New Corner Seat

As I alluded in our recent post about our nursery, we recently upgraded the chaise in our living room for a newer and improved model. This has been on our list for a while. Our old chaise was fine for our first few years, but it was a lesson for us that microfiber and Wrigley are not meant to be. It wore very badly, and was nearly impossible to clean. In addition, while it was a nice shape and very comfortable, it was always a hair too big for the corner.

To tell the truth I was so excited to have it out of the room I forgot to take a before photo. Oh well! You can get an idea here. And see how we have a red quilt on the seat of the chaise? Yup, that was shameless Wrigley-proofing. He loved to lie on that chaise while we were at work and look out the front window, and at a certain point we just had to give in and keep it as protected as we could.

But there's no more quilt for us! The new chaise has a slight curve which is just enough to keep Wrigley away. The color is similar to our original one - just a neutral cream. The fabric is a ribbed velvet though, which feels great and so far seems to wear much better. And the tufting adds a really nice classic, tailored look.

Shortly after purchasing the chaise, we happened upon the perfect little side table for it at a small town antique mall in Harrisonville, Missouri. Its marble top and intricate, aged brass base fit perfectly onto our main floor, and give a nice spot to set a glass of wine (or these days, a glass of iced tea in my case) down while reading on the chaise. 

And at just $20, we couldn't pass it up!

Don't worry about that old chaise though! We're not done with her yet. When the new one arrived we stashed it away with a few thoughts about future uses, and just a few short weeks later, when we found out I was pregnant. Since it is so comfortable, and a perfect size for my very tall husband, we decided it would be the perfect place to pass out from sheer exhaustion snuggle our new baby to sleep in the nursery. I see a major facelift in this chaise's future . . . .

Out on a Ledge

We're snowed in at home for the second time in a week, so consider these extra projects and posts a result of Mother Nature's recent wrath on the midwest.

We have talked for years about needing to add some interest around the seating area in our living room. While we have some great architectural elements in the windows and stairwell, we've always felt a little additional color and personality would do a lot.

 
So we've focused on this half wall to the right. It's a challenging spot because of the open cutout to the stairwell on the top third of the wall, where we traditionally think to add decor. We love that detail of the room though, and wanted to add some interest below that compliments it.

C has tons of leftover oak from trim taken out of our various remodel jobs, and we love putting that 90-year-old oak back into the house. So he went through his scraps and built a narrow ledge for the wall.

We filled it up some some of our favorite small hardcover books, as well as a few photos and small pieces of artwork - we even included the post card we recently made into a poster! It instantly added a lot of color and interest to our little corner. 

We look forward to rotating the contents on the shelves for different seasons and occasions, as well as how it will provide us an excuse to keep collecting small cards and pieces of artwork. I imagine it full of holiday cards in December, and changing out photos as we take trips and as our nieces grow up.

This gives a nice new focal point in our living room - I think the only real wall space left to think about is the two spots beneath the sconces. I'd love to have something there, but the challenge is finding objects the right size (the spaces are fairly narrow) and something interesting, but neutral so it won't compete with the items on our ledge and our brightly colored pillows.

These small changes in our living room are a lot of fun though - and we're not finished yet! Watch for a few more over the next week or two!

Post Card Art

 For several years now, C has collected old post cards from flea markets and antique stores. Many of them are historic Kansas City tourism cards, created of historic buildings, parks and boulevards in the early 1900's.

One of his favorites has always been the Power & Light building. It's one of downtown's most beautiful buildings, in our opinion, and the post card is beautiful and full of color. Plus, on the right end of it you can see the edge of the President Hotel, which is where we stayed after our wedding - see the red PRE toward the bottom right corner?

And this particular card, like many of our favorites we have collected, was actually mailed. I love the child's handwriting to his or her mother, and the fact that the sender had so much to say that it's written over every corner of the card. And notice there's no address - apparently there was only one Mrs. John W. Smith who lived in Bethany Missouri when this was sent!

 
So C decided to try something out. He scanned the post card at high resolution, and then doctored it up in Photoshop and had it printed at Costco. We weren't sure how it would turn out, but the print only cost $8, so we decided to give it a try and see what we ended up with. The result was a beautiful 20"x30" poster - one with great color and fun sentimental meaning to us. I did a quick Hobby Lobby trip for the frame ($50) and custom mat ($16), and voila! We had a great piece of art for our walls, for a total of $74 - not bad at all!

We hung the poster in our stairwell, where there is a great focal point and a wall that needed some dressing up. It brightens up the dark corner very well, and gives us this great little piece of beautiful Kansas City history to admire every day.  

