Before and after -- master bedroom

I haven't done any house tour photos for a while, so I thought I'd share a few of our master bedroom.  It's definitely still a work in progress, but it's coming along.  Here is the "before" picture, taken probably about a year and a half ago:

And here is the little plan I drew up, illustrating the changes I wanted to make:

And here it is today:

I recovered this chair in Waverly's "Garden Lattice" fabric.  This was my first upholstery project, so it was a trial-and-error process, often mostly error.  :)

 

Yet another DIY project: Check out how I dyed these lampshades here.

 The room setup hasn't changed, but I did swap out the big comforter for a coverlet instead.  I made a white linen duvet cover that we use with a down comforter in the colder months.

We have these white faux-wood blinds in all of our front windows, and I really like them.  From the street, they give the house exterior a nice, consistent look.

I know a lot of people don't like having a TV in the bedroom because of the temptation to keep it on all the time, or because watching TV right before bed can make it harder to fall asleep. We don't use it all that much, but it is nice to let James watch Saturday morning cartoons with us or turn on the news while getting ready in the morning.  The framed etchings here were a terrific flea market find.

I keep this little bowl from Anthroplogie on my nightstand.  Mostly I use it for barrettes and hair clips, but for some reason I always have this little kid's toy watch in here too.

I made the headboard--it's a faux leather fabric that is very easy to keep clean.  I worry about a fabric headboard getting too dusty after a while.

I am thinking that I would eventually like to replace the coverlet and dust ruffle with a custom-fit bedspread, probably in a beige linen that is close to the wall color.  I wouldn't mind going with mostly solid fabrics and getting rid of the more patterned chair and pillow fabrics.  I only have the aqua curtains because we needed to buy something for a home show, but I would prefer less color in the room.  So we'll see, there may be another "after" post sometime in the future!

Before and after -- watercolor painting

 I bought this watercolor at a flea market last week.  The tag taped to it read, "Woman in New York," which I think is probably incorrect, though I'm not exactly sure what the setting is.  I tried to research the artist but was unable to dig up anything definitive (the signature says "Marchetto," in case that name is familiar to anyone).

The frame was unremarkable, so I bought a new frame and decided to paint the mat with the same acrylic paint that I used on these etchings to transform the speckled gray mat into a matte ochre that brought out the bits of yellow in the dress worn by the woman in the foreground.  Below, the requisite "before" and "after" pics...

Before

After

I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.  In its previous frame, all that gray made the watercolor look dull, but the new ochre mat and the wider frame together draw more attention to the painting's subtle colors, and I think the light blue wall color complements it well.  Total cost for this project: $14 ($6 for painting, $8 for frame and paint, both on sale at Michael's).  Not bad for a classic New York skyline!  :)

Before and after: backyard patio

 Last week we took advantage of the mid-week holiday to get some work done on our backyard patio.  We were never happy with our original 10' x 10' concrete patio; it was too small, both functionally and proportionally for the size of our yard.  Rather than pay to have it torn up and re-poured, we decided to add large 16" x 24" concrete pavers around the edges of the patio.  This gave us an additional 4 feet in width across the patio, which not only looks better, but also means guests won't fall into the grass when pushing back a patio chair.

Here are the steps we used:

 First, we used our electric edger to create a line around the outside edge of the new patio pavers.  Then, we used a hoe to pull up all the sod, digging down a bit deeper than the depth of the pavers.

Next, we spread a layer of sand on top of the soil and used a straightedge to smooth out the sand.  We placed the pavers one by one, being sure to align and level them with the existing patio and with each other.  We thankfully only needed to cut three pavers, and we used our tile saw for this part.

When the pavers were all in place, I swept sand over and between them.  I'll probably go back and repeat this step in a couple weeks once all the existing sand settles.  The process was really tiring, but we were able to complete it in one day.  It was super hot last week, so we drank tons of water and sports drinks and tried to stay upbeat with some music (speakers tucked in the little bit of shade between the plants on our patio table).

James used the slip 'n slide and buckets of water to stay cool.

Here is the area before and after the new pavers:

Before:

After:

Obviously, we changed more than just the patio size.  We've also been doing some landscaping, painting our deck, etc.  I'll try to do a backyard before and after post when we're finished with all the changes.  We are looking forward to getting a lot more use out of the improved space!

Boy's bed: before and after

I have been doing some rearranging in J's bedroom (see the initial setup here).  Now that he's older, we raised his bed higher by putting his boxsprings back on his bed frame.

