DIY Target Chair Makeover

 

Hello, everyone! I have for you today my recent chair makeover. I got this chair on clearance at Target for $10 (I think it was originally $20, so a pretty good deal) and I've had it for awhile, but now that my room is coming together and the accent colors have pretty much picked themselves (these were not my original accent colors, not even close!), I had to do something with the stark red color.

 

 

The red Target office chair. It sticks out like a sore thumb right now. That's going to change........now.

 

I started by tracing a rough template on paper with a pencil. These were not by any means totally accurate, I just needed something to help me cut out the basic pieces for the covers.

 

 

I cut the back piece on the fold and the seat piece on two folds, so now I have these. Man, are they wrinkled. A quick iron will fix that!

 

I decided to add stripes to the covers, so I snagged two curtain tiebacks (please don't tell my mom) and stitched them in place with white thread.

 

I pinned the whole back piece in place and made adjustments and cuts to fit it in place all the way around. I had to do the top first and then the center bottom, the sides, and then the rest of the bottom.

 

If you are noncommittal like me, you may not want to permanently attach this just yet. I stapled mine in place.

 

The whole cushion stapled in place. I went to bed so I could get a fresh look at it the next day.

 

And if you still like it the next day (I did), remove the staples and pin the cover back in place. Be sure to smooth it out, unlike me.

 

Stitch the cover in place with matching or contrasting thread. I used dark red, so it shows in some spots, but is totally hidden around the stripe.  

 

And once you secure your threads and snip the excess, you now have a chair to be happy to see! Or at least, I am...I have issues.

 

Have a wonderful Thursday!

{DIY} Accent Pieces

 

Hello, everyone! Today, I am sharing with you a couple of accent pieces I worked on recently. I covered up a box and made it into a tray for my sewing table, and I recovered a brick so it would fit in better on my bookcase!

Here is the "tray" before. Just a boring little ipad mini box. For this mini project (no pun intended), I used scrapbook paper, hot glue, scissors, and some tiny clock embellishments. I cut strips of the scrapbook paper and glued the long sides in place. Then I glued on the short end pieces. Any excess paper is folded to the bottom. Then I hot glued on the little clocks -- I though they added a nice touch -- and placed everything back into the new tray!

 

Isn't this better than seeing ugly words on a stark white box?

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Next, I dealt with the brick. This is a very old brick. I used it for a science project back in maybe 3rd or 4th grade. And I'm starting my second year of college in the fall.  So to make it over from the ugly old fabric stuck on it, I grabbed some leftover pillow sham fabric, hot glue, and scissors for the job. I wrapped the brick like a present and instead of taping, I placed beads of hot glue to secure all of it.

When I first pulled the old sunflower fabric off of this brick, I was in shock but not much. The fabric had been on there so long, that the green and yellow from the flowers was dyed into the brick! I couldn't believe it! But I also could. Either way, I'm glad the new fabric is plenty thick enough to hide it easily.

And here is the recovered brick in its new spot. Full disclosure: I took these photos before the walls were painted and the books, brick, and kindle were all moved to the bottom shelf yesterday.  

 

Happy Tuesday!

Room Color Reveal! (Finally)

Hello, Everyone! I hope you are all having a fantastic Monday! I FINALLY have for you not only the final room color, BUT how the room looked when we first moved into the house! So without further ado...

1) (2007) The walls were originally white and there was a giant lighthouse painted on the wall (pictured) and a not-so-cute lighthouse border around the room. There's also a lighthouse pull chain on the ceiling fan that I still have up there today!;
 2) (2007-08) My mom painted the walls pink sometime in 2007-08 after I had switched back to my old room, I'm not sure. I know she did it because she was selling Mary Kay at the time and she wanted a pink room. But then I switched rooms for the final time.
3) (2011) I painted the room the same purple as the room I was in before. It was horrifyingly decorated, but I thought I knew what I was doing.
 4) (2013) The carpet switch that I briefly blogged about before. Ugh.
 5) (2013) I tried painting the walls off white (had it in the garage), but I ran out of paint because I did two coats on two walls without painting the other two walls at all. I know...

 

And the long-awaited after! I found a gallon of Hot Cocoa paint at Lowes for FIVE BUCKS. HOW did I not know that they had Oops paint for super cheap?! But I forgave myself. Because now I have this beautiful wall color that I LOVE. It looked pink-ish at first, but when I think of the color name I suddenly feel like I am staring into a nice hot mug of it, right on the walls.

 

 



 

 

 Another view of the wall color, and my new office area! Can you guess which cute décor items are upcoming tutorials? I will say that the one tomorrow can't be seen because it's on the bottom shelf of the bookcase!

Room Makeover = Tutorials?!

I am doing a major overhaul of my room. Mostly what's IN my room. I have tons to sort, trash, recycle, and donate. The walls will stay the same but I will do some touchups to cover up some things (sharpie marks and pin holes). The trim and doors will be painted  satin black.

Planning:

-respray paint my bookcases so they are totally black - there are some tiny scratches and some spots I missed when I sprayed them before.

-My sewing table and nightstand drawers need to be recovered in new fabric to match the new color scheme - I will use fat quarters and there will be a posted tutorial on that. I have the pictures from when I first did it, but I want to do it with the new fabrics. My sewing table also needs a new drawer pull because the original one got lost and I stole one from the ugly dresser in my closet.

-speaking of ugly closet dressers, I will be repainting that ugly yellow into a satin black color. It will be primed and painted and sealed and the drawers will have an accent color (Thnks, Pinterest!) using the original wall paint.

-I have an extra nightstand under my desk that I may get rid of because it is super old and I don't need it - it matches nothing. Maybe I can donate it. Not sure yet.

-My windowseat is covered in JUNK. I need to sort it all so I can finally get a cushion on that thing! I have decided that I am not dealing with the price/hassle of using foam and making a box cover. I will just buy a some cheapo pillows and cover it like a "present", as it's worded in the tutorial I am using for it. I will be using a Pottery Barn pillow tutorial to make some felt pillows, and I will either sew or buy curtains.

Here is a before photo of my room after moving the furniture where I want it: 

Tutorials to come:

-inspired by iCarly (when she gets a new room!) - Ice Cream Sandwich Bench. The original supplier has it for $950 which I obviously do not have as a college student. HA! My version should cost right around $100. I have not factored in coupons or sales.

-from the same website they have a Rubik's Cube table. I will be making one that will be sturdy, cute, and will not cost $600, but a modest $30-40.

-My bulletin board and memory board will be redone to match the color scheme, so a tutoril will be done for both.

-A picture post will be done with all CDs in my room - video games, music, movies, whatever. It all will be put into a CD case (the one I am looking at holds 48). All of my Sims games will have labels made with the serial numbers so I can recycle the books and cases (If I don't know how to install, uninstall, or play it by now, then we have a problem).

-I will be recovering my giant clipboard. May not seem like a room thing, but it hangs on my wall when I'm not using it so it needs to look cute, too!

-My outlet covers will be covered with scrapbook paper and mod podged. Will do a picture post.

Thanks for reading!!!

Natasha.