Exploring Paint on Fabric

As I was finishing up editing a few sessions late last night in the office I continued to contemplate what kind of fabric I would use for the office curtains.  I looked through a few swatches online and didn't really see anything that stood out to me.  So, I remembered seeing that they had created their own fabric on Young House Love, and I thought maybe that was the route I should go.  However, while I think I could create a nice geometric pattern for a fabric on the computer, I'm not too great at creating anything that had a more organic/watercolor like feel that I was hoping to use for the office curtains.  So, I thought...maybe I could just paint fabric?  I was very ready for bed, but of course when I have an idea I can't just sleep on it...I have to do it.  So, I wanted to at least try it out.  I knew I had picked up a piece of fabric in the scraps bin at Hancock Fabrics a few weeks ago that was a good natural color...sort of canvas-like, and went at it.

I had no plan, no idea of what I wanted to do...no real direction I was going...I just sort of played around with it.  I grabbed a few bottles of acrylic craft paint and went to town on it.  Turns out this fabric must be outdoor or just treated, because water beaded up on the surface, which eliminated the idea of a watercolor look, because watering it down wasn't working.

It was kind of fun, actually, and maybe if I have a more solid plan or direction I could come up with something cool for pillows or maybe curtains...but more likely pillows.  I'm not claiming to be an artist at all, and I would say this scrap of fabric is the equivalent of doodling on a sheet of paper...I just wanted to try out different shapes and ideas and color combos and the like.  So, here are a few iPhone pictures of  what I came up with in about 5-10 minutes of "doodling" on the fabric last night...

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Office Fabric

Now that the office is to a point where I can actually work in it, I have been spending lots of time in there.  Currently, the windows are still curtain-less.  Doesn't bother me too much, but at night I can get a little creeped out.

So, while I was in Lawrence for work today I decided to stop by Sarah's Fabrics.  They have, in my opinion, the best selection of fabric in the Topeka/Lawrence/KC area.  My goal was to find a fabric to use for the curtains in the office.  I wasn't really sure what I was looking for, but I knew I probably wanted some green in it...maybe something a little more organic to offset all of the harsh lines in the rest of the room.

I wasn't really finding anything I liked for the curtains...however, I knew I wanted to also put curtains on the closet doors where there were originally sliding doors.  Because those will be across the room from the desk and bulletin board/peg board area, I figured they could be more geometric.  Here are the patterns I narrowed it down to in the store:

Okay, I lied...this one was the only one I found that I considered for the curtains, not the closet doors.

After trying to call my mom for advice, and failing to get ahold of her I decided to just go for it and I chose the first print with the numbers.  I really liked the sort of obvious and playful use of numbers in an office...where ya know, you work with numbers...and it just sort of makes me smile.  I knew it might come off sort of too playful and childish, but I really thought it would work in the office.  As soon as I left the store with my $50 worth of fabric I finally received an e-mail from my mom that said no to the numbered fabric because it might look like it was meant for a child's playroom.  Oops, oh well...I still loved it and I knew Tony would enjoy the numbers thing as well :)

I just finished making a few panels of new sew curtains for the closet, and I absolutely love them...they are totally perfect for the room.  And of course, a few iPhone pictures until I have time to take some better ones...

I guess I didn't realize how blurry those were :)  Better ones coming soon, and eventually pictures of the whole office will too :)

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Office

So, the office has come together quite nicely after some super late nights on my part where I did a little multi-tasking, switching between editing pictures and working on building desks while I ran some batches of images and uploaded galleries, etc.  It wasn't really planned, in fact we were going to tackle the office after we had finished the guest bedroom, but I was tired of sitting on the hardwood floor with my iMac on the floor of the den.  Not the most comfortable position to be in.  So, I kind of decided to take it on by myself and I'm super happy with the results and Tony, while skeptical at first of my building skills/vision, really likes it now...so that's good :)

I'll post pictures of the room later, but essentially it is all white with green accents (the same green that we used in the bathroom).  So, I've been envisioning a green mid-century-esque (that is SO not a word) chair at the desks in the office.  So, I've been casually browsing around without finding anything until last night (very late) I stumbled upon these three chairs that would fit into the room perfectly:

West Elm  |  Scoop-Back Chair - $79

Crate & Barrel  |  Felix Green Side Chair - $89

Room & Board  |  Jake Chair - $79

The Crate & Barrel version is probably closest to the green we used as an accent, but I'm not opposed to having different shades of green as long as they're all similar.  Right now, I'm leaning towards the West Elm version, and I'd really like to pull the trigger right now, but I think I'm going to look a little bit more and then hopefully make a decision soon.