Happy Bench

The weekend before Thanksgiving, Chris and I were driving home and saw this sad little bench on the curb. Upon inspection we saw that, while the wood slats were beyond shot, the size and shape of it was very charming, and the wrought iron of the bench was very nice and in great shape. So we brought it home and planted it in the garden. 

The wood appeared to be maple, but someone had painted it dark red a while ago. The red paint was peeling and the wood was rotting. I liked the idea of painting it - our garden is surrounded by beautiful cedar and if this bench was going to live there, it needed some color to get the attention it deserved.   

The first step, though, was replacing the wood slats - all of the ones on the seat were rotting, and one of the pieces of the back as well. So CJ and I headed to Habitat ReStore - a materials source that has been very good to us - and we found a 1"x6"x16' piece of pine that would work great. It was a nice clean piece of wood - no knots - and would be just right. It was truly 16' long though so we borrow their saw and broke it down in the parking lot so it would make the drive home. 

Once we were home my handy hubby cut them down to size

and installed them.

I tested the new and improved bench out, and it was nice and sturdy. 

At this point it was getting pretty late in the day, and it just so happened to be an absolutely beautiful day, so we decided to quite our work for the day and put that old rotting wood to work. 

 

We didn't burn quite all the old lumber though. Wrigley claimed this slat for himself and insisted on fetching it as we relaxed by our fire. 

 

 

So this morning, here's what our little bench looked like:

I looked through our stores of exterior paint and found we had about 3/4 of a quart of Glitzy Gold left from painting the back grate of our house. This cheery yellow seemed just the right thing for our new seat. 

So we painted.

And a few short hours later this little bench looked like new. The yellow brings out the green in the metal, and shows brightly in front of the trellis and fence.

The last painter got red paint onto some of the hardware, and for now we're leaving it. It could be fun - an homage to its former life. Or if it bothers us I will drop some matte black paint into the recessed holes to fake the screws' original color. 

There are also a few spots where dabs of paint bled through tape onto the metal. I have a feeling it will flake off pretty quickly, but if it does not a little steel wool will correctly it quickly.

In all, I'm thrilled with the upgrade. We probably won't sit on this guy a ton - maybe occasionally here and there when we're enjoying the garden. But it will be the perfect inviting spot when we want to. The rest of the time it will likely be a set down place for garden tools and vegetables while I'm working.

At a total cost of $4.80 (for the pine from Habitat ReStore), I'd say this was a great upgrade.

Garden Tool Hanger

When it comes to garden tools, I am storage-challenged. I have a place in the garage to keep them, but I'm terrible about putting them away - I love to have them handy in the garden, so when I'm ready to rake / dig / weed / trim / etc. everything I need is handy. The sad result is that I've left them sitting on the cobblestones, where they've rusted. My grandfather would be so ashamed!

So when I saw this tutorial in This Old House, I knew it was meant for me. I scoured ebay for old spigots, and found a variety of eight that I loved for around $12, so I went for it. When they arrived, CJ helped me sort through his lumber pile to find old scraps perfect for my project.

And then he closely supervised (and helped quite a bit) while we put it all together in the basement. There was lots of drilling involved . . .

Followed by tightening . . . 

To get these little guys set. We ended up using only six, so I'll have to find another fun use for the two remaining spigots. 

I even got to use CJ's new nail gun! I may have gotten a bit carried away, but the good news is this thing is ready for some rugged outdoor weather!

It was pretty late when we finished it, so despite my excitement we left it overnight so that we could take our time hanging it in the daylight, and make sure it was exactly where we wanted. Just a little history, the back piece of wood where the spigots are attached actually one of our old stair treads, from when we replaced them all WAY back when. It's an almost 90-year-old piece of oak! 

It was great to get it in place on the back of the garage today. And as you can see, it's already working hard. I need to get some leather to attach to more of my garden tools so they'll hang easily. It will be so nice to have them handy, and hanging so they will stay dry when not in use. A few little plants on top of the shelf will be a nice touch too . . . .

So our final project cost was . . . . $12! Everything but the spigots was reused, making this a whole lot of cheap satisfaction. I'll buy some leather to get more tools hanging out, but even then this is a lot of bang for the buck.

Vintage Doorknob Coat Hanger

With a pile of leftover oak from our remodel in my shop, I've been antsy thinking of the possibilities. Picture frames, a coaster box, and coat hangers have been on my to-make list. I also have a pile of old doorknobs from the kitchen that were saved. Some are brass, other are the glass version.

I saw a cool project once on This Old House, where they made a coat hanger out of trim and old doorknobs, and decided to make one this weekend.

Lastly, my dad got me a sweet finish nailer for Christmas, so this was an excuse to break it out and see if I could figure out how to work it.

Leftover trim moulding from the office

Glueing up the frame

The doorknobs bolts required square holes

A test run

Side view of hanger