The makeover of a chair

I got this chair about 10 months ago from Savers. I kept it in the garage for a few months waiting to finish it before I finally just used it as the office chair. Unfortunately the seat cushion was uncomfortable so I moved it to my sons room where I would not have to worry about it.

Finally yesterday I got moving and refinished it.

I layered a few paint colors mixed with plaster and distressed it.*

I used 80 grit sand paper and then went over everything with fine 220 for a smooth finish.

The fabric was left over from some other projects.

I love how light it looks finished. Its the perfect place to read bedtime stories, which is one of my favorite things to do with my kids. 

The bedtime story last night was The Cloud Spinner.  (A very cute story)

*Note- I used sample size paints that where about 3/4 full and then mixed in about a teaspoon (a little less) of the plaster it helped the consistency of the paint so that the finish would not be so latex-like. This is not the "proper" way to do this but it was incredibly cost effective and I had no problems with the finish. I normally sand before I paint wood but because I was going for a really distressed look anyways I did not worry about sanding this chair. I did cover the top with a clear wax to protect the finish. 

The good,the good, the bad, and the ugly.

So the other day a found out some good and bad and good news. The bad news is that  some very good friends of ours are moving, the good news is that they are moving because she got a really good job. The other good news was that they had a vintage couch they wanted to give me.

Last week she texted me some pictures and after thinking it over and talking we decided No the sofa-love seat was not for us. We Wanted a chaise lounge for the living room and the love seat would be too deep for the window in the master. 

*Excuse my poor drawing I drew this  quickly so you could see what we had in mind originally.

 The weekend came and we went to RC Willy just to scout out some fun thins and relax. By the end of the day I was having a pity party about the house. I decided to call my friend and see if I could just go over to her place and take a look at the love seat (even though I had already rejected their offer) She had not found anyone else to take it and was very willing to have me come see it. Yep when I saw it in person and sat on it I made up my mind. We took it home that evening.

You know how I feel about classic traditional furnishings-they never go out of style and they are beautiful.

Let’s just say that we got very lucky-or blessed.  It is vintage and very well made it was her parents and they had had it reupholstered years ago and then given to her when she got married. It is very nice. And although I do see why it needs reupholstered again I washed all of the cushion covers  and soon I will rent an upholstery cleaner and use that on all my furnishings. I will keep the sofa love seat as it is for now because it is really a great color for my living room and my kids will ruin the fabric eventually so I might as well start where I am at.  Thank you dear friend you know who you are! It is perfect for our house and very comfy.

 Here you see that my boys are hard at work breaking it in.

So that was the good the good and the bad but what about the ugly?

Well its gone! This afternoon I finally finished painting the hallways! Good bye mauve paint color hello linen white!

So this picture looks not too bad but trust me- when the sun was setting this hall was PINK. Not the good kind either.

Ah doesn't that look brighter?!

* The color is linen white by bher.

One project down...

I finished the couch finally! Yeah! Okay I am not actually finished yet, I still have to put on the trim and hand stitch the seams. But the BIG stuff is done! I am excited to say that the glorified hallway that for the last few weeks was a huge mess of unfinished couch is now finally its own room! The room has not changed too much as far as what was in there before, the old entry table is gone and the woven rug is gone too. We were sorry to get rid of the rug but it was so done, when I took it up to clean it was clear to me and my husband and my mother (who had been over) that it was time for it to go. So we have a small rug in the room now that is a temporary place holder. I need to get curtains and the new rung in there and then hopefully I can work on the small details and let it be for a while until after I repaint the kitchen and upstairs bathroom (yikes that will be work). The main living room is still in progress I have been fussing and regretting over it for the last few days. When I planned the room I wanted white white white, but I have two small boys and a lot less energy for cleaning then white furniture (slip covered or not) requires. I decided instead to have gold toned chairs instead because it was light and I could not find any thing I liked in gray. Then when time for the couch rolled around I debated with a cream color to match the chairs and still be almost white, but the kids where with me that day in the fabric store and I just could not do it. I knew that they would just cover it with stains so I decided on a lighter blue color because it is darker and hopefully it will hide more.

My only fuss is just that I still droll of pictures in magazines and blogs of all white furniture. Beautiful! But I think its best for me to except that unless I want to commit to that much cleaning I should be happy with leather and colors.

Occasional Chair

Here is another creigslist find. Antique chair. i really liked it but i needed alot of TLC.
First i striped it down. Goodbye to that ugly yellow striped fabric.

You can see that the wood was looking a little dingy.
At this point I forgot to take pictures but I will tell you what I did

After I took off all of the old upholstery and disposed of the old horsehair stuffing.

Note: I saved the old fabric to use as a pattern.

Then I took a sander to the chair and smoothed out any blemishes and removed all of the old finish. Because it needed it , it came off relatively easy.

Then I re-stained the chair. After that it had to dry for a day , then I put on several coats of Polyurethane, several days apart.

Then I had to put on the new foam and batting.

After that it was time to put on the new fabric first you have to sew any seems that need it, let the old fabric be the guide. Then its time to put it on the chair, I use a handheld manual staple gun. Always make sure you pull, pull, pull that fabric and staple it down tight, if it is loose eventually (sooner than later) it will really look baggy and poorly done. After the fabric is on, it is time to add the trim and the bottom .

Then you get to feel that awesome sense of accomplishment that comes from hard work! AND you have a pretty Chair to enjoy!

TV cabinet makeover

Here it is before, not all at the look I was going for, but still a great piece for the TV

It was a Craigslist find that was actually pretty great, just the wrong color. Black. 
So I sanded it and them primed it and painted it several times and then I did a wash over it to get the look I wanted. I tested out the washes on a board to make sure I got it the right color.
I also used a wax over the finished product. I always wax things I have painted. It makes a much nicer look, protects the finish, and it is non-toxic.
 

 I did not plan on reusing the same handles but when I got it all done I felt like they would do the trick so I just used them again. I really love to reuse things, it’s free, green because it cuts out potential waste and it makes the hubby happy. .