Friendship Makeover --> Ottoman Makeover

** i am new to this whole blogging thing, and especially new to blogging with pictures (first time ever right now) so i had a lil difficulty putting in pictures where i wanted them. and then also had difficulty putting them in order**
note: when i say "picture 1" start from the bottom picture and make your way up from there!

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ok, so this blog entry is really cool to me for a few reasons.

1) it includes a craft project that i did with my friend Kait and that alone is exciting to me [again, for a few reasons] like...

• i have been reading so many talented people's blogs where they seem to take the ugliest looking thing (like a crap ottoman) and turn it into a beauty that i would totally buy in a heart beat. and these blogs totally inspire me but at the same time make me feel inadequate because i usually feel i am "incapable" of doing such a thing
• BUT!! with the help of Kait, my thinking was proved wrong- we totally took one of those crap ottomans that we found at the Salvation Army for like 4 bux and turned it into one of those beauties that i would SO buy in a heart beat
  
• so that right there makes me glad. because this gives me hope for fun projects to come, knowing that i indeed CAN do some of the crafty things i wish to do
  

2) as i was thinking about blogging the process it took for us to take the crap ottoman and make it into something beautiful [yes, me and Kait make sure to try and document all the before and afters that we do because now we are both inspired to make more of this happen in our new house- all the time- with things like key hooks to curtains to ottomans!] but back to thinking about the process. it just hit me how similar this ottoman makeover is to me and Kait's friendship makeover. only difference is that God was the one working on both me and Kait, restoring our friendship and making our hearts/our friendship into something more beautiful...whereas me and Kait were the ones doing this same thing to the ottoman. Cool, right? i think so.

this is some of the process:

Last year we kind of had a crummy year living together in Greenough 315. Such a bummer too, cause that room was by far the greatest dorm room ever to be decorated/furnished and just GINORMOUS! but anyways, ugly year for us. just like this stinkin ugly ottoman we found. both things in need of some work because they held potential for restored beauty [picture 1] you may think that it doesn't look that bad. but take my word for it. it was pretty nasty. fabric was ugly, old, out dated and dirty! it had to go!

First step: remove some of the crap. we pulled off the dust ruffle and immediately it already looked so much better. [picture 2]
remove some of the crap in our own lives (ex. my sin, for instance. not that it was removed immediately or even entirely still to this day, but it's acknowledged and something continually being worked on)
There was a lot of dirt [picture 3] just like there was a lot of dirt within my very ugly heart at the time..

But with the help of some tools [picture 4]- actual tools used for me and Kait's project- but certain individuals used as God's tools for His work in our hearts. I'm glad that God uses our friends and people that care about us to encourage us on. i'm glad for Rachel Kelly and her talk to me about the importance of reconciliation. I'm glad for talks with Becca about core lies and conversations with Melanie. without them tools, who knows how the work may have been accomplished

And with some hope, there was potential. Potential for a beautiful ottoman as an end result to all our work, and potential for a renewed and reconciled friendship with Kait.

This required work. (which i seem to hate. i hate that things are a process and i get too excited for the end result. i'm tooo impatient!) but our friendship required work and awkwardness and time...just like the ottoman did (minus the awkwardness). [picture 5]

The end result?

A Beautiful Ottoman. [picture 6] it's a beauty right? look at that green! i'd totally buy it if i didn't already make it.

but more importantly, a Beautiful Friendship with my dear friend and roomie Kait.

it's crazy to think- without the work on our friendship i could not even be posting about the final product of our ottoman.

i think the ottoman makeover and the friendship makeover are glimpses of really cool things to come.

thank you God.

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DIY steps:

1) remove dust ruffle- just RIP that thang off. in some areas it may require some extra work where someone holds down the ottoman and the other person yanks
2) remove any remaining staples with the tools we got there in the pic
3) vacuum the ottoman. most likely a lot of dirt will come out of it, especially if it's all old and from the Salvation Army like ours was. we don't know where they have been! whose homes they have been in. whose feet have been all over it!
4) staple some of that white stuff (can't remember the name of what the fabric is- this is where i need Kait's help) all tight to the bottom of the ottoman. just staple away at the edge of the ottoman where you catch the wood
5) repeat previous step with fabric of your choice (in our case, that beautiful green. Kait's pick from some fancy store in NY)

step 6) i think you're done! did i forget any important steps? i easily could have for sure!

then- marvel at your work! be glad! take a picture. show all your friends. slap your friend high five and say "nice team work" cause together, you have redecorated an ottoman!

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next ottoman makeover:
for my bedroom.
Kait's thinkin bright red.
i'm thinkin she's right.
where's it going? in front of my bed. kind of like a chest but only an ottoman!
can't wait!
just gotta get started on it. kind of like all the other things on my summer "to do list"

oh brother.