darling octopus and r•home magazine – march issue

Pick up this months R•Home magazine and you will see one of my chair re-do’s step by step. I give you all of my secrets!

Everything looks so pretty in the magazine but it’s not all so glamorous behind the scenes. The photographer had a special assistant at this photo shoot – frankie!

That’s right, not only did he have to worry about lighting and composition, he also had to work around this snorting, snaggle tooth pug who thought he should be in every picture. Or we should at least stop everything and rub his belly!

The other two guys around my house who are always trying to get in on the action are Jasper and Emerson. Here they are posing with the chair before her big makeover:

One more thing that I wanted to tell you is that this chair is not alone! I have three more just like her and a dining table that are all going to get the same treatment and become a set. If you are going to paint your furniture the pieces don’t need to match perfectly. The table I have is not originally part of the set with the chairs but once it is all painted the same I doubt you will be able to tell.

whats next – all the things to be made pretty!

I have so many things in my head that I want to work on it is making me kind of crazy! I go into the fabric store to get supplies for a chair re-do and I come out with fabric to recover my own dinning room chairs. So I wanted to make a list of some of the things coming up. And I wanted to give you a heads up that there will be more posts about things changing in my house because I need to devote some time to how things are looking around here.

So here is your sneak peak into my brain and all the projects brewing in there!

There are always some furniture re-dos. Like this crazy chest/jewelry box/dresser that I picked up at a yard sale recently. I’m not really sure what this thing is trying to be but I know I can make it cuter!

Another yard sale find, I need to get this guy re-wired and add strands of wood beads. I know it might sound weird but it is going to turn out cute, trust me.

I think I am going to try a new technique, thanks martha, for this chair.

And at my house I plan on recovering this lampshade.

Re-organizing the home office. I can’t even really believe I am showing you this picture it such a disaster but everyone has a neglected corner of their house, right? This job will include a re-do of the bookcase and a super cool new cork board.

Finding time for this one is kind of tricky, if only my kids would nap at the same time, but I really need to paint the upstairs hallway. I repainted the living room gray (from yellow) but didn’t make it up the stairs. What color will it be? Check back to see!

Here is some of the fabric I will be using on my own home improvement projects.

And you will probably be seeing more of this guy!

And this guy.

And maybe even some of this guy. PS – This chair will be my next before and after post. It’s almost finished!

So please let me know what you think. Are you happy to be seeing more of my house or should I just stick to the before and after furniture projects?

make me pretty – tiny foot rest

Here is a super fast re-do of a $2 foot stool I found at Family Thrift Center. I wanted to lighten up the dark brown wood and add some pretty fabric! Here is the before:

And after:

And a super cute pug snuggle!