Hello hello, it’s been a while! Just wanted to bring everything up to date (: the house is within days of closing, my cousin is still in town…and now so are my parents.
It just seems as if everything is happening at once…
I’ll pick up on posting more as soon as the move is over. Then it’s back to wedding central! Meanwhile, please keep posted for home decor updates (:
Thanks for your patience!
Hi all!
Fingers crossed, escrow closes next week. That means that I’ve truly begun shopping and designing for the new home, and the newest additions to my home decor inventory are…
I bought 2 large baskets from World Market to put under my coffee table (remember my coffee table redo??) to make the space more functional and looking full. I think it adds a lot of something special…for the price of $35 per basket, haha.
Also, I bought 2 throws from World Market, including the red one in the picture above. They were on sale for $15 each (: great deal.
Next, I finished off the look with some adorable cushions.
Oh wait.
I skipped something.
This was my room before:
Hm. What’s different?
My sectional is yellow!
Before, the brown fabric was itchy, uncomfortable and cat-hair adhesive. It just wasn’t usable or inviting.
My hubby complained, so I went to Target and grabbed a set of King sized jersey shame ($12) and a jersey CA king sized bed sheet/sham set ($39).
I put the shams on the pillows, which fit perfectly for my purposes. My plan was to create a relaxed-chic look by putting long shams on my cushions, and to cut strips at one end that would be tied to make fringes.
Next, I sized and cut pieces from the bed sheet and mattress cover to “reupholster” the seat cushions. Now, I usually use my glue gun and staple gun for my upholstering-ons (as I did when I did my dining chairs) but today, I just didn’t feel like it. I gathered the excess fabric at each corner, pulling it taut. The jersey made it possible to gather the fabric (one bunch in each hand) at every corner and tie it in a knot. By tying knots at each of the 4 corners, the fabric was smooth and secure when right side up. So fast and easy! This isn’t possible with a different fabric….
Please ignore the blinds, window treatments and the rug! We’re as of yet in a rented house, and some of the elements just aren’t my choice, haha. The rug is only temporary. I promise it’ll all look 100% better once we move.
Anyway, I love the look that the yellow, relaxed fabric gives to the room. The natural material (is it wicker?) of the baskets really works well with the new couch (:
Never knew that this couch was so comfortable. To think we almost threw it away even if we never really used it!
Hope this helps someone in need of an easy couch upcycling.
Thanks for reading!
Ps.
^my cousin, visiting me from Korea and being a Californian couch potato
Ps+
All photos are candid from my phone, so I’m sorry about the quality (:
Today, because I’ll be moving soon, I began the long process of reupholstering my 5 formal dining chairs….
So far, one is repainted, one is stripped of its former fabric, and one is completed:
The left is the after, the right is before (: hope that’s obvious. So this..
Became this…
I’m in love with the fabric. 100% cotton, thick and cheery, it was exactly what i wanted. And it was on sale for $7ish a yard! Versus the $25 fabric I had my eye on before, it was a steal (: also, the blue trim was 5x more expensive at Joann..but I found the same thing at Walmart for $1.30ish per yard.
I used a flat black Valspar paint from Lowe’s..I asked them to put primer in it. After some sanding and painting, the dinged up wood was all brand new!
A close up:
I think this last photo shows the fabric color well…but the blue of the trim isn’t quite showing up. But, you can see a peek of the matching side table, also redone in black.
Honestly, the thought of reupholstering was a lot more daunting than actually doing it. Once I jumped in (telling myself that if I mess up, it was furniture we were going to get rid of anyway) with my tools and ripped away the existing fabric, it was all smooth sailing from there.
I will say that the hardest part is definitely ripping out all the staples embedded into the wood from the original upholstering……other than that, pick your fabric, cut and staple!
Use a heavy duty staple gun (:
I glued the trim down with a hot glue gun, because I’m not a professional and was feeling lazy. But for my first attempt at upholstering, I think it came out pretty darn fantastic!
Tell me what you think..If you want a how-to, just let me know…or maybe I’ll post it some time later.
