Here’s the ugly little thing (remember it is Hailey sized) next to the new beautiful thing!

It was actually really easy. As soon as I posted that post in August I went about taking the old gross fabric off. That took me one night and one day.  Then the chair sat in the office for 2 months until yesterday, when I started recovering it. Lauren and I took a trip to fabricland last month to find the most perfect fabric for the chair, which I would know when I saw.  I felt let down at first and couldn’t find anything that I liked, but then some deep searching came up with this pretty green paisley pattern. Are you at all surprised that it’s green? It’s pretty heavy duty fabric, almost like outdoor furniture fabric.

I had it almost done and was attaching the arms when I realized that I needed access to the back, that I had already covered. So I pried those staples out, attached the arms and re-paneled the back. I think if I were getting more fancy there is a way cover the staples at the back. But I’m not that fancy, and this was my first try.  Also if you ever see it in person, don’t look under it, it’s certainly not that pretty underneath!

So there you go. A old-new recovered chair for Hailey’s room.

(did photo just blow your mind? I never showed anything with the chair to show the size of it, so you probably pictured it as a large chair!)

EDIT: Laura gave me the idea to do a cost breakdown:
Chair- $2
Fabric- $14.50 (I got it for $7.33/meter originally $22.00/meter and there is lots left)
Staples/Staple Gun- Free borrowed from mom
Paint for legs- Free found in basement
Total cost of the chair: $16.50

We have one room finished so far, and lots more to go. My father-in-law nicely painted Hailey’s nursery for us when we moved in. Hailey never even used the nursery at our old house and I loved the design, so we kept it the same. Same paint, same furnishings, same baby.  Only now she actually uses it! And as of yesterday she is now UNSWADDLED! I am so happy about that. Now it’s even cuter to see her sleeping, arms flung out both ways and legs just totally relaxed.

{Before}

{View from door}

{crib and bookcases}

{dresser and chair where I take her monthly photos}

{closet and door – I should have taken a photo of inside her closet, she has more clothes then I do}

So there’s one room for you. I really hope to paint more rooms soon and get the house infused with more ‘Katelyn’ style. I bought fabric for Hailey’s little chair and I’ll finish it this week and post photos. It’s going to be adorable!

After some sanding and a couple coats of paint it’s now a whole new woman:

The cost of this project was just some sandpaper and paint that I already owned. Not too shabby!

After all that, here are some photos. (btw taking photos of rooms is really not my forte)

Here is a view of the room from the doorway.

The dresser from the doorway.  As you can see we decided on the white Ikea dresser. It’s not the highest quality ever made, but I love all the drawers and the room that it allows me to use to organize! It’s going to suck to move whenever we move.

Here are the cute alphabet letters that you see around the room.  I found them at Chapters, they are exactly what I was looking for.

I love the way the crib skirt turned out, and it was super easy too make (thanks mom!) and the quilt made by two of my aunts matches everything perfectly.

Here’s our stroller which matches- I didn’t even mean for this to happen, I guess I just really love green and brown! Mom bought me the diaper bag which is hanging on the back of the stroller. She couldn’t have matched it any better!

Eventually we will move the glider into the corner of the room where the stroller is currently hanging out, but since we plan to have raspbaby sleep in our room in his or her cute cradle, we are leaving the glider in the living room for now.

Here the cradle, it’s in out living room right now because we need to move around the furniture in the bedroom before it will fit. So now we just get to stare at it all day and wonder when we will have a baby to fill it!

]]> http://fiveblondes.com/decorating/raspbabys-nursery/feed/ 20 http://fiveblondes.com/decorating/nursery-progress/ http://fiveblondes.com/decorating/nursery-progress/#comments Sat, 28 Nov 2009 17:51:01 +0000 Kate http://fiveblondes.com/?p=3182 The nursery is stuck right where it was 2 weeks ago- it’s half painted.  Scott did a bit of progress by painting the ceiling, so now it’s a bright white.  But the walls still need another coat.  We still have about 7 weeks to go, and I just can’t wait to see it all come together.  Today my mom-in-law is coming over to help me finish painting (Scott’s calling her my babysitter).

