Customizing Ikea

As promised, a post about that beautiful fabric I used for the nursery (and it's not even 3 months later)! Patting myself on the back, now.

If you remember from last time at the end of the post, I enticed you into coming back (haha)

by giving you sneak peek into one of the few fabrics I've chosen for the nursery.

 Well, I made something with it!

I will admit that I love Ikea.  I think if you choose a few key pieces, Ikea can be done very well.  I also

really like customizing Ikea pieces.  It's usually cheap and easy to do and always looks

a little bit nicer. I'm not so much a fan of an entirely Ikea room.  A little Ikea goes a long way, and when done right it looks pretty great.

 I wish I had enough fabric to do the entire Poang rocker - it would

have looked incredible.

But, being what it is, I had enough of the fabric to make a cushion for the foot stool.

 I think it came out pretty awesome.  It was my first time making a cushion cover (I'm still fairly new to sewing) and I just went by the one already on there.

So after not much trial and error at all (phew!!!) we had a brandy new cushion cover, 

making this foot stool just a little bit custom.

And since I neglected to take progress pics, here are some more photos of the construction:

Pretty sweet job on the zipper, huh?

I added some extra velcro to the back to help it stick.  I went the easy way and used sticky-back

velcro instead of sewing it on.

And the whole chair:

Unfortunately the chair is not up in the nursery yet.  We're having the (still disgustingly cranberry-colored) carpets cleaned on Friday, wahoo!!.  I'm way too excited about this carpet cleaning, but hopefully they will look just a little nicer.  We decided it was better to spend the money on maternity leave rather than new carpets, so sadly that will have to wait.

Very soon though (this weekend!) the nursery will have furniture in it and the furniture will be put together!

She's alive!

It's true, I'm really alive!
Phew, long break there on blogging.
A little bit about what I've been up too, let's see...well shortly after I started this cute little blog we
found out we're expecting!!!!  YAY!  Unfortunately that meant I was asleep for the next 3 months,
not doing too many projects around the house, not much to blog about. 
Once I started to get my energy back, I started this new job.  Let's please not talk about that.

But!  I have been doing some more projects these last few weeks and actually have something to
talk about :-)
So, without further ado...

I have been (surprise!) working on nursery projects.

First up for today is the mobile I've been making.
I sewed up and stuffed waaayyy too many of these little birdies.

You can find the free bird pattern here.
Let me tell you, it was a royal pain to stuff these babies.  I'm so glad that part is over!
Our nursery colors are red and light blue, so hopefully baby boy will like his little
mobile (and hopefully it looks fantastic).

The next step is to attach the birds to an embroidery hoop, such as this!

Not sure yet if I will use clear fishing line or a nice white string to attach them.  I had debated painting
the hoop some fun, bright color, but I really like the natural wood, so it will just get
oiled and left alone.

And, just in case you didn't believe me, I really have been working on more than one project. 
Here is a sneak peek into something I finished this week:

 I picked up this beaut at a local fabric outlet...it's China Seas "Fez" and it's just perfect for the room!

See you all soon! (I promise).

Cute animals

I think this pair of white ceramic bookends from Joss and Main today are super cute:

{Joss and Main}

I think it would be awesome on a nursery bookshelf.  It reminds me some Jonathan Adler pieces (which are all quite expensive).  You can almost never go wrong with animals in a nursery.  I have a feeling these will go fast, so get your pair right now!!!

Denim

I've been digging denim and denim-type textures lately.  Maybe it's the weather, maybe it's because denim is so classic and versatile.  This image on VT Interiors today reminded me of my love for denim:

{via}

I recently bought the recycled denim jute rug from West Elm for the front door, and it is even more beautiful in person than in the pictures.  I think it will hide dirt and grime nicely, and be easy to keep clean.

I also have cane-back barrel chair from Craigslist that I have been meaning to reupholster.  I've gone back and forth about what fabric to use...perhaps a thin denim is the answer I have been looking for!

Another Before and After

I'm back with another before and after, this time of our guest bedroom.  No single room in our house is truly finished (are they ever?) but I thought I would keep things updated and real.

These pictures are, again, from our inspection day.  I apologize for the terrible photos - I had no idea I would be putting these on a blog at the time they were taken

Yes, yes we do have hideous cranberry-colored carpet.  And yes, it will be replaced, as soon as humanly possible.  It casts a lovely pink-ish glow over everything upstairs as the sun shines in through the windows.  Just lovely.  Who wouldn't want that?

So here are a bunch of fuzzy, late afternoon pics of the room as it stands now (apologies for the pics, I wanted to get this post out):

 

As you can see, we are working with strange ceiling angles, eaves storage doors, and bad lighting.

I painted the walls BM Nature's Essentials, and the ceiling is actually a high gloss paint, SW Nebulous.  It's a very pale silver-ish white.  The gloss helps create the illusion of height in the room.

The rocking chair was found on our local Craigslist for only $15 and is actually very comfortable.  The dresser was handed down from my parents.  It was originally my grandparents, is solid maple and is a nice smaller size that fits just right in that space.  I made what I call a "kerchief" curtain out of classic blue ticking stripe fabric, and the pillow on the bed is made of the same fabric, although it's hard to see in the pictures.

Things still needed for the room:

An acrylic tray for the dresser to put all my cute things on, artwork, and a duvet cover.  

One step at a time...

A possible DIY?

{chroma console: anthrpologie}

I've seen these images floating around of the Chroma series by Anthropologie.  I like them.  Classic mid-century modern style with an up-to-date color block.  The cool thing about the color blocking is that it's done with felt!  I think you could make this yourself, though.  It would be easy to update and add some color to any unfinished Ikea piece.  Or, if you're ambitious, it would be very simple to make this out of some good quality plywood and add whatever type of legs you wanted!  

For the felt, you could use the very cool Eco-Fi, which is made from 100% post-consumer recycled plastic bottles, and is surprisingly soft.  I have used this before in my own projects and would recommend it.  Your local craft store might carry it - my Joann's carries a large selection of colors for a very reasonable price.  If you can't find it, etsy always comes to the rescue.

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

I have an idea

I have an idea!

Those four little words that always make J cringe, at least for a second.  This time, I have an idea (of course, thanks to Pinterest...where else would great ideas come from) for our lack of shoe storage in the back entrance.  Yeah, we're still working on that.  It's coming along, though.  The main thing left to do is paint the door.  However, since it's "cold" out, that will have to wait a bit for warmer weather.  And, I am thinking about adding some wide horizontal stripes above the coat hooks.  I'll have to take a picture of its current state and share it with you.

But back to my fantastic idea!  Here's what I've got:

 {found on my pinterest board and the original source}

We eventually need to tear out the carpet and install new stair treads, so this might actually be an option.  I don't know how hard it is to make a drawer in a stair.  Has anyone ever done this or seen one in person?  It would be a really big help in our tiny entrance, and keep things nice and tidy.

Happy Wednesday everyone!