Family Room Reveal and Pallet Ottoman

So the pallet ottoman and the family room have been done for awhile now, but i finally caught some pictures of them! if you haven't been following along with the progress of the family room, check out this post, oh and this one. and just one other one :)

for funsies let's take a look at the Family Room before, one last time!

and AFTER!!!

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek! I seriously could not love it more. The white mantle and the navy walls, it is music to my ears eyes!

now, let;s talk about those curtains. my cousin and i made the gray curtains for our living/dining room, two houses ago. We have certainly gotten our use out of them, but I still love them so we made them work.

i had the idea to add panels to the bottom of them and hang them as high as possible. the result was stellar! they really add to the drama of the space and draw attention to the beautifully vaulted yellow white ceilings. super easy and cheap, win-win.

with wood floors, this room needed a rug. it is a pretty big room and we had a small budget. we were able to snag this rug from target for $160.00.  I am really happy with it. It isn't necessarily what we would have chose if we had a full wallet, but it works for us!

now for the pallet ottoman, this thing is a beast beauty! 

what you will need:

2 standard pallets

screws and screw driver to connect pallets

4 furniture legs/feet at desired height (ours are 4" tall) and we purchased them at Lowe's

4 straight leg plates, we also got these from Lowe's (here is a link)

4" foam to cover top of ottoman, about 42"x 48" purchased from local craft store

enough batting to wrap entire ottoman twice

desired upholstery fabric, approximately 3 1/2 yards (here is a link to ours if interested from fabric.com)

First, we attached two pallets together, one on top of the other to make our ottoman. we wanted the height of the ottoman to be equal to our sofa. two pallets stacked, plus 4" foam and our 4" legs was the perfect height after some pulling and tugging on that batting!

here you can see where we attached the pallets

and here you can see the pallets stacked after they were attached.

next we wrapped it all in batting. 

then we layed out the foam and placed the pallets on top, cutting an excess foam away. we could not find a piece of foam big enough so we had to piece three pieces of foam together. once it was all layed out we prepared to wrap another layer of batting, this time around the foam and the pallets.

this is the batting we used.

once the legs were attached we were ready for the fun tedious part!

i measured the entire ottoman and created a drawing with dimensions for the upholstery.

the fabric was not wide enough to cover the sides and top, so it had to be assembled in four pieces.

first i cut the top piece, adding an inch on all four sides for hemming, then i lined up the pattern on both ends so it would match and pinned it in place.

here is a close up

 here you can see the center panel laid out with two end panels

and another close up - it is a bit blurry

then just like the batting, it was pulled tight on the bottom and stapled in place.

and we have here a beautiful and sturdy ottoman!

diy upholstered headboard and foot board//part 1

our little 22 month old is perfectly happy and content sleeping in her crib.  she goes down perfectly, sleeps 10+ hours a night and has never tried to climb out.  she tries to climb in to play in it, but never out.  in just 9 short weeks our baby will be here and we knew we needed to get wren out of the crib and into a bed well before the baby came so she would be adjusted and not upset when we put the baby in "her" crib.  well this weekend was d-day.

our needs:

-twin bed

-low cost

-something with a foot board

-something safe

-something she would like for years to come

our wants:

-a matching headboard

-a bed low to the ground

-something pretty

out of this came a metal bed frame with a mattress, and diy upholstered headboard and foot board.

for christmas i got a home depot gift card from my work, SCORE!  i already used part of it when i made our DIY painted dropcloth zebra hide rug.  but still had plenty left.  i woke up early saturday morning and headed to home depot.  i purchased a sheet of 1/2" plywood, had them cut it to size, some screws, a 1x4 (had them cut it in half) and spray adhesive.  next stop was walmart.  i picked up some batting, metal bed frame, foam and a mattress pad, then i was headed home.  by this time everyone was awake and i was excited to get started.  

daddy took wren over to papaws for awhile and i got to work.
first, gather your supplies

-1/2"-3/4" plywood  

( i did 1/2", since it was for a twin bed it was plenty sturdy, i had them cut two pieces at 39"wide x 31" tall)

-batting

-1" to 2" foam 

( i went with 1.5" foam, you can go thinner or thicker depending on what you want, the thicker the better)

-spray adhesive

-screws

-1x4 

(i had home depot cut this in half, they did it for free, giving me 2 pieces at 36" long)

-staple gun

-staples

-drill

-drill bit

-fabric 

(something durable, cotton or a home decor/upholstery fabric)

-scissors

i went with a standard size bag of batting from walmart, you just want to make sure you have enough to pull taught around your headboard and foot board(if you are doing both), about 4" extra on each side so you can get a good grip.

