Dining Room: Check!

On my To Do list for months has been the item: "Order dining room chairs". We have the bench that we made, the chairs that I bought on Craigslist and on the otherside of the table...nothing.

I searched for a long time on Craigslist, but couldn't find what I wanted. It didn't help that I kept changing my mind as well.

My first idea was a Bertoia Style chair, but then I decided I wanted something a little weightier. Plus, the only reasonably priced chairs were on Amazon and I couldn't tell by any of the review if they were quality chairs or not.

Next, I moved along to another industrial style chair and found this one from Crate and Barrell. Loved it, just not the $200 price tag.

Then I found this blog post with a few other more affordable options. She ordered a few of the ____ chair. I had three of them in my online shopping cart until I saw the $104 shipping price. Wah wah. I'm just too cheap to pay for that (which is why my initial search was on Overstock.com). Then, I was searching on Pinterest and saw this picture:

And unbeknownst to me, there is a World Market in Newport News! I kindly asked Glenn in his post-drinking haze to drive with me the 21 miles to NN. Now we are the proud owners of 3 Jackson Tub chairs. Sans shipping cost. No more moving chairs around when people come for dinner.

I did have a hard time deciding which side of the table they should go on though. I decided this side, to balance the bar, but Glenn thinks the other side. What do you think?

The dining room is all finished now. Except for paint, but that might be awhile...

Mirror, Mirror

I needed a mirror to hang over the vanity, but I didn't want to spend a lot of money on it. The decorative mirrors at Target were in the range of $50. No thanks.

Norfolk has so many thrift stores so I thought I'd see what I could find. It must be all the moving military or something, but there are at least 5 in a mile radius from our house.

For only $10, I came home with this beauty. It was even on sale. Originally $35. Glenn was surprised that thrift stores even have sales, but they do! One of my favorite places to look for furniture even has 20% off military Thursdays.

A little sanding, filling and spray paint and I have a new mirror. I also moved the hanging hardware on the back so that I could hang it horizontally.

It's not the most beautiful thing in the world, but I like it! I might eventually paint the top white, but I haven't decided yet.

A Little Vanity

Since we moved in two months ago, we have had our old tv stand sitting in our master bedroom. Our new house has a fireplace so we've mounted the tv above that and we didn't have any need for the tv stand.

Here it is in our Japanese apartment.

I got the idea in my head that I wanted a vanity since we only have one sink in the master bath. It would be nice to have a place to put on my makeup while Glenn is getting ready and we wouldn't have to do the shuffle as we attempt to move around each other.

I drew up a few plans,  Glenn looked at me quizzically, but he agreed to help. First, I removed the castors and we removed the middle section of the bottom.

Next, we cut 4 2x4s into 3 different lengths to form the sides of two cubes. The height of the cube was 16" and the sides were 14" and 12".

We attached the two cubes to the bottom of the tv stand. See where I am going with this now? The cubes are slightly less wide than the top so that we could take off the bottom, attach the cubes and still attach it to the uprights again since there are bolts that attach the bottom. If that makes sense...

 

Cute right? Oh wait, not done yet.

I bought some fabric and some Decor velcro. The Decor part means that the hook side is sticky backed and the loop side is made to be sewed on.

I used iron on hem tape to hem a few rectangles of fabric and to attach the velcro.

I created 4 different panels. One for the side/front on each side and one for the inside sides since it looked less than pretty where we cut the middle section out.

 Ta da!

And the velcro makes it so I can access my makeup or whatever else I put in there, but I still need to find a mirror before it is actually useful as a vanity. It only cost about $50 for the 2x4s, screws, velcro and fabric!

New Projects

Glenn and I have been working on a few new things over the weekend. Here are a few sneak peeks!

New Seating

I've wanted a bench for our dining room table for a long time. I've kept an eye out, but have never seen anything I really like or can afford. Our seating is a hodge podge anyway of craiglist Pottery Barn chairs and black IKEA chairs and now... a bench!

Look how pretty it is!

Glenn always says that I am the idea person and he is the one that brings it to fruition. That was definitely the case with this project too! I found the plans on this website. She's pretty famous in the blog world and her plans are free! This was our first Ana White project though and we definitely learned a few things along the way. For example, make the longest cuts first, otherwise, you have to go out to the store and buy an extra 2x4. Also, buy a little extra fabric because she is very tight with her measurements. I bought an extra 1/4 yard and used ever inch width wise.

