Take me back to Hawaii

So I told myself that this year I would be better at keeping my blog up to date.. well sh!$.  Ive already dropped the ball on that, but hey, better late than never, right?  Every January My family travels to Kona and each year they stay gets longer and longer.  We've been doing this trip for 5 years now and we are up to 2 weeks!  Next year we are gonna see if we can just miss January all together... Because January in Utah is thee worst! Plus are kids are young enough that we can still get away with that. And.. because my husband is a landscaper, he takes the winter off.  So, ya... We've got nothing but time.

This year started off rocky from the get go.  I got a phone call from my mom as we were headed to the airport (4am), I was thinking it was the "where are you?" call.. nope.  She called to tell us that my brother just had his truck stolen off the driveway with ALL of their luggage, stroller, golf clubs wallets, purse, EVERYTHING.  Someone literally stole it right in front of him.  He watched the guy get out of the car run across the lawn and jump in right as he was running out to load up his family.  Not even kidding!   Needless to say, they had to stay behind to deal with all of that, plus all of their ID's were in the truck.  Luckily they were able to get a flight out a few days later.  Soo wrong!  My mom ended up flying out with us since she had all the info for our trip and my Dad stayed back and flew out with them a few days later.  They did catch the idiots and recover his truck.  But everything else was gone.

But don't worry, the adventure is not over... For the 5 of us who went ahead our luggage decided to show up 3 days later.  Not because they lost it, nope, just because there was no room for it on our flight.. so, ya.  Needless to say it got off to a rough start but thank goodness we had 2 weeks to lay it off in the sun!

Kona is our heaven.  We never get sick of it, we just hate coming home and wish we could stay longer!  One day... or until next January.

Now for slipcovers.. I have been really busy now that we have been home for a while.  The whole month of February I have been sewing like crazy! I made a pair of these.. which I forgot to get a before picture, but i am sure you can use your imagination.. you've seen some before chairs.. this one is no different.  My client wanted to make them less formal so we swapped fabrics for the welt and added a knife pleat skirt.  I had some fabric left over so she had me make a pair of matching lumbar pillows.  I love how happy these chairs are!

I matched the print so that it was centered on all the large visible areas.  I mean, look how bright and happy this chair is!!

I also made a new slipcover for an expecting mama.  She had a great rocker that was slipcovered in a red denim, but the red was worn out and she was ready for something new and fresh.  

We kept the lines the same but gave it a fresh new look with a creamy white denim.  The best thing about this is when baby spits up on it, cause you know that will happen, she can pop it in the wash and its good as new!

I also was able to update this pair of Restoration Hardware chairs and ottoman with an awesome grey and white herringbone pattern my client scored.  This is the before:

Again, we kept the lines the same but gave it a much need facelift! I mean.. how yummy is this fabric?!

When her husband came to pick them up he was floored!  He could not believe that these were the same chairs!  I love it when I impress husbands.. Thats when you know you did good.. lol!

I also had an awesome opportunity to make 3 slipcovers for my upholster.  In 3 days..  She called me with a "slipcover" emergency on a tuesday.  She said her seamstress is leaving out of town and they have 2 sofas and a chaise that need slipcovers, but the catch was they were triple deep couches and they still needed to be built. Oh, and that they needed to be on a truck to LA on Monday night..  I love a good challenge so, hells ya i said yes!  I started cutting and constructing cushions on thurdsay because the frames were still not ready to fit.  By friday night I was able to fit all the bodies.  Did i mention that the seat cushions on the couch were about as deep as a full mattress? good news is, I was able to complete them in time!  and yes, I am aware there are no cushions in this photo.. They were waiting to be cut..

They were beyond thrilled with how they turned out!  Their client basically took picture of a Restoration Hardware  couch and then made it bigger..everywhere!  We did a a waterfall skirt that came just shy of the floor and topstitched all the seams.  I may have taken a long nap that following tuesday!  Talk about pulling off a miracle!!  But their client solved them!  So job well done.

In-between all the chaos I was able to find a super awesome place to find great furniture for PENNIES!!!  You heard me.. Crazy Charlies! Its basically like down east only its filled with mismatched sofas, sectionals, chairs, stuff that needs slipcovers.. I am talking good quality furniture like pottery barn and west elm!  But for a sliver of the price.. You need to go check it out! Sure you nned to be willing to piece things together and recover the furniture, but hey, to get a sectional for under $100 that is good quality is unheard of.   I bought 6 couches 5 chairs for under $600!  Two of the couches I'll be throwing up for sale in the next little bit that are fantastic!!!  here is a teaser..

