"Recycled Chic" Ottoman rescue!

Well, hello there! I know I haven't blogged here for quite some time, and for that, I apologize. Life sure can take you on a journey, can't it? Well, I'm really going to try to get my projects underway and get them out to you here. I am! Really!

I've just been putting a lot of time into other things that made their way to the top of my list. Family affairs always come first, and I've been writing on my other blog confessionsofathinkaholic each week. It centers me, and that is precisely what I needed. 

But! I've got several projects that I want to share, so let's get right to it...

So, here is project #1. 

We had a hand-me-down 1970's footstool/Ottoman. I always wanted to cover it, but never found the fabric. Well, Noah and I decided it was time to get at least one small project done, to further freshen up the look of the living room, so we went hunting for some fabric. 

Coupons and sales papers in hand, we commenced the search for the perfect pattern. 

Noah found it. 

I've gotta hand it to him, though. I absolutely LOVE it! It was on sale for 50% off at Hancock fabrics. 100% cotton upholstery fabric. We only needed one yard, luckily, and paid only $12. 

That was our only cost, as we had everything else on hand. I'll tell you what we did, step-by-step, but I just wish I had thought to take pictures along the way. (See what slacking gets you? I went from taking pictures of everything to forgetting to take any at all!!)

The best I can do is describe this beautiful creature to you...

It was brown velvety corduroy,  all worn out and threadbare. It had the 'piping' trim all around. And the padding was completely flattened out. But the legs were in great shape. 

We started by cutting the piping off with a sharp pair of scissors, very close to the seam line. It didn't matter how it looked, really; I was covering it up. I have a TON of quilters batting on hand (and I do mean a ton. So much, in fact, that I gave some away at our last yard sale. I did, because it was given to me for free and I needed room in storage for other stuff, plus...freebies at a yard sale do wonders for business ;) 

Anyway, I laid out a couple of layers of that: a "long on all sides" piece, then a piece that was just slightly larger than the top of the stool to give the top that rounded soft look, and turned my stool over, centering it right on the batting. I then pulled one side at a time of the longer batting just to the bottom edge of the stool and stapled, continuing around until I was satisfied. I trimmed off the excess, and that part was done. It was nice and fluffy.

Next, I took my printed fabric and centered it over the top of my stool. This took a little while as I was not satisfied with where the pattern was laying. When I got it where I wanted, I carefully flipped it over. This is not as hard as it sounds, the fabric is 'see through'. I just made sure it was straight. I pulled the front and back up, and put one staple in it to hold it.

Then we took it outside.

We used the air compressor and staple gun to do the rest. I unscrewed the legs and continued to pull and staple all around--equal on all sides, making sure not to cause any puckering. I left the corners for last. Tucking that much material into square corners can be tricky. And, as this is the first time I've ever done this, I just played with it a little until it looked good, and trimmed where I needed to, and stapled the dickens out of it, nice and tight.

One thing though...be sure NOT to staple your fabric over the holes that your legs get screwed back into or bunch too much fabric around there or you won't be able to get the legs on. But, before you do that, you should staple, or even glue, if you want, a backing on to cover the fabric edges and make your project have that 'finished' look. You can use muslin, but most fabric stores sell the black mesh fabric that you find on the bottoms of chairs and ottomans.

Next, make little holes in the fabric for your legs, screw the legs back in as is, or paint them out. And enjoy your new ottoman! Do you know how much these go for in retail?! Here's one from Target (I didn't even shop "expensive"!) It's close enough to mine, I think...or am I flattering myself? And what would have happened to this had I thrown it out...landfill city! And we don't need that. Not when you can have "Recycled Chic"!

Thanks for reading today...and I have a lot of catching up to do so there may be some fall inspired posts to come...or maybe I'll just wait till fall. It's not that terribly far off, now that I've waited so darn long...

Have a great week!

Nanette

Upcycled Telephone Table

Oh my gosh! How is everyone?! I have been on hiatus for way too long...I do apologize. I really have a lot of projects and adventures to share, I have just had so much going on, it's so hard to find the time to get it all done. I am pretty ambitious, I guess. I want to do it all...right NOW. It sometimes surprises me to realize that I can't do it like I imagine myself doing it. There is always so much that I want to do, I overwhelm myself.

Anyhoo, I have a lovely little telephone table to share with you. First, I must clarify--I did NOT re-do this table. I found it at the Grafton Flea last month. I had to have it. It's just what I would have done, but saved me all the time and put some money in some lovely gal's pocket, to boot! They had so many wonderful up-cycled things in their booth, I just KNOW they watch Flea Market Flip, like Noah and I do.

I walked past this booth twice to get a really good look at all their stuff. I immediately set my eye on this table. I checked the tag...$48.

