The World's Ugliest Ottoman Transformed!

You get an extra post this week. Isn't that exciting? LOL Anyway, Happy Valentines Day to everyone and hope your sweetheart makes you as happy as mine makes me.
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This is the world's ugliest ottoman and I am almost ashamed to admit I bought it in 1973. Yes, I did! But the upside to this is that as ugly as it is, it's been used every single day since we bought it and hasn't lost its foamy-ness (just try to figure out how to spell that since there isn't a word) or its usefulness or its cushiness. It was well worth the price. The chair it came with is long gone. I just couldn't stand it anymore. Gone to chair heaven with all the other hideous stuff I've bought over the years. Remember, when hubs was a Marine, we took hand-me-downs and whatever we found cheap at garage sales. This was the sixties so you can imagine what we had. This ottoman and its matching chair I actually picked out myself new. Bleecchhhh!! Must have been cheap because I wouldn't even consider it today. That's why I gave it a new cover. This is what I made for it a couple of years ago. It's in the forefront here.

Here it is uncovered, ready for a new fresh cover.

I used a $20 drop cloth from Home Depot and had some left. Now, here's the story.

I used the old cover as a pattern so that worked out well. But when I put the skirt on the two seams were inside out. Now, I did this over a couple of weeks to not get frustrated and hurried and make mistakes. Sigh. Mistakes happened anyway. I ruffled the skirt and them sewed it to the border around the middle with the seam showing on the outside. Hubs told me to just take it apart at the two seams and turn them. I started doing it for then I realized I not only sewed a straight seam but I also sewed a overcast seam and that wouldn't come out as easily. So I thought I'd be creative, leave the seam inside out and add a feather stitch up the seam. Turned out fine. I simply didn't want to take it completely off and turn it around after sewing it on and overcasting all the edges.

This is the top with a ruffle of rose and cream stripe. I still need to iron the whole thing and hem it. But it's pretty much what I wanted to do.

Here is the seam if you look closely. Just a cute embellishment, I must say and there are only 2 seams so that's a bit of luck.

A fence with a plethora of roses on it.

I thought this wintry snow-covered road was beautiful.

Look at those darling little crocheted shoes for a little baby. And those little legs? Adorable!

Just a beautiful look at fall foliage.

Another look at a European village and the beautiful homes and walkways.

A lovely study in blue.

Just can't get enough of these thatched cottages and will display them as long as I can. They are so serene-looking.

And I love looking at dining chairs now that I am on another quest to find 2 more chairs for my dining room.

I love this setting but I think it's more than one tablecloth. I could do this and think I shall when I get some time. First come the dining room table and 2 French chairs, painting them with some chalk paint. This may take a while though. I'll be looking for some old cotton sheets for making the 2 cloths.

I thought this was one of the cheeriest 2 rooms I've ever seen. Just so bright and cute.

This has also given me an idea. I have a chandelier just like this over my dining table but done in pink. But I am going to add some little roses to the lower arms like this. Truly, I can't get enough roses! :-)

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Tidbit:
Worldwide, Norwegians drink the most coffee and have the highest rate of anxiety disorders.
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Linking up with Inspire Me Monday.

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New Ottoman Cover

I finally finished it. It was NOT easy! And, yes, I changed my mind about the skirt fabric. My mind is forever changing. But the pink stripe didn't look as good as I thought it would when I took it out and really gave it a good look against the other fabrics in the cover. But then I came upon this little chevron-type fabric and it  really looked lots better and cuter. I cannot begin to tell you how much fabric I've given away lately. It was time to admit I'd never use all of it ever. I gave several boxes full of fabric to the thrift store and bags full to a friend in our church. I still have some left but it gives me enough that I can make a few things without having to buy more fabric. I truly am scaling down.

I'll never use 4 fabrics again to do an ottoman.

