Completed Project (Almost)

Ta da! Our new (old) dining chairs are finally finished and made their official breakfast room debut last weekend. The fabric that Jesse's parents purchased a few years ago is a perfect fit for our apartment -- fancy enough to stand up to the chairs, but with a hint of modern geometry that works perfectly with some of our mid-century furniture.

Here's a shot of the underside with the new jute webbing. The only glitch is that the webbing is stretching a lot more than I thought. I learned a valuable lesson, I guess -- using a stretcher tool is a must. Jesse's mom has a canvas stretcher that she thinks will do the trick and is planning on bringing it up in June when they visit on their way out to Virginia. I've also been looking into some more high-tech options for the webbing and found upholstery grade elastic (the kind used for automobile seats) and think that is the way I'm going to go this second time around. I'm a little bummed that I'm going to have to take the seats apart again, but after a week of sitting it's become quite apparent that the sag is only going to get worse.

On the bright side though, Jesse's parents brought up two really great pieces of furniture that are doing an excellent job of filling up some empty space in our apartment. This one will double as a changing table and chest for baby stuff. I gave it a good vacuuming today and cleaned it up a bit with wood cleaner, but the finish still looks like it could use a little more luster. I'll do a little more research on that before delving in, but as you can see there's already a pile of blankets and clothing just begging to be put away!

And here's the second piece of new (old) furniture that is doing an excellent job of storing our baking pans and a few other odds and ends. It also serves as an excellent sideboard for hot dishes and dessert. My favorite part about this piece are the Belgian tiles. Don't they look fetching with our newly recovered chairs?

This month has been exciting because I feel like our apartment is really starting to come together and feel like home. Who knew just a couple of new pieces could really warm up the place and make it feel so cozy?