New Joinery Chairs

They've actually been finished for a couple of weeks but we were never able to make it into the workshop to pick them up during their business hours.

We bought four side chairs to match the two armchairs that came with the dining room table. We had them use the fabric that we used for our living room morris chairs. Now we just need to recover the seats on the original two armchairs to match. 

It will take a while for the cherry wood to darken so they'll look lighter than the rest of the furniture for a while.

This was definitely a splurge. The Joinery makes beautiful furniture but it is more expensive than we are typically willing to pay. I definitely prefer to buy used whenever I am lucky enough to find it but I looked for a set of four matching cherry chairs for more than a year before I finally broke down and ordered these.

So Close!

Back in February, inspired by our new-to-us media cabinet, I ordered three cherry bookcases from Mission Craft Furniture—the same folks who crafted our lovely bedroom set. 

They estimated a completion time of 4 to 6 weeks. However, after 8 weeks without any updates, I reached out to them, only to be told, "Just one more week!" 

Yet, another four weeks drifted by with no bookcases in sight. Finally, I laid down an ultimatum: finish the bookcases within a few days or cancel my order and refund my deposit. That got them moving!

This evening, the long-awaited bookshelves were delivered. However, the celebration was short-lived. The shelves clearly hadn’t been installed in the frames back at the shop because when we set them up ourselves we realized the shelves didn't look level. We measured and discovered the shelf pin holes were misdrilled, being about a quarter-inch off from one side to the other. Oops!

Regrettably, they had to take the bookcases back to the workshop. It's unclear how they'll rectify this error, but it's certainly not going to please the owner. As for when we'll finally get our bookcases, that remains to be seen. I'll keep you all updated as soon as I have more information.

Update on Thursday evening: They're back. I guess the owner was pretty embarrassed and he made it a priority to fix these. 

We need to unpack boxes of books to make room for the third bookshelf to go in its spot.

Living Room Cabinet

Jeff and I are thrilled that we've finally put the last piece of furniture into place in our living room! It's not perfect, but it's absolutely going to tide us over until we relocate to our retirement quarters. A little confession here: I snagged this piece from FB Marketplace a few months back without fully grasping how large it is. Sure, the listing had measurements, but did I measure our space? Nope! Lesson learned.

We initially wanted it against the other wall, but there is a floor register in that corner, and alas, it has no feet to lift it up. So, we made do and shifted it to the other wall where it only partially covers the vent. 

Giving it a good polish with Feed-N-Wax has made it look fantastic. I'm looking forward to finally unloading the plastic file tubs of office supplies that have been kicking around the dining room for several months.

After scrolling back through earlier posts, I now realize I never mentioned we also swapped out our dining room table. The amish cherry table we got back in August 2015 was lovely, but the chairs were wobbly and were beyond saving. So when I stumbled upon an absolutely stunning Joinery table on Craigslist in September 2022, it was too good to pass up. It came with just two matching chairs, but I hoped I'd eventually find more. I was even ready to part with the two original chairs when I found a set that would work. 

After unsuccessfully searching for more than a year, this past February, we finally decided to just order four matching Kelly chairs from The Joinery. They're expected to arrive in about six months, and we can hardly wait!

I'm grateful my husband was able to go back to work so we can afford to make some changes. It's been fun reworking our living space this year.

Living Room Reimagined

We recently had our living room rug professionally cleaned, which was quite the expense. However, they included a moth treatment, which gives us hope that this rug won’t suffer the same fate as some of our previous ones.

This week also marked the arrival of our "new-to-us" living room furniture. We decided to give it a fresh look by reupholstering it with new fabric, as the original was quite worn and I was keen on a different color scheme.

We opted for different fabrics for the chairs and the couch, a decision I'm now contemplating with mixed feelings now that everything is in place. It's a done deal, but I'm considering purchasing more of the green fabric used for the chairs while it's still in stock, just in case I decide to reupholster the couch to match in the future. The couch is likely to see more wear and tear compared to the chairs, after all.

Immediately after the furniture delivery, I tackled the sun-faded arms with some Howard Feed-N-Wax. It was surprisingly simple to use and made a significant difference. Ideally, I should go over all the wood frames, but time was tight, so I only managed the arms, which were in the sorriest state.

Down the line, I’m thinking of sanding the arms of the couch to smooth out some light claw marks left by a previous owner's pets, but they’re not a major issue for me now. Honestly, I won’t be shocked if Bailey ends up adding a few of her own marks.

Despite the additional costs for reupholstering, securing this furniture set was a fantastic deal. It’s nice to have seating in our living room once more. With just one more piece of furniture to reintroduce to the space, our living room makeover will be complete. It's been refreshing to create a bit of change.

Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention In-Ex Upholstery, a crucial part of this furniture transformation journey. When I stumbled upon this perfect set, my living room was still home to the oak furniture. Logistically, retrieving and then transporting the furniture to a workshop would have been a nightmare. In-Ex Upholstery, for a reasonable fee, picked-up the furniture from Wilsonville, transported it to their workshop, and even stored it while I took my time selecting and ordering the perfect fabric. When they called to tell me our furniture was finished, I asked if I could delay delivery so we could have the living room rug cleaned as well. They graciously housed our furniture for nearly three months, without complaint or additional charge.

Once our rug was cleaned and the room was prepped to welcome its new additions, In-Ex delivered the furniture back to us. My experience with them was nothing short of fantastic. Should I ever find myself embarking on future upholstery projects, they'll be my first phone call.

Dining Room Rug Cleaned

Our dining room rug was looking pretty grungy so we decided to have it cleaned. We took it into Renaissance Rug Cleaning a few weeks ago and finally picked it up today. It looks much nicer, they even managed to get the barbeque sauce off it.

We spent more on the cleaning than we did when we bought it used, but I think it was worth it because I really do like the pattern and colors. We dropped off the living room rug when we picked this one up. I'd never had rugs cleaned before so I decided to start with the cheap one first, just in case I wasn't happy with the results.

Once I spend a bit more time tidying up the dining room, I'll take photos of it in place.

I also found a set of solid cherry joinery furniture for the living room. The pieces are currently at In-Ex Upholstery company; they're being recovered with green/earthtone fabrics.

They lived in a sunroom and have some sun-fade damage on the arms, but I'm sure I can repair it. That's the advantage of solid wood furniture. Once we get the cleaned living room rug back, I'll have them deliver the finished furniture.

New Media Console

We bought a new-to-us media console (finally). I've been looking for over a year, but I'm so picky that it was hard to find something on craigslist/Facebook marketplace that met all my parameters. Even this one didn't meet all my parameters, but I really liked the style so we bought it anyway.

This actually came with three amazing doors, but we took two of them off so the remote controls would work. We'll obviously keep the doors for some future time.

I'm hoping to eventually buy or make three replacement doors and put in speaker fabric in place of glass to help keep down the dust.

This winter much of our theater gear is being replaced. In November, we got a new 65-inch TV for Jeff's birthday. It was a huge upgrade from our 15-year-old 37-inch TV. And this past week we ordered a new receiver and speakers for Jeff after the old subwoofer set off the smoke alarm in the middle of the night. It seemed like a good time during the holiday sales.

New Bedroom Furniture

My furniture was delivered today. I had to ditch the boxspring or it looked really bad. We have a really thick mattress. This furniture is actually cherry with maple panels, but it's hard to tell because the cherry is still so light. It will darken over time.

This was a silly purchase, but I had a spendthrift summer and ordered it from a local furniture maker and it's too late to change my mind. LOL It's nice that I can finally clean up this bedroom.

35th Wedding Anniversary

Today is our 35th wedding anniversary. We had originally planned to do something grander than stay at home, but the pandemic.... 

We went out for breakfast this morning at City State Diner & Bakery. It's been ages since we've gone out.

Then Jeff made a fire when we got home and we hung out and spent the day in the living room. He put a huge log on the fire (after this photo) and it pretty much lasted until dinner time.

We bought dinner as well. We decided to try a weird-looking pizzeria and pub about 5 blocks from our house, The Blind Onion. It was pretty good.

Tomorrow we are getting new bedroom furniture for the upstairs guest bedroom. To be honest, I'm a little embarrassed about buying it. I had a spendthrift summer and decided I needed cherry furniture instead of oak. When I found Mission Craft Furniture, a local furniture maker, I put down a deposit and ordered a bedroom set. It seems so long ago now. I was supposed to get it long before Thanksgiving, but they called and said it was delayed because they were sick. I'm supposed to be getting it tomorrow. Crossing my fingers.

Furniture Rearranged

Last Wednesday, which luckily turned out to be a fairly sunny day, we hired a couple of movers from Oregon Trail Moving to help us move some furniture from storage and to rearrange furniture inside the house. Since it was so hot last summer we decided it would be worthwhile to move a bed down into the finished basement. The long-term plan is to install a murphy bed, but we just moved one of our bedroom sets down there for now. (I guess I haven't taken a photo since we cleaned up and made the bed.)

I don't have a good photo of the other side of the basement yet. Last night we got the television installed on the wall bracket and we started hooking up the gear. It's going to look a lot nicer with the wires all behind the walls. We are still hunting for a used nice-looking media cabinet so we will continue to use the inexpensive IKEA unit we bought to use during the remodel.

