Friday, August 7, 2015

Brand New Balcony!


It's been a while since we've done any new blog posts...between all the projects and little Olive and taking time to just enjoy life, some things have had to give.  But at long last Ben has prepared a post for me!  Yay!  If anyone is still out there, please comment and let us know you're here!  :)  Also, the blog will always be a good source of announcements (or join our mailing list on the sidebar) and blog sales.  For eye candy and fun stuff...visit our Instagram...I'm always posting new pictures there.  But...sometimes you need more than one photo to show things off...so without further adieu:

This has been quite a while in the making...but our balcony has finally come together!  We've been really busy with other projects and haven't put the final touches on yet, but we thought it was pretty enough to show now.  :)

 


  Layered rugs, a brand new chair (actual new furniture is a rare find in our house, but this one was nice and cushy).  And lots of pretty plants.


A vintage kantha quilt from India - made with old sari's (these are soooo amazing and unique...ebay has tons). 


This is what our now pretty couch looked like before.  Not super terrible...some vibrant pillows and good context would have brought it back to life.  But the velvety fabric used to be green as you can see from the inside corners where throw pillow protected it from the light somewhat.  When we took it apart, the hidden fabric was even more vibrantly green.  It's amazing how it faded into gray over so many years.  
 
 It's always intimidating trying to figure out where to start a reupholstering project... 
But really you just have to dig in and start ripping fabric off. 

I kinda wish I could have kept the cotton fuzz exposed...it's so textural and cool looking...but alas, it was fragile and the horsehair underneath was coming through it and felt like pine needles, and sometime sewing needles, were sprinkled about.  Also, I barely bought enough fabric, not realizing that the fabric on the seat went all the way through the back.  We had to really stretch it (literally) in spots, but it all worked out!  If you are doing something like this, if you're able, it helps to remove the old fabric before buying the new, then measure it to determine how much you need...and still get a little more.

Done!  Does it look amazing??  The hardest part of redoing this piece was choosing the fabric.  After much hemming and hawing, we decided NOT to play it safe and go bold!

So so glad we did.
And Olive is a fan.  :)