The Couch

 

As I said in my last post...mom wanted her couch reupholstered...It was WORN OUT and dated but she loved the size and it "worked perfectly in her space and she would never be able to find anything that she liked better..."soooo

I took an upholstery course this summer with Jennifer at Metamorphose Upholstery and Furniture, upholstered a chair in class, did one at home....

and mom thought I was ready...

but this is a SOFA, like a whole SOFA

not just cushions or a pillow...

needless to say, I was a little overwhelmed, but for some reason,

as always, accepted the challenge. We picked it up Christmas night and brought it into our foyer.

Here, I stripped her down....

 

 

then moved her to the garage where I worked on her on my days off....

 

 

here is a peak....

and here she is back in my foyer...

and today....in moms family room...

moms decorates with a lot of navy and red....

so we threw some of her old pillows on her to give her a pop of color....

Mom and Dad seemed to be very pleased...when we left Dad had thrown all the pillows but one on the floor and was stretched out watching football. He said, "Yes! It feels pretty good!!!"

While we were visiting Dad mentioned that the next thing Mom wants is a new cornice over her large window in the same room. She asked Dad to build her one and he quickly said...."UUMMMM, I think Mandy would like to do that"  :))))

Good ole Dad!!!

 

...on a side note...as I mentioned here ...

I met Miss Mustard Seed, who is and has been a fabulous inspiration for a while now.

I have a fairly new Nikon camera and she gave me a quick tutorial on how to actually use it.

This prompted me to start trying to learn a little bit more about using the silly thing on MANUAL....

that has been one of the most frustrating things I have done in a while.

 I was not totally pleased with my pics of moms couch in her family room, her room is kind of dark with the paneling and wood floors, but I am learning...I will get there...

 

eventually....

 

 

 

Oh, one of the things I did this weekend was to sign up for this tutorial online and these guys were extremely helpful!!! So, hopefully my pics will be much better the more I practice!!!

 

 

Mandy 

The After Christmas Project

I took an upholstery class this summer from Jennifer at Metamorphose.

When we got the chair stripped down we fell in love with the wood frame and started thinking...

hmmm....there is a particular catalog that has this wonderful deconstructed look that is so cool...should we try that???

We quickly got online to see if this was something we thought we could do with this chair....we decided...YES!

 

 

 

Here is the finished chair....

 

 

 

 

I just love it!

 

 

 

so...fast forward a couple of months

my mom, who thinks that I can do anything and everything....

wants her couch reupholstered.

It was time, the upholstery was worn out and dated, but geez, a COUCH!

That is much different from a chair!!!

 

So, Christmas Day...we loaded this baby in the back of the truck and headed home...

and placed her in my foyer (the whole house is my workshop :) )

 

I stripped her down.... 

 

 

 

And, she is finished....

 

 

.

I will post some REAL pics when she is back in her place of honor in mom's family room, but here is a sneak peak.

I cannot say it was easy peasy, but it was certainly a learning experience.

Not sure if I am ready to tackle a couch again anytime soon, although, I have in my stash 3 couch frames..go figure...

someday, I will get brave and show you my stash...good heavens, it is taking over our home!!!!

 

 

 

 

Mandy

We met Miss Mustard Seed!!!

On Friday Miss Mustard Seed flew in from Pennsylvania and came to see us here in little ole LaPorte!!!

She was a guest at Altar'd and Traci and I were just about the first ones in the door.

We have both followed her blog since the beginning and are truly inspired by her energy and creativity.

 

 

She is just as she seems on her blog...friendly and gracious...

 

 

 

 

After working the room and introducing herself to everyone that walked in the door she gave us a painting/distressing/antiquing/waxing demo. She was so open with all her tricks and techniques.

 

 

 

 

 

Mandie of Altar'd was stocked with Miss Mustard Seed's new book

 

Inspired You

Letting God Breathe New Life into Your Heart and Home

 

and also her line of milk paint, furniture wax, antiquing wax, bonding agent...etc, etc, etc

 

.

 

 

We had a great time, met some of the nicest people and had our picture made with Miss Mustard Seed to boot!!!

Gorgeous Belle Notte plus Bedroom

I posted about Miss Linda's home that I had done some sewing in over the past few years.

Here is the guest bedroom that I just loooove!

 She started with ordering her Bella Notte bedding for the bed. If you are not familiar with Bella Notte...let me tell you...it is the softest, most comfortable, luxurious linen bedding you will ever find.

She received her samples that the bedding was being made out of and set out to find some coordinating fabric for the drapery treatments for behind the bed and the french doors...

 

 

She found a beautiful floral print, sheer and silk for the swag...When she got everything home she decided the silk would be a little too formal for her look...she ordered some more Bella Notte linen.

She found pictures of what she wanted everything to look like and handed it over to me.

The window behind the bed is only about 35 inches wide. We went ahead and extended the window treatment out to the corners of the bed to make everything look larger.

The sheers on the doors have ties at the top.  

We made a cord cover out of leftover linen to cover the cord of the swing arm lamp.

 

The colors in this room are much more gorgeous than these pictures show. The blue linen is a pale aqua and just the most gorgeous color.

The little table in the corner now sports a little aqua blue linen scarf with a ruffled edge...can't find the pic right now.

