Sofas. Again.

I had almost maybe sorta kinda decided that we were going to get the Petrie or Rochelle sofas from Crate and Barrel. Last time we were in Denver, we even went to the store and SAT in them, BUT.... we didn't really love them. Eric liked the Petrie (but I didn't like any of the color choices) and I really liked the Rochelle (but Eric thought it was less comfortable and I still didn't like any of the color choices). 

After that, we both kind of figured... WE WILL NEVER GET A SOFA.

Then, Eric suggested we should reupholster the sofa we have. You know, the plan we had one zillion months ago back when we originally bought the thing!

So I went to the two reupholstery places in town, borrowed every single sample book I could get my hands on, and now, with all the color choices and texture possibilities.... I still cannot decide on a sofa. I think the operative part being, I CANNOT DECIDE. 

I'd like a sofa in this kind of fabric:

But we already have grey chairs and, even though they will need replacing soon, we are so indecisive they will probably never be changed and we would end up living with all grey furniture FOREVER. I do not want all grey furniture. I'd always imagined a nice grey sofa with leather or patterned chairs, you know? 

Then I went to my Pinterest "Live Here" board and discovered I'd Pinned a lot of pictures with sofas like this....

Apparently I like blue sofas. Who knew? Eric was not on board with the blue plan. He wanted a dark grey, or, he said, he might be ok with a very dark navy blue. I tried to convince him with mood boards (basically taking photos of everything in our living room and putting it all together in one photo), but it ended up backfiring.

Because I ended up liking the navy. Quite a lot. 

And it didn't help my case one bit that the navy looks pretty darn good with his Lebowski rug that he loves so much. Danggit. 

All this work and back and forth and, let's be honest, we will still probably NEVER GET A SOFA. 

My First Upholstery Project EVER

A couple of months ago, Hanna asked me if I'd like to help her reupholster a little children's chair. I'm fairly certain I just asked a lot of questions and got in the way, but I learned so much. Working with Hanna helped me to realize that I can totally upholster stuff. As far as I can tell, you just jam a lot of staples where people can't see them and use the fabric you're upholstering with to cover 'em up. Piece of cake!

Following are a few snapshots from our efforts.

Our lovely chair model:

The chair in question:

Taking it apart:

Hanna getting crazy! :)

Covering it back up:

We nearly finished that evening, but then decided we were tired and that the arms could wait for another time. It was so much fun. It's crazy what this little project did to bolster my upholstery confidence. :)

A Successful Weekend

I love having a house and weekends in which to putter around it. It's so relaxing and fun. Even doing laundry is enjoyable when you get to do it in your own home. Besides doing laundry this weekend, I rearranged my little terrarium thing (again), watched both seasons of Downton Abby (have you seen this show?! so amazing and addicting!!), and finished my chairs (finally!)!!!

But I think I'm going to have to get rid of them because.....

I got a new dining set.

Eight chairs, a table (with the slide out leaves I wanted!), and a hutch.

They're teak, they're Danish, and I love them all so, so much!

Eric hates the hutch. For some reason he's afraid that I'll fill it with Precious Moments figurines or Dale Earnhardt Junior commemorative plates. I have to admit that I wasn't too fond of the hutch at first either, but it's slowly growing on me. One good thing is that it is two pieces, and if we ever wanted, we could pull off the top and have a lovely credenza to put in the den with a little tv on it. Perfecto.

Eric also hates the chairs. He didn't tell me until we got home and, knowing that now, I'm really surprised he even let me buy this stuff. He mentioned that he would rather use the chairs I just refinished, but these Danish ones are, quite frankly, much more comfortable and much better quality. Solid wood. All the same kind of wood. Not bits and bobs of walnut veneer and oak like the others.

We'll talk about it.

I think it's mostly the fabric that he dislikes (which I totally agree with), so I think if I change that, it will help him like them more...

I have some linen lying around that I could use. It's pretty much grey, but I think it has enough cream-colored fibers in it that it won't clash with the warm tones of the teak. Though it's possible that I just made that part up.

