Up-Cycled

Re-creating is my new found love. It started with clothing, but currently, it's furniture. I'm obsessed with home decor websites these days. It's my guilty pleasure. I'm loving Apartment Therapy and Design Sponge. Particularly "Before and After." (There's a link on the left of the Design Sponge site if you're interested.) I scour Craigslist for free stuff daily and can literally spend hours wandering a thrift store. But I'm amazed at what I find already within my own home to spruce up. Even a year ago, I would have donated worn out things to charity. No longer. Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.

My first re-upholstering project was this traditional (ugly) ottoman we inherited from my in-laws when we needed furniture to fill up our first house. I made a slip cover for it years ago, but that was worn out and ugly now too. I was planning to make a new slip cover and decided to try my hand at re-covering. So $.99 for the fabric and a half can of spray paint and I have myself a new piece of furniture. I felt very empowered with staple-gun in hand.

BEFORE

AFTER

Now that's more like it.

And while I'm on home decor...it seems to be popular to organize book shelves by color. I love decorating with books. But in my head I kept thinking organizing by color would never work for me. I don't have any bright colored books. They're too drab. But once I separated the colors, I was amazed at the results. It completely changed the look of my book shelf. I cannot believe they're the same books I had sitting out before. Unfortunately, I don't have a before picture.