And of course I can't forget about the pony.. Oh we just love our Christmas Pony! She is literally thee best pony ever!!  

Oakley is enjoying her lessons and its finally getting warm enough that we don't have to wear full on snow suits at the barn!  Winning!!

Now that i finally got caught up I feel like I can breathe... well till next month. lol!  I am currently booked till April.  If you find anything at Crazy Charlies and have questions feel free to contact me.  I love when people feel like they hit the furniture lotto.  I know I did!   Also, i am planning on teaching another Slipcover 101 class later in the spring, once I can get some extra space cleared out in my workroom.  I have 2 spots open, contact me to get on the list.  My next post will have some super fun pieces to show you including 2 couches I found for a client at Crazy Charlies.  Did i mention they are pottery barn and they were $90 ea?!  AMAZING!!

2015 wrap up

So I may be a week or two late on my yearly wrap up but hey, better late than never. Right?!  I am super lucky and grateful to have such wonderful clients that keep me busy doing what I love to do!  So here I am, blogging from our family vaca because everyone one else is exhausted from traveling and I am wired! So ya, lets catch up on November and December of 2015!

First up, this client had the typical floral fru fru slipcover on her chair and she was done with it!  So she ordered some awesome sunbrella grey herringbone fabric to class it up.. Because, let's be honest.. It needs some love. Big time!  Here is the before shot

Sure it may be rough, but man oh man, look at the after! 

Sooo much better!  We added a simple box skirt, nothing frilly.  This fabric is awesome and was fantastic to work with!

Next was a pair of oversized overstuffed microfiber chairs and a pair of matching couches to go with them.. 

Don't be fooled on the size, these suckers were huge! My client has 7 kids and the furniture was in great shape but they were in need of a face lift! And boy oh boy did she pick out some fabulous fabric for that!  She event with a velvet Upholstry fabric that was so pretty! I changed up the lines of the skirts a little bit and plumped up the back cushioned

They look a million times better and the fabric wasn't too bad to work with, especially for how thick it was😳 

She chose a really nice heavy grey linen for the couches.  She was planning to move these up to her family room from the basement once they were finished.  Check these out!

I am loving the transformation!  She was speechless!  I love it when my clients are blown away because Slipcovers tend to have a stigma about them.. But not mine!  Tight fitting and über custom! I was really proud of how these beasts turned out!

This next client had me do a chair and couch for her before the holidays hit.  I forgot to get a before shot of the chair, it was wrapped in muslin ready for a new slipcover.  My client picked this fun jewel toned weave that had some other colors weaved throughout the fabric.  She was a little skeptical about Slipcovers when she dropped it off to me but man was she a believer when she saw the finished product!  

Her couch was in great shape but was due for an update.

I am almost positive that my mom had this same matching set only in blue in our front room growing up... No joke!  My client chose a red chenille fabric that I was able to railroad to eliminate any visible seams. I kept the lines the same.

Pretty great! Right?!  Did I mention that this fabric is super soft?  Her husband was shocked to see the transformation! I think that's one of my favorite thing about  my job.

Next up.. A pair of black and white buffalo check recliners.  I met my clients st Swiss Days this past year and they were just fantastic to work with.  They live  about 2 hrs away from me but are avid BYU football fans so we made deliveries and pick ups around the football schedule.  I love their dedication!  I forgot to get a before of these but they were worn, floral and ripping apart at the seams!

I had to ponder on the construction of these.., they wanted them to be fully functional and I had to line them do the floral wouldn't shoe thru.  I am not gonna lie. These were a challenge, but I made it thru and they turned out better than I could have imagined!

I absolutely love this fabric and may or may not have a stash of it in every color😳. But I don't care... It makes me happy! 

I turned this ottoman from this 👆🏼 to this!

Made some curtains for a good friend who just built a beautiful home in Mapleton.. I love her fabric she choose and did I mention the light blue in the fabric matched her kitchen cabinets?! Love it!!

I was able to slam out a handful of window seat benches for s few of my designer clients and a pleathera of fabulous pillows for a repeat client!  And last but not least, 10 parsons chairs on casters for my friends hudbands conference room at his office!  We went with 10 new chairs from Ballard Design and she picked out s beautiful blue and natural houndstooth Upholstry fabric that was to die for!

I love how they turned out!!! And the conference room look mucho better with these bad boys around the table!

So now you know what I've been up to for the past 2 months and why I've neglected my poor blog!  One of my goals for 2016 is to be better at blogging... So cross your fingers for me!  We had s great Christmas and new year with our little family.  We added another furry member to our family... 

We love her to pieces!!!  

I am starting to schedule clients for the middle of February so contact me if you want on my list!