Here's what it looked like before:

And here it is after:

I covered the boxsprings with a mattress pad and a fitted black sheet.  The blue quilt is from Target, and the colorful duvet cover and sham are from IKEA.

The quilt is not very thick, but I think it would work well as a single layer during the summer or underneath a duvet for the winter.  I like the washability of the IKEA duvet cover, but the colors are really bright, so I think it looks better folded up at the end of the bed.

I hope to get his room finished soon, so I'll post more pictures then!

Before and after -- bench slipcover

It's been a while since I've had the time to complete a sewing project.  The key word in the previous sentence is "complete," because I have started many projects.  In fact, Josh looked around the house this weekend and said, "There are piles of fabric everywhere!"  This was true, and I also have plastic sacks full of matching spools of thread and invisible zippers and yards of trim.  My sewing is progressing at such a slow pace in part because I refuse to pay full price for anything from the fabric store.  By the way, pillow forms will be on sale for 54% off (good price!!) at Hancock's Fabrics starting this Thursday, so I will hopefully get around to making a few throw pillows this weekend.

In the meantime, I did (finally!) complete this little bench makeover.  I already had some green tweed-like upholstery fabric, so I decided to make a slipcover for a bench we already had and use it in the living room for some additional seating.  Here are a couple before and after pictures.  In case you're interested in the step-by-step process, I'll post pictures below.

Before

After

The "how to" steps:

 Materials: foam (I used 2-inch foam), fabric, and piping.  See how bored the dog is by my ongoing projects and the photographing of these projects?

 I ended up using three packets of this pre-made piping, although you could easily make your own if you want to do self-welt or want something more custom-looking.

To cut the foam, use a serrated knife or (if you have one) an electric carving knife.

 Here is the foam cut to fit the top of the bench.  I also added a couple layers of light batting just to bring in a little more cushiony feel.  (And in case you're wondering, yes, my son is wearing a long-sleeve thermal shirt that says "Snowy Peaks Mountain: Fresh Hot Cocoa."  It was 90 degrees outside at the time.)

 Cut all your pieces of fabric: one for the top, and a few to piece together for the skirt of the slipcover.

 I cut the top of the bench out first, leaving an extra half-inch all around for seam allowance.  I pinned the piping to the top, carefully keeping it right at the edge.  Then sew this piping on to keep it in place.

 After sewing on the first piece of piping at the top of the seat, I sewed together four panels to make a box around the top of the foam.  I sewed this band to the top of the seat, then pinned on another piece of piping, again leaving about a half an inch at the bottom for the seam allowance.

 Next, I sewed together the skirt itself.  Unless you're using a fabric with no discernible vertical or horizontal pattern (in which case you can just run a length of the fabric all around the skirt without seams--called railroading), you will probably have to sew together a few pieces of fabric to make the skirt.  I pinned the skirt fabric to the bench before sewing to make sure that the seams would be hidden within the corner pleats.  Then just sew them together in one big band and iron your seams open.

Once the skirt has been sewn together, pin it to the top of the slipcover and fold in pleats wherever you want them.  Carefully sew the two pieces together, making sure to stay as close to the piping as possible to get a nice, clean look.  Once everything has been sewn together, hem the skirt by folding up some fabric, pressing, then folding again to get to the correct hem length.  (You can hem the skirt before sewing it to the rest of the slipcover, but I like to wait till the end because measuring isn't my strength and I'd rather not have to correct a mistake at this point!)

 The finished slipcover has two lengths of brown piping running around the top and bottom of the seat, with a pleat on each corner.  I may sew some strips of fabric with velcro underneath to make the top of the slipcover more taut, and I'm thinking of adding some sort of tie at the corners just to reign in the heavy upholstery fabric.

And here's the final look: the bench neatly fits a spot in the corner of the living room.  Right now we're using it to hold magazines and books, but we could easily pull it out to seat one or two people when we have company.  Also, what do you think of the chairs?  I decided to use the ivory slipcovers for now because I don't think it will be a huge pain to remove them for cleaning periodically.  Do we like the ivory/tan/green/brown color scheme going on here or not?  I think we need a new lamp with a darker shade, but we had this floor lamp already so it will do for now.

