Some of you commented on the new coffee table in my Slipcover update post. That is acutally not a new coffee table, but the result of a loving husband FINALLY reading the pin I sent him of the Ikea hack coffee table update by The Feminist Mystique months ago and while I was away at NTEN; surprising me by doing the project. Here are some of the pictures he took along the way.
Start with the big Ikea coffee table
Get some unfinished 1×4’s and cut them to be a little longer than the coffee table top.
stain!
If you’re artsy, drill holes on the ends, cut the heads off of masonry nails and hammer them in.
Well… actually an update on our couch. I told you here that my mom was coming to help me make a slipcover. She came, she saw, she sewed. I helped…a little. So, now I present to you the slipcover that my mom and I sewed BY HAND in one weekend…and the cushion covers that I sewed. My couch is all right angles and the duck cloth we made the slipcover with had finished sides that looked nice enough to me so we carefully (cleverly) planned the entire thing to have minimal sewing required. The back and sides of the couch were one long cut of the cloth that even came over the top of the back and ended where the seat meets the back of the couch, another piece went from the floor over the front meeting the other seam. Then we had diagonal seems at the top of the two corners, and some in the front where there are rectangular pieces. We ran out of cloth to cover the ottoman, so I put it in the guest room closet for now and I got to say, I think the room looks much bigger without it. So, for about 22 yards of duck cloth (yes, we had to hit up 2 different’ Joanne’s) and upholstery thread and needles I paid about $150. Not too bad, and much cheaper than any new couch, or buying a 13 foot long slip cover. I threw some skinny dowels into the recesses making the couch fit tighter and my mom iced her swollen fingers and we ended up with this beauty…
TA-DA!
The dashed lines mark the seams. The seams are identical on both sides of the couch because the couch is symmetrical. There is an angled seam at the top of both corners of the couch that runs down to meet the seat area. A seam along the back of the sitting area, as well as the two sides. We gave extra room for these when sewing and stuffed them down with dowels to keep the couch taught. Then there are square seams on the front of the couch arms.
back corner seam
Front of the arms of the couch, square seams
I love it
So what do you think? It was easier than I thought it would be, we got it done in a day and a half [BY HAND] if we had used a machine, it would have been a few hours tops. Do you want to try something like this? Do it.
Hmm. This was full of coffee when I started this post.
Because I married a nerd [his words] half of my mugs are something like this. We have a Thor mug where the handle is actually the Mjolnir [calm down nerds, I googled that word, I almost left it as meow meow], we have several Star Wars mugs, other Avengers mugs and then there’s this bad boy. The problem is, I’m the one who drinks coffee. Maybe too much coffee, but still at the end of the day, I’m the one nerd muggin’.
Today, I’m not at work because after months of back and forth and frustration, the management at our apartment complex is sending someone out to fix our carpets. (yay!) When you patch and clean carpets, however, you do not move furniture; that costs extra. That was our job, so thank you to our wonderful friends who came over yesterday and helped us hide the entire contents of our living and dining room into our two bedrooms. Our living room is empty now. So it begins.
so empty
They have to patch some straight slits that were obviously done by a straight razor and have gotten worse since they are in a high traffic area, they tried to say that our cats did this (I’m assuming they also pictured them meowing maliciously while they clawed away). While the cats may have made it worse, my cats cant even dig in the litter properly, they’re certainly not capable of long straight cuts into carpet.
the criminals being accused
The slices in question
They also have to replace the carpet under the window. Last rainy season (and every rainy day since then) the entire floor by our big window was flooded. After taking months to get back to us, they came in, pulled back the carpet and replaced the dry wall (by propping it up with another piece of drywall) and then added new trim. Then they rolled the still damp carpet and pad back into place.
when they “fixed” the wall a few months ago
Well since then, the carpets have become orange under the window, and when they come today we’re going to have to tell them again that it still gets wet when it rains, so they may want to fix that while they’re at it.
stains under the window
My house is empty. It feels weird. Like we’re moving, but we’re not. Anyway, I’ll add a picture of the carpets below once they’re done making them pretty…BOOM! Added!
Back when I moved out of my first apartment and in with my [seriously ended up to be totally] awesome roommate, Victoria who I met on craigslist; I did a massive change in the style of my room. I went from a whole apartment to living in just a room with a very small closet, so I just picked a theme and I went with it. My entire room was white. My all white room looked so clean – I love love loved it. I thought (and still do) that it looked like it was out of a magazine. I wasn’t blogging back then and I recently stumbled across some photos of my old room, not really a complete view of it but random bits of happiness. So, here it is, the last room I had as a single girl. You were so good to me, Hillsboro Light Towers.
Josh turned a random little table that Devin saved from the garbage for me into a full on vanity by adding light but hiding all cords. I wish I had a shot of my antique map of Auckland in 4 8×10 frames on the wall.
My shelf. I couldn’t commit to painting the canvases so I wrapped them in white wrapping paper. They’re still like that above our couch in the living room.
I got this little stand from a garage sale for free, it was all brown and the door was rattan. That same day I got a helpful Lowes employee to cut a piece of wood into the perfect size to cover the door, glued a filagree wood piece on it and painted it white. I love the way it turned out. Later, my parents wedding photo found its way into that frame.
Andy came and did a shoot in my room once. The black guy in a white room jokes were plentiful.
A shot from Andy’s shoot
Messing around with Andy’s camera
When my sweet parents stayed with me…sleepy little love birds.
When my parents came to visit and stayed with me, my dad said I had saved him the cost of a hotel. So, he got me this white TV and called it even. He loves to try and be ‘logical’ when spoiling.
