Money $aving Mondays {11.16.2015 Edition}

This post is an easy one. We are sprucing up our condo to sell. Our large sofa is something that no longer ties in with the décor. While she is a quality made piece, she needs to be a different color. I do not want to paint her or take her to get re-upholstered. My solution? Drop Cloths! They are durable, washable, and I love the color of this particular brand. It is a lovely shade of greige (gray-beige). I used 3 drop cloths for our sofa. I ran out of them before I got to the seat cushions so I used an old linen sheet we had in the linen closet. I plan on switching that to a drop cloth also.

I bought the drop cloths at our local Home Depot store. They are all 9'x12' and NO SEAMS! I washed each one separately and dried them in the dryer. I did not iron them before I began the cover up of our sofa. I love that they have a slight linen look to them.

I have a confession to make: I cannot sew. I want to, I just don't know how. I can hand sew a straight line if you can believe that. This is my temporary no sew solution for now. The back pillows on the sofa are attached, which will make any slipcover a challenge. I could have taken the easier pricey route and headed over to Pottery Barn and paid $89 for fabric to drape over the sofa. They call it the loose draped slipcover. Really PB??? I can go to Home Depot and buy the largest size canvas drop cloth for $31 and do the same thing for less than 3/4 the price.

Anyway. Here it is moving right along. I placed one drop cloth over the back cushions tucking in around all of them (not individually like I would prefer) and tucking into the back near the springs and frame. Our sofa is seen from the back so I had to be sure it draped properly.

Draped down the backside of the sofa.

I then took two drop cloths on the bottom of the sofa and down the sides and tucked to cover the skirt around the sofa and to stay in place. I also pleated the arms slightly for a more custom look. I pinch pleated the middle of the "skirt" to hide the seams where the two drop cloths would meet.

Since I ran out of drop cloths, I used a linen sheet to cover the three seat cushions. Just wrapped them up and tucked.

I covered our two sofa pillows (18" x 18") with burlap pillow covers from Hobby Lobby (30% off this week :), the smaller pillow covers are also Hobby Lobby and are 14" x 14" with a nice gray linen look. The studded wrap with the "A" added to each burlap pillow are made by Mud Pie and I purchased them on clearance at our local Ace Hardware of all places.

In a perfect world, I would sew a custom slipcover with piping. An alternative would be to cut pieces and staple to the frame. This one has no staples and is no-sew. A temporary look tying the couch into the design updates I am going with for staging our home. The sofa will eventually have a home in my husband's man cave at our new home.

This is the perfect cover up and only took me 30 minutes to place and tuck.

Money $aving Mondays {11.10.2015 Edition}

My post did not upload properly yesterday so I am uploading again today. I am in the midst of DIYing our condo. Some are easy DIYs and others not as easy, but I want to share with you all one of the easier updates. It's time consuming but relaxing in an odd way. Well, not so odd if painting relaxes you.

I want to introduce you to the power of a product called Rub n Buff by Amaco. I am not paid to endorse this product. I have known about the wonders of Rub n Buff for years. A little bit goes a long way so don't let the size of the little tube scare you. Professional Framers have known about Rub n Buff for years also. Got a scratched frame? Rub n Buff can fix it or even transform it to another color.

I am taking all of our brass hinges (think 90s brass) and giving them the Rub n Buff treatment. I chose Silver Leaf because it looks close to Brushed Nickel. I also prefer the look of it. You could transform them with Ebony or Spanish Copper for a slight Oil Rubbed Bronze type look, or even one of their pretty golds since real brass is making a comeback. Here's a preview. The old brass hinge is on the right and the updated hinge on the left. The inside of the hinge got the treatment also. There is no right or wrong way to do this. You simply do as the name states: You rub it on, let it set up a few minutes since it dries so fast and buff with a soft cloth. The makers of RnB recommend sealing with WATER BASED Varathane if you are going to seal it. Hinges don't get a lot of touching so I am not sealing them. I still have to paint the trim so don't judge. :)

I also gave our very functional, but outdated Antique Brass Ceiling Fans the Rub n Buff treatment. I chose Pewter for this application. I wanted the look of Antique Pewter, which does not have a shiny metal look to it and boy did it deliver. On with the show... Before and After...

I forgot to take the Before with the blades on... Before: Antique Brass



After: Rub n Buff Pewter turned our fans Antique Pewter

And with the blades flipped from Oak to Cherry (I flipped back to Oak today - too much red and we have a beige and gray color scheme going on right now):

The Oak Fan Blades before I wiped them down to give them a good cleaning:

Another close-up of the After:

When I flipped the fan blades back to Oak, I also Rub n Buffed the screws once they were all in place. I did not want to mess them up with the screwdriver.

