Updated Looks

Did you ever see the "Brady Bunch" episode where Carol wants to wallpaper the master bedroom? And, when they finally choose a pattern, she's all, "Oh, now we have a problem. Because, if we wallpaper our room, then we have to wallpaper the hall. And, if we wallpaper the hall, then we have to wallpaper the girls' room because it's connected to the hall." And, it goes on and on until the decision was to paint. Even that elicited the same, "If there's fresh paint here, then we need to repaint everywhere" concept.

While I've not been working on walls in The House as they did in the Brady residence, I have been redoing some furniture. And, that's what ties into the Brady Bunch thing because, as soon as something gets a sprucing, I see the other pieces that go with the set and think, "Oh ..."

But, what's a little mismatched furniture among friends?! Here we go with the current makeovers!! First up! You've already seen the outcome of this one, but here's the process. Months ago, I bought this bed at Hobby Lobby:

I loved the sleigh design, but I was no fan of the cover! Fortunately, months prior, I bought this at an antique mall:

It's actually a skirt apron. I saw quilt for beds. 😁 I realize that wasn't a stretch, but still. You gotta have vision, amiright?

This was an easy remodel as the mattress simply lifts off of the frame. And, who knew, but it's really a piece of foam glued to a piece of card stock (like poster board -- I think I expected something fancier). I moved the mattress around underneath the apron fabric to figure out how I wanted it to look, and I got to cutting and gluing:

I pinned and taped it where necessary to hold it down long enough for the glue to dry. In the meantime, I covered a pillow I had in my stash of, "Will I ever really use this?"

Apparently, I will use this! The ends are simply glued. I know. My skills are boundless!

By the next day (because I didn't check sooner than that), all was dry and ready for use. Voila!

(Look at the chaise lounge, and think Brady Bunch reference. It all comes together now, doesn't it?)

Okay, that's not all! This next one is a favorite of mine! Here's the spoiler before and after:

I can pull off this before and after because I actually have two of the same bed. This bed, along with other furniture I acquired in that killer estate sale last Fall, was purchased because it had good bones. I figured, at some point, I'd redo them. And, here we are!

The bed pulled apart in four pieces (bottom/box spring, mattress, headboard and headboard padding). I really had no idea what I was doing. I just started ripping parts off of it. I figured the worst case scenario was I'd really mess up and pitch it because I had a spare bed. Fortunately, all turned out well. I'm thankful I didn't break the mattress which has a styrofoam base. A base I did or did not crack ...

I didn't take a lot of pictures because I was on a roll when I got going. But, this gives you an idea of the primitive way of doing things:

That's the "box spring" section. I measured absolutely nothing. I just fit the fabric on. (This was good training for the final project below.) Everything was glued on with Alene's Tacky Glue.

After I covered the bottom and the mattress, I glued them together and weighted them for a while so the styrofoam wouldn't pop off of the base to which it was supposed to adhere:

A pack of baby wipes and the ceramic owl I made my junior year of high school in ceramics class worked like a charm. I let this dry overnight because I really wanted the mattresses to stick together!

Fortunately, I had already made pillows from this fabric to, one day, go on the bed. And, today was the day!

HOW cute is that?! It's hard to see, but the lace trim serving as a bed skirt shimmers. 😁 Don't look too close, or you'll see the corner of the chair that now needs to be recovered since it matched the original bedspread fabric. Seriously. Stop looking. Look, instead, at how cute this is with the area rug! Yum!

Finally, this is my real success story. You might have noticed floral patterns ran rampant in The House as the couch and love seat also sported the look. I didn't like it so much that I actually forgot to take a "before" picture before absolutely tearing into these pieces to recover them. But, I have something of a before and after just to show the fabric:

She's a beauty on the left, don't you think? Gag ...

For the sake of documenting my own history, I will divulge that the inspiration for the color of the couch comes from one of the pairs on, "Before the 90 Days: Pillow Talk" on TLC. This is a show where previous participants watch the latest episode and commentate. One of the women has a navy couch with yellow pillows, and I find the combo stunning! I find myself staring at the couch more than listening to her (which requires rewinding because she's really funny). So, I needed the look in The House.

I foolishly originally thought I could find some fabric to cover and kind of tuck into creases of the existing pieces without tearing them apart. First of all, that's just not going to look good. At least, it's highly unlikely. Second, the fabric I had and wanted to use was denim. And, yeah. That's not going to neatly tuck and crease. So, I got a hammer and a butter knife (because that's what you use instead of a screwdriver to pry things), and I took these suckers apart! Each cushion, each arm rest, the back and two pieces for the base all required massive hammering. They. Were. Stuck. I put a dent or two in my work table, but I got 'em!

Again, I had absolutely no idea how to really do this. There are small juts and corners and rounded edges, and the folding-of-fabric around such areas only made it all look bulky and messy. Clearly, I needed to cut custom pieces. Somehow. I wish I could explain in words how I got this to work, but I really can't. It involved smearing glue all over the area to cover, folding fabric over that area and gluing pieces together before cutting right on the edge of the furniture so the new fabric pieces ultimately fit together exactly with no overlap. Did that make sense? I suspect it didn't. I figured this out as I went along, and I am not sure I ever did it the same twice. So, it's definitely more of a "show" than a "tell" to explain. Even if you knew, there's probably a cleaner, more precise way to make it happen, but this worked for me. Oh, and by using denim, some of the pieces didn't go back together the same because it's thicker. A little forcing of pieces together and binding with masking tape to let Alene's Tacky (Amazing-Wonder) Glue do its magic got it all back together! If it can hold The House together, it can hold arms of a couch!

And, doesn't it look just lovely in the family room?!

Yellow accent throw and all!!

I'm terribly happy with these outcomes! And, there are plenty of people in The House to enjoy it! I recently acquired some newbies, so, soon, it's more than time to meet the family as a whole!

Fabulous Flooring!

If I've learned anything about how I tend to decorate The House, it's that I let my brain just marinate on ideas until I really *know* what I want. As it turns out, one of those ideas finally HIT me just last week! And, today, it came to fruition. The decorating target? This floor:

Well, let's make that easier to see:

Designer's note: We will be ignoring the manner in which the lights have been adhered to the walls for this and, frankly, all future posts. 😊

I really wasn't quite sure what to do with this flooring given the function of the rooms. Then, a few weeks ago, I was perusing the dollhouse goods at Hobby Lobby, and I found a sheet of "Miniature White & Gray Quatrefoil Dollhouse Tile" It's the same thing I used in the bathroom except for the color palette. I really liked working with that particular flooring, so I thought this would be the perfect fit for the laundry room!

But, what about the craft area ...?

So, my Miniature White & Gray Quatrefoil Dollhouse Tile sat on my work table for a few weeks while my brain continued its efforts. And, last week, it all came to fruition. Here's the spoiler picture!

I was going through my supplies when I found the rest of the flooring I used in the bathroom. And, I definitely had enough for the laundry area. Then, it started to make sense to use that flooring there to break up all of the white from the appliances to the walls.

It also occurred to me that the craft area could really use a floor that is easy to clean. Paint spills, after all. And, the white is good there as there is a lot of other color. It looks great with the light on, too, as they bounce off of the white really brightening this happy space up!!

That's one unfinished floor down! I still have more lingering, but my brain is busy on those. Stay tuned ... 😌