The Bargain Life

i am attempting to build a sofa from scratch, which is probably way over my head, but i think it’s more fun trying to build things when i don’t know exactly what i’m doing. so far i’ve cut the sides of the frame with my jigsaw, and that’s about it. those aren’t even finished since i want to round the corners. at this rate, it will probably take years to get this thing done even though the design is really simple. i just got the jute webbing and webbing stretcher in the mail, so now i’m ready to proceed, but i think cleaning my room should come first.

current progress: kitteh approved

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my roommate has had an Ikea Tullsta chair since our freshman year (we were roommates then too). Since it’s last move, we never could find the slipcover or the legs, which we had unscrewed. instead of buying a new slipcover for it, i decided to do something more creative. i also bought an ottoman for $5 at my favorite thrift store and decided to do it to match. so i bought 4 yards of Inger fabric and 2 sets of 6″ Capita legs. i’m still working on the ottoman, but here’s the chair:

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Stefanie and i are looking for a third roommate right now, and consequently our common areas are looking spotless and stylish. (my rooms on the other hand have filled up with the junk we don’t want out on display). Here’s a look at our house and some of the bargain solutions we’ve come up with:

after i killed the potted petunias i bought for this window shelf, i put up a spectrum of colored glass bottles, which looks really pretty when the sun is shining through. i added blue and green vases that i got for 50 cents each at a thrift store since most of our empty bottles were orange and brown. total cost: $1.

also pictured: hello kitty toaster: $15, Stefanie’s vintage owl cookie jar, 2 clear bottles i painted the insides of that got demoted from the shelf, small plant and pot from Ikea: $2, Target kettle: $6.

the wooden bowls on the end of the counter were $1 each at a thrift store. i put my keys in them right when i walk in the door so i don’t loose them.

we replaced an ugly wall-mounted mail sorter with a swirl shaped coat hook for $5 from Home Goods. the mail now goes in counter-top sorters from Target for a few dollars a piece. on the other side of the door is a $10 ikea magazine rack.

the set of 3 canisters was $3 at a thrift store, and on either side are the 50 cent ikea plant pots from the dead petunias, which now hold miscellaneous junk.

on the window shelf are two $1.50 Ikea plants in $.50 pots, which are nearly impossible to kill. the center plant and pot is Stef’s. we put up 2 empty Orangina bottles and a few wind-up toys to fill the space.

this is the view of the dining room from the kitchen. i picked up the chair for free on the side of the road. i may reupholster it, but i love how retro the orange tweed is. the bust is also a trash pile find, this time from my roommate, and i think it will end up in her room eventually. our kitty tower, previously blogged about, lives in the corner.

i made the window bench out of 2 cabinets that we found in our basement crawl space, which i repainted and sewed cushions for with Ikea fabric. the pillows on the bench right now are just leftovers from the living room.

the kitchen table and chairs are from Ikea via craigslist. Stefanie bought the stool at Ikea just for the sake of having stools at that counter, but they are too high and we pretty much never use them.

Stefanie had this dresser and didn’t want to use it anymore, but she couldn’t get rid of it or diy it because it belongs to her family so we’re using it as a sideboard. we detached the mirror to make it look obvious that it’s a bedroom dresser. the runner is a folded-up tablecloth. the drawers hold all of my tools since i do most of my crafts in the dining room.

our living room is a bit bipolar since al of the major furniture is Stefanie’s, and a lot of the accessories are mine. for most of the time we’ve lived here i’ve just left it as a vintage feeling room (i do like all of Stefanie’s decor choices), but it’s in the process of having more modern pieces incorporated into it.

there’s no overhead light in the room, so we added an Ikea knappa pendant lamp. i still think $25 is too much for a bunch of pieces of plastic, but look-wise it’s worth it.

both sofas came from Emory announcements for $40-$50 each. i want to reupholster the wing sofa with something bold and modern, but right now it’s got a comforter cover over the center of it as a temporary fix, which looks surprisingly good. the pillows are all either from Ikea or made with Ikea fabric. the quilt on the sofa is from Anthropolgie, so it was obviously not a bargain, but it is really comfortable for a quilt.

the triangle end tables, coffee table, and the boxes in the coffee table are also from Ikea. the round table behind the sofa is an antique that Stefanie got as a gift. it’s Dylan’s favorite place to sleep.

all of the artwork in the house is from our friend who lived here before us. she lives in a tiny apartment now, so we’re holding it for her.

