DIY - The Butcher's Daughter

Save Money – Sofa Repair Hack!

March 6, 2022February 17, 2026by shannonleger

If you’re like me, you love to save money! These times we find ourselves currently living in, require one to be resourceful. I’ve heard alot of talk lately in the media about food prices and I’ve noticed the outrageous prices myself when I’ve been out at the grocery store. What I didn’t realize as acutely was the increase in furniture. At a few thousand dollars and up, a brand new set is honestly way out of my budget at this time. Being the thrifter that I am, I searched for a week or two online both on Marketplace and local furniture stores,, both box stores and smaller local shops. No luck at first. I had grey in mind so that meant alot of what I found wasn’t going to work. I knew I wanted something with a clean tailored look, possibly tufted. I hoped for an attached chaise and because I knew I wanted at least two chairs to complete the livingroom, I didn’t want to spend more than $500.00 – $600.00 on it. Well, yesterday I finally hit the jackpot! I found a dark grey/greige sofa with chaise for my price point. It was a short drive to pick it up and fit the look I was going for as well as being in really good shape overall.

The sofa was from a home that had pets though and they did minor damage by way of some small snags over most of the sofa. I was able to remove the snags and it honestly looks like new now. I wanted to share how I did this as I know that many of you own sofas with the same type of material and may want to freshen it up a bit or you’re in a situation similar to mine where you find a great deal on a piece of furniture that fits all your specifications but it has some minor damage such as this and you need a quick, easy DIY fix.

Sofa arm with pulls and pills — Sofa arm showing minor damage of snags and pilling

As you can see in the above photo, the arm of the sofa had some minor snags and pilling. This was over the entire sofa, some area more than others. Not to worry, it’s a pretty easy fix!

Piller tool for de pilling fabric — Tool for de pilling fabric

I used a pair of sharp scissors, a razor and a de- pilling tool to repair my sofa.

Scissors cutting off pulled strings — Sharp scissors cutting off pulled strings and snags

Using a sharp pair of scissors, carefully cut off any pulled strings or snags that are long enough to reach with the scissors. Then using the razor, carefully shave off the remaining stub of the string if one remains and any other small snags that may be too small to cut with the scissors. Finally, use the de-pilling tool to smooth out any leftover pilling.

So much better! I continued this process all over the sofa and I’m so happy with the end result. I have a new to me sofa that fits all the wants and needs of my family at a fraction of the cost of new! My search continues for new chairs/recliners!

Crafting, DIY, Winter

Christmas Tree Flocking Hack!

January 5, 2022January 5, 2022by shannonleger

It’s the most wonderful time of the year again! Hard to believe it but it’’s December 1st and Santa will be here in a few short weeks. This year I decided to change things up a little with my Christmas decor. One thing I’ve been wanting to do for a year or more now is purchase a flocked tree or make my own. Seems it’s all the rage again this year.

I’ve looked around at trees but they’re pretty expensive and I already have a perfectly good little artificial tree that’s the perfect size for my entryway which is where I’d been wanting to put a tree now for a few years. I decided I didn’’t want to make the investment so on to Plan B! I decided I’d flock the tree myself with flocking powder or spray. Well, I ran into roadblocks right away even on Amazon. Seems there’s not much available that ships to Canada and the prices are crazy for what you get. So another idea down the tubes.

Plan C! I went looking around in my basement to see what we might have hanging around that I could use to transform my little tree. First glance around, nada. But then I spotted an old can of white enamel spray paint. Aha! Just the thing I needed to faux flock my tree! I took the tree outside and sprayed it from the top down, on the tops of the boughs towards the ends of the branches, just like where you’d see real snow fall. I’m absolutely in love with the end result! I ended up going with a woodland theme which looks perfect in my Farmhouse style home. Best thing of all, I didn’t have to spend a cent!

A little paint really transformed my little artificial tree. I made the burlap garland by sewing a straight stitch down the middle of an unrolled roll of burlap and pulling it to create a ruffled look. I purchased the burlap roll at Dollarama. I added the branches throughout to give texture and really bring home that woodland feeling. Branches are from my backyard.

I’ve since added more red and white balls and it looks even more amazing! Whole tree decorated for under $100 using mostly Dollarama decorations. They’ve really upped their decor game inn the past couple years! I’ve seen very similar Christmas balls at Canadian Tire this year for three times the price.

DIY

Where are My Keys Hun?

May 5, 2021May 5, 2021by shannonlegerLeave a Comment

Last year when we began our kitchen updates, I took down an old key holder I’d had up since 1998 or so. I know, I know, crazy! Let’s just say I get my money’s worth out of things! Haha! It was time for an upgrade for sure! I looked online as in-store shopping wasn’t really an option at the time, then looked locally at discount stores once we could shop for non-essentials. No luck finding just what I wanted so of course I went the DIY route! With my husband Colin’s help, we created a simple key holder that fit in nicely with the Farmhouse theme of our home.

We had a piece of solid oak leftover from our living-room step makeover, so Colin cut a piece to fit the space we wanted to place it and then stained it to match our new luxury vinyl floors. I sealed it with gloss Modge Podge and attached a cast iron key with key hooks onto the piece of oak. Just to give it a little extra punch, Colin painted the key black and added a bit of white here and there to age it a bit. I then sealed the paint on the key by applying a thin coat of the gloss Modge Podge.

