The Living Room

I guess the idea to blog really began about a year and a half ago when teenage daughter decided she didn't care for my living room decor. (Secret: Neither did I) I told her to take out the stuff she didn't like. Well... she emptied the room.

And so it began!  It was like dominoes, start here and end up changing everything.  She thought it would be fun to redecorate without spending any money, and blog about our journey.  So the majority of our projects are craigslist freebies, repainted, reupholstered, repurposed or just changed out.

This is the couch we've had for years.  It is a high end Baker couch that my grandmother gave me years ago.  I had it reupholstered in the mauve stripe, but a few dog years later it was pretty grungy, so I slowly reupholstered most of it.  I still rather like it, but it was dated, and locked us into a style.  So, back it went to my aunt's house, and fortunately, my Craigslist addicted hubby found a sweet antique couch for free. 

It was sitting on a porch, and pretty stained up, but the style and wood were gorgeous.  So we stripped the fabric off it, and actually found horse hair inside.  I guess it's pretty old!! 

We found fabric, real similar to what was on it, on clearance at Field's.  (Never pay full price for anything!)  Taking a piece of upholstered furniture apart is a great way to learn how it's done.  You just put it back together in reverse order.  Also, an air stapler and 2 people make the job go way easier.  Don't even attempt it with a hand stapler!! Save the pieces you remove as approximate patterns for your new fabric, and take lots of pictures as your pulling it apart.  It's really not as bad as it seems, if your handy.  We really enjoyed doing it together.



The upholstered ottoman in the last picture is another redo.  I'll show you that project soon!