A few more projects

So January and February are always odd months for me. The holidays are over and Spring (in Idaho) is still too far away. (Is there no SUN in this cursed country?? :) I usually end up in do-nothing mode, where I spot clean, immerse myself in the false reality of books, and roll about in patches of sunshine on the carpet. Wishing away the cold, cloudiness and dirty snow - dreaming of taking my ladies to the park while I bask in the sun. Dreaming of what I'm going to do in my newly discovered yard. Dreaming in lounging in the hammock I bought Nels for his birthday, between our trees while my girls play in their "new" swimming pool. ((((sigh)))) Heavenly, huh?

. . . . (((more sighs))) . . . .

Okay, so THAT'S what I do most years. :) :) THIS year, however, my restless yearning has taken a different route. Crazed activity. Taking on project after project - another before the previous is even finished. I'm not sure exactly what has caused this --- maybe having more children and realizing that I can no longer afford whiling away the hours in dreamland --- or maybe all the dreams of playing in the yard and wanting to complete the INSIDE before I take on the OUTSIDE. Who knows, but I've been a mad woman - with my brain going a million different directions. Friday I finished my chair that I've been recovering. I've realized that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE refinishing furniture. Taking something old and ugly and making it something new and beautiful and hip. I am ADDICTED.

This is before. Had I been less impatient to rip it to pieces, I'd have gotten a better picture, but the fabric is nasty, velvety, bluish-silver/blue and black pen colored. Icky. BUT we acquired this chair while we were still college students, it was $15, AND is the most comfortable chair we own.

I finally decided on this wide, soft, blue corduroy and I LOVE it! I figured the blue, because it matches the blue in the rug downstairs (which is where it's going) and because this turquoise-ish blue is the most continuous color I have running through my entire house. Hence, I could put it anywhere and have it match. I added extra padding on the arms and cushions and removed the yucky dust ruffle around the bottom. The corduroy was a little tricky - especially with the piping - because it stretches just slightly, but I'm pretty pleased with how my $15 chair turned out. :)

This is another thing that I've been playing with lately. (Don't you just love how my fish tank occasionally feels the need to appear on my blog? :) I recently purchased this new stand at the D.I. for $30. It's much taller than my old stand (which helps tremendously with the fingerprints) and having it at the other end of the room (away from constant activity) helps my fish to be much more active. It makes me happy. Everyone should love fish as much as I do! :) LOL!

And since I never posted these, even though I made them months and months ago, I'm going to post pictures of my living room pillows. :)

. . . . I was going to say that this first one is my favorite, then I realized that I love them all! They are all different and a little odd . . . just like me :) . . . but I think they work.

(The lamp in this picture is next on my "project list". I need it to somewhat-match the lamp you can kind of see in the next picture.)

And the black chair in this picture has been on my "list" for the past two years. :) I can't wait to get my hands on it!

And this sad little chair is one I picked up from the D.I. last week for TEN BUCKS! (It looks like it, doesn't it? :) But I have some grand plans for it as well. :)