Happy Monday! I hope you had a relaxing and hopefully creative weekend.
I found myself browsing the fabric store all on my own this weekend for the first time in close to 2 years. It felt like I never left! I have quite a few projects I will be sharing with you over the next few weeks and I am really excited about them all. I’m working on sewing a top and reading pillows along with a felt doll, a stuffed teddy bear and even a puppet. I’ll be sharing those details with you soon but for today I have an easy re-upholstery project for you.
About 5 years ago we re-decorated our living room. We bought a new couch and I bought a bench that has storage along with a square cube that also has storage. Right now the bench holds all my fabric and the cube holds yarn. Both however were in horrible condition as you can see from the picture. We used them at one time in our home school room and they were covered in paint and had been ripped up from the dogs and cats. To say they needed a refresh was an understatement.
I managed to find some really pretty fabric in the clearance section. It’s outdoor fabric so it’s really durable and I like that it should wipe clean pretty easily. I have been adding pinks and floral in the living room in spots so this really soft peachy pink color works great.
My husband gave me a hand and we removed the screws to detach the lid along with the inside lining fabric. I could have patched the hole but to be honest it doesn’t really matter since this fabric is pretty thick.
I wrapped the fabric over the top and the folded under the edges to create a hem of sorts so therwas a nice finished piece stapled on the underside. At the time I figured if it didn’t look the best I could add my own lining fabric but I was pretty happy with how it turned out.
We used a staple gun with one of us holding the folded fabric in place and the other stapling it down. Normally you wouldn’t need two people for this job however we were using an ancient staple gun that requires a great deal of force to work so having an extra set of hands just made it that much easier.
We stapled to the edges since that was a thicker piece of wood and we didn’t have to worry about any staples sticking through. It’s a really sturdy piece and we often sit on it so the last thing you want is a staple sticking through.
The last step was to screw the lid back on and we were done!
I am so proud with not only the finished product but my fabric choice. It is so pretty and soft and really adds a brightness to the room. In fact I am sitting with my feet up on the bench and a cup tea as I write this!
The project went so well that I decided to cover the square cube that had been hiding it’s messy state underneath a new plant we picked up a few weeks ago at the store. I wonder if I should blog here about my love for houseplants? Would you be interested? Let me know I would be happy to talk to talk more about them.
The cube was done in no time and my husband suggested recovering the foot rest that went along to my rocking chair. Ah, the rocking chair. I purchase this glider around 2am when my now 3 year-old was an infant. She was the one we walked the floors at night with and one night when I was sitting awkwardly on the couch I grabbed my phone and in a groggy half-asleep state purchased the glider. I didn’t remember until I saw the confirmation email the next morning.
I have never regretted that purchase and it’s still my favorite chair.
Unfortunately the same little one managed to grab hold of a marker and before I could stop her scribble on the ottoman. I covered it with a blanket which was fine but since I had so much fabric left over (am I the only one who overbuys fabric?) I decided to cover that as well and it looks great!
I think I bought 2 yards of fabric and it was $11/yard on sale plus I had a $10 off coupon so for about $12 I was able to cover 3 pieces and make them look brand new which I think is a pretty good deal.
I hope you liked this little project. I am going to recover the glider as well but I didn’t see any fabric that I really liked so I decided to wait since I have so many going on already. I will be sure to share it with you when I do.
In other news I am taking part in NaNoWriMo again this year. I have been doing NaNoWriMo for years but only won my first year so I am really looking forward to winning again this year. I’m on track to finish November 28th and I’m hoping to sneak in some extra time to make up for the writing I may not get to on Thanksgiving.
Are you taking part? Please let me know-I would love to cheer each other on.
Well that’s all for now. I hope you are having a wonderful day and that you find something creative to have a play with.
Until next time…
-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante
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