I have a leopard stair runner.

I didn't think I would actually ever accomplish this dream of mine. That is, the dream of having the leopard stair runner of my pinterest dreams. But when we moved into a new house with slick stairs, all it took was me falling on my ass to convince my husband that it had to be done.

There are TONS of carpeting and rug options for stair runners, but many of them are very expensive. Leopard carpet is often woven the way a nice rug is woven... aka mucho dinero. I found a true carpet with the leopard printed onto the fabric, and it was barely more expensive than regular ole plain carpet. You can see it at the company's website here, and it's called Milliken Exotic Touch.

I found a local store that sold the carpet, and they gave me a great price on materials and installation. If you live in the northwest Houston area, check out Flaherty's Flooring.

Introducing.... Our stairs...

Another great thing about this carpet bring printed rather than woven is that it achieves a more subtle tone on tone coloring. Anyway, with all this being said, our stairs are disproportionately cooler than the rest of the house. But I am ok with that... for now. 

Love,

Lauren

DIY Outdoor seating for six for around $100...

Hi there! Welcome to my first official post on my new blog, The Princie. In this post, I want to share one of the best money saving DIYs I have completed thus far.

We built a new patio on the back of our home last summer, and when I started to look around for patio furniture, I found the prices of dining sets to be daunting. So one day, my family and I were having an elegant dinner at Dickey's BBQ, when I saw something that SORT OF looked like this...

A huge light bulb went off in my head, because I remembered that Lowe's sells pre-assembled picnic tables for like $100. All I would need to do is get a table and "upholster" the top with some sort of waterproof vinyl or oil cloth.

So here's what I did:

1. Bought the pre-assembled picnic table at Lowe's $98
2. Bought two yards of a heavy vinyl on clearance at Joann $9. Mine kind of feels like a heavy faux leather, and has a stingray-like texture to it. Hobby Lobby has the best faux leathers for the price, in my opinion.
3. Lay your fabric on a flat surface, face down, and center your picnic table, upside down, on top of the fabric.
4. Pull the fabric up and on to the underside of the table, and staple with a staple gun. If you bought a heavy fabric, this is super easy because you won't have to worry about creases or wrinkle as it pretty much stays put.
5. Just keep pulling the fabric tight and stapling, leaving the corners for last. I just winged the corners, and did not use any sort of official upholstery technique. I mean, it's a picnic table, not a tufted sofa.
6. Trim off any excess fabric, and you're done!

Oh, I also sanded down the seats, just so they were a little smoother, but that's optional and you can do it at any time, before or after attaching fabric.

Here is a close up of the vinyl "leather" I used...

And here is the "after" of our patio...

There are so many cool ways to customize this project. You could paint or stain the table, or even stencil an interesting design. I was thinking recently you could also get a custom cut of laminate counter top (the cool kind that looks like granite) and attach it to the top. If your table is very protected from weather, some long seat cushions would be adorable. The possibilities are endless!

Thanks for stopping by, and please share if you take on this project for your home!

Love,

Lauren