Reader's home - before and after

Iris from Inredningkaos emailed to share her apartment redo.

Here are some pictures from the kitchen, living room and dining room. We bought the apartment three years ago and completely redid everything from floor to ceiling. The first few months we lived in the apartment completely without a kitchen! All we had was an electric coolbox in the living room :)p Between the kitchen and dining room we removed a wall and instead we put a kitchen island with a stove to make a better space for cooking and entertaining, which we love to do! My favorite thing in this area is the white brick wall behind the television. My very handy boyfriend built in a pipe behind the bricks and underneath the floor where all the cords from the television and amplifiers go. I painted the art in my living room myself and I also painted the pattern on the rug! Hope you enjoy the pictures!

It's a wonderful transformation Iris! From a plain box-like apartment to a stylishly casual and cosy home.

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Maureen's DIY headboard

Project #2 is from Maureen of The Inglenook Decor who was contacted by HGTV.com to create a budget-friendly DIY headboard that they wanted to feature. Maureen started the project by stalking Craigslist for somebody who could make a wood cutout, used leftover chalkboard paint and primer paint, dustless chalk (who knew?!?!) and a favourite vintage silhouette. I LOVE how it turned out. (Photos by Chris, silhouette image courtesy of Susie Harrington of Petite Prints).

Someone give this girl a TV show!

We received an email from a reader named Lauren recently...it seems Lauren wants to be a TV star. :-) And I think she totally has potential for her own HGTV show. She sent us a link to a webisode she filmed with Craigslist TV where she posts on craigslist offering to redecorate someone's place exclusively using craigslist to find all the design materials and furniture. Her video is alot of fun so I thought I'd share with you all. (P.S. Not only is she a decorator but an artist - find her work here.)

My DIY sofa - completed at last

My DIY sofa is finally complete! I had agonized over what to do about fabric for cushion covers, which proved to be a bit tough since I had a forest backdrop to work around. Having never had to plan such a fabric venture before (since I'm not an interior designer, I see why folks hire them for stuff like this) walking into a major fabric store was a tad daunting. But I think my choices worked out OK in the end. I had asked my mom to make the covers for me (I have no clue how to sew) and she opted to send the pillows to her seamstress instead. Which turned out to be a brilliant idea, because her seamstress made covers for 13 pillows, 12 of which she did piping, and it only cost about $100. Yes, that's $100 CDN (!!!). I found a purple tie-dye-ish linen type fabric and knew I had to have it so I worked the other fabrics around it. I wanted all linens/linen blends because I love wrinkles. I'm considering dying the base cushion covers but will let them be for now (they get pretty dirty with 6 cats all over them constantly). I also switched rattan chairs and am using the white lime zebra print one in the living room now since it matches the green cushions. One project down, a zillion more to go (although I am trying to find a silver tray to replace that yellow one on my coffee table)...

Kim's Komfy Kouch

So I finally got around to getting the instructions for my DIY sofa from my boyfriend and he took a few photos to illustrate some key points. Sorry for the delay folks but I have a terrible memory and have been super busy lately. These are in his words, including the title (which I don't want to take credit for LOL). (Thanks Jeff!!)

First thing is to measure the cushions you are going to use (we used the Ikea's Lillberg sofabed cushions). You want the cushions to fit tightly into the sofa. This will keep the cushions fluffy and in place as you get comfy. The pillows should sit 2-3” below your sides depending on the height of your pillows. You can see the difference in this picture:

The frame is made from 2x4's, the width ones that attach to the legs are first and then 2x4 lengths lay on top around the edges.

Another 2x4 is cut to fill in the gap so the 2x6’s on top sit evenly.

FYI – do not screw your wheels/legs to the couch like this. Use proper screws, something I forgot on the trip to Home Depot. And we're going to switch out 2 of the casters on each of the 2 moveable pieces to finials, because despite using lockable casters, they still move around too much.

Lay some 2x6’s lengthwise on top. You could use whatever width of wood you want, heavy is good so the couch won’t move around when you are. You can see in the first photo an end view without the MDF.

The ledge on the back was made by raising a 2x6 so it would make a space for pillows. If you are going to make a pillow ledge remember to take that into account when making the frame (it was an afterthought on this one).

The sides are finished with the MDF and cut at 45 degree angle at the corners.

The MDF we used (8") is the perfect height to reach from the top of the legs to 2-3” above the frame. The couch sits 12” high to the top of the MDF.

Fill the holes and cracks, prime (we bought pre-primed MDF), paint and accessorize as required (mine still require new pillows - hoping to tackle that ASAP).