I'm Gonna Do It. It Might Get Ruined. Wish Me Luck. :)

Our sitting room has some serious potential, but unfortunately it's being effed over by all the stupid furniture that's currently in it. But I will say, there is one culprit in particular that is holding it back from greatness: the giant, ugly, awful, stupid, uncooperative, and hideous RED slipcover:
We acquired this couch for free from a family friend, and we already owned the bold red slipcover from our old apartment.

Can I just tell you how much I hate slipcovers? I freaking HATE them. Hate hate hate. They never stay in place, they look frumpy and terrible and stupid and cheap and lame. There. I said it. Every time you sit on the couch, the seams come un-tucked. It's unnerving.

The couch's pattern is just too ugly to let it hang out uncovered.
So you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna try to reupholster this sucker. Last summer I seriously lucked out by stumbling upon a garage sale that was selling fabric, so I scored like 8 yards of plain black fabric for $2 or something ridiculously cheap. So I'm going with black. Ideally, I'd want a light gray (like a stone color), or some other LIGHT fabric , but the black is what I have so that's what we're gonna go with. Besides, black will be a super neutral color to work with, and I'll make some new colorful pillows to give the room some accents. And when I get rid of our two blue chairs, we can replace those with something colorful and fun.

I'm going to tear this b!t©h up tomorrow. And if I screw up, oh well, so what, it was a free couch, and I can always throw the slipcover back over my mistakes until we can afford a new couch.

(And then I'm going to burn that hideous slip-cover with copious amounts of glee in my heart.)

To end this post, let me point out our blue chairs. We call this one "the Russian Roulette Chair" because one of these days, someone's gonna sit in it and that right arm is just going to detach from the rest and that poor individual will end up on the floor. When that day comes, I only hope I am in the room the witness it. ;)
And my coffee table. I have very mixed feelings about this guy. It's the first piece of furniture that I ever refurbished, back when I was 18, so it reflects the style of a college kid. My taste is different now, and yet I have a sentimental attachment to my table. I don't think it really fits anymore though, which is all the more reason to be on the lookout for a new table.
Pretty much the only thing I like in our sitting room is my bookshelf.... but after this weekend... hopefully.... all that will start to change!!!!!

Wish me serious luck :)

Goodwill Side Table Redo

This is just a run-of-the-mill Goodwill side table makeover.

Snatched this for $12.50:
It was kinda beat up and had strange marks on the top:
And some scratches:
So I sanded the top..... wiped it off..... primed it with white Valspar primer:

Painted its hardware black and gave it black boots:

And used white Olympic house paint to paint over the primer. Know why? Because Valspare "white" spray paint is so seriously off white it's not even funny.
No more scratches or gouges in the top:
And a side-by-side comparison for ya:

See? I told you it was straight-forward. In fact, it feels like I should have done something way more complicated with this piece. But sometimes, simple and classic is the way to go!

My Kitschy Goodwill "Swirl" Box

This was only $2..... a kitschy little plastic box painted to look wooden, totally cheesy and covered on all surfaces with scrolls/swirls. Yesssss.

Plus two drawers that would be big enough to hide art supplies, or jewelry, or things around an office...

So I thought.... I shall glaze it. But first, I spray-painted it brushed nickel:
And then got to work with my $8 tub of Valspar antiquing glaze.

Here's my tip for ya: although it says to use a slightly damp rag to spread the glaze, THIS COMPLETELY DID NOT WORK FOR ME. I'm guessing because of all the texture on this box, the rag just wasn't ideal, so instead I used a medium-sized paint brush and that went MUCH better. I was able to move the glaze around and really work it into the spaces: See the difference?

A comparison of the before (left) and after (right):


The verdict: I am not so sure about this glaze business. It really does bring out the details and makes those scrolls pop, but it took the overall color in a direction I'm just not sure about. Like it's nearing the gold-zone? Kinda of? A cross between pewter and brassy-ish. Sort of. ?? I'm just wondering what would happen if I tried it on a piece of furniture, a flat surface. I am VERY eager to give it a try. Luckily, I have just the piece, so stay tuned for that......

Anyway, this was my first time using glaze, and I'm glad it was so easy, and I'm glad I had a cheap-o subject for my first attempt. Still not sure where to put the finished box, but I sure do like it. :)

Used Book Addiction

To what section do you normally head when you first enter a thrift store or walk up to a yard sale?
Clothes?
Furniture?
Knick-knacks?

