Room Makeover!

This week I got a wild hair and decided to work on the "lounge" just outside of the TV room.  It was a bit junky and had lots of odds and ends...

 

 The other side of the room I had emptied out before I took a picture.  It had the crib and a folded chair and a bunch of other stuff.

So I had thought we would put our chess table in this space.  And thought I would use the two extra dining room chairs on either side of it.  This thought came to mind when I was window shopping through World Market this past weekend and saw dining chair slip covers on sale for $15 each (usually $40) and knew there was no way I'd want to or could make them at that price. 

Unfortunately, when I went on Monday, none of the slip covers would match the dragon painting that my husband's Grandma bought for him when he was around 10 years old from the gift shop at the Little Rock Arts Museum.  And this painting matches the orange side table that I already had in the room.  So while I was at World Market and discovered the slip covers weren't going to match we cruised through the rest of the store.  And to my delight, I found a chair with dragons as part of the fabric design. 

What luck!  But no price tag was on it.  A salesman was nearby and I asked him about it.  He went to find someone to ask about it and came back with a price of $139 since it was the last chair of this kind with this fabric(the other chairs like this were priced at $179).  Oh, still more than I was wanting to spend.  Then the salesguy figured out I wasn't paying that and mentioned on the back base of the chair there was a crack that had been repaired and said he would take $79.  I asked, "Can I still use my 10% off coupon?"  And he gave me a little frown and said, "Yes, I just want to get rid of it!" 
Wahoo!  Score! 

Then yesterday the kids and I went to Goodwill to find a frame for the dragon painting.  And I got a great deal on a giant frame (a little over 24" and 30") for only $8 and to go with those, got a bunch of bamboo tall sticks. 

Here's the before of the frame...

We got this home and while my littlest took a nap, my daughter and I took apart the frame(she even helped take a bunch of the staples out with some needle nose pliers).  Then we spread out the tarp and spray painted it black.  Perfect!

Also because I'm trying to be thrifty, I shopped around my house for knickknacks.  I found a red tapered candle and gold candle holder, a wine crate to use for movie snacks and some popcorn bowls to put in it for the TV room, some little dragonfly paintings I had done years ago, and some chopsticks that my husband had picked up when he was in Korea for the Marine Reserves.  How to use the chopsticks?  I had an old frame with a black background and taped these on the board and put it back in the frame.  Here's what I started with for this project...

Lastly, I emptied out the room, sorted what could go into the attic, and had help putting things into the attic space. :) 

I think it turned out great if I do say so myself!  It was a fun project and hard to beat a room makeover for only $95. :)