Tuesday, August 5, 2008

projects


We've been in our house for about two months now, and have been slowly tackling some little projects here and there--hanging some stuff on the walls, adding little pieces of trim where necessary, etc.  One project that makes a big difference visually was recovering the dining room chairs.  They originally came from Greg's aunt, and although we really like them, we thought they could do with a little update.  I hit the fabric section of Ikea (I really need to find a new store someday) and found two fabrics that matched (in color, not pattern) the cushions I had bought (at Ikea) for the futon we bought (at Ikea).


Then I got to work.  The first step went quickly--removing the seat cushions from the chairs and prying out all the rusted old staples to remove the original fabric.  Once that was done, nothing happened for a week, except that we didn't have chairs to sit on.  Finally I hauled out the staple gun and started putting the new fabric on.  We realized instantly that we didn't have the right kind of staple gun, and that we would have to hammer in all the staples.  It was a pain, but not that bad.

It was during this stage of the process that I injured myself.  Explain to me how for months I can go around swinging hammers, using power saws and crowbars and tearing down walls, and not hurt myself in the slightest, but give me a pair of regular, everyday scissors, and I slash up my fingers.  I was simply cutting the fabric when I stopped paying attention and ended up cutting a nice V into the tip of my middle finger.  It bled for a couple hours despite my best attempts to elevate my arm and keep pressure on the wound.  Greg kept threatening to take me to the emergency room, but I refused.  Finally I sent him out for a popsicle (what?  when is a popsicle not a good idea?) and put about 5 band-aids on it.  It's fine now.



Once we had all the seats covered, Greg sprayed them with scotch guard and we screwed them back into the chairs.  That last step is not as easy as it sounds.  I laid down on the ground; Greg placed the chair over my face and then sat on it, and then I maneuvered the drill around upside down and around chair legs, with about one square foot of wiggle room.  


Here are the results!  The color is kind of off in this picture--the walls are not really puce.  

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Like the updated chairs! Looks like the color matches the handles on the floating hutch?!!

Unknown said...

Time out - do you have 3 of one pattern and 1 of the other? Because that stresses me out.

Nicole said...

Yes, it does match the floating hutch handles! Which means a lot to me, but I didn't think anyone would notice. Thank you, Anonymous.

And Andrea, we have 4 of the swirly pattern and two of the striped. We keep two of the swirlies upstairs.

Unknown said...

Oh, thank goodness. I should have known you wouldn't do something as crazy as that.

Anonymous said...

Love the patterns and colors. And, like Andrea am slightly relieved that you are totally coordinated (not that I doubted you, of course). If you need to find a new store, so do I - my guess is 93.4% of our furniture is from Ikea.

Abbie said...

Ooh, zingy! I like it!