Whew! A little more than I wanted to pay. I hate to haggle, because I know the work that goes into re-doing furniture pieces, IF they are done right, and not "slopped" together just to make an insane profit. I knew that this was probably an old discarded piece from a garage (free), or at the very least picked up for next to nothing at a yard sale. Heck, they could have even gotten it from someone's curb. I come across a lot of great stuff that way. But, I wanted to be fair. It was done very nicely, and, like I said, exactly how I would have done it. Plus, I'm a sucker for paisley.

I started my haggling...I asked her if she would do it for $30. Yeah, yeah...I know...kind of a low ball offer. But, I didn't want to run the risk that they didn't primer it first.

*Note: Whatever you do, always sand and prime your piece before you paint, unless you have a special paint that boasts "no primer needed", and even then, I'm wary. There is nothing worse for a project than peeling or chipping paint where you don't intend it to do so. You can never quite match up a nice big chip unless, of course, you want the piece distressed and then you can just sand that spot down into a distressed spot.

Ok, where was I? Oh, yeah...haggling. So, thirty was too low, I guess. I got a bit of a grimace. Not too bad of one though, so I knew I had room to keep going. She went $45, I went $38 she went $42. She wasn't moving much, I wanted it, I took it. There you go.

What can I say? I'm a sucker for paisley AND the work already being done for me...this time.




I was longing for something to go next to my front door that I could sort of fake as an entryway since the front opens right into the living room. I had been looking for an old dresser, or would have even settled for a new piece with drawers and cubbies for baskets, which is what I really wanted there, storage is always good, but I fell in love with this and it is the perfect place to sit and put on your shoes.

 Here are some close-ups of the great job these ladies did on the very subtle distressing. Just my style, and not too shabby.

I love how the vintage ash tray's color ties in perfectly with the seat. They are the perfect spot for loose change or keys. And, the paisley really compliments the cut out pattern of the wood in the table front and seat back, don't ya think?

I set the wicker basket I use for my Better Homes and Gardens right under the table, and since there are only three legs, it's a perfect fit!

Edana was an instant fan. Then again, she's always an instant fan of anything new brought into the house.

I have so many other projects of my own to finish. At least two chairs right now and a table or two, and a dresser I'm converting into a buffet for the eat in kitchen. The list goes on and on. Hopefully over the rest of the summer we can get most of what I want done. We are on a week long vacation over my birthday in about three weeks so I have big plans for our "staycation".

I hope you found some inspiration here for your own house. Until next time, thanks for reading!

Nanette 

Precious little vintage items

Hey, Everybody!

Hope your weekend is going well! I'm working on a lot of things right now, but took a little break and went with my sister to this craft and antique mall that I actually used to have a booth in called the Alton Exchange (you can also check out the facebook page here ). I found a few little things that made me oh, so happy and just wanted to share them with you today.

I love, love this place...it is so well organized and there are a TON of booths to give you so many options to find something special. Plus, Terry is one of the greatest gals around; she works so hard to make the experience in her shop one that will keep you coming back time and time again.

As I wandered the rows and rows of unique and ever changing vintage, antique and handmade booths, I picked up a few things that just seemed to pop out at me last night.

Here's what I got...


A closer look will reveal a couple of little facts about us, I guess...

These little 'ashtrays' were just sitting on a shelf together. I got both for only $5! They were pristine and unused. I thought they were the cutest thing for a bookshelf or table. Had to have those...

 I also happened upon a rack with many different pieces of jewelry. These little handmade bead bracelets were only $2! So, of course, I had to have two! Sure, I could make them myself, but I really do love supporting local artisans whenever I can. I think it is super important to buy local and to support the creativity in each other whenever we can.

I am obsessed always on the lookout for old wooden boxes, cheese boxes, sewing machine and cash drawers, etc. My sister snatched up the sewing machine drawer that we saw at the same time (a little healthy competition is good, right!?) but I found this little guy on a shelf, and it was only about $5! A vintage Wisconsin cheese box--right up my ally. I've got some ideas stirring around for this...

I seem to unconsciously be drawn to the color turquoise (or teal). I hadn't realized this until I was putting all the pictures together...



I also picked up a 10 yard roll of burlap garland. Now, I know I just bought some of this in St. Charles that I used on my Christmas tree that you can read about in this post, but this is a little bigger, and it cost half as much...HALF!!!  At only $12 bucks...imagine all the possibilities!

The other thing I found was just about as random as you can get. Up on a shelf I noticed this Jewish/Hebrew item. It had definitely been used, and I was curious. Noah and I are always on the lookout for unique items to honor his Hebrew roots and this was too good to pass up. It's a napkin holder, of all things! When Noah met us at the Exchange after work (yep, ladies I've got a husband who loves to go antiquing as well as work on Hot Rods in a garage!) I showed it to him and he had to have it. He said "That will look great..." and we both finished simultaneously with "...up on a shelf in the kitchen."
It's great to be married to your best friend.  :)

Anyway, I hope my little findings inspire you to go picking through an antique mall in your neck of the woods. Imagine the treasures you could find, not to mention how happy you can make some local vendors, right?

