Sunday Snapshot: Belated Christmas

Forgot my connector cord for my camera at home, so didn't get to share the decorations!
One of my favorite feelings in the whole wide world is coming home for break to a warm and cheery home with new Christmasy candle scents. Mmm.

Hope you all had wonderful holidays - which holiday are you decorating for next?

Friday Fun: Re-Covered Books

The Fox is Black is a favorite website of mine, particularly for their Desktop Wallpaper Project (yay free wallpaper!) Somewhat recently - I think in the past 2 years at least - they started graphic design contests to recreate book covers for popular literature. I always seeing the cleverness and modern beauty people create. I hadn't checked TFIB in awhile, but this morning I found out they did a Romeo and Juliet re-cover contest and thought it was definitely worth sharing!

These were my three favorites:

by Simon Lindenthaler

by Margaret Park

by Oscar Socorro

Check out all the other Romeo and Juliet entries here - and then see who won here!

Also, check out the past book contest that have happened: Dracula, The Outsiders, Jane Eyre, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep, Odyssey, Lord of the Flies, and The Great Gatsby.

Nothing like a little eye candy on a Friday morning, eh?

DIY: First furniture makeover!

You. Guys.

My DIY heart *finally* knows the feeling of a dramatic makeover!

My parents and I went to Goodwill one day two weeks ago (completely not looking for chairs) only to find this beautiful Louis XVI chair (leaving with said chair.) AND it was marked down - to $5! FIVE DOLLARS. The frugal part of me was simply over the moon. I didn't even know the chair was marked down until I got to the register (it had a $10 price tag - still a deal.) A lover of Goodwill, I will be frequenting there more often because there was also this **fabulous** sofa that I didn't want to pay $75 for, but totally would have paid $37 for. It was gorgeous. Just like this, but an awful green color. A product of my future dream house for sure after a little makeover. 

Anyhow, onto the makeover.

I should probably first say that this is my first time making over a chair. There are probably things I could have done differently... but now that I've done one, I know there will be a next time to make those changes!

First we ripped the cording off around the seat & back. We thought about taking the seats off, but decided not to before we got in too over our heads.

Then we sanded down the paint a bit. We ended up spray painting it (using Rust-oleum Ultra Coverage in Satin Ivory Silk.) I'm not sure how smart spray painting is... but they appear fine (and even weathered a trip from Texas to Oklahoma.) The sanding helped to make sure the paint would stick.

As I said, we didn't take off the cushions - we simply stapled the fabric I bought over it. After working with the chairs a bit, I actually think they had been made over once before and done in a similar way that we ended up doing them. We hot glued the braided cord around the edges. Originally we had bought a more rope-like cord, but being the first-timers we are, we improperly measured and didn't get enough. And then could not find it again at any craft states on the other side of the border! Ugh! But I ended up liking the braided more than I thought.

Voila! Can I just tell you how much I am in LOVE with the pattern? I saw it at Joanns and could not stop smiling. I just love all the colors so much! I unfortunately didn't get the name of it, but I know it is a Waverly Fabric. The braided lining we got at Hancock Fabrics. Oh and best thing about my chair is that I didn't get one, but TWO! They actually had 4 at the store, but I settled on two to accommodate the living space I have. Also, I have no idea why the carpet looks so mustardy in the second picture...

My first made over chair, and I couldn't be happier. A fun little addition to my dorm room for sure!

I paid $10 total for both chairs, about $19 for all the fabric (twas on sale!) and about $25 for the braided liner (oof.) But overall I consider $54 a good deal for these super cute chairs.

Have any tips for the next time I go on a re-do adventure? Let me know!

#oneword2012: passionate

There are a lot of things I want to be in 2012, but mostly I want to live more passionately. I am by nature a very cautious person, but I don't want my fears of failure to get in the way of committing to the things I care about. The bigs things and the small things.

What is life without passion?

I want to do things I believe in.

I want to do things with more than 100%, more than 120%. 

I want to give things my all.

I only have one life.

A life, composed of days and hours and minutes, all of which I want to enjoy.

I want to indulge in the things that have the deepest home in my heart.

I want to smell,

I want to taste,

I want to hear,

I want to see,

I want to touch,

I want to feel every day.

With all of my heart.

With passion.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

This year my one bloggy resolution is simply BLOG MORE!

Today would normally be a Sunday Snapshots post, but alas, I forgot my connector cord for my camera and computer. Womp. Once I get that, I'll have a lot of pictures to share - hopefully some that document a chair makeover.... I'm so excited! More details to come once the project is more underway, and of course, once I get my connector cord again.

Heading back to Norman in just a couple of days. I know I'll be happy once things get underway there, but right now just sad thinking about my break ending. I sure do love hanging with my parents and coming home to happy dogs everyday :).

Anyhow, I hope 2012 is the best year yet for all of you!

xoxo erikah