Daybed Love Seat

I have just finished my 3D design course at school. For our final project, we had to create a chair from found materials and it had to be life sized. Since this is my second time around with the whole school thing, I have learned not to make projects that I can't do anything with, if I can help it! So, I decided the newly built chair would be for Sophia. DUH!
So I took the day Saturday to drive around to find a discarded something to make a chair out of. He said we could start from a chair, as long as we altered it. I ended up finding this bed at EcoBuilding Bargains for pretty cheap. It came with the headboard, foot board and the side rails, and was in decent shape. WOOO! I should have turned around and re-donated the side rails, because they attacked my arm in the car later that day, boooooo.

Headboard

Footboard

I brought it to my parents garage to butcher it. I needed to cut the foot board in half (and fast, my dad was out for a bit and I was afraid he would convince me my idea was not thought out yet, he would have been correct.) So I cut the foot board in half for the "arms" of the love seat with an electric jig-saw. Cut first, ask questions later.

It was not as simple as I had originally thought. The top of the "arms" hit above the square leg, I needed them to sit flush. Thankfully, my dad came home and intervened a little bit. He helped me decide where on the arm's legs I should cut. I wanted the end of the leg to be tapering in, not out. I don't know why, just did. I cut them off with a small coping saw, because it was a small cut and I felt that I had a bit more control that way.
To attach the sides to the headboard, I used the existing slots (where the rails would go into) and cut slots in the back of the sides to biscuit join them together.

We let the sides set in place overnight.

Then, we used scrap wood, cut at a 20 deg angle, and screwed to the inside front of each side and to the inside of the back legs, to screw the seat to. It made the whole structure much more "sound." We routered the front end of the plywood seat, to soften the edge. I also cut down the arm posts, they were just too tall, and sort of screamed "this seat used to be a bed." The finials on the back were loose. I started looking for new ones but didn't find any soon enough, so they are loosely placed on the posts. Maybe they will stay, maybe they will change, who knows?
The structure was done. I had not like the color/finish/floral motif on the bed to begin with, but now that it looked really bad. My dad suggested just painting over the floral layer of wood, but I couldn't do it half way. So I primed & painted my heart out. I decided to leave the top of the arms wood, I would like to stain them a bit darker. But, for deadline purposes, that will happen later. I made a little seat cover out of drop cloth, not perfect but it works! Another addition I would like to make is a layer of foam under the fabric. We angled the seat for proper lounging, so I also want to add an upholstered, angled back.

My prof was impressed with it, I was especially proud. It took me a couple days longer than I would have liked, but I am glad I took the time I did! What do you think?

Before-ish

After

Linked to:






 

Painful Hutch

We have this hutch.

But it Looks So Comfy....

After a long day, I often think of how nice it would be to come home and sit on one of these...

I know it's not cute, it's scale is sooooo off, but, how can you look at that and not think "ahhhhhhh." It has cupholders and the seats recline/swallow you whole. The only thing it's missing is a wine fridge (that would obviously open from the top! I always tell my husband he is getting a man cave in our next place and it will have seats like this. He doesn't seem that enthused about it, I AM! Where else can you put these monsters and be able to enjoy them without anyone ever knowing you actually bought them??? Maybe one day I will share a picture of his swan chair...That's right, we have swans in our bedroom. I cringe at the thought of it too, but he loves that damn chair.

Why We Live Where We Live

When we bought our place, we were thinking we would live there for 2, maybe 3 years. Tops. Hello 4 years, nice to see you! Yep, 4 years later, we are still here!

Here is why we like it:

Floor Plan

I always find, looking at a floor plan makes it easier for me to visualize a space. I wanted to share with you a simplified floor plan of our condo (with furniture in place.) I know, we have far too much furniture, but most of it is for storage, which we desperately need. We have plans to rearrange our bedroom furniture (and possibly get rid of a dresser.)

Goooood Morning!

I have a few houseplants. Not as many as I would like, but I used to be better at killing plants than keeping them alive. So I am slowly building my indoor garden. I was starting to think I needed to add more soil to the plants, I didn't know before that potted plants lost soil over time. Now I do. I really didn't want to have to buy soil or dirt, but it seemed like I would have to. UNTIL, I read this super cool article on Apartment Therapy that would solve two problems I have! I only make coffee at home a few days a week, but, I am always throwing out the coffee grounds which seems wasteful. Not anymore! I am going to add them to my plants.

Has anyone done this? Any words of wisdom or caution?

Happy Wednesday!

I posted about Christina Watka's installation at Twelve Chairs Boston. Somehow, she was able to make this amazing installation

even more amazing. Christina created a stop motion video with an amazing original music composition by her boyfriend (and my cousin) Andrew Halchak. I think the installation looks so alive, watching it grow with music makes it even more alive. Enjoy!