A Nook in Our Nest
When my sweet mother-in-law offered to give us her piano, my first thought was, “We have the perfect place for that! It would be so cute in the living room, right under the cut out that looks into the kitchen. And we can put the Bear’s saxophones on their stands in that spot and create an amazing music space!” And then reality came crashing in and I remembered, “Oh, yeah. We’re not that family.” You know that family, the modern day Von Trapps who have a cello, guitar, violin, ukulele, and banjo displayed prominently in their living room and actually play them. The only musical device I play is the radio. So, something else had to be done with that space. Enter these guys.
There’s nothing magical about them. Except that they were $15 each at a thrift store. I had never tackled an upholstery project like this and had no idea how I was going to transform these sad little guys, but I knew that if I left without them, I would massively regret it. I had been drooling over this fabric for six months when a remnant became available in exactly the right amount of fabric for half the normal price.
The thought of pulling the chairs apart to use the pieces as a pattern for the new fabric made my head spin. Making a slip cover would have been simpler, but I’ve done that before and been less than thrilled by the results. These chairs had to do justice to that glorious fabric. So I cheated a bit. I draped used sheets over the chairs and outlined each section of each chair on the sheet so I could use that as a template. Before tracing the templates on the new fabric, I essentially made slip covers out of the sheets to make sure they would fit the chairs. Once I knew the slip covers would fit, I pulled them apart again (super tedious). Of course, my fluffy gal pal kept me company while I traced the templates onto the new fabric.
In order to help my slip covers stay in place, I used nail head trim strips around the bottom of each chair and literally sewed the fabric in place under the seat cushions. You’ll see the result at the end of this post.
What good are comfy chairs in a reading nook without something to plop your feet on? This little guy was also a thrift store find. Sensing a theme yet? Years ago, I saw a tutorial for turning a coffee table into an upholstered bench and had been dying to try it. Why not turn a side table into an ottoman?
The first iteration was gorgeous, but was a bit much combined with the pattern of the chairs and rug, so he got toned down.The green fabric is from a set of curtains we had in our first house. They were not the world’s cutest window treatment, but my inner hoarder wouldn’t let me throw them away.
And, finally, a reading nook needs a place to set a cup of coffee. My mother-in-law had given me a set of bar stools that I didn’t know what to do with at the time, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s to never turn down free furniture. To turn this ordinary bar stool into a side table, I painted it white and antiqued it, then added a pine round from Lowes that I stained dark walnut, but it still just looked like a white bar stool with a large seat. I gave it shelves by wrapping twine around the dowels on the sides. This not only disguised the stooly-ness, it created unexpected bonus storage for books.
This is now my favorite place to enjoy a cup of tea and a book or a conversation with a good friend.