Cookware cachepot (otherwise titled "How to reuse a broken pot with no handle")

DIY: How to reuse old cookware by turning it into a planter

One of my roommates had used up the life of a metal cooking pot, somehow the rivets that held the handle to the bowl had gotten thoroughly rusted. I suspect that food got trapped in the crevices and provided a suitable environment for bacteria to work their magic.  With some well applied force the other rivet holding the handle popped off and I was gifted the leftovers of a broken saucepot. I was overjoyed, new planter!

Although I do like the look of succulents in silveplate pieces like punchbowls with ornate handles this was just a plain saucepan with no lovely scrollwork or other ornamentation.  Also, the copper bottom contrasting with the sides made it obvious that it had started its life as cookware so after a thorough cleaning I decided to spray paint the whole thing white.

Here is the pot on its very fancy spray painting stand -- made out of a plastic jar that once held nuts and cardboard I found in the recycling.  High tech indeed.



I picked an unseasonable cold day when the outdoor temperature dropped BELOW the level recommended for use on the spray can. Whatever, not going to stop the creative process!  I kept the can indoors between coats so it wouldn't get too chilly.

Here is the pot after one coat, I was pleasantly surprised how well the paint stuck to bare metal even in the cold.



After three, or four, or maybe five coats of spray paint (with plenty of dry time in between) I called it quits. Enough with the painting-- I've got plants to tend to!

Here is the final product, now a proud cachepot holding a lovely peacock plant on top of another freestyle piece of furniture that I haven't even written about yet.
















Happy gardening, and don't give up on that old cookware.  Give worn out pots or pans a new purpose in life with the magic of spray paint.

Happy freestyling!

DIY Slipper Chair Slip Cover Tutorial

DIY Slipper Chair Cover Tutorial

This is a long post, get ready!. The whole cutting and sewing process only took about 2 hours, but prep work included buying the curtain then washing it in hot water and drying it in the dryer to make sure it wouldn't shrink down in future. I used a single curtain panel that was marked down to $9.99, and I had a $5 coupon to knock a few more bucks off the price.  Ihis hot pink/purple color was not hanging up along with the others on display, but there were lots of packages sitting on the shelf behind the curtains -- it always pays to dig around a little.



Enough with the preliminaries -- let's talk slipper chair slipcover!

Here is the blue slipper chair I found on the loading dock.  I took it because I like slipper chairs and this one looked wide and comfortable.  When I found it there were only 3 working legs so I replaced the legs (described in another post).  Laying over the back of the chair is my curtain panel, washed and ready for action.

I don't really like the look of those legs with the chair, so I planned for my cover to hang down almost to the ground. If your slipper chair cover doesn't need to cover the legs you can probably get away with using far less fabric.

Step 1. Measure pieces and draw lines on fabric for cutting and 'fake' seams.

















Since the chalk lines are a little hard to see in the above photo I've added another photo with lines showing where my cuts (white lines) and fake seams (blue lines) were. I also tried to lay out my pieces to take advantage of the existing seams on the bottom and sides of the curtain. Oh, you've already done the hemming for me? Thank you!
 

 Ok, what the heck is a fake seam? I realized that I didn't need to cut fabric only to re-attach it.
Instead I could just fold it and sew a line so that it would be symmetrical with the seam on the other side.
Since the fabric is one continuous piece I'm referring to it as a fake seam.  There might be an official sewing term for this practice, if so, feel free to tell me in the comments.

Step 2. Cut (measure twice and don't forget about your seam allowance, cut once)
 Here is what my large center piece looked like after the others were cut away.

Step 3. Sew the fake seam between the seat bottom and the seat back.
Afterwards it will look like this.




















 


Step 4. Wrap around the uncut side bottom and pin to the seam bottom.  The blue lines and arrows show placement of the fake seams - one horizontal between seat bottom and back, and one vertical at the front corner of the chair.







Step 5. Pin and sew the other side bottom.  This will be an upside-down L-shaped seam, running along the front corner and then horizontal to the point where the seat bottom and back meet. I don't have a photo of this step, but here is a picture of what it should look like after the front and bottom side pieces are sewn together.


 Side view.


