Take a Seat

I bought a chair. There I said it. Aren't you glad you know now?

But this chair, ahhhh this chair. She's a beauty. Of course it's a she - just look at that cushy seat.

Buying this chair is a big step for me. My family and friends are probably shocked - Barb bought furniture with a pattern on it? Is she okay?

I love this chair more every day. I got so excited when I saw it. Truth be told, I went to the store to buy a grey and white chair for the bedroom (yeah, that sounds more like me) - something like this one, although in an adult size -

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but came home with the blue one instead. I kept hovering around it, waiting for a salesperson to show up to carry it to the front for me. I was so afraid someone else would see it and want to buy it, and then I'd have to throw myself on it like it was a grenade.

My craft room is tiny tiny so I had to do some rearranging to work the chair in while still keeping the room functional. I decided to set up a computer area under the shelves, and a sewing/Silhouette area under the ribbon/paper holder. Yes, that is a stability ball. It hurts my back to sit in a straight chair for too long so I sit on the ball. Plus it works your core, so I can say I'm exercising...even if I am only playing on Pinterest.

No, the room isn't usually this tidy. Well, it goes back and forth from this tidy to a complete disaster - no happy medium.

I even attempted a panoramic shot. My first one. A little uneven but not a bad first try. Too bad we couldn't get some sunlight up in this here place. Hello, Mother Nature, are you there?

But back to the chair. The pattern is made up of turquoise, green, brown, yellow, and off white shades. Those are a lot of different colours to work with. This chair is the reason I painted the yellow diamonds on the table. I also painted a bookcase with turquoise trim, but it looks just awful so there is no way I'm showing it off. The footstool has brown and off white - I guess I'll have to find a way to incorporate some turquoise into it. Maybe I can find a new ribbon for the trim.

I can't wait to curl up under the throw and get caught up on my magazine reading. It's funny, when I bought the chair it sat in the living room for a couple of days (and looks amazing there by the way), and I thought "Wow, that's a bright chair!" But now that it's been in this room for a week or so I can't imagine it not being there. Perfect fit.

Her Diamonds (Craft Table Re-do)

Over the Easter weekend, in between putting coats of paint on the kitchen cabinet doors (did I mention that you have to wait 16 hours between coats?), I gave one of the worktables in my craft room a facelift.

It was just a plain Ikea dining room table that I'd given a couple of coats of white paint last summer. I started off by drawing in my diamonds with a straight edge and a pencil, marking which ones were to be painted, then taping off the lines with painters' tape. Because the tape is so wide, I wouldn't be able to paint all of the diamonds at the same time - I'd have to wait for the first set to dry and then re-tape the table. The paint I used was a Behr colour tester in "butter cookie".

I don't have any photos of painting in the diamonds, but note that I painted along the edges with white paint to seal the tape and keep any yellow from seeping under.

Once the tape was removed I realized that painting in the other half of the diamonds would make the table too busy. I decided to add smaller circles between the diamonds instead. I used my Silhouette to cut a 2.5 inch circle out of adhesive vinyl and just kept moving it along the table as I went.

The first "after" picture I took was after I'd sanded it, so you can't see how sharp the lines came out, though since I sanded them maybe it doesn't matter. I had to use the power sander as that paint wasn't going anywhere without a fight! I wanted the table to have an old, weathered appearance, like it had been used for years and the yellow was fading.

After sanding it I just gave it a wipe down with a damp cloth and it was good to go, no need to seal it.

I'm slowly building up this room to where I want it to be.  Lots of soft, relaxing tones offset with white. And a splash of colour here and there.

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I'm linking up here this week!

In the Spotlight

Something pretty exciting happened on the little ol' Turtles and Tails blog this week. The fold-up patio bar that Tom and I built last summer was featured in an article called, "30 DIY Ways To Make Your Backyard Awesome This Summer".

The article was picked up by three different sites:

How cool is that? We love our little bar, and we love how much interest there's been in it. It was incredibly easy to build - you could easily do it in a weekend. And for people with a small backyard like we have, it's nice to have someplace to freshen your drink without it taking over the seating area.

You should take a wander by one (or all) of the sites to check out the other 29 as well. Just click on the images above to go straight there. You'll find some truly unique ideas. My favourite is the hammock swing - I wish we had the space!