Benches and Table Makeover

Jeez Louise! I just realized I never posted photographs of my table and bench makeover! Above is the "before" photo and below are the "after" shots. This sweet little set belonged to my grandparents, who had it in their first apartment in Chicago. One day my father revealed that the wood on the set was a nice birch wood beneath the paint, and he suggested that they'd look great refinished. Well, six whole days of my life later they did look great.

Part of the reason it took so long was because I tried out an eco-friendly paint stripper from the hardware store, which simply didn't work. It also took a long time because the benches don't disassemble, so there were lots of nooks and corners to scrape and sand. I recovered the bench seats and table inset with Amy Butler fabric and a layer of thin plastic (to protect the fabric from spills). It's been so long since I did this project, I've actually been thinking about re-covering them again, which is what inspired me to put up this post. I'm thinking of swapping the floral fabric for solid, white oilcloth for a sleeker look.

[Ed note: I did all the dirty work in my parents' driveway not in my one-bedroom apartment.]

Greening Co-ops

This article in yesterday's NYT struck a note with me. My co-op has talked a bit about what green choices we can make as we embark on some major structural work. The NYT points out how hard it is to convince co-op and condo members to spend on something that won't pay itself off for years if not decades, but they don't talk much about what kind of grants/subsidies are available for co-ops, which is something I would be curious to know more about.

D.I.Y. Y-Socket Lights

A while back, I wrote about the light fixtures at Vynl made from Y-sockets. Since then I have seen similar lights in lots of places. Then a couple weeks ago, Time Out New York ran a great step-by-step article on how to make similar lights yourself. Shortly thereafter I spotted a similar fixture at Urban Outfitters. It's not a great photo, but I really like how this version of the Y-socket light uses a variety of different bulbs. I think it gives the light a little extra edge. If you want to make your own, be sure to check out TONY's fantastic instructions.

Revealed: Shelves and Cabinets!

So, here's a quick peek at the shelves and cabinets. As you can see, I am not done getting things into their places: None of the art has been hung up and there are books all over my living room. (I've identified four boxes worth of books to be given away, which was tough for me to do.) You can also see that the cabinets are very high (look at the chair for scale). When I measured everything I apparently didn't think to measure the height of the cabinets, and as it turns out, kitchen cabinets are much higher than desktops.

The guys are coming back on Saturday to finish the patch on the floor, and they are going to take the legs off the cabinets then, so they'll be about four inches shorter, which should be much better. Otherwise, this is pretty much how the new storage will look.

Closet Project: Progress

So, a crew of guys came on Saturday and removed the closet. My boyfriend and I picked up the cabinetry at IKEA. Last night the guys spackled, primed and painted the ceiling. Tonight they are mean to come back and finish the painting and hopefully, patch up the floor and assemble the cabinets. After all the wait, this job is happening pretty quickly. Here's some pictures of what things are looking like midway through. After the wall came down, I decided I might need to re-think where everything goes. Current thinking is that the shelving will go on the wall to the left of the front door wherere the boxes are above. More updates to come shortly.




Below is what my bedroom looks like with all the rest of my stuff crammed into it. Nice, right?