I channeled my inner Nate Berkus and worked on some home projects on Saturday! While CJ lent me a hand here and there, I’m happy to report that I did most of it by myself and it all turned out awesome!

The first project was the easiest. I simply changed out the hardware on our kitchen cabinets. The old handles were brass and well worn.

The new ones are brushed nickel and while the change is small and subtle, I think it really makes a big difference.

It updates it and adds that more modern look. I also put these new handles in my bathroom (we had already updated CJ’s when we redid his bathroom a couple years ago).

The next project was the most labor intensive of the two. I decided to reupholster our dining room chairs. The dining room set we have is over 100 years old and has been handed down over 3 generations. My great-grandparents bought it and then gave is to my grandparents. My grandma gave it to CJ and me when we bought our house 5 years ago.

We really love it but let’s face facts. After 100 years, things are bound to get beat up and worn. At some point I would like to have the whole set refinished and shore up but for now, we settled for changing out the maroonish fabric on the seats to something more modern, that matched better with our house.

Here are the before shots:

This whole project actually turned in to an archeological experiment. See, when we took the seats off the chair, we discovered that it had been reupholstered 4 times already! We had to remove at least one layer before putting the new one on so as to not have it be too thick. We decided that for one of the seats, we would pull all the layers off, just to see what the other fabrics looked like! It was really fun to see each new reveal!

Ok, so, the maroon fabric above is the first layer. Here’s what the second layer looked like:

(Psst, say “hi” to Samson laying in the background!)

Here’s a close-up:

While flowery is generally not my thing, I do think this is a very elegant pattern that matched the set nicely. I try to picture how it all looked and I bet it was very pretty.

The interesting thing about this one is how it looked on the back:

Pretty wild, eh?

Now here’s the 3rd layer!

(And now Samson’s asleep. Guess he wasn’t as excited by this project as we were!)

This one is even more elegant. You can also see how the fabric gets more worn and faded with each layer.

And now for the 4th, and last, layer!

(And Samson’s up again!)

This one is really faded. It’s hard to tell from the pic but it’s a green color with peachy/beige flowers. I think this was the original which means this fabric is over 100 years old. Wow! I think the 2nd layer is my favorite, which is odd given that it’s flowers. There’s just something about it that fits the set!

Here are all of them together:

Apparently my family likes green and maroon since they alternated green, maroon, green, maroon with each change. But now the Trader’s have to mix it up yo!

And the big reveal of the new look! We wanted something brighter and more neutral. A color that would play off our new tablecloth but still work in the new house should we decide to change color schemes. So we went with a silky gold fabric that has a watermark type design (which is hard to see in the pics).

Here’s how it looks with the table:

And here’s how the whole look comes together:

I’m super happy with how it all turned out. I really think it brightens up the room and, like the new cabinet pulls, modernizes it. Now here’s hoping it’s enough to sell the house!

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