It’s no secret that I have an ottoman addiction. I’ve come clean many times but I just can’t quit.
Even though I showed you my spool ottoman this week, I’m sending you off on your Labor Day weekend with visions of more upholstered ottomans. Why? Because Beckie, over at Houzz, is an enabler. She’s blatantly feeding my addiction.
Next week, I’ll be in NYC for Fashion Week, so there will be no ottomans; only fashion and faucets. (Did I type that in the same sentence?) More on that later.

I came close to finding this shiny silver fabric one time.

I’m not really crazy about this one. I’ve made enough of these. It’s a killer to get those skirts just right.

Another shiny ottoman. What a dream, having a closet with enough square footage for an ottoman.

Here’s one of my all time favorites. That’s probably because I can’t make this one.

Read Beckie’s entire ottoman post here.

We’ve seen plenty of slip seat reupholstery projects but this one gets an A ++++. Handy guest blogger Krista, over on Sew Homegrown posted a lovely little tutorial showing how she completely replaced “Mema’s” (her gram’s) dining room chair seat wood along with doing a dandy DIY Upholstery job. When I see what you happy upholsterers are doing, I get a hankerin’ to tear something down. I’ll get to that sometime. (Remember the story of the shoemaker’s children going unshod?)

Krista saw right away that the old wood seat had to be replaced. She used 1/2″ plywood and had hubby show her how to rev up the power tools, to which she took a shine.

It isn’t necessary to build that little inner wooden seat frame that sits down inside the chair frame, but can you blame her for wanting to get her hands on that nail gun?

Now to pad and upholster and she’s finished.

And the finished seat in a very nice styled photo.

See more photos and Krista’s material list over on Sew Homegrown.

Please open another window and go to this page and take a look at how Anthropologie does upholstery. Now take a look at those prices. Really? Would someone pay close to $6000.00 for this sofa with the checked cushions?
Please listen to what I’m telling you. You can create this look by finding second hand pieces and giving them the Anthropologie sweep for about 7% of the cost. An added bonus-you’ll get valuable upholstery practice at the same time.
A little of these patterns goes a long way, so keep it interesting but not hectic.

Here’s what I’m talking about.

The upholstered bench with two boxed and corded cushions (retailing for $1698.00) can easily be DIY’d by finding an old coffee table, upholstering the top with a little dacron and fabric and then making two boxed and corded cushions from a mix of fabrics. Easy Peezy Louise-y.
Here are two tutes to get you started:
Upholstered coffee table and make a boxed and corded cushion.

Next up. How about this sofa that retails for $5998.00? You know you’ve seen similar second hand sofas for around $150.00. You can go online and find a variety of checks, plaids or whatever you love and mix it up. Again, if you know some upholstery basics and how to make a boxed and corded cushion, you can do this.

Another easy sofa look, retailing for $2998.00. It will be harder to find this cool style, but the upholstering is still very simple.

The main ooomph of this piece is the pair of bolsters. Here’s a quick tutorial to help you with that.

Oh, don’t forget the upholstered folding chairs. Here’s a tutorial I did for Apartment Therapy-Chicago that saves you about $130.00 on these $198.00 folding chairs.
Anthropologie Chair:

My knock-offs:

Tutorial here.

The hardest part of this look? Finding fabrics that will give you that look.

Photo Images: Anthropologie.com

Most anyone who reads my blog probably ended up here via Design Sponge, but I needed a post for this morning and I needed to get this tutorial in my archives. So, click on over to last week’s DIY project on DS to see more instructions and photos of the plaid ottoman project. Sounds like a secret mission.

*meter stick (yard stick)
*L-shape ruler (helps to have one to make square corners)
*fabric
*thread
*lining (if you want – I didn’t use any)
*balsa wood stick, preferably flat to mount your blind
*staple gun
*nails
*hammer

After all was said and done, she took out the pleats and added a stripe of black grosgrain ribbon down each side for contrast.
See the complete How-To over here.

What I love about this project is how she saw what she wanted, made a plan and implemented that plan beautifully. Also the detailed step-by-step photos she took of the project show you exactly how to construct one of your own.

I have one little upholstery tip on the headboard upholstery-do not roll foam around to the back side and staple it. You get some rocking and rolling when you do that. Try to keep the foam edge even with the front of the headboard so that the fabric is all that’s rolling around to the back side. However, this looks great. You can’t see any lumpiness with the foam at all.

The finished bed:

Now we have Rachel’s jazzy headboard. What’s with all of these women who have such willing and cheerful husbands? Seriously, Mr. Mod and I never look this happy when we’re working on a project together.

Closeup:

Really cute Rachel/boss:

And here’s the willing, happy husband.

Well done ladies! You both get three gold stars for pushing your projects through to completion.

Photo Images: High Heeled Foot in the Door
Keeping Up with the Grays

Yamma Mamma! This is the best! Dark fabric with contrasting piping. Just delicious.

What you see in fashion this year will show up on chairs and ottomans next year, or so.
Take a peek at Cococozy’s take on things. Piping, plaid, contrast–looks like a resurgence in the equestrian/club theme.
I’m not sure about this Ralph Lauren plaid chair. I feel like I was tearing that off of chairs not that long ago.

Photo Image: Cococozy

Here’s a Ralph Lauren plaid I did about two years ago for a client. I could live with this one. The photo of the whole chair re-do was all out of whack, so you have to imagine the finished chair-it really did turn out cute.

I know slipcovers with contrasting cord will be all the rage. They’re removable, washable, change-out-able and they can look so good.

Photo Image: Cococozy

Easy, chic dining room chairs with piping.

Photo: House & Home

And here are my two plaid ottomans:

Photo Image: DesignSponge

PhotoImage: Shelly Miller Leer

Mondays are always difficult. Coming back from a short vacation doesn’t make it easier. However, I am excited to get busy with all things Mod Home Ec after last week’s Design Sponge DIY project I had featured.
Thank you Grace and Kate for giving me that opportunity to share with DS readers. There’s no better exposure than Design Sponge and ApartmentTherapy for my type of work.

Oddly enough I started getting some emails about those atomic legs.
I absolutely am not peddling my wares here. It’s just amazing how a fresh leg design can spruce up a piece of thrifted furniture, or one of your existing pieces you’ve decided to make over. The unfinished wood is so pristine, it’s open to all sorts of stains or paint color. Don’t overlook nice legs on a bad body at the thrift store. Shoppers tend to pass by good legs or a nice base if the upholstery is a mess. That’s good for you.

Don’t you love how the light wood stands out against the black construction paper? I felt very sassy that I was able to get some decent shots of these legs thanks to Photoshop.

If you’re tackling a big chair or more, here’s the electric staple gun I use in my upholstery classes. A pneumatic stapler hooked up to a nice powerful air compressor is better, but this is the next best thing. Available from Fabric Farm in Hilliard, Ohio for $179.00, plus shipping. FF offers a large line of upholstery supplies too.

People often ask where they can find good upholstery fabric. My response is to make sure it grabs your attention and then make sure it’s on sale. Rarely do I pay full price for fabric yardage. There’s no need to. There are so many local and online fabric resources selling bolt ends, you can find something that suits your fancy for a fraction of full price yardage. Today, I was going to share unusual lattice fabrics with you. Then, unexpectedly, I saw this fabric. Unusual, interesting, and linen. Wow!

It’s only available from Fabrics & Paper, which looks to be based in the UK. I’m keeping my eyes open for a version of this making it’s way over here. I can think of a way to DIY this by stitching on ribbons or a flat weave trim. This gives me an idea for a tutorial. Gotta go.