I can't think of anything more fitting than to post our first post for our Mother & Daughter decorating blog than on Mother's Day! With that said, happy Mother's Day!
First, an introduction. This blog is going to follow my mother (Sabrina) and me (Sarah) while we renovate, decorate, and organize our homes. We come from two different perspectives because my mom is a recent empty nester and I am a newlywed. Ironically, we are both in our first homes because my parents are still in their first home nearly 20 years later. We are going to be updating and redecorating our older, but much loved homes at the same time. I hope you will join us along the way!
Now for the fun part! To start, I've had two great recent furniture finds - a new island for my kitchen to provide some desperately needed prep space and an antique Chinese chest for my foyer. I love Asian antiques, so I was so excited to find this piece.
That's the island! And below is the front.
I actually found this at Value City Furniture, and it was a great deal. I had been looking for over a year for the perfect island. On a side note, as I am sure you noticed in this photo, we have a pretty horrid-looking floor and counter tops in the kitchen. They are at the top of my list of things to go, don't worry! As for the cabinets, I am not sure yet. They are solid, so I think we may just refinish them.
I found the Chinese Cabinet at RoomStore World. I was really skeptical at first as to whether it was a real antique, so I came home and researched for hours (and I do mean hours) on how to tell if something is a genuine Chinese antique. I went back and examined the piece and it looked genuine, so I took the plunge after a bit of price negotiation. They don't claim everything in the store is an antique, most things are reproductions and they're honest about that - that made me feel more comfortable buying from them. Did you notice the blue carpet? Don't worry, it's on the list as well - we have a new puppy, so until she is house broken that is a bit lower on the list of things to do.
I also wanted to share a project I did recently for the foyer. About 6 months or so ago we found a bench at HomeGoods that came with baskets, but alas no cushion. I never found a cushion that worked so I just used two extra pillows. This worked fine until the housebreaking pup destroyed them. Thus, we needed a bench cushion! I searched everywhere for one that would fit and simply could not find one. So I stumbled across this post on Kara's Korner (thank you Kara, by the way) and decided to give it a try. It ended up a bit expensive even with the fabric on sale (around $85 total), but the cushion fits. In the end I didn't glue it all the way because that way I can pull it off and get it cleaned if the puppy has another accident. I also added a layer of vinyl over the foam to waterproof it. It is so tightly in there that I don't think it will be necessary to glue it completely.
Ahhh so many fabric choices, so much fun. But there was a winner!
I went with a red to try to tie the red-tone of the cabinet into the room.
Making a cushion turned out to be relatively messy. I also bought zippers which I ultimately decided not to use. This is the foam after it was wrapped with vinyl for a test fitting. Another side note - I am in the process of refinishing the table pictured above. It's an IKEA kitchen table I bought from a friend. I am spray-painting it for outdoor usage on our deck. I got the primer done yesterday, so hopefully that will be done this week!
Drumroll, please . . .
There it is! It may not be that complicated, and I know I didn't even use a sewing machine; however, I am so proud of myself and excited.
So what are we up to this weekend? Well there is the IKEA table and chairs project. Also, my husband and I tackled planting two new rose bushes in front of our house. We planted these. I am really excited to see them start to bloom at some point. Anyway, that wraps up the first post. Thank you for reading! :)
