To Be or Not To Be

I hunted high and low for drapes to hang in my dining room. Finally after purchasing & returning (making multiple trips to Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware, JcPenney), I settled on the Felicia curtains from Ikea. They give the appearance of silk dupioni due to it's nubby yet smooth texture. And surprisingly, there have an even hang. Do spruce these up with a non-standard issue Ikea rod & rings. You'll have everyone guessing where you picked up these fabulous silk drapes! Your dirty little secret will be that they were under $100.00!

DIY Project: Reupholstering Dining Chairs - Part 2 of 2

I'm finally done! I purchased a playful pattern that ties colors that I have around the house . It's an outdoor fabric that's waterproof so hopefully, droppings will not stain too badly. For the cushion, I used a 1" high density foam and extra loft batting. I have one down and another one to go. Then, I'm off to find my second set!

If you are curious of material selection, check out my new section on the left - Nest Essentials.

DIY Project: Reupholstering Dining Chairs - Part 1 of 2

I was really happy to see on the cover of Metropolitan Home the headline, "The Mix is In". This theme goes hand-in-hand with my latest project of refinishing & reupholstering old dining room chairs. I am planning to replace my existing chairs with two mis-matched sets that will share the same uniform color & fabric. Having a hard time visualizing... come along!

A couple weeks ago, I found these on Craigslist for $20. As you can see, they were in pretty desperate shape, but I really liked their Chippendale-esque styling and was quite excited by the possibility of dabbling in upholstering!

Like my previous project, I had to sand away the original finish. Then, I applied primer onto the sanded surface. One mistake that I made was not tinting the primer to my final color choice. I had to apply 2 heavy coats of paint in order to obtain the desired color. Now, I'm off to the fabric store to pick the perfect pattern.

Let There Be Lucite

This is a chic alternative for extra seating, Lucite fold-up chairs. They are simple in construction but have the durablity of chrome. And you got to love that they are less than $50 each. Hurry up and snatch some up!

Dining Space

Here's the Wenge again in our new house. I've settled on this configuration for now in our dining room. I'm planning to add some additional wall interest with color & art.

Picture Worth a 1000 Words

Lately, I've been looking around for a sideboard to go along with my Wenge. Here's something that I found online at All World Furniture that I'm anxious to go see in person. I'll report back and let you if it lives up to all its online glory...

Balanced Juxtaposition

One recommendation that I have for novice DIY decorators is don't worry about being matchy-match. You don't have to buy the whole set or complete line. Most of the time, contrived juxtaposition results in balance. In my breakfast area, I blended two sets of chairs (purchased at DWR's sample sales) to create an intimate breakfast area.

Also, in a later post I mention how I love the Saarinen. I caved and just got its close cousin. I love Ikea's Docksta. It suits my need for now.

The Wenge & Marimekko

This was our dining room. Round tables are great because everybody practically faces each other. They're condusive for intimate conversation. We call ours the Wenge. This was our first purchase together as a couple. We fell in love with it because of its detailing and the fact that it stands on only 3 legs. The only draw back is that it only seats 6 - 7 comfortably. There's no extension which equates to smaller dinner parties :) Great for me in the clean-up department, but a bummer for my husband, who loves to entertain. Here's a shot of it in the limed honey version.

I added a lazy susan to the table because typically there are a lot of side dishes involved in Korean cuisines (more on me - I'm Korean!). The one that I wanted for the table was selling for $350 dollars. I got mine at Ikea and gave it a fresh spray of paint for $30.

On the wall is a Marimekko wall hanging. I chose this print because I wanted to bring a little of the outdoors in. I absolutely love the scale and organic design . And the best part of it all... can you believe that it was around $90 to purchase. Of course there was some sweat involved staple gunning it together. But I love it. I'll show you how I incorporated it into our new house shortly.