Cheap to Chic Chaise

The "before" ain't bad at all. It's a great addition to the corner of this extremly large master bedroom. Just a large chocolate brown ultrasuede chaise. Not very rememorable. "After"

This piece is HOT! The new upholstery gives it a very custom and riche look! So custom and tailored. One could tour the entire house and remember the chaise in the bedroom now.

Kitchen Valance

Okay, so stay tuned because the client wants to send me a pic of this over their kitchen table window. They live in Murfreesboro so we designed this piece around the deminsions of the window. The piece is resting on my table in the pic. I stapled it to a 2 x 1" piece of wood that can be drilled into the wall or above the window casing. I trimmed the piece in a solid chocolate brown to give the eye a place for the busy print to stop. I always feel like large prints need to be blocked in somehow. We added a bit of permanent rusching to the ends. This keeps the piece from looking like a restangle over the window.
Pay no attention to the messy house in the background!

recovered ottoman

The "Before" of this project is showing a new new piece of foam on the existing worn out piece. The "after" shows a custom slipcover made and stapled onto the piece from underneith. No work is shown and the piece's material matches their recovered sofa as well.

Brentwood Hills Church Nursery

One of the Brentwood Hills Church nurseries is now updated! The collection of gliders were still nice and operating well but, the fabrics were faded and stained. 2 coordinating fabrics update and cheer this space into a place a baby boy or girl would love to "pat the bible" in. 2 ottomans were also easily updated to match the cushions. The valance was hung with industrial strength velcro to avouid drilling into the bricko block walls where there was no valance before. Box pleats across the top make a tailored statement.

2 Euros

These euros are for a young boy's double bed. They have an envelope closure in the back like any sham. The love the cording done on the bias with contrasting stripes. Stay tuned for some embellished panels made of this same stripe!

$13 Seating Area

This whole ensemble cost only $13.00!! Can you believe it? At a half price sale at Jo Anne's (my hangout), I purchased 1.5 yards of this outdoor material costing me only $13. I recovered an old ugly cushion from the eighties my mother had. Although it is curved in the front, it fits the bench well. I also recovered 2 ugly pillows that no one had admired in a long time. Without cording I was able to complete the look in less than 2 hours. For this grouping my fee is $40, however the price can go down with multiple cushions and pillows.

Allen's Outdoor Retreat

This is a large project I have been excited to share! The Allens' have a gorgeous back yard with an outdoor tv/fireplace conversation spot. The cushions that came with the black wrought iron furniture were torn and grayed by the sun and constant use.

What you are looking at now is two coordinating materials, one featuring vintage postcards with a polynesian theme and the other a Robert Allen Bamboo that is an awesome neutral for the black furniture.

A swing creates an unexpected seating option to finish out this area. We measured and created a custom foam piece for this swing. Each of the 13 cushions are double welted (cording) with a zipper in the back. Older faded pillows were recovered in coordinating materials to complete the outdoor room.

My Fvorite piece was this labor intensive 3 seat sofa. The Bamboo print is featured nicely here.


Off to the side of the living area is outdoor dining to match. 6 chairs are updated when we recovered the same cushions with the golden bamboo material. I made the square knot ties to keep the cushions in place. Awesome look that I hope lasts a very long time for the Allens who use it very often.

Dunn's Dining Drapes

This picture doesn't do this room justice (no offense Julie). Amedium sized window centered in their new dining room was forgettable. We sewd 4 store bought red panels together to create two double width panels. A large rod with wooden rings is more dramatic and traditional. Kyle hung it 3-4 feet out on either side off the window so the new panels cover mostly wall. Across the bottom we hemmed a 16" border of gold silk. This made the store bought panels appear more dramatic and coordinated well with an existing rug that ties everything in the room together. The gold material was purchased from Victoria's Bargain Basement, Ha! (After years of hoarding material, I have a little to share for cheap). Yeah! Custom drapes out of existing materials in this home.

Griffith's Glider & Ottoman

The Griffith's Purchased a glider desined to wear a slipcover. I made this one custom for them without cording or a skirt to be inexpensive and practical for laundering as Logan grows older. They will enjoy this in future nurseries and other rooms of the house later on because it will always be clean and bright due to the durable duck cloth cover. Material cost less than $35 and my fee was around $100 for the chair and ottoman - finished in one day while they were both at work. Thanks for the photo guys!