Rub n Buff has an odor since it is made of metallic pigments (real pieces of metal) and carnuba wax. My fingers looked like the tin man when I was finished. I used a small paint brush and my fingers. That's my choice. Feel free to wear nitril gloves and have at it.

The ease of this was that I did not have to take the fan down. I just did not want to go there so Rub n Buff while mounted to the ceiling was the perfect choice for me. With the taping around the fan mount, there was no bleed through to worry about. Remember a little goes a long way.

Have you tried Rub n Buff? What do you think?

Blessings,



Making Memories {French Memo Board Tutorial}

Our niece, Ashley, graduated from high school at the end of May. One of her gifts was a French memo board I made for her in the colors of her dorm {she starts college this fall}. I did not even think to check blogland for tutorials, and I've never made one. I had one that I purchased brand new, unused at a garage sale 3-4 years ago. It was fucshia pink with orange ribbon. Not my style and not the colors of Ashley's dorm decor. I did not take a before picture of the memo board {sorry, I forgot}. I was thinking more about getting the project done in time rather than a blog tutorial. It hit me after I removed the buttons, removed the fabric panel on the back, ironed my fabric and stapled it on there that I should have taken a picture {Oops!}. Since I have been MIA from blogging, I just was not thinking, but you will get photos and the steps below. :) Hopefully the end result will make up for it.

Materials:
· Inexpensive memo board
· 1 1⁄4 yards fabric of your choice
· Iron and ironing board, optional
· Fabric scissors
· Staple gun and staples
· 5 yards seam binding or grosgrain ribbon, 5⁄8 inch wide, color of your choice
· Covered-button kit with 3⁄4-inch buttons or re-purpose the buttons as I did
· Wire cutter
· Frame hanging wire
· Fabric for backside of board {muslin or cotton sheeting}
· ½ grossgain ribbon to cover staples on fabric on backside of board.
· Fabric glue

1. Remove and discard the buttons and ribbons from the original memo board. Note: If you are using a template board you made, be sure to wrap it in batting and then fabric. I remembered the ribbon pattern as I drew it on a piece of paper so I would know how to place my ribbon {a large "X" and 4 parallel pieces}.

2. Iron your fabric to remove any wrinkles, if necessary. Lay the fabric facedown on a flat surface {if using burlap, you will need to double the fabric so it is not see through}; lay the memo board facedown over the fabric. Cut excess fabric so there is approximately 2 inches fabric overhang on each side of the memo board.

Wrap the fabric to the back of the board, stretching the fabric so it is tight. Using the staple gun, secure one staple at the center of each side.

3. Wrap fabric over diagonally at each corner, and secure with a staple. Neatly fold in the remaining fabric and staple in place. Finish stapling the fabric around the memo board.



4. Turn the memo board face-up. Cut two ribbon pieces a few inches longer than the distance from corner to corner diagonally. Wrap one end to the back, and staple in place. Stretch the ribbon tight to the opposite corner, wrap the end to the back, and staple. Repeat with the second ribbon, forming an “X”. Add four more ribbons parallel to the first ones {this makes a diamond shape when looking at the “X”}, stretching them tight from the mid-points of each side.







I used two different colors of grossgrain ribbon, but you could use all the same color.

5. Insert a staple at each ribbon intersection. I used scraps of 2 inch wide silk ribbon and made five covered buttons, hand-stitching the ribbon to cover the buttons. I attached the buttons with fabric glue hiding the staples at each ribbon intersection. Furniture brads would be another great idea. Because I was gluing buttons on {used fabric glue so they don't pop off like they would if I used hot glue}, I covered the staples at each ribbon intersection with the finished button.





6. I covered the back of the board with fabric I had from a cotton sheet. I used pinking shears to cut it so it would not fray, stapled it in place, and covered the staples with 2 inch blue grossgrain ribbon {I took a photo of the fabric and did not take one of the ribbon covering the staples}. I glued the ribbon in place with permanent fabric glue. The tape on the unfinished board back was to cover where the staples poked through.





Voila! Here's the finished French memo board. {I put the buttons in place and snapped a photo prior to gluing them down}.

Sorry for the lighting in the photos looking so yellow. Batteries were close to dying and I took the photos the evening I made the board as opposed to daylight, which would have made for better pictures! You get the idea...



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As for our niece, the graduate, she loved it!

Remember, keep it simple, keep it crafty, keep it thrifty, and keep it chic!









I'm linking up to these parties this week. Stop by for some creative inspiration. I'll be adding new party links everyday:

Blue Cricket Design's Linky Party Button is not working so here is the link to her post:
http://www.bluecricketdesign.net/2011/06/show-and-tell-linking-party-5.html