I also started moving my quilting stuff into the upstairs bedroom. I need to try and figure out the best way to use this furniture. Those are two Stickley bookcases and a Borkholder console table (all solid wood) that I scored off craigslist for very good prices. I think I may cover the console table with an ironing pad and use it as a permanent ironing station.

I'll have to show photos of the second bedroom next time. I still haven't taken any pictures since we moved in the new furniture.

I had planned to have the movers just move the big furniture pieces and then we would move the rest of the boxes and little stuff ourselves, but they managed to get virtually everything loaded in our pickup and rented U-Haul trailer. We only have a few things left in storage to retrieve before the end of the month.

The extra help was great, but I had rather expected to be able to deal with stuff a little at a time. Since everything came at once I now have a rather large pile of boxes down in the basement I need to finish sifting.

Bedroom Furniture Upgrade

With the basement remodel we are planning to shuffle around furniture so it's been making me rethink what furniture I'd like to have long term. A couple years ago, I found a Sorenson Reverse bed from The Joinery on craigslist. I really wanted it, but I missed out on getting it. So, when I found another one a few days ago, I knew I needed to try and get it.

This time, I was successful! We took it to storage temporarily. We'll run back and get it in a couple of weeks.

Sorenson Reverse bed made by the Joinery

And I have to admit, I also ordered a coordinating nightstand and dresser from eBay. They're being shipped from Glendale, California. These are the photos I grabbed from eBay.

Stickley Harvey Ellis Long Dresser

Stickley Harvey Ellis Nightstand

I was bummed they only had one nightstand, but now that I know what I'm looking for, I'll put in automated searches to see if I can eventually find another. And, in theory, I could buy a new one from Stickley, but I'm usually too cheap to buy new furniture.

I've decided to embrace the multi-wood look so when I found this bookshelf on craigslist, I needed it too. It sure is nice that Jeff has an income again. LOL

Even though I like the current oak bedroom set, I'm pretty excited about the new furniture. I've had wanderlust for a couple years now but Jeff really doesn't want to move so I'm trying hard to settle back in. It will be nice to have a change.

Basement Furnishings

I spent the day shopping for basement furnishings. We'd been planning to replace the old rugs and buy a sofa with a drop-down table for movie time. But now that Jeff has started working again, he needs a quiet place to work so we changed the plan to include a workstation in the theater side of the room.

With the desk added, though, we don't have room for a sofa. I spent a couple hours shopping around online and found a few options until I finally decided it would make the most sense to just relocate our Stressless chairs downstairs from the main floor. It's not like I'll spend much time sitting around once I get my long arm machine next month.

That still left floor coverings. I gave away the old rugs, so we do actually need new rugs. I spent several days agonizing over some hand-knotted rugs that are on sale, but they're still pretty expensive. I'm not sure I can justify more than $3K for the basement family room. 

So I was astonished today when I found some polypropylene rugs that I really liked. I don't normally go for plastic rugs, but the pattern seems period and they're super cheap. And if the basement leaks water again they should survive. Despite my reservations, I ordered a set of the Unique Loom Carnation Edinburgh Geometric Area Rugs from Overstock.com while they're on sale for President's Day. At Jeff's request, I ordered the black ones.

And because I clearly spend too much time in Electric Quilt, I thought it would be fun to try and design a quilt that coordinates with them. This is my first attempt. I will no doubt try a couple more versions before I actually settle on one.

Magnolia Dreams Quilt

More Garden Benches

When we were cleaning up for our holiday BBQ, Jeff made a snarky comment about our junk pile of wood on the side of the house. He was right, it looked bad. This is roughly how it looked over there, though the wood was stacked next to the house, not spread out all over the driveway. (This is a photo from last fall, I didn't think to take a recent one.)

It finally prompted me to use up the last of the good pieces of scrap wood. Since we were planning to have a BBQ, I thought it would be helpful to have more seating, and because we still had some short pieces of pressure-treated 4x4, I was able to reuse my plans from last year.

Jeff and I quickly sifted through the wood and found we had enough pressure-treated 4x4 to make two more benches and once we confirmed we could find enough long pieces, we spent about an hour cutting everything out. (We used whatever kind of wood was handy, without regard to the species, though most of what we had lying around was cedar and fir scraps from our fence and shed projects.)

Then I spent the next few days staining everything.

These benches went together pretty quickly. We decided to use fewer slats on the top this time around because we are hoping it will be easier to clean the seeds/leaves out of the gaps.

The old white bench was also partially disassembled/cleaned and restained with the green stain. I'm not sure how durable the finish will be since we applied green opaque stain over the top of the white opaque stain, but we won't be putting it back under the maple tree so hopefully, it won't need as much scrubbing.

The rest of the weathered wood I didn't think I would ever use went off to the dumps before the BBQ. So, while the side of the house still looks a little junky, it is better. I do hope we'll get the last of this stuff cleaned up this summer.