Apartment decorating

Summer flew by, and fall is here again!  As usual, I keep way too busy in the summer to keep up with my blog!  This summer, in addition to our usual week at the fair, we had a road trip to California, three road trips to Eastern Washington, our daughter Emily got engaged (!), and I worked on decorating and furnishing our twin daughter's college apartment.

The girls were given some furniture that was very much in need of a makeover if they were going to use it! I wish I would've taken "before" pictures, but I honestly thought some of these things were not salvageable and would end up going to the dump, so I didn't bother!

This cute couch came to us as an ugly, ugly metal futon!  With a couple of canvas drop cloths from Home Depot, we were able to turn it into something adorable!  My inspiration came from here). 

I recovered some pillows with some upholstery fabric from Hobby Lobby and Walmart, and made a red burlap pillow and stenciled a "K" on it.  

The girls made the coffee table and end table, and were so proud of themselves!  My girls are farm girls through and through, and the most difficult thing about being away from home is missing all the critters! I needle-felted a sheep from some wool from one of their favorite ewes.  

Above the couch hangs a photo taken at their last fair as 4-Hers this summer, showing off the big belt buckles they both earned!  I printed the photo through Shutterfly and mounted it on a canvas picked up at Hobby Lobby.

This grouping was made from canvases we covered.  The sheep was cut from black wool and mounted on red burlap.  The "farmgirls forever" photo was taken in our fields, printed on canvas (see instructions here), and then mounted on an artist's canvas.

We got this discarded table free, painted it up with chalk paint (see recipe here), and added a couple of chairs from Goodwill ($7.99 each).  I made the table runner from some fabric leftover from an apron.

One of the girls was given this nightstand and matching dresser and it didn't really go with the hot pink quilt she had her first year of college in the dorm!  We decided to purchase this cute comforter from Target, and pull the room together with some throw pillows we stitched, a new lamp shade (also from Target) and a home made banner.  This was created in less than an hour using some jute and 8 sheets of 12 x 12 heavy scrapbook paper!

For our other daughter's room, I painted up an ugly, beat up, yucky stained dresser with the same chalk paint I used on the table.  I also sprayed the brass knobs black.  This horrid dresser I was embarrassed to even be seen purchasing at Goodwill for $29 now looks great!

I found a nightstand with a similar style for $10 and painted it to match.  Above the bed hangs a photo mounted on an artist's canvas of Kari's cow and calf.  A matching pillow sets off the bed.

We had a lot of fun working on these projects for their new apartment over the last month.  I am home now and missing them like crazy though! :(

Bazaar season looms ahead in too short of time, so I am going to be spending lots of time in my craft room over the next several weeks! Watch for new stuff on my Etsy soon!

Primitive autumn blessings,

Laurie