Designer Dreams.

Well, I have run into my first refurbishing/design quandary. It has been requested of me by my man love, Ryan, to expedite the processes of rehabbing this wonderful ice cream parlor set we recently picked up for $5.00, a great deal for two chairs and a glass top table! It's summer and BBQ season so he wants them out on our front porch ASAP! The trouble is finding the right fabric.

I have been browsing about the internet for the last couple of days with this in mind. When I first started searching, I thought it was going to be a horrible task. When you're Googling "Fabrics", it seems like everyone and their mothers want to peddle you their sub-par goods. The same thing happens when you search for "Outdoor Fabric". Finally I just asked if you could use a shower curtain as a seat cover. Sounds moronic, but it got me where I needed to be. Apartment Therapy has an article "Outdoor Fabric on Indoor Furniture?" where one of the users commented about certain brands having wonderful indoor/outdoor fabric including F. Schumacher Fabrics. Now I had a lead and it was actually rather easy to come by.

I cruised on over to their website and was impressed by what I saw, but noticed you can't buy their product direct unless you are a business. I started looking for stores online where you could buy their product, and. Then. I. Found. IT. The fabric I am completely in love with and have to have.

Schumacher paired up with Trina Turk to bring the world this masterpiece titled the Tangier Frame Print. The unfortunate bit about it is that a designer brand paring with a world renowned designer tends to drive prices sky high. Now I'm talking $74.00/yd high. Of course once I saw the price I started justifying in my head how we had to have THIS product and nothing else, that $74.00 isn't all that bad for a set we'll have for a really LONG TIME, or... that at least I'll be able to resell if it's not for as long as I think...

Then I took a minute away from the computer and started thinking that a yard is only three feet of fabric, and at $74.00 a yard, there are no room for mistakes, but this is my FIRST reupholstering project. Granted, it's just stapling fabric onto the bottom of the seat and screwing it on the chair, but who knows what could go wrong, we've all heard of Murphy's Law, right? Is it really worth the potential $74.00 mistake? Thus my quandary.

After this I started looking at more feasible options in terms of cost and really, there are some completely delightful fabrics out there. Yet, I still can't get the Tangier out of my head. Ryan of course has no opinion on the matter, his words, "I just want you to be happy", give me no direction. I was either wanting him to sign off on the idea completely in either the affirmative or the negative. I have a little while to think on this, there is still sanding and painting to be done to all the pieces, followed by painting and Ryan crafting the seat bottom since the original is completely rotted out. I will update you with pictures of my progress while creating a little "How To" since it drives me crazy on some refurbishing sites they just show you the beautiful end product with zero tips or tricks. Until next time!

Easy Does It- But Do It.

Hello family, friends and fellow bloggers!

I've decided to re-take up the hobby that many before me have discovered, that is the world of blogging. Now, I've been thinking about this for a long time, making a blog and making it beautiful, but I've made a realization about myself, that is that I am a perfectionist. Now if I had waited around until my blog/background/title/font was PERFECT, this would never get up and running. So like I have learned in the past few months, I have to just jump in! Easy does it, but do it, right?

I've been pondering ideas for a blog for a long time. I've researched, read and explored other blogs, journals, etc. I wanted to find my niche, find out what's not out there that I could fill a hole in, but then I figured out, again, if I waited to find the RIGHT topic, you'd probably never even hear my words. So, here it is, in all it's imperfect glory, my first post. What you can expect in the future will be my experience, my wanderings and ponderings of this thing we call life, home decor inspirations and recreations and just about a little bit of this and that. I'm excited to start this journey, to have an outlet for my crazy brain and for blog companionship as I trudge my road to happy destiny, with all the bumps, bruises and blessings along the way. So welcome, come stay awhile.