I have to admit, living on a1a with the ocean on one side and the inlet on the other was amazing. Totally a God thing that I got to experience this for $500 a month.
There comes a point in your life, and I hope this happens to everyone, when you look at what you’ve accomplished, what you’ve spent your time doing and the possessions you’ve gathered since you started your life as a full time adult; mainly, since college. When you really take stock.
I love what I’ve accomplished, I love that 6 months out of college I got a job I really wasn’t qualified for at an incredible non profit. I love that I’ve worked hard at it and now think I can comfortably say that I’m pretty darn good at it. I love that I went somewhere I knew no one and made friends, found a church home, found my amazing Josh and eventually listened to him when he told me that we would be really good at loving each other (because we really are). I’m proud that after a little (read: a colossal amount) of help from my parents I took up life as an adult pretty easily. I have a few apartments under my belt and I’m proud that Josh and I have managed to furnish our apartment in a way that represents us both and makes it feel like home. I thank Jesus for all these things, because he made them all happen, no matter how hard I tried to ruin them all.
But it’s time for a change.
I find myself looking around our little home and when I used to look in appreciation at all our possessions, I just think to myself, “I don’t need any of this”. My vagabond instincts are kicking in and after nearly four years in south Florida, I’m craving change. I don’t know what that means for us, or how quickly this change will come. All I know is as long as I have Josh, I’m home, and I would love go everywhere in the world with him.
I have a feeling that my posts may become much more interesting in the near future. I hope.
…because you may actually fall into my couch these days.
When we got our 13 foot long 8.5 feet deep couch of craigslist it seemed like the greatest deal we’ve ever scored. And it was! For two or three solid months.
The the cracks started. And continued.
Then the cats discovered the feel of fake leather under an extended claw. That continued.
Then cracks gave way to full on tears on well worn sections and the simple peeling away of the top layer in other sections. And so on and so on.
Then I read some random blog where the woman said tent repair patches will blend in to the leather and stay on. She lied. The patches however did take off in big chunks the parts of the couch that were just starting to peel. Thats… helpful.
Now I’ve resorted to ducktape, which you may be thinking is hideous looking, but it literally can’t make this couch look worse. My goal is at least to close the giant gashes and stop the peels from falling on the floor by ducktaping all of them together.
All because, hope is on the horizon. Hope in this case, is my moms amazing talent at anything she’s ever attempted. This talent extends to sewing. My mom and Dad have promised to come and visit Josh and me soon. My mom already knows that as soon as she gets here, operation couch cover goes into effect. I have no talent for sewing and zero experience making slip covers so we will see how that turns out. I promise I’ll post whatever we come up with, no matter how bad it turns out.
Time will tell, do you sew? Do you sew slipcovers? Do you want to sew my slipcover?
Meet my little Giraffes. These buddies have been sitting on both ends of the top of our entertainment center since Christmas. I had bought them to make them into weird bookends for a friends Christmas present, but I waited too long to start. So, in the grand tradition of gift giving, I bought that friend something impersonal, and unimpressive at the last minute.
So they sat, for a long time. One day in a cleaning rage I decided on top of the entertainment center was a better storage place than the corner of the dining room where most of my ‘crafty Christmas’ supplies had been piled high and left to die as I was out buying last minute gifts.
Giraffe Make Over
Well boredom and free time have collided and today, they are getting a makeover. I will take these boys from “Why do you have toy giraffes on top of your tv?” to “What are those creepy white statues? Is that a Giraffe?” so fast your head will spin! All with the help of my little friend spray paint. Now, the color was such a tough choice. I had both white and bright purple spray paint in my craft drawers and because I’m poor, spending $3 on a can of another color was simply out of the question…so I went with white.
Look at them now. Handsome little guys. Still so proud. A little less blatant about their origins of the Target Dollar Spot. I like them. Welcome home, gentlemen.
I remember the first time I saw this thing. Sitting on my friend (now husband) Josh’s desk in his room at his parent’s house. I placed it immediately and thought (not for the first time) that he really over committed when it came to tv & movies. I’m sure at some point I’ll broach the subject of the life size storm trooper displaying on a mannequin that has found a permanent home in our guest bedroom, but not today.
I too was a faithful ‘How I Met Your Mother’ viewer, so I understood the reference, just not the reasoning behind having a blue french horn.
I also remember months and months later when he showed up at my apartment to give me my birthday presents with the horn in hand, filled to the brim with sunflowers. I knew this had symbolism to him and as was my habit at that age, I panicked and forced my friend Devin to keep it at her house.
It went from her house, to Josh’s apartment when he moved, back to his parents house, to my next apartment, and finally to the place we made our home in. There is absolutely no easy way to display a french horn so after nearly a year of it sitting in a closet or at the top of our bookshelf, I tied it up with some string and decided that was good enough.
It’s not the most beautiful wall hanging I’ve ever seen, but it has something that very few things in our house (besides ourselves) have; it has history.
A few months ago, after I had hung the horn on the wall, I found out something that I never knew. He bought it for me. He met me, and he knew. He liked the reference to the show and as he has a tendency to do, he dove right it.
Josh went online and bought the only french horn he could afford, bought it, and painted it blue. Then he waited. He waited for me, it waited for me. Now it’s in our home. How beautiful.
Welcome to my blog! My name is Adora. Here you'll see plenty of DIY projects, random videos, recipes, and fun little things from my life. I'm so glad you're here!
While some of my posts contain affiliate links; this blog would not be possible without the support of my husband Josh, and our beautiful baby boys, Jett & Jace!
