Take a Seat

One of my most extensive projects has been re-upholstering a full sized couch. Last summer I was looking for cheap furniture for the home I was moving into and I came across a $15 couch that was just hideous. I told my mom I could turn it into something beautiful, and she was very skeptical about my accusations. Indeed, she was wrong, and I finished a beautiful couch and it looks like new!

As you can tell by reading my posts, I really like Goodwill. I found this couch at Goodwill and it was just in shambles. It was stained and the fabric was falling apart and torn. There wasn't much hope in selling the couch, until I walked in that is. I really liked the shape and style of the couch, so I decided that I was going to reupholster it, and teach myself. The process of getting the couch home, something my mom didn't want to deal with, was a hassle, and added to my mom's doubt.

I had searched and searched for cheap upholstery fabric almost for one whole month and finally I found exactly what I was looking for, and it was on sale! I spent a grand total of $140 on about 16 yards of fabric and 10 yards of cording for the seems. I'd like to see if you could find a brand new couch for any less.

Starting in on this project wasn't as difficult as I thought. I started taking off all of the old fabric, labeling it, so I knew where it came from, and so I could use it as a pattern. Once I got everything torn off, I started cutting my new fabric in pieces to match the patterns. I used a heavy duty stapler to put all my new fabric on (not hard at all). The only hard part about this project was the sewing. I had to sew all the seems together with the cording I bought. You don't have to use cording, but I thought it would sharpen the seams, and make them look more or less unnoticeable. I had a lot of help from my mom and grandma in the sewing department, I could have done it myself, but I have a short fuse when it comes to sewing.

I had huge expectations for this project and thankfully it turned out great. There are a few flaws, but you would only notice them if you were critically analyzing every seem and tuck. I'm so proud of myself for finishing this project without taking any classes and just going by my own instincts. Thanks for my mom and grandma the seams looks wonderful with the cording I just had to have :-)

Bright Idea

Walking through Goodwill I came across a very unique lamp. I thought it was the coolest. Turns out it was only $5, and all it needed was a shade and a few little repairs. I took my new lamp home and started debating how I was going to spiff it up.

The bottom of the lamp is attached to a very solid base made of marble, which was really scratched and unattractive. I began to take the lamp apart so I could re-finish the base. The taking apart process was not that hard and actually beneficial, because I ended up wrapping the whole entire base in a complementary fabric.

Making a few little repairs to something that suits your needs and is additive to your personality is great when you come across such things. Goodwill is the best place to search for unique pieces, I'm so glad that I walked in that day and found my new lamp.

Bathroom Business

I have one roommate which is a she. If anyone knows how much stuff women need to have to get ready in the morning than you would understand the basis of this problem. We have one tiny little bathroom with absolutely no storage space except for a shallow medicine cabinet, which clearly will not hold all of our products. This was a major problem.

The only solution to this problem was going to consist of us investing in a storage unit, and lets face it, who wants to spend money on that, and a lot of it I might add, storage units are expensive! Of course I wanted to go the cheap route, but I also wanted something that was pleasing to look at.

I invested in a wire rack that you have to assemble by using circular connecters and square planes that can attach to eachother to make separate boxes, and ultimately a cheap storage unit. The contents of the box would make 10 to 12 separate units, but I used only two and stacked them on top of eachother. I use the rest of them as well to hold jeans and sweatshirts and other junk.

To make this storage unit more pleasing and just a little bit more interesting I bought some folding storage boxes that are made with fabric to place in the wire storage unit. There were lots of colors to pick from and they weren't very expensive at all. I got two for $11. I went with the neutral colors so it would match our other bathroom decor no matter what color it was. To top this project off I bought a nicer, heavy duty, wicker basket that was lined with the same color used in the folding boxes. I placed this one on top of the unit and we have our radio in there and the things that we both use often, like our blow dryer and flat iron.

So pretty much this unit solved all of our problems for the bathroom situation. We each have a box that we can put all of our products in and it keeps our bathroom tidy.