Black, White and Hot Pink!! w/ a Glider

The is a "before" picture of a Glider that was just fine. It just did not coordinate with the new Baby's bedding, so we slipcovered it with inexpensive duckcloth. Here is the "After" picture. It now matches the new bedding featured below perfectly! They can remove the slipcover to return to the original chair at any time they wish. This chair and ottoman slipcover with no cording or skirt cost $100.

I wish I had taken a close up of the ruffled hot pink trim we found at textile fabrics. It's like a tuxedo ruffle. It matches our ties perfectly. White is scarey to think about for children's bedding but this will wash well in cold water and air dried. The large black dot is actually outdoor material so it is especially durable.

I love this simple combination for a black bed!
I did not get to see these in the Black Rod Iron bed they were made for so I placed them on the edge of my son's toddler bed for the effect. I love this combination for the second baby girl in this family. Sweet Baby Girl #2 will be born in Arizona! Good Luck Hardins!

White minky dot for the interior is soft for the baby and the large black dot will pop through the black rungs of the crib. Inexpensive hot pink ribbon was easily sewn-on for the ties and coordinates well with the bright stripe in the ruffled crib skirt.

The Miller's New Nursery!

Elliot will enjoy the view from her window framed by these new panels lined with black out material for afternoon napping. The existing blinds do most the work. This material was a splurge so we did half widths for the panels with a small pinched pleat and a sewn-on metal ring. This is a view of the crib skirt which ties everything together. We repeated the dot from the bumpers on the trim of the pale pink pickay. The thick black ric-rac pops the combination and matches the crib.

Ben and Beth had the room painted the exactgreen from one of the dots in the bumpers. We made cuffs with upholstered buttons for a more tailored look instead of ties. First time I have done this and I really like the look for a change. The interior of the bumpers is the solid pink from the crib's skirt.

Hopefully there will be many quiet nights surrounded by sleepy pugs in this precious room.

Pair of New Chairs ~ Slipcovered

BEFORE~ These matching chairs are remnants from the early eighties. I have cut out the attached back cushions and removed the seat cushions for recovering in new clean material. I cut off the original box pleated skirt as well, so these are the bodies of the chairs bar bones.

AFTER - We have less than $40 in material because the Murries chose an inexpensive duck cloth that is fully washable and dog friendly. Now the chairs look fresh and new for their new home in East Nashville with gorgeous hardwood floors!
What a transformation! Who knew hand-me-down furniture could look so good? These slipcovers have no cording or skirts so they were extremly affordable to make as well. $90 a piece plus the cost of material.

Before Pic of Reupholstered Chairs

Okay, so I had a request for a before picture of a reupholstered item. Here is a scarey picture of the 2 gorgeous chairs reupholstered below. For those of you who like to hunt for treasure, all you need to look for is sturdy frames that are in good condition.
The seats of the 2 chairs were so old that they were stuffed with horse hair! We repadded them and smoothed out the edges with the awesome coordinating trim seen below in the after pic. Fabric included, the client had less than $200 dollars invested in each chaitr bythe time she was done! Try that at your favorite furniture store.

Large Formal Pair of Roman Shades

Rachel's pair of formal roman shades add color and interest as you enter the room. Her furnishings are traditional rich tones so the treatments add the bright color the room needs.

The shades are fully operational. They can rest all the way down to cover the entire window or be pulled to about 16" and appear almost like custom valances. The swag in the center of the shades makes them more dramatic and formal.

Please notice "Utah" the resident dachsund as she makes a stately pose in the center of the sofa.

One large shade like this one starts at $150. These shades are over 5 feet wide and 7 feet tall. Mounting the treatment just over the window casing gives a more custom look. When ordering multiples of the same treatment expect the price to go down. All roman shades start at $75 and go up from there. This includes all mounting materials, cording and a cord cleat to adjust the height of the shades. In most cases I can hang the treatment for free.

