Apartment Details: A Vintage Suitcase DIY

My *love of vintage suitcase tables* envelope is sealed with a big fat sloppy kiss. It's official. It only made sense then that I would include one in the apartment I recently designed.

I started off with a medium sized suitcase and decided to use a basic wooden stool that's roughly 30 inches tall for the base and legs. I found each piece at the Salvation Army Store for about $5 each. Once I made my design decisions I spray primed and painted each piece; the base white and the entire case a light green. To assemble them, I simply screwed the suitcase to the top of the stool.

I decided on a natural paper top for this one. I made sure to pick a sturdy paper, one with real grass and yellow flowers that suited to feel I was going for in the room. I laid out the paper on top, went around the edge with my finger to emboss the edges of the top into the paper, and cut it out with scissors. I podged the paper to the top, allowed it to dry and then add a super thick 2nd coat to protect and seal it all in. I love results! A prefect spot for plants and a perfect storage spot inside the case as well.

So there you have it. Another suitcase table is complete!

Stay tuned for more DIY's to come :)

♥ leel

The Big Re-Design Reveal

It's here! The big reveal. The word on the street is: She ♥ Loves ♥ It! I am so happy she approves and feels comfortable in this new space to call her own. If you haven't any idea of what I am talking bout, past posts lay out the back story, check them out for more details, as well as the stories behind the living room and dining room chair projects.

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Onward!
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Existing furnishings/objects: a table, 2 uncovered dining room chairs, 2 dressers, 2 shelving units a double mattress & box spring, a duvet/cover and a futon, shoe rack and various other plants, housewares etc.

Items/Projects brought in: bed frame, living room chairs, futon cover, curtains, curtain over mirror, curtain and backboard/whiteboard for shelving unit, entrance mirror & hooks, painted the lamps + new shades, dining table lantern light, vintage suitcase table, DIY terrarium project, throw pillows, a bookstool table, 2 paintings, an entrance way mat & living room rug, 2 embroidery projects, a fish bowl, and various other kitchen and household accessories and plants.

Here are the pictures. Keep in mind the apartment was full with stuff that required shuffling and stacking when I took these. I know. I know. I could have done them before. I work well under pressure and am not a pro photographer. ANYWAY. Let's just look at some (of the awkward) pictures.

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BEFORE

And, AFTER!

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So those are the final results. I will be focusing in on some of the other projects I took on in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!
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♥ leel

a quick After post. another set of chairs!

The next project I decided to tackle in my apartment make-over design challenge was the dining area chairs. Julz had two chairs from Ikea that simply needed covers made for them. These two chairs were from different years with one being older and one brand new, still in the box. Slightly different in scale, but the exact same shape chair. It was super easy to cover these. Less than 3 hours to do both from start to finish. The fabric I chose matches the main colour of the room and the main palette chosen. The wood legs are light, just like the flooring and living room chairs. kinda comme ça:

I made sure the chairs were both apart, not assembled, so I could cover the back and seat sections separately and then assemble the chairs afterward. It was much easier that way and allowed for tucking and stapling fabric along the inside much easier. The secret, for me, is pinning. I pinned the fabric (wrong side out) on the chair back, smoothing and pinning the entire way around the edges, essentially giving myself a row of pins to follow on the machine when sewing. I carefully pulled the fabric off, sewed the side seams and then put it back on the chair to check for fit and to pin the corners down to create a boxed top and a defined edge for the sides.

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Once I was happy with the corners at the top I again, slipped the cover off and sewed the flattened corners, making a neat tight boxed top thingy. (sorry, I'm not a pro. clearly.) I trimmed the edges, turned it right side out and put the cover on the chair. I then stapled the bottom edges to the underside of the chair with my super awesome electric stapler, and was done the back portion.

The seat portion was even easier. I KNOW. No sewing involved. Just me, a square piece of fabric and my stapler. I simply placed the fabric face down on the table, placed the seat face down on it, pulled the fabric up and over the bottom of the chair and stapled it to the inside edge. Making my way around, starting at the middle of each side, I continued with each side making sure to check for consistent tension and smoothness as I went. The corners were carefully trimmed, tucked and stapled and that was it, done. I re-assembled the chairs, and bam, that was it. SO EASY. In total I used about 2.5 meters of fabric. I purchased 3 meters, an still have lots left over for cushions and fun fabricy projects. yay!

So there you have it: A sneak peak of the dining area chairs. I just love how these have turned out and am anxious to see them in the final design!

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful friday.

♥ leel

p.s. wanna see what project i'm working on right now? Check this out... Blog @ ya' later!

a before & after post :: 2 chairs for julz ::

this is my life, right now. dining room office? why not.