Step 6. After your front seams are satisfactory you can pin on the 'tall sides' and sew them.  On this chair moving from the bottom to the top the seam was first vertical, then slanted towards the back, and then gently curved across the top. Your slipper chair will likely be different.




I didn't get it sewn right on the first try, so don't worry if you have to rip out the seam and start again. That's why we have seam rippers.  In my case some of the fabric got oddly bunched up near the curved top part of the seam.....sew beware!

Step 7. Add the back fabric.  In my case I knew the chair back would be facing a wall, so it didn't matter what I used. Also I wanted to experiment with this beige microfiber fabric that I salvaged from a couch that was being discarded.  The beige microsuede is heavier than the hot pink cotton curtain fabric but it seemed to work out fine. I overlapped the two pieces on the back so that the entire chair would be covered.  I also considered adding some decorative ribbon for tying the back together but it wasn't necessary.  The picture below shows the entire cover turned right-side-out and on the chair...in some really unflattering kitchen lighting.



Step 8. Move finished chair and cover out of ugly kitchen lighting and into the living room!  Here are some snaps of the chair in its place of glory.  I might still make a pillow with some of the leftover fabric, can you figure out a good way to incorporate curtain grommets into a pillow?

 Styled with a wool pillow and a super-soft blanket....


















Or with just a simple square pillow to play on its rather square-ish shape.

 

Living room seating area featuring two free chairs, a free chest of drawers, and some free framed artwork peeping down from the top.

That's the end of the DIY Slipper Chair Slipcover Tutorial, made using one curtain panel and some extra fabric I had laying around.

Happy Freestyling!

Living room: Evolution of a corner and then some

Our living room is a long-ish rectangle, but not totally symmetrical.  Some of the walls are interrupted by doors, or angles, and the obvious traffic patterns must be considered.  One spot has a shorter wall expanse to work with, is out of the kitchen-bedroom-front door traffic flow, and is opposite the couch.  This wall would be ideal for a tv stand (we don't own a tv) or a loveseat - but the corner wall is kind of shallow and I don't want to block the path to the patio door.  Also the loveseat in our apartment is kind of 'meh' and doesn't mesh with the other living room furniture, basically I don't want to look at it from the couch. Over time this little spot has changed, here are some highlights.

Soon after we moved in to this apartment we found the tv stand, thus began the freestylings of this little corner.

Sometime during summer?

I gave away the multi-arm lamp and used the lampshade somewhere else, but the general setup stayed the same.

Below is the next version.  We boxed up the unused TV that had never even been plugged in after my roommate unpacked it and we had left it there for maybe 6 months.  Of course removing the tv freed up more space....FOR PLANTS!

Through fall into early winter...

The only constant is change, and so the little area changed one again.  The orchid in the red plastic pot went to the greenhouse in the sky, I gave away the fern, and in anticipation of a possible move I sold the tv stand.....

In the meantime I had found this 2-drawer chest (end table?  nightstand?) made of real wood.

Shocking..... in a good way.

Even more surprising is the possibility that is made out of American wood -- based on the little bit I found online about the original manufacturer.

 

 

Clearly it was someone's family hand-me-down no longer appreciated. I kick myself for not taking the larger matching dresser that I have no use nor space for before someone else snagged it. Oh well.  That little drawer set was acting as a plant stand in another part of the apartment until it got moved into this new corner to act as a plant stand for the palm tree and a changing assortment of succulents.

Early spring

This space will evolve further in future.  my plan is to introduce some other chairs -- after I repair them .....but that's a story for another post.

Happy freestyling!

Pleather swag bag with a Saks tag

Notebooks, perfume samples, a tag from Saks....this bag had it all!
 I found this pleather tote bag on top of some miscellaneous stuff one night, judging from the contents it was some sort of conference giveaway item.  The good part about pleather is that if you happen to be leaning over to photograph it and your water bottle drips on the corner because you forgot to close the top all the way, no biggie.

I didn't keep the makeup or perfume, not my thing, but the bag itself currently serves as a sort of multi-use tote bag until I figure out if I want to keep it or not.  Size is nice, materials seem sturdy enough, but how many grocery/tote bags does one girl need?

Happy freestyling!