DIY Stair Basket

We live in a two story house now.  We have been here less than two weeks and stuff has begun collecting at the bottom of the stairs.  It amazes me that things we need to take upstairs, we don't just take upstairs.  We pile them on or around the stairs.  Why does this happen?  Probably so we can carry it up the next time we go up.  Sadly, by the time we go upstairs, there is too much stuff to carry in one trip.

Those of you who know me well know I am pretty organized.  I also LOVE baskets.  A friend of mine had some stair baskets on her stairs and I thought, "Why would you need those?"  Ha!  Now I know why.  So, naturally when my junk accumulation problem arose, I looked online for stair baskets.  I was not about to pay $40 for a basket. 

I quickly started thinking of another solution.  What do you have lying around after you move?  Lots of boxes.  Obviously, I didn't want an ugly box on my stairs.  I looked online for "DIY basket stair" and to my surprise I found a tutorial with some great tips here at Full Of Great Ideas Blog.  I had some gray chevron fabric left over from some throw pillows that I made for my couch.  I did not Mod Podge my fabric on like the tutorial showed.  I made a pattern and used my trusty hot glue gun.  Now it matches my living room and is quite useful!  Here is how mine turned out.

I may add some handles to it eventually.  I'm hoping it holds up well.  It seems very sturdy.

After the 2 hours it took me to make (and now that I'm thinking I may want more than one) I'm almost wishing I would have just bought a basket.

Oh well, I'll look at it like $40 in my pocket! 

What are you going to make this week?

My first Slipcover!

So, We bought this OshKosh chair for Tobin at a yard sale, before he could walk. It was in pretty good shape when we bought it used. We have moved several times, and it's been in and out of the garage, on the porch, around the house... I admit. It's pretty disgusting. Lately, it's been in the garage a while. I had every intention of cleaning the upholstery. Well, I went out to get it yesterday to clean it up and our pet rats (not really, in fact they will hopefully be dead in the next couple days) used it as a chew toy. I didn't take close up pics but they ate at the seat part, and at the back. Needless to say, it needed a slip cover.

I have never made a slipcover before. I was surprised that it only took about 2 hours and it was done! I'm not good on tutorials, so here's a "kinda" stage by stage look at how I did it.




All pinned together, wrong-side out...
Finished! the arm...
Definitely not perfect, but it will do!
Side view
Caroline LOVES it! Tobin is mad that it isn't blue. Oh well, such is life.