The counter space to the left of my stove is an area that has been cluttered and bothering me since the day we unpacked and set up our apartment. It has been a space collecting kitchen utensils, spices, and seasonings for years, but I put an end to that yesterday.
During a weekend trip to Ikea, I scoured the wall storage systems and shelves until the right combination of style, size, and price led me to my final decision: Asker.
The suspension rail was $7.99, but the real steal were those shelves which I bought for only $0.49 a piece!
Easy to install, and now I can breathe easier with my kitchen just a little more organized.
Today's project at work was reupholstering a weight bench using a flokati rug to turn it into a piece we might use in staging. The bench was given to us a few months ago by a client that was cleaning out a house, and since then it has been sitting in our warehouse. I liked the chrome legs and simple lines of the bench, but the old white vinyl seat was unpadded and looked cheap and dingy. While looking through a design magazine I came across this photo and decided the bench should be recovered in a flokati rug for a hip, new look: 
I first gave the seat of the bench some extra padding with an old comforter, cutting it it to the right size and stapling it in place. I then cut the rug to size and did my best to staple it into place. Even the 9/16" staples I bought did not want to go through 2 layers of flokati (the rug was folded in half), a layer of comforter, and then the bench. I stapled in place where I could, and I stitched the rest with embroidery floss. I decided I liked the look of the flokati hanging down over the legs partway (as shown in my inspiration photo) instead of stapled up right underneath the seat.