By the way, I have a big P.S. As you may already know, I have another blog called confessions of a thinkaholic. I also regularly submit blog posts to a fantastic website called tiny buddha, and my newest (and third) post is up on the site. You can read it here, if you're interested. It's titled "Letting Go of Fears and Worries About Getting Things Done." I so appreciate it if you do, but no worries if it's not your thing! Both my blogs are completely judge-free zones; I just want you to enjoy yourself while you are here.

Just know that I appreciate you and am so happy you stopped by today!

Nanette

*Coming soon...Valentine's Day decor!

Compost bin done...FINALLY!!!

Well! We finally got it done. After one wash-out weekend, uneven work schedules, and even Noah's 39th birthday, we got the compost bin built and the new compost pile started. I have a ton of pics, but will try to condense. I have plenty of instructions, and a link to a great site I used for reference in compiling the compost layers. I will share all the trial's and error's we encountered, and what worked and what we will do better next time.

I'll try to keep it as brief as possible...  :)




Ok, remember the pallets from my last compost post? Well, we took those three and this is what we did.
 We set them up 'tall' instead of short and stout in case the pile gets high through the fall with the mulched leaves. It looks a little funny, but that's what we decided to do. You can see it a few pics down. Anyway, Noah used a drill to first drill a long pilot hole in the wood. These pallets were so hard to get through. He did have to get his more powerful drill. We now recommend using thicker, stronger screws. Ours were 3" x 8mm. They worked well, but we had to go in from the back after this first initial try...

This worked so much better!

It really is nice and sturdy. We were going to use some rebar down the inside channels formed by the slats for stability, that's another reason we set them up this way, but it really is sturdy enough this way. This particular wood is so very heavy! We plan on making one or two more bins attached to this one. It's good to have a place to store your mulched leaves and grass clippings to add to your compost pile, and to start a new one after the first gets going really well, that way you can keep turning the first, and generate your broken down material, move that out and store it, and just keep it up by doing the same with the second bin, while making a fresh bin out of the emptied first.

I raked the old compost dirt bed out to get it ready...

Then I put down the first layer--the "brown" layer--old dried leaves. I found a really great step by step guide here, on composting.

 Then I added a layer of dried grass clippings from mowing the day before that had dried out well in the sun. We just swept them up like we usually do after mowing the yard...

 The next step is to add some compost starter. I used my compost from the previous years. It has all the materials already broken down into a rich black 'soil'. This helps to start the compost cycle quicker...

I then spread out my "green" materials--food stuff. This is the heat-producing (rotting) stuff, and the reason I started composting. All my kitchen scraps go here instead of filling the trash with them. Leftover fruit and vegetable scraps, egg shells, teabags, some coffee grounds (and the filters, too!), all that stuff that will sit in your garbage disposal or trash smelling up your kitchen is great for your flower beds and vegetable gardens, so why not reduce, reuse, and recycle that, too?

A little yucky, but SO valuable...

 

I also needed "wet stuff". I dug through my old compost area and found the wet leaves and very broken down veggie matter to layer on top of the new pile. Moisture is important in your composting process, too. If it gets too dry, and your "green" items and old wet compost isn't enough to keep it moist, you can wet it every so often.

Be careful digging around in damp decaying areas...This guy climbed out just after I pulled up a few handfuls of the stuff above...

So...I layered my "wet" old compost on top of the food stuff, then added more of my starter soil as above...

Then another layer of grass clippings...

 Then more starter soil...

 Then more dried leaves...
You just have to keep adding to your layers, making sure the food stuff is covered well, in case of animals. You also want to keep a check on it for smells...if that fruit isn't covered well in the heat...well, it stinks! You don't want your neighbors mad at you, or a bunch of flies. Just keep a check on it, keep it moist, turn it every couple weeks, and by next year you could have some nice rich mulch to add to your new plantings. Ideally, you would want to start a compost heap in spring, that way you might have good dark soil by the next spring, but it will compost throughout the autumn and winter. There are even ways to compost indoors during winter months using a large Rubbermaid type tote and lid (read how here), and red worms. I've read about it being done in the basement, with no offensive odors at all. It's something to think about if you want to keep composting your scraps all year instead of trudging out in the snow and digging a spot to bury it.

And that's it! We actually got it all done in a little less than two hours! Start to finish. It was Noah's birthday the day before, so we wanted to leave town to visit his grandmother and go to dinner. We finished this, cleaned up and drove the hour to see her. We had a wonderful visit and dinner. It was a very full weekend, but very accomplished.
I hope this encouraged you to try your own compost bin. It's really not as hard as it may seem, and good for the environment too.
There are bins for sale, even by Rubbermaid through sites such as Walmart.com, but the whole idea is to make usable FREE nutrient rich soil for planting, and to reuse what you've got on-hand. This is a great way to teach your children nature cycles, recycling, planting and harvesting, and gardening.
Give it a try...see what you think!

Have a wonderful rest of the week...
N