  I don't see myself recovering another chair for awhile....

In the end, the before and after pics next to each other show me that it was worth the $47 dollars to purchase and hours of labor to re-do this chair and to have a custom piece for our new office!  What do you think?

Reupholstered Dining Set

Our lovely dining set was purchased for a whopping $150 from Walmart.com.  Although it may not be the most fancy set, it has been worth the money ALL the way!  It has lasted beautifully, and there are no scratches on the table top at all, even though we use it regularly and it was purchased over a year ago.  However, the chair covers are starting to look a little ragged.  The fabric is some sort of microfiber, but they do not have the cleaning power of high quality microfiber.  The photo doesn't even give the dirt justice:

The part that was bothering me the most was that the cushions were the same color as our walls!  No color whatsoever in our dining area.  So, to change that, I chose a bright orange color!

On a scale of 1 to 10 for difficulty, I would rate this project a 2!  Anyone can do it!  All I had to do was to remove the meager two screws that held in the cushions (I'm sure higher quality furniture is a little harder to remove), lay out my fabric face down on a table with a layer of batting over it, lay the cushion over it, cut it 3 inches around it, and then staple tightly to the back of the cushion.  No sewing required.  You don't even need the quilt batting if your cushions are already "cushy" enough for your tastes.

This was 54 inch home decor fabric on sale for $9.99 on Joanns.com, and I only needed one yard for my cushions, plus I had a coupon for free shipping!  I already had the staple gun, staples, and leftover quilt batting so this project only costed $10.90 with tax!  Not a bad deal, huh?

Doggie Silhouette Art

Man, we LOVE our dogs!  We are almost border-line creepy loving our dogs.... just kidding... kind of.  Big surprise, though, we have no photos of them on our walls.  Although they are super-cute in real life photos, a more modern look was appealing to me.  So, I painted these cute canvases to show their cuteness off!  If you have met our dogs, you know that these canvases look JUST like them!

The hardest part about this project was getting them to sit still to get a photo that worked.  Although we have hundreds of ADORABLE photos of them, unless they're standing at a perfect profile, they just look like lumps in a silhouette.  For example: this photo is probably the cutest thing you've ever seen, but the outline is just a blob:

So here are the photos I went with, after finally getting them to sit still long enough to take one: 

As I was researching ways to take a photo and turn it into a silhouette, I came across many different ways.  Some people used a photo altering program to create an outline on the computer and erase everything else, and I tried that, but it was not so good.  My canvases were larger than printer paper, so just printing it and cutting it out was not an easy option (plus we're ALWAYS out of ink when I need it haha.)  The remedy came when I realized that our computer screen (really my husband's) is almost as big as my canvases, (I know, a bit excessively large, something like 23 inches,) but he's a software engineer, so what would you expect?  So I cropped the photos and opened them where they showed full screen, then taped tissue paper directly to the screen and traced it lightly with pencil.  Then I cut out the tissue paper, taped it onto the canvas, traced it onto the canvas, and then painted it with acrylic paint.  

I do not recommend using metallic paint for this project: it looks nice, but it was way too hard to hide the brush strokes, as you can see in the top painting;  the brown matte paint turned out looking much more professional, because the canvas was able to absorb it better.

Total project cost: $5.50:  I got the canvases on sale in a two pack, with a 40% off coupon!  All I needed was two small bottles of acrylic which were on sale for 97 cents each!  I ended up going back the next day to buy the same size canvas and covered it with left over fabric from some throw pillows I made.  Turned out looking great!

DIY Kitchen Remodel!!

Our kitchen needed help.  With only a little budget.  Luckily, we were blessed to buy a home that had already upgraded to granite, and that had excellent stainless appliances.  Why they could afford granite but stuck with these cabinets is beyond me... but here's the before and after:

It's amazing what a little sanding, staining, and new hardware can do!  Now, I'm not going to say it wasn't hard!  Here's a photo of the mess "during"

But it all paid off, and here's more after pics!  We are now super proud of our kitchen, especially with all the work we put into it!  Here's more after photos, plus photos of our finishing touches: drapes, table, and wall accessories:

Check out my cute dogs there :)

SO, bottom line: totally worth the money and time invested!