On the left is the fabric color now (it totally looks purple in our house!!!!), and on the right is the linen I have that I could use. Up close it has a lot more beige in it, I must say.

If I recover them now, should I refinish then while I have them pulled apart? They're not in bad shape, just normal dings and dents from 20+ years of use and wear.

Enough thinking about what to do to these things. I just want to enjoy them for now!!!

Lookit I Made: Lino Prints, Papercuts, Chairs!

I'm glad things are coming together so nicely at home, because my hopes for Seattle are vanishing before my eyes.

First, I was informed that the behemoth red truck will NOT be making an appearance. There goes my dream of bringing home lovely furniture. Then, I was told by my husband that a stop at ikea (for a couple of sheepskins, a blanket, picture frames, and a rug) was out-of-the question because he has some MUSEUMS to go to. MUSEUMS. Gosh darn learning. 

Sigh. It stinks, but, realistically, the cost of driving that beast out there would have been ATROCIOUS, and there really was no guarantee that I would have found something worth hauling back in the first place. As for ikea, we can go the next time we're in Denver. It makes more sense to wait and do it sometime when our car isn't packed with man flesh. 

I'm just a little disappointed. Hopefully there will be lots of walks and days filled with cute little shops. That would be fun too.

But I digress. 

I've been working on some stuff. I finally finished a couple of prints I've been working on forevvvver. You would not believe how difficult it is to find white paper in Billings. Not ivory, not off-white, not cream. White. And then getting that piece of paper home without crinkling it....especially when you have a watermelon rolling around in the back of your car....even more difficult. 

The smaller one is a lino print, and the larger, geometric shapes are paper cuts. I kind of wish I had done them the opposite of that - airplanes as a paper cut, shapes as stamps. It would have been cool to have some texture in the shapes, I think.

Yay for more pictures that I probably won't hang on the walls!

This brings me to my most favorite project in the history of the world - my chairs! I have had soooo much fun sanding and oiling and waxing and upholstering these things. Uh. I seriously want to do this forever. So. Much. Fun. So far, I've completed two of the four.

I ended up getting some linen to cover the seats (sale! only $6!), and while I'm not the best upholsterer, I think they look pretty sharp! Hurrah for me!

Shall I show you "before" pictures so you're more impressed?? This is what they looked like when I first got them:

The seat backs were by far the worst. They were really faded and had quite a few nicks and gouges in them.
This is after I sanded the heck out of them:

And this is after being oiled:

This picture does not do them justice. It's amazing, but after being oiled and waxed, these chairs practically glow in the sunlight. And they're so silky smooth....

A side-by-side comparison:

I'm really proud of myself :) I'm having so much fun!

 Here they are hanging out in our freshly painted dining room....

Now to find a table! And a rug!

We now own a chair!

This last weekend found me home in Kalispell. One of my good friends from high school was getting married so the rest of our volleyball team met up to celebrate. We had almost too much fun; and though I didn't get much sleep, there was a little time for shopping......

My first furniture purchases!!!!!

I got the chair because I like the neutral color...and the tufting....and it's INSANELY comfortable....basically I like it a lot. I'm just a little concerned about the quality.....but I'm thinking it may end up in our bedroom so it won't have a lot of traffic anyway. We'll see.

The rug is wool, and while I usually avoid patterns like this I couldn't resist the hooked wool and amazing price. I think it will end up next to our bed after we've ripped up the carpet, removed the cabinets, made our headboard (see what it'll look like here), and purchased some bedside tables and a tufted ottoman storage chest thing....as you can see, I know exactly what I want in my bedroom. Pretty clueless when it comes to any other room.

The lamp is from Target. I've been wanting a curved floor lamp but they're usually pretty pricey so this inexpensive version is a good alternative.

The throw is also from Target. It's so, so soft!

On a completely different note, I just received the upholstery samples I ordered in the mail! This one. And this one. I love them both a lot! They are great quality and I love the texture; I just need to pick the color! Getting closer to a decision!!!