I have a weird hang up when it comes to putting nails, screws or hooks in drywall, especially freshly painted drywall, so I used 3M Command Strips to hang our new key holder. After a few days with all our keys on it, it fell off the wall. It was the part of the strips that attached to the back of the holder, not the ones on the wall that were the issue. I think this was due to the fact that I applied the gloss Modge Podge to the back as well. To compensate for this, I used a bit of crazy glue under each strip and it’s held well since. I’m really happy with the end result! It’s custom, fits the space perfectly, matches our decor and serves the purpose of keeping our keys all in one spot right where we need them. Best of all, this project came in well under $20!

Stained oak board cut to size. A little paint, a couple of screws and a bottle of Modge Podge to seal are all you need to create a cute Farmhouse style key holder. You could also use a piece of reclaimed barn board, or even a piece of wood from a pallet.

The end result! It’s so nice to finally have a place to hang our keys again. I added this sweet little metal organizer where we keep reusable bags that need to be returned to our vehicles, masks, mail that needs to be sent, etc. It’s conveniently located right by the door to the garage so it’s very easy to grab keys and other things on the way out the door!

DIY, Home Improvement

Blinded By The Light!

April 30, 2021March 7, 2024by shannonlegerLeave a Comment

Hello everyone! It’s been far too long since we’ve chatted! I really missed you guys! I hope you missed me too. I’ve been on this huge journey over the past year and a bit, I think a lot of us have been. I decided at the beginning of the pandemic that I’d use the extra time (and money saved from not going out to eat, shopping, travelling, etc) to change up my home and get some things done around here that had been put off for far too long! In the process of renovating my home, I honestly have begun to change my life too! More on that in another post, haha!

One of the things I’d been putting off since last year was getting some window treatments up. I took down all my window coverings…..curtains, blinds last spring when we were in the thick of our kitchen turned main floor renovations. For all the many months since then, we’ve been blindless. Is that a word? Haha. I decided to forego curtains altogether and stick with inside mount cellular blinds. I love the clean look of them, tons of light still gets in but they do give a bit of privacy and help block UV rays, not to mention heat and cold. Finally, back in March, I took the plunge and ordered blinds for my whole home through Blindselect.ca. I’m so happy with the quality and aesthetic of these blinds. They often have discounts and I was able to order during a 50% off sale. Even better.

The only problem was, I couldn’t find a good solution for my exterior steel doors. I needed something that would block the blinding light coming in, especially my front door where I also wanted some privacy. I wanted something that would look good but that would work with a very small budget. I also didn’t want anything too permanent (I have a thing about putting holes in walls, doors, etc). My solution was to DIY Roman blinds using old pvc mini blinds that we took down from one of my boys’ rooms when we installed the new blinds. I thought I would share this DIY with you because I know there’s someone out there in the same predicament I was in! Here’s what I did and the end result. I’m so pleased!

Step 1: Choose a mini blind that’s the correct width for your steel door window. You will also need approximately a yard of fabric of your choice. A heavier fabric will hang well but do keep in mind this is going up with magnets so you won’t want it to be too heavy. You will also need a pack of nickel sized magnets and some fabric/craft glue.

Step 2: Remove the small plugs from the bottom of the blinds. This will allow access to the main cord on either side of the blinds. Untie the knots and remove the bottom rail.

Step 3: Cut all the ladder cords. These literally look like a ladder and connect the ladder cord in the front to the ones in the back. Once they are all cut, remove the ladder cords completely. You will be left with the two main cords that pull the blind up and down, as seen on the right in the photo. It’s a thicker cord. Do NOT cut these main cords.

Step 4: Remove all the slats of the blinds, except for 3 or 4 depending on the length of your window and how many folds you want in your finished Roman blind.

Step 5: You will be left with something that looks like this. Put your bottom rail back on, knot the cords and place your plugs back on the bottom rail.

Step 6: Cut your fabric 3 inches larger than your window on all sides (top, bottom, sides). Fold and iron a 1.5 inch seam.

Step 7: Apply fabric glue. I ironed it lightly after folding over onto the glue.

Step 8: Apply fabric glue onto first fold and fold over another 1.5 inches. Iron in place. This gives your seam a completely finished look with no raw edges to fray. All with NO sewing!

Finished seams. Loving it! Now for the really fun part!

Step 9: Lay out your slats spaced apart evenly. Glue in place with fabric glue. Let dry. You will also glue the top and bottom rails in place.

Step 10: Decide how many magnets you will need to hold your particular blinds in place. I ended up adding magnets in between the ones you see in the photo, after doing a trial run and realizing they weren’t going to hold the blind in place. Glue magnets in place with fabric glue or crazy glue. Or both, haha!

This was my door prior to having the Roman blinds installed.

As you can see, lots of light still comes into my foyer (which I wanted) but it’s not as blinding and the door area just looks more polished. The project was $20 or less and I got the style and fabric colour/design I wanted. I reused an old blind saving it from heading to the landfill and best of all, it was an easy no-sew project that didn’t require holes to be drilled into my steel door. It can be taken down and changed out easily if you tire of the colour, design, etc. It’s a great solution for those who are renting and you don’t want anything permanent installed that may keep you from getting damage deposits back, etc.

I chose a dark grey and white ticking which complements the Farmhouse style of my home.

Night time view of the blinds…..a little easier to see the colour.

Can be completely lowered to cover the
window at night.

I hope you will find these instructions helpful and enjoy the process and the pride that comes when you make something yourself for your home!