Hello My Pretties

Alrighty peeps, time for another coffee table re-do! Am I the only one who is obssessed with coffee and side tables? I won't tell you how many I have stacked in my garage, lest you think I'm a loon.

I am a fickle creature and, despite the fact that I just bought wood side tables for my living room last year, I have already decided that they were the wrong choice and it's time for a change. Our main floor living room is a space that rarely gets used, but that doesn't mean it can't look pretty. It's right next to the dining room, which is a sort of formal space, so I want the living room to have the same formal vibe. I recently sold my Urban Barn velvet sofa and replaced it with a smaller 3 seater sofa in a cream colour. It was definitely the right decison. But the room was still far too casual! 

I swore that I would never again own glass topped tables - between kitties, visits from kidlets, and husbands, they are never clean - but I really like the look so I decided that it was time to suck it up and stock up on Windex!

I just swoon over a particular style of table, something similar to what can be seen in these rooms...glass top gold-ish base.

 

I have found some new tables similar, but I can't justify the cost. And going vintage was out of the question. This pair of vintage tables was over $1200!

I picked up this set of tables for $30 off a local online classified site. The size and shape were great, but the finish was pretty horrible. An aged brassy, bronzey eyesore. Someone please tell me why this finish is on so many pieces of furniture?!  I am not totally anti-brass, I am just anti-ugly-brass.

I cleaned and lightly sanded the table, gave it a coat of primer, and two coats of a metallic brass spray paint by General Paint (no colour number or fancy name - huh). I have never used this product before and was a tad nervous about how it would turn out, but I shouldn't have been. It went on easily and dried perfectly to a nice brushed metallic finish.

I decided to get rid of the cane and wood on the bottom of the table, it felt too heavy for the look I wanted. I initially wanted to replace the cane with a piece of glass, but Mr. Mel said he preferred them without a bottom shelf. Okily dokily. I suppose these are done, then.

I popped the glass top back in and have myself a pair of glitzy new end tables!

Cost breakdown for this project:
Tables = $30
Paint and Primer = $12
Total Cost = $42

Office Cabinet

There's a huge feeling of satisfaction that comes from upcycling or making over an old, neglected piece of furniture. But the same satisfaction can come from tweaking a new piece that just wasn't right when it came home from the store.

I bought this cabinet from Jysk on clearance for $150. It had the proportions that I needed to hold our office copier/fax and printer, and had some handy dandy storage. But it was a pretty blah colour. Just lacquered pine.

Mr. Mel had the clever idea to paint the pieces before I assembled this unit...gosh he's a smarty pants.

Mr. Mel gave them a light sanding (that's right, folks, I put him to work),  then I primed and painted with the same gallon of mistint paint I used on the cubby desk. Mr. Mel was itching to help, so I volunteered him to put it all together!

I replaced the hardware with a couple of knobs I had from an old dresser.

A quick update for a stock piece of furniture, and now she's all ready for business!

Cost breakdown for this project:
$150 for cabinet 
$0 for primer and paint
$0 for cabinet hardware
Total cost = $150

It's Perfect Just How It Is

I am often on the look out for furniture that is begging for a facelift or make-over. But this table was pretty perfect just the way it was. And, for only $80, it's hard to go wrong!

Remember this table? While I loved it, I just wanted a change. So it's been banished to the basement until I find a new home for her.

This table works great, and is just what this room needed! It's on casters so it'll be easy to roll out of the way if we need more space.

I am working on some big changes for my living room, stay tuned! I am still hunting for an area rug for this space, what a daunting task!

Slipcovers and Slip Ups - Part 3

Check out Part 1 and Part 2 of this nightmarish project.

I am embarassed that what was intended to be an easy peasy update of these chairs has become what it has. I appreciate you all bearing with me while I continue to try (and fail) to get this right.

Ok, so we're now going to reupholster these babies. I am not going to lie. I contacted several upholstry shops to see if it was in my budget to have this professionally done. At $1,000/chair (no, I am not kidding) that was not even an option. So, here we go again, Mel is gonna DIY!

I found these two helpful blogs that show, step by step how to go about reupholstering a wing back chair. Brooke, at All Things Thrifty, also tackled a wing back with amazing results! Definitely check out these how-tos before tackling this yourself.

These chairs have a very traditional shape, and I thought I would have some fun with them by using a more modern fabric. I bought my fabric for 50% at Fabricland. Mr. Mel picked it! Each chair will use about 5 yards of fabric. I decided to do away with the piping, and keep it simple. Yeh, famous last words.

I started by stripping the chairs of fabric. This was a tedious and time consuming process. I figured that I could strip both chairs in a morning. In fact, it took me just over three hours to remove all of the staples from just *one* chair!

Once I had the chair naked, I took the fabric pieces I had removed (and carefully labelled) and used them to cut out pieces from my fancy new fabric. It was at this point that I had a conversation about my project with my in-laws, and vented about how frustrating the process was. My ever helpful father in law suggested I call his sister, because her boyfriend used to own an upholstery shop! Turns out he redid all of the antique furniture during the restoration and renovation of a gorgeous, and historic hotel 5 star here in town.

