Real "Quick-Like"

Going to be quick here. I'am too tired not to. Just wanted to share some pictures of what I've been up to...

My husband hates our futon couch. Says it hurts his back. He had to leave town before getting a chance to move all the furniture. The futon is one thing that didn't make it over. Now it likely never will. Two days without it made me see how much fun the kids have in a wide open living room. Why fill it with an uncomfortable piece of furniture? Thus, our new, unconventional livingroom is born. We must sit somewhere, so this is our "new" stackable/collapsible couch (more like a loveseat). I's two funky-shaped wicker chairs from Ikea that my husband bought years ago. They've been in storage. Now they're useful. The fabric was 9 bucks a meter. It made a quick and easy couch that's fully washable and even the kids can move it out of the way if need be. There will be lots of different sized (again, washable) pillows to match.



I've also been painting a lot. My dream would be to have the house look fabulous upon hubby's return, but I'll settle for pretty good. In his lifetime, he's never lived in a fully-furnished, nicely decorated home. I have so far made him believe I've been too swamped with the kids to get any work done (yes, I can be sneaky). What I've really been doing is taking crappy furniture like this and turning it into fun things for the kids' rooms. We've somehow accumulated a sorry amount of crappy (or at least cheap) furniture. Some is stuff my husband has had for years (most likely someone else's cast-offs). Some, like this little chest of drawers were bought for cheap at a local consignment shop (I put one drawer back in for this shot so you could get the idea). I'll admit I never thought this thing was pretty even when I bought it. But, at 15 euros, I couldn't pass it up at a time when we needed the drawers (cheapy plastic drawer towers will cost you more than that). When deciding what things to move to the new house, I considered taking this back to the same shop I found it in and reselling it. Then, I thought of doing this to it instead. I'd have to say this was a much better idea. Looking at those fun colors just make me happy, and Lamchop #1 loves it (though this one is for her sister, she's excited to know hers will look similar in the end). I always hated those swirly things carved into the wood. Too kitschy. Now they're a cool sort of kitsch. I just need to get some cute knobs to finish it up.



Sorry about the dark picture. With all the beautiful windows in the new house, you'd think I'd be capable of getting a decently-lit picture, but the truth is, I have been swamped with the kids. The sewing happened after 11 pm, and this picture was taken after they went to bed. The new house excites them so much that they're quite the handful. And with that "quick" post (I'm utterly incapable of that!), I'm off to bed.