Again With the Bookcases...

The bookcases above caught my eye in one of Grange's new ads. What I am loving about them, and what made me stop and take note for our office re-do, was that they are finished black on the outside, and the interior is left with the natural wood or wood stain.

Our Craigslist shelves are black, but not "real" wood with a grain that we could sand down. I've been thinking that we would paint them, but this picture offers up a kind of cool idea.

Enter this:

Woodgrain contact paper.

Not the same as real wood, I know, but for smaller shelves filled with books in a small home office done a super tight budget... I think it could be worth a try.

I'll be filing this away for later... once the crap is fully cleaned out. (Yes, we've hit a few stalls and bumps in the road...)

Skirted Console Tables

I love skirted console tables. They look so tailored, and they can hide a world of sins.

I finally decided to attempt my own skirt for the eye-sore in our bedroom... our TV console.


The console itself is a good size for our room, and because we don't really have the money to go out and buy a new piece of furniture to take its place, I thought a slipcover would be the easiest and best option.



Our console before:




And after:

Sooooooo much better. Soooooo much better.

I used 2 old white Ikea drapes that I had (which had shrunk too much to use as curtains anymore), utilizing the top of the drapes as my hems. It really wasn't too hard to put together, although if I were doing it over, I would underlap the side panels more than I did to eliminate that gap on the corners. And I still think I will trim it out with some ribbon. But all in all, I'm pretty pleased with it! Especially being my first time at making one of these.

If you're interested in the step-by-step instructions I came up with, they'll be coming on a post over on EAD next week.

Ikea's in on the Gray Craze

Like the Ektorp sofa from Ikea? Well, now you can get slipcovers in a gray, brown, or beige cotton/linen/rayon viscose/poly blend. Very pretty.

Very pretty.... for $249. I realize that this is a good price for a typical sofa slipcover, but this is Ikea, and I would have thought the new covers would be cheaper. The whole sofa (including a white slipcover) only costs $399.

I saw these originally over at Cote de Texas. I'm glad Ikea's offering some really good-looking options, but I think it's priced a little high. What do you think?

Check This Table Out

Go over to This Full Life and take a look at this project. She refinished this table herself (it was painted all black)!



I think it turned out so well. And her blog deserves more visits.

Dallas Craigslist finds

This week, Jenny over at MFAMB has been finding some awesome Craigslist buys for others who don't think their local Craigslist has much to offer. So, in that spirit (and since I was one of the commenters who said that my local Craigslist sucked), I thought I'd play along!

Here we go!

Here is a lovely settee for $250. With some linen upholstery and a whitewashed or limed wood finish, this would look great pulled up to a farm table.


This sofa has the same lines as Ruthie Sommer's from the original cover of Domino! Buy it for $200, cover it in some graphic pattern, and you can have the same look in your living room.

This dresser seems plain right now, but you could paint it a glossy color, add some shiny brass pulls, and it would be a knock-out! The dresser only costs $50, so you could really get a lot of look for not a lot of $$.

This chair is priced somewhat high at $450, but it has a wonderful shape and looks to be in good condition.

These chairs, though, are a steal! $60 for both! They need recovering, but they have a great classic shape that would look good in most decors.

And if those chairs aren't your thing, these wing chairs for $250 would look awesome in a bold geometric pattern.

Want a branch chandelier?? You can have this one for $800. A little pricey for Craigslist, but new ones run over a $1000.

Need a new dining table? Here is one for $250.

Too steep for your budget?? This one is FREE! Free, people. I'm really thinking I'll call on this one... I mean, it's free!

These two antique oak chairs are only $40. Paint them black, add some other black painted chairs, and go for the mis-matched look like Sarah Jessica did.

Did you ever see Little Green Notebook's red credenza re-do? It was fabulous. Fabulous! This dresser, which is $80 with the mirror included, could look like that (without the mirror, of course).

I really like the lines of this sofa, it's so glamorous! It needs new fabric, but for $250, you could have a new glamorous sofa for under $1000.

I have to confess, I've never bought anything off of Craigslist before. Have you?? What did you buy?

It's Friday people!! Have a great weekend!

Check out my "new" vintage chair

Yes, the upholstery is ugly. It kind of reminds me of a time when Duran Duran were big... but that is of no matter! With a few coats of paint (or dark dark stain, we haven't decided yet), and some new prettier fabric, this chair is going to be gorgeous!


I'd been kind of keeping my eye out for a smaller side chair that I could use for extra seating when we needed it. I wanted it to be 1. inexpensive 2. comfortable 3. able to be moved around easily. In fact, I had been imagining a kind of a barrel-backed chair with caning as what I wanted, so when I spotted this, it was perfect!






My weekend went really well, we had a great time with our friends in from New Orleans! Friday night was a poker party (which I did not win any money from... boo), and Saturday we grilled out and played Guitar Hero: Metallica. One word - hard. Much harder than regular ol' Guitar Hero, not that I'm ANY sort of expert. But when you have it on "Beginner", and you're having a hard time just strumming fast enough, you kind of have a clue!!

By the way, I think I now have carpal tunnel in my wrist from playing so long! Has anyone else had this problem??