I could not get it tight/snug enough so I had to tie it to the legs. If I were smart, I'd redo it, but no one ever accused me of being smart. ;-) You'll notice hubs' shadow of his long, strong legs on the right. He had to put a cluster of his rimrod grapes on there. He's such a stylist! LOL Noooo, he really isn't.

What is interesting about this fabric is how the artist designed a series of dots and pink and white to make it look like a chevron when view from afar. While hand hemming this and being up close to the fabric I could see how the dots and the positioning of pinks and white made it look that way. Amazing.

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Look at the clever lace design in each of these hanging lamps.

A bedroom in a dilapidated vintage room.

Cupcakes for a king or queen. How cute!

Another dilapidated room, which seems to be all the rage now.

That huge iron pot sure makes a statement in this yard. Beautiful.

This is actually a manageable idea for a picnic at your favorite park, just take your own table, chairs and hanging lamp. I quite like it, but it'd be Love Bunny doing all the moving and lifting. I don't think he'd be too keen on that. ;-)

Lovin' the colors in this one.

I have some hat boxes like those.

Wouldn't you love an outdoor shower like this one?

One of the most adorable spots I've ever seen.

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Linking up with Create with Joy and SSS WOW and Open House Party.

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The New Living Room Ottoman

I snagged this ottoman or footstool the last time we were back in California to visit with the kids. Daughter's getting stingier with giving me things! She'll inherit them one day. I tried to snag more things but she was adamant this time. LOL Maybe next time I'll get something I really want. But she is making me a mosaic wall clock so I can't complain. :-)

Anyhow, I have this piece of Paganelli Sis Boom fabric that I've loved for a long time. I used a bit of it and there just wasn't any way at all I could make the cover for the entire footstool out of it, so I had to be a bit creative.

See what I mean. There were cuts in it.

And while I do like this fabric I purchased recently for the living room curtains, I still wanted the Sis Boom fabric rose as a centerpiece,

I'd still have had to be creative with this fabric also, not enough to be the only fabric on it.

So using the Sis Boom rose fabric as a centerpiece, I very carefully cut it out. Then decided to incorporate the rose-strewn fabric as a border. Then I added a piece of a beautiful rosebud fabric around that. All of the fabrics are pink and yellow, varying shades, but they go together nicely. This photo can be enlarged to show it at 1200 pixels wide for you to see it better.

This photo can also be enlarged to 1200 pixels wide to show you the closeup and the tiny rosebud fabric much better.

I plan to put a ruffled bottom around it using this striped fabric. I've held it up to the little top covering and the stripe does go well with it.

The other project I've been doing along with the footstool is a cotton/polyester ruffled tablecloth. I want something other than vinyl, which stains mercilessly with any kind of red sauce—lasagne, spaghetti—and will NOT come out no matter what. I've tested a piece of this 54" fabric purchased from Joanns by snipping a piece about 4x4", smearing it with catsup and red Kool-Aid, blow drying it to set it in, washing it in the machine along with this big piece of fabric to pre-shrink it before adding the ruffles. It came out clean as a whistle and I was thrilled. So on to putting the bed skirt ruffles around it. This is the result.

This photo I edited to take out all the color. Nice contrast, but I really nice color the best.

Bigger view as I stepped back a bit to show you. I don't know why the ruffles look whiter than the top but it's much nearer white than it is off-white.

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These blues are very pretty!

I could do this with my hanging potholder also. Why do I not think of these things? I don't put my pots on it as hubs is tall and I have to make sure he doesn't get konked on the head...unless I do it. ;-)

More lovely tapes in colors and roses.

A row of cottages along a pond. If you step out your door, you'd better be careful a car doesn't smash into you. The roads in England and Ireland are the narrowest I've ever seen. Our son was recently in Scotland and he said they drove rather crazily there, but seriously crazy on those small roads and he's from California! They don't get any crazier than the freeways there! ;-)

Some of you may have seen this lamp recently. I think I spotted it in a catalog but cannot remember where it was.

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Linking up with Claudia's Favorite Things.

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