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Recovering a Seat Cushion

Okay, it's not that hard, but if you've never recovered a seat cushion before, here's how to do it:

When I posted about my dining room transformation, I asked you not to look at the two head chairs with the non-complimentary blue chair cushions.

I was looking for some neutral fabric to recover those chairs. I thought about using a dropcloth because it would match the curtains and would be inexpensive. I kind of wanted fabric with a little more texture, however. I lucked up and found the perfect fabric at Old Time Pottery for about 5 bucks a yard. (They had some great designer fabrics there that pretty much made me want to redo my entire house, but I refrained.)

So, here's how you recover a chair:

1. Cut your fabric. Remember to leave enough room to fold it over the cushion with extra fabric to spare.

2. Start by pulling the fabric taught (but not so tight that the shape of the cushion changes) and put one staple in the middle of each side. Staple top, bottom and then side to side.

3. Staple all around the edges leaving the corners for last.

There are 2 options for corners. You can do a gathered corner or a pleated corner.

I went for the pleated corner. Just make sure which ever way you do it, both corners match.

I gathered the back corners because it was more of a rounded edge and they are less visible.

4. Trim off excess fabric, make sure any screw holes are accessible and reattach to chairs!

Much, much better.

Linking here.

Dining Room and Living Room Updates

One of the things I enjoy about blogging is sharing projects we have going on around the house. I know there are a gazillion houses out there way more beautiful than mine and there are even more people out there with more design skills than me. Having said that, who wants to redo something in your house and not show it to somebody? : ) Blogging inspires me to get things checked off my list and hopefully a few others will be inspired along the way.

That being said, I have made some updates in my dining room and living room recently.

We painted the living room chocolate brown soon after moving in. It was a horrid burgundy and we loved the chocolate color of our previous dining room, so we went for it. Well, let's just say in a small dining room, dark walls, dark furniture and dark floors make for a...well DARK room!

I forgot to mention that I also had dark drapes.

I had some light aqua paint leftover from our accent wall in the living room which is open to the dining room, so one evening, I started painting. It only took a few hours since we have panel molding and only one wall with no openings/windows. It was already looking better! I looked and looked for the perfect fabric for new drapes and ended up just using drop cloths like everyone else on the planet. (***Tip- if you are using dropcloths for drapes, buy them at Home Depot. The ones at Lowe's have seams in them! ***) Love them. I decided to fold the tops of mine over to create some interest and to keep from having to hem them.

We also changed the layout of the dining room furniture. It seems much more balanced now having the china cabinet on the main focal wall. And to be honest, we did it because it makes traffic flow to and from the kitchen much better!

So, on to the pics...

BEFORE:

and AFTER:

I L.O.V.E. the new light airy feeling. I really wanted to do something to break up my all matchy matchy dining set. So, I sold all my chairs but 2 on craigslist and made enough money to buy these beauties.

Because they are cream, they also lighten things up and they are washable. I've already washed paint and crayon off of them. I think they will make it with my kids.

Here's the view looking in from the kitchen.

And, another one looking from the living room.

Now, you may have noticed that the two wooden upholstered chairs are covered in a fabric that doesn't quite go with the rest of the room. Don't worry, I have already taken care of that. I just haven't uploaded the pics, yet.

I still want to make, or find a cute runner for the table and I'd like to change out the chandelier with either a simple chrome one with white shades or a drum shade pendant. One day it will be finished, right? Probably not! I'm okay with that, though!

Now, the living room has gone through many different furniture arrangements.
Here's a pic showing the old curtains that matched the dining room ones. The lady that bought my dining room chairs ended up buying these also!

We used to have the couch on this long wall, but I never liked it.

Please excuse the bad, blurry pics. (The camera class I took, is definitely paying off! These were taken BEFORE I took the class! : ))

Here's a pic with the new drop cloth curtains.

I like the couch floating in the room. Something I don't love: the book cases. It's so hard for them to not look cluttery. I needed something big on that wall, though and that's all I have, so for now, it has to work.

Do you see that print over the chair? That's one of my favorite Christmas presents that Kris got me!! It's a family rules poster and you can find it here.

One day, I'd really like to get a sectional for this room. But, this is how we live in it right now. When we moved to this house in Oct of 09, we had moved 3 times in 3 years. When you move that much, it is hard for all your furniture to work from house to house. I think that's one reason that my house keeps evolving! It's a fun process, though!

Linking here and here.