Couch makeover // Before+After

Behold, our new couch! Well, technically it's a single bed turned into a sofa, but who cares about these tiny insignificant details, right? The original was handed down to us by an incredibly kind lady who also gave us kitchenware and 2 cupboards. We are so grateful that someone helped us out like that. Otherwise, we'd still be sitting on the floor.

For some reason, I don't like the color red when it come to decor. It's just too loud for my taste. Which is why I decided to change up all the covers. Aside from the two grey Ikea pillows, all of the fabric I used was vintage from my stash. Funny thing is, there was just enough fabric to make the cover and pillow cases, all that's left are small scraps. I've had these fabrics in my stash for so long, and I loved them, but until now, I just couldn't figure out the project to use them. Well, I guess they were waiting to meet this bed.

We bought all of the filler pillows from Ikea. I had to make the big ones a little bit smaller to fit the bed frame (they only had 80x80cm pillows, but I needed 70x70). I'm contemplating adding some more colorful throw pillows into the mix once I get tired of this all neutral thing I'm so into at the moment. I'm sure it will happen once spring gets here. I always crave colors during spring.

I love our "new" couch. It makes our living room so much cozier and homier. I'll show you my sewing table next, but I have so many other plans for this space. Eventually, I'd love to have a gallery wall above the couch, and I'd love to make some sort of ottomans to put our feet up on. There's still a lot of furniture missing, but it's feeling more like home by the day.

If you have any questions about this project, let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

xo. Hanna

Vintage hamper makeover with electrical tape

I don't usually get to do a lot of furniture makeovers since we live in a fully furnished rental, but I always feel such excitement, when I get do restyle something in our home. Now, yes, it's a hamper, but we'll call in furniture anyway. I guess, technically it is :).

The story of this hamper is that it belonged to my parents, and it was the hamper in our home when I was growing up, up until we moved to our house. I have distinct memories of this hamper, which makes giving it a makeover the more enjoyable.

The makeover itself was super easy, though it was a little time-consuming. Or, rather, tedious would be a better word. I got the idea of using electrical tape for this restyle from A Beautiful Mess. I've been wanting to try this method ever since I saw this washer and dryer makeover on their blog. Finally, when my Dad pulled out the hamper from our attic, I knew it was the perfect project for it.

 I used: 

• a plastic weave hamper
• black electrical tape
• scissors
• a pen
• books

The process itself was easy. First I taped every other row on the lid, leaving about 2cm of extra on both ends to be able to push it between the surrounding strip. Then I taped every 2 rows on the rest of the hamper. Since I knew my hamper would be facing a wall, I didn't really bother taping in the back.

When the taping was done, I cut all the taped rows in all the places where it crossed the vertical weave. Once cut, I tucked all the edges under the vertical strip. It was pretty easy to move the strips, so the tucking was easy.

The last step was to makes sure the tape was secure and following the pattern of the original plastic strips. So I took a pen and started pushing the tape into the lines on the plastic with the tip. At first I used my nail (like in the picture above), but then I realized that left some marks here and there on the tape, so I switched to a pen, which was smoother. Since the plastic had been weaved to a wooden frame, which didn't support it at all places, I used large books and pushed them against the plastic from the inside, so I could then push the lines in with the pen from the outside.

Love how this turned out! Much more modern, and the tape covered all the bigger stains on the plastic, as well as the rusted nails on the last strip of plastic. Also, I'm so glad I did the tape every 2 rows on and not every other row like on the lid, since you can now get a  better feel for the weave as well. I ran out of tape, or otherwise I would've taped the top 2 rows as well to hide the nail heads.

What do you think about the makeover?

Thanks for letting me share!
xo // Hanna

DIY Gold striped mirror

Being a student on budget, and living in a rental apartment, you have to be creative with your interior design projects. After moving from a bedroom with a closet with mirror doors into my sewing room with no mirrors, I was in a dire need of a mirror. A girl cannot exist without a mirror. That's just common sense. Luckily my Grandma had a mirror stashed in her attic that she wasn't using, so she gave it to me. But, looking at that red colored frame I knew I had make it over.

The frame was in good condition - I only had to do minor touch ups here and there. I wanted to keep the color palette neutral since I already have an array of different colored wood furniture in that room. Yet, plain white would have been just too boring, so I went with a little golden accent.

If you'd like to try and make your own gold striped mirror, here's how:
Prep work: Since the frame had already been painted it didn't need sanding, but if your frame has not been previously painted, you need to sand it to prep for paint. The second step is applying painters tape all around the inside of the frame to protect the mirror from paint.
1. Once you're finished with the prep work, it's time to paint the frame. I did 3 coats of paint, giving enough drying time in between layers.
2. Now that your frame has been painted, it's time to prep for the stripes. Use a ruler and a pencil to mark your stripes on the frame, then cover the rest of the frame with newspapers and painters tape, leaving only the stripes open.
3. Start painting the stripes. I used golden spray paint. It's so easy to use and quick to dry. I did 2 coats of paint on the stripes.
4. Once all the stripes are done, leave tit to dry for 24h, then remove all the painters tape and covers. It's like opening up a present on Christmas day :).

Have fun painting!