Dining chair re-do.

 When we bought these chairs it was with the hope that they'd be maintenance free for the long term. That didn't really work out for us. I recovered two of them and the bench that we bought with them a couple of years ago, and now the rest of them are tearing up too. We thought we were being sold leather seats, but you know how that goes. Luckily, recovering is simple if a little muscle intensive. 

 I don't know if you can see the cracks in this chair's vinyl?

Here? Anyway it looks worse in real life. 

I found this home dec fabric in JoAnn's and it was love at first sight. I asked them to order in enough for me to do all of the chairs while I was at it. First step is taking off the seat from the base. Usually a few screws is all that holds it on there. It's easy then to cut your fabric around the shape of the actual seat, with a little overlap to staple to the other side. 

 It doesn't need to overlap much as you see here. Just so that you can pull tight without danger of unraveling the edge. A handheld, non electric staple gun is plenty for this work, although I use a sledge hammer for the stubborn staples that don't go all the way in. 

Then you place your seat back on the base, and screw it back on. This is where you sweat a bit. Odds are, you won't get the screws back into exactly the same place so it takes some muscle. Kind of a good thing if they go somewhere else to be honest, because it keeps the holes from being stripped so the screws fall back out again. 

 Finished product. If you really want to make it look nice and professional, trim the corners of excess fabric before stapling around the base. I never do this because I'm lazy and know I will probably have to do it again someday, but wrinkles in the corners are kind of a giveaway that you did it yourself. My strategies are: "pullitreallytight" and "hopethatnobodylookstooclose!".

 I like how they turned out, although I was hoping to put some print cushions on the sofa, and that dream is dead with how busy this fabric already is. I bought some cushion covers from IKEA that I'll be taking back. Oh well. More money back in my account right? 

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Date to the Parade

 In the spirit of "trying new things", Jeff and I went to the Salt Lake City Parade of Homes this last weekend. I've only been one time before with my brother and sister-in-law --years ago, but I remember getting some really good information and ideas there. When we were looking for the house we're living in now, a lot of my decisions on color, etc., were influenced by those million dollar parade homes I saw. We've got no plans right now to move, or even remodel, but I still thought it might be fun, so talked Jeff into going.

 Please excuse my ignorance on....almost everything home decor-wise, my comments will only be my opinions and impressions.  One thing I saw over and over again was great use of varieties of texture. Look at this bedroom with the leather, and soft knit, and shiny, and silky, and rough linen, all up against each other! Yum.

 I loved these lighting fixtures over the bar. Jeff hated them. Even Tia (when I showed her the picture) said she thought it was dumb to have the tops open for bugs to fall into, but I loved the chandelier effect inside a modern glass sheath like that. This kitchen interestingly enough, had TWO islands parallel to each other. It also had a separate butler's pantry, and was enormous. I would have loved this kitchen when I was catering, and had helpers, but for one cook in my own space, it would be more of a pain to reach everything than a plus.

 We saw a lot of bathrooms with big, bold wallpapers. I loved this one. Jeff hated all of the bold wallpapers. WhatEVAH! 

 Mmmmm. Blue and White. My current favorite color scheme. Did you know these were my wedding colors?

 I wanted to remember these sparkly crystal laundry room knobs. 

 And this tweedy carpet in the study. 

 Another fabulous light fixture. 

 Look how open and airy! Glitzy glamour.

 Loved this idea too for a girls' bathroom. How come I never knew you could do that? Mix up the knobs? Adorable.

I took lots of pictures of this "Frozen" room for Tia and Ari because I knew they'd love it. Walls covered in murals--

a little cubby door into what I thought was a closet, but when you looked inside...

it was a slide/climbing wall. All of my kids want this in our next house.

I want this zen-y tub,

 ...and this amazing set of drawers and cupboards for my master bath! Loving the gray too right now. 

 This was a favorite corner. This entire home was very light-filled, and had a house-wide sound system playing reggae music.

 See what I mean with the kitchen? I went with dark dark in mine, but now I'm craving light. Meh. I won't actually DO anything about it. I like this fixture too with its Edison bulbs.

 Close-up of the back-splash --we saw a lot of Moroccan tile and prints in all of the homes. I'm experimenting with settings on my phone camera here, that's why it looks strange.

 Here too --sorry. I wanted to show the textured tile. It was like a linen feel. Really pretty.

 This nursery actually made me want a baby again. So sweet I almost couldn't stand it.

 A really fun room. I'm kicking myself that I didn't take a picture of the other side. It was done in a camping theme (see the jars of s'more ingredients on the shelf?). The other wall had a big cabinet like you'd imagine in a lodge or something: arrowheads, maps, binoculars, you get the idea.

 We want these doors for our basement!! It just makes sense not to take up space with an open door, and pocket doors always have problems. Coveting.

 Clever guest room/craft room --the bed is a murphy, and folds into the wall of shelves.

But this was my favorite bedroom. Right off of the camping family room, the sign reads: "Let's Sleep Under The Stars". The bulb lights are awesome, and I really like how they used a Queen headboard along the side of a full bed to make it into a daybed kind of thing. Wonderful place for a teenage girl. Almost tempted to redecorate...easier to just dream.

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