Transitions

Hi everyone! I know, I know, it's been almost an entire month since the last post. Life has been insanely hectic, and I will be honest it's not going to slow down much in the coming weeks. Some good news is that my photography business has had a tremendous start. The support and encouragement from everyone has been more than I could have dreamed of. I've also already surpassed my super low ball goal for the first year, so things can only go up from here. As a result my free time is currently full of sessions and editing, not much time for blogging. In addition, I don't have many new projects to share right now because my apartment is full of moving boxes! Yup, my husband and I are moving into a new apartment soon!

Now we're not cool enough to be buying something, and we're not moving across country or anything, in fact we're only moving 5 floors, but we will have a bigger space! So for now DIYing is on hold, HOWEVER this means I will soon have a whole new space to decorate! I fully intend to get back on the DIY train after the move which will hopefully get me back on the blogging train.

I don't want to make promises I can't keep, so all I will say is that the blog isn't dead, but posting will be sporadic for a little longer. I will also add that with all of the transitions happening in my life, professionally and living space wise, the tone of the blog might shift a little. I'm in a much more DIY, artsy, decorating frame of mind these days so don't be surprised to see more content along those lines when I do post. Thank you for those who continue to read and bare with me while I learn to juggle so many things. And here are a few iPhone photos to share some things I've been up to over the last month (and yes, some formatting is wonky here, but that's blogger sometimes).

Getting some inspiration and brainstorming ideas for some upcoming photo sessions with a cute new notebook from Paper Source

I might be 29 years old, but I still love to dye Easter eggs

 

After some brainstorming I finally figured out some packaging and branding for the photography business. 





My new favorite magazine, Click, check it out










Editing some lovely, sweet newborn photos





Continuing my knitting and crochet hobbies when time permits



Wednesday Perk: DIY Upholstering An Ikea Dining Chair

***Update: This project has been entered into the East Coast Creative "Creating with the Stars" Contest, please show some support and go here and click on entry number 200!***

So if you've been following this little blog then you will remember that I have been in the process of making over my home office space.  You will also remember that one of the projects on my list for this task was to take an old Ikea dining room chair and add upholstery to turn it into my new desk chair.  Now I want you pay close attention that sentence you just read, notice I am not saying  "re-upholster."  No that would just be too easy wouldn't it?  Yes I for some crazy reason took it upon myself to add upholstery to a previously simple wooden chair.  Don't get me wrong, re-upholstering a piece of furniture is no quick and easy feat, however at least with that you have the original work to follow as a guide for how to do it, not to mention about a bazillion tutorials on the internet to help you. 

I'm going to do my best to explain how I completed this project, but forgive me if certain steps are unclear, it really was kind of a trial and error process that thankfully turned out with a decent end product.  So, let's begin.

This is how the chair started out.  Just your simple, wooden Ikea dining room chair.

One thing the many re-upholstering tutorials I read helped me with was determining what materials I would need.  Above you see furniture foam, which can be found at Joann's, I purchased 1 1/2 yards; batting, I bough two 34 X 45 in packs but I only used one; upholstery tacks, found at Home Depot; staple gun with staples, also found at Home Depot; and fabric for the covering, thoughtfully given to me by M.

As I laid out my materials to start figuring out how I should begin I discovered that I had not previously really inspected my fabric, and unfortunately there was a large deformity in the print.  See the wide white stripe above, that is not part of the print.  Even worse was when I discovered the the fabric on either side of the deformity was not wide enough to cover the chair when the foam and batting were added in.  So, what's a girl to do.  I cut the fabric down one side of the white stripe and broke out my sewing machine and sewed the two side back together putting the white stripe in the seam.  

This left me with one large piece of fabric, and no white stripe deformity.  Of course as you can see above I was unable to match the print together on both sides of the fabric.  I realized after the fact that I really should have cut down the center of the white stripe and then used the white as my seam allowance, this would have been the best chance to match the print for a seamless effect.  Ultimately though, I personally don't find the seam that noticeable on the chair.

Next I laid the foam over the seat of the chair to determine how big a piece I would need for this part.  I determined at this point that the foam I had chosen wasn't as thick as I would have liked so I decided to use two pieces on top of each other.  I could have broken out the tape measure to figure out the size I needed to cut the foam, but being the somewhat haphazard person I am I just laid it out over the seat, marked it with a sharpie and cut it, so it wasn't perfect but it worked.  I should also explain that yes, detaching the seat from the chair would have made all of this much easier, however that wasn't possible.  If you have ever purchased Ikea furniture before you might be familiar with the problem of bolts and screws loosening with use, which are simple enough to tighten but my husband and I got tired of this process.  We eventually determined that using wood glue along with the screws and bolts virtually eliminates this problem and we have since added wood glue to every Ikea piece we own.  Thus, the seat is on that chair for good.

