DIY coffee table and living room refresh - Update!

We have a new coffee table! I mentioned here that we were going to DIY a coffee table. And we did it this weekend...

 

From my previous post, a lot of you liked the Peony fabric option - and I did too, but it would be much better in a room with lighter furniture. Since our floors are dark and our furniture is dark AND visually heavy, we really needed something to brighten the space.

This Centro Mist fabric from Tonic Living was the perfect solution. It's also an outdoor fabric so is a bit more stain resistant and durable for putting our feet up on the table (which we do all the time...)

We changed the pillows (thanks mom for sewing!) to give the whole room a bit of a refresh. The gray fabric is Cameron in Storm, and the toile is Neo Toile in Coral (I am in looovvveee with this fabric).

 

 What do you think?

Coffee table conundrum - SOLVED!

Exciting news, my friends. I FOUND a coffee table this weekend. One that will work and replace our old rickety one!

The funniest part of it is that I litterally found it...in my basement...

I've had it for the last couple of years (at least...) and when we originally got it I had planned to turn it into a bench for our guest room like the one I made for our master)...but then we redid our bathroom and stole 20" from the guest room...which wouldn't leave enough room for a bench. At the time I didn't think the table would work as a coffee table because it didn't have storage / a shelf. However...since Owen has started motoring around, pawing at everything, and deciding his favourite toy is anything that is NOT a toy, I've realized (and thanks to your comments on this post) that I won't be able to store things out in the open much longer anyways.

So, the plan is to get some foam, some batting, and some fabric and upholster it ASAP. A few comments said not to have an upholstered coffee table if we like putting our feet up on it...we do, but I'm not too worried about the fabric - if it gets grimy (which I'm sure it will with Owen pawing it every day), we can just recover it in a year.

I went to Tonic Living today and picked out some fabric samples - here are some contenders:

 

Secret Gate - Pewter from Tonic Living

A New Twist - Caviar from Tonic Living

Centro - Mist from Tonic Living

Leda Peony - Midnight from Tonic Living

Any favourites? I know which one is leading the way for me...

What's the most elusive item for your decor? Find out mine...

In my recent post I said we were looking for a coffee table and a rug. You wouldn't think this would be that hard - after all, I live in Toronto where home decor shops are abundant.

Well.

I have brought home 5 rugs, and have returned 5 rugs. They have come from Homesense, Ikea, a rug store, and Home Depot. With NO LUCK.

I've tried pattern, colour, neutral. And nada. We have a brown leather couch and mid-dark hardwood flooring and I'm having a hard time finding something that fits our room. I think a flat woven rug would be the right weight but I want it to be soft to the touch (for Owen's soft little knees!) and that is proving hard to find.

I would love to have a rug like this in my house:

via Erika Brechtel

But I can't find one. Believe me, I stalk ecarpetGallery like it's my job to see when they will get brighter rugs in the size I need (at least 6x9). Ideally I would love one with no red and more blues, teals, corals. Think I can find one? Nope....

The other option I like is the morrocan rug that is popping up everywhere...

This one is a deal and a half at costco.ca of all places

While I love the look of a Beni style rug, I think it's just too heavy for the furniture we have in the room.

I think what we need is a gray and cream rug in a flat weave that's soft. Budget friendly and Kid friendly, please. Is that too much to ask?? Where is your go-to for rugs? (I'm stalking Homesense as much as possible too)...

My new favourite store

A couple of weeks ago I finally stopped into FOC! Furniture On Consignment.  A friend told me about this store and said that she found out about it from one of Sarah Richardson's sources lists. It's in Leaside, just down the road from the HomeSense there.

I popped in and loved a LOT of what I saw. Unfortunately not a lot of it has a place in my home, but there were some incredible pieces that I have to share with you.

 This goldleaf and glass desk is GORGEOUS. Asking price: $550...aka...quite the deal.

And now for the absolute steal...this is Ethan Allan...and was listed at $400. $400!! I can't even find a coffee table I like for $400. If I had a dressing room (or a house big enough for a dressing room) this would be going in it. For. Sure.

This was a very cool coffee table, but has a green leather inset on the top of it (and is too solid for my living room) but it could look fantastic in the right spot.

Are you going to go and check it out? I'll definitely be going back regularly!

Living room chair - after!

I hope you all had a great weekend...mine was pretty relaxing with a big highlight: we picked up our re-upholstered chair this weekend...and it looks AMAZING! I wanted to wait to post it until I had the right pillow for it (remember I posted this gorgeous one? Yah, still can't justify that cost), but I just can't wait to post it. It is gorgeous.

If you remember, we nabbed this chair off Craigslist:

 

I commissioned the lovely Lindsey from Recreated to re-do the chair for me. She moonlights in reupholstery at Re:Style Studio and did a wonderful job on our chair...here's the finished product:

Fabulous, non?

Here are some more shots of the details:

That double piping around the foot is perfection...

 more amazing double piping details...so nice...

Isn't it handsome?

Sources:

Chair: craigslist

Re-Upholstery: Lindsey from Recreated

Fabric: Eurofab

Giveaway: One of a Kind Show tickets!

