Diary of a Dive - Part 5 - Dining/Desk Area

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If you've been following along, I'm fixing up an old, run down studio apartment. It's 266 square feet to be exact, and not only is it my living space, I do freelance design and crafts from here as well. (What can I say, I'm hopelessly creative...)  What furnishings that fit have to be multi purpose.

(Click on the photos for larger views)

BEFORE

AFTER

Towards that end, my dining table gets pressed into service as a desk more than it does as an eating area, hence why there is a table lamp on it. (The table is usually pressed tighter to the wall as a result, but for photos - or dinner guests, it gets pulled out.) 

Dining/Desk Area

The broken mini blinds got pitched and they were replaced with inexpensive 2" vinyl blinds from a home center. I already had the toile fabric to make the top part of the valance and sewed it in a scalloped pattern. As nice pearl colored buttons are pricey, (and I needed quite a few), I instead found a clearance, costume jewelry pearl necklace (Target) and just took it apart and sewed them on like buttons. (A plethora of pearly buttons for the same cost as 2 buttons! Bargain!  And they don't droop like the 1/2 round buttons do.)

Waverly Country House Toile Red Fabric

 The curtain panels themselves I also had from a previous apartment, but they were made from...

...wait for it...

This:

Cost Plus World Market: Indian Gauze Canopy

Oh Yes I Did!

I love the tightly pleated and crimped gauze, but it's hard to find as a curtain panel...or even as fabric by the yard. So I stumbled across this Canopy from World Market, and just cut off the muslin from the top of the canopy and kept the crimped gauze.  I had a mucho % off coupon, so all together, it was cheaper than buying curtain panels -or even just fabric!  As it already had curtain ties that had attached to the bamboo hoop, I just tied them around a standard $3, white curtain rod. As the canopy is very long, I cut off the excess and used it for the second tier of the valance.

The rest are all things I had. The lamp was my mom's, and it was in our house when I was a kid.  However, it did have a beat up frilly brown, circa 1960's shade on it, which may have had something to do with why mom didn't want it anymore. The shade got ditched immediately and replaced with something more elegant. 

The hurricane lamps I bought ages ago from one of those internet 'Everything is 12 bucks' stores. The red bows were actually just for Christmas, but I liked them, so they stayed up. The little vase of fake flowers are actually pens. A friend of mine's daughter made them for my birthday one year. Pretty AND handy! 

And of course, my vintage style poster of a Jules Cheret print. Ice skating, natch. 

 The dining table and chairs were a thrift shop find for some ridiculous price, like $45 or something. In fairness, the table was in good shape, but the sets original 6 chairs were already in some form of falling apart

Thrift Store find...with new fabric seat

 Two chairs imploded almost immediately, but for the remaining four, I recovered the seats. I found this beautiful fabric (Raymond Waites, Abington Ruby Red) which is sadly discontinued. I did the armchairs in the red floral with what I had left, but the side chairs all had to be done in a coordinating solid red fabric. 

And if anyone ever comes across that fabric in their travels, email me!!!

At any rate, the remaining chairs will need to be replaced eventually. I'm thinking these Overstock.com chairs.

Of course, the seats will be recovered in red. Hence, why I'd love to find more of that fabric someday.

All good things in time...

~ Coming up: Working our way through the other side of the apartment. Sofa/bed, How I incorporated my obvious book fetish, created a reasonable closet and the bathroom.