Coffee table converted into an Ottoman

This project has been on my to do list for a long time.  If you remember this post you'll know that I have a coffee table with two end tables I purchased off of craigslist for only $25!  I remade the tables into something I love But I needed to bring out some beauty in the coffee table too. 

One thing I don't like about our new living room is that there isn't room for 2 to lay on the couch.  No snuggle time lately, not even for Taylor and I.  It's kind of a bummer.  So I decided there's no time like the present to finally convert the junk catcher (aka coffee table). 

First thing I did, just like the tables, was to sand and paint in white. 

The whole thing doesn't need painted because you wont see the top anyways.  I've been looking for fabric for this project for a long time but everything I've found, that I like anyways, is expensive.  Like $60/yd expensive.   Here's what I was originally thinking of-something similar to this:

{Kristine upholstered ottoman $255 cotton fabric}

 BUT while buying fabric on Thursday I walked in and was smacked in the face by something I loved! Figuratively smacked of course.  Bonus, it was on sale for $12/yd.

 

I should probably get to the materials:

-old coffee table

-white Rustolium spray paint

-2 yards beautiful fabric

-4 foot section of 3" foam

-quilters batting

-package of buttons

-thread

-Staple gun

-hammer

-scissors

The first thing you want to do is arrange or measure in my case where your buttons will go.  I marked the spots on my foam with a sharpie.  Then I jabbed a steak knife through in each spot and gave it some twists and turns to create holes.  Next I stacked my foam on top of the table and stuck the sharpie through each hole to mark the spots on the table. 

I drilled through each mark. 

Then I dusted off the table and brought it inside.  I stacked the foam on top and covered it with the quilt batting and then the fabric.

Next I started my tufting.  I used 6 strings of thread for each button.  I could have bought some heavy duty thread but I figured this would work just as well.  Next, I pulled the thread through the fabric, batting, foam and pushed it down through the hole in the table with a paint brush handle.  Innovative, I know.  :)

On the bottom I secured each piece with a staple gun and 3-4 staples.  I had my sister help with this part, she pulled the thread back and forth while I stapled.  There's a name for this technique but it escapes me right now.  Here's how each tuft looks from the underside. 

When I was done with all 8 buttons it looked like this:

Time to secure the sides!  We turned it over and I had Makayla (my lil' sis) help hold the fabric tight while I stapled.  When securing fabric in a project like this you want to staple as follows:

When stapling pull the fabric tight and have someone hold it while you staple at each point.  You'll want to turn it over and check along the way to ensure everything is even and you don't have any spots that are too loose or too tight. 

I usually save the corners for last because they're the hardest.  In this instance I pulled one side tight and stapled it down.  then I wrapped the other side all the way around the corner overlapping the first side and tucked in any extra fabric.  I just pulled the crease straight with my fingers and stapled in place. 

Here's it is in our living room. 

Now I can finally put my feet up!



DIY Vinyl Floor Stencil

Today I have a fun new project to share with everyone.  I got this pretty lil thing done last weekend but I had a couple spots to touch up.  Between a sick kid and snow days it took me a while to get around to the last (and easiest) step. 

Remember my Chevron Closet Makeover?  Well the last thing to finish in there was the floor.  I wanted to do something fun, cheap and pretty.  So I set out to find a great big stencil for the floor!

...unfortunately I found nothing even close to what I had envisioned, nothing close to big enough and nothing in my price range even if I had liked something.  Now what?

If you're one of my Facebook friends you may remember a post a couple weeks ago about the best ever $15 find, an overhead projector!  I got a few comments from friends about why on earth I would need such a thing and telling me this was another unneeded item to add to my "hoard".  :)  What hoard??? 

As it turns out there were hundreds of clip art images to choose from for my floor design.  Here's what I ended up with:

 

 

I printed it off and traced it with a Sharpie onto a clear sheet protector I had laying around.   Evan and I work next to a printing company and last summer we were told some large rolls of vinyl were being thrown out.  So after work we headed to the dumpster to find this: 

 

Indeed a HUGE brand new roll of sticky white vinyl.  Evan was even on board with this pick!

 

So I taped a 5 foot section to the wall and turned on my projector.

 

I traced the image then cut it out.

 

 

I had previously painted the floor brown where my vinyl floor stencil would go.  Then I peeled off the backing and stuck 'er down.

 

 







After that I painted the entire floor white right over the vinyl.  I had to give it two coats to get the coverage I wanted.

