Old Brown Couch

In my days as a young'un, my 'rents bought this awesome Cargo furniture. 

Yep, that's me and my dog, Pansey.

This furniture was pretty expensive aparently.

It was durable, that's for sure.

And comfy enough, I suppose!  That's me and my Grandpa.  I miss him!  Ohhh look at that awesome Lamp O'Beans on the side table!!  Food storage!!

My Mom changed the cushion covers many times through the years.

And so this lovely wooden furniture stayed with our family through 20+ years.  From Ft. Worth, TX to Findlay, OH to Fredericksburg, VA.

One day, it ended up in the garage.

Unloved.  Unused.  Unappreciated. 

{Side Story...real quick:  Years ago, Mom and Dad went to the Cargo furniture store in Northern VA to pick out all new cushions.  Mom let Dad pick the fabric...why why WHY!!!???  The lovely Southwestern print above is what he picked out.  Let me remind you we live in Fredericksburg, VA and this contradicts any kind of decor Mom already had}

Anyways...

Mom tried unloading the furniture.  But she just wouldn't let it get away without a price.

After all, the 'rents had spent beaucoup $$$ on this stuff back in the day.  I believe it!  This stuff is solid!

Well, as you know, I've recently started to find some beauty in some of the old, unloved, loney furniture in the world.  Could the Cargo furniture have some potential? 

I'll let you be the judge.

I wanted to do it the right way.  I used an electric sander.  Man, that was exhausting!  I'm not bein' funny, it make my muscles weak!  Then, I hosed the furniture off.  Dust, cobwebs, spiders....all gone!

All in 100*+ weather!  Lovely!

Next, priming.

Bam!  Justin and I really hesitated to do this, but we bought an electric paint sprayer thingy from Home Depot.  It was $69 well spent!  Once the paint was thinned out correctly, it took like 10 minutes to prime everything.  Awesome!

The brand was Wagner, I believe.

We did this because this is a BIG project...too big for having to use 20+ cans of $5 primer by Kilz.  Not gonna happen.

Now, the paint.  Again, used the paint sprayer....LOVE it!

I used Olympus brand paint in Almond Paste.

Now, this project actually was idealized by myself months ago.  During that time, I had browsed the web for fabrics to make new cushion covers.  I found the perfect fabric at The Fabric Guru.  There is a Clearance section online.  The fabric I chose was flawed at the edge, so it was super cheap.  I was confident it wouldn't be a problem, so I got something like 13 yards for $70 after tax and shipping.  Around $5 a yard is an awesome deal!

I have to recognize my Mom now because I really didn't help with the sewing of the cushions.  I just don't really know that much about sewing, plus my machine is awful.  She didn't seem to mind doing it.  It was a bit of a frustrating project at times because she had to start over and buy more fabric and stuff...but after all was said and done...it all turned out!

Of course, I glazed the furniture.  Ex-hau-sting!  But so worth it.

You ready for pics?!  Cause I am!

Hold your breath....

Oh.my.gosh...I LOVE it!! 

And you know what?  I'm happy for it to be a part of my little family.

I had a very happy childhood.

Lots of memories created while these couches sat and watched.

They're happy to be out of the garage. 

And I'm happy to have some space in there.

The Stairwell

Oooh this blog title sounds like it could be the title to a scary movie or something...
...yeah, something like that. 

The stairwell in our house was quite the project.  And I cannot really take credit for much of it.

You see, about 10 years ago the stairwell was changed.  Originally, it was carpeted and led straight to the downstairs.  But it was changed completely.  The carpet was totally removed.  Gone forever.  A landing was made right toward the bottom of the staircase and an opening was cut into the wall that led into the laundry room.

The reason for the change was because some family members needed a place to stay for a long while.  So my Dad and Brothers worked endlessly to make our basement into an apartment.

Now, Justin and I are renting the house.  Our landlord aka my Mom, wanted the opening to the utility room closed off and the stair case changed back.

Justin and my brother did that...but left it unfinished. 

This is pretty much what our staircase has looked like for more than a year:

Okay, it didn't really look this bad for the entire 10 years.  The banister on the stairs was installed.  But do you see on the right wall all the drywall compound?  That is where the opening used to be.  The stairs themselves are plain ol' wood.  They are deadly, too. 

So, it took about 2 weeks but Justin finally finished smoothing out the drywall compound.  We both helped to paint the stairwell.  I got to pick the color.  It is a gray color made by Olympus called "Secret Passage."  I also painted the railings and banisters white.

Before.

After.

What do you think?

Painting the railing was SUCH A PAIN!!  I hated every moment of it.  I am much too lazy to be brush painting.

When it came to painting that banister, I cheated and spray painted it with Krylon Glossy White.  Sure, the whites aren't exactly the same but I am the only one who knows that. :)

The best part of this project is that we had carpet installed!  I am so happy to have carpet back on the stairs.

The stairwell project was a small accomplishment.  We are going to be painting the entire house.  I have the pallette all picked out and I am SO excited. 

It has taken a while to get started though.

One day at a time....one project at a time.