MLE's ABC's: Potato sack dresses, 90's tables and mad benches

I feel it necessary to start today off with a confession:

I'm not a professional anything... I'm just a girl with many hobbies, a small budget and a desire to tackle challenges. I'm not super creative, but I am a great borrower of ideas! And I like to do things frugally (preferably without looking cheap but the results are sometimes iffy). What I'm trying to say is I copy other people's ideas aaaand I'm cheap!! Ok, so now that we've established that - on to the real order of business.

My first post mentioned spring being a time of rebirth. Well, spring brought about "The Great Furniture Shuffle" at my house which led to the rebirth of several pieces of furniture in our household. Short story long - I was storing my patio furniture set in my living room for the winter. Yup! It was the first thing you saw when you walked into my house. I tried to pass it off as regular furniture and called it my 'sun room' despite the fact that the room faces north, but I digress. Anyway, a few weeks ago when spring started springing, we moved the patio furniture back outside. Nobody wanted to give the original furniture pieces back that I had farmed out to accommodate the patio set - especially not my teenage daughter who ended up with a piece of the sectional in her room! After 2 days with an empty room I couldn't take it anymore.
I started stealing pieces from one part of the house to fill empty spaces in others, eventually unearthing pieces not to be seen by the general public! My solution was to give 3 pieces new spring outfits. Today I'll share the story of the table with the potato sack dress.

Once upon a time, to keep people from walking into the chandelier in the now-empty room I placed my old kitchen table under it. We got the table from Hubby's : ) grandmother after she passed away. It is a 48" double drop-leaf table that came with 2 leaves. In addition to it's sentimental value, I love it for it's functionality and all it's possible configurations. Before I moved it, it was placed in the kitchen with both leaves dropped, up against the wall. I used it like a side board.

Since I never use it as a round table I had no tablecloths that fit. I didn't want to buy a tablecloth because the ones I really wanted came out of catalogs like Ballard Designs. LOVE me some Ballard Designs - I could live in that catalog!! So I decided to do the next best thing - Fake it! BD offers tablecloths made out of burlap. Burlap! Who'da thunk it? But they make even burlap look chic on a table! I AM the idea borrower, so why not?

Now I didn't have a plan or a pattern, just an idea rolling around in my head and the determination to cover the table. So, I clipped my 40% off coupon and tooddled off to JoAnn Fabrics. I came home with my 4 yds of burlap, giddy to whip out this project, just to realize the burlap is only 50" wide. DOH! Not a problem. I went back to JoAnn's with my Michael's coupon and got another cut of burlap, came home giddy to whip out this project, just to realize that I STILL didn't have enough width to reach the floor. Double DOH!! Handy Hubby : ) rolled his eyeballs at me and loaned me his tape measure. Sheeesh! I never said I was the sharpest tool in the shed but determination WILL get you far!

I labored long. I labored hard.

Finally I stepped back and basked in the glory of my Ballard Design knockoff tablecloth. I was grinning from ear to ear because this didn't cost over $65 like in the BD catalog! Daughter A came home from school and said, "That's an *interesting* choice of fabric, Mom." My son came home from college and said, "Been eating a lot of potatoes lately?"

*SIGH!* That's ok! I'm sure if Grandma's table could talk she'd say, "Thanks for the new dress, Emily! I feel like a Sweet Potato Queen!" Didn't I say it's the little things in life? I think it still counts even if it's the little voice in my own head!! : D

Next time I'll share the story of my 90's table. Til then...
Blessings!

MLE
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