This is my old red couch!

We bought it about 10-11 years ago...when I loved red.

It is still in great shape because we really don't sit on it much,

but let me tell you it is comfy.

Once I painted the concrete floor I didn't love the red couch with it.

So I decided it was time to try my hand at slipcovering.

Many people I know I have done slipcover projects.

My friend Shannon at Anythingology slipcovered her couches last year.

My friend Wendy at Simply Brookes slipcovered her old couches years ago.

Her sister-in-law Heather is working on hers she gave me the tip on where to buy the fabric.

Nick of Time -- $3.50 a yard for white denim....this is a good deal.

They sent samples. It was $20 to ship from Pennsylvania to California but still worth it.

I pre-washed it. And it did shrink by about 25%.

Here is the finished product. I need to figure out how to tighten up underneath the curvy arm.

Will probably use a little velcro underneath, and attach it right to the couch.

But, all in all I am happy with the final product.

It was alot of work.

I got some tips from this website.

And opted for no piping to make it a little easier to get the fit right.

latest project

My friend Shannon over at Anythingology painted her floor.

It looks awesome.

My carpet is 11 years old.

Plus we have this lovely dog!

He sheds....alot!

And loves to lay on the carpet.

I have been thinking about ripping up my carpet and following in Shannon's footsteps.

My husband was afraid it would be a little echoey because we have

large vaulted ceilings.

But, I decided to go for it! Friday my mom and I ripped up the carpet,

the tack strip, and hauled the carpet and padding out to the garage.

(and yes it is a little echoey)

Yesterday afternoon Shannon and I sanded the concrete.

Here is the view just before we got started.

This is what the kids were doing out back while we sanded!

Us after sanding.

This picture doesn't really show how dusty we were.

The room got so dusty we could barely see.

The shop vac we later discovered had a rip in the bag so the dust

was not being contained well at all.

Here are some pictures after the dust settled.

All entries from that room to the rest of the house were covered in

plastic to try and contain the dust.

It worked for the most part.

If you look on the left of the picture below you can see my dark wood floors

which are gray with dust.

Ben helped me do some cleaning but I have alot more to do today. While

Ellie is at preschool!!

Excited about phase two painting!!

Organizing - Purging Free!

I have been organizing and purging!

We have been in our house 11 years this weekend!

Wow! Where does the time go?

The thing is when you don't move...you don't really have to go through everything.

It just piles up.

So I am slowly going through every closet, cupboard and drawer.

Here was my goodwill pile.

AmVets came this week three more bags!!

I organized this tiny cupboard which holds Ellie's art stuff!

It was packed.

All this stuff above was stuffed in that cupboard.

Ahh clean slate.

Better huh!

My friend Wendy talked about organizing her junk drawers here.

Now she is an organizer...her junk drawers not so junky. I actually had to look

carefully to see what was cleaned up. I wish my junk drawers at their worst were that organized :)

Mine on the other hand quite junky.

And I do clean them every few months.

This clean up job mainly required dumping tidbits and old pens and pencils that nobody was going to use anymore.

Pathetically enough I have two junk drawers in my kitchen.

Things pile up on the counter.

If someone is coming over I will quickly brush all small miscellaneous stuff into one of these junk drawers ... bad habit.

And what's up with all the decks of cards you may ask?

I don't know. Ben collects cards somehow many of the decks are in this drawer.

We have been playing Spades alot recently boys against the girls!!

The girls are doing quite well I might add!

On to the pantry.

Here is my shelf of cookbooks and magazines.

Believe it or not more cooks illustrated mags on the floor in the pantry.

I took many of my "nicer" cookbooks and decided to put them out

on my open shelving in my kitchen.

Which then allowed me to put those mags from the floor onto the shelf.

Looking a little better.

Here is my open kitchen shelf.

Unfortunately I don't know where my before picture went.

But, trust me I think this looks a little better.

The best part about this project it cost nothing but time!!

I did not buy any additional organizing containers or supplies

just purged and cleaned up what I already had on hand!!

Happy Organizing!

P.S. Random underlining again...just happened on it's own,

not sure why that keeps happening.