Recovered Dining Room Chairs

I've managed to get a few project done between having the baby and moving. One of those things is recovering the dining room chairs. We got a great deal on our dining set, which included a china hutch, buffet, table with 2 leaves and 6 chairs. Everything's made out of really nice dark wood. The only problem was the fabric on the chairs. It was white! So, in a step towards getting my red, white and turquoise dining room, I recovered the chairs with a red and white floral pattern.

Here's the before:Oh the stains! Here's the after:Please ignore the boxes and all the mess. We finally moved on Saturday and haven't really had time to unpack yet. I will be taking pics of the new house and posting them as soon as I get some order in this chaos!

I actually got the fabric at Walmart. It's cotton duck and stain resistant. I couldn't believe my good luck! To recover them, I simply unscrewed the four screws holding on the seat. I did this the lazy way and just put the new fabric right over the old stuff. I cut the fabric roughly to shape, pulled it tight and stapled gunned the hell out of it. That's it! Then screw the seat back on and you have brand new looking chairs!

I hope to be able to post pics of the house next week.

Happy Crafting!

Inspiration Board: Bedroom

Time for a new inspiration board for our new house! This time it's the master bedroom. I have had a blue and yellow color scheme in our bedroom for quite some time. However, I'm excited to "spruce up" the decorations by adding in some new things. First, I want to give you an idea of what I already have. I have a collection of cobalt blue bottles similar to these (only antique):*Source

I also have a few yellow pottery pieces. Both collections can be seen in this post. I'll need a rug, as all three bedrooms in the house have hardwood floors. Here's a few I like:*Source

*Source

Here's a great option for bedside table lamps:
*Source

Here's some overall room designs:
*Source

*Source

The more inspiration boards I put together, the more I want to decorate. I can't wait to get started!

Happy Crafting!

Inspiration Board: Kitchen

So for the next week or so, I'm going to be making up inspiration boards for decorating the new house. I finally get to paint and I am super excited!

This first board is for the kitchen. I already have started putting red and white in the kitchen we have now. I've always wanted to do the red and turquoise color scheme somewhere. Then I thought why not do that color scheme in the kitchen? I was thinking of doing it in mostly red and white with turquoise accents here and there. One of the walls in the new kitchen is already painted red.

I just realized that my dishes fit in perfectly with the scheme. (Why did I not think of this before!) Here's what those look like:
*These are from the Sophie Conran for Portmeirion Collection in celedon. I might have to consider glass front cabinets some day!

Here's some inspiration:

A retro looking take on the color scheme:*Source

A great table setting:
I love this rug idea using upholstery webbing and binding:

*Source for both

I do have a deck off the kitchen and this set from Crate and Barrel looks great!*Source

I also love this rug:
*Source

Wouldn't this look pretty on the table?:*Source

I can't wait to get started on decorating my new house! I will be doing more inspiration boards for the new house as time allows. How soon I'll actually decorate those rooms is another story!

Happy Crafting!

More Good News

The good news keeps rolling out today! In the midst of having a baby this last month, D and I were contacted by the sellers of the house we were going to buy before the rug got pulled out from under us by the bank. It turns out they are desperate to sell this house to us. So, long story short, we negotiated with them to purchase the home on a Contract for Deed. (I'm a lawyer, so I know what that means, but here's the best quickie definition I've found for it.) In a nutshell, it means we are getting a house! :) I'm so happy. Because I can't resist, here's two very bad quality pics from the listing:

Front:
Back:I guess this will be another happy chapter to add to Through the Wringer! Although looking back, I guess it's been more like up and down the roller coaster! ;)

I never got too much done to spruce up our rental home due to having the baby. And now, as of May 21st, I will be busy sprucing up our new home. I can't wait. I need to go start picking out paint colors and buying rugs for the bedrooms ( all 3 have hardwood floors!). I'll be sharing stuff as we go. We probably won't tackle any big projects (like finishing the basement or rearranging the kitchen) this first year, but those are things that are on our list to do in the future.

Be prepared to see some inspiration boards worked up very soon!

Happy Crafting!

My Latest Project

So...in case you haven't noticed, I've been absent for awhile (you know, like a month!) The reason for this is that I've been extremely busy with my latest project. Here she is:

That's my little pumpkin shortly after arriving.

Here's a slightly more recent pic of our family:
Here's the stats for those that are interested. She was born on April 5th at 4:00 a.m. She weighted 8 lbs 0.8 oz and was 20 inches long. We are so excited to have her finally here! I've been off for the last month on maternity leave. I've been enjoying her so much I've barely put in any time on the internet. I apologize for the lack of posting, but some things are just more important to me, and spending as much time with my pumpkin is one of them. I am hoping to get back on track with a schedule now once again. Thanks for hanging in there! I will be posting with some more good news hopefully later today.

Happy Crafting!