Before & After Upholstered Tufted Ottoman

A dark leather sectional wraps around the back edges of our family room, leaving the middle of the room open and bare.  When I am decorating, I like to fill in the spaces giving it a very comfy and "homey" feel.  Sometimes this is a problem with my hubby, he doesn't like things in the way that can be tripped on or over.  A coffee table was out of the question since it was a hard surface and unmovable.  That led me to an upholstered ottoman.  It allowed extra seating for my kids and their friends when gaming or watching TV, a foot rest, or a level surface for serving or setting beverages.  Plus, it is soft if they bump into it during wrestling episodes, or easily moved out of the way when they want to have an impromptu dance party. 

Deciding on a rectangular shape due to the room size and layout of the existing furniture, I went online to search for a used one that I could change to accommodate my space.   

The were many options, but I knew as soon as I saw this one that it was the perfect one.  I purchased it for $50.

It was in excellent condition; however, the leather was a different color than my sofa, AND most importantly I didn't want leather with leather.  I like to mix my materials and I really wanted a fabric. 

After getting it home I stripped it of it's original leather.  The foam was in excellent condition so there was no need to replace that.  I found a soft gray with dark brown undertones upholstery fabric at a local fabric store for $5/yd.  Another trick I have recently learned, is to take a strip of fabric to a local upholstery shop and they can make professional tufting buttons for very inexpensive.  I have used the tufting kits that you can buy at the craft stores, but found they are really hard to use with thick upholstery fabric, and also aren't as strong and break down the road.  The large 1 inch buttons that professional upholsterers use are very strong.  I paid $2 a button, which is totally worth it, and only a few dollars more than purchasing the kit without all the effort in making them. 

here is the before:

and the after:

before:

after:

Total cost $77

Hope you all enjoyed your Memorial Day Weekend!

Here are a few pictures from our weekend -

Fireplace Tile Before & After

I am so excited to share with you today the before and after of our family room fireplace. 

I have been drooling over carrera marble for quite some time and was anxious to use it in our house.  I love the soft whites and grays in the stone.

I thought the fireplace in our family room was the first place to start with it and would look especially good with our white mantle.

I also thought I would try something different and go with a herringbone pattern which I purchased online from Mosaic Tile Direct.  For the grout, I picked a very soft gray called "Frost".

Here is the before:

 

 and here is the after:

I have plans to renovate our kitchen this next year and was thinking of using this as a back splash, what are your thoughts?

Paris Themed Birthday Party

I'm changing things up today and sharing the crafts and decorations for my daughter's birthday party.
This cutie pie turned 9!  

She loves Paris.  

She's never been, however her obsession for the city of love grew after watching Anastasia several years ago.  So when we celebrated her 9th birthday last month of course her choice would instantly be a Paris themed party. 

Each girl was invited with their very own plane ticket to Paris, France...created by my oldest daughter -

Since they are going to Paris, they need to look and act the part.  I found an EASY tutorial on how to make berets. Each girl was given a beret and a fuzzy sticky mustache to wear.

We put them to good use and had fun in our very own photo booth:

The girls enjoyed crepes, quiche, and cupcakes.

For the table decorations I purchased this 3-D Eiffel Tower Puzzle from Amazon.  I also printed some 3x5 black and white pictures of France and modge podged them onto stained 2x4's I cut to fit the pictures.  For some color I made tissue balls out of red, blue, and white (Frances flag colors) using this easy tutorial. 

What's a party without fun and games?! Our games involved tossing crepe races, stringing the noodles, and of course...our mustache pinata - 

Such a fun day!