My Very First DIY

When we moved into our house we planned to do some major renovations… and we did. It took 2 months of painstaking work, paint-covered hands, drop cloths everywhere, popcorn-ceiling dust invading my lungs, and, since most of the renovation was the kitchen itself and we were left with a mini-fridge full of diet rootbeer and a tiny microwave… dozens of meals of Ramen noodles.

In that very same kitchen we took what used to be a large room separated by cabinets (food-prep area and a kitchen-table area) into a haven for cooking. It’s beautiful! Check out the amazing progress below…

Here’s the before. This was one of the photos we viewed before seeing the house.

Okay, prepare yourself. This is awesome. I’m very proud of the choices we made and the finished product.

I’ll do a post sometime and go through the process… pulling out soffits, tearing up the floor, new drywall, etc. But here’s the view from the other direction. I know it’s a terrible picture – the lighting in this room is weird and I was having flash problems. Notice the way we adjusted the depth of the counters when you get to the “eat-in” portion of the kitchen (the right side from this view). I lurve that part. :)

So the problem has been that part down by the door. You can see even more from this picture how vast the space was. (PS – isn’t the orange way better than the original terrible pale green?)

From the start I envisioned a glass-top table there – something with four chairs and a casual contemporary appearance to finish the room. Problem? They’re expensive, man! I’ve looked all over the place and for the style I prefer… we’re talking $600-800. Even if I could talk Bronce into saving for that (yeah, right), I don’t think I could stomach putting that kind of money into a stinking table.

So. I started searching Craigslist. And last weekend I found it. The perfect table. With ugly cushions. No worries, I can handle that!! Here are the Craigslist photos that caught my eye. (I’m keeping them small since they’re low quality).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, and this picture of the center of the table was the real decision-maker for me. It perfectly matches the fabric I would use later that day to recover the cushions.

Dad met me in Halls to pick them up (thanks, Dad! You’re the best!) and help me haul them back to my house. I originally planned to change out the cushions and paint the metal frames, but Dad wisely talked me in to waiting on the paint. I still think it would look fabulous (and may become a summer project), but they ended up being less brass and more oil-rubbed bronze. Which works for me!

So looking at the chairs… Yuck. That fabric has got to go.

Taking off the old fabric…

  My friend Tracy and I had just gone to Short Sheets (an amazing fabric wholesale place in Crossville, TN) and found the perfect fabric for the den and kitchen windows. Mom and I fashioned some awesome grommet valances for the three windows/doors and I had the perfect amount left over for these seat cushions.

Using the old cushions as my template, I cut out the fabric for the new ones. And, since Mom gave me the brilliant suggestion to cut out extras, I cut 6 pieces in case I need to replaced a ruined/stained cushion at some point in the future.

Mom’s awesome electric nail gun (I’ve gotta get one of those… amazing!)…

Lather, rinse, repeat… three more times. Then, re-attach the cushions to the chairs using the screws I wisely placed in a ziploc bag (otherwise they end up rolling away…). And here’s the finished product!

Put ‘em all together and you have a wonderful seating area, ready for dinner! Or… more likely… laptops and coffee.

Check out the amazing curtains! I did help, but those are like 95% Mom. She’s awesome and crazy talented.

Total cost: $150 for the table and chairs, $20 for the fabric = $170 That’s way cheaper than $700-800!

Check out other DIY posts at The DIY Showoff, a source of inspiration for many of my future projects!