DIY Edition: Chair Cushion Recovering

My coworker came into a dining room set this fall. When she brought it home she knew that the cushions weren't going to match her space, but thought she'd update them with something more fitting when time allowed. Having no experience upholstering, she had a couple of her crafty friends over to help. Did I mention her two crafty friends had yet to upholster themselves? No matter... here's our journey.

Side by side comparison of the before and after. We liked the end product so we continued with the three remaining chairs.

Chair one - a success!

When researching fabric types and quantities for her project, my friend was advised to purchase 1/4 yard for each seat. She went ahead and doubled that estimation and it's a good thing she did! From two yards, the fabric was cut into four quadrants (see below). Each seat was laid onto a quadrant after being removed from the chair to be sure there was enough fabric. 

Tip: When choosing your fabric be cognizant of patterns. If you get a fabric with lots of lines that need to remain straight, this may be tricky. Maybe stick with a fabric that doesn't require as much symmetry.

To begin, we used the following:

• electric staple gun and staples 
• hammer
• fabric scissors
• friends (you'll want two pair of hands while upholstering - one to stretch the fabric and the other to staple and another pair of hands to reassemble the chairs).

Start by laying the first quadrant of fabric (top side down) and seat upside down on the floor. Proceed to cut 4"x4" squares at the top of the fabric that aligns with the front of the seat. Cutting the squares helps to remove excess fabric for stapling while keeping the folds minimal on the edging of the seat.

When stapling the fabric to the seat, we found it worked best to staple near the fabric about 1/2" from the edge. Be cognizant of where the screw holes are in the seat so that when reattaching them to the frame they are easily accessible. Stapling fabric over the hole may make for a mess. Not that we did that or anything....

Staple within 1/2" of the seats edge

Remember what I said about making sure you have two pair of hands on recovering duty? Here you have it. One pulls the fabric tight and one staples. Tip: use your knees to create more tension with the seat and fabric as I am in this photo.

The bottom of the seat is going to be ugly. That's okay because no one can see the bottom. As you go, it's okay to trim the excess fabric so that the seat lays flush to the chair frame. This is a great way to keep track of the pre-drilled screw holes too.

TIP: When pulling the fabric, start with the front of the seat, move down the sides and finish with the back of the seat. Flipping the seat over to check on the stretch and alignment is a good idea. If you're using a fabric with a pattern, be sure that you're keeping your lines straight. 

                                         

Test the seat before screwing it back into the frame. You want to be sure that everything looks presentable and fits correctly.

Sometimes the staples need adjusting. Be sure to hammer in any that are sticking out. You don't want them to rub or cause your fabric to loosen.

Viola! The finished product!

Photo courtesy of A.Hudak :)

Thanks for stopping by the Humble Hammock! Do come back :) 

Cara

DIY Edition: Curtains & Pillows

I wanted to put together some quick curtains for our garage windows on the cheap. My endeavor began with a trip to Hobby Lobby where I picked up this grey cotton blend fabric for $5.99/yard. I bought four yards knowing that I would probably end up with a little extra. 

The color of the curtains in the garage didn't really matter, but I knew that I wanted something neutral to keep the light that comes in from looking eerie. I chose grey because I knew I could do something with the extra fabric in another room of the house.

To begin, I rolled out the fabric and measured the length of the window (something near 51"). I decided to add 3" to the top and bottom (6" total) to allow for a 1.5" folded curtain seam. My final cut was at 57" for both panels. The width of the fabric on the bolt was enough for the width of my windows so I didn't need to cut it vertically. If I had, the panels would have looked more finished.

Here's the inseam for the curtain rod. Before sewing I pinned the seam and stuck the rod through to be sure that it would fit. 

Here we sew!

Ta-da!

After all of that I still had enough left over to recover these pillows for my grey and yellow living room. To get started I made sure to have enough fabric to fold over the pillow by placing the pillow on the printed (top) side of the fabric. Then, by folding the back side up, I pinned fabric to the the left and right side of the pillow. Sewing this pillow inside out is key so that the seams can hide.

Once the sides are sewn and flipped right side out with the pillow slipped inside, the top can be pinned by folding both the front and back edges into the pillow. Pin so that the seam is tight the pillow fits snugly in the cover.

To hide the seam, I use a slip stitch (go to the :50 mark). Pillow case covers aren't like pillows, in that with pillows you can sew the fourth side nearly all of the way before stuffing and then slip stitching the remaining 5" or so.

Here is the finished product! I made this burlap pillow over a year ago and freshened it up with a little paint and a monogram. 

$20 for two new pillow covers and two curtains seems like a pretty good deal to me! Thanks for stopping by the Humble Hammock. Do come back :)

Cara

Budget: Christmas Decor

Getting Christmas décor on the cheap is a specialty of mine. Sure, everyone flees to the big box stores after the holidays to grab next years wreaths and lights, maybe even wrapping paper, but there are better places to find those one of a kind décor items. You know…antique stores.

A couple of years ago I was in French Lick, Ind. and found myself sauntering around the small town looking for something I couldn’t live without. For more on that trip click here. Anyway, vintage Christmas decorations are my second weakness (first being Brownie Cameras). While browsing, I stumbled upon a glorious box of ornaments that were unmatched in detail, color, size and shape to anything I had ever seen. 

