Updated Living Room

In the middle of December (I think it was December 15th) I took all of our Christmas decorations down seeing how I knew that when we returned from NH it would be mid January it would be the last thing in the world I would want to do. Plus all of our fresh greenery would have been completely dry and probably have made a huge mess. Lillie was a bit confused why were packing it all away when there was still ten more days until Christmas (and I am sure our neighbors were too, since I had put our tree up in early November - haha, I think they must all think we are crazy) but I was so glad we did it because it certainly was nice to walk through the door after a fourteen hour trip to a clean, blank canvas. Once everything was down, everything looked so bare and I decided I was getting kind of bored with the layout as it was and that it might be fun to play around with it a bit. After trying a few different things I ended up with this. Although I have to say I liked the other way a bit better, it is nice to switch it up every once in a while and this way really makes the space feel more open and larger.

 

Our "Love is..." pillow cover sets are available in our shop.

 You can see how we made our tufted ottoman here and the painted lampshade here.

 I was excited to add our 2012 Family Albums! I wrote a post on our 2011 here and will do another one soon on this year's books!

This was the layout we had before:

So it's still pretty similar. I tried putting the couch opposite the mantel but it was just a hair to close to the door which was disappointing because I liked the look of that best.

 We also are offering this year our Je T'aime pillow covers in the 12 by 20 size in white ink!

 

And we have just restocked our Valentine's Silhouette pillow covers and they are on sale! 

And here's my little photo bomber. She was dancing around while I took these photos and I had to try to not get a flash of purple in just about every shot! =)

I hope you all have a beautiful rest of the week!

Tufted Ottoman Tutorial and Briar Hats in Gray

 I hope you all are having a wonderful week! Ours has been good so far - William and Mary won again last night so they are off to a 2-0 start for the year. And I just finished up another project last night that I hopefully will be able to get photographed in the next day or two so I can show you. And we've got several new products for the holidays that I am excited about that are almost ready to list and a few others that are in the works! For now though I want to show you how to make the tufted ottoman I showed you yesterday.

 

For my ottoman this is what I used:

4 pre-made legs (I got mine on sale at Lowe's for $3.34 each!)

2 – 1” x 3” x your choice length boards- I used 48"(for the length of your ottoman)

4 – 1” x 3” x your choice boards - I think I used around 22 1/4" so that when paired with the two long boards is made my ottoman 24" wide by 48" long (2 are for the width of your bench and 2 bracing pieces)

Electric drill with one box self – drilling 1 ¾” wood screws

1 particle board or some kind of wood cut to the size you want your ottoman - I chose 24" by 48"

2" foam cut to fit on top of your ottoman - I chose 24" by 48"(I would have preferred to use the 3" foam but it was so expensive)

Fabric - I used 2 yards

Batting

Staple Gun

Upholstery Buttons

Long Needle (I used a doll needle but you can also use an upholstery needle)

Thin jewelry wire (or very heavy-duty thread) 

Pliers (optional)

 Paint or Stain for Legs

Okay, so here goes for the tutorial. The first thing I did was cover the buttons with fabric (you can see a step-by-step how in yesterday's post).

Next I marked out on the foam where I wanted to place each button to make the tufting. I had to play around with it a bit to get the diamond patter exactly how I wanted.

Then I used my drill to cut holes. Make sure to have your drill already going before you start into the foam. This was by far my least favorite part of the project. The rest was pretty easy - this part was a pain! I am guessing there is an easier way. Once I had the holes cut Lillie and Lola had fun pulling any extra foam out of the holes and making each hole a little bit bigger.

 Then we lined the foam up on top of the particle board and Lillie poked through each hole in the foam to make a mark with a sharpie onto the particle board.

Once she did that I used my drill and cut the coordinating holes out.

It was so much nicer cutting these out than it was cutting the foam!

 Once that was done I started building the base. I used the same format as our dining room bench.

This was what it looked like when I was done. 

Then I added the four legs. I forgot to take a photo of that when I was making the ottoman but I did it the same way as I did on the bench in the photo below: (The legs I wanted to buy were about $10 a leg. I found the legs I ended up using for a little over $3! I wasn't completely sure about them but the thought of spending $12 on legs vs. $40 won out and in the end I really really like how they turned out!)

