Coffee Table Ottoman

I knew I wanted to make this project so I had my eyes on the lookout on Craigslist for the perfect coffee table for the job. We found this one for $20 and it was the shape I needed and had two drawers-I always love more storage! It was a little beat up from the previous owner but was sturdy, so it still fit the bill. I sanded the entire thing down, primed it and then painted it with a couple coats of black paint. I had Paul's help to cut down the legs about 5" so it was at more of a typical coffee table height. Then I added some blue antique looking knobs and got to work on the top. For the top, I measured where I wanted my buttons to be, marked them by making a criss-cross design on the top, and drilled the holes. I then used a spray adhesive to attach my 2" thick organic soy foam to the top. Once that was completed, I poked my upholstery needle up through the foam from the underside of the table, and cut out a little circle of foam right around the needle to allow the button a place to go. I then covered the whole thing with batting and stapled it down. I then laid the fabric over the top and attached the buttons that I made using a button kit from Joanns. I just folded the pleats as I went, but this was the hardest part and isn't a necessary step in the process, I just liked the look. After the buttons were all sewn on, I stapled my fabric around all of the edges! It is much more cozy in our living room now! I am glad I did this project because Paulie and I have never owned a coffee table that we DIDN'T use as an ottoman anyway, so this is perfect! I just added a little tray on top so if anyone needs to set a drink down, there is a place to do it!

Materials needed:

Drill

Dremmel tool (only for cutting down the legs)

Sandpaper

Primer and Paint

Upholstery needle

Upholstery thread/twine

Button making kit from Joanns

2" think foam cut to size

Batting

Spray adhesive

Fabric

Hardware

Wood Floors

Our cabinet painting project was highly motivated by our desire to get rid of our 1980's linoleum and stained carpet. So as soon as we had that project completed, we called our floor guy up to schedule the installation! In the first picture it gives a close-up of the old linoleum and the second picture is what the house looked like once the carpet had been ripped up and it was officially "under construction". Armando, our flooring guy, told us that he could have the project done in one day...well, little did he know that underneath our linoleum, there was plywood that had been stapled on top of our sub floor that had to be removed before the wood floor could be installed. That removal took almost an entire day! For four full days our house was literally a construction zone with dust coating EVERYTHING! We had sheets up to prevent dust from going into the family room, but we spent hours cleaning up once they were finally done with the installation. Our whole main level looks entirely different now and, although it took longer than we expected, we are definitely happy with the results! All of our main living areas are now officially livable to my standards (of course the linoleum was livable, but the 20 year old stained carpet in our formal living room was a little difficult to deal with, so we avoided the room altogether until now). Hopefully Paul and I can do something with our Master Bedroom come summertime!

Cabinet painting project

Here are the pictures from our latest "big" home improvement project: the kitchen. The first picture is from the day we moved in, and the second shows how it looked once Paul installed our new appliances (which work great, especially when compared with their 20+ year old counterparts). We have been putting off having our wood floors installed until we could find the time to paint our cabinets, since we knew it would turn our kitchen area into a complete disaster area, I mean, "construction" zone. :-) We decided to spend our spring break working on this so that we could have adequate time to complete it without other responsibilities vying for our attention. We started immediately on Saturday and spent 6 days total to clean, sand, prime, paint and polyurethane both the insides of the cabinets as well as all the doors. After that was all said and done, we put on the finishing touches, which was the hardware. We worked straight through every day, averaging 12 hour days. At one point I was so sore from all the physical labor that I didn't think I would be able to even get out of bed the next day! To some it may not seem to be a very enjoyable way to spend spring break, but I actually enjoyed it more than I anticipated. I got to spend that time entirely with Paul, we worked great as a team and we both can enjoy our kitchen so much more now, especially since we put in the hard work. Aside from the appliances, we only spent about $100 for the paint, supplies and hardware and it made such a drastic change! Our next plan for the kitchen is to make a kitchen island by hitting up our local restoration yard and re-doing some gem we find there. That project may be a few months away, but I am already planning it, so stay tuned!

Before and After: Bookcase

The first picture is the "blank slate" picture of the bookcase we made over. The picture with the furniture in it is what the room looked like the first time we saw the house while the previous owners were still living here. A lot of hours later and the "seen-better-days" bookcase (and our first major project) is re-vamped! Paul had the brilliant idea of adding those white curtains at the bottom so we could hide cords and anything else we wanted to have access to but didn't want to be seen. Paul worked so hard (with the help of his dad, Peter and a little bit from me) to get the tv cut-out perfect and to get it painted to my standard of "finished" and now it serves great purpose and makes our family room look quite cozy in my opinion! I used to not know how we were going to use the family room because the first time we walked through the house the room looked so tiny and dark, but now it is my favorite room in the house!

Late-night Unpacking

This is what happens when Paul starts bringing in boxes from the garage at 10 o'clock at night! And to think we are supposed to have company over tomorrow! Looks like we have a full day ahead of us!

Fun shopping!

I never really knew about TJ Maxx until the past year and I have since discovered it is one of the best places to look for home decorating accessories! They have an awesome selection of stuff and are always getting new and different items in since they just happen to get whatever was on closeout somewhere else. On a recent visit here were three of my favorite items I brought home: a green glass vase for the downstairs family room (that I got for only $4!!), a tall blue vase (I love the textured glass), and a turquoise garden stool that we may use in the formal living room as an end table. I'm not sure if it will go with what we are doing in there yet since it isn't all put together, but I had to buy it because they only had one of them and once it sold they wouldn't get any more in so at least it will be good to try it out in our space and see if it works.

Major undertaking: The bookcase

Here are the glorious (or hideous) before and after pictures of our most recent big project: the built in. Everyone is wanting more storage space and built-ins are huge for resale value right now, but not when yours looks like ours did before! It sucked all of the light out of the room and made it look very dark and dingy in a garden level room with rare high ceilings and large windows. The photo with all of the books on the shelves is what it looked like when we first saw the house. It didn't look like it belonged in the room and actually made it look really small when the space is really a pretty decent size. I didn't have the vision that Paul did when I first saw them and I wanted to take them out completely, but I am glad my wonderful husband saw their potential! Him and his dad worked hard to plan how to cut out a space and rearrange shelves so that it could actually be used as our entertainment center. Once all the cutting and sanding had been done, we got to painting. With the help of our good friend Peter, we painted the backsplash a light mocha color and painted the shelves and all the edging with the Swiss Coffee we used on our trim to make it look much brighter in the room. Obviously we still have a ways to go (the next thing I am going to tackle in the room is going to be those roman shades! Those ugly colored stripes have got to go!) but the major bookshelf renovation is complete!