After cutting the foam for the seat, I laid the batting over the seat to again determine how big the piece would need to be.  In this process I had to factor in needing enough excess to fold under the sides for stapling.  I also had to figure out where to cut to allow for the front legs and the sides of the chair back.

Once I determined how the batting would need to be cut I laid it out over the fabric and followed the same cuts.

Here's the foam, batting, and fabric all laid out over the seat of the chair.  At this point I also had to figure out where the fabric for the chair back would need to be cut to allow it to attach to the back of the seat, but also be hidden in the end.  I ended up cutting a flap to insert between the two chair back poles.  The flap folded over the back of the seat along with a flap I had cut for the seat fabric.

Hopefully this picture gives you a slightly better idea, and once all of the flaps were folded over the back I stapled them in place.

This picture actually probably better shows what I'm talking about with the flaps.  Once I had these parts stapled in place I wrapped the foam around the chair back and secured with staples.  I actually had to do this in pieces because of the cutting I had already done for the seat.  I now realize I really should have purchased at least another half yard of the foam, possibly even another full yard.  I did have enough foam to cover the back, but I definitely did not have enough to do a double layer like I had done with the seat.

So at this point I apologize, I have no more pictures of the process until the finished state.  I needed both hands and full concentration for the rest of it.  Basically it involved folding the batting and fabric over the foam and wrapping it around the basic shape of the chair.  Once I had a part wrapped the way I would pull it as tight as possible and secure with staples.  For the back of the chair however, I used upholstery tacks to secure the fabric since there was no way to secure the fabric in an unseen way.  I did have to use a hammer to adequately secure the tacks.

So now for the finished product!!

Sorry this picture is slightly blurry, but you can see how I really did just wrap, pull tight, and secure.  For the seat the fabric is folded under and stapled to the bottom of the seat.  I will say wrapping the fabric around the front corners to account for the legs was not easy.  That was probably the most trial and error portion of this whole project.  

Here is the back of the chair where you can see how I secured with the upholstery tacks.  You can also see how I wrapped the fabric up and under the seat back, again this is secured with staples to the underneath of the seat.

And here she is in action!  Oh yes, this chair is definitely a girl.  Also, notice anything different about the desk area?  Could it possibly be clutter free!?  Let's step back and take a wider look at the whole space... 

Amazing isn't it!?  Clutter free and cork board and artwork hung on the wall!  If you're curious about the artwork, the green print is a typographic map of my hometown from Hoot Design Co. (owned by a high school classmate), the snail photograph is by Mike Newton Photography (another high school classmate). And the four picture collage is actually old photos of my grandmother.

I still don't consider the office space completely done, there are a few small details to add yet.  However, I think the bulk of work is finally done!

The chair isn't necessarily perfect, but i have to say I'm still pretty happy with the outcome for my first try with this type of DIY.

Have any of you taken on a first time DIY project lately?  How did it turn out?

A Quick and Easy DIY Cork Board

Since I posted about my inspirations for making over my home office space here I've been very motivated and focused to get the process started.  So far I've managed to collect the artwork I plan to hang, and I believe I may have finally found my storage solution (that will be saved for a later post though).  As I have been contemplating the functionality of this space, and planning the wall arrangement for my artwork and photos I realized I could really use a cork board on the wall as well to keep important items in plain sight.  I needed a long and skinny one, however, to hang just above the desk, but below everything else.  I searched around online and could not find anything quite the right shape or size.  

With inspiration from this Pottery Barn organization collection, as well as this Young House Love post in the back of my mind I realized I could easily make exactly what I wanted myself.  

I found the same 4 pack of square cork boards at Target used in the YHL post for about $7.  I also luckily had an old long, skinny, white picture frame hiding in the back of one of my closets, unused for several years.

I removed the mat and the glass from the frame.  Then, using the backing as my template I marked my cork squares to the correct width.

I could not find an exacto knife in my home, so I used regular scissors to cut the cork, which worked just fine.  I would recommend an exacto knife, though, if you have one for a cleaner cut.

I then placed the cork pieces inside the frame, and used the adhesive squares that came with the pack to adhere the frame backing.

And then VOILA!  An attractive, functional, custom cork board is born!

I still need to actually hang it, but you can get some idea of how it will look from this photo (and notice how much less cluttered it is since the photo from this post).  I can't wait to finish this makeover!

Have any of you made a custom cork board before?  What other small DIY projects have you tackled lately?

Monday Moodlifter: Deck the Halls!

