middles...

I know my posts have been a little few and far in between, but man am I busy!! Here is a little update for you, they are not quite before and afters but more like before and worse before the better! I finally got my butt in gear to strip down the nasty brown couch that will shine so bright for my little brother's wedding in august. It needs a little TLC on the frame but i think the worst is just about over....
from bad

to worse???

Lets just say I took an hour shower after i stripped it!!

My mom decided to drop off this little number she score from my grandma...I think it came from a church foyer! No one really knows. Its primed and ready for a fresh coat of Almond high gloss paint (not shown...)

If you look int the background you will see a "beautiful" yellow and pink floral couch. It belongs to my brother's soon to be mother in law. She is one of my favorite people!! the fabric I am going to slip cover her couch in, if I ever get to it... she got from Joann's and she scored it for 75% off!!! its actually really cool looking fabric.

I am super excited about the stall drapes I am smack in the middle of doing. The fabric finally arrived so now I am off and running! They should be up on the blog in the next week or so. The fabric we went with is soo different than anything out there! she is definitely gonna turn heads at the show this year! Sorry...no pics of the "middle" of this project.

Oh... and as if I did no have enough going on, my great friend Carrie, who is an amazing quilter gave me a challenge for my next "flip" project.. I found a great pair of funky club chairs on casters that have low backs and modern lines. She went to a quilting show last month and was inspired by a particular quilt...It was for a man and if you can believe it, it was boobs!! thats right a 3D quilted boob quilt! i died laughing!! she thought it would be appropriate for a man cave. so the challenge: Menswear. anything man, since the last few projects have been on the feminine side. so this is what I was thinking of using:

Its super soft but has great texture, I cant help but think I need to make a matching smoking jacket out of it to go with the chairs! I should go with her first thought....
As for today....I picked up 2 chairs for a new client. She is super cute and hip and has transformed her house into a vintage paradise! She found these great chairs at the DI...um, kinda jealous! She is wanting to redo the green chair in a blueish turquoise velour fabric and change the wood color. the jury is still out on the brown pleather....



I will be out tomorrow and Friday for a small vaca....I am talking mini!! Don't ask, but will be back in time to welcome a new clients love seat into the sweat shop! So please, be patient because before you know it i will have a legit AFTER over load!!!

p.s. this fabulous couch is looking for a new home... plus my dungeon is getting full. if you did not know me you may think I have a "furniture" addiction. I am asking $500. she is marvelous! text or email if you want to come check her out!

Modern Banquet

So I had a lady contact me about a month ago regarding a banquet set she got off of kls. They are quite the set... There are 4 of them and when they are all together they form 2 semi-circles. Anyways, it too her a while to find fabric. She brought them to me last week with this $100/yd of fabric she scored off of ebay for $12/yd! Not too shabby. They are moving to AZ next month and she is scoring deals left and right to furnish the new house. I have to say I had my doubts....but I really love how they turned out. They definitely were a real brain buster. She was originally going to cover them herself, and bless her heart for trying. When she dropped them off to me she brought me the fabric, a pattern out of sheets and a bunch of snaps and ropes and gadgets to make the cover stay. She spent 20 hrs tying to figure it out and then threw in the towel! Poor thing! They were a bugger but man, did I own them! There are no cushions and the the tuck allowance was MINIMAL. the problem was #1, they are curved and #2 when ever you tucked them in and proceeded to sit in them, they would come undone and bulge. So, I had to get creative to keep the chair tight and in place every time someone sat in them. I'd lioke to go ahead and pat myself on the back for this one... i had my kids jump on them and my husband to a sit test and they past!!

Before

After





They look great!!

Pillows

So my favorite Aunt Jo, the one that had me redo her chair and ottoman -the cat's scratching post...
Before

After


She wanted some pillows made from the same fabric for her couches. I made 3 of the 5 with regular welting around the edges and the remaining 2 with ruffles. I love them soo much that i want to make some for my couch, only i will have to choose a different fabric or you will never see them!!! they turned out great! (sorry for the camera phone pics... and Lakers semi-made bed!)

Blue Floral Beauty

Ok....I realize that this couch is not for everyone, but I had a little fun with the fabric. Oh, and it's for sale.... I love the lines of this couch and thought I would give it an more "updated" floral print. I am really digging the color pallet of the fabric and ended up making some pillows to dress it up.

Before....


I ripped the skirt off and painted the legs to go better with the fabric. Oh how I love the end result!!

After...





Soo....Whats next you say? Well, I picked up this lovely pair of chairs. I think they have been under plastic their entire existence!! I love LOVE these chairs! The second I got them home and really sat in them I about died! They are soo comfortable! Not to mention...they rock and swivel! I have not decided what to do with them yet. I am open to opinions...



Umm... for this next one, all I want to do is punch it in the face!!! If it had one... Every time I look at it I feel like I just became a little dumber. It is an inspiration sucker! I got it for $5 and I feel as though I got ripped off! My plans were to slipcover it up, but I just hate it soo much. It is definitely a challenge and not because of the work involved, but because I truly hate it! I could always reupholster it, you never know, it may feel good to just rip it apart...It is heavy, needs all the legs replace and needs to stop getting hit by the ugly stick!!! I am sure I will figure out what to do with it, but until then it will sit in the deepest, darkest part of the sweat shop until I feel it can come out of time out!


