Chair Change

So this past summer I bought a beautiful french style chair at the Bountiful Barn in Glen Ellyn with the intentions of reupholstering it.  I wanted a big enough chair to sit next to our leather wing back chair in the living room.  Here is a link to the pics I posted back in June.

I've had a hard time finding the right fabric for the chair so it's been something on my lingering "to-do" list over the last few months.

Well, recently I saw this Restoration Hardware look-alike chair at the TJ Maxx/Home Goods near our house that I knew would go perfectly in this room.  There was a small stain on the cushion and they were so generous to take 25% off the list price.  I flipped the cushion over and wha-la...I can't even see it.

I think it fits perfect with the neutral room and am happy to have this room 100% done!

In the coming weeks we'll be working on our master bedroom, and my idea was to reupholster the french chair and use it in our new master.  We'll see how long it takes me to get it upholstered!

Pics to come of the master over the next month....

Courtney

New Buys

Long time no see friends!  I've been absent for the past few weeks with a packed schedule!  In June I've been out of the state a few days each week just about, which means blogging about the house project has been non-existent.

We have lots of things going on at the house currently, but not all of the projects are done just yet so I'll wait to post all of the fun new pictures we have.

I DID want to share about a new purchase of mine from a few weeks ago.  A friend of mine had mentioned an antique shop in Glen Ellyn that was really fun, called 'Bountiful Barn'.  Well one day while I was celebrating the engagement of a dear friend (and in between wedding dress shops), we accidentally ran into this sweet little barn full of fun finds!

Here is my new chair:

Isn't it beautiful? No, I don't like the gold painted wood, and no, I definitely don't love the fabric....but all of that can be changed, right?

I'm thinking of painting the wood frame black and upholstering the chair in a beige linen fabric...somewhat like RH's linen fabric pictured below.

Restoration Hardware

We had been on the search for a french chair for a while to go next to our wing back chair in the living room.  The size and shape of the french chair is able to compete with the largeness of the wing back chair to create an evened out look in the room, rather than having our wing back chair overtake the space.

We'll send it to our upholsterer in the next few weeks, so I'll plan on posting pics once it is ready!

Also, I've been on the lookout for a big rug to go into our current project, the family room.  A few weeks after I found the french chair at the Bountiful Barn, I was lucky enough to find a steal of a deal on Craigslist!  If any of you don't use or haven't used Craigslist in the past, it's phenomenal!!!

I found this 8 x 10 rug from Pottery Barn for $150 (normally over $900).  The Estelle rug is about 2 years old and was in a spare bedroom, so it looks brand new (no stains, no pets, etc).  I'm having it cleaned at the moment and it will be ready in a week to pick up!

The greens and beiges in this rug will go nicely in our family room once it is finished.

That's about it for now.  Renovating a house is a lot of work, but it's been a blast to shop for and decorate our own place for the first time.

I just have to remember that all of this work will be worth it when we can start using our home to host events and have people over.  I can see the end of the light!

xoxo,
Courtney

Like New...

Happy Easter!!  Eric and I enjoyed the long weekend remembering & celebrating what Jesus Christ did for us 2,000 years ago!

This weekend we also were able to pick up a "new" piece of furniture for our house.  I thought I would post some pictures of the new chair since we're home relaxing and I haven't posted in a while.

Remember the chair I bought on craigslist last year??  I posted about it a year ago because I was so excited about my cheap find on Craigslist.

The chair was almost brand new, but the previous owner didn't like the fabric....so I got new fabric for $6.99 per yard.

Before:

After:

Didn't our upholsterer do a great job?  We're looking forward to putting this upstairs in one of the guest bedrooms once they are finished!

Xoxo,

Courtney

House Beautiful. Continued...

After my exciting weekend with the House Beautiful Chicago Chair Giveaway, I have MORE exciting news to post!

My sister-in-law, Meredith, grabbed ANOTHER chair for me at the Willis Tower.  At 3:30ish this afternoon, I forwarded her the tweet with the location of the chair drop, and asked her to go down and see if the chair was there.  Funny thing was that she was randomly across the street visiting Charles Schwab.... impeccable timing!

So for my birthday, Meredith gave me this fun and rustic Pottery Barn chair.  And guess what, it's NOT pink!

So thankful for a wonderful birthday celebration, and the generosity of my sister-in-law to give me this chair.  Not a bad birthday, eh?

Thanks SO much Mere and for all of my family and friends who really showed their love for me on my 26th birthday.

Now off to eat dinner that my wonderful husband made for me :)

Love,
Courtney

House Beautiful.

Here are some pictures Eric and I took this weekend at House Beautiful's Pink Chair Giveaway!  It was such a great experience and will definitely be a birthday to remember...

There are also some pictures of the wine and dessert birthday party Eric planned for me.  We have amazing friends!

Here is the schedule of our Saturday morning:

9:00am- after breakfast @ Toast, we signed up for Twitter to get the clues for the competition



9:30am- hanging out an Navy Pier...our best guess for where they would drop the 1st chair



9:45am- waiting....

10:00am- walking around Navy Pier to kill time

11:02am- We get the first text while parked at Navy Pier that chair #1 is being dropped at Millenium Park!!!!! Off we go.

11:10 am- Arrive at the 1st location 

11:15am- I see the first chair being dropped off, but someone went up and grabbed it first.  It's okay, she was so happy to win!

After this chair was given away, I was able to meet and talk to the editor & team from House Beautiful.  They mentioned there was a party at Crate and Barrel and the next chair would be given away in the afternoon.  Knowing that we had time to kill before the next chair drop, Eric and I spent our time relaxing and window shopping in the city.

1:02pm- recieved a text to look for chair #3 at Michigan Avenue

1:08pm- Followed the text that the Mitchell Gold & Bob Williams chair will be across from the Wrigley Building.

1:28pm- I kept looking to the left (south) of me for the House Beautiful truck to pull up into the circle drive in front of the Wrigley Building.  LUCKILY, Eric was parked further north on Michigan Ave and text me that a pink chair was being walked down Michigan Ave coming from the north.

I turned to the right and saw a pink chair a block away and took off running! Unfortunately they got it on tape.

Here is their update on Twitter!

Me with the House Beautiful clan...they were so nice!

Eric pulls up to load the chair....what a wonderful husband :)

I brought the chair to my bday party so everyone could see it :)  Thanks again to everyone who came out to celebrate with me. I felt so loved!

Susan in the pink chair!

love her

Gretchen & Veronica!

me and my new bday top :) thanks hun!



singing happy bday :)





twon in the pink chair!



Kelly Jo & Jaci :)

Me with the pink chair!

Yum! Thanks Dave & Keren

There are still a few chairs left in the giveaway today in the loop, in case you want to participate too!

Love,
Courtney