The Most Ridiculous DIY Project I've Ever Attempted.

Normally, when I'm thinking about tackling some kind of DIY project, here's how the process goes:

1. Google "how to do Project XYZ." 

2. Find a few official-looking pages, like from Martha Stewart or HGTV, detailing in 25 steps how to do the project like a professional, with the help of multiple power tools, an unlimited budget, and an army of helpers.  I skip over these pages, because they make it look hard.

3. Find a handful of bloggers who have tackled Project XYZ. These are the pages that make it look fun.  It's usually a blonde, gorgeous housewife whose blog picture features her holding two small children, looking like she had a professional do her hair and makeup.  She will then describe how she did the project in 5 simple steps, with strategic pictures illustrating the most glamorous parts of the process.  

4. Repeat step #3 until I'm delusional enough to think that this is a fun, easy project that I can tackle in one afternoon.

5. Spend my afternoon wandering around Target/Hobby Lobby/Michael's gathering supplies for my project.

6. Come home, tired from the shopping, and turn on the TV.

7. Start project after getting distracted by 30 Rock reruns for an hour.  

8. Give up on project approximately one hour after starting; it's late/my fingers hurt/I'll finish it tomorrow are common excuses.

9. Possibly finish project over the course of the next 3-4 weeks, only because I'm guilt tripped by my supplies lying around the house. 

When thoughts kept coming up about the possibility of reupholstering my green wingback chair, I immediately started Googling.  But I didn't like what I found.  There are a multitude of blogs out there that discuss recovering a wingback chair, don't get me wrong.  But not a single one of them uses the word "easy."  In fact, every single one I read talked about how HARD it was.  And how it was grueling work, and took them weeks longer than they expected, and how their fingers were so sore they couldn't do anything afterwards.  Some of them even said, "I'll never do this again.  I will hire someone to reupholster things in the future."  Considering a reupholstery job professionally costs upwards of $500 for a chair, this is not a good sign.  Initially, I decided I wasn't even going to try.  

Every time I looked at the green chair, though, I couldn't get it out of my head.  It's a great chair -- comfortable and in really great shape.  But the green just doesn't match! I mean, it doesn't look horrible, but it doesn't go with the feel of the room I have in mind at all.  I wanted it to be grey -- a dark charcoal, or a tweed pattern, or maybe even a rich navy blue.  A color that's traditional but goes with the palette I already have in the room.  (And coordinates with my curtains, because those are here to stay.) 

So while I was at Target on Sunday, I looked at different sources of fabric.  I had read that someone on one of the blogs had used a velvet curtain as upholstery fabric.  This intrigued me, so I wandered through the curtain section.  There were a few possibilities in varying shades and textures of grey that I made mental notes of.  Then I stumbled across a clearance aisle in the bedding section full of stuff at 50-75% off.  And there it was.  A sheet set, on clearance from the holidays, in grey "flannel" with a subtle herringbone pattern.  Normally, I wouldn't think a sheet would be thick enough fabric for upholstery, but these are literally the sturdiest sheets I've ever felt.  They're even thicker than the flannel I associate with a flannel shirt, and less fuzzy.  It was $12 for a twin full sheet, fitted sheet, and pillowcase.  I bought them.  And I'm using them to recover my wingback chair.  

This is by far the most ambitious DIY project I've ever faced.  Fair warning: I plan on completely cheating.  In fact, if you have any integrity or care whatsoever about furniture being upholstered the "right way" please don't read any further posts on the topic or you will probably lose all respect for me.  The green fabric is solid, and my fabric is thick enough that there's no risk of anything being see-through, and the foam is in good shape, so I'm recovering it on top of the old fabric.  I briefly thought about making a slipcover, but slipcovers are generally hideous and it looked even harder than just stapling the fabric right on there, so that's what I'm doing.  There's a chance this could turn out terribly, but if it even looks KIND of good -- hey, I'll be able to say I reupholstered a chair for $12!  

Stay tuned. 

xoxo,
allison

March: Front Room

When I was house hunting, there seemed to be several common themes among the various old homes I looked at.
1. Zero closet space.
2. Tiny bathrooms with pedestal sinks and no storage.
3. Multiple living rooms.

Seriously -- I'm not sure exactly how people spent their time back in the 1920s/30s/40s, but judging by the houses they built, they did so much entertaining in all their various living and dining spaces that they never had time to take showers or go shopping.  But I digress.  What I'm getting at here is that I am one person, with a large amount of clothes crammed into tiny closets and a large amount of hair, makeup and beauty products crammed into a tiny bathroom, but I cannot for the life of me figure out what to do with an extra living room.  This room, affectionately termed the "front room," has morphed into a de facto study space for me over the last 6 months or so.  I actually have a desk in the kitchen, but it's so cluttered with bills, to-do lists, etc. plus it's in the middle of a usually-messy kitchen, so it's not the most calm space to focus on studying.  I've also been figuring out that I need to be doing a lot more studying for work while I'm at home, so my goal is to try to make this room a gorgeous and peaceful study space so I can actually focus and get something done every once in awhile.   I just snapped some pictures of what it looks like right now, with zero cleaning or decluttering, so get ready...

Study corner. Notice the pile of random mail on that end table that's awkwardly in front of the window.   Also notice the Clorox wipes (why?) and random cups everywhere.  This stresses me out just to look at it. 

Comfy chair in the corner.  This desperately needs an ottoman and for that side table to be moved next to it.  Also I really want to recover the chair one day...

This is my knockoff Closetmaid version of the Ikea Expedit shelf.  I kind of hate it.  The cubes aren't big enough to store magazines or papers or anything useful, and I just have random crap in there now.   It looks terrible, I know.  Also, I feel like the lonely poster just doesn't belong up there... 

Instead of a list of goals, I'm going to make lists of things I love about the space and things I hate about the space.  

THINGS I LOVE

1. The curtains.  I'm obsessed.  They may be the single house-related purchase I'm most proud of in the entire world.  I was randomly looking at the scrap fabric table at Old Time Pottery about a year ago and came across this Jonathan Adler fabric (!!) for $5 a yard.   FIVE DOLLARS A YARD, YOU GUYS.  This stuff retails for like, $60 and above per yard.  And there was just enough to make curtains with a little leftover.  So I did, and they're fabulous, and they make me feel like I deserve a whole room full of designer things so they don't pale in comparison to these curtains. 

2. The Prada sign.  If anyone watches Gossip Girl, you know what this is about.  My friend Kandace and I decided to make our own versions, so we did, and it was basically the first thing I put on the wall after I moved into this place. 

3. The cute little mini crystal chandelier. 

THINGS I HATE 

1. Clutter. Enough said. 

2. That my cube shelf isn't an Expedit.  I go on Ikea's website and drool over the white Expedit at least once a week.  I'm already brainstorming a way I can get one here for less than it would cost me to drive five hours to Atlanta to buy this. 

3. That I am afraid to try reupholstering that green chair.  It's great and super comfy, but I wish it was a charcoal gray color or a navy blue.  But even the "super easy" Internet tutorials on how to do this give me heart palpitations. 

4. That I have no good system for storing office supplies.  I have the file cabinet for papers, but I don't have a good place to keep the random stuff you need like staplers, hole punches, etc.  Or do I really need that stuff? What do I actually NEED in my home office? It's probably a whole lot less than whatever is filling up that giant "OFFICE" box in my guest room, I can tell you that much. 

That's all for now.  I'm brainstorming a few fun things to get started on this week, so I will keep you posted!  And stay tuned for a post summarizing my February mini-project in the next day or two! 

xoxo,
Allison