Antique Furniture Flip

For me, this awesome antique sideboard was a huge steal!  I found it at a local antique store for only $180!  It was in great condition, and has tons of storage!  It had much lighter colors than we have going in our house, so I wanted to stain over the old color.  However, it turns out that the finish was a very thin veneer, and could not be sanded down.  So instead, I painted it!  The sideboard was originally two-toned, so I left the darker color original, and spray painted the lighter color dark.  I think it turned out pretty good!! This piece would easily be over $400 if it was new, so I would say it definitely was a steal!

Cute DIY Skirt

Last week, I decided to get extra crafty and make myself a skirt.  I'm not a huge fan of using patterns, so instead I started researching for ones others had made for inspiration.  I found this great example on Pinterest, and decided to give it a try!  http://vievesscrapbooking.blogspot.com/2010/08/party-skirt-tutorial.html

Here's my version!  The best thing about it is that it was very inexpensive!  I was able to finish it with only one yard of fabric, purchased for $6.49 on sale!  With that being said, the only scrap I had left over after was a little sliver no larger than an inch wide, so I might suggest buying a little more.  Because I ran out of fabric, I had to make my bow a little smaller.  I also used metal clasps on the side instead of a zipper, mostly because I didn't feel like putting in a zipper.  Let me know what you think!

Modern Painted Canvas

As those of you who know me can attest, I am a cheapskate.  Totally willing to admit it.  Therefore, when it comes to accessorizing my home, I go for all the deals I can get.  So, to create a sofa painting, I bought a blank canvas at Hobby Lobby (at 60% off, I might add...) and painted it myself.  For this painting, I painted the entire back orange, then covered it with painter's tape and painted brown on top.  My lines are nowhere near straight, much less perfection, but when an art curator asks me, I will simply say that it symbolizes the organized chaos in my life.  Yeah, right...

Hawaiian Barbecue Chicken

 Looking for a quick, delicious dinner that looks like you worked hours on it?  Hawaiian Barbecue Chicken!

Here's how I whipped it up:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. barbecue sauce
3 T. ketchup
1 T. teriyaki sauce
1 t. garlic powder
8 oz. can chunk pineapple in juice
8 small to medium chicken breasts
(or 4 large chicken breasts)


To make the sauce, combine barbecue sauce, ketchup, teriyaki sauce, garlic powder, and the juice from the pineapples.  Reserve 1/2 c. for garnishing.  Brush the sauce on both sides of the chicken, place on a hot outdoor grill approximately 7 minutes per side, or until done.  Be careful not to overcook.  Brush more sauce onto the chicken as it cooks, and each time you flip it.  To serve, place pineapples on top and drizzle on the remaining sauce.

I served this up with some zucchini cakes and steamed broccoli. Simple, and oh-so-delicious!

Tutorial: Quilted Nook Case

I got a Nook for my birthday last year, and it has been so wonderful!  I love reading on it, and I love bringing it around with me to read whenever I get a chance.  Since I take it out so much, I have been wanting a cover for it to keep it protected.  Instead of going out and buying one in the $20 range, I decided to use scrap fabrics I had laying around, and make it for practically ZERO!  Much better deal!! Here's the steps I took:

First, I cut out two squares for the back of the cover.  

two layers for the back

Then, I cut out two layers in a box the shape of the front cover.

two layers of a rectangle for the front

Add batting to the middle of the two rectangle layers, then pin and sew the inside box.

pinned with batting in the middle, inside seam sewn

 Add batting between the back pieces, with right sides facing out, then pin both the rectangle front and the back together, and sew around the outside of the front rectangle.

Lay these two pieces together, then pin

Sew together on the outside of the front rectangle, as shown

Trim all excess, to look like this
(Note: I do not like the way this puckers like this, I would have done it differently to make it not pucker on the sides.  It needed a little more seam allowance on the left and right sides)

Finished case without cover

To create the cover, cut two rectangles the size of the front plus seam allowance, place them right sides together, then place batting on top.  Sew around the perimeter, then turn inside out.  When turned inside out, the batting will be in the middle of the two pieces of fabric.