Hello lovelies! I hope you all had a great weekend...I did, and will share a recap laster this week...but first, I have a great little giveaway for you! As you may or may not know, the One of a Kind Christmas show starts on November 22 (that's THIS Thursday people!). The OOAK show is a tremendous display of talented artisans (did you know it's the largest consumer craft show in North America?).

Courtesy of RE:Style Studio, one of you (my lucky readers) will win a pair of tickets (because everything is more fun when you get to bring a friend along)!

If you don't know RE:Style Studio, it's the brain child of Andrea Ford, and their services include custom re-upholstery (where MY lovely chair is getting a mega makeover), upholstery workshops and 1 on 1 classes. I was there to drop off my chair this weekend and they have some AMAZING pieces.

RE:Style will be at booth Z19 at the One of a Kind show - make sure to stop by, say hi, and check out their beautiful work (*and they are offering 10% off custom upholstery and 10% off workshops for those who drop by their booth!)

To whet your appetite, here are sneak peaks of several pieces:

 Isn't this just gorgeous??

So by now, aside from thinking of all the pieces you have in your house that you want re-upholstered, you're probably thinking - how do I get my hands on these free tickets??

1. Leave a comment below letting me know you want the tickets, and who you would bring to the show!

2.  "Like" RE:Style's facebook page (and come back to leave a comment saying you did)

2. For a second entry - tweet this giveaway something like this (and come back to leave a comment saying you did):

Head over to @interiorgroupie to enter the #OOAK ticket #giveaway! cc @andrearestyle  http://interiorgroupie.blogspot.ca/2012/11/giveaway-one-of-kind-show-tickets.html

*Make sure to leave a comment for each entry.
*Contest open to anyone who will / can be in Toronto to attend One of a Kind Christmas show!
*Giveaway closes on Wednesday November 21st at 7pm EST

If you don't happen to win, don't forget to drop by Re:Style's booth Z19 for the 10% discount on upholstery or workshops!  Good luck - I will draw for the winner on the opening day of the show, Thursday November 22.

Friday faves

It's Friday....it never fails to come again but sometimes I wish it could come so much sooner!

I came across this beautiful pillow earlier this week and thought it would look amazing on my to-be-upholstered chair:

via Anthorpologie

Pretty, right? $128 pretty? hmm...meanwhile I'm trying to find a christmas party dress for under $150. ha...pillow? dress? pillow? dress?

Life is all about tough choices people.

Happy Friday!

Another coffee table option...

My quest for the right coffee table continues (will it ever end?). I think we all agree that this table isn't quite right for my space, so my friend Ashley from Calmly Chaotic recommended this puppy:

GUS* Modern Root Table {via Modern Karibou}

It's kind of cool...I like the faux-wood grain on top, and the wooden legs. The size and shape are right too, AND it's made in Canada. The bad news? It's sold out and back ordered (everywhere) until mid-January. This might be an option, because God knows it takes me forever to find something I like, but what I am hoping is that I see a similar option on Craigslist or Kijiji that I can refinish (minus the "crack" which the Mr. suggested would be a great place to balance a wine glass in...). If you see a round coffee table for sale PLEASE send it over to me? Ok? Ok. Thanks.

I did check out the side table version of the above table so I could get a sense of the finish:

 

As you can see, the grooves are actually quite deep...which explains why you can see them from far away, but it also means that they can be nasty dust collectors! this side table was in the store's basement and had a bunch of dust in the grooves...I had a minor flash to me cleaning the coffee table with a q-tip...not sure I want to go there but I guess we'll have to see how desparate I am once January comes around!

Living room - chair and coffee table

TGIT...didn't you know Thursdays are the new Fridays? {I wish}. How was your Halloween? Ours was pretty good - good "traffic" from 6:30-8ish...and then nothing! I was surprised, we started being stingy with the candy around 7:30 but now we just have some leftover (maybe that was all part of the master plan...mwahaha). I noticed from twitter and facebook that a LOT of people out there count exact numbers of trick or treaters! I just toss candy out but don't keep stats. You?

Soooo our living room is starting to come together, especially with the addition of the drapes I mentioned on Monday. A couple of weeks ago in this post I wrote about what to do with my living room, the consensus was to get a lighter coffee table, since our new sectional is quite solid. I agree 100% with this advice...but haven't had any luck finding a "light" coffee table! I'm contemplating building an upholstered one (but with light upholstery, it will get dirty...and I'm not sure i'm OK with that). I don't want a glass table (safety first!), so that knocks out most automatic "light" options. I came across this one on the weekend at GH Johnson:

It's not light in colour...but it is not as solid as my current coffee table. I would love to find a round version of this exact table...but haven't had any luck (even the maufacturer of this one doesn't make a round version). This table is the sister table to my side tables (too matchy - matchy)? What do you think?

