Fireplace Makeover

The house is back to its pre-holiday state. Yesterday, I took down the tree and all the decorations and rearranged the furniture. It's always a bit dreary after all the pretty lights and greenery are removed. As I undecorated the fireplace, it dawned on me that I had yet to post photos of how the fireplace looked when we first moved in. As you'll see below it wasn't a pretty sight. The brick was painted a weird beige that matched the walls and the grout was painted cream. There was also a huge mirror set on a track and very outdated fireplace doors.

how the fireplace looked during our walk through

Because I'm impatient I decided to tackle painting the brick first. I used gripper primer, same as what I used on the bathroom tiles, and then two coats of semi-gloss in white. After that was done, Cole and I needed to figure out how to remove the mirror, which let me tell you was the trickiest step in this whole makeover. The tracks on both top and bottom made it very difficult. Cole eventually bent the metal on the top track enough to give some wiggle room. Once we removed the mirror, we were left with huge black splotches of whatever adhesive was used to hold the mirror in place. It looked like a bunch of bats had flown straight into our wall. I should also mention that the second hardest step was removing the doors. Poor Cole had to have his head and half his torso in the fireplace to unscrew the old soot corroded bolts. He definitely wasn't too happy with me after that, but now agrees that the fireplace looks so much better without.

1) the bricks painted and mirror removed; 2) the black blotches scraped off; 3) the wall spackled and glass doors removed

My next goal is to replace that ridiculously ugly ceiling fan!! Oh, how I loathe it.

xxMaria

A Map & Credenza

Cole and I have had quite the craigslist luck. I first found this mid century credenza for a mere $25 and a few days later stumbled upon this 1939 pull down map for $50!! I call that some excellent scavenging. The only drawback was that it took us two weeks to get everything arranged and the map hung. I kept waffling between cutting the map and leaving it be. In the end, I couldn't stomach altering the original. I've arranged a few books and knickknacks on the credenza, including the dog bookends and green eagle pot from my first sponsor, Vintage Relief. I would like to add more plants (maybe some hanging next to the map?) and a floor lamp in the left corner. After that, I think I shall feel more satisfied with the end results, it's still feeling a bit bare.



Two days ago I decided to tackle a mini project and dye my Privet House for Target pouf. It went from boring beige to a lovely shade of golden brown and fits perfectly in the credenza nook. I think I'll next attempt to dye my duvet cover and shams!!!


I hope everyone had a scary Halloween! If you haven't already seen our costumes check out instagram (@mariaconfer) or the right sidebar. ;)

xxMaria

Mid Century Modern Ikea Chair Hack No.2

This project was completed 12 weeks ago, right in the middle of most of the unpacking & kitchen renovation chaos, which means I was too distracted and excited to use my dslr and only documented its progress via instagram. What initially attracted me to attempt my first ever Ikea hack was this post by Our Mid Century. I just loved how they took a run of the mill Karlstad sofa and turned it into something sleek and vintage. While they had an upholsterer tackle all the button tufting, I decided to save the dough and go it alone. I'm proud to say that I had zero help with this karlstad chair. Everything from buying, putting together, changing the legs and button tufting- I accomplished by myself! Ok, so I had a little help from a random guy in the Ikea parking lot who, after watching me struggle in vain for a few minutes, helped me lift the boxes into my trunk.






Things of Note:
-I used this video to teach myself how to tuft.
-The legs are 6" tapers from DoItBest Hardware. I used 8" legs on the previous chair.
-Fabric samples from Ikea were used for the 24 buttons.
-I tufted both the front and back of both cushions for maximum wearability.

xxMaria

Mid Century Modern Ikea Chair Hack No.1

I began this project two weeks ago and it was pretty touch and go. Each step seemed to bring about a fresh mishap, but when all was said and done it was worth the effort. Cole and I have owned this Jennylund chair for about six years now. It has served us well in every apartment with its small size and survived most of our moves fairly well. As much as I liked the chair, I was bored with its style and limited slipcover options. Since I had already hacked an Ikea Karlstad chair (more next week), I figured I could attempt another. The only hitch this time around was that my first hack had lots of internet diy's to reference, but there wasn't a bit of info out there for what I wanted to attempt on the Jennylund. So I planned it out as best I could, crossed my fingers, and went for it.