So this is a superfun post for me to write! It's the first in a before & after series centering around a 1 room apartment (shared bath & kitchen) in a beautiful humongo brick house in downtown Ottawa. I am redesigning for a friend/client, Julz. She's a university student and wants to be able to have friends over to study and not have it so it feels like everyone is sitting in her bedroom. We sat down before she left and agreed it would be perfect for 3 distinct areas: an eating/meal prep area, a living/sitting area and a sleeping area. We also decided to create a bit of an entrance way.

This rented room is fairly straight forward, shape wise, it's a 14' x 21' rectangle. Think high ceilings, an entire wall of windows equipped with rods and new white blinds, 10" high baseboard mouldings... gorgeous. Two equal size closets are next to the entrance way, both with shelves and rods built in. Perfect for storage. The floors are light hardwood and the room is a soft warm creamy yellow. Very easy to work with, especially since they aren't keen on us painting, which I totally understand. I probably wouldn't let me paint either, if I were the landlord.

So at this point I've been at it for a week now and have managed to get a plan written/drawn out including 2 possible layouts for the 3 distinct areas, as well as most of my fabric purchased. I was matching fabric to a new duvet cover Julz wanted to use on her bed, so I needed 3 co-ordinating fabrics. We're going for a bohemian beach garden feel. yah. that. (I'll should wrangle up an inspiration post to show you the overall feel, with pics, to get that point across, I see. I'll get to that.)

ANYway, my first project was to recover 2 chairs for the living room. I have had these kicking around for a while, awaiting the perfect home and the perfect fabric. Once those decisions were out of the way *woohoo* I tore apart one of the fitted covers to use as a pattern and reserved the other for reference while sewing. I labeled the pieces so I could keep track. It was pretty straight forward, just a lot of pressing and pinning and sewing slow straight lines. I was so excited to see these chairs come to life, I can't wait to see the room together with the other fabrics chosen. Here's what I speak of:

before: in my backyard. p.s. i actually weed weekly.

after: in my own living room, not the final location. evil sweet dog not included.

It feels wonderful to have this first project complete and delivered to the apartment and project 2 soon underway. I'll be sure to share bits as they come together, but I also want to make sure to save some details for the grand finale. I'll be sure to get some formal Before pictures of the room as well for a final comparison post in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for all that craziness!

♥ leel

before & after: buffy the buffet is a beau-ty!

buffy, before

I acquired Buffy through rather dark circumstance. Buffy had been built by an old co-worker/ friend's husband. Their divorce and scenario required drastic reduction of belongings; Buffy was heading to the curb. She knew I was into finding furniture and upcycling. I just couldn't let that happen so I lovingly piled her into another friend's trailer, told her & her sweet daughter I might refinish it but that if she ever wanted it it was hers, always. They told me it was mine. I'm not sure if she'll ever want it back. That was last summer. She's been parked in my garage ever since and was on my mind all winter long. I loved it's shape and size. As it turned out, it also fit that perfectly awful *nook* thing in my living room that I hate. It would now become an excellent spot for storage. Perfection. My only hurdle? What to do.

Enter: Inspiration.

I occasionally spot something within the great depths of the interweb that immediately inspires. (if only, I'm rather crow like - shiny objects et. al) Enter one of my fave blogs, Knack Studios. Barb has the coolest design and styling finds posted as well as her own furniture transformations. I have to give her full credit on this one. I was so inspired when I saw this piece, Louie, seeing how dark and rich the black was and I loved the contrast of the white hardware she chose. Sweeeet Perfection. Holy Wow. I knew Buffy could be every bit as beautiful and boy would she ever match my black dining room table, tying together the two rooms better than ever before.

buffy, sanded

Enter: Challenges.

After breaking my own dinky sander during the first sanding, many days of rain and cold, some general laziness and the resulting frustration of not being able to find any hardware I liked in white ANYWHERE, I went ahead and got staining. That part is pretty easy. Two coats with an extra-fine steel wool rub-down in-between and after and she was ready for hardware. Hardware, like I mentioned wasn't the easiest part, but by far one of the most important to me.

hardware pieces, before

I needed something I couldn't find; I decided to make it myself. I hit the home reno place and bought 4 plain silver knobs, the largest and coolest I could find, shape wise. I found some for $1.88 each. Score! Next, I wanted a cheap ornamental backplate to match. I found one I liked for $1.37 each. Sweet-ness. Hardware for under $15. I was elated. Once I got it home I painted it a gloss white. I debated whether to paint them a deep cad yellow but went back to the original vision after a day. With the buffet completely dry we moved Buffy in. New hardware holes were drilled, hardware attached and ta-daa - Buffy became my dream come true!

buffy, after!

see? she fits like a glove

hardware, after

hardware, after

Now, to fill it up and style it! I have some pieces just dying to be hung above.

Stay tuned for *Final* final pictures. I just couldn't wait to share my new found functional friend.

♥ leel