I stumbled across a few other fun things at GH Johnson:

rugs

These soft baskets are perfect laundry hampers (or stylish storage)

The other thing I've been focused on this week is finding fabric to re-upholster our chair. I have my head set on a gray-on-gray herringbone right now, but am having a hard time finding it. I found a nice fabric at Designer Fabrics, but it reads as solid from far away. I saw this other one when I was there again this weekend, but it's a bit too creamy for my tastes:

I want subtle, but not too subtle. Is that too much to ask? Any suggestions as to where I can go (Toronto) for fabric (besides Designer Fabrics and FabricLand), or where I can look online (besides Tonic Living)?

We found a chair!

And I do mean found...craigslist style...woot!

First things first...how was your weekend? Ours flew by AS USUAL. Seriously, what is up with that?

Friday night we went to Lahore Tikka House for dinner...this place is..."rustic" but the food is GOOD! If you're in Toronto and not super picky about restaurant decor, go there.

Saturday we ran all over town - first to pick up the chair in the east end, then to the west end for an appointment and a trip to Designer Fabrics, then to Costco (yes, we survived). Saturday night we had a wonderful dinner with a friend, and then Sunday we did a bit more running around (Rogers finally cooperated so I could get my new iPhone5...wooooooooooo! It is such a novelty to have a phone that does what I ask it to...on the first try...without a hissy fit. Amazing, my friends), had a great workout and made a delicious dinner. Oh yah...and hung a curtain rod in the living room only to discover I didn't like it up. Right..sometimes you don't know until you see it drilled into the wall! Busy but lots and lots of fun.

Ok...onto the chair.

If you remember my post about re-doing my living room, a chair was on my wish list. Last weekend we went to no less than 10 furniture stores and we didn't find anything we liked. If we did see something that we liked aesthetically, it felt wobbly and cheap when we sat in it. So, the hunt was on for a used chair to re-upholster. I had been looking on and off but hadn't seen anything that I liked. Then I saw this...for cheapsies ($25) so we picked it up less than 24 hours after it was posted.

(Sorry for the bad light)

I like the classic shape of the char, curvey arms, and not-too-deep wing back. I think it's a classic that we will keep for a long time.

I am crossing my fingers that my friend Lindsey from Recreated will work her re-upholstery magic on this piece :)

I'm thinking a classic fabric, and then I'll liven up the whole space with fun pillows that I can change at will. Here's a nice herringbone I found:

Bertrand from DesignerFabrics

I love the gray on gray herringbone as opposed to white and black, but am thinking I need it in a bigger scale. Anyone have any good fabric sources for upholstery projects?

Hope you all had a great weekend, and a good start to the week...tomorrow's Wednesday, let's hope the rest of the week speeds by!

Living room re-design {I need your help}

We recently bought a new sectional for our living room (hoorah!) Here's a little before and after for you.

{sorry for the brutal lighting in the new photo}

I like the scale of the sectional in the room (and especially like how we now have enough space to both lie down...amazing). I also happen to think that it fills that corner in better, but now we need some other things to fill out the rest of the room. Curtains - definitely, and a chair (one chair with some weight as opposed to two smaller chairs which I was originally planning if we didn't get a sectional).

I've put together a mood/thinking/inspiration board for the living room, but following my typical indecisive style I need some help!

Living Room by interiorgroupie on Polyvore

We already have the end tables, lamp, and sofa. Here are the things I need to decide on...

1. For curtains, I think a muted pattern would be nice in this space. The corners of the room are plain right now and I think we need something visually interesting instead of solid fabric, especially since we have the corner of the sectional in the far left corner instead of an end table.

Ikat Ogee Linen Window Panel
westelm.com

2. Chairs - We want to get a chair to replace a Poang chair we currently have in the room, and I have no idea what style I want! I could go for patterned (but I couldn't find any nice ones on polyvore :) )... which style do you like with the room?

Sweep Leather Armchair
westelm.com

Pierre Chair - Grey
zgallerie.com

 

Eichholtz Richmond Chair

occa-home.co.uk

The Morgan Sofa

jaysonhome.com

 

 3. Coffee tables - I like the idea of a round table, but most of them don't have storage. This is a fairly big deal for me because our side tables don't have storage and I'm always behind on my magazine reading....how can we get around (ha!) this issue? Some options include an ottoman or a trunk style coffee table.

Drake Round Coffee Table
 laylagrayce.com

Castered Tufted Storage Ottoman
ballarddesigns.com

One Kings Lane Russell Johnson Brass Cornered Rosewood Trunk

onekingslane.com

4. Pillows - I'd like to change out the green and ikat pillows that I have. In this mood board I've selected neutral prints but would like to add a pop of colour...potentially orange. I think it would a nice change. Any colours (or pillows) that you're loving lately?

Pillows - Caitlin Wilson Textiles: Greige Zabeel Chevron Pillow -...
decorpad.com

DL Rhein Moroccan Tile Navy Embroidered Linen Pillow
zincdoor.com

Twinkle Living Lego Pillow Navy
bobbyberkhome.com

 
So, what do you think? All comments welcome (except we're keeping the couch, side tables and lamp no matter what...so if you can resist providing "get rid of it" comments on those items that'd be great :) ).