 

 

While the paint was still wet I began peeling up the sticky vinyl.  In hindsight, I should have let the brown paint underneath dry over night but I was so excited I only waited a few hours.  Because of this the vinyl peeled up a small amount of the brown paint in spots.  Note taken.

 

 

Needless to say I had to touch up a few spots with a small brush. 

Here it is all finished.  I'm pretty excited about how it turned out, it's exactly what I wanted!

 

 

 

So what do you think?  Yay or nay? 

 







French Country Side Table on the CHEAP!

I've been on the look out for some new side tables for our bedroom.  I wasn't necessarily looking for matching tables just cute French Country styled.  I came across this baby the other day on craigslist and had to pick it up.  It was close to perfect but when I actually got it I loved it even more!  The post showed the general shape but I had no idea it had such detail.  Check it out:

 

 

I was a little disappointed that the table is actually plastic, not wood, but for my purposes it would serve just as well. 

 

I gave it three coats of Rustolium 2x white spray paint in between other projects and brought it in.   I set her up in our bedroom and she looks great!  Exactly what I had been looking for. 

 

 

I love being able to use my design creativity on the CHEAP!  Here's the break down:

 



My Table:                                                                                Inspiration Table:

-$6 table on craigslist                                                               -$610 via The Well Appointed House

-$3.44 Rustolium spray paint

 

                                             

 

 

 

How's that for getting just as much bang for your buck?  It just goes to show that anyone can have the great look they want without paying an arm and a leg for it.  You just have to take the time to look around a bit!

 

Thanks for reading,

Aleasha







Bathroom Cabinet Face Lift

Boy have I been a busy lady today!  Two reasons for that really 1) Taylor is at her dads for the weekend and 2) Evan and I didn't put in any over time this weekend which almost never happens.  I took full advantage of my uninterrupted Saturday and completed not 1, not 2 but THREE projects today.  I feel pretty accomplished I must say. 

I'm going to share one with you now!

When we moved in our bathroom was a color I named (lovingly of course) "stick of butter yellow".  In our townhouse the bathrooms were purple/green and brown/turquoise.  Since we downsized here to only one bathroom I decided to start over.  Plus, we got some great bathroom items given to us for my bridal showers. 

*Side Note*
I thought having one bathroom would be terrible since we got full use out of two before but as it turns out, it's lovely.  I only have to clean one, only one toilet paper roll to find empty and our clothes only end up in one bathroom to pick up after baths.  Plus we don't have bathroom items traveling back and forth (so when I'm looking for the nail clippers they're always in the same place!).

Here's the bathroom when I started. 

Long story short, I painted.  After removing MORE wall paper boarder-ugh!  I decided when picking towels for our registry that gray and yellow would be the color scheme.  Wait yellow? Like the yellow I just painted over-yep.  I'm in love with gray lately and probably would have found a way to incorporate it in every room but I stuck with less is more of one color and did 1/2 the dining room and then the bathroom.  Here's what it looks like with the new color:

 

I love it.  But it doesn't really scream the look I was going for.  The bathroom was kind of country bumpkin with wood grain linoleum, wood trim and this wood vanity/medicine cabinet.  Plus it has dated gold fixtures.  They're on my style hate list right up there with wall paper. 

 

First thing's first, I removed the gold cabinet pulls and sanded everything down real well with "paint remover" sand paper.  That's what the package said anyways.  :)

 

 

I taped off around the lights and behind the mirrors.  Time to paint the bathroom cabinet!  I didn't take any pictures of this process for fear of getting paint on my new camera.  For whatever reason I am a really clean painter but you wouldn't know it by the condition of my hands afterwards. 

 

When I was done I replaced the pulls with some super sleek brushed nickle knobs.  These babies were $3.29 each ($15 for FIVE?!) but I found them on sale for .99 cents each at random while waiting for paint to be mixed one day.  I couldn't refuse a great bargain!  I always seem to find things for future projects on sale when I'm there to buy supplies for my current one.  I like that about me lol.  My husband does not hehe. 

 

 

Today you basically get a before and after.  I'm sure some readers appreciate a shorter post for once.  TRUTH!

 

 

BEFORE/AFTER



There she is in a few different lights.  I think one can appreciate the beauty in color when seeing it under different circumstances.  That's right peeps, I painted it BLACK!  How's that for a facelift?  I was unsure it would turn out right and honestly a little scared (can you believe that?) to begin with.  I am so happy I went for it, I should just know to trust my gut by now.  It's sleek, it's modern and oh so clean looking.  I even got a "WOW" out of Evan!

