From Shabby to Chic! Ethan And Cheryl Re-Vamp The Livingroom.

So what do you do on the day after a 15+ mile Half Marathon?    Why,   put all your IKEA purchases together.... Duh!   Oh.... And try to relax a little.

New And Improved Living room...  From IKEA.

In the effort to make our boring lives sound interesting,  I took pictures of the entire process to show just how much fun we have!   Because... Self assembled furniture is so much more fun that simply buying stuff from Art Van, or Target.  And it helps to have an entire afternoon to enjoy the experience.  (And I needed something to blog about today...) So here we go!

Shabby Before Picture.... Complete with Shabby Cat.

First... Take pictures of the old shabby living room.   Complete with Cat toys, cat paper,  and scruffy cat. (very important to capture that cat in every picture!)  While you are at it,  throw in the Christmas Tree you have been too busy or lazy to take down as well. That should make a good "before" picture.

Light gray arm shows the stains
of time. 

Cheryl begins the disassembly. 

Now,  Tear everything apart.  Basically we are re-upholstering our sofas.   Ah,  the old covers were getting .... old.   We washed them once before they started to unravel.  So that meant that certain high use stains and wear marks remained unchecked.   The Arm by the door, where Cheryl sets all of her daily use items, had a permanent dark patch on it.   Add in my side of the room...  and between me and the cat,  our love seat was looking pretty ratty.  ( pun intended!)

4 bolts hold on each arm. 

Cheryl takes the arms off. 

Taking off the old upholstery covers from IKEA sofas ( loveseats.... but sofa is easier to spell!) is easy!   One half inch wrench is all that is required.  Take off the arms,  and the back and you are ready to remove the fabric.    Most of it is really intuitive.  And if you find IKEA instructions difficult... then you can thank your Public School System for FAILING YOU!    (Working at Pearson has Skewed my Perception of Public Education...  sorry.)

Cheryl works.

Cheryl works. 

After Cheryl does all the work,   I get to reassemble.   Easy!  And FUN!   And best of all,  I get to feel like I accomplished a lot. Even though I basically lift, move and do everything Cheryl tells me to do.

All done.   I'm exhausted!

Cheryl works... and whistles?

We also got new lamps for the living room.   They look almost identical to the old ones... except they are a rigid, chrome colored plastic.   The old ones looked more like rubber hoses with Fiber Optic lighting inside.  We had them a long time and they were showing their age. These new ones look better and not too different, so they will fit in the space nicely.

The Fruits of Cheryl's labor.... and My
spectating.

Another view.

While face-lifting the Living room, we figured it was time to take down the Christmas Tree.   I personally liked having it as a soft light indicator of the time. ( the timer was set for 6 A.M. and 4 P.M.)  But,  after a little discussion, we decided it makes us look bad if we leave it up too long.

And the Christmas Tree Gone.

With the New Lights lit. 

The entire process took just over 2 hours. ( I think)  and now we can sit back and enjoy our dark and moody elegance!  I almost feel like we have money!  So sophisticated and modern.  No one would ever guess that the sofas are actually 8 years old and have been re-upholstered three times.  But if no one can tell,  Then I will not enlighten them ....  (unless you are reading this... everyone in the world.)  Who am I kidding?  No one reads this blog except me and maybe Cheryl or the cat.

Outdoor Cat comes to visit.

He seems to enjoy playing in the snow.

Speaking of cats!   The Black and White neighborhood cat has been visiting us on the "nice days" when the snow is not coming down,  the temps are not frigid and the wind chill is not biting.   Basically once every two  weeks, lately.  I'm happy to see he survived the storms(s) and seems frisky as ever.   Also,  no missing ears of toes from frostbite. 

You would think he would avoid
the deep stuff. 

I give him food, but after licking all the gravy, he mostly just wants to play.   He does not seem to mind the deep snow.  In fact, he rolls around in the stuff like a Siberian Husky!  His favorite game is "find the mouse under the snow".  I'm sure he is well equipped for the real thing if he needs a snack at any given time.  ( there are lots of Voles out in our yard.)

Full Moon, Clear Skies, Cold Nights.

Our Largest Snow Pile yet!

So,  Big winter storm begins again tonight.  Lots of warnings,  alerts, and stuff like that.  It seems that we have been averaging a storm every three days this Winter.  and this is the longest winter we have experienced in Iowa thus far.

These conditions encourage Cheryl
to go for a walk outside. 

Hiro has taken over My Side of the
sofa...( Love Seat!) 

At least the occasional southern Wind warm things up between bouts of snowiness.   The sidewalks were clear this morning and we ran 7 miles.  Cheryl wants to get back on track with the running now that the job is over.   We shall do our best! 

Hope everyone is staying warm and safe... unless you live somewhere warm and safe already.   Snow does seem to effect the northern folks more.  Thanks for stopping in.