Following Edge

I was up all night... sewing. Well actually, I was sewing while working on required maintenance for a computer at work, but the sewing was very important. You see, today was Lauren's 4th birthday and we had a very nice party with about 20 guests, but Anne Marie always spends the days prior to a party thinking about any necessary improvements to our house that would improve the party.

So, it wasn't surprising when Anne Marie wanted to go look for bar stools for the spot in our kitchen that's really designed for them. The problem is that we wanted ones that could match our decor and had padded seats. While unpadded stools designed to look bad anywhere are only $20 - $30, as soon as you improve the appearance, it adds $25 per stool; as soon as you add padding it adds another $25 per stool; and if you want to get a stool with arms, add yet another $25 per stool. And of course, no one wants just one stool, so $100 can quickly become almost $500.

Just when this was becoming apparent, we made the ridiculous move of dropping into Pier 1 Imports where I have never counted on finding good deals. Sure enough, the rules for stool pricing held there, but as we were about to leave, I saw some good quality unpadded stools not matching our kitchen on sale for $29 and had an inspiration. "I can make padded cushions for these stools in a design matching our kitchen", I declared. Anne Marie blessedly did not roll her eyes and, after a brief explanation, went for it.

I was prepared to buy fabric, but thanks to Freddy's having no fabric and thanks to Anne Marie's inspiration, I found a way to adapt my plan to easily make padded seat cushions from placemats. I won't go into the detail of the design as Anne Marie thinks I should submit it to ReadyMade magazine (mentioned here previously). Even so, you can see the results of my almost-all-night work in these pictures. When Anne Marie got up this morning, she was reflecting on our egalitarian lifestyle as she hefted a bail of hay in the barn while I was in the "farmhouse" sewing.

I think the stools are nice, but the best part is that the materials were only $19, bringing our total for four padded and matching stools to only $135. Now that's cheap! (and I mean that in the best way!)

If that's not cheap enough, I'll tell you soon about a camper we're almost certain to get free!

And speaking of cheap, no one has contacted me yet about immortalizing themselves and supporting the new community playground at a really cheap price. Think about it and don't be so cheap.