Chair happy :-)

My last post was about our new chair slipcover, and this one is about a cute and comfy chair I found on Craigslist last week. So, I guess I'm a little chair happy of late. ha Every time I walk past our living room and see this adorable chair, I do feel happy. ;-)

 

 I've been looking for a pretty armchair to go in this spot for over a year now. The chair I had here before actually belongs in my study/ library room and since it doesn't have arms wasn't really comfortable to use often.

The chair had been reupholstered by the previous owner in a pink toile and green gingham. Very cottagey/romantic. :-) And perfect for curling up with a good book. Which I have done several times now....
                            
                                     Jessica

Chair Slipcover!

The chair slipcover I ordered several months ago from an Etsy shop finally arrived a couple weeks ago. I am so excited about how perfectly it fits and finishes off the family room! :-) The seamstress did a great job, so it was worth the wait.

 

 So far I have not had to wash it. And it gets used all the time by our 3 little boys. However, the ottoman slipcover that I made gets dirty more so it has been washed several times. ha

                                                 Jessica

Wallpapering the Dining Room Hutch

 

Before

 

 Years ago, when we still lived in Australia, I found this hutch/dresser at a garage sale for $20 or so. We placed it in a corner in our dining room, and one side was facing the wall. I was in a hurry to get it painted, since I hated the bright blue distressed finish it had at the time. So, I just painted the parts that showed. ha When we moved to Missouri, it happened that it could again be placed with the blue side to a wall, so all was well. However, in our current home, the blue side has been showing since we moved in nearly 2 years ago! ha I just now got around to doing something about it.

After

 

 Instead of painting the side white, I decided to order some pretty peel and stick wallpaper from eBay to cover the chipping "wood". The wallpaper was in Korea, and after a couple weeks, an opened empty tube arrived in the mail. :-( Thankfully, the seller sent more wallpaper to replace it quickly.

 

 This little cowboy seems very pleased with the effect. ;-) Can you believe how big he is getting!?

 I papered the other side to match, of course. And I also did the edges, since the edge on the right side was blue...

Now every time I see this hutch, it makes me smile instead of cringing. :-)

My first slipcover project!

 

Well, once again it has been a while since I last posted- exactly 2 months, in fact. Oh, well...such is life right now. ha

The upholstery on this comfy chair and ottoman has been getting more and more stained and worn. We have had them for 8 years, and when we got them I thought that when the fabric got worn and dirty, they would be a great set to slipcover. So, I decided to slipcover them in a "soft white" colored twill. Easy to wash. ;-) Although I have ordered a custom slipcover to be made (from a seller on Etsy) I decided to try and make the cover for the ottoman myself.

 

 I am very pleased with the result! :-) Overall, it was a fairly simple project, aside from some issues with gathering and sewing layers of a thick fabric like twill.
I used some pale pink gingham for the piping to tie it in with the pink cover on our nearby sofa.

 Tyndale looks like he approves, don't you think? ha He always wants to get in the photo. ;-)

Another change that has happened in our family room is that it has finally been painted my favorite wall color- Diverse Beige by Sherwin Williams. Ben painted the walls as a special Valentine's gift for me. ;-) You can see the paint color it was before in the first photo of the chair and ottoman.

I can't wait for my new chair slipcover to be done, but I think it likely will not be until sometime in May. Which will probably be the next time I post, judging from previous sporadic postings. ;-)

Christmas Tour 2014, Part 2

The boys and I had fun decorating the lower level of our house for Christmas in a more colorful way than upstairs. It is the boys' play area and the level their room is on. It looks a lot more rustic in style than the upstairs does. It came that way. ha

 The boys decorate this tree every year with their own special ornaments. :-)

 The kitchenette area and stair way got just a touch of Christmas, too.

Have a very Merry and Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year!
                                       Jessica

Christmas Tour 2014, part 1

Just sharing photos of the Christmas décor on our main floor in this post. More to come later. :-)

 Our new electric fireplace. You can see our real fireplace on the blog header....

 The boys love warming themselves in the morning, etc. The new fireplace keeps our family room nice and cozy!

               I love miniature Christmas buildings!

                                Christmas tea cups

Oh, Christmas Tree

 The day after Thanksgiving we drove to the mountains and chose a Christmas tree to cut, as is our custom. This year for the first time, there was snow for our tree choosing excursion! The boys were so excited. And I may have been, too. ;-)

    It makes it seem so much more perfectly Christmassy, don't you think?

 We also brought sleds and the people at the tree farm let the boys use a hill behind their barn to sled. They had so much fun!

 Tyndale loved the snow, too. He even did a little sledding with Daddy.

 Two views of the tree, all decorated. A perfect North Carolina Fraser Fir.

I hope to do a post soon with all of our Christmas décor. Of which we have an extensive array. ha I think we may have gone overboard this year. But all the boys love it so much. And this is the first year Tyndale is old enough to notice. Christmas lights thrill his soul.