Callie's Big Girl Room

Callie has a big girl room with a bright, cheery color combination. I made the window cornice boards that frame out the window header. Sheer panels fall from behind.

Wish I could've gotten these pictures a little bigger. No luck.

Pinched Pleat Panels

Rachel's guest room turned out beautifully when she had the walls painted a rich chocolate brown. The room has 3 large windows that we flanked in pinched pleat panels made of a natural looking linen. They function nicely for privacy as well.

What a beautiful room this turned out to be.

Reupholstered Chairs

These chairs turned out gorgeous.
This material was perfect for this project. It had a quilted, silky effect and did not take away from the ornate woodworking on the chairs.
The owner found these chairs in poor condition and got a great deal on them. Now they look very chic!

Slipcovered Loveseat

This was one of those really tired looking pieces that was majorly revived by a cheery yellow damask material. A custom slipcover, but you would never guess because the curves have been excentuated. This slipcover cannot be laundered but could be removed for a drycleaning.

I charged $175 for this piece due to the boxpleated skirt and cording along with the corded cushion. Also a busy print like this one makes construction a bit more difficult. A good deal on material could turn your ugly piece in to a show stopper for less than $200.

2 Double Width Panels w/ Interlining

These curtains are the new shot of drama to this living room. The clients wanted "bold" because it is what you see as you enter the home. A large set of double sliding doors let in hot sun and cool air in the winter. I included an insulating interlining to these silk panels with grommets along the header. The interlining will prevent cold air from seeping in during the winter and vice versa during the summer. The grommets keep the look from becoming too traditional for this young hip couple but, are extemely functional for pulling back and forth daily.

Antique Recovered Chairs

These are a pair of great antique chairs Rachel picked up at an estate sale for a steal! Somewhere in my phone I have the before pictures and they have come a long way with the silky, quilted material she chose to cover them. I lais a clean blue lining over all the work done so everything looks really clean and crisp. They make a great showing in her home!

A Tisket, A Tasket.....Custom Bassinette!

A tisket, a tasket, a Baby in a Basket! Check out my friends gorgeous Baby, Mason! She had a neat antique bassinette she wanted to use but, had no linens to go with it, so we reused a large shabby chic curtain as the material! Perfect for keeping baby near by. I made the skirt to velcro onto the base of the basket and the interior liner lifts right out for easy cleaning.

McHaney's Big Girl Room

The 2 windows show my work. The four tie top panels are 100 inches long and bring your eye up with the detail of the bows. What a great room to grow up in! The panels just touch the ground and are funtional for pulling together at night and whenever McHaney needs her beauty sleep!

Tie top curtains were an excellent choice for this girly bedroom. McHaney's Mom picked an "Under the Sea" theme in the choosing of her fabrics. Vintage picks include mermaids, seahorses, and octopi. The quilt on the gorgeous antique bed ties everything in the room together.

Slipcovered Dining Chairs with boxpleats

Slipcovering a dining room chair brightens the whole room. This look is certainly popular right now. Any chair works - from a parsons chair to any ladder back chair.

Have you inherited a table and chairs you couldn't care less for but, don't have the money to start over? Duck cloth is less than $3 a yard! These chairs took less than 2 yards a piece.

Slipcovered sofa with 6 cushions

Matthew and Jenny just welcomed their first child, Grant! This slipcover will certainly help out in the future as there will definitly be plenty of messes to clean up in the family room. Now they can throw their whole sofa in the washer if need be!
Look at House Beautifuls February issue. You will see a designer featured from the 60s who was famous for the slipcovered look which is now coming back! The pictures' resemblance is remarkable and for only around $250. We arrived at this estimate because there were 6 individual cushions to cover and the box pleated skirt added to the bottom. Prices vary and estimates are free!

The sofa underneath the slipcover looked lik the dark green pillows we sat on top of the piece. What a contrast! The dark pillows on top keep the piece grounded and create depth otherwise the sofa would just fade away.

Jenny and Mathew had a very pretty olive green chenille sofa. Visually it was very dark and heavy in their "light and bright" living room. We used inexpensive duck cloth with an organic linen look to it. Now they can wash their cushion covers if they need to but, they have the versatility of returning to their original sofa whenever they like!