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Slow Progress

I'm terrible at updating, but things have been super busy around here and between my job at KU and my photography I have been incredibly busy.  In between my two jobs I have been doing odd projects here are there.  Specifically, the office and the guest bath.

The guest bath has been primarily Tony's to tackle.  I have to get back to editing pictures, but just a few quick bathroom pictures for now.  Not done by any means, but closer!  I'll have Tony explain what he did later...and ignore the frayed edges of the curtain...I'm working on it... :)

And just one of the house right now to show what it looks like in Spring :)  Since Tony bought the house in December/January when the ground was completely snow covered, we had no idea what the yard would look like in the Spring.  We didn't know what kind of trees he had or any of that...it has been so fun to see everything bloom and kind of figure out what he has in his yard.  Still figuring things out and trying to get some patches of grass to grow, but I think it looks very pretty :)

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When it's time to change...

As I mentioned in this post, I totally rearranged all of the furniture at 2am last night...totally on a whim.  Here's how this all came about:

I was standing in the entry and I looked back at the fireplace and a vision popped into my head of a totally different furniture arrangement.  Saying I had a vision sounds silly...I know.  It started with us realizing we had a lot more space to work with than we previously thought.  I looked at Tony and said something along the lines of: "Yanno, this room (the den) is a lot bigger than we realized...we probably could have fit a dining room table in here.  (insert furniture rearranging itself in my vision) I even think we could have the couch face the fireplace."  He looked at me with a face that said "well, too bad...it's already done" told me yah, we probably could have done that, oh well...and went to bed.

I went back to working on pictures and continued to mull over the furniture thing...should I, shouldn't I...I couldn't decide.  It was one of those things that I knew had to be done first in order for Tony to realize it needed to be done.  I don't think he would have wanted to go through the work of moving everything around when it was working perfectly fine the way it was.  So, I finally decided this was my time to do, and I was going to do it alone...at 2am.  This is clearly another one of my "brilliant" ideas.

I must have been overcome with some super human powers, because I can tell you right now, I could barely lift the china cabinet when Tony and I were moving it around together...I have no idea how I moved it myself without dying, but I did!  I know myself well enough to know that if I don't finish a project I will never come back to it, and it will sit abandoned and unfinished until I force myself to finish it.  So, I have trained myself to always finish projects in one sitting...no matter how tired I am or how much I want to be done with it.  Obviously there are exceptions, but that is generally the case.  So, even though I was exhausted, ready for bed and just all around tired I knew if I didn't finish it Tony wouldn't be very happy when he woke up :)

After rearranging the den, I started pulling furniture from the kitchen, and I had furniture I didn't need in the den anymore, which allowed me to do other things with that furniture, which eventually led to the entire living area getting a little revamping.  If you don't remember what it looked like before, here are a few quick pictures:

During the walk through.

After most of the furniture was added

Before rearranging.

Here are the results of my wild night of furniture rearranging:

I took the chairs out of the kitchen and put them in the den in place of the blue chair I painted and upholstered.  (picture later).  These chairs might be temporary, but for now I like them, and I like that they match the couch almost perfectly.  The chairs were included with the house because we figured we might as well try.  Maybe eventually they will be replaced with a wingback and another chair, but for now we like these in here.

All of the furniture has been moved towards the fireplace and a more intimate seating area has been created.  I was worried about the back of the couch facing the front door, but the couch has such a pretty shape that it doesn't look bad at all.  We will add some sort of sofa table behind the couch, but even without it, it doesn't look too bad.