Before & After - Filing cabinet

In our slow transformation of one of our bedrooms into a home office, we've added a couch and a new desk.  Next up: a filing cabinet.  I bought a basic black filing cabinet but was looking for a way to make it stand out less, so I decided to paint it the same color as the desk.  This was a pretty fast project; I painted it in an afternoon, let it dry overnight, and had it back in the office the following day.

Here is what I started with: a new filing cabinet (although since you're going to be painting it, an old one would work just fine too).

For this project I used some newspaper and frog tape, a Kilz primer (although I probably would have used Zinsser if the store would have had it in stock), and a couple cans of Rustoleum white gloss enamel spray paint.

First step: tape off all the parts you don't want painted (since this is spray paint, it will go everywhere, so take time to thoroughly cover everything.)  In case you're wondering, I popped out the plastic handles and taped behind the opening, then sprayed the handles separately.

Next, I applied one coat of spray primer.  This actually changed the surface from being smooth and glossy to a little more "grippy" or sandpapery, which I liked.  Read the product description carefully; this type of primer needed to dry for over an hour, so I applied it, moved the cabinet into the shade, and went back inside to let it dry.

After a couple hours of drying time (it was a humid day), I went back outside and applied two light coats of white spray paint.  To get a less blotchy look, start spraying off the surface and then move evenly across the surface, slightly overlapping your last line.  Also, try to maintain the same distance between the spray paint can and the surface so the paint isn't thicker in some places than others.  I was glad I took the time to carefully tape off my cabinet; the lock and the sides of the drawers show that the frog tape works well--there was no leaking of paint underneath the tape.

The white matches the color of the desk very closely; here you can see the two pieces of furniture side by side.

I may still go back and add a couple coats of clear poly just to even out the finish and make it a bit more durable, but I'm pretty happy with the final product.  Here are a couple before and afters of the filing cabinet in its new place in our office:

Before

 After

Doesn't that look better?  I feel like having the desk and filing cabinet the same color makes them look more like a set, and the white makes them look less obtrusive in the room.  In fact, I am feeling more organized just looking at all that white!

How to dye a lampshade

 

A while back I found a pair of these ceramic figurine lamps, likely made in Japan during the 1950s.  They have brass bases and depict a man carrying flowers and a watering can and a woman holding a basket of flowers.  I thought they were fun and liked the bright colors of the figures' clothing.  However, I was not really into the color of the lampshades.  They were in okay condition but looked a little dingy, so I decided to experiment with dyeing them.

Here are the two lamps and shades before I cleaned them up. 

I started by vacuuming the shades and the figures; then I got out a damp cloth and gently wiped the dust and dirt off the lamp.

For dye, I mixed together two Dylon colors: amazon green and ocean blue.  There was no big reason why these were chosen.  My son and I went to the fabric store and he chose one color and I chose another.  He was set on blue lampshades and I wanted green, so we compromised, bought one packet of each, and mixed them together.

Supplies you will need for dyeing fabric:

A bowl, bucket, or stainless steel sink

Salt

Packages of dye (look at package to see how many you will need)

Warm water

Spoon for stirring

Rubber gloves

Measuring cups and spoons

A place to let the fabric drip dry (and a dye-proof surface underneath to catch any drips)

Timer

 First we mixed together the two colors of dye, being careful to use an equal amount of each.

Then I followed the directions on the dye packet and washed the lampshades and left them to dry a little bit in the sink.

In the meantime I mixed together the dye with the recommended amount of warm water in a large stainless steel bowl.

I then added the salt (it's a good idea to measure it out ahead of time) and more warm water to the needed depth.  Keep mixing until all the grit of the salt and dye is gone.

I added the first lampshade to the dye.  It didn't cover the shade completely, so I rotated it periodically.  Set a timer and be prepared to stand there and stir for a while.

 After the dyeing time was up, I washed out the remaining dye and repeated the whole process with the second lampshade.

Here they are drying in the kitchen sink.  The colors obviously look more muted than the packets of dye would lead you to expect.  This is partly due to the lampshade fabric (the dye takes better on natural fabrics) and to the amount of water I used to dilute the dye to help cover the lampshades.

Let the fabric dry for a while (it look mine a good day to completely dry out).  The color did even out more as it dried, although there are still a few places where the dye is uneven (which I expected since this is old fabric and probably synthetic of some kind). 

So here is the finished product:

BEFORE

 AFTER

What do you think?  I think they look much better, and I'm pretty happy with the shades.  I may eventually replace them, but I like the shade and size, and the blue-grey color goes well in my house.