Traci Niese | charcoal

Belfort Furniture, charcoal, great room makeover, grey, sectional, The Cloud, wall gallery

Great room makeover

This post is long overdue! Our great room makeover was complete several months ago, but I’ve been super swamped with both my book publicity job and Simply Said, so the blogging has fallen to the wayside. But, I love how the room turned out! So here’s a few pics to share…

Here’s the BEFORE:

Why the need for a makeover you might ask…well for a couple of reasons really. The walls were painted a tan and dark chocolate brown color. When we moved here, we had furniture that was dark brown, along with that black entertainment center furniture. We quickly sold the brown couch and chair, as I felt all the brown stuff really made the room seem dark. So, in haste, we purchased the white sectional seen in the photo above, and added in some orange accents. At first, I loved the new seating area. However, I hated it with the black TV stands. But, it wasn’t in the budget to replace it.

Slowly, we added in a new TV console and 2 open shelving units. And in just about the same time, the white sectional was showing major signs of wear. This was less than a year later, yet the knubby-style fabric looked so dingy. I learned its hard to keep white bright with a child in the house. Not to mention, it really only sat 3 people, and when we had guests over, our options for entertaining in that room were limited. And finally, if you had to sleep on it, as I was forced to when our upstairs AC went out, you would awake with a backache. Not comfy at all.

So hubby and I talked about replacing it. And finding a piece that would last forever and sit plenty of people. My friend had a sectional I loved – for it was massive and so comfy. We decided to make an investment in this furniture and bought The Cloud from a local store called Belfort. We ordered it in a charcoal Sunbrella fabric, that we could easily clean. And surprisingly, the fabric is soft – unlike what you might imagine when you think of outdoor fabric.

While I waited the 12 weeks for it to come, I purchased an ottoman from Home Goods. I found an Etsy seller who made curtains and pillow covers in the same fabric to match the ottoman. We also hired a painter and he gave us a deep charcoal accent wall, with 3 lighter grey walls.

And here are AFTER shots:

We also ordered this rug from Belfort – all in the same grey tones of the room. This sectional sits a lot of people!!

I know its hard to see the true paint colors, as the accent wall has 6 windows that let in a lot of light.

Since we painted, I had to remove my old Simply Said design from inside the frame. I replaced it with this new one!

So there you have it! The room is staying this way until the end of time – I swear! Besides hubby will not let me change it again!

July 10, 2015/0 Comments/by Traci

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, black braided trim, botanical, charcoal, Coco, contemporary, Fabric Emporium, french chair, grey, Jo-Ann Fabric, Louis, Old Ochre, reupholster, Robert Allen Fabric, yellow

French Chair Makeover

A few months ago I found a french chair. A french chair! Yippee, yay, and all those other adolescent-sounding words of joy raced through my head as I laid eyes on it and the incredible $15 thrift store price tag. I snatched it up and proceeded home to begin the transformation.

Here’s said chair in it’s BEFORE state…

You can probably see why I didn’t want to just plunk her down in my living room as is. First, this fabric was worn, and second, it smelled like a grandma. Plus these colors were drab. I knew these gorgeous arms and legs could be spectacular with a paint job.

So, hubby and I got to tearing off the dated fabric, welting and pulled lots of staples. You can read more about that process in my earlier post here.

But, here’s what she looked like underneath…

You can see the little horse hairs sticking out through the seat – a sign of a well-made chair!

Next I painted the wood with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Coco for the base and Old Ochre, with dark wax. More about that here, as well.

As I was nearly completion of the paint I had been out looking at fabrics. I ordered 2 Robert Allen home decor fabrics in a black and red combo. I chose these bold colors because I wanted something very geometric and the room is a palette of grays with red accents.

This one arrived…

The other did not. I had waited nearly 3 weeks to find out the black floral motif was discontinued. Grrr!

So, I visited the Fabric Emporium in Warrenton, Virginia and changed gears on the red/black vision in my head. When I saw the yellow and grey, I knew this was it! Went home and traced the pieces of old fabric I had torn off.

Then I started the staple process. Let’s just say I need to invest in a pneumatic staple gun, as there must be an easier way to do this. With the electric stapler I purchased, I had to use all my weight to push the gun down onto the wood, in order to get the staples to sit flush. Most went in crooked, if they went in at all. I was at my wit’s end at times. I would work for an hour and then walk away disgusted. So many staples were yanked and tossed in the trash. But, finally, I finished, and felt amazed at how good it looked. All it needed was a bit of braided trim to hide the staples and voila! Fresh, feminine and contemporary – I love how it turned out!

I made this little pillow slip-cover with leftover fabric by sewing together 3 sides of fabric and sliding in a pillow insert.

Tips I’d give to anyone else who wants to tackle a chair makeover (since this was my first and I learned lessons the hard way):

1) Allow an extra 1″-2″ of fabric along the edges of your templates (the old fabric you wrapped off). If you trace right along the edges you might find it’s too tight to staple on properly. I had to redo the seat as the first piece I cut was too small. How that can be possible I’ll never know. Just take my word for it.

2) Make sure you buy enough trim. I seriously underestimated how much I needed. I went home with 4 yards, and when I went back, they were out! Had to go to another store in another town. Lost a day there.

3) Use a pneumatic staple gun. Seriously. Why work so hard?

4) Blow a hair dryer over the trim to evaporate any glue gun strings. But, don’t hold in one spot too long, or you’ll loosen the bond.

And of course, enjoy your handiwork! I am!

August 31, 2012/0 Comments/by Traci