The new, more intimate seating area.

Yup...that's me in my robe this morning :)  The kitchen table is now in the den/dining room, and I went ahead and added a leaf to it.  Since the kitchen table chairs are now across from the couch, I used these chairs that were Tony's grandma's.  2 of them we already had in random rooms as fillers until we got different chairs, and much to my surprise, when I went into the garage looking for other furniture I didn't know about, I found 2 more!

I moved the enormous (and really heavy) china cabinet all by myself, which kind of scared Tony when I showed him this morning :)

So, this piece of fabric was a random late addition.  I purchased it for something...I don't know what, but I loved it and figured I'd find something for it.  I folded it in half and folded up the ends and threw it on the table to add some color.  It obviously won't stay like this, but I eventually might sew an actual runner for the table.  For now, it will do.

Hopefully the overexposed sliding doors you can't see (thankfully), will soon be replaced with french doors out to the patio :)

So, now that the tv is no longer in the den, I had this lovely table I purchased from Crate&Barrel and nowhere to put it...until I realized we still hadn't decided on an entry table, and I tried it out, and sure enough...it looks great!  I love the way the woodwork on the table sort of mimics the lines of the marble in the floors.

The blue chair I painted and re-covered that was originally done for the den is now in the living room.  I put it in there temporarily at first, but I actually like it in there.

I moved the new Crate&Barrel chest side table over by the blue chair (it was originally next to the sectional) and put the side table that was in the den next to the sectional.  Tony things the chest is a little too big for that area, but I really like it there.  Oh, and the computer on the side table is temporary :)  As is the tv tray.  P.S. check out our new printer's tray (above the tv tray) that I recently found at Mission Road Antiques for just $30.  It is an authentic printer's drawer, and Tony has already started adding trinkets to it. 

There are still lots and lots of things to do, but I feel like we made a big step in the right direction moving everything around and the den/dining room feels sooo much more comfortable and homey, whereas before it just felt stiffed and very placed.  Currently, there is no table in the kitchen now so that is a new need that we didn't have before, but hopefully we can find something more playful and fun for the kitchen now that it isn't the only formal dining area.

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Time for change...

I rearranged the furniture in the entire house last night at 2am.  Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration...not the entire house, but all of the main living areas.  Yes, another one of my "brilliant" late-night ideas... :)

Pictures and details to come...

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Spontaneity at its Best

When it comes to shopping (or anything really), Tony and I are complete opposites in terms of decision making.  When I find something that I love, I immediately decide to buy it, because I know if I think too long about it I will walk away with nothing.  If I walk around the store too long, I will end up putting everything back.  So, once I make a decision to purchase something I know there is a very short time frame that I need to purchase it, or else I will end up wavering and not getting it.  Tony, on the other hand, takes his time...lots of it.  In fact, had the bedroom furniture purchase been completely up to me, it would have been ordered the first night I found it (I was *this* close to doing it that night, too).  3 or 4 months later, we still liked the same furniture after endless searching and researching and contemplating and convincing and begging and ended up buying it anyway.

However, I really do love being spontaneous...it makes purchases so much more fun.  Plus, I love getting an idea, buying whatever I need and finishing the project before Tony even knows I'm starting it.  I love surprises...and he sometimes loves surprises :)

So, the other night I'm at Hancock Fabrics looking through the scraps bins when I see a familiar fabric.  I pull it out from the bottom and sure enough, it is the same fabric my mom ordered a sample of a few weeks ago.  It is the Dwell Studio Bella Porte Citrine fabric by Robert Allen Home.  Only, instead of being $16+/yd, I got it for $4/yd.  There were only 3.5 yds, but hey...I figured I could do something with it.

Dwell Studio Bella Porte Citrine fabric by Robert Allen Home

So, I look around the house and see the chair...well, both of the chairs.

this guy...there are two of them

When Tony purchased the house, just because he decided to include a few of the pieces of furniture in the contract.  The previous owner had passed away and it was her children selling the home, so he thought he might as well try.  They turned down a few items, but he did end up getting the kitchen table and chairs, two of the above chair, the den coffee table and I think that might be it.