here we’ve got the credenza that i made (previously posted about) holding the TV. the mirror that we took off the dresser in the dining room is propped up against the wall. it does have hanging hardware, so so might actually attach it to the wall. the cubby bookcase was either free or really cheap, and it’s good for stashing the clutter.

the chair was a bit of a splurge at $50, but Stef really liked the unique shape. it’s got a towel draped across it because the cats like to sleep there.

this $5 orange chair is kind of hideous, but it’s also the most comfortable chair in the house. the cats agree: Dylan likes to lie on top of the backrest.

i finally got my camera back from the shop, so here are pictures of my two most recently finished projects:

was: a damaged chair from a thrift store
is: the same retro shape made funky and bright
cost of chair: $2.50
cost of supplies: $3 for paint, $8 for fabric (with lots leftover), $5 for upholstery foam
total cost: $18.50
how to: read the previous post for a rundown of everything i did.

was: a dining chair in dire need of attention
is: semi-traditional, but fitting with my retro-modern decor
cost of chair: free
cost of supplies: $5 for paint and $10 for clear lacquer (lots leftover of each), $4 for plywood, $4.50 for upholstery foam, $4.50 for fabric
total cost: $28
how to: read the previous post for a rundown of everything i did.

recently i’ve been thinking a lot about tables. crazy, i know, my mom thinks so too. our current dining room set belongs to my roommate, so i’ll probably need to get my own this May. it can’t hurt to start planning early, right?

i envisioned a dark wood top, mahogany perhaps, on a base out of square metal piping. the base of the Torsby table from Ikea is exactly it.

but i would want to replace the top with a wooden one. i got all inspired on that ground when i went to Rockler Woodworking with my dad and some some gorgeous exotic woods:

zebrawood (left), and wenge (right)

i also saw samples of Transtint dyes on curly maple that caught my attention since they come in colors like red, purple, green, blue, etc. unlike washes, the color is vibrant but you can still see the wood grain beneath. these would look infinitely prettier than paint.

the base of the table would also coordinate with the Klubbo tables that i want. i would buy them now except that they don’t match our current living room decor at all.

Recently I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about design projects, but not much actual crafting. partly that’s because all my works in progress are at my house in Atlanta. the first of these works in progress is a pair of chairs that I got when my boyfriend moved out of his house. the pant is chipping and the fabric sucks, but they have the potential to be cool with some spraypaint and reupholstery.

I’ve been working on scraping and sanding off the old paint. I went out on a limb and bought a can of bright red rustoleum spray paint, but I couldn’t find a fabric that looked good with it and I realized that it doesn’t match my decor at all. so i’ve nixed that idea and I’m back at start design-wise.

I think I’m going to go with “Harbor Blue” paint:

unfortunately most fabric stores don’t sell big bold prints. most of the fabrics are for quilting or clothing, and the upholstery fabrics are all boring florals or stripes. so that leaves me with Ikea and the internet.

here are my favorite fabrics from Ikea, all at $6-8 a yard:

as far as the rest of the internet, that’s a huge world of choices. I like the idea of making them match the sideboard/tv stand I made (pics here). this fabric is dead on:

there are a few other fabrics with the blue/brown color scheme that I also like:

(ok, so that last one’s not brown)

I’m quite overwhelmed by all of the fabulous choices.

I’ll edit this later with more details on the process, but right now I just want to show off. I got this pair of dressers for $5 at a yard sale, mended them, covered them in Target wrapping paper, and attached some Ikea capita legs. I envision using them as a sideboard when I have a dining room that’s actually used for entertaining. Right now they’re in the living room holding the tv. I’m really happy with the result, though I’m worried about their durability.

I just got back to my family home in New Hampshire and I plan on staying for about a month, so there won’t been any more furniture projects for a while.

I figure I’ll start things out by posting the project I’ve most recently completed. This is a white laminate dresser that I got of of craigslist last summer for $10. I hadn’t had any plans for it except to replace it with a better dresser (Ikea Hemnes maybe?) when I had the spare cash.

My initial vision was to decoupage it with torn up newspaper, but I was concerned about it yellowing, so I used text from magazines instead. It’s just torn up magazines and matte finish Mod Podge. I left the sides and top white to keep it from looking too busy. I could replace the drawer pulls, but I don’t want to put much money into poorly-made laminate furniture.

(eek, so messy!)