They’re stunning, right? They were marked for $6 each ($30 for all) but when I approached the counter I did one better than to haggle. One thing you’ll learn about owners of antique stores is that they’re just as interesting as most of the items within the walls. Smile, greet the owner and LISTEN. They’ll talk and talk (make sure you have time for this) about the ‘old days’ and how ‘things aren’t made like they used to be.’ They’ll tell you about their kids, the town and probably a little history about what you’re buying. After you’ve learned more than all of your history classes combined from grade school to college, see what they’ll do on the price. I walked out with these beauties for $20. 

Now, off of my vintage soapbox, here are some items that are from a box store (sorry, there are some vintage pieces too) and how I’ve used them to decorate. I’ve approximated the cost and location of the purpose for your post-Christmas thrifting game plan!

Finally, to top off my holiday pieces, by request, here is the tree skirt and stockings that my grandma made for me. They were inspired by Pinterest and are probably my most cherished Christmas items. 

Thanks for stopping by the Humble Hammock! Do come back :)

Cara

DIY Edition: Indiana Artwork

Our family is huge. Not huge like the McCallisters on Home Alone but big enough that my husband’s siblings and their significant others draw names for a Secret Santa gift giving. This year I didn’t think I would have too much time to get crafty with my lucky pick so I decided to keep it simple by shopping on Etsy. Why not buy someone else the things that I'm too cheap to buy for myself; right? I knocked $24 off of our $30 limit with this little beauty from HappyHeat. Five years ago or so I got my very own and still use it faithfully. It’s a hot/cold pad for the neck and when microwaved smells heavily of lavender. When I’m feeling off it’s my go-to remedy.

Photo courtesy of Happy Heat

After perusing Etsy a bit more I found just the inspiration I needed to finish my gift. My pick happens to be my sister-in-law. A crafty, shabby-chicster at heart (see her blog here), her draw to monograms, chevrons and personalized pieces gave me enough to work with to make her the framable piece below. I knew that frames in her house were mostly white, so I hit up Kohls and around Christmas and got the frame for $6. Here's the print:

From the template I also made her a secondary print just for fun.

Download your copy of ‘Home Sweet Home’
Download a copy of Indiana in pink 
OR download a copy of Indiana in blue :)

Thanks for stopping by the Humble Hammock and do come back!

Cara

DIY Edition: Fort Kit

This fall I not only got a husband but three nephews! Over the last five years I’ve helped pick out some pretty cool Christmas presents for these little boys but this year I decided that as an official ‘aunt and uncle’ we had to get something for the boys on our own; not with the other uncles. 

Leave it to me to wait until a week before Christmas to finally get my rear in gear and think of something really really cool. After scouring Pinterest for what seemed like hours, I decided to modify an idea that would be sure to keep any house full of young boys occupied - A FORT!  I then found myself in Wal–Mart on December 15th (you’ve got it, payday for the entire population – big mistake!) with arms full of supplies in a line nothing short of 35 minutes long.

Here’s what I purchased:

• Three 50x60 fleece blankets (pinterest recommended flat sheets but I couldn’t find any sold separately)
• A matching tub for fort storage
• Extra reinforcement clips (clothespins)
• A  small lantern to use inside the fort 
• 4 AAA batteries for the lantern
• Pajamas for all of the boys to wear in their fort
• Ribbon (I had this already, but be sure to buy this to sew to your fleece blankets)

To begin, I unrolled the blankets and cut ribbon into roughly 6 inch strips. I angled the ends and counted them into groups of six. Each blanket received six of the strips (all four corners and one on the middle of the 60” side). 

I then secured the ribbon with four passes on my sewing machine to make it more durable.

I threw in the other goodies and laid the tag on top so that it didn't get ripped off during the rigorous gift opening that always seems to occur and stuck everything into a matching chevron storage tub for easy storing.

I polished the fort making kit off with these nifty tags from KIN. Watch their DIY fort crafting video here.

Thanks for stopping by the Humble Hammock! Do come back!
Cara

Sew: Dresslift

This little gem became too short after a couple of washes (and drys - oops!) It had been in my Goodwill pile for awhile but before this last donation I decided to see if I could lengthen it a bit more. With a little scrap fabric I was able to to turn this....

Before

into this!

After

Now I only have to wait four more months until spring when I can wear it! Thanks for stopping by the Humble Hammock! 

Cara

DIY Edition: Koi Pond Removal

Koi ponds are probably wonderful when maintained. However, this was a mosquito cesspool, animal drowning, ant breeding nuisance. We got distracted by tackling shedding first, but knew getting this Rubbermaid agricultural tank (that's right, it wasn't even a real koi pond) out before winter was a must. We aerated and over seeded our yard this fall too - so it was critical to seed this area so that it wouldn't be behind the rest of our yard come spring. 

Here lies the 300 gallon poisonous water hole with it's equally disturbing shrubbery and (not pictured) endless flat rock. 

To empty the tank, we recruited our families and five gallon buckets. It took about 20 minutes of emptying the tank by hand to get to the bottom. Much like the Rubbermaid containers used for leftover food, it was quite flexible and rubbery, making removal quick. The 2x4 board (pictured below) was used to shake the tub loose from the ground where it had settled.

Once removed, our yard still left plenty to be desired.

My parents brought fill dirt from back home and we used an entire trailer load to fill in the hole. The dirt was then tilled with top soil from The Home Depot to prep it for seeding. 

And here is the finished product!

Thanks for stopping by the Humble Hammock! Do come back :)
Cara