Purple mountain-of-a-blanket majesty

I got this heavy-weight jewel-tone blanket a few weeks ago, and man, it is awesome.  Originally from Pottery Barn the internal batting is really heavy, perfect for snuggling under on cold nights.

 Unfortunately the underside lining was a thin silky material and the decorativ stitching that went through the blanket had caused the lining to rip in a few places.

It had been repaired in a few places before.....

But at some point you just have to decided to either reinforce, or replace, the entire backing. So that's what I did.  I had found a set of like-new ike sheets in a dark grey, a perfect tonal complement to the jewel-plum color of this blanket, and decided to sacrifice the flat sheet to this higher calling.  Just like making a pillowcover I put the 'right' sides of the fabric together and sewed around the edge for most of the way, then turned everything rightside out.  I finished the final bit with  machine since I was not interested in hand stitching suh a heavy duty item.

In order to cover the entire backing I had to go around the edge of the blanket a bit, so if you were to lay it flat the front velvet side would have a thin grey border.  A recent houseguest heard this story and got to try out the blanket for a few nights.  She declared, "This blanket it awesome.  I want it."

There you have it.  Another example of a successful attempt to repair, reuse, and remake.  

And the entire thing is machine washable!

Happy freestyling.

In thrall to a throne

Full disclosure, I first found this chair in September 2015 (thank you sequential photo file names!).   At the time I knew I wouldn't be able to deal with it right away, but it was just so unusual and usable I couldn't leave it to the garbage fates.  So I took it, waiting for time to work on it......

....It is now summer 2016.  Things were busy, enough said. 
So here she is, sitting patiently in the kitchen, being all stately despite the mish-mash of decorative styles going on.

 

Having looked at this chair for many months there were many ideas that floated across my mind.  It obviously needed a new cushion because the existing one was not at all cushy.  I also knew that new fabric would be in order, but what color?  Should I paint the frame? What color does one paint a garbage throne?  In the end I decided to not paint the frame (less work!) and just change the cushion.  I might refinish the frame in the future because it is less-than-perfect, but that's in the future....























My enterprising mother found some dark blue velvety fabric and sent it to me since I don't live near a fabric store, thanks mom!  I also had a very very thick couch cushion that I had saved from the discard pile because holy crap FOAM IS EXPENSIVE and there is NOWHERE to buy it around here.  I knew I would need it for something.


I unscrewed the seat from the frame and was all ready to strip off the covering when a friend showed up and decided that they wanted a little manual-labor time.
"Here, remove these staples from a piece of wood, that should be satisfying."
"Can I have a screwdriver, hammer, and pliers?"
"ok, guess you've done this before"
"thank you. yes."

And it was.  And it was also easier for me. Win win win.

The next step was cutting the foam couch cushion down to size.  As you can see it was an L-shaped end cushion. 

I had a variety of tools at the ready, scissors, a long knife, and a swiss army knife with a serrated blade.  Although the internet suggests using a bread knife with a serrated blade I was able to cut the foam using a combination of a non-serrated blade and scissors.  I'm not claiming millimeter precision though.

The foam was very thick, and I thought about trying to cut it in half, but in the end I decided to keep it super comfy, even if it looks a little odd. Who cares? It's MY garbage throne, not yours.

Here is the foam cut to the shape of the plywood seat (with the white batting removed), the seat is on top.

I played around with the batting in order to have it wrap around the foam and the bottom of the seat.  Eventually I got it all stapled down with my new staple gun.

Some parts of the batting are a little thick, but the blue fabric went over them just fine.  I decided to NOT screw the seat back on to the frame just yet, in case I get super motivated to fix up the frame finish anytime soon.  Here is the new garbage throne in it's present butt-cushioning state.

The  high seat makes the arms seem low, but once you sit on it, trust me, your concerns about armrest proportions will just melt away.

Don't be afraid to change furniture proportions to make something more usable.

Happy freestyling!

Vellllllllvehhhhhhht pillllllloooooooows

Pillows are a rare find on the loading dock. 

Perhaps because they are lightweight and easy to move, perhaps people here just don't go for throw pillows, perhaps people throw them out in trashbags and I never see them. Whatever the case, I was surprised (delighted) to see these lovely throw pillows late at night, clearly part of a massive moving-out discardfest.

 No, I did not take the couch, or the blanket.

Maybe I should have, but the couch had a few bites taken out of it from a pet and I don't really need another blanket...... Anyway, look at those pillows!  Do people know how expensive those pillow inserts can be??? These pillows didn't smell, had no rips or stains, and had clearly only been on the loading dock for a few hours, so into the washing machine they went. After I washed them I took the inserts out to read the labels (wow, real down, survived the machine wash just fine) and found out they are brand name pillowcases with nice hidden zippers. Did I mention they're velvet, velvet, and velllllllvehhhhhhht?

Now they sit like lovely jewels on the couch, waiting to support your head, and to look darn good while doing just that.

Happy freestyling.