Giving a Goodwill Find Some New Life

Hi!  I hope you all had a great weekend.  Ours was fun and busy, and the highlight was celebrating Jady's 36th birthday yesterday!  You don't look a day over 35, honey:)

Since we started building this deck I have been on the lookout for some patio furniture that could supplement the few wrought iron chairs and side tables we already had.  For the sake of thoroughness in research, let me tell you, I have been diligently scouring websites and stores of every kind for a deal on outdoor furniture (check out some of them here).  While you can definitely spend a fortune in this area, I was pleasantly surprised to find some reasonable prices out there, too.  The sticking point for me, and what made finding just the right thing (cheaply) more difficult was that I really wanted a sofa, not just a love seat.  We build this deck to be large enough for parties and bigger groups, and while it's not a huge space, I just felt like a full sized sofa would make more proportional sense than a two seater.

A couple of weeks ago when we were finishing laying the decking boards and throwing up a temporary railing so we could use it with houseguests in town, I was getting a bit desperate about the furniture.  Plenty of online stores carry sofas I like, but some take ages to arrive and most are still more than I wanted to spend.  After striking out on eBay and Craigslist, I decided to hit up a couple of Goodwill stores on the chance that they might have some patio furniture stashed away.  And that's where I found this dirty little gem.

So it's a little quirky in that the whole thing separates into three pieces that make a couch when pushed together, but happily that meant I could fit it all in my car!  The metal was rusted and worn, and the cushions were unbelievably dirty, moldy and gross-- but I love the simple scrollwork and heavy, sturdy frame.  I could see the potential under there, and for $75 I felt like I was getting away with something:)

The photos really don't do justice to the yuckiness of those cushions, guys.  I honestly thought about offering to pay Goodwill more money to leave them there so I wouldn't have to pack them in my car, but in the end I toughed it out and took them straight home to the trash.  The frame was in perfect condition structurally (critical, since I'm not about to try to weld anything!  Although it could be fun to learn...) but desperately needed a new coat of paint.  A couple of our old wrought iron chairs had begun popping sections of paint and showing rusted areas, too, so I pulled those out along with the new sofa and got to work.

To freshen up the old metal I started by cleaning it well before scraping off any major sections of flaking or bubbling paint with a putty knife.  Then, to smooth down any rough or rusty areas I used a sanding block and then scrubbed and wiped it all down before painting.  Two even coats of Rustoleum spray paint in matte black, and they're as good as new!

The only thing missing at this point-- cushions.  Since I knew most online sources wouldn't ship them quickly enough for us to use this new couch while our houseguests were here, I tried to find local sources with the right size, shape and color.  In the end, though, trusty Amazon Prime came through for us, and these crisp, comfy box cushions arrived with free 2 day shipping just in time.  LOVE Amazon Prime.

I can't wait to share more updates on the deck progress later this week!

xo

Liza

A little more indigo.....

Earlier this week I shared our sofa makeover, and now I want to share our warmly welcomed sofa. Some may think it is strange to take picking out furniture so seriously, but if you have ever had the pleasure of buying a new sofa, you know what it takes to find just the right one. Over the course of June I cyber stalked Restoration Hardware, West Elm, Urban Outfitters, and ABC Carpet all in the hopes of finding a sofa within a reasonable price range. FYI, the Rev. and I have been married 12 years, and this is the first time we purchased a sofa, so it was a pretty big deal. 

After searching and emailing back and forth with Liza and I finally selected a sofa from West Elm. We luckily hit the summer sale and found our sofa at 50% off with free shipping, I was truly grateful to find such a deal. I ordered the sofa immediately and then waited two months. Last week our sofa arrived. With all the indigos I knew our indigo piece required a little bling to make it shine. I stopped in to the Chelsea Flea and picked up a fabulous side lamp at 30.00- total score!!!

P.S.  Most of our side tables were given to our family and I simply repainted them white. Also, the amazing Louie chairs are gifts from Jonathan and Anne Hansen including a beautiful side table/demilune table. 

Mil Besos,

M

Decorating Update & DIY Bookshelves

These past couple of weeks have been a happy blur of activity, as I've been busy working on a decorating project for my friend's apartment.  We scoured so many second hand and antique stores, plus Home Goods and Bed Bath and Beyond and managed to find everything she needed in just two weeks!  Ok, so there are a few more little things to be done, and the carpet isn't in yet, but we moved her in over Labor Day weekend, and she had an instant apartment! It was kind of amazing to see it all come together.

I'll be sure to post more on the approach we took to decorating the apartment coming next week and show you how it turned out.  Since Vivian wasn't going to use stools at the bar by the kitchen (we preferred a real dining room table), one idea we came up with to utilize the space was to have a bookcase there.  The books would cozy up the space, and there isn't really another good spot downstairs for shelves, so we decided this was perfect for her. 

Rather than spend ages searching for bookcases with exactly the right dimensions for this quirky, shallow space, I decided to build some simple shelves myself.  I love this kind of project anyway, and in the end-- even counting the trip to Home Depot (let's be honest, I was going there anyway:))-- it saved us tons of time.

In order to make the long bookshelves manageable and transportable I settled on a design with three sections, with wider outside boards to give the impression it's all one piece.  After measuring and cutting my sections of wood, I made sure to sand the rough edges before continuing so that the final result would look smooth and crisp.

As much as I love building things with power tools, I am no master woodworker, and these are very simple bookshelves, no fancy joints, no pretty detail work, but they're sturdy enough and just the right size for what we needed, so we can live with my amateur work:)

I decided to elevate the bottom shelf to raise it up off of the floor and to be able to add base molding to the front and visible side, echoing the molding already in the apartment.  Since she's renting, we didn't want to install built ins that we would have to remove in a few years when she moves out-- and the baseboard helps give it a built in feel without the hassle.

Here you can see them after I finished priming and painting three coats of white latex paint on there.  Once the carpet arrives, which will go under the shelves (hence the little gap you can see at the top) we can start loading it up with books! 

xo

Liza