Christmas is one week from tomorrow!  Kind of crazy really, it seems like December just started.  Every year we tell ourselves: "This is the year we'll really be on top of things and really decorate for the holidays!"  And typically we manage to do the basics, like put up a tree (even a table top one counts), and string around a few lights, H even gets as far as stockings.  We still never manage to go as all out as we would like, though, because before we know it the holidays have come and gone.  So, this post is really to help us prepare for next year.  Here are five adorable holiday decor ideas we love, and hope to use as a guide when we hit-up Target post Dec. 25 to snag some great decor items on sale.  Enjoy!

This adorable table set-up includes a sweet winter terrarium, which is actually super easy to make.  In fact there's no reason we couldn't put one of these together by next Monday for ourselves (assuming we can manage a trip to Michael's before then).  The tutorial can be found over on Kelle Hampton's blog Enjoying the Small Things.

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What a festive mantel!  Everything from the hanging stars, to the greenery and red and silver accents just shouts "JOY".  Even if you don't have a fireplace mantel, you could probably still create a similar look across a wall shelf, or even a console table.  There's no rule that stockings have to be hung from a fireplace.

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Again, this is such a simple idea we can't believe we haven't taken the time to put something like this together ourselves yet.  Simply use a large empty vase, or other glass container, and drop in extra ornaments that didn't fit on the tree.  You can use whatever color scheme you want, and place these anywhere around your home to add some extra cheer.

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Who doesn't love presents?  So why not use some for decoration!?  Just wrap up a few empty boxes with pretty paper and ribbon and place them in various spots around your home, but maybe not under your tree, that could get confusing.

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This idea actually has us a little teary-eyed, in a good way though.  How special and personal to use old family holiday photos to decorate at this time of year.  This is an especially sweet idea if your family can't all be together for the holiday.

Hopefully these have sparked some ideas for you guys!  We know we plan to pick up some extra ornaments and cheap vases once the sales start on Dec. 26 so we can actually be prepared next year. 

How do you decorate for the holidays?  Do you go all out, or are you more like us and are simply happy if you get the basics up in time?

Wednesday Perk: Home Office Inspiration

While I am in full holiday mode right now, I also can't help but start to focus on the plans I have for the new year.  We'll have a post dedicated to new year goals later this month, but I just can't wait to share some inspiration for the first big home project I have planned for 2013.  My husband and I share our second bedroom as office space, we have both of our desks in there and it works perfect that we both have our own little areas.  My husband has his area set up to his liking and regularly uses his space.  I on the other hand have failed to actually maximize and utilize my area.  Instead I have unintentionally turned it into hodgepodge storage.

Yeah, this is out of control.

However, with some personal plans I have for 2013 I really need to wrangle this space and make it both inspirational and functional.  So with that said here are some of the things I have found around the web to inspire this little home office makeover.  I also promise to share all of the before and after pictures, and tutorials on how various pieces of the project are accomplished.

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Here's a lovely, functional mail organizer from Less is More on Etsy that has me drooling.  While it's a bit pricey, it is definitely sparking ideas.

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The color, not necessarily the vases, is what I'm focused on here.  With a white desk, I think some aqua accents would be lovely and just the right pop of color to cheer me up.  There are some current organizational pieces in use that, while super functional, are simply hideous in their current state.  A quick coat of pretty paint should do the trick, however, I'll probably tone down the color just a little bit. 

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Perhaps the biggest part of this coming makeover is the plan to upholster a chair.  Currently in use is an old Ikea dining chair, which has no upholstery.  The plan is to add at the minimum an upholstered seat, however I could go crazy and turn it into something like the picture above.  While this chair is done with lovely yellow and two contrasting prints, my plan is to use the same gray and white fabric on this chair below (M actually gave me this fabric months ago, so color me shocked and excited when I saw it on this chair on YHL).

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Currently the wall above my desk is completely bare, so some sort of artwork is necessary to complete the look.  I love this print by Hoot Design Co. representing my hometown, combined with some personal photos I think this would help inspire me on those days when creativity feels blocked.

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What desktop would be complete without a few whimsical items?  At least this adorable ceramic fox also functions as a speaker, but I think I would definitely have to add a colorful owl or two to the mix as well.

         West Elm Ceramic Fox Speaker                                        West Elm St. Jude Ceramic Owls

Lastly, this little home office space must be multi-functional.  For me, this means that I need space to work when necessary, as well as the ability to serve as storage and organization for many many different things.

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   Anything from craft supplies, photography equipment, important personal documents, and of course actual work, needs to have a place to be stashed away here.  I'm still brainstorming what the perfect storage solution will be, something that won't break the bank is a must.  Perhaps a simple filing cabinet makeover like this one my friend Becca over at Gypsy Soul did will do the trick.

Do you have any decorating makeover plans to start the new year off right?