Before-During-After:

The progression of the chair started with the old stained white slipcover, the first failed dye job and the finished project. Seeing all three photos lined up, the results are quite dramatic. I can hardly believe it's the same chair.

Inspiration:

My vintage rug was the color guide for the chair. I wanted something between the golden yellow and burnt orange shades found in the rug. I also wanted a shade that would contrast nicely with all the grey tones in the living room.

Dye #1:

The first dye job looked something like the above and turned out bad. I decided to use my porcelain bath tub and I do not recommend this for anyone with a non-porcelain tub. Also, if your tub, like mine, needs refinishing you'll be left with faint pee stains that are a biznitch to get out. Soft scrub helped.

Dye #2:

Using liquid dye is sooooo much easier. I used half of the cocoa brown and got exactly the shade I was hoping for. The tub now had brown poo-ish stains. More soft scrub to the rescue.

Upholstering the Chair:

-To wrap the skirt under the chair, Cole pulled the fabric tight and stapled it in place.
-Due to all the hot dying and washing, the slipcover had shrunk. I had to cut above the zipper to get the slipcover back on. I then created a patch with extra fabric cut from the skirt to cover the exposed area (not pictured).
-The old block legs were unscrewed and new brackets where screwed in place.
-I replaced the seat cushion with a pillow insert I found at JoAnn's on sale. The old cushion was just too hard and uncomfortable. The cushion is now very comfy but might need a thin layer of firmer foam on the bottom to create a more structured cushion.

Button Tufting:

Here's a quick guide on how I accomplished button tufting for the chair. I used pieces of masking tape with dots in the center to help gauge where I wanted to place the buttons. Once I had the mock spots in place I measured and measured again till I was happy.
-In the top left photo I marked the bottom and middle of the area I was using for tufting, then used those measurements as guides to ensure that the button placement was even and centered (top right photo).
-The middle two photos are of the back of the chair. Button tufting was a bit more complicated than normal since I had to some how puncture the wood backing of the chair without ruining the fabric. Cole first tried drilling through which created a mess since the stuffing surrounding the wood backing wound around the drill bit. Plus the first hole on the back (the one without tape) was not lined up with the front. Cole next tried hammering a nail through the wood (to create the necessary hole for the needle to pass through), which ended up working. In order to anchor the front buttons I had to use small buttons on the back.
-In the bottom two photos, I bought 1 1/8 buttons from JoAnn Fabrics and used excess fabric from the chair skirt to cover the buttons. On a random side note, I happened upon tights at Target that matched my dyed fabric!
-To learn how to button tuft, I recommend searching youtube. My favorite is this quick video.

The Final Step:

-The taper legs and brackets were bought from Do It Best hardware.
-I stained the legs with minwax Early American.



Whew. Check back next week for Hack No.2!!

xxMaria

DIY: Vintage Army Cot

Whew, sorry for no post last week. My parents were in town visiting and I didn't want to lose a minute with them. Living in different states means it's pretty rare that we get to see each other. Le sigh. Here's a diy that I've been dying to share ever since I bought the cot back in June! After trolling craigslist and having no luck, I eventually found this amazing vintage army cot on ebay for a reasonable price. The cot arrived in fairly good condition with some discoloration and stains on the canvas but otherwise was in good working order. The cot was immediately placed under the windows in my living room- I knew before I bought it that I wanted something narrow and comfy but rustic to use as a window seat/daybed- and put to use. It lasted for about two weeks before the canvas gave way and ripped. Worry ensued...would I be able to find a replacement, if not, what will I put under the windows!?! After a few heated moments of google searching I found Hoggan's that sells canvas cot replacements! The custom canvas took a few weeks to arrive but then came the fun (read: not so fun for Cole) task of removing and replacing.

Before-old stained and ripped canvas; After-fresh and new

The hardest part was removing the old cover. Cole has strong hands!

Cole tried removing the old staples but it was too tricky, so we just stapled the new cover over it along with the original cot instructions.

The finished underside. I then trimmed up the excess fabric.

Our living room is now 3/4 of the way done!!

Things of note:
-Vintage cots are pretty creaky and unstable. Not recommended for those who don't enjoy the thrill of feeling as though it might collapse every time you sit down (this hasn't happened yet).
-You want your new canvas to be very taught when stapled on since it will stretch a bit with time.

xxMaria