Chairs catch up to the table

If you have been following my posts, then you know I spent quite a while on the banquette area in our kitchen.  Having found an old church pew and then finding the perfect table for the space and then redoing them how I wanted the area should have been complete...right?

But like any renovation or restoration or makeover project once you change something and get it just how you like it everything else doesn't look so great.  So when the table and pew were finally done and absolutely perfect....it seemed the chairs were the ugly things in the room.  They hadn't looked so bad until I redid the area, but afterwards they looked tired and in need of change.  And who am I to deny a change?  One of the best and most inexpensive ways to make a big change is by using fabric.

So...I looked in my stash of fabric finds....these are the yards I see at the fabric store that are on clearance and I love too much to pass up....and I found one that I have been waiting to use.

 It is a gorgeous pattern (I think) and the brown design is actually a raised velvet finish so it has great texture.

Because this area will be well used and around food I knew I wanted to slipcover the Parson's Chairs.  This would make it very easy to toss into the wash if food or grubby fingers got the fabric dirty.  If you have kids, you need to get to know slipcovers!!
Before you start to make the slip covers I always pre-shrink the fabric.  This way when you do have to put the slipcovers in the washer and dryer they won't shrink so much that they don't fit.  I washed the yardage on hot and put it in the drier until the fabric was completely dry.

Next step is to lay the fabric on the piece of furniture you are going to slip cover.  In my haste to finish these chairs I didn't take any photos but I will describe how I made the covers.

Step 1:  lay the fabric on the chair with the good side down and rough side out.  These chairs were easy since I could start at one end and run the fabric up and down to the other end of the chair to cover it.

Step 2:  Figure out where your seams will be and cut away excess fabric.  You basically pin the fabric around the chair where the seam/join will be and cut away the rest.  Leave about 1" to play with.

Step 3:  Pin the fabric together with lots of pins to "make" the seam.  This pin line is where you will be sewing later on.

Step 4;  take fabric off chair and then sew on a machine along the line where the pins are.  When you get to a corner, you have to round it off to finish it.

Step 5:  Hem up the bottom of the slipcover...I left it longer than the existing fabric line in case it did shrink a bit in washing and so the old fabric wouldn't show underneath.

Step 6:  Turn right side out and slip over chair!

I also found a way to slip cover this chair without any sewing...you can see it on the link below
http://loveyourroom.blogspot.ca/2011/01/my-morning-slip-cover-chair-project.html

I prefer the machine sewed on because of the durability of it and the fact you can wash it easily...just slip it off and into the wash it goes.

Here's how they look finished.

Very subtle and elegant with the table and pew.  I am also going to do another pair of slipcovers in a brighter more vibrant fabric for spring/summer.  Another benefit of slipcovers is that you can change the look of the chair often according to season, taste and trend.
This is my inspiration for the fabric for the spring/summer look...

I will keep you posted on what I find at the fabric store.  Which I must share is Designer Fabrics on Queen West in Toronto.  If you haven't been it is a must visit place.  www.designerfabrics.ca

Happy First Day of Spring!!! Don't these orangey fabrics just have you craving sun and fun?

The Powder Room reno

We have been planning on renovating our main floor powder room lately.  It started when we knew we would be doing wood floors in the kitchen eventually and realized we wanted to put down tile in the powder room.  The 15+ year old vinyl floor had seen better days.

I don't have a before picture because the floor was just ugly...but it is the same flooring as the kitchen so you can see it here.

I knew I wanted 12"x24" tiles in porcelain, brick laid.  Which means you stagger the tiles so they lay in a brick pattern.  I went to Tile City http://www.tilecity.ca/ on a recommend from a friend who said their prices are as good as the big box stores and their service is amazing.  This is the same friend who steered me towards the amazing "faux" Restoration Hardware light....she's a good friend to have!!
Once again, her advice paid off...the owner was super helpful, friendly and the price was amazing.  Less than $150 for the tile and grout for the room.

So this is where it gets a little sticky.  They say timing is everything...and that is especially true for renovations.  It's really important to plan out all the details and figure out the order things need to get done in to make it go smoothly.

The outdated pedestal sink was also being replaced.  It was unstable, had no storage and really out of date.  Here it is on our back deck alongside our wine and beer bottles...trailer park coming soon.

I had decided to reuse the vanity from the Jonathan Adler project I did back in January but to use a different sink and paint it all white.  I love using old furniture in a bathroom because it's practical and quite frankly the old furniture is better built than most new vanities made out of MDF or particle board.

A couple coats to cover the green...a hole cut out of the top to house the drain and water pipes and install the new sink and faucet.

Here it is sitting in it's new home in the bathroom....

In our excitement to get this project started, we jumped the gun a bit and had to do things a few times over...my husband is quite handy at plumbing and was eager to begin.

Step 1:  remove fixtures and old flooring, baseboards etc
Step 2:  re route old plumbing that was in an awkward position....turn off water...solder...turn on water
Step 3:  realize that wife is having about 15 women over in 1 day and a toilet in the living room is not going to work....and that having no toilet or working sink on that floor is also problem.
Step 4:  replace fixtures in the bathroom....

I decided to go with the "reno chic" theme and left a red Sharpie so everyone could leave an autograph on the old plywood floor and be forever part of the bathroom.

Totally fun idea and all of us in the family signed it too.

Step 5:  take fixtures out after party is done to lay new 1/2" plywood on the floor....the helpful guys at Tile City recommended we put tons of screws into it to make it solid and put especially long ones into the joists below...we marked where the joists below were on the floor so we knew where to use the longer screws.

Step 6:  start to lay out tiles in the pattern you want.  It's always a good idea to dry fit them to see where you have to cut tiles etc....We wanted to be sure the threshold started with a full tile and if we had to cut any down they would be at the back and mostly hidden by the vantiy and toilet.  We marked the tiles that needed to be cut down at the back and began...and by "we" I mean my husband Fred....huge thanks to a certain awesome neighbour who lent us the wet saw...Gary, you are the best!

Step 7:  cut out holes for plumbing and dry fit tiles to make sure it all works well and all tiles fit well in room.

Step 8:  Mix up mortar according to directions...don't have a clue what those directions were...again, not my job here

Step 9:  lay tiles on mortar in predetermined pattern, use tile spacers and press down to make sure they are all level...allow to dry 24 hours

Step 10:  grout tiles...no detail here...sorry I was on coffee break during this stage...something about letting dry and repeatedly wiping off excess grout...yawn...

Step 11:  Excitedly put fixtures back in and exclaim how great everything looks

Step 12:  realize you need to remove fixtures...AGAIN....to put in baseboard

Step 13:  re-install baseboards and shoe moldings (the thingy at the bottom where floor meets baseboard)

Step 14: re-re-re-install fixtures and finally exclaim how amazing it looks once complete!!

So happy with this project.  It took a while and was frustrating to have to remove the sink and toilet again and again....at least I assume it was...but in the end the floor looks great, the vanity and sink are beautiful and more practical and the bathroom finally feels finished.

Next post will be about the chair makeover for the banquette area...I had to do something while the toilet was being installed and re-installed!!