Thanks for reading!
Hello hello!
First of all, I wanted to thank you all for being patient with me this past month or so for the sparse posts; there’s so many things going on what with having my cousin visit me from Korea (for 3 months!) and opening escrow on my dream house.
Yes, after 2 months going to see houses twice a week and checking websites for home updates every other hour, we’ve finally found The One!
…..Which is a huge step in my real life, but a lapse in my blog life. Anyway, the good news is, when the new house is done, I’ll be adding more home DIY posts as I fix up the home into move-in condition.
I haven’t really made progress on my wedding plans recently (for reasons stated above), but I did make one decision that I’m very happy about: this gorgeous Swarovski necklace!
(The Lunar Light Azore Moonlight Necklace, $145 @ Swarovski)
Is it beautiful, or is it beautiful?
This picture doesn’t show the crystal well, and it looks a bit different in person.
The crystal is a pale mint green/pale pale blue–the colors for my wedding. When the light shines on it, it also has a tinge of pale yellow…it’s kind of like a California sunset squeezed into a water droplet.
This necklace will be worn with my wedding dress, a Mori Lee mermaid from the Voyage line (style 6603):
(Pictures from weddingdressespictures)
By the way, I’m completely in love with my dress (:
I was between the Lunar necklace and the Oceanic pendant from Swarovski, the latter of which looks like this:
(Oceanic pendant $160 @ Swarovski)
I actually really wanted the red, but it would have clashed with the wedding…..
Funny story about this pendant:
Apparently this is supposed to be Swarovski’s version of Rose’s Heart of the Ocean necklace from Titanic…and I’m getting married on a yacht on the ocean…
get it? Haha
(from alltheragefaces)
Anyway, after much debate, I decided that the color and shape for the lunar necklace just matched the overall wedding much better than the Titanic necklace…even if it would have been epic to pretend that I’m Rose on my wedding day (*I’m flying, Jack!)
But I will admit that I did buy the Oceanic necklace in the purple/blue, just to wear for everyday (; It was my gift to myself for working hard to find our perfect dream home.
Thanks for reading!
Hi all, First order of business: It’s finally March 1…thank you all for your suggestions, they were all very lovely (: My fiance and I have sent the winner’s inspirational pictures and theme to our designer friend. I’ll post a … Continue reading
Everyone, I need your help! My fiance and I have been brainstorming invitation ideas, and we haven’t been able to reach a good decision. So, for the person who can send me the best inspirational images/ideas for our invitations, I … Continue reading
Brides and Bridesmaids, the result of this post will be a good bride-kit stuffer. I really think it’s essential for a bride. What is it? It’s a sugar lip scrub. Here we go: It’s still gloomy in what’s supposed to … Continue reading
Just a short post today.
Last time, I wrote about employing the help of a neighbor to bring home a free desk. I promised them bake goodies as payment and thanks, and this is what I sent over today:
Madeleines!! I love these (: I baked this following a recipe from all recipes, and substituted 1tbsp of orange zest for lemon zest…because I didn’t have lemons, haha. They had a really clean, not too sweet taste to them, and left the orange scent lingering with you.
After seeing these fluffy, pretty cookies come out of the pan, I thought that they’d be a good alternative to traditional wedding cake slices. People have been doing mini cupcakes and cupcakes for a while now….why not madeleines? The texture is cake-like and the shape is much prettier (: What do you think? They’re portion controlled and individual!
Maybe you can make cake pops out of them…you know, as a display idea. I don’t know what cake cups would fit a madeleine, so I doubt they’d work. Perhaps I’ll do a post on an idea for a Madeleine “cake” display some time later.
Thanks for reading!
Hi all! First of all, thanks for everyone who has been reading Lovejeweled. It really means a lot to me (: So, I know that I’m going off the wedding topic again, but I had to share my recent projects … Continue reading
As promised, here’s my post on my transformed white dress (I don’t know whether I’ll where it for pictures or for the reception yet…). I regret to say that all pictures of the original dress has disappeared, but it looked … Continue reading
