Archive for the ‘before’ Category

Savvy investments

Thursday, September 25th, 2008

I was googling around trying to find a tutorial on how to DIY some cushions to start the process of fixing up my little thrifty mid century lounge chair and stumbled on some funny guides about mid century furniture.

The website Poetic*Home has an assortment of vintage guides, DIY idea, flea market inspiration, and fun little tutorials like:

The Savvy Guide to Buying Mid-Century Modern Antique Furniture

How to Tell if Your Mid-Century Modern Furniture is Faking It

(Poetic*Home also has a little vintage store on Etsy.)

Of course I love me some vintage mid century furniture and I’m always trying to fix up the pieces I find thrifting. It can be difficult to know exactly what to do (or not to do) when your trying to DIY a furniture restoration.

Here is a little guide with some basic ideas at House Beautiful called Midcentury Furniture Restoration and Care.

Which answered the question of what those cushions should be made of :

Q: What are cushions usually made of?

A: You don’t see much down filling on modern furniture. The typical filling is foam with a Dacron wrap. On occasion we’ll make a down cushion with a foam core, to raise the comfort level, but without spoiling the crisp look.

The orange cushions are really flat and saggy and it seems that I will need to make some new ones or add foam or whatever Dacron is. Also the webbing on the seat is all stretched and horrible and needs to be replaced. the DIY network had a nice little Upholstery Repair tutorial.

STRAPPY! This part makes me the most nervous.

I also need to find some fabric for when I make my new poofy foam cushions. Dream source is Knoll Textiles. Yummy.

My choices would be:

Classic Boucle Smoke (at $51 a yard –that’s a little out of my range)

Extreme Velvet ($40 bucks a yard and flameproof to the extreme!)

Mariner ($29 – not to shabby)

All in all, I really want the Classic Boucle! Anyone know of a good source for something similar?

Roller Boogie

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008

The kitchen has been begging for some window treatments. ENJE to the rescue!

I bought the dark gray version of the ENJE roller shade from Ikea and installed in the window above the kitchen sink. It gives some privacy, lets in light, and was super easy to install.


*Before & After

Above is the before and after. One issue I’m running into is the length of the metal chain. Its too long for the window and rests in a puddle on the counter top…getting in the way when I wash dishes.

And YES, the shade is a little boring. I’m just not ready to commit to a big graphic pattern or something to trendy, and I just am so bored dealing with this whole window treatment situation. Stupid naked windows.

I also bought another gray ENJE roller shade to go in the larger double window. This window is weirdly sized, so I bought the shade a little large and plan to cut it down to be a custom size. I experimented with cutting a small ENJE curtain and found that the best way to DIY is to use a chop saw with a fine metal blade – it cuts it really straight, but sparks like crazy. If you wet down the shade where your cut will go, it keeps the blade from burning or searing the edges of the curtain fabric.

I both hate and love Ikea.

Fun with decor

Sunday, August 10th, 2008

I’m not an interior designer, but I do like to decorate. Slowly the Brick House is evolving…as money and time permits. Typically I like to let my thrift store finds dictate what direction the decor will go in, and I never really plan out or “design” the room – which gets me into trouble.

I wanted to show a couple of the before and after progress shots. Its been 6 MONTHS since we moved in! I just need to remind myself that things have been accomplished – even though sometimes it feels like nothing is getting done.

The Dining Room


Before & sort of After (don’t mind the Boy eating nuts in the kitchen – he just wouldn’t move out of frame.)

The Den


Before & In Progress, GOOD god I still haven’t painted the door or changed the door hardware. There is still a plate covering the deadbolt from the realtor…wow. I NEED to choose a door color.

The Office/Den


Before & After (the needlepoint is ever expanding – still needs organizing and something – I’m not sure what)

The Living Room


Before & in progress…I’m still working on it.

Here are a couple more shots, just for fun-sies!