Cleaning a Vintage Chair

I have to admit, this decorating patience thing has been tough. Some days I just want to do it all and fix the mistakes later. But then my patience pays off. "Worth the wait" - cliche but true.

And with that I introduce you to the new resident in my living room, the perfect little green arm chair.



The chair was only $40 (from craigslist of course) because the fabric was in pretty terrible shape and the seat cushion had somehow solidified into a less-than-cushy rock-like consistency. The previous owner was convinced it would need to be reupholstered and didn't have the time to get around to it.

I wasn't so sure the upholstery was caput, so I took a gamble...



I sprayed on some Resolve, scrubbed with a terrycloth rag, sprayed more, scrubbed more... and... ta da!



Bye bye random stains! The chair still has a little sun fading, but it's hardly noticeable. Bonus, I was able to easily replace the seat cushion padding with $20 of foam from Joann's Fabrics.

Here's the cost breakdown:
$40 Chair
$20 Foam
$5 Resolve
= $65



Since I didn't like the way the old chair looked, I don't have any great pictures of it. But, here's the general idea of how things looked before...



And after...



Paint is DEFINITELY next. In fact, there's a color sample up on the wall as I type - it's going to make ALL the difference.

What kind of furniture scores have you found lately? Share links! Tell stories! I want the dish :)

The Rug Hunt Ends

Much to Tim's delight, I do publicly declare that I am finished hunting for rugs!*



*for this apartment, at least temporarily...

After months of hunting on Craigslist for beautiful rugs that now live in the bedroom, dining nook, and kitchen, then more months of being madly in love with West Elm's Souk rug for our living room, but being too thrifty to pull the trigger, well... I pulled the trigger. 

And it is super great! Here's a picture of the rug we had in there before.



It's a great rug, but its lovely orange was just a little too much with our blue couch and yellow chair. Now it lives in the bedroom (which I might add is starting to look pretty cute).



Mr. Souk is luxurious indeed. Tim loves how soft it is and I love its texture and large, but not busy, pattern.



One of the surefire reasons I know it's perfect for the space is that it makes all of the things I don't like about the room look worse! I'm looking at you peachy tan walls and you peachy pink chair!

You can bet I've already chosen a paint color and am on the hunt for an upholsterer.

What have you been working on? Link me to your projects in the comments below - I'd love to check them out!

A Grateful Moment

It's lunch break time in Jen land - emphasis on "break" (a habit I'm trying to incorporate into my regular routine) - and I'm feeling grateful for sunshine and music. So, I thought I'd share a few quick snapshots.



How's your day going?

Small Changes and Perfect Plants

Over the past several months I've been embracing something a little unnatural for me: the slow down. Contrary to my "I can do anything and everything," efficiency-high loving, ultra productive tendencies, I'm getting to know the value of recognizing and being happy with taking a little more time to enjoy my day in a quality instead of quantity type way.



In terms of decorating rooms in my apartment, that has meant slow adjustments instead of blitz finishing a room in one weekend.

Which brings me to my lovely new plant: a gorgeous Staghorn Fern (from Serendipity in Old Town Temecula) perfect for the empty corner in my dining nook.



So here's how the slow-changes went down... That corner started with a 6 foot fiddle leaf fig tree - a set-up that ran into some problems:
1. The kitchen heating vent was right next to the tree - Mr. Fig hated having hot air blown on him and lost several leaves in protest.
2. The size of the tree made the dining area feel a little cramped.
3. Tim and I want to add a small bar cart to the dining room and Mr. Fig was taking up prime cart real estate.



So, Mr. Fig moved out and Lady Philodendron moved in. She was wild, curvy, filled the space beautifully and... oh... toxic to cats. Dangit.



Don't worry, the cats are fine.

In the end, I'm glad Lady Philodendron didn't work out because look at this Staghorn...!



That's one sexy fern.

Next up - find a cute bar cart! Fill it with cute glasses and yummy liquors! Live like beautiful people straight out of Mad Men. Well, maybe that last one's a little ambitious...

What do you think? Are you digging the fern? How do you like to decorate - slow steps or all at once?

The Power of Paint

Remember when I shared the five gifts under $5 I brought to a gift exchange? Yeah, you're right, that was forever ago. As promised, today I share the potential of one of the goodies I ended up winning in the exchange.



It was the ceramic paper bag!!



My sister thought I was a little crazy for loving this random ceramic bag, but with a fresh coat of high-gloss white spray paint, she's looking as quirky and modern as one of these Brandt crinkle cups (for a lot less).



Because she lives on our coffee table, I also hot-glued some felt to her bottom so I won't have to worry about the rough ceramic scratching up the wood.



What do you think? Still crazy or crazy adorable?... see what I did there? Shameless ;)