Goodwill Hunting

I have found the best time to go to Goodwill is right in the middle of the week. The best selection at the Goodwill near my house occurs on either Wednesday or Thursday. I recently picked up two items that I love.

Candy Dish 

 The first is just a simple white porcelain candy dish that I have been eyeing for weeks and finally decided to get before it was snatched up by someone else.

 The second and more amazing item is this porcelain horse head for only $7!! When I saw it I immediately thought I had to have it, but curbed my craving and told myself to walk away. Well I made it halfway down the aisle before I turned around and snatched up the figurine.  It now currently resides next to my TV. 

Here are some photos with  Zoe for a size comparison.

Cat Food Tin

My cat loves her food and is very vocal about being fed. If you stand in the kitchen for too long she will start meowing at the top of her lungs and occasionally swiping a paw at your ankles. She has also been conditioned to associate reveille and retreat, played over the loudspeakers at the nearby AF base, with feeding time. Try to sleep in on a weekend and you’ll have a hungry cat jumping up and down on you at 0730. I thought that if my cat loved her food that much it should be displayed in something worthy of such love.

 The search for the perfect cat food container commenced. I was thinking about something like this tin from Ballard Designs which sells for $50! Ouch! As I continued my quest to find a cute cat food container I ran across a DIY version from Tidy Moms, who was inspired by the same food tin I was. The link to their tutorial can be found here. They mentioned what type and size font they used, perfect! 

They used a large old popcorn tin that they found at a garage sale. I immediately thought that I could do that and started to stop by garage sales to pick up a tin for myself. Well popcorn tins must have gotten smaller or people are just keeping them these days because I looked hard and long and never found one large enough for what I wanted to do.

When visiting my parents one weekend I decided to dig through the basement and see if I could find a free popcorn tin there. Well I hit the jackpot! I was unable to locate a popcorn tin, but what I found was even better.  This large flour tin (or is it steel?) had the same handles that my inspiration tin had.  Plus it has an antique look to it, and it was free!!

I decided to go with a bright red spray paint so it would match the theme in my kitchen. After 1 can of spray paint and a few painted words I have the perfect cat food storage bin. 

And the cat approves so that's a plus.

And just for the fun of it here is a video my husband and I made awhile back of our cat "hunting for her food"

For Sits and Grins

I am currently reupholstering a large wingback couch and have set a must-be-finished date of November 7^th.  Really looking forward to sharing all I have learned from this challenging experience. But as of right now with no after photos I think the post would be incomplete. So until November 7^th I will go through resent DIY projects that I have done.

One of our very first DIY projects was the makeover of two old chairs. I found these while perusing Craigslist for potential projects. I immediately saw past the ugly color and imagined what these chairs could look like with some new fabric and spray paint.  The chairs cost only $35 for the set.

"Before"

Unfortunately the chairs came from a smoking household, so the upholstery stunk heavily.  We cut and tore at the fabric and stuffing to get it off as quick as possible, not taking our time to conserve the large pieces for size and shape templates.  Everything went right to the dumpster, and we were glad to have the smell mostly gone. 

Later while trying to sew an odd shaped cushion from nothing but a few pictures I discovered our first and biggest mistake. NEVER rip off and throw away fabric from a chair you are reupholstering.  After many epic fails at trying to sew a new cushion my husband and I decided on a different approach. We thought we could make the removable bottom cushions not so removable by putting the padding onto the wood frame below and attaching the fabric around the wood.




The spray painting was easy and done by Alex. I recommend getting one of these from Home depot.  It has made a world of a difference. Now I am not limited by how long my finger will last on holding the spray nozzle down.

Supplies:

  ·       Fabric: 2.5 yards from Hancock (because this was our first project we got way too much fabric)

  ·         Staples:  Lots and Lots

  ·        Fabric buttons: you can make any size you want with a cheap kit from JoAnn’s

  ·         Decorative Trim: 2 yards

  ·         Tack strip

  ·        Spray paint

o   A white primer, which is extremely important for all projects

o   Then a few layers of Heirloom White

o   Lastly we used a Matte Clear protective finish.

"After"

Unfortunately we are currently in a small apartment that has very poor lighting. So these “After” pictures were taken in the best lighting of the house; the extremely small hall way.  I am pleased with the   result, especially considering this is our   first reupholster job.  

The cost break down 

Chairs: $35

Spray paint:  $13

Fabric:  $46

Padding, and cording: Free (used a gift card) 

Total: $94  

Also here is some eye candy of the side table that we refinished to sit in between the two chairs. This project was simple and fast. The side table came from an antique store in Missouri. We got it for $15 shortly after we got married during our last year of college. It sat by the door of our old apartment. A glass panel covers the top surface, so we thought it would be neat to put a piece of fabric under the glass to really make the table pop. We decided that a black and white pattern would complement our newly reupholstered chairs and a light blue paint job would put a modern twist on the old carved wood designs on the legs and sides of the table.

Here are a few “before” shots: 

  

The fabric we used was found in the sale aisle of JoAnn’s and we received an extra 50% of with a coupon. We had to get a yard not for length but for the width of the table. I would have hated to splice this fabric together. The table was sanded, primed and painted a nice bright blue, and the fabric fit right onto the top under the glass. We did not glue it in, leaving the option open for a quick swap to another fabric if we ever change our minds.

Here is the result!  We would have liked to place the table between the two reupholstered black and white chairs, but we currently have one in the apartment and the other in the garage since there is not enough room for it all.  We’ll upload a final picture a few months from now when it is all set up in our home in Florida.

Here are a few “After” shots: 

The cost break down 

Table: $15

Spray paint:  $8

Fabric:  $4

Total: $27 

What do you think of my first re-upholstery project?

Who we are and Why we blog

I’m Silvey and he’s Alex. We are both engineers in the Air Force.  He came from an Air Force family and I came from a Marine Corps family. Somehow we ended up becoming neighbors in high school.  Who knew we would become husband and wife 7 years later?  We both graduated from college in 2010 and have officially started our grown up lives in Dayton, Ohio. Hey, home is where the Air Force sends you.  He is currently getting his master’s degree in Aeronautical engineering and I’m waiting to start my Air Force career as an Environmental Engineer. We also have a black cat named Zoe, who will appear in many of our photos as she enjoys helping with/sabotaging/eating our projects. She basically runs the place.

I've decided to start documenting our lives for friends and family who have expressed interest in the DIY projects we are continually undertaking. The possibilities for home improvement seem limitless, though not because either of us is particularly gifted in artistry or handiwork. We have surprised ourselves with what we’ve accomplished so far. Patience and determination, as well as the ability to learn from (and laugh at) our mistakes will get us through the challenges. There will be no shortage of projects to take on. Our military life will take us to a new location every few years, which means many new “blank slates” from which to launch another volley of DIY epic-ness.