Beast and the Beauty

I now have a reading nook in my bedroom.

You don't get to see the whole thing yet because I am still working on the

finishing touches, but heres a sneak peek.

Beauty.

White! I know! My bedroom, the only room in the house I can have white furniture in.

And even then it needs to be slipcovered so I can wash... but white! Love.

The Beast.

This is what it looked like when I bought it.

$5 from a thrift store.

This is what I did:

So that would have all been fine... if I wasn't positive that I would need to frequently wash it.

I needed to re-upholster and slip cover this one.

I got the fabric from Ikea in the "as is" section.

It matched the chair I bought which was also in the "as is" section.

Everything I learned about slipcovering and upholstery

I learned from watching HGTV and from this book.

This book gives fantastic instructions... way better then my feeble attempt at instructing.

If you are really interested in slipcovering something get this book.

How I slipcovered:

A few tips:

 • Fabric: To get a straight line on fabric I always tear it to square it up.

Any woven fabric will tear in a straight line.

Just make a little cut where you want to tear and pull.

Knits and denim will not tear properly, it needs to be woven fabric.

That is how I cut all the pieces for this project, because...

   1. I needed only straight cuts

   2. I hate cutting fabric

   3. I hate cutting fabric

   4, Tearing the fabric is easier

• Sewing:

   1. I sewed with a single stitch first so there would be less to un-pick if I made a mistake.

       Which is exactly what happened.

   2. Pin, pin, pin. You want everything to stay put while you are sewing.

   3. Reinforce the seams you want a strong seam because this needs to hold up.

   4. If you don't have a serger reinforce the seams with a zig-zag-stitch on your machine.

• Glazing base:

   1. Sand and wipe

   2. Apply glaze

   3. Spray with a clear spray paint to seal and protect

I hope you got that... sometimes I'm not sure if I'm typing in english or not.

Especially at 11:00 at night.

Thanks!

P.S.  These are the dishes that I didn't wash while I was doing this project.

Yuck... I had to clear out one side of the sink so I could wash out my paint brush.

The dishes had nothing better to do then wait for me... and breed, and grow, and multiply.

They do that everyday.

But an ottoman does not get recovered everyday in this house.

 - RM