I finally finished upholstering the arm-chair in my living room, and I really mean “finally” — I started this project in the Fall and got frustrated with it and came up with an excuse to not work on it every weekend after that. But now that it’s done I’m so happy with the final look!

Here’s what the chair looked like before, I pulled back the sun-faded navy fabric and found crazy psychedelic flowers underneath:

And here’s another look at what it looks like after some blood sweat and tears:

 

It’s sad that took me almost a week after I finished painting in my bedroom to get enough natural light to take a good picture of the results! But the rain clouds finally parted and now I can share with you how my weekend project turned out:

Painting the wall behind my bed was so gratifying. $14 worth of paint, one Saturday of work, and it totally transformed the room. I love the color; it’s called Poppyseed, and looks just like it sounds… a near black hue with hints of navy blue.

Here is what the room looked like before, major blah:

And for fun… one more stellar “after”:

Checking one project off the list of course means I’m just thinking about I want to do next… lamp upgrades, a new duvet, and perhaps some art above the bed? I’m never finished!

 

I kept my promise and reworked the old toolbox I bought at Brimfield  into a glamorous jewelry armoire last week. I can’t wait to share the “after” pictures, but first, let’s revisit the “before” picture of the rusty old tool box (this picture doesn’t do it justice, it was pretty banged up and dirty):

After hours of sanding down rust with steel wool (lots of help from a loving boyfriend) and several coats of spray paint later, I have to say, I’m a bit obsessed with how it turned out:

I’m mostly excited because I can’t believe how organized all of my accessories are now! There’s a little surprise on the inside, hot pink felt lining to keep my necklaces from rattling around in the metal drawers:

And to corral all of the teeny-tiny bits of baubles I spray painted an egg crate to match the metal.

It was quite the facelift — from holding to wrenches to cocktail rings!

Finally getting around to sharing the first of my Brimfield refurbishment projects! The story of my nightstands is a long and excruciating one. To start, I searched for nightstands to fit in the small nooks next to my bed for weeks on craigslist to no avail. At Brimfield though, I magically happened upon two matching nightstands, that fit my measurement requirements, and were only $20 each! Here’s what they looked like before:

They needed some love and some new paint and hardware. I found the perfect color, Glidden’s French Grey, and scored an amazing deal on some knobs at anthropologie. I fell for the intricate carvings and worn ivory texture of the knobs. They were perfect! (Or so I thought).

After painting the nightstands, and adding on the hardware — I was, to put it lightly, devastated with the outcome. From far away (as in — at the end of the bed), the knobs looked like unfinished wood and made the grey paint look much more like a blue. They had a shabby-chic-country look and that wasn’t my intention at all.

After some deliberation (and whining and moaning) I settled on changing out the hardware to see if I could “save” the look. I’ve admired ring pulls before and decided to bite the bullet and order them:

The result? A total save — I’m so happy with the new hardware. The grey looks more grey, and the nightstands no longer look like $20 outcasts!

I’m counting down the seconds until the clock hits 5 tonight so I can leave work and run home to tear open the package waiting in my entryway which is filled with several yards of this delicious fabric:

I hope I can manage to paint the frames and reupholster the seats this weekend so I can share some ‘after’ pictures of these craigslist finds next week:

I’m now bartering for blogposts. I promised my good friend Taz (who you may remember from my back to school series) that I would lend her my sewing skills in exchange for her before and after pictures to post.

Taz has a challenge that so many of us apartment dwellers face; a severe lack of kitchen cabinetry. So, to store some of her bigger kitchen items like pots and pans, she’s been using a kitchen cart. The problem? Other than exposing her George Forman grill to the world? Dust. She had to wash the tools before she used them each time, and when time is of the essence to get dinner on the table, that’s the last thing anyone wants to do!

sewing

So with armed with some Alexander Henry fabric, the trusty sewing-machine and a dash of Velcro we transformed this:

cartbefore

Into this:

cartafter

I love the playful print; I think it looks great with her Orla Kiely accessories and brightens up the room! I’m trying now to persuade her to make some valances out of the scraps… in exchange for some before and after pictures of course.

 
 
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