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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Well....I guess the parade got to me after all!

 Well, I thought I was far too lazy to do anything about all of the new colors and ideas from the Parade of Homes, but I guess I underestimated my ability to be swayed like a sheep. I immediately thought my decor was too dark, and originally wanted to paint all of the kitchen cupboards to white, pull the stone off the fireplace and replace it with glass tile, and possibly yank out all of the carpet. I calmed down soon, but there were a few pieces in my house that had been bugging me for a while that the Parade got me to do something about. The first was my headboard. Here's what the before looked like (above). I've since changed the curtains and bedding, but the headboard stayed dark. 

 Here's the after. I painted the copper tile in the center a cream, and the headboard to grey. I went back and forth about antiquing it, but finally went for it with some encouragement from my friend. 

 Here's the glazing up close. I didn't go crazy, just a bit around the edges.

The final bedroom. I was kind of sad about the mirror. I was going to just refinish it to match, but it...got wet... and fell apart. I HAD to buy a new one!

 Next was the desk in the dining room. This is a really old picture! Wow. Jeff's grandpa made this desk by hand, so the pulls needed to stay. 

I just brightened it up a bit. Cream, with antiquing around the edges. I kept the black top, and I'm not sure it was the best decision, but it's done so... Anyway, notice my little toast and protein hot chocolate ritual there? I'm watching "Gambit" on Netflix instant. That was a fun show (It has Snape in it!).

Next I'm recovering the dining room chairs in this fabric. I will show you when they are done. I'm also touching up paint around the house (finally after years living here!).

 We've been getting some amazing weather around here. This sunset was particularly spectacular. 

 So dramatic you ...sky! Geez. Calm down.

 I've been getting in around 30 miles up and down the canyon on my bike on weekends. My friend Sadie says September is the best time of year for biking. I'd stick the end of this year's August onto that. 

 Things have been calming down a little (today anyway) on the Primary visiting front, so I was able to take a little walk in the sunshine.

 When I got to this Virginia creeper, a little mouse grey bird was sitting on top of the railing. He might have been eating the berries, and I wondered if they weren't poisonous like I'd thought. As I got closer, he tensed, but I hoped he'd stay. He took off right when I was opposite him. Made me a little sad.

I got home and picked some of everything in the garden. I steamed some stuff, and left some raw. I always think of Laura Ingall's Pa saying "as long as the garden holds out we can eat like kings!"

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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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Walden versus the Caterer and the Home Decorator.

Melissa at The Inspired Room is doing "A Beautiful Life" linky thing, and I thought I'd share my thoughts (and personal conflicts!) from this week about beautiful living.
I just finished WALDEN by Thoreau. I loved it, but I was torn by some of his ideas. Of course the reason I'm torn, is because I think he's right about many things, but I don't really want to give up some of my old habits and ideas. Henry David Thoreau undertook "Walden" as an experiment. He saw so many poor, over-busy, overworked, and under-thinking people around him, he tried a different way of life to see if it could help provide answers and solutions to some of these problems. He went to the woods near the edge of his town, and built a simple log cabin with his own hands. He farmed a little, enough to eat, and fished a little, enough to eat. He therefore had many hours in his day to observe and record nature around him, which he did beautifully, and painstakingly.

These are the woods he lived in. The rock pile is the old site of his cabin. These woods inspired beautiful thoughts and reflections. This was my favorite aspect of the book. The beauty of the language or comparisons would sometimes just make me smile. Thoreau's point was, he had TIME to think them, he had time to really live, because he didn't spend so much time trying to maintain a large farm, or trying to acquire more posessions, or just buying new clothes, or living off of more luxurious food. I see his point. When Jeff and I went backpacking last summer, I was surprised constantly by what we really didn't need, and how comfortable we were. I felt truly free. We could go anywhere and do anything, because we carried everything we needed on our backs. Similarly, Jeff always says I was his undoing, because before he married me, everything he owned would fit in his Geo Metro (do you remember how small the Geo metros were?!). Now we've got tons of stuff like this:

Seriously, what is all this decor for? If we were to move, I would hate trying to pack all of this even. We also have three big rooms for "lounging" in I guess you would call it. The family room, the formal living room, and the downstairs theater room, all which have furniture. I could live without the formal, but I'm personally tied to the other rooms. Why though? They all require upkeep and time. Thoreau said he for a while had a couple of pieces of limestone he kept on his desk, until he found they required dusting. He gave them back to nature. I wish I was more like this. I guess I love beauty and comfort around me and so try to create it in the place I spend the most time. The problem is I'm calcifying in the process. No longer do I really crave travel and adventures like I once did. KIND OF..., but I'm doubting the hotels can match all the comforts of my home and it puts a damper on things.



There's also the caterer in me. This is a wedding I did a couple of years ago. As you can see, this was a lot of equipment to bring and set up....and store, and maintain at home. I LOVE to cater. I love to put together an elaborate set-up that makes people happy to look at it. I love to cook elaborate food, that makes people say mmmmmmm. But then again on Thoreau's side, I think it's nice to have a simple diet day to day that doesn't require much time and effort to prepare, or work to pay for, so we can eat, and move on to the more important parts of our day: our adventures, our reflections, our beautiful thoughts, our love and relationships with each other.



Anyway, I don't know the answer for me. He made me think. Maybe someday I'll jettison all my "dross" as he calls it, and move to a higher plane of life. In the meantime, I REALLY love that theater room.

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