 it was cheaper to purchase memory foam than foam in the craft section.  i went with memory foam for a full size bed, twin size would be enough if you were just doing a headboard, but i am doing a foot board as well.

i used 3M general purpose spray adhesive.  if you are wrapping the headboard/foot board with batting anyway, that will ultimately keep the foam in place, but the spray adhesive was nice for added adhesive and kept things in place while i upholstered. 

i purchased this amy butler fabric from fabricworm.  i calculated that i would need 3 yards, if you are just doing a twin headboard, you could get by with 1 yard.  i needed a yard for the headboard and a yard for each side of the foot board.

okay, first things first.

draw your shape onto your headboard and foot board

foot board

being that this bed is for a toddler, and her first "big girl bed" at that, we needed rounded corners.  i kept the foot board simple.  it is rectangle with rounded corners.  you could get more detailed here but i liked the focus being on the headboard, the foot board is more of a safety measure so she doesn't fall off the end of the bed.  i lined up a mason jar to the edges and traced.

headboard

i had some help, so it is a little hard to see my trace marks, see image below

the yellow line marks the shape i wanted to make the headboard.

i used standard household items to make the rounded edges mixed with straight lines.  i got the idea for the shape of the headboard from wren's toy box that her papaw made her.  see photo here.

next it was time to use some power tools.  the best way to cut the shape is a jig saw.  make sure you have something to elevate the headboard/foot board on to get it off the ground.  you will need some stability and will need to apply pressure with your "free" hand to hold the board in place.  i used buckets, we are legit around here.  this was my first time using a jig saw, i could not believe how incredibly EASY it was, i felt like super woman.  i even went to the point to tell my husband i felt like a carpenter!  he was quick to assure me that i was not doing things the way a carpenter would:) thanks hubs.

foot board

this is the foot board after the edges have been rounded with a jig saw, most people would sand those edges down, but i didn't.  since i would be applying, foam and batting, i knew it wouldn't matter.

headboard

there may be some splintering of the wood, but as long as it is nothing major then the foam and batting will hide those imperfections.  if you aren't doing anything too shapely, you could apply duct tape to the area you will be cutting to avoid splintering, and then remove the duct tape once it is cut.

next lay your foam out flat, and place the boards on top.

then cut the foam

 i just used plain old scissors for this step, again do not worry about perfection, because batting will cover this up.

next, adhere the foam to the headboard and foot board using spray adhesive.  you will want to take this step outside if you are not outside already.

spray the wood evenly all over.  it was an extra windy day so i went back and sprayed the edges as well to make sure they were well coated.  apply your foam and press.  this sticks instantly, you do not need to wait for it to dry

next, cut your batting to size and wrap batting around the foam, apply to the back of the board using a staple gun.

make sure to pull it taught as you go.

then trim away any extra batting

VOILA!

headboard

footboard

 next i wanted to add some height to my headboard, so this is where those two, 36" 1x4's came in handy.

i measure the height from the floor where i wanted the headboard to be and marked lines on my 1x4's.  i squared them up with the headboard and pre-drilled my holes.  then i put my screws in!

as you can see this is a VERY long tutorial, so i decided to split it in half.

.......stay tuned for part deuce!

DIY Chair Upholstery

If you are like me and LOVE shopping for antique/used chairs, this post will be very helpful to you.  I scored 6 of these beauties from an antique store, they are super sturdy and the frames are in great condition but the fabric was horribly stained. 

So...to work I went.

First things first, measure the seats.  You will measure the widest part and the deepest part.  Add 6-8 inches to your measurements to allow enough fabric to work with.

First you need to remove the seat.

There should be 4 screws, one in each corner, remove those and your seat will pop right out.

Then you need to remove the old fabric.

 Turn over the seat to see the staples.

 The right way to do things would be to remove ALL of the staples and pull the fabric free, but I just always cut it off.  DO NOT follow my lead there!

 Underneath will be batting and padding.  My seats were still in great condition, so I did not mess with this.  You can purchase what you would need at Hobby Lobby or a Home Improvement store if you wish to replace your padding/batting.

Next, lay your fabric out on top of the seat in the direction you wish.  Pick a side and put one/two staples in the middle, do this on all four sides, pulling taught as you go.

 After all four sides are done, work your way out from the middle to the corner on each side, pulling taught as you go.

Then work on your corners, be sure to pull any looseness out here!  Once everything is stapled, trim away the excess fabric and WAH-LA!  NOTE: Do NOT trim your fabric until you are done.