As I said before...Linda's home is just a relaxing, gorgeous home...wish all of you could take a tour!!!

 

Mandy

The Business of Beautiful

 

There happens to be nothing more fun than being able to make something beautiful for someone. Such is the case with Miss Linda. Linda has a FAB.U.LOUS. home. She has exceptional taste and I love everything she chooses to do in her home. I have had the honor to sew for her and here is our latest project for her bath. She had a cute valance already on this window but "just wanted a change"....gotta love that!!!

 

 

The pleated shade is silk and the top curtain is linen....love the combo of fabrics that she picked out.

 

A while back she brought me this antique chair. It is in fabulous condition but she was going a little different direction with the guest room. She decided to have me make a burlap slip cover with some cream linen accents. She had the precious pillows already that just finished the look.

 

I think about 3 or so years ago Linda was redoing her bedroom. She already had someone making the pillows and bedskirt. She told me her idea for a bedspread and drapes. Here was what we came up with. It looks just fabulous!!!

 

We stood in her bedroom and could not remember exactly what I sewed!!! We know I did the bedspread and we are almost sure I sewed the large bolster at the foot of the bed.

Her drapes were a true labor of love for my husband. He agreed to help me install and this almost killed him. He perfectly measured and hung each finial. The problem with Linda's house is that it is a steel frame house. So my sweet hubby never knew when he would hit a steel beam when he drilled into the wall...I owed him big time for that!

 

The very first job I did for Linda was her husbands study. We put valances on the doors...

 

...and this drape on the window...Linda's husband is a hunter...this past winter he went "black bear hunting" and wouldn't you know....Linda is getting a BIG black bear rug....She quickly stated that it will happily reside in her husbands office. :)

Can't wait to se that!!!

 

Before the bathroom, we did some drapes in a guest room....that is coming up next...

 

Love, love, love her house!!!

 

 

Mandy

 

 

Fabulous Antique Mirror

Last weekend I picked up my mom and drove to Beaumont where my sister's family lives to celebrate my moms birthday. My niece just moved into her apartment this summer and I was gifted with the job of helping decorate it. Sarah already had the basics of furniture and had been collecting decor items for a year. I picked up a small chandelier from The Old Oak Cottage and we were going to hang it beside her bed....

All of that to show you my treasure....

While we were there I had asked for a trip to Urban Habitat, an awesome antique/home decor/just all around fabulous store in downtown Beaumont.

I went back to this mirror 3 times...

which told me..."hey silly, just buy it, you love it!"

You know, you've been there right?

Anyway...I have often been right at the point of ripping this builder's grade mirror off the wall of my half bath because...well, it's builder's mirror and not Mandy's mirror...but, I knew that before I could do anything pretty I would have to fix the wall...and, well...I just did not want to.

When I saw this mirror I thought, "Of course, a mirror over a mirror, YES!!!"

It is the absolute perfect size and I LOVE IT!!!!

The frame is perfectly chipped and imperfect and it has this fabulous etching at the top.

Put a long screw in the wall, wrapped some burlap ribbon around the picture wire and slid an antique glass doorknob over the screw and stood back and said,

"AAAHHHHHHH"

I just love it when you do something simple and the sky's are blue and the birds are singing....

Mandy

Linking up to

From My Front Porch to Yours

High Maintenance

A week ago I started my upholstery class!!!!!!!! Yea!!!!! I have wanted to learn this craft for quite some time now. Jennifer at Metamorphose Upholstery and Furniture had endured months of me asking, "So when are you going to teach an upholstery class?" This was always asked while I was standing in her shop, stopping her from what she was doing. Every once in a while she would pick up the stapler and quickly fold the fabric over into the perfect corner and staple it in place. How does she do that sooo effortlessly???

So, I dug around in my stash of furniture and, apparently, brought quite the difficult chair to the class...high maintenance...uh huh...

After at least 8 hours of stripping...not me, the chair, but I felt like it with the sweat running down my back...(side note: Jennifer's husband showed up and said, "I heard there were some strippers here and thought I would stop by" hehehe)

Anywho...The pic above is where I ended up after 8 hours on the first day. Jennifer took 1 look at the chair and thought...Restoration Hardware Deconstructed Look...hmmmm, ok.

Day 2...I was taught how to re-strap the bottom.

...replace and tie the springs. I asked Jennifer if she was punishing me for bringing such a difficult chair because after each string I would think I was done and she would say...um no, now tie diagonally...omygosh! Seriously!? She taught me the 8 tie method which is the most sturdy...ok, yeah..

We then replaced the burlap, foam, cotton batting, dacron and muslin.

Finally! We can start the finishing details...only after 17 hours of hellasish stripping...is hellasish a word? You get the drift though, right?

 Burlap on the arm so that you will be able to see it from the outside...I am so excited to be learning this style of upholstery!!!

At the end of 2 days (2 looooong days) here is where we ended up. I am loving the details so far. The nail heads add so much cuteness to the chair.

Being the 'high maintenance' student that I am, I will be having my third and final class this week. Can't wait to show you how the chair turns out!!!

Thanks Jennifer!!! You have been a fabulous teacher!!!

Linking up with

Metamorphosis Monday

Mandy