Here's a few close ups of the cabinet fronts.

Do you love???  I do.  It really looks like it was purchased this way.  Such a statement piece.  This was the easiest and least time consuming project I've done for a while and it could be my favorite as far as impact goes. 

Thanks for following along!

Chevron Closet Makeover

Today I'm sharing my Sunday afternoon project with you all! 

I've been wanting to give our bedroom closet a makeover since we moved into our new house in October.  Here's the deal:  This closet is HUGE compared to what we've had in the past and when I first saw it I thought we would have more space than I knew what to do with.  These pictures were taken after my hubby removed all of the contents so it looks pretty bare.  Rest assured that this long, skinny closet has such a bad layout that it did not function for us. So lets look at the start...



On this end were three wooden shelves which we actually reused in the final product.  They were deep and great for storing folded clothes.  As you can see there is a bracket for a clothes rod in the middle of the wall.  We actually installed this because there was no hanging storage what so ever.  BUT-once we got clothes on there we had about 4 inches between the clothes and the outer wall.  It wasn't very ideal for getting in and out or trying to SEE anything.  Basically upon entering the closet you got a face full of clothes!

 

Ahh yes, the other side.  There are so many problems here it is overwhelming.  To start, this room did have carpet but we pulled it up expecting the same wood floors in the bedroom that I figured I would eventually paint.  See that big piece of plywood?  Well if you lift it up there is actually a gaping 8" hole underneath that looks like it used to encase duct work of some sort.  So the plywood stays until we figure out a solution. 

 

 

On the left hand side is the chimney, it's a problem throughout multiple rooms in the house.  :/  Plus there was severe damage to the plaster which the former owners covered with duct tape?? Yep. 

 

 

The wall paper was pealing and there's random cable cords running around.  Plus there were tin can lids covering other holes in the floor.  I never knew this used to be the standard way to fix them.  Kinda cool :)

 

 

 

So I stripped the wallpaper...both layers. 

 

(insert more duct tape patch jobs) 

 

 

 

and gave the room a clean coat of white paint.

Evan hung our new closet rods on what used to be the shelf end.

 

 

Then hung the shelves on the other end.  He had to cut out a corner so they'd fit in around the awkward chimney. 

 

 

Then I taped for my beautiful Chevron Stripes!

 

 

 

After that I headed out to the garage where my love had cut an 8 foot section of crown moulding into four 2 foot sections.  I had purchased some spray paint earlier in the week in a sweet bright green.

 

 

 

I sprayed up my 4 sections with two solid coats and they were looking fantastic. 

 

 

 

While these dried outside I went to work painting my Chevron.  I had eyeballed the green color when I bought paint and it is literally the exact same.  Turns out I have a pretty accurate eye! :)

 

 

 

 

I bet you're wondering what I have planned for that crown aren't you?  Let's just say shoe storage has been a problem for a long time in my closet.  In the past I have used this thing which is adjustable but it sits on the floor which isn't ideal.  I always stub my toe on it.

 

 

 

After seeing a picture on Pinterest I decided to go ahead with the crown idea.  It works wonderfully.  :)

 

 

 

If you're wondering what the brown stuff is, its a thick denim like fabric I had on hand from our apartment.  It used to hand in the basement on the unfinished ceiling (to cut down on the cobwebs and make it look more finished).  The wall its on now in the closet wasn't finished and drywall wasn't really in our budget or timeline for this project.  I just used some upholstery tacks and pinned it up.  I think it gives the room a sort of soft feel, It's pretty neat looking in person I promise.

 

Look how great these shelves work out for my ever growing shoe collection!  Plus, there's room on the other side for more as it continues...muah ha ha!

 

 

 

Isn't it neat how they hang right on there by the heels? 

 

 

 

Of course this room isn't quite done yet.  I still need to do something about the trim, it's right where it started in 100 year old crusty tan.  The floor needs some help too but I haven't made a final decision on where to go with it.  I'm contemplating super high gloss white.  Yes? 

 

I have to say I'm really happy with the progress I made on what should have been a lazy Sunday afternoon.  A place for everything and everything in its place.  That's what we've been trying to implement around here. 

 

 

 

 

This is a good start.  :)