I didn't take too many pictures because I was helping Glenn...aka I applied the wood glue and told him measurements.

Here are the legs before we applied the side pieces and the top.

The bench cost us a little money, but I figure it was cheaper than buying 3 chairs that would have otherwise gone on that side of the table.
     Home Depot (2x4s, plywood, stain): ~$35
     Jo-Ann Fabrics (Fabric): $29
     Jo-Ann Fabrics (Foam): $100, but I used a 50% coupon so $50
     Extra 2x4: $3

We already had the wood screws and sandpaper. The total time to build the bench was about 2-3 hours including staining (I used a stain/poly combo). Sewing the slipcover took me another 3 hours I think.

We modified the plans slightly by making the legs a little longer (15.5 inches instead of 14.25") and I accidentally bought 4" foam (the plans call for 3") so the bench is a little higher than most, but when we tested it out, it fits the table comfortably.

 

The hardest part of the project and most time consuming was sewing the slipcover. I followed the plans except for making the aprons 9.5 inches instead of 8 to accommodate my thicker foam. I wish I had had a couple extra inches of fabric though because after hemming and not exactly straight cutting, I ended up with exactly 8 inches of finished length with just grazes the bottom of the 2x4. Note: I should have stained up the sides a bit or I might still.

The directions are a little confusing but when sewing the slipcover, I followed these steps:
1. Sew the short sides to the top with 1/4" seam allowance by putting the right sides together.
2. Pin the long sides to the top by putting the right sides together.
3. Pin the long and short pieces together down the corner.
4. Sew from the center of the long side towards the corner, when I was 1/4" from the corner, rotate the fabric with the needle in and sew down the corner.
5. Repeat from the center to the opposite corner and the same on the other side.
6. Iron and hem the bottom all the way around.

These pictures don't really help much, but the idea was to get pretty corners! I think I did alright.

I love how it turned out! Luckily and accidentally, I chose a fabric with a geometric pattern that is the same both horizontally and vertically. This helped a lot when cutting the fabric, lining up the pattern and when I almost ran out of fabric, I could cut pieces in both directions. Otherwise, I definitely would have had to make another trip to the store.

 And here it is again. Let's see what I can get Glenn to help me build next....a bed perhaps?

New Blue

The living room has taken on a new look over the past couple weeks with the addition of a rug and a few blue accents. The gray and white was looking a little cold, so we needed another color. We also added more pictures to the walls. I think Glenn is getting tired of hanging things but were almost done!

I want it

Glenn and I went to Asheville, NC for the weekend and stopped in a few of the fun stores they have downtown. I really wish we had bought this ottoman/coffee table, but I could never justify the $1295 price tag! Now I am on a quest to recreate it!

"New" Couch

Well, I didn't get the job that I interviewed for so....the house posts continue (cause there isn't a whole lot else going on)! Of course they would have anyway, but I was hoping for some moolah to help. Oh well, the job hunt continues. I guess I know now that the facts about military spouses having a higher unemployment rate and making less than their peers is correct. Good thing I have a supportive (financially and otherwise) hubby.

One of the main reasons I drove 6 hours in one day to IKEA and back was for a new slipcover for our sectional couch. The layout of the living room here wasn't very conducive to a sectional. Because of the doorway, it required the couch to be too close to the fireplace and with the TV above the fireplace, I felt like I was staring at the ceiling. You saw the new couch already.

We disassembled the blue sectional, crammed it up our tiny staircase and now it has a shiny white slipcover!

The white couch, white wall and white carpet are clearly in need of a little color. Hence, the paint swatches taped to the wall. I'm leaning towards the blue/green on the far right. It's a darker shade, but I think I'll only paint the vertical walls and not the angled walls. This picture shows the "Norfolk swirl" that textures every wall and ceiling (except for one wall in the living room) in the house.

Here's what you see from the other sides of the room:

Oddly enough, I think the couch makes the room feel bigger, adds some scale to the space. Last night, I folded laundry while Glenn laid in bed, it was so nice to have somewhere to sit up there.

Some paint is next, then I am thinking an upholstered headboard. Perhaps in a textured, natural fabric like the pillows with some nail head trim. I need to sign up for some coupons from Joann's before I buy that foam though. Last time I looked, it is crazy expensive!

Now we just have to figure out what to do with this section of the room. We are thinking a treadmill or maybe just a spot to do our at home workouts...which start on Monday. Eek.