Before & After: $5 Chair For A New Office On A Budget

So once upon a time I stumbled across this chair...

It was when I lived in California. I was on a hunt for cheap romance novels as a (obviously hilarious) gift for a friend when I stopped by one of the sketchiest thrift stores I had ever seen.  It was dirty and smelled funky and - wait, whats that in the corner? Pink velvet? I'm on my way.  There it was under a terrifying pile of old afghans... a beautiful beat up creature and it was only $5. Sold.
For awhile the chair sat in my living room as is. A few years later I was redoing my home office and I was looking evvvvverywhere for a new desk chair. Then one day I realized, with a little work, this chair could be the chair of my dreams. 
I started with the frame. The seat easily came off by removing a few screws. The back cushion was attached to the frame by a few buttons which were also easily removed.  After cleaning it off, I took the frame out to the driveway for a little sanding and a few coats of spray primer.  The final coat was a black lacquer spray.  Already it was looking like a completely different chair. 
Since I was trying to redo the office with a very small budget, I used a fabric that I already owned to recover the cushions. I think it was about $10 a yard.
Using a staple gun and making sure the fabric pattern was lined up and straight, I attached the fabric to the bottom cushion. The back cushion was the most challenging part. I turned two pieces of fabric in on each other and laid them over the cushion. I pinned around the edges to copy the shape of the cushion. There might be an better way to do this but this worked out well for me.  I sewed the fabric together and flipped the cover inside out. I slid the cushion inside and sewed the bottom closed by hand.
At first, I was intimidated by the thought of having to make cloth buttons but it was way easier than I thought it would be. I went to my local fabric store and the woman there showed me what is called "half ball button covers". They are basically a front metal piece that you wrap fabric around and secure with a back metal piece. Easy peasy.  When I had finished sewing the buttons on, I reassembled the chair. 
This is the After:

 Here it is in the office:

 When I moved a year later it found a home in the new Gray & White Bedroom:

For about a day of work and $30 total I had a brand new chair that was EXACTLY what I wanted.  And ever since then, I've learned that for the most part, the creepier the store, the cooler the stuff.

DIY: Brighten Up Your View With Hanging Vintage Bottles

       So I was at the shop the other day and we had just taken in a lot of beautiful vintage glass bottles.  By a lot I mean, HUNDREDS.  So thinking I would have to display them beautifully in order to sell them, I pulled out some old ribbon, cut some clippings from the many, many hot pink geranium plants in the shop... and within half an hour I had an amazing window display to inspire the masses that they too can decorate with vintage glass bottles.  

    
      As I sat there admiring my workmanship, it suddenly occurred to me... I HAVE A TON OF THESE SAME BOTTLES AT HOME.  For years I've been picking up old medicine bottles from dirty barns and basements and even in old campsites. Currently they were sitting in a sad little line on a shelf in the bathroom waiting for me to "actually have time to do something with them".  Meanwhile, it had taken me all of 20 minutes to make a display for the store windows with the same type of bottles. 
      I got home that night with the display having the exact effect I had hoped it would - I wanted people to want to go home and create something.  I gathered up some small hooks, a hammer, some ribbons and the bottles.  First, I nailed the hooks over the window spacing them apart (fairly) equally.  I used hooks because I anticipated that these would work well if I ever changed the bottles out for something else. For this particular project small nails would work just as well. The nails can be hammered right into the trim like I did or you can place them on top of the trim facing the ceiling and not have worry about any visible terrible nailholes.  If you would like to be able to move around the bottles as one piece, to hang against a wall or in front of a different window, you can use a small wood piece such as a 3/4" square cut to width.  

Next came the easy part. I tied each of the bottles with a green raffia ribbon from my local craft store. I circled around a few times, tied a knot, then circled around again and did the same thing.  Figure out beforehand how low you want the lowest bottle to hang. Cut all the ribbons to be about a foot longer than that. 

Raffia Ribbon Wrapped and Tied Tightly

Now I'm sure there is some scientific design formula that can tell you how to get them most pleasing display of bottles but if there is, I don't know it. I decided to wing it. Starting a little off center, I hung the bottle that I wanted to be the lowest. Instead of knotting it up, I wrapped the ribbon around the hook four or five times to give it a temporary hold.  I then worked out from the center trying to vary the heights.  When I was done, I took a step back to see if I liked the look. This is where not tying the ribbon came in handy.  I was able to easily adjust the heights of the bottles until I was satisfied with the overall look.  My advice is, don't overthink it. There is no set rule to bottle hanging heights and the display looks so beautiful as a whole that no one would ever stop and say to you, "well do you think that second bottle should be higher?". 

Wrapping the ribbons around the hooks allows you to adjust as needed.

       When I decided on a pattern, I secured the knots and clipped the ends. Here is the finished product which now hangs in the window over my desk. I absolutely love it. The flowers inside are fake (omg!) for now but I cant wait to get outside to get clip some of the wildflowers that grow like crazy during the summer.  I think I will start with one of my favorites, daisies.

      The great thing about this project is that it can be customized to fit your style.  Big pale pink peonies with a soft aqua ribbon in the spring.  Raffia and seagrass for a beach house.  Metallic ribbon and pine clippings hung with tiny ornaments for an amazing christmas display.  You can use colored glass bottles with big white flowers or stuff each one with a colorful bouquet instead of a single bud.  The possiblilities are literally endless.  If you have the bottles, the whole project can take under an hour.  If you don't have glass bottles... starting keeping an eye out! Thrift stores, antique fairs, flea markets, and the floors of old dirty barns... you never know where your next treasure will come from!