Some tweaks

The neighbors moved, and gave us a television cabinet, which easily found a place in our living room and fits in well.

I experimented with what to display on top of it. For scale, I knew the main object would need to be about two feet high. My first try, bringing in a big vase with dried sorghum stems from another room, along with a couple of other things, looked too cluttered from some angles. For my second try, I stacked a few toys and then draped some green fabric over them--to make a mock-up of a large plant, which I have been thinking about buying. But it was immediately clear that a plant would not work well there; too much competition from all the vegetation outside the windows.

For my third try, I brought up one of the two old mannequins that we have--this one had been in the laundry room for a long time, standing on the washer. The mannequin is from a small department store that operated thirty-odd years ago. It represents a female torso from neck to hip, with no head or arms, and is made of molded foam covered in a stockinette fabric. There's a socket underneath where it can be set up on a stand, but we don't have one.

I found a shirt and sweater in our fabric stash, dressed the mannequin, and set it up on the cabinet. Then I added a piece of white fabric underneath for a simple runner, and a stack of books. Voila!

Later on I went to the thrift store, and found a much prettier and more colorful shirt for the mannequin.

I also finished making the ottoman that I had planning for the little sitting area. It took some time to collect enough cardboard for the core. It is made in the same way as the previous ones, only much larger:  a rolled cardboard core, covered in two layers of fleece, with some padding on the top, and then a cover of upholstery fabric around it all.

Creasing the cardboard every inch or two before rolling it up is a crucial step in this process; otherwise it won't roll up evenly. I rolled up the center unsuccessfully at least three times before I started over with different cardboard, and left the less-well-creased cardboard for the outermost layers.

All the materials were things that I had or scrounged, so there was no cost for this project besides work and duct tape--and sore fingers from sewing through the layers of tough upholstery fabric by hand.

I deliberately made the ottoman large enough to two or three people to share. The main problem with it is that it doesn't stay where I put it; the children keep taking it to use elsewhere.