Why didn't I think of that?

One man's trash is another man's treasure.  Sometimes all it takes is a vision.

Recently, I have noticed how often my family moves furniture from household to household.  A couple of weeks ago, I came home from my parents' with a dresser that had been my mom's when she was a teenager.  Maybe all families do it, but when we are finished with something, we let the family know, and it moves to a new home.  A few years back, I got new living room furniture.  My sister, Susana, decided to take my old coffee table and thought she would paint it.  One weekend, we worked together to rehab the coffee table.  We painted the legs black, sanded down the top, and put a clear coat on it.  That project left me thinking... Why didn't I think of that?  When we moved to our new house, I needed another end table.  I used her idea for the coffee table and finished the matching end table the same way.

This weekend we did another project to spiff up one of my old pieces.  I had a storage cube that was covered in wicker.  I kept it in the living room with blankets inside.  After a couple of years of abuse from the kids, the wicker was ragged and falling off.  I was going to throw it away, but Susana said she would take it and maybe paint it or something.  She tore the wicker off and brought it up to my house to work on together.  Her idea... recover it with a fabric that would go with her new living room furniture. 

First step, find some cute fabric that will go with the furniture.  I have to say, my sister is an awesome shopper.  Maybe she's just lucky, but it seems like she can always find what she needs or wants on the clearance rack.  She found a super cute piece in the clearance section at JoAnn's Fabric, but neither of us were sure if it was enough.  We should have measured before we left the house!  We decided to risk it, and moved on to the batting.  Man, that stuff is expensive!  If we bought enough to put on all four sides and the lid, it would be close to $20.  Add that to the fabric, and she might as well have bought a new cube.  So we passed on the batting.  Probably not necessary, right?

This is the box after the wicker was removed.

I was slightly afraid to cut the fabric, especially since there was no room for error(we were going to have to piece it already)!  We had to start somewhere.  We cut the strip to cover the box and left an inch or so at the bottom and about 2 inches on top.  I hate ironing, so we debated whether or not to iron the fabric, but decided if we were going to do it right, we should iron it first.  Then we folded the fabric into the top of the box and stapled it about an inch inside, pulling it tight as we went.  After the top edge was secure, we did the same around the bottom.

Moving on to the lid, it was obvious we should have at least bought batting for it.  The wood was pieced and you could see the seam and staples through the fabric.  Some quick thinking on my part led to my stash of old towels.  We used a bath towel and cut a piece slightly larger than the lid.  Voila!  It was the perfect thickness... Not too bulky, hid the imperfections in the lid, and it was free!  We cut the fabric larger than the towel and finished the lid by stapling the fabric to the underneath, much like upholstering a seat of a chair.   

Using the "towel" batting on the lid.

The whole project took a couple of  hours and cost under $8!  The old, ugly box looks much cuter now.  Why I didn't keep it for myself?  Lucky for Susana, it doesn't match my house!  Lesson learned... Next time I think of throwing something out, I will first ask Susana what she would do with it.  Chances are, I would end up helping.  And chances are, I would love it! 

Finished project!