Fabric Covered Storage Boxes

I have a great affliction to cardboard boxes. I just cant throw them out. Whenever I buy something that comes with a box, or someone gifts me something in a box... It somehow the most difficult thing for me to thrash them. You know why??
It coz I imagine those not so pretty boxes getting covered with some lovely fabric and transforming itself into a beaaauuutiful box.
For instance I just covered up the box that came with my iron and look at the result.

Closer Look...

Holds all the junk that accumulates on the table...

 Isn't it so much more nice...

Sits nicely in a corner of my table.
I made a bigger one too to hold all my electronic stuffs...from webcams, PlayStation accessories, cds and a million other things ... :) Its nicely tucked away under one of my side tables.

Remember the box behind the pink one... Yes I had a tutorial for that here.
But I did these in a much simpler way.
Didn't bother to pull apart the box... just applied glue on the box and stuck the fabric...

Ok now for the detailed steps.
1) Iron the Fabric
2) Remove the side flaps of the box or all the flaps
3) Mix Equal portions of glue and water
4) Apply the glue using a brush on the box.
5) Place the fabric on the box and smooth-en out with your hands as u go..
Don't bother to hurry thinking the glue might dry... since the glue is watered down it wont be as sticky as it normally would.
Ok now u can ask why did u add glue with water???
If you are using ModPodge or Fevicol, then you need to add water because these are kind of the denser kind of glue. Since we are just sticking fabric which is not so thick we'll not need such strong and dense glue
After an hour or two, the glue will be dry. Now apply a finishing coat of glue over the box. It gives a glossy finish to the box.
6) Finally make a hand written label (Like I did) or just print out the label if you need a more professional finish :)
You are done !

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Upholster a chair

Helllo Guys... I had a wonderful week ... I just finished accomplishing something that I have been wanting to do for a long time. Yes... I re-upholstered all of my dining chairs !!! I am sooo glad with the outcome.

 The before and after pics makes me happy every time I look at it :)

Ohh... loook at them... I just love they way they turned out !

 Perfect for my cute little table

Upholstering might seem a daunting task at first. But trust me...its one of the simplest project I have done... of course excluding the hunt for the perfect fabric and good foam for the cushion :) Thanks to my husband... He was so supportive. We kind of roamed around so many places in hunt of good fabric and foam.
But really reupholstering dining chairs are so simple. Read through the tutorial below and you'll see how easy it is... So dont think of giving away those old chairs you have.... do some magic on them and they are as good as new.
So lets get started !
First gather your supplies !

1) First you need a chair that desperately needs a makeover :)
2) Upholstery fabric
3) Cushion Foam - there are different densities of foam available. Choose foam that has higher density coz u'll be using your chairs very often right. I brought a 40 density foam sheet from sleepwell. It has a 10 yr warranty and stuff . It was a little pricey though. You don't have to invest on a full sheet if u intend to do only cushions for your chairs. You can also get it custom cut according to you requirements and costs much less.
4) Staple Gun - Oh this piece of item is magical. Using it is so nice. The guys will particularly like this. My husband was so excited to use this. I got mine from Staples.
5) Glue &
6) Scissors 

Once you have all you supplies in place, The first step would be to rip out you old chairs cusion from the seat. Some seats might be screwed to the chair. So remove it carefully and then cut out the fabric and remove the old cushion.

So now that you have the base, Lets cut the foam.
There is very effective trick on cutting foam or themocol in perfect shapes.

The Trick !!
To Perfectly cut your foam, simply heat the kitchen Knife and make the cut. Move the hot knife slowly and cut. Heat as soon as the knife cools down.

Next apply glue on the plywood or wood on which the old cushion was there.

Place the cut foam on it. Align properly. Leave it for and hour to dry (I skipped this step though !! was too excited to get started heheee...)

Next bring out you fabric. Place your cushion on top of it. Leave some fabric around it. So that you cna wrap the fabric onto the plywood and staple.

Next place the foam right in the center of the fabric. Pull each side towards the plywood. Apply stape right on the center for all the 4 sides. Remember to pull you fabric real tight. This is to avoid bunching of fabric.

Pull the fabric tightly

Staple the center of each side

Now start stapling from the center towards the sides. Don't staple all the way to the corners. Leave some space at the corners.

Once done. Cut out some excess fabric at the corners.

Fold the corners. Hold Tight . Staple !

 Done !!

Place the cushion on the chair. and screw in place ...

That's it. I told u it is simple ! :)

For the next few days appreciate yourself for the good work ! :)






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A Painting Day

Yes... I had a painting day after a longg longg time... It seems like ages before that I have drawn something.  All credit to my husband... He brought me a canvas book. I actually never knew such a thing exists until I came across one in Staples. Its is a book  with canvas sheets. It has about 10 canvas sheets and is much cheaper compared to the framed canvases that you get. The amazing part is that now I can draw as my heart desires. Generally whenever I buy a new canvas...I'll always be in a dilemma  What to draw? How to draw - All back, color, knife painting ?... Will it turn out good???.... Good lord  !!!... I just spilled black paint on the  drawing...Its ruined !! So most of the times by the time I am done with the painting..I'll be exhausted... But not this time... I whipped up the drawing in like less than 45 min.. I was just standing there splashing colors here and there....:) It felt good.  Have you seen my other paintings??? Not yet... ??? Do check out my painting section ...and drop in your suggestions and comments... Here's the link :http://nichuspace.blogspot.in/p/paintings.html That's the very serious me...

Richu  is pointing some flaws I guess... ha haa...there were many !!

