A Little Paint and Fabric Can Make a BIG Difference.

Our house has come a long long way.  It still has just as far to go.  Being seriously underemployed of late, I have a lot of time but not quite so much money.  It took a while, but I finally found a couple projects that I could do for little money, but plenty of elbow grease. 

 

Meet my office chairs.  On the left, a 10 or 15 year old office chair that probably only cost $25 when it was purchased, to go with my family's FIRST computer.  It was retired to my bedroom just a couple years later for habitually loose bolts (which I have replaced most of over time) and for butt murder, because its foam had been so deflated.  It also wasn't the cleanest thing ever.  On the right is a Duncan Phyfe-style lyre chair.  It is probably a hundred years old, easy.  However, both the finish and the tapestry are both ruined.  Let's say it'll never be a collectors item or fetch a high price. 

In my primarily white & yellow office, these two were dark spots.  I went out and bought 2 cans of stick-to-anything-even-plastic spray paint, 2 yards of fabric with lemons on it and a yard of 1" foam. 

Aren't they cheery?  My staple gun and I make a good team. 

Also, there was a SECOND tapestry under the first.  The second one was actually in better condition, though also fraying from being sat on. 

 

The hidden tapestry actually looks pretty cool from the back AND it'd go well with our bedroom.  I think I'll keep it and frame it. 

I'm not so sure about the second one though.  They'd make a nice set, but it seems so busy. 

 

The front wall of my house is decorated with green shutters.  ALL the rest of them are quite boring

I just couldn't look at it anymore.  It needed some color.  Most of the windows are wooden and could use some paint anyway, but I need to find a ladder to get to them.  The garage, however, is a later addition and has very thin metal window frames, so I had to get creative. 

 

I took the planks from our fence that the tree had broken and cut them to size.  They're pretty old and weathered and I thought they'd give my little cottage the look that they'd been there for a while. 

Like? Oh, and did you notice that the big splotch on the siding is gone now? Nick pressure washed the ENTIRE house and sidewalk this past weekend with our neighbor's washer.  It was a much needed improvement.