IKEA Hack

As you may know, I've been slowly working to make my house a home.  Now that I've lived here for 2 years, I'd say there has been some great progress... of course, one project at a time.  

So after finishing the kitchen update - I began the search for affordable bar stools.  I happened across these on a visit to Ikea and without much thought, went for them! [Ingolf, white, $69]

After a few months of having them around, I noticed that the tops of the chairs were getting scratched and little spots of paint would be missing.  [Now, I must take full responsibility for this.  I used the chairs during the cabinet painting process and I believe the hinges dug into the chairs.  My error.]

How to fix this?!  With a lovely seat cushion of course! So the search for cushions began. Unfortunately, after a few mispurchases, I could NOT find the right size anywhere! Then one night, it finally hit me.  DIY. 

I found some great outdoor fabric at Hancock.  Perfect for wiping clean and resisting spills.  I believe I bought 2 yds or so?  $14 worth.  

 I also purchased this sheet of foam.  For cost purposes, I went with the one inch thickness.  Again... about $14 worth of foam.
As you can tell, I removed the chair seats and traced the outline onto the foam & cut.

With my handy dandy staple gun, I covered each seat...nothing fancy.  And...Ta Da!!

I actually covered 4 chairs.  At around $30 worth of supplies and probably 30 minutes worth of assembly time, I love how this project turned out :)

Be inspired.

A little catchup.

Well. I can honestly say I'm relieved to log on to my blog and realize it hasn't quite been a year since my last post.  I had feared the worst.  But to only have to catch you up since September? Oh, now that's not so bad....

Through my time away, Pinterest has seemed to start and take over the way I used to blog and surf the net.  The convenience and ease of sorting through Pinterest has challenged my inspiration to blog on my own.  Regardless, I am going to push through the feeling...

In the months that have passed.. to quote the great Sister Hazel - Life got in the way.  If I had the drive to unload, you'd fully understand and support the hiatus.  But, with recent encouragement from the faithful followers of Love the Blog, here I am. Excited to reignite my creative, design side.

So. Here's what we're going to do.  10 months in review in just a few pics.  [I decided to avoid holiday pics - cause we all know that's a-whole-nother ball game].

The small group got to come together to decorate for Gone Country.  Hours of blood sweat and tears. 

...and of course arts and crafts... 

Daddy and I built a planter.  From scratch. [now if only i could keep plants alive]

Made a sweet pumpkin emoticon with my best friend.  

Directed my first ever kids musical: God of this City.

Totaled my second car of the year :/ [it looks more extreme because they had to take the doors off]

Finally! Finished my cabinets :)

Directed a team to decorate the entire church for Christmas.

Smashed my thermostat.  And had to replace on my own. 

Learned Thriller and danced it in true zombie fashion.

Learned to make sushi.

Was celebrated on Valentines Day for the first time ever.  And though he's not still part of my life, the lessons on love I could rattle off from our short few months together could inspire anyone to pursue true love.  

Helped my parents move. To SC no less. 

Went to the Masters for the first time ever with my bro.  And froze my tail off. 

And this sweet brother....

Well...he graduated.

And this best friend...

is getting married in 11 days to an incredible man.  

These 10 months... they have been full of things I never wanted to experience, emotions I didn't know I had, and friends who care deeper than I imagined.