Also, one of my best friends, who happens to be an amazing horse trainer has asked me to make her a set of stall drapes. I know, your probably thinking, "What the crap!!?? Drapes for a horse stall?" But no, you see, before I became a loving mother of 2, I rode and showed horses. Now when you travel to shows, you always need an extra stall next to your horses to put all your stuff in and then hang stall drapes up to represent your barn or trainer. Well, she wants to bust out of the norm!!! I am soo excited to make them for her. They are usually super boring and blahh! For example...


I love how they took this picture on a set and not at an actual barn... anyways we are planning on trading the labor for training. I got back into the horse world when I was almost ready to pop with my last child (2 yrs ago) and now she is 3 and I have started to break her. She is awesome!!! I am so excited to show her next year. She is gonna be amazing and I am a little giddy about her potential. Here is a pic I took of her a month or so ago when I was almost warm enough to be spring.....

Is simple better??

Yes, I realize it is 12:30 in the a.m, but I find myself asking the question, "Is simple. better?" I am working on my next project. An awesome couch with great lines, which, in my mind I think deserves some equally awesome and great fabric. When ever I do a project to sell, I should think neutral color and patterns, right??? No! I am finding that I always think of myself, my life and who may be buying this. I say this because I have 2 little kids that have been known to get dirty fingers, faces and feet all over my furniture and I have found that pattern and color are great friends to that dirty combo...They hide ALL that! I know designers tell you to go with more neutral colors and pop the color and prints in the pillows. I really try hard to stick to that, and I do occasionally, but I always find myself going to obnoxious colors and patterns. Sure I feel great when I buy the fabric then have my doubts when I am constructing it. I have a moments of panic, but I always love how they turn out in the end. If you are gonna REUPHOLSTER something, then sure, go for the safer choice, since it is attached to your furniture, but with slipcovers I think they allow you to have more fun. I guess I am braver than most, or just don't care what other people think as long as it makes me happy, but deep down inside I think people really want to go with the bolder color or prints but are scared to take that leap. Why slipcover your furniture to look like something you can find at R.C. Willeys (I am not knocking them, our sectional came from there) or like your neighbors couch when you could have the couch that everyone loves and wish they could have!

I guess what I am rambling on about is, I, personally DON'T think simple is better. I love to take risks and I love it when they pay off. Especially when someone loves what I have created even more than me. So my goal for my fellow readers is to be brave!! Have some fun!! its just fabric....and it can be changed!!!

I was featured!

So Jen, a darling friend I made has featured me on her blog this week! She does all things vinyl and has a fun blog. She has recruited me to give her family room furniture a face lift as well as her dining room chairs. She is currently on the hunt for that perfect fabric but in the mean time found some super fun shower curtains at Target, and made curtains out of them! I love the print and they turned out great. Its amazing what you can find when your on the hunt! Go check out her blog!
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Oh...I picked up another couch this weekend, she is bright blue and covered in flowers! Soo excited for this one!!!! Stay tuned for the fabric choice to slipcover it in.

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

So I promise I am alive. I have been soo busy and I have let my project pics stack up and up and up. So, here is what I have been up too. A month or two ago I was commissioned to make 18 bags for the UVU dance team. They were going to Nationals and one of the mom's (my little brother's soon-to-be mother-in-law) bribed me by buying me a ticket to Florida to watch if I made all the girls matching bags. How could I pass that up? So I slaved away for a week or so measuring, cutting, turning, blah, blah, blah and ta-da...they loved them! and I did not mind Florida in April....

Remember the "cocaine" chair I picked up at savers....well, here she is! I loved how it turned out. Its amazing what a little sanding, priming and new, FUN fabric can do!
Before rehab...

I realize i never took a picture of the fabric, but it was soo bad I could not wait to get it stripped! Just think of one of Zack Morris's Sweaters from Saved by the Bell.....it was bad!!!
After rehab....



Not too shabby!
Next up.... My favorite Aunt Jo's chair, slash cat scratching post... I know you are probably sick of seeing the brown and cream damask fabric I used on my sectional but hey, people love it and got to give the people what they want!
Before the cat had its way with it.


After....





Alright, here is a good one. This chair came from a client who loved the chair, it was a good friend for years, but has seen much better days... The "attached" cushion on the ottoman was cut off the frame and left to sit. It stayed in the attic for a spell, but after a few years in the dark, she brought it in for some love. I stripped it down to the bones, cleaned it up, slapped a fresh coat or two of paint on it and gave it new life. She chose this blue and gold fabric. The blue runs one way while the gold is weaved in the other. It turned out amazing!!! No more dark attics for this little number!
Life in the dark before....




After....It brings a smile to my face every time I look at it! Before the wood was a blonde stain with white glaze but I ended up painting it an almond shade that I think goes well with the fabric.






And last, but no least...a few birthday gifts I made for friends and family a while back. I never know what to give people that have everything (mom and grandma...) for birthdays so I figured, why not a pillow? I love pillows! They can dress up any room with fun colors and textures. So that is just what I did. I made pillows for my cute friend Jill and my mom and grandma.





I know the first one looks a little funky but it was made out of burlap... and that crap is tuff to work with!!! No worries, grandma loved it!!

So there you have it, all caught up. Oh did I mention that you should NEVER fly when you have a sinus infection....Boo!! Bad choice on my part. It took me 2 days to get my hear ing back because my ears could not pop!! Soo miserable!!! But worth every second to be in 85 degree weather with NO children!

Now, one to conquer this gem....