Thursday, May 19, 2011

177.

That, my friends, is the [approximate] square footage of my new apartment. 

One Hundred.
                               Seventy.
                                                  Seven.

Now, I can't tell you the exact location of my new place, since you know, this blog is public & I'm not interested in inviting strangers/creepers/weirdies/crazies to check it out in person, but I'll tell you that it's in the downtown area. It's a lovely place. 

I have been living there since Tuesday, but actually haven't spent much time there at all, between work and cleaning the old house, and so things may change as I figure out more what does and doesn't work, and when I get things or get rid of things, etc. etc. etc. But, I promised my mom she could see better pictures than my phone can send, so this is it.
First, I'll start with the porch.
it's huge. I haven't measured it, but it's probably about the size of the apartment.


It doesn't really have a plan, yet, since it's quite light on furniture, but it will shape up :)
I painted that little corner table, by the way!

So, now that you've seen the outside, here is the inside view of the front door. I haven't had time to hang pictures, so just imagine it like it's been hung.


And, in the spirit of bargain-hunting, the bed came from a garage sale at my brother's neighbors in Romeo. It's an antique frame. The bedside table came from a garage sale, and I painted it. The lamp, from Goodwill, the picture is a copy of a print Grandma O & I found at a garage sale. She has the original. The rugs... I think Goodwill, too, my mom's a Goodwill Girl!



This is the South Wall... The Dresser came from a garage sale, I painted it. The bookcase was left behind from a roommate last year, and the shoe hanger thingy was a Goodwill thing, too. 


The closet is actually pretty big, it's about 5'x3', and I don't have any pictures of it yet, but I'll update later with some. I hung the Safarigami painting I did! That chair is the one I covered in the last post, the TV cupboard is a shabby chic thing that came from, you guessed it, Goodwill!

The last little bit: 
The "Office" area. 

The table was from a garage sale, the chairs from a used furniture store. The lamp and picture... goodwill! 

Now... if that much stuff in that tiny space isn't enough to blow your mind, let me throw another number at you.

 169.

That's how much we outfitted my apartment for. 
Bed, nightstand, dresser, bookshelf, 3 chairs, TV cabinet, table, 3 lamps, 2 rugs, a bathroom cabinet, 2 pictures, and a freaking partridge in a pear tree. 
Kidding on that last one.

I don't have any photos of the kitchen, bathroom, or closet yet, because those areas haven't been completely moved into yet. But when I do, you can bet you'll be seeing those photos, too!

(PS. My bathroom? I hate it. It's the only part I don't like. You'll see why.)
....suspense....



Friday, May 13, 2011

It's All About Covering Things...

This is a theme post. More specifically, this is the first theme post. It's about covering something (a hint you may have gotten from the title) and there will be a few more posts in the not-too distant future about covering other things. That's what makes it a theme.

Today it's a chair. Now, I've never "reupholstered" or covered a chair before. I didn't really know how to do it. But when has that ever stopped me?
Never.

 So I just jumped first
                                                            & looked later.

So even though this is a cover story (no pun intended), it also involves a Before & After. So, here's the before: 

It used to be quite cute: I got it last summer at a garage sale in Romeo. I think I paid $5 for it. It lasted me a year, and then the fabric got worn and started tearing. But why throw it out when you can just make things up as you go along? So I took it all apart. That blue on the bottom was covering an ugly blue silky fabric... and that was covering....
this:
Can I get a collective "ick"?

So my plan of action was to remove the old stuff, put on the new stuff... sounds simple, right? . I pulled out a gazillion staples. That awesome (ugly) table-cloth like cover was regrettably nailed on, so I just left it. The back of the top cushion was nailed on, too, so I left that. 
I used the old fabric pieces as stencils to cut out a bottom layer of plain white. 

Luckily, I didn't have to worry about being neat, since it all gets hidden later

So then I used the white liner pieces to cut out the top pieces (which come from some fabric I had left over from making a bed for Hugo [cat] awhile ago), and stapled the crap out of it. I stretch canvas for my paintings, so I used the same theory...staples go about a thumb's width apart. (Also, if you're thinking of doing it, I stapled at opposite sides of the circle, top to bottom, right to left, top-right to bottom-left, etc. etc.)
It seemed to work... 
The black marks are to mark where the screws fit.... an important step I'm impressed I remembered the first time.

Covering up the 70's inspired mistake.

And, 
after reattaching the new cushions to the frame... 
here's the after!



And, for a bonus... as we all know how I'm unable to resist lovely details...
Yup. I monogrammed my chair. 

SO. "new" desk chair.... $5 last year.
Oh, yeah.



In addition to more  covering posts, I'm also moving
into a new apartment, TOMORROW!
You'll get to see me try to fit   a house-worth of stuff 
into a bedroom-sized apartment. 
Hilarity ensues.