Once the base was done I flipped it over and added the particle board on top. I screwed it down in each of the four corners.

Then I secured the top to the two middle braces underneath as well.

Then I added the foam.

Now here's when I went wrong. I decided to skip the batting and just start tufting....

Ugh! Without the batting it looks so flat and homemade looking! I wanted to cry as I cut each button loose after all that hard work tufting it. 

 Alright, lets try this again! I removed the buttons but left the fabric on and then added batting to the top.

I used a sharpie and marked where all the tufting needed to go and then used scissors to cut through the batting where each marking was.

Then I threaded the long doll needle with the jewelry wire and stared pulling each button through. I had to use pliers a couple of times to help pull the needle through. I started with the center of the ottoman and worked my way out. 

When I pulled each button through I put a small screw on the underside next to each hole and then tightly wound the wire around it to help keep the buttons secure and hold the buttons really tight to make for a deep tufted look.

It can be a little hard pulling the needle through each time, but I have to say this part is kind of fun as you see the tufting start to come together. 

 Where each tuft is you kind of fold the fabric over like this and then pull it tight underneath the frame and use a staple gun to secure the fabric.

This is what it should look like at this point.

Then I just trimmed of the excess fabric.

And then I painted the legs gray.

And then rubbed some Annie Sloan dark wax over them! (I had planned on painting/waxing the legs before I even put them onto the ottoman but when you have two little helpers it's easy for things to not go according to the plan...it would be easier, though, to paint them before attaching them so you don't have to be so careful about not getting paint or wax on the fabic).

 And that's it for our tutorial!

I also wanted to let you all know we stocked our briar hats in gray last night! They are selling fast and there are only a few left.

I hope you all are having a wonderful week!

Our New Tufted Ottoman - Tutorial Part 1

 

I have been wanting to make a tufted ottoman for months now. I was a little scared to try it though. Once I made our farmhouse table and upholstered bench I decided to go ahead and give it a try. When Jon and I bought our first home I loved brown. Pretty much everything I bought or painted was in the brown or ivory color family. When we moved here I was in love with gray and was able to add gray into new rooms, like Lillie's room and our room, but obviously couldn't start from scratch when it came to most of our downstairs furniture. Over the last four years, though, I have slowly been adding more and more gray into our downstairs. When we first moved here we had a makeshift coffee table in this spot. Then eventually I made a slipcover for our ottoman that was a nice fix for a little while but it still had a bit more of a shabby chic feel than I wanted. As our dining room has gone more rustic with the farmhouse table, I knew I wanted to add something with a bit more formality in here. I initially wanted to find a little bit darker of a gray fabric, but this was all I could find and I have to say in the end I really ended up liking the color!

I am going to break this tutorial up into two posts. Today I will show you how to cover the buttons and then tomorrow how to actually make it. Most button kits will have some kind of instructions on them but I am a visual person so I know it can be helpful to "see" step-by-step how to make them. This was the first time I had ever done this and I have to tell you it was so much easier than I anticipated. I was prepared for it to be a nightmare but it was oddly quite fun! Jon was sitting on the couch breaking down film when I was doing this the other night and I just kept saying over and over, "I can't believe how much fun this is!" He seemed a bit baffled at my excitement over a button, though. =)

This is what I purchased at JoAnn's. I needed 11 buttons so I got a 10 pack and a 3 pack. That turned out to be good because Lola ran off with one of my buttons while I was doing this and we still haven't found it so I'm glad I had a couple extra.

Included was a template for what size you need to cut your fabric to. First I cut out a little square and then I cut it to match this circle (the outer circle). 

Next I just placed the fabric on top of the little mold thing that also came in the pack and then the button top on top of the fabric.

Then I pushed the button down into the mold like this:

Then I popped the back of the button in as well. They provided a tool to push it in, but I found it easier using my fingers. 

And then just pop it out of the mold and there you have it!

I told you it was easy!

We are also excited to announce the winner of our Crafted By Kerstin giveaway:

Congratulations to Bre!

We've sent Kerstin your e-mail address and she will be in touch with you to collect your prize!

I hope you all have a blessed Monday!