A coffee table

After I'd finished the sofa, I needed to make a coffee table of course :)
I didn't use a tutorial but found inspiration from these images;

I needed to do something a bit out of my comfort zone, because I don't want only oak stained furniture in the cottage. This might seem hardly different but it was for me lol

For the legs I drew a template first. Cut the four legs from
Balsa. 4 mm if I remember correctly. Then I stacked them all
 up and sanded them together in the hope to get identical legs :)

The top is from Balsa 2,5 mm, but the legframe is from
cardboard, because I didn't want that to have wood grains.

The top got an oak stain coating and leg frame a layer
of Gesso (primer). For a little sturdiness I'd glued thin
Balsa strips on the inside of the cardboard.

With a layer of black acrylic paint, and a bit of
sanding some edges for aging.

I then drybrushed some gold paint
on the sanded edges and glued the
top onto the leg frame.

Time for the furniture removers, I guess ;)

Though Penny is already getting comfortable outside
the living room.

Just a glimpse of the living room because photo's are either 
too dark or too bright inside (a) Still a work in progress.

A sofa for the cottage living room

It's been awhile, but I've finally managed to make some time for another blog.
I've made this sofa three weeks ago. It has taken me forever to find the right style, design and fabric. I kept doubting myself and changing my mind, so I was very happy when I'd made a choice ;)

I used this semi tutorial from Kitty and Kat Miniatures, but with a few twists of course.

I used Balsa 2,5 mm and 6 mm dowel (not a half dowel) for
the wood base. Mine is not as wide as the one from the tutorial.

Againt the advise I went with a stretchy fabric with an
abstract pattern :) I went through my fabric stash but couldn't
find something fitting for the living room, so I ended up
taking a shirt from my wardrobe. It had been my mothers
at one time, so now it'll be a sofa with memories ;)

I adapted the leg assembly with an extra
piece of Balsa to make it a bit more sturdy.

And gave it an oak stain finish.
It would almost make a nice
coffee table, right? :)

It took some time to figure out which part of the shirt
to use where on the sofa but I love how it turned out.

The back looks totally different, as do the sides, 

Tho photo is a bit too yellow from the candles but
I wanted to give a better look of the leg assembly :)

Moving the sofa around to see where it'll
fit best. Penny has made herself
comfortable already :)

Next piece of furniture will be the coffee table.

Bits and bobs, or, what I've been up to in Oktober.

It has been a bit hectic the previous weeks. As well inside as outside of my head :')

I'd started on the first piece of furniture for the living room; the
bookcase from the first book of Julie Warren.
(Though I have my own crafting room with everything I could
need, I do most of my crafting here in the living room ^^)

After I was almost done with the base I needed
to take a break because unfortunately wood-
working is a bit to straining physically atm.

So, mainly, I've been cross stitching and made a couple of new cushions.

I wanted to make a couple of Halloween related cushion for my
Etsy store, but I started a bit too late and only got to finish this
one. Maybe next year I can do more to sell :)

Last year I've made a series of Santa cushions, and this year
I'm working on three snowmen :)

I also finished the three geometrical cushions I've scross
stitched in September. I need to make a few pretty pictures
and then they be listed in Etsy.

  

But, I didn't have a couch that I could use as a prop for taking those photo's, so needed to remedy that ;)

This tutorial got me started on a simple couch but I didn't like
the straight sides, so I carved and sanded untill the arms had
a rounded shape :)

I covered the back part and the arms (partly) with fiberfill,
and tried to figure out how to go from there.

I used flat head pins and texile glue to attach the fabric. They
easily went through the Balsa wood and I could snipe
them off before covering that part with fabric.

Three extra pins gave my couch the tufted look I wanted.

Hopefully I can finish the couch in the next couple of days, but I had to tidy my diner table this weekend because we had a little party last night. As soon as I'd put the half finished couch away, Harry claimed it to get very comfortable. Before the first guest arrived he had already started on a bottle of elf-made wine!
I guess I can wait another day before I continue with the couch ;)