The World's Ugliest Ottoman Transformed!

You get an extra post this week. Isn't that exciting? LOL Anyway, Happy Valentines Day to everyone and hope your sweetheart makes you as happy as mine makes me.
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This is the world's ugliest ottoman and I am almost ashamed to admit I bought it in 1973. Yes, I did! But the upside to this is that as ugly as it is, it's been used every single day since we bought it and hasn't lost its foamy-ness (just try to figure out how to spell that since there isn't a word) or its usefulness or its cushiness. It was well worth the price. The chair it came with is long gone. I just couldn't stand it anymore. Gone to chair heaven with all the other hideous stuff I've bought over the years. Remember, when hubs was a Marine, we took hand-me-downs and whatever we found cheap at garage sales. This was the sixties so you can imagine what we had. This ottoman and its matching chair I actually picked out myself new. Bleecchhhh!! Must have been cheap because I wouldn't even consider it today. That's why I gave it a new cover. This is what I made for it a couple of years ago. It's in the forefront here.

Here it is uncovered, ready for a new fresh cover.

I used a $20 drop cloth from Home Depot and had some left. Now, here's the story.

I used the old cover as a pattern so that worked out well. But when I put the skirt on the two seams were inside out. Now, I did this over a couple of weeks to not get frustrated and hurried and make mistakes. Sigh. Mistakes happened anyway. I ruffled the skirt and them sewed it to the border around the middle with the seam showing on the outside. Hubs told me to just take it apart at the two seams and turn them. I started doing it for then I realized I not only sewed a straight seam but I also sewed a overcast seam and that wouldn't come out as easily. So I thought I'd be creative, leave the seam inside out and add a feather stitch up the seam. Turned out fine. I simply didn't want to take it completely off and turn it around after sewing it on and overcasting all the edges.

This is the top with a ruffle of rose and cream stripe. I still need to iron the whole thing and hem it. But it's pretty much what I wanted to do.

Here is the seam if you look closely. Just a cute embellishment, I must say and there are only 2 seams so that's a bit of luck.

A fence with a plethora of roses on it.

I thought this wintry snow-covered road was beautiful.

Look at those darling little crocheted shoes for a little baby. And those little legs? Adorable!

Just a beautiful look at fall foliage.

Another look at a European village and the beautiful homes and walkways.

A lovely study in blue.

Just can't get enough of these thatched cottages and will display them as long as I can. They are so serene-looking.

And I love looking at dining chairs now that I am on another quest to find 2 more chairs for my dining room.

I love this setting but I think it's more than one tablecloth. I could do this and think I shall when I get some time. First come the dining room table and 2 French chairs, painting them with some chalk paint. This may take a while though. I'll be looking for some old cotton sheets for making the 2 cloths.

I thought this was one of the cheeriest 2 rooms I've ever seen. Just so bright and cute.

This has also given me an idea. I have a chandelier just like this over my dining table but done in pink. But I am going to add some little roses to the lower arms like this. Truly, I can't get enough roses! :-)

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Tidbit:
Worldwide, Norwegians drink the most coffee and have the highest rate of anxiety disorders.
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Linking up with Inspire Me Monday.

Refurbishing Some Red Shoes I Love for Pink Saturday 12/5/09

A friend of mine is doing a series of photos of Victorian Christmas' through this whole month. It is "eye candy" for sure. So won't you please go visit her at Aunt May's Cottage.

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Visit with Beverly at howsweetthesound for more participants for Pink Saturday. You'll not be sorry. Hope your holiday was wonderful!
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Beverly has asked us to share a Christmas memory and mine just happens to be about a pair of red shoes!

In the late 1950s we lived in Yorktown, VA. and did our shopping in Williamsburg. One day while shoe shopping my mother wanted these red shoes for me and I wasn't particularly fond of the style. I would only agree to them if she bought me a pair I liked. I was a teenager and a bit obstinate. So we bought 2 pairs of shoes that day: the red pair and another pair that the color escapes me after 50 years, but I rarely, if ever, wore those red shoes and never did hear the end of it from my mother. Oh, I loved the color, just not the style.
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I've had these shoes for over 25 years. They were my favorite pair of shoes but as you can see they've just about had it. Who am I kidding; they've definitely had it. They just went with anything: skirts, dresses or pants. I love them. So instead of throwing them away I've redone them to keep in a spot in my home. If I could find a shoemaker to duplicate them I'd have another couple of pairs made. But, alas, around here no one would take on the challenge. That surprised me because they definitely look easier to make than a pair of cowboy boots!

First step was painting them. I didn't necessarily want them to match so I painted one pink and one white. It took several coats of paint for them to even start to look better.

First I added german glass glitter to the outside. Then I started with the embellishing.

I painted the heel alizarin crimson red. That's about as red as you can get. I've given it many coats and may have to do many more through the days just as high end house painters and decorators do to those fabulous homes in magazines. Do you realize that in some cases those homes get 25 coats of paint? Yep, they do. The more paint the more luminous the wall. I've never done less than 3 coats of paint to any wall I've ever had.

Then I added some gorgeous vintage lace and some ribbon roses.

Since I call just about everyone "chick" I decided to add a little chickadee and a frivolous bright pink feather. A paper rose tops it off.

I wrapped some beautiful fabric around some poly filling and stuck it inside the shoe. After all, who wants to look at the yucky inside. On the sole I glued some pretty paper on but didn't take a picture of that.

And voilà the end result.
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I'm grateful to have lived in many places in the U.S. and having visited other countries because I then can truly judge about how wonderful this country is.
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