Baby Steps To Decorating
When I first moved into my home back in 2002, I had a sofa and love seat that was from the early 80’s. The sofa and love seat once had huge printed flowers all over them along with big oversized arms.
Mid-way through the 80’s I caught the upholstery bug. I decided to reupholster my sofa and love seat. I changed the flowers to a beige tapestry fabric. This was my very first attempt at upholstering furniture.
My longtime friend was the inspiration and motivation behind my new found interest.
I went to visit my friend who lived in South Carolina one summer and she had re-upholstered her families sofa and love seat. Loretta’s sofa looked amazing and I was motivated to transform my sofa and love seat at home. Loretta promised to support my efforts and her extensive knowledge of upholstering led me to believe that I could do the same type of work. I was all in!
Loretta and I were home economics majors in college back in the day (a major that has since been phased out of most college and university programs which are so unfortunate because today’s children and adults could still benefit from home economic/facs classes).
Given our history and combined experience working with crafts we eagerly approached this project. I purchased fabric from a textile mill while I was in South Carolina for little or nothing to cover the two pieces (to my knowledge most of the textile mills have closed and the jobs have been shipped to other countries).
I used the beige tapestry I purchased to upholster my sofa and love seat and once I was finished they both looked fabulous (see pictures below).
For years the sofa and love seat were my pride and joy, a lot of love and hard work went into upholstering those two pieces. I was so filled with pride to be able to bring a new purpose to the families dated furniture.
Living room shake-up coming
After retiring during the year of 2014 my living room commanded my full attention for re-decorating. It was the last room in the house that hadn’t received a full makeover. The appearance of the living room is important because its the first room you see when you enter my house. My living room was not bad at the time but I knew it was time for a re-decorating shake-up.
The reupholstered love seat functioned as seating for the living room. The sofa to this piece provided seating in the downstairs family room. Furnishing a home on a budget can be a real challenge, however, I made it work. I was able to use one reupholstered set to provide seating in two spaces and have the rooms look presentable at the same time. It worked for my budget until I could do better. As the motto goes, “fake it until you can make it!” Trust me I was working the program.
New Flooring Coming Soon
In life, everything takes time so you will notice subtle changes occurring in the different pictures as I was able to replace pieces throughout the space. I’m sure you noticed that I had to replace the ugly red carpet found throughout my home. I must admit my granddaughter made the carpet look fresh while striking a pose.
Hardwood floors were installed after 5 years in the house. I installed hardwood in the living room, the hallways and into the adjacent powder room. Hardwood floors were one of the big-ticket items I was able to cross off my bucket list before I retired. I had to spend a substantial amount of money on the floors but after the installation, I was very pleased with the results.
The Living Room Starts Coming Together
Space Is Coming Together
Once the hardwood floors were installed the room started coming together like a well-organized plan. I donated a lot of the furniture in the room to a non-profit organization. I even donated the love seat and sofa set that I reupholstered and adored so much. Sometimes when you decide to make changes to your home you have to lose pieces that you truly adore. I’m sure that someone else was able to provide a beautiful new setting for my transformed love seat and sofa.
I found an adorable living room set that I purchased a year before the hardwood floors were installed. I purchased made- to- order blinds online for the windows and installed them myself. The draperies you see in the photos are from Bed Bath and Beyond, the paint was purchased from Sherwin Williams, the wallpaper was from Plymouth Wallpaper Store ( a brick and mortar store that has since gone out of business). I purchased the area rug for the floor while visiting my sister in Alabama. I had the rug shipped to my home by UPS. The shipping fee was quite reasonable and did not negatively impact my budget.
A Decorators Dream
I had so much fun decorating the living room. Shopping for paint and wallpaper samples was an adventure. I was able to linger over my morning coffee, making decisions about the color choice for paint and the pattern selection for wallpaper. The cool thing about all of this is I could take my time taping and priming the walls for painting and wallpapering.
Another lucky find for me was to have a Model Home store located in my area. Once the model homes are sold the furniture is moved to the store for sale I was able to find quality pieces at affordable prices. My living room contains numerous purchases from the Model Home store. The lamps, pictures, buffet, coffee and end tables were all purchased from the Model Home store.
As I was hanging the wallpaper I had to chuckle to myself about my first experience performing the task during my college days. I didn’t have a clue about matching patterns on wallpaper. As you know when hanging wallpaper you need to ensure that the patterns match. Needless to say, it wasn’t until I had finished the job and I was showing off my work to a group of friends when someone brought this important fact to my attention. I had hung the wallpaper but did not match the patterns. I could see my mistake clearly once my friends pointed it out. What a bummer! Being young at the time and realizing my mistake, I wasn’t about to take the wallpaper down. I used a collection of pictures on the wall to help cover up the mistake hoping that it wouldn’t be so noticeable.
That was during my college years when I was renting and landlords didn’t require all of the stipulations that they do today. Given today’s standards, I surely would have lost my security deposit because I never removed the wallpaper.
The Finish Results
This room has gone through such a transformation, I like what it has become. I swear I must have spent over three weeks looking for draperies for the windows online and at the brick and mortar stores. Shopping online is fine, but there is something special about being able to see the colors and touch the fabrics that you are considering purchasing. I like to feel the weight of the fabric in my hands and it is a determining factor in my final purchasing decisions.
While shopping at a local hotel liquidation store near my home I found two chairs for the living room. I’m really considering re-upholstering them in the near future or at this stage in my life allowing a shop to tackle the project for me.
At this stage of the game, I’m not as passionate about spending my summer working on a project. I rather spend my time sitting on my deck relaxing or enjoying quality time with my friends and family.
