Friday, May 6, 2011

Let's talk about furniture

When we moved back onto the land from our sailboat ten years ago, we had almost no furniture (everything we owned was either on the boat or in a 5x5 storage unit) so I went garaging as furniture at garage sales is almost always cheaper than at thrift stores. I found this fantastic vintage wood couch for $95(it is very heavy wood and believe me, you do not want to stub your toe on the club feet!!!). It was painted a distressed white and had a blue cushion on it. I redid it with a distressed cream paint and had the cushion reupholstered in a soft cream/tan stripe.
Isn't the detail work just fantastic?!
Here it is with the matching pillows and some pillows that I made from silk shirts that I had. I measured the pillow forms and cut squares from the fronts and backs of the shirts (remember about 6-7 years ago when large Hawaiian type prints were popular - the thrift stores are full of them) making sure to center where the buttons and buttonholes were on the front. Then I sewed them together right sides together, turned them, ironed them, inserted pillow forms, and buttoned the buttons. So easy!!!!!
Here is a broader view of the corner of my living room (see how bright it is in the summer even with the drapes drawn). I bought the coffee table for $15 at a garage sale - it was painted a sickeningly bright yellow so I stripped it and painted it the same distressed cream as the couch. The funky lamp in the corner is from Pottery Barn - I got it free with reward points from purchasing my dining room set there. The rug is a Nain silk rug from Iran, purchased on ebay a long time ago. Silk rugs are very sturdy, feel great to bare feet, and age gracefully.
This is the view across from the couch - some of my wooden box collection on top of the television cabinet. The wood box on the right was hand made by my husband's uncle, who was a skilled cabinet maker for an old hotel. He made these jewelry boxes in his spare time.
Just to the right in the corner are 2 vintage prints of Nassau found in a thrift store and a pineapple watercolor by me.
Hope you enjoyed this little peek into my living room
Chris

3 comments:

Julie Tucker-Wolek said...

Wowwwwwwwwwww! I love your living room! That couch is AMAZING!!! And loving the pillows you made! You are just AMAZING!! I hope you have a Happy Mother's Day! :):):):):):):):):):):):):):)

Christina said...

very lovely!
xo

Hanneke said...

I love that vieuw of your livingroom, it's gorgeous so light I like that!!