I threw together an idea board for the nursery, basically incorporating everything we have, and have planned for the nursery.

1. Fabric:

Floral-for the curtains- with a bit of gingham at the bottom

Gingham- for the crib skirt

Blue- for a blind on the windows

2. Crib- the colour of ours is a cherry, but that’s basically what it looks like.

3. Glider- basically looks like that

4. Alphabet Prints- I knew all along that I wanted to incorporate the alphabet in the nursery.  Now I need to decide if I want to use them as a sort of border around the room or spell out words.  Our boy name repeats a letter so that’s out, but our girl name has no repeating letters, so if raspberry is a girl I’m thinking that will be my choice.

5. Dresser- Mom bought an old dresser at an auction sale and really wants me to use it and paint it yellow (she’s obsessed, yes mom I said obsessed, with yellow).  I think it’s a cute idea but I really think I have my heart set on a long dresser (like the one in the idea board) because I would want to use it as a change table as well.

So here’s my next board- with a different dresser, one I have showed before:

This one has a different dresser. The IKEA one.  I previously liked it in brown, but since the walls are brown I don’t think it would work, so now I’m thinking of the white option.

I also think I want to put a nice area rug in the room, and I’m leaning towards green, my favourite colour.  But I’m just not sure how the green in this rug will look with the gingham green.

Any thoughts?

I started my shopping on Saturday, and I have every intention of getting all my shopping done early this year (like that will really happen…).   I know what I am going to get for a few people, it’s just a matter of going out and getting it, but since the stores are so busy already it makes me dread going.  I’m planning a trip to the One of a Kind Show and Sale in Toronto next weekend.  I don’t know how much I’ll get there, because items are usually pretty pricey at events like that, and I’m mostly just hoping to get myself more into the Christmas spirit and maybe get a gift idea for the people on my list who are hard to buy for.

Christmas decorating has begun in my house.  I took down my Happy Halloween banner from the fireplace and put up the new one I made reading Merry Christmas.  Next will be the tree and garlands.  I have plans to decorate outside the house as well this year, but we’ll see if it happens.  I took the photo below on November 22nd 2008, so I’m behind where I was last year!

This year I’m also sending out Christmas cards! I still have the same box that I bought about 4 years ago, which were the prettiest cards ever, and this year I found some that are similar so I bought those as well.  I spent Saturday writing Christmas cards and eating candy canes.

I figure since Christmas seems to arrive and leave so quickly it doesn’t hurt to start decorating or shopping early (not that it’s really that early anymore, being only 32 days away!)

]]> http://fiveblondes.com/christmas/christmas-spirit/feed/ 6 http://fiveblondes.com/decorating/some-living-room-love/ http://fiveblondes.com/decorating/some-living-room-love/#comments Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:03:02 +0000 Micaela http://fiveblondes.com/?p=3136 My living room needs a little love. Between the wedding which took over my life, and saving for a house, I haven’t really put any effort into making it a beautiful and comfortable place for us. Now that we are both working days, we spend a lot of time hanging out in this room together in the evenings and so it’s really coming to my attention that it needs an update in a big way.

I’m not going to post before photos yet, until I have the after photos, but we have so much old, secondhand furniture that just isn’t very nice that I’d like to get rid of or improve:

- An flowered lazyboy that used to be my Oma’s
- A small fake wood bookshelf that I’d like to replace with a big one
- A scalloped edged coffee table recently bought off craigslist which I will paint
- The old, IKEA (I haaaate having ikea furniture.) coffee table which is in the corner on it’s side, pretending not to exist

And what I need to get:
- A couch or something to replace the lazy boy
- Curtains for the windows
- A large bookshelf to replace small bookshelf
- A floor lamp

These are some photos I’ve saved on my computer over the past bit as inspiration. I apologize that I’m not sure of the source of any of them so if you know, just give me a heads up and I will credit it:

This coffee table looks a lot like mine and I’d like to paint mine white too. Also, we’ve been looking for a sectional but just can’t find one we love, but I love this one!

I saved this one when we first moved in as inspiration because with the location of the window and fireplace it’s the same layout as our room and the walls are a similar-ish colour.