For me, I often beeline straight for the books. PLEASE tell me I'm not the only one!

While I loooooooove popping into Goodwill and finding a great, inexpensive frame that I can doctor up for my own art.... or some beat-up piece of furniture to transform... I truly feel energized when I find a GOOD book for a mere thirty-five cents (paperback) or $1 (hardback).


This Ikea bookshelf is one of my favorite places in my house. I would guess that nearly 50% of my books have been purchased from thrift or used book stores over the years. And 30% of the other books come used from Amazon or other online retailers.



It is reaching its limit. Time for a built-in bookshelf in my sitting room, perhaps?? A girl can dream:






SWOON.

Grass, Weeds, and Buried Trash Bags

We moved into our house on Sept. 30, 2009, but we JUST purchased a lawn mower last week. Yes, we were starting to become *those* neighbors. You know, the ones who seem to be cultivating a natural prairie habitat in their front and back yard. We needed to mow badly, since things were getting out of control:

My uncle came to the rescue by selling us a used self-propelled (YES!) Craftsman for $75. Thriftiness is not just for the thrift stores! :)



And boy did it make a difference:
I think we have just taken ourselves off the neighborhood #$*@list. At least I hope.
Still have to trim, though.

I didn't want to spend a lot on a weed wacker, so I purchased this electric one for a mere $54 from Amazon.com. It has really good reviews, but hasn't arrived yet, so I cannot offer a personal account of how it works, but if it's good I'll be sure to let you know.



The second outdoor-related task to cross off my list is to get rid of the weeds growing out of the cracks in the sidewalks and up next to the house:
I doused them with Round-Up's Extended Control weed spray, and after just one day I could see them starting to wilt and turn brown.
I don't think there's a single crack in my sidewalk that isn't growing something or other:
Round-Up supposedly takes longer, but delivers a bigger ass-kicking to the weeds, so I'm fine if it takes a couple days or weeks to make them disappear forever.


And on Sunday, I devoted SEEEVERAL hours to the biggest task at hand: pulling up weeds, yanking up the old weed barrier, and laying down a new one in the front landscaping.

Allow me to share a tidbit with you: PLASTIC TRASH BAGS DO NOT MAKE EFFECTIVE WEED BARRIERS. SERIOUSLY.
When I pulled up the plastic, it just disintegrated in my hands and came up in chunks, which was incredibly annoying and time-consuming to get rid of it all.

Once that crap was all dug out, I pulled up weeds and old roots growing under the dirt. There were a lot!

I then would move a section of dirt out of the way, lay down a strip of $14 weed barrier fabric from Lowe's, recover that area with the displaced dirt, and move on to the next section until I tackled the length of my landscaping. No more weeds!! No more hefty in my landscaping!

Now the question is... mulch?? stones?? Do I put anything over the dirt? Do I plant more?? It just looks so sparse and drab!! (But at least there are no weeds!!)

I'm digging the idea of black mulch:

Or gray stones??

Pardon the poor photoshop attemps. :) I think the husband will like black mulch more... and so will my wallet.

We are making slow but steady yard progress. Next up? Planting flowers in my cement boxes!

20x200 AWESOMENESS

You guys, I am so excited right now I could pee in my pants.

I got home from work and opened my screen door to find an envelope from 20x200 leaning up against my front door. Hmm. Curious.

I came inside an opened it to find all this:

Somehow, they must have found out that I recently blogged about my glorious Yellina James print because they were thanking me for my kind words!!!
So they included these fantastic "Live with Art It's Good for You" stickers:

And a super cute screen-printed tote with the same logo:

AND A GIFT CERTIFICATE FOR A FREE 8x10 PRINT + SHIPPING!!!

I am seriously so tickled by this amazing gesture of thanks. I have been smiling all night and I literally keep saying out loud to my husband every 20 minutes "god, it's just so cool!" Alright, he gets it already.....
:)

So all I can say is go, patronize this amazing site. 20x200 has just done an awesome thing and they are a wonderful site for artists and art-supporters.

Naturally, I'm already checking out some contenders for my gift certificate, and I'm very torn!!!

''Winter Flags (East Village, New York)'' by Youngna Park
''Fingerprint'' by Ky Anderson:
''Saint-Pierre'' by Ian Carpenter
''Flood'' by Jaclyn Mednicov
''Lovebirds'' by Lisa Congdon

P.S. Did I mention the fact that I think this is really amazing and I can't stop smiling and I'm flattered and surprised and happy and thankful??? THANK YOU 20x200!