Two layers of fabric, right sides together, with batting on top.  Sewn around, leaving a few inches to turn inside out.

After I turned the front cover inside out, I sewed a top stitch around the edges, sewed it to the top of the nook cover, then added embellishments in a contrasting color.

Finished front cover, sewn to the top of the inside cover

Finished nook case, with cover flipped up

Finished nook case!

Ruffled Onesie Baby Dress

It seems like ruffles have been popping up everywhere recently, on comforters, pillows, tops, and very cute dresses!  So, here's my rendition in an adorable baby dress.

Front

Back

Back of Skirt

Front Close-up

This dress turned out wonderful in so many ways!   It was inexpensive to make. I used fabric on sale, and only needed 1/8 of a yard per color (1/4 for the main skirt print), which came out to about $4 in fabric, about $1 for the black elastic at the waist, and about $2 for the onesie, which I could have gotten even cheaper in bulk.

 It was also pretty simple sewing!  I left the onesie intact, which is nice because it serves to keep it on the baby and also to cover the diaper.  All I had to do to create the skirt was to cut a rectangle in the main skirt fabric: the height of the rectangle is the desired length of the skirt, and the width is double the width of the onesie. Then I gathered the top of it, and sewed it on to the onesie at the right place.  I cut out a V-shape in the back of the skirt, and sewed the gathered ruffles onto another rectangle of fabric, then tacked that rectangle of fabric into place in the hole I cut.  Then finished it with the elastic over the top and a flower to cover the seam in the elastic.

Quilted Coffee Cozy

So my newest quilting endeavor is learning how to free motion quilt on the machine.    I never even knew you could lower the feed dogs on the machine, and certainly had never tried it before.   But you never know until you try!!  So, down they went!  I started practicing by creating practice sandwiches of scrap fabric with batting in the middle.  I found that it takes a lot of practice to get uniform stitch length.  Upon further research, I found that using a darning foot on the machine would work much better.  I purchased one on line, and that helped a lot.  After practicing many styles on many different sandwiches, I decided to get started on a real project, and knew I needed to start small.  So here's what I completed:

It has turned out to be pretty challenging to get uniform stitch lengths.  Although the instinct is to go slow on the machine, I have found that it is actually better to go faster while moving the fabric around at a uniform slow speed.  Although I still have some practicing to do before I'm ready to tackle the task of free motion quilting on an entire quilt, I feel like I'm one step closer to the project!

Argyle Baby Boy Quilt

Quilting has become one of the new skills I have been teaching myself.  I decided to start small.  This cute quilt was created using an easy applique method, with no real "quilting" besides attaching the appliques.

This quilt turned out to be super easy.  I started with a brown square of cotton, sewed a strip of the plaid to the top and bottom, then cut out the diamonds from different fabrics.  I went ahead and added the layer of batting, and a layer of baby blue flannel to the back.  

I wanted it to be puffy looking, so i didn't use any iron-on adhesive or finishing to the diamonds, just pinned them on and sewed twice around them, all the way through the 3 layers, so that the applique actually served as the "quilting."  I did the same for the strips of ribbon that go across the diamonds.  Then, I finished it with pre-made double-fold bias tape binding.

I hope to get into more challenging sewing methods, quilting methods, and binding methods, but for one of my first quilts, not too bad, huh?

Reupholstered Wingback Chair

One of the many sticker-shocks I have experienced upon beginning our new life together is the price of furniture!  Finding the perfect piece to fit in with what you already have and what your future plans on is hard enough, and add on the overwhelming price of that perfect piece, and a wave of sheer disappointment lurches over the happy moment.  So I have made it my mission to find out how to make furniture, and re-vamp old furniture that's past its prime.  Here's my first shot at it:

So, what do you think?   I think it turned out pretty good for my first try!  I still have to paint the legs, but it was SUPER cold the day I did this project, so I'm waiting for a nicer day.  

It turns out reupholstering furniture is not that hard.  It takes a lot of patience, creates sore hands and fingers, and was a serious pain at times, but it didn't take too long, and I think it gets a lot of bang for the buck of a few yards of fabric.

BOTTOM LINE: I definitely see reupholstering being a new part of my future.