stools, sample

the kitchen upgrades continue, slowly but surely. 

in true us fashion we came out of the gates like crazy folk on the big monster aspects of the redo and now are procrastinating and putting off the final easy little details. we arent great finishers. 

however a little bit of progress was made recently.

we bought our bar stools back in september of 2006 from IKEA. we loved them because they were cheap and they went perfectly with the cherry cabinets (which were years away from inducing vomiting in me). 

the 3 small bar stool boxes were part of a MASSIVE truckload of furniture and boxes that we were moving into the house we had just bought (and which jesse would live in for a few weeks before our wedding).

we seriously had all the furniture for our entire house in the bed of a truck at one time: two couches from my parents, a futon i had from college (with a sketchy looking rubber cement stain on it), and approximately 14 hecto-tons of  flat packed IKEA boxes reeking of cinnamon rolls and yearning to be assembled by many tiny allen wrenches.

we borrowed jesse's dad's old truck and stacked that mother higher than i would have thought possible. we drove the 30 miles from IKEA to our house and aged about 10 years in the process. 

if there was ever a snapshot for jesse of what life would be like with me it was this. i was beyond stressed out about the contents of our entire house being disgorged from the dilapidated truck bed and into immediate oblivion on the 8-lane thunderdome that is the atlanta connector. if only we could have harnessed the strength and power of my butt cheeks as they clenched in fear and used those PSI's to secure the furniture, we would have had nothing to fear.  

"TOOOOOO fast, jesSEEEEEEE!"

"drifting, DRIFTING!!!!!"

"you have to ANTICIPATE the bumps!"

"the MALM, jesse! think of the MALM! that bed cannot die a virgin!"

so yeah, he had fair warning about my stress-management skills. everything made it in one piece (or in the case of the IKEA things, in 97 pieces that we would spend hours putting together) and most of those things still reside in that very house today. the MALM has thoroughly enjoyed its role as the marriage bed and has been fruitful in its production of two little dukelets.

so the stools looked great in the old kitchen and served us well for years.

but when we took over the dining table and made it my sewing area, the stools became the main (re: only) kitchen seating. this was fine, if less than comfy (with no back support and a seat that seems to be shrinking beneath m'rump as years go by). and since toddlers and stools make a bad combination, we mostly just ate in the living room at their little table.

so after the kitchen makeover these stools were not only unused, but also looked really out of place in our new blissfully wood-free environment. 

i was on the lookout for new seating that would look good in the new space AND be more suitable for humans to sit at. 

but, ew yall, there seems to be no bar stools possessing the qualities i required: under $60 each, backed, and NOT hideous. 

and then, after scouring every online furniture place i could think of,  the goodwill fairy smiled upon me when i least expected it:

 TA-DA! 

i almost screamed when i came across these. they were the perfect height, there were THREE of them, they were solid wood with padded leather seats, footrests and a beautifully simple and clean shape. i am pretty sure that these were hand-made by someone (there are no signs of any factory and i send up a mighty praise of thanks to the talented hands that crafted them because these are gorgeous and so well-made. 

did i mention they were $15 each? 

and silly jesse tried to tell me not to get them. he lacks the vision, yall. but he's oh so cute, so we forgive him.

it did hurt to remove the awesome leather (a decision that scandalized the goodwill ladies when i told them my plans), but it just would have worked in that room. i have diligently saved the squares of precious material and will surely use them for something grand.

i had bought a target shower curtain a while back with the intention of making new window treatments for the kitchen, but we opted instead to leave the windows bare and open to ameliorate (somewhat) the light-deprived situation that plagues our house.

i knew that this fun grey print would be perfect for recovering the seats.

4 yards of unique fabric for about $15...thats a win.

a few cans of white spray paint and some quality time with my staple gun later, we had 3 perfect additions to our kitchen! 

.

oh man i love them!

 look how nice they play with the current decor! (ignore the wicker baskets and red trivet...they are not invited to this party)

i was stumped about the dingy white french doors in the kitchen (now that we had decided to forgo the curtains) and was getting a little nervous about the room being too overwhelmingly greyscale. 

i had seen a pinterest project that involved painting the inside of doors and thought that might work well in this instance.

for a $3 paint sample and a small surface area, it was a low risk gamble and i love how it turned out:

still need to change the color of the door hardware

so much fresher and cleaner and crisper and just all around better, no?

epilogue: 

the bad news- now that we have these stools, we are trying to table-train the kids. they spent the first years of their toddler-hood just swooping in for a bite to eat and then running around. we were bad since we never ate at a table, we didnt make them sit in high chairs or anything. this has made them look barbaric when we go to restaurants or other people's houses and it must end. therefore, we are making them sit in the chairs for dinner.  it's not going well. but parenting aside, they also spill like crazy and the beautiful fabric is taking some hits. i see myself recovering these again sometime soon in oilcloth or laminated fabric. live an learn.

the good news- i listed the old bar stools on craigslist and ended up making $55 bucks on them! more than enough to pay for the new ones and the spray paint. an upgrade in style, functionality, and quality for free?!?! thats a HUGE win.