it's the holiday season

The other night {shortly after my last post} the holiday fever caught me, and I have been decorating ever since. It used to be that Mike didn't get into the holiday spirit, but he has come over the the merry & bright side, and even helped me trim our tree. 

When I pulled out the decorations from two years ago {yes I did not put anything up last year for fear that Violet would try to eat it all} I realized that I didn't have that much to work with, so I knew that I needed to find some other items to help deck the halls. I headed to Michael's {it would have been Hobby Lobby if it weren't closed on Sundays}, TJmaxx, Target, and the Dollar Tree. 

When I walked in Target I saw the cutest gift bags right off the bat, and couldn't resist buying one of each with the idea of using them somewhere as decoration. That is when I thought that I should put them in inexpensive frames and hang them on the wall. Here is what I used:

And this is how it turned out. I thought that I would use the frames as-is, but the frames were nothing to write home about. I had some gold craft paint lying around, so I used a paper towel to wipe some paint on the frames. This really jazzed up the dollar store finds; I love that they have a vintage feel. The total cost was $12 for the festive framed prints.

Now this is the tree that my mom got Mike back when he was a little bit of a Grinch. I picked out the silver & black themed ornaments, and Mike picked out the pickle {kinda hard to see in this shot}. It always gets a spot front and center.

The flowers I picked up the poinsettia flowers at Michael's and traded out the Ikea daises seen in the upcycled glasses post.

Both of the table runners are from TJmaxx. The dinning table runner was just purchased this year, and the coffee table runner was from last year when our dinning table was MUCH smaller. The glass bowl was one that I picked up at Ikea for four bucks, and I filled it with ornaments that I picked up at the dollar store.

The best part was enjoying a home made chai latte by the tree.

upcycled glass bottle

I was wondering around Cost Plus World Market {yes I like to say the entire name every time} aimlessly, without a care in the world when I stumbled into a display of soda. There were all kinds of flavors, brands, and bottles. I wanted the soda for the sake of soda, but after drinking the bubbly concoctions, I thought that I should hang onto the bottles and use them for something. This is where it took me.

I peeled off as much of the labels as I could, and then put olive oil on cotton makeup pads. I let the oil soak into the sticky, caked on adhesive and then easily rubbed it off. The bottles that I had had two different types of labels, paper and sticker. The olive oil worked great on both, and the best part is that it is actually good for your skin, unlike goo-gone or other chemical cleaners. After I removed all the adhesive I washed the bottles with dish soap, and let them dry.

 

The flowers were an Ikea find from my last haul down there. They were just over a buck each. I pick up six with the bottle vases in mind. They were all the same length, so I took wire snips and cut off a half an inch to an inch off the bottom of three of the flowers.

 

So here is the dining room with the new table, reupholstered chairs, and bottle centerpiece. I would like to add something to the floor to make it more colorful in this room. Maybe I will make a floor mat. What do you think?

dining chair mini-makeover

A few months ago Mike and I moved into a new apartment. We still had the same dining room table that we bought from Ikea {for a steal at $89} that we used in our first STUDIO apartment. So once we got mostly settled in, and decided to add another couple to our weekly dinners, we knew we needed a new {bigger} table.

After spending most of my free time scouring the inter-webs, I finally found the perfect table, at the perfect price, on craigslist.org. It was listed for $225, and I knew that I could talk them down to $200. Well it turns out that Mike is an AWESOME, I mean super AWESOME negotiator talking them down to $180 for the table and four chairs. The table is cherry and has two leaves that pull out from under the table so it almost doubles in size! The other thing that makes it perfect is that it is narrow enough for the width of our apartment dining "room."

The chairs however were not quite perfect. I loved the chairs almost more than I loved the table, but the cushion fabric has seen a few too many diners, and needed to be changed, ASAP. We found fabric at Hobby Lobby that we both agreed upon, and I used a little DIY magic to give these babies a facelift.

 This is actually pretty easy, and once I got the hang of it it took me a total of 25 minutes to do each seat. What you will need is a chair {with a fabric covered seat}, staple gun, and staples, basic tool box {allen wrench, flat blade screw driver and pliers will do the trick}, scissors and your new fabric.

 Now you need to remove the seat from the chair {Violet wanted to help}, and the staples from the backing {this is where the screw driver and pliers come in}. I got lucky since the cushion and original fabric were in good shape, but with minor stains and a little too plain. If need be you can take off the fabric and get new foam and batting to get a comfy seat.

 Once the backing and all staples that were in the way were removed, I cut a square of fabric for each seat, with about three inches of extra fabric around each side.You then start on one side in the center, pull the fabric taught and staple. Move to the opposite side, and do the same. Make your way to the left side, and then to the right.The goal is to get the fabric tight, without pulling, and even. Continue to work your way around working your way from the middle of each side, out to the corners, leaving two inches on either side of the corners.

Now for the corners. There are many different ways that you can finish a corner, my way isn't that scientific, I played with the fabric until I got something that I think looked the best, and smoothest. I then stapled the heck out of it until I was sure it wouldn't move. Ever. After the corners were complete I trimmed of the extra fabric and stapled the backing onto the chair for a finished look. If you don't have a backing to replace you could always hot glue grosgrain ribbon over the staples to tidy it up. Last, but not least you reattach the seat to the chair.

 Easy as that! Such a simple fix, that makes a huge impact. Now, the table and chairs look brand new, and we could fit TEN people at the table of we needed to. Although, I don't see a huge holiday diner party in our near future.