So, it's always been up in the air what exactly we were going to do with the chairs...and we thought we might only end up wanting to use one of them in the den.  So, a few months back I decided to paint them the blue wall color we used in the kitchen and entry...they were VERY blue...and I wasn't a big fan.  So, I took some water down black paint and rubbed it over the chair to darken it a little.  We didn't really need the chairs, so I wasn't too worried about doing something and regretting it.  After I darkened up the blue a little, I applied a glossy lacquer finish and they have been in the basement since then.

Fast forward to this week, and I had the grand idea to reupholster the chair by myself, without a sewing machine and without ANY knowledge or experience with any of the above.  So, I grab some left over hem tape that I used on the bedroom curtains and the iron and just started guessing...which is always a great idea.  the back part is a pillow, the top of the seat is a pillow and the only part that really needed to be taken apart on the chair was the bottom most seat cushion (luckily).

So, I recover the two cushions with the fabric and hem tape, and am so proud of myself.  The bottom cushion was still red, but I planned to tackle that later.  I e-mailed a picture to my mom, who is an interior designer, and was expecting her to be so proud of me as well (obviously).  Here are the pictures I sent her:

I was wrong...she wasn't impressed.  She asked where the zipper was...why I didn't add any cording and on and on...I really had no idea what she was talking about and ignored it.  Then, I came home from work the next day...looked at it again and realized she was right, it looked bad.  So, I headed back to Hancock Fabric (which is luckily a minute drive away).  I still had no idea what I was doing, but I hate asking for help and I could have googled it, but I wanted to see what I could do on my own... :)

I picked up an assortment of things, hoping something would work.  And decided to continue going sans sewing machine, because well...I don't have one.

So, I began...without having any idea what I was doing.  First off, my zipper was way too long...I totally guessed on it, so I ended up having to cut it in half.  It actually ended up working just using the hem tape to attach the zipper...I figured it would fall apart, but was happily surprised when it did not.

All edges and bottom done

And finally, I had my cushion cover!

By the time I got to reupholstering the bottom cushion that is attached to the chair I was exhausted, it was late and I just wanted to get it done. (Another bad habit I have is not wanting to start and stop projects...if I'm going to do something, I have to do it all in one sitting which can sometimes lead to poor results)  So, I started hacking away at the chair trying to remove the staples and red velvet fabric, and look what I found underneath...

The chair was originally green (not gold like it was when we received them) and not a bad green either...almost the same color green as the bathroom walls we painted Bay Leaf Green.  And the seat cushion was an interesting yellow and green flower pattern that, while dated, I really don't hate as much as the red velvet.

What's really funny to me, is that while working on this house we have done so many things and time and again, we do something only to uncover that we are using the same colors as were once in the home many years ago like the blue paint we discovered in the kitchen under the wallpaper (the house was built in 1962 and was sold in 1969 and those owners had the home from 1969 until Tony purchased it in 2011, and there are 3 very distinct layers of paint/wallpaper/etc on everything.  It appears one layer is all original, the next was an update and the third was an update in the early 90's, and all of the paint used in that update is still in the basement with carefully placed labels and notes).

I'm getting sidetracked, anyhow...I love finding little things like this, and just for fun I kept the original fabric underneath the new fabric :D

So, I know the chair is FAR from perfect, and I have a few spots where I ran out of cord, but I think it turned out not too bad.  It's in a low traffic area, and will do for now.

It is in the den next to the yellow Silhouette sofa and I think it looks pretty good next to it, but what do I know.  I will take some better pictures later.

In the same vein, I was spontaneous over my lunch hour today and decided to purchase this great 7 drawer dresser at Locust Street Marketplace antique store in North Lawrence for only $150.  It was made at Mount Saint Scholastica in Atchison, Kansas, is adorable and I think it will be a great office/craft supply storage area in the office.  Until then, I will be dreaming about what color this dresser will end up...

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