Monday, March 25, 2013

A snatched weekend away

Life is good.  We managed to organise a weekend by the coast at Tora, renting a tiny little house for a few days.  No cell phones.  No TV.  Only a view, some magazines, and lots of food - including this perfect breakie.  Yep - its good.


Monday, February 18, 2013

An owlie little seat

I love that something like this stool is so easy to renovate. 

I picked this up from the dump shop for $2.  It was stained icky wood with a horrid dirty pink cover on the seat. 

A coat of paint (the grey is left over from the feature wall), some new fabric (this Alexander Henry Its a Hoot print brings a smile to my face), and hey presto  - cute new seat for the baby room.

Monday, February 11, 2013

*sigh*

Can someone please tell me how I'm suppossed to get any sewing done.  Its a pointless exercise

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Introducing ....


Productivity has dropped through the floor with the addition to our household this week. Dexter, our new 4 month old burmese kitten has prevented any task being started or completed. If we are no entertaining him by pulling shoelaces around the house, or acting as a warm blanket, we are snickeirng at his vertical air leaps and crazy antics. He's so gorgeous and creates so much laughter I can't imagine how we did without him.



Thursday, January 17, 2013

Flushed with achievement

Well, it is certainly not short of its imperfections and idiosyncrasies, but I am so delighted to have finally finished reupholstering this chair. 
 
It has been a not-very-active labour of love for about 2 years.   This seat was borrowed from a friend when we came back to NZ and had no furniture.   It was old, filthy and ripped, and recently has been un-needed or un-loved.  But rather than going to the dump, it was always intended for a refurb.

Its sat down in the garage for the last 18 months.   Every time I'd get some heat from the other half about "cluttering up the garage with junk", I'd spend another 10 minutes prising out one or two of the 1000s of staples as I tried to dismantle the covering.   But it was so depressing working in the dark, and making so little progress - I always lost interest after a short while.   Hence why its taken so long.

What I had done was photograph each stage as I peeled back layer upon layer and revealed staple after staple.   When I finally got to the bare bones I carried the chair upstairs so I could work in the much happier surrounds of my sewing room.   Using those photos I then tried to reverse the process with the new fabric. 
 
Its not quite right - I got lazy in the end and decided it looked fine without a bottom skirt and without the piping on the cushions.   Also, there are a few points of less than perfection.   But I am really pleased - and who is going to be accrediting my chair after all. 

The important thing is it is still the super-comfy chair that it was initially. So yay - perfect for a snooze or nursing in the soon-to-be-baby's room.   Hmmm - must scotchgard it this weekend.