I showed you the upholstered ottomans in Maris' room yesterday. I wanted to show you their transformation. This is how they looked when I bought them at Homegoods:

They were covered in a small peachy-pinky check fabric. I knew that I would be giving them a make-over when I bought them. At $60 for the pair, I didn't mind.  

I thought it would be fun to paint them. Using primer, I brushed on a thin coat. 

There was still quite a bit of the print coming through the primer so I applied a second coat. After it dried, it was really rough to the touch so I lightly sanded everything with 220 sandpaper. HUGE difference. Then I applied an off-white latex house paint. But this time, I used a 4" foam roller-- because I am impatient and this application is much faster than using a brush.

{via simpleorganizedliving}

I sanded and then applied another coat. Then I sanded and added another coat--like 5 times.

It feels a little like pleather at this point. Very smooth. I had these out on the floor and would paint, walk away, let it dry, sand, come back and do it again. After doing this for 2 days and realizing at 9pm that I had a party the next day and I wanted these done...I realized that I was only 1/2 way through because I now needed to paint on a design. It hit me that I probably had fabric that would work in my stash and that I could actually reupholster them WAY faster than continuing the painting process. It's called the creative process, people. don't judge.

Sure enough, I had some blue chevron fabric and thus we rerouted to Plan B.

I laid the fabric-right side down-on top of the cube.

When cutting my fabric, I allowed for a couple of extra inches to be stapled to the bottom.  

The chevrons showing through made it easy to keep it nice and straight. On each corner, I took up the excess, starting at the top.

I pinned it straight down to the bottom. You want it to be good and snug for a professional finish.  

I felt through the fabric to determine where the top of the original seam started.

I placed a mark with the pencil. This was the place that my stitching would start. 

Then I cut off the excess triangle shaped fabric { I was in a hurry and was using dull scissors--thus ridiculous looking *straight* cuts} Then starting at the top pencil mark, I sewed 4 seams following the pins. I removed the pins, turned the fabric right side out and slipped it over the cube.

I removed the feet by taking out the screws.

I pulled the new slipcover snuggly over the cube and stapled the excess fabric all around the bottom. Then I put the feet back on.

I received several questions about Maris' room yesterday. So I thought I would try to answer them today.

The room was inspired by the Roxy duvet that she selected.

On the walls, I picked out a few colors in the duvet -- a chocolate brown, off-white, 2 shades of pink, and an apple green. The wall behind the bed was painted in chocolate brown. I used 2 different flowers from the duvet to feature on either side of the window. I sketched it with a pencil and then filled in with the paint. 

The other 3 walls were painted a soft pink with an 8 1/2" watermelon stripe and a 1" cream stripe on top.

We searched for a bed with storage underneath but, the prices were too steep. We decided to make one instead. It's a Queen size mattress and is basically just a big box with a platform on top. The whole thing is made out of MDF. The box measures 81"x 60"x 12" . And the platform is 84 1/2" x 66 1/2" x 1". The platform was screwed down on top of the box. A mitered 1" trim piece caps off the platform and then I painted it the same off-white that I used on the walls. The mattress sits on the platform--no boxspring. It was less than 50$. I wasn't worried about a headboard since it is front of the window. {Tip: you need to build this in the room that it will be living in because it won't fit through most doors}   

The bookcases on the right wall were purchased at Lowes. They are from Closetmaid. They are 41 1/2" tall. You can mix them up however you like--with shelves, wire drawers or faced drawers.

 It's all adjustable, custom and very affordable. The whole run is about 13'. I wish I could remember how much they cost us, but I don't. Lowes also had these great pink and chocolate brown baskets which hold lots of yarn, belts, purses...you name it.

You might recognize the rug roman shade from this bathroom in the showhouse. Yes, it is actually a Dash and Albert rug that I had made into a roman shade. It works great and you don't need any lining! It wasn't made for this window, but, it ended up being so darn close to being wide enough that I went ahead and used it. I keep thinking I will add a 3" ribbon of some sort to the edges to make it wider...someday.

The chandelier was bought at Urban Outfitters. I think it was around $35, but is no longer available. You might remember that I made my own smaller version last year to top my Christmas tree.

The cute dress illustration plates were found at HomeGoods. They came in a sweet little box set from Rosanna. 

The vintage dark-haired lovely lady hanger was found at an antiques store and she kindly boasts the boas.

The pair of stools at the end of the bed came from HomeGoods--$25/pc!! But, they didn't look like that when I bought them. Come back tomorrow and I will show you how how I gave them a little makeover.   

I originally bought this enormous, heavy mirror 11 or 12 years ago. I used it in a bedroom in my previous house.

When I moved to my current home 5 years ago, it was placed in the basement and never moved out of there. My style has changed a bit since then.

A year or so ago, my daughter began asking me for a vanity for her bedroom, and so I began my search. I found several at antique stores that I thought we could make-over but, my daughter, unlike her mother, does not appreciate antiques. {I would wonder if there may have been a mix-up at birth but considering the hair....we all know that is not the case.} Anyhoo...she starting showing me the ones that she liked at PB Teen.

And there was no way I was shelling out $1000+ for a vanity. Did you guys know that's how much these things are?? not. happ'nen.

And really, what she prefers to do is to sit in the sink in the bathroom and put her make-up on  {I did the same thing as a teenager--did you guys do that, too??}

Then I remembered Mr. Mirror and I thought 'Why can't we simply prop it in her room and she could sit on the floor in front of it? I could get her tail out of the sink and she would have a full-length mirror that she could actually see all 5'10" of herself {with even the additional half a foot inches to see all of her hair!} It seemed like a win-win to me. To her however...it wasn't exactly what she wanted BUT I figured it would make her 50% happy, perhaps. Which, with a teenager, is considered a major win in my book.  And so we drug Mr. Mirror out to my paint shop:

by the creek. and the tree. the one with the fantastic ventilation.     

The mirror had lots of silver leafing and I knew that I needed to get as much of the flaky stuff off.

 I used a wire brush get in all of the grooves. It worked really well. Then I wiped it down with a damp cloth and began taping off the mirror with old bags, newspaper {whatever i could find} and frog tape.

I like to use gray primer when I am covering up an original dark base color or when the new paint color is anything other than white. 

  I used 2 cans of primer because there were lots of grooves to get in to. Then I used super fine sandpaper to go over the whole thing and then wiped it down again with a damp rag. Then I used Krylon's Watermelon Gloss indoor/Outdoor spray paint.

A lot of it. Like 4 cans. {maybe 5--I don't remember} Here it is in its new digs.

{I took these a couple of weeks ago when it was decorated for Christmas-obviously} If she wants, we can look for an expensive simple table/desk to sit in front of the mirror. So far, this is working out OK.  

This is the other side of her room--I have never shown you guys Maris' room before.

Go paint something!

 It's cheap, it can get stuff out of your basement {equals happy husband}, and you might make a teenager a teeny-tiny bit happier. Everybody wins! 

Do you get as excited as I do at all the possibilities when walking down the aisles of Lowe's? There are so many items that inspire me to use them in a completely unexpected way. 

So what do you see when you walk down the PVC aisle??

Want to know what I see?

Then visit Kristy today at Hyphen Interiors where I am honored to be guest posting and sharing a DIY project that will save you lots of $$.

She's the awesome chick who started the whole 'paint your upholstered furniture' craze!

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It snowed at our house last night so we are out of school. Love it!