I could have kissed him I was so excited! A call was made and, after a trip to a nearby city to drop them off and little negotiation, this project was officially someone else's problem! Ha ha. A week later the chairs were done, and the torturous project was at an end.

In the end, this project pretty much kicked my butt. I know that I could absolutley have recovered these myself but, honestly, my heart just wasn't in it anymore. I was relieved to pass it on to someone else. But, even after all of  my mistakes and the cost of materials and labour, I still got myself two awesome wingbacks for less than the cost of one new chair! I call that a WIN!

A couple of tips if you are going to tackle a project like this (our upholsterer added a few I hadn't even thought of):

• Buy an extra yard or two of fabric for each chair, you will likely need it and, if you don't, you can always use it for cushions later.
• Beg, borrow, or steal an electric staple gun. You will not regret it.
• Have a glue gun at the ready, it will come in handy dandy.
• use a fabric steamer to santize and re-puff the existing foam. Not having to replace this will save you loads of cash.
• Be prepared to improvise. You are not a professional, you may have to use your imagination to figure out how to get things just right.

After all of the drama, here is the cost breakdown for this project (including cost for my screw-ups):

$100 for wing back chairs
$52 for canvas drop cloth (fabric)
$44 for supplies (cording, thread, buttons, staples, etc.)
$155 for fabric
$400 for labour
Total cost of this monstrous rehab = $751

Dressing Room Vanity

As much as I loved doing my make-up each morning sitting on the floor in front of a small mirror propped up on a small stool (yeh, did my make-up the same way when  was in the 6th grade), what I really wanted was an actual vanity, you know, wth a chair and all. Mr.Mel gets creeped out by buying "other people's old stuff", but even he was impressed with my Kijji score a few weeks ago. I picked up this wooden desk for $10...yes, ten Canadian dollars!

Granted, it wasn't much to look at, and those handles are just awful, but  thought  could make it pretty.

The desk is really solid, and was in pretty good shape. But there were some dings and cracks that I fixed with some wood filler before I got started. Once all was fixed, I gave it a light sanding, primer, two coats of Behr's Black Raspberry (leftovers from our bedroom wall colour), and two coats of Varathane. I painted the existing handles with Rustoleum ChromeMetallic.

 

I am going to keep my eyes open for a pretty wall decal for the side. Til then, this is it!

Now it's the perfect place to get ready for my day! All of the drawers are great for my makeup and brushes so no more Caboodle! Ok, so I'll probably keep my Caboodle, who am I kidding?! Andplusalso I have a home for the lamp that I love and Mr. Mel hates doesn't love.

Cost breakdown for this project:
$10 for the vanity
$0 for paint
$7 for spray paint
$0 Varathane
Total Cost = $17

Slipcovers and Slip Ups - Part 2

Check out Part 1 of this project here.

Mission: Slipcovers Part Deux was underway. Pin-fitting these covers was so much easier than cutting pattern pieces. Pinning the piping in between the fabric was a bit tricky but it got easier once I worked with it for awhile. Check out this post at The Nesting Place on basic steps to pin-fitting slipcovers.

Once I had all of my pieces pinned together on the chair and basted, I took the entire piece to the machine. I would periodically refit the cover in the chair to make sure it fit properly. It's a bit tedious for sure, but it’s fun watching the piece come together! Jones, as usual, is all up in my bidniss, I have learned to just work around him.

After 9 hours, multiple mental breakdowns, achy and swollen fingers, and several hundred f-bombs, this is what I ended up with. Hmmm, I am not feeling it. I decided to stop here. This was not the look I was going for, so I started to debate my options. But what to do? Ah ha...reupholster! Yes, I would reupholster them!

Stay tuned for Part 3 of this marathon transformation…

I am a CSN-aholic

I am loving the simplicy of ordering from CSN Stores online! For the American's among us, you simply do. not. understand. just how amazing it is to get an online company to ship to Canada without paying hundreds of dollars in duty and shipping fees...if they ship here at all. CSN is truly in a league of their own...truly. I have always made small purchases in the past but I just placed a rather large order and I am bursting with excitement about it!

Okily-dokily. First...FREE SHIPPING! Seriously, this is an amazing feature of CSN. While I do pay what they refer to as an "International Fee", it really is of such a low amount that it doesn't phase me in the slightest. Items are delivered right to your door, no playing phone tag with the delivery company to arrange drop off or pick up. It's all very fantastic!

And their prices are considerably lower than buying retail (even with the US/Canadian exchange). For instance. I spotted these end and sofa tables at a local furniture store. I was quoted a price of $1200 (including tax) + $70 for delivery. And I would have to wait 6 week for them to arrive.

I found the same tables on CSN. They will cost me $940 (including exchange and fees) and they are shipped right away. That's over $300 in savings! So, I went ahead and placed my order.

I also ordered this dining set (minus the china cabinet).

I have my fingers crossed that this order will go as smoothly as the smaller ones I've placed in the past.