Yeah... its not very nice... But yet I enjoyed...thats important rit :)

Its resting place for the net few days... then it goes into some drawer again :)
I have a small art gallery space in my dining room... collection of some random drawings

With a Richu in it :)

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Back Pillow from a Tshirt

My Husband got a gift coupon the other day. So we went to the shopping mall near  our house. He told me to spend it ...so I decide to get myself a top or something. We reached the shop...went through the entire clothing section... but i simply didnt like any of the tops or dresses they had on display... Then I though it was time to show some husband Love... :) and decided to pick something for my hubby... That too didn't work out...
 Now I was desperate to spend money and started picking up all sorts of things which probably were of no particular use... :)
In the home decor section I came across some nice cushion... one with ties... It struck a bell in my head... yeah this could be perfect for the dining table chair... But we looked at the price it was too pricey .. That's when he said...  You can make that urself cant you... then why buy... So like Barney says in "How I Met Your Mother" ... I said 'Challenge Accepted !!' ha haaa...
So we finally ended up buying nothing and headed back home... Isn't it amazing how when we really have to buy something... we never like anything. This is not the first time this has happened to me... What about you?? Have you had some similar experience??

Well so this is what I came up with.

I love my dining area... This space is always so lighted... I particularly like to sit in the morning and have those lovely early morning chats with my husband...when he reads the paper and we discuss all sorts of things. From day to day house hold things to politics to gossip :)

And whenever I sit in that chair.. I always end up getting cursing the chair. It has a wooden back and i am not very comfortable slouching back in it.

Well this cushion now makes my early morning chats a more happier ones :)

Tie up the cute little ties to the chair like this ...

My naughty little Richu loved the cushion... he was busy dragging it around the house... throwing it around and was having a good time with it... He's run around soo fast in the house...thats it difficult to capture him on camera... haha... this is the best I could manage ;)

The cushion in full glory !

It was pretty simple to make .Less than an hour is all that you need. Made this when my little naughty monster was having having one of his afternoon naps :)
And things needed are also nothing much - A tshirt, some cotton and few buttons for embellishment.
I made this cushion out of my husbands old tshirt.
First pick your tshirt and snip it off right below the arm pit.
Now since 2 sides of the tshirt are already sewed, it makes your life simpler. You now just need to sew the other two sides. But before that you need to make the ties.
You can make them using a separate cloth or some excess tshirt material. But I didn't bother to do that... coz that means extra sewing rit. :)
What I did was... I just snipped of the bottom seam of the tshirt. They generally fold the bottom end of the tshirt and sew right... Yes that part...
I carefully snipped it with my scissors. So I had two pieces. Now I aligned both of them together and cut right at the center again. So I ended up with 4 pieces for my ties.

Now I turned my tshirt wrong side out. Sandwiched the ties between the tshirt pieces. The ties must be inside. only a small part needs to lie out. Now pin and sew.
Repeat the same for the other side.
Leave a small opening at the end. Turn the cushion inside out.

Fill Cotton. Slip stitch the opening close. Sew some nice buttons on your cushion... And your done !!!

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Easy Organization Board

I have always lived an unorganized life.Unlike the rest of the gals in college, school and work I dunno I simply didn't have the innate capability in me to keep things in the right place. I remember how Papa used to come around my room once in a while just to see if I kept things neatly...and once it so happened that just before papa was coming to check my room ...I grabbed everything lying around and stuffed it inside my cupboard. And when Papa came, the room looked fine.Just on an instinct he opened my cupboard... and looo... all the cloths, things stuffed in pored out like a waterfall...hahhaaaa..... I really got some good amount of scolding that...  Thinking back it all seems so funny :)

Things have changed... changed soo dramatically after Rihan was born. I think he changed my DNA on his way out ...hahhaa.... I have become those organization crazy female these days. From the time I get up... I am simply thinking about how to make my life more organized. Whats the best place for each item. I started off with my Kitchen...since Its the place I dont like to be... But I have got to be there always. So I thought a little organization mit actually lift up my spirits to cook. But I must tell u ...it worked like magic. Once I got my Kitchen organized.. I feel more interested in cooking ... Coz the place is always tidy and organizzzeedd. In fact this week  I made a Menu plan for the entire week and almost stuck with it. My hubby is pretty happy with my organization craze... Of course he is !! he gets to eat good things and too on time ! :)

So as a part of this new interest I decided I needed a central organization board to hold my most frequently used bills - electricity, cable, paper, Food coups etc... Also pin up TO-DO lists, Menu Lists etc. I needed some thing on which I could pin up things, also have pockets too. Went online and searched for some ideas. Hit on a jackpot in Sew4home site. I liked the design and made one myself. Didn't follow the steps though. Just made one similar to that. and look how it looks... I'm in love with it !

Can Pin up my important bills and TODO list on some sections

Many Tiny pockets to hold up my bills , accessories and pins

 Ribbons that support my pics.

He looks lovely isn't he... That's the pic I took when I he had his first bubble bath.

And lot of tiny pockets in the bottom

A small handwritten label I wrote and stuck it to the bottom.

And the whole project hardly took an hour to complete.
The base is thermocol. I wrapped up the cloth over the thermocol. you could use a single piece of cloth to wrap it up or join different pieces of fabrics to make the block pattern like the one I have made. To make the bottom pockets I attached the long strip pf fabric and stitched them at the 3 sides. later on you can sew ribbons at the intersections. It serves two purposes :
1) Gives the whole thing a cleaner and better look
 2) hides all the imperfections of sewing ;)

Finally wrap the entire fabric over the thermocol and stick duct tape to secure the fabric !

Finally stick Velcro dots behind the board to secure it to the wall !

Easy and simple isn't it. Let me know your commentss... I lovve loveee them ! :)

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