And… that’s it! I thought I would have had more but most pictures seem to be kitchens and bedrooms. No wonder I haven’t done anything with ours, I need more ideas and inspiration. Any living rooms out there that you absolutely love?

I used to make millions of collages.  Clear tape was my best friend, and all my magazines were all cut up!

Had to include this in here. It looks so amazing, and I wish I was there right now. I might be alone on this, but I WANT SNOW!

so. cute! All of them!

Also had to add this.  Oh hello Bode…move to Ottawa and ski with me! That is all. Who cares about all your scandals, you are still amazing.

Definitely makes me wish I could draw.

This kind of looks like my shelf at home…

Dresses, dresses, dresses! I didn’t used to be a dress girl, but lately I want to wear one every day.

Not too sure why there are…bolts(?) in her face, buut I love her hair, and I want to draw this.

This looks so comfy right now

Thinking we should incorporate a ladder into our bookcase at home..(seen here in Erica’s wedding photos at Last Forty Percent!)

Such cute patterns!

I want this lipstick! I have become obsessed with lipstick. I had pink for Micaela’s wedding, and I just recently bought red for our Cheer pub.

Anyone else (in our family or another specific family who owns it) think this looks like the party barn? I pretty much want this as my wedding.

Baby!! I literally tear up every time I look at a picture of Kate or talk about Razzle.  Which is funny, because Kate says I’m the only one who didn’t cry when she told me. I argue that it is because I was out of the room (surprise, surprise) and she didn’t actually tell me. Don’t worry though, not getting any ideas!

Does this remind anyone else of Oma’s house? Scrabble and tea!

This picture is so cute with the candy canes and the desserts together!

This picture is SO ADORABLE! It is Alyson Hannigan and Alexis Denisof (from Buffy!) and their daughter Satyana on Halloween dressed up as, obviously, a Kangaroo family!

Last one- I love everything about this picture. The purse, the adorable dress, and of course the jean jacket. So cute all together.

Also making me happy (at this very moment actually), is Lady Antebellum! Particularly Need you Now, and Looking For a Good Time.

What is making everyone else happy in this weird, tired weather?

• Anna Turns Six on Tarawhitney.com. A beautiful tribute to this photographer’s daughter.
• I cut these shoes out of a magazine because I loved them so much, and then my favourite fashion blogger found a $69 version. (Fate.)
• Maybe it’s partially the fact that I have been dying for really long hair lately, but there is something about Madeleine M. that I adore:
• The bedroom at This Young House. I love so many interior design photos I’ve seen on blogs recently. It’s a shame, really, because I have no permanent residence to decorate at the moment. I love the chandelier, the lamps, and the huge curtains. And well, everything:
• Most definitely the cutest daddy-to-be in the world! (Uh oh, mothering instincts quite possibly kicking in too!):
• Youaremyfave.com has been focusing on a different design accent colour every day. The pictures she finds are so gorgeous that each colour quickly becomes my new favourite. Today, orange is our fave. Photo from where else but Apartment Therapy.
  
• And a couple that I tweeted about yesterday:
• I saw this shirt on Design Crush today. The French: Moi, je veux te dire que je ne te quitterai jamais. Et puis, si tu es triste, je pourrais toujours te donner un peu d’alcool pour te rechauffer le couer. xo Basically this means that “I’ll be there for you always. And I’ll get you drunk when you’re sad.” Get it on etsy.
• Peonies and Polaroids received this dress and a fancy camera from her husband on their one year anniversary. I am tres impressed. If you are inclined, check out her wedding in her archives (about one year ago!) It was perfect.
• This wedding wins my heart. I’m having a tent wedding in 148 days (according to facebook.)

This is the first one I made for my house. On How About Orange, Jessica used art frames to stretch canvas, I couldn’t find any, anywhere. So I enlisted the assistance of my helpful husband and we made the frames ourselves out of wood we bought at home depot (LOVE that place, it deserves another post of it’s own).

That’s was taken at my parents house, before I hung it at home obviously.

And the 2nd one I just finished for Micaela and Kent’s house. She hasn’t even seen it yet! Here it is hung up on my wall at home.

These were so easy and quick to make. I would highly suggest it, if you are looking for a cheap art project!