Before and After: From foam packing to outdoor ottoman

When it comes to DIYs, there's a fine line between hipster upcycler and trailer trash. I'm not sure where I fall with this one.

As you may have read earlier, Tom broke his foot, and I have been on the hunt for a soft outdoor ottoman that costs almost nothing that he could prop his cast on. Also, I'd prefer something I don't have to store all winter.

This week I came across a tailored skirted ottoman slipcover someone was tossing. I had no use whatsoever for a custom skirted ottoman slipcover, but I picked it up anyway. Later, I got the idea to somehow stuff it.

I found a big chunk of packing foam at work, which I cut down to size, squeezed the slipcover over it and pinned the traditional skirt up underneath. Voila! A light and disposable soft outdoor ottoman that cost me nothing but my pride.

When I brought it home, Tom laughed until he was wet around the eyes.

To my friends and family who knit

Could you make me one of these please?

Instructions here.

Thanks a bunch.

Soft spot for indoor/outdoor beanbags

Living Etc.

At first I thought the whole outdoor beanbag/ottoman thing was the dumbest idea ever - taking something shapeless and weird from indoors to outdoors where it will be shapeless and weird and dirty to boot. But now I wish I had such a soft squishy thing to lounge on out on our balcony. This could be because Tom broke his foot and keeps propping his chunk of a cast on our teetery teak table.


Here are a few outdoor ottomans I've been eyeing.




This is West Elm's, which runs about $140 online. At the local store, they are selling the covers for only $50. I've stopped by three times to look at the gray ikat cover. Unfortunately, this ottoman is about as wide as our balcony. If I brought it home, something would have to go in our outdoor space - like me.
Then there's the Alseda stool for only $30. It's for "sheltered" patio use, which translates that it will survive one summer in your living room. If, like me, you can't remember Swedish product names, just type 'banana' in the search bar. (The ottoman is made from banana leaves.)

Trash picking rule #7 - Objects on street appear smaller than they really are

A banner week for trash picking - the makings of an ottoman, a huge plant pot and . . . sticks. I hauled these birch poles from Middagh to Orange Street today. They were part of a window display for a pet store that closed. Once I got them in the room, I realized they were enormous, as tall as, well, as tall as trees. Tom offered to saw them down a few feet for me, and, to his credit, made no comment about their arrival. Love my lumberjack.

Rain: the story of our lives

I don't even want to talk about it.

The endlessly inventive plain white plate

A few weeks ago, I reported on the exciting development of receiving a new set of dishes (and trying to let go of the old ones.) Readers Red Shoes and Stephanie sang the praises of plain white dishes. Steph sent me these photos, which show just what fabric napkins, chargers and placemats can do for the plain white plate.

Up until now, my napkin folding techniques have been limited to stuffing and fluffing them in the wine glass. Go here for instructions on how to get fancy.

Yanks and more rain

We attended our first game in the new Yankee stadium last night.

Here is what the sky looked like one hour before we were supposed to leave.

Here is the sky when we were supposed to leave.

We took the A to the D to the B. Got an elbow stuck in the subway door running from the D to the B. By 7:30 p.m., the rain stopped and a little sun came out. Here's the field after the plastic cover came off, and the water was dumped in the grass. The rolling up of the plastic held fan attention better than the game, which started at 8 p.m. Because the drunk guy in front of us kept jumping up after every good play, we saw most of the action from the gigantimous stadium TV screen.

Our young friend shelled and ate half a bag pistachios, followed by a bucket of popcorn bigger than his head. (This is not idle hyperbole. He actually stuck his head in the bucket.) His family ate about $500 worth of food (which, at Yankee stadium, amounts to a tray of nachos and a sandwich). By the 5th inning we were pooped. Got home at midnight.

The Yankees beat the Mariners 8-5.