Painting the couch + new pillows!

Adam and I spent a great Easter weekend in Massachusetts visiting my extended family. Since we were away all weekend, I took the day off on Tuesday to recover from the long drive and do a few things around the house.

You may remember that our living room sofa (a $200 Kijiji find) used to look like this:

Not bad, but I didn't like the way the wood trim stood out against the black and tan rug. To help it blend in, I decided to paint it black. I put a piece of cardboad under each of the sofa's feet to protect the rug and floor, roughed up the wood with 100 grit sandpaper, and brushed on two coats of black acrylic paint. The whole project took about 15 minutes, including drying time between coats. Still, it was a dramatic transformation.

And to complete the sofa's new look, I also whipped up a few pillows using some fun, new fabric I picked up last week (it was a buy 1 metre, get 2 free deal). I'm so happy with how this quick and inexpensive project turned out - the black frame ties the couch in with the rug, and along with the new pillows, it gives the couch a much more contemporary feel that really works in our eclectic space.

Weekend finds

It's kind of funny that I blogged about my rug fantasies on Friday, since I stumbled across the perfect area rug for our living room the very next day:

That's our dog, Maddie, already enjoying the new addition. The future husband and I went to Home Depot on Saturday to pick up a new bathroom faucet (more on that later), when I saw this large, indoor/outdoor rug by Martha Stewart Living for $119. It was the right size, the right price, and it came with the right care and cleaning instructions (i.e. spray it with a garden hose). SOLD. I love how it suits our space, and the simple geometric pattern is a lot more fun than plain ol' seagrass.

But the rug wasn't my only great find of the weekend. My future mother-in-law and I checked out The Bay's store closing sale on Saturday and scored some awesome deals. Like these super cute throw pillows - for just $7.20 and $3.20 each - and this comfy grey-and-white throw for less than $12!

Here they are in their new homes (I tried the throw on the couch first, but I like it better on our antique chair). I'm planning to darken the wood frame around the bottom of the couch, so that it blends in with the black of the new rug (I'm thinking of Minwax's Bombay Mahogany), but right now I'm just enjoying my weekend finds!