Summer Cecilia & Slipcovers

Time for a mini house tour!

There have been some changes around Cecilia's living areas this summer, starting with a new stove and dishwasher in white.  I know it isn't very fashionable to get rid of stainless steel appliances, but the kitchen is so small and the stainless steel looked so...heavy.  We love the change and I am now paying off the Lowes bill like a mad woman so we can get a white refrigerator to match.  I'm shooting for a mid September fridge date.  I made some sheet magnets out of a downloadable print I got to make the fridge artistic in the meantime (ha).  Anyone play Portal?  Rumors of a Portal 3 are swirling around again-- fingers crossed.

We spend the year paying off our Lowes bill so we can use it for remodeling projects in the summer.  It may not be the most economically sound course of action, but it works for us.  This year the list included new appliances, a super strong clothesline and painter's cloths...the latter of which I will explain in a minute.

The new dining table chandelier was an anniversary present from Mom and Dad (thank you sooooo much!).  I did a little refreshing to it-- look for more info in a future post.

Now here is where the dropcloths come in-- I slipcovered our sofa and chair! I think it opens the whole room up, and I love that I can chuck them in the wash when they inevitably get covered in pet hair.  I cheated a bit and picked up a slipcover from Target for the frames, which I tailored to fit.  The cushions and sofa backs are all my doing  though.  Using the canvas dropcloths was my Mom's idea-- she suggested them for Bayley's new place (tour coming soon) and I stole it from there.  They are super durable by design, inexpensive, and washable.  I removed the back cushions with an razor blade, and sewed new pillows to replace them.  I intend to make some additional cushion covers so I can change things up-- but for right now I'm loving the canvas color.   I got so excited about the project I didn't take any "during" pictures, save one of the sofa carcasses that I put on instagram, so there won't be a follow up how to post for this one.  There will, however, be a post explaining the arrow.

I changed out the picture frame paper decorations back in June-- Jeremy's Mom has been giving him airplane ornaments since he was young, and they are too cute to pack away.   We have a mobile where they hang from in his office, and I stole a few for this display.

And that's it for now!  

I'll do a full house tour sometime over winter break when everything is decked out for the holidays and the kids' rooms are a little less littered with the trappings of summer. Of course there will be more mini tours as I change things over for autumn, and I still have a few craft projects I want to get done before the semester kicks into gear. Like that corkboard wall behind the table...I have any idea for that, but it will require a quick trip to Lowes first. Tomorrow I'm thinking. And it shouldn't take too much out of my new refrigerator budget to do...