| ♕ | sage hinted living room | by Mix and Chic | via heartbeatoz
Fabric Love
Though there are so many gorgeous Japanese fabrics, I usually pass them by because I can’t handle paying so much for them. But these ones. Hoooo boy. I may just have to save some pennies and splurge on such water-coloury prettiness.
This fabric is from the Kokka Nani Iro fabric line, designed by Naomi Ito, available through Purl Soho. And this lap quilt project featured on their blog, the Purlbee, is perfect because it beautifully showcases such pretty fabric.
But I can see myself treasuring a piece of this fabric and being scared to sew anything with it, for fear of ruining it. Because I do that.
*Sigh* Love it!
(All pictures from the Purlbee)
Louis Chair DIY Makeover
So. I caved. I was supposed to wait until my wingback chair was done before I refinished my Louis XV chair. But, it was just sitting there. And my fabric came. Sooo…
It really wasn’t that hard. (Though there’s a lot to be said for having the right staples.)
First I ripped off all the gimp (the trim that was glue-gunned on) to reveal the staples, and started removing them. (I used a flat head screwdriver and a pair of pliers, which worked well.)
The previous fabric was not great quality, and whatever was used on the faux finish flaked off while I worked, so I was glad to be redoing it. The foam, however, was in great shape.
The chair back consisted of fabric stapled to the inside of the frame, a piece of foam, and more fabric stapled on top.
Then, because I’m lazy, I didn’t remove the seat foam to redo the frame, but covered it in a garbage bag and duct tape (I tried painters tape, but it was exceptionally lame.)
I call this look “White Trash Chic” :)
I sanded and wiped down the whole frame and did a layer of primer (though I barely had any left, and wish I’d done a better primer layer). After that I followed up with a few coats of Rustoleum’s Heirloom white - a creamy ivory colour that works well with my fabric. (Which, by the way, is “Varenna” in the “stone” colourway from Tonic Living.)
Once the paint dried I used the fabric I’d removed from the chair as a template to cut new pieces of fabric (however, I made my fabric pieces about an inch bigger on all sides to give me a margin of error.) I then stapled away, attaching the new fabric and cutting off the excess. For the seat back I had shorter staples that went in perfectly, but when I ran out we bought longer staples, which gave me all sorts of grief. And here’s what I have now!
The chair needs a few paint touch-ups, and I have to find or make some welting cord to cover up the staples. However, I’m guessing I’ll have to sew double welting cord… which I don’t know if I’m up to this point. So I might just buy some gimp as a temporary solution.
And I have officially decided to only recover small chairs from now on!
A Little Louis Lovin’
Who doesn’t love a Louis chair?
(Designer Samantha Pynn)
I’ve been wishing and hoping to find a good little Louis chair for a while now. I want to use it at our desk, but these pretty little chairs are versatile and I can think of a million places to use it in the future.
I found this one for $35 on Kijiji… which is a pretty good price, since most I’ve seen go for about $50-$60 around here. Or, you know, $550 elsewhere!
I’ve ordered some fabric samples already from Tonic Living. There are a lot of looks that I like for this style of chair (as you could gather from my Pinterest collection), but I’m leaning towards painting the frame white and choosing a relatively modern pattern for the fabric (a similar look to the picture at the top of this post). But I ordered a variety of fabrics just in case.
This chair, however, is my “dessert”. And I can’t even touch it until I’ve finished my “dinner”. And my dinner has a ways to go… (I feel like I ordered one of those “Get your meal for free if you can finish this 4 lb burger” type meals.)
So once my wingback (whom I have affectionately nicknamed “the Beast”) and I are through I’ll get the treat of working on this cute little Louis chair. Emphasis on little.
(via Sarah Jane Studios Blog) How cute is this fabric from Sarah Jane Studio/Michael Miller Fabrics? I love the combination of traditional dots, gingham, ticking and florals with whimsical scenes and illustrations.
(via Sarah Jane Studios Blog) Hooray Hooray! Beautiful new fabrics from a favourite artist of mine! Wishing I had time to make a quilt now…
Easy Ottoman Slipcover
I happened to inherit a free ottoman. My husband loves it when he’s rocking with the little boy in the nursery, and Little M loves to roll around on it and pretend to sleep on it. Problem? It’s ugly! Solution? Slip cover! This is a ridiculously easy project with big impact. Of course you could complicate it by using a storage ottoman, or adding piping, but I wanted a quick “cross off your to-do list” projet du jour.
So… Start with one ugly ottoman:
Then drape your much nicer fabric over the ottoman, fabric right-side-in:
Then pin the corners:
I drew a line along the edge to help guide me when sewing:
Then sew along your line:
You should put your slipcover back onto your ottoman to make sure it fits properly. At this point your son may announce “ALL DONE!” and try to climb up on top. However, he would be mistaken: you may need to re-pin, stitch rip, or re-sew the sides to make the fit snug. I am not very fussy though, and I declared it good enough.
Then you can remove the slipcover and trim off the corner pieces (I’m saving mine… possibly for pillows?)
Now you can hem up the bottom for a nice edge:
Now you can turn your slipcover right-side-out and voila! A fun little ottoman slip cover!
I made mine a little loose, since I think it’ll be taken off and washed frequently, given its location in the kids’ bedroom. (Which, by the way, I pre-washed the fabric to avoid future shrinkage fiascos). I may go back and tighten up the corners a little, but I’m perfectly happy for now!
