Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Have a seat...


I found this Louis-style chair at The Rink a couple months ago. I bought it knowing it could be amazing after a little bit of work was put into it.

This project took me a lot longer than expected. The actual work was pretty uncomplicated, but since I had never worked with a chair like this, I psyched myself out every time I looked at it!

I removed the old ugly fabric within the first few days of bringing it home. That didn't take too long - just a lot of muscle. I made sure when I was removing the old fabric, that I was careful to keep all the pieces in tact and that I remembered how it was attached in the first place. This is probably the most important step in reupholstering furniture. The old fabric serves as a template for the new fabric.

I was super lucky that the batting was in great shape and that I didn't have to replace it. This was my first time working with a chair of this type - The only tutorial I could find online was this one at PoeticHome and just looking at the photos for replacing the stuffing made me want to vomit!

I had considered painting the wood a bright fun color like Jenny did over at Little Green Notebook, but I decided to go with my gut and stain it instead.

After having sat in my office for forever, naked (the chair, not me), I moved the it to the garage, where it sat. And sat. And who knows how much more time passed before I stopped procrastinating and actually started working on it again. My biggest issue was not so much procrastination, but the fact that I REALLY like the chair and I didn't want to screw it up!



Stripping the old paint took a few days... those little grooves are no fun to get paint out of!

I stained the wood and finished with a coat of polyurethane.

I finally found a print that I liked, so I cut pieces of fabric using the old fabric as templates, adding a couple inches around the edges so the print with line up the way I liked. Stapling the new fabric on was one of the easiest steps of the entire project. There was a little edge of wood where the wood trim met the batting - this is where the staples went. The staples were then hidden by hot glueing the piping around the edge.





I love how the chair turned out!

What do you think?

Have you had any projects that are WAY easier than you thought they would be?



Tuesday, December 8, 2009

#27 - Day 365 - Crossing it off my List!



Welp, a year has gone by and I've got a photo a day to show it!

Now that #27 is done, this means I've actually got to start writing on here... haha

#27 - Day 364



Brayden's baby dedication.

#27 - Day 363




P-p-p-poker face. P-p-Poker face!

Saturday, December 5, 2009

#27 - Day 362

#27 - Day 361



I love it when you are pumping gas and the pump automatically stops on a round number!

#27 - Day 360



Dry erase markers are a wonderful invention.

#27 - Day 359 - Antique Shopping Find of the Day



Where: The Rink Gallery, Bethany, OK

When I saw this, the first thing I thought was that I could see this on a really really mean girl's wall who had a hermaphrodite as a sibling and it was her way of rubbing it in...

#27 - Day 358



Another great antique store find/DIY project.

I'm striping the paint (all 3 layers of it) and then I am going to stain it and put new knobs on it.

#27 - Day 357



DIY paper snowflakes.

Tutorial here: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-3D-Paper-Snowflake

#27 - Day 356

#27 - Day 354



Found this awesome vintage sled at The Rink - Love it!

#27 - Day 353



I love decorating for Christmas!

#27 - Day 352



Happy Thanksgiving!

#27 - Day 351

#27 - Day 350



Nutella makes everything taste good!