A chair for the desk

 A few weeks ago I painted our desk back in this post. I love it. We all really love it actually especially with the wax finish, feels so smooooooooth! Anyway, we needed a chair. Its a smaller desk and so your regular desk chairs or stuffed chairs wouldn't tuck underneath it. Well in our garage we've had this chair that we got from the same estate sale where we found the desk, meant to be?!  Maybe they we old friends and were used together before? Who knows, but I knew from the beginning what I wanted to do.

Because I'm itching to use the chalk paint powder again I almost veered from the plan, but I decided not too. I needed it to be quick and this old oak chair was really solid and still in great shape. It does still creak a bit when you sit in it, but that's part of its character.  

Speaking of character, back to the plan. I wanted to sand it down a bit to get most of that old stain and years of grit off of the wood so it felt new again. Also I wanted the wood to look more natural.

 Things went really well too, until that said, "years of grit and grime" started building up on the sander and started leaving these great presents behind. Next time i'll switch sandpaper pads more frequently, but thankfully just sanding it out with some elbow grease took care of it.

 I found some great fabric for the seat and wanted to get started on the seat while the weather cooled down a little outside, but unfortunately when I took the old petrified leather off of the seat I discovered there wasn't any padding left inside really at all. So it was back to the chair and the heat outside. Actually that days weather wasn't too bad, it was still hot, just not as hot and humid as it usually is.

So I first used some Re-store a Finish, just rubbed it all over it being careful not to leave it too wet, usually have to wipe it after putting it on.

 Then after letting it sit for 30 minutes, and getting dinner in the oven, I put Howard's Feed -n-wax on then wiped that off/buffed it 30 minutes later again.  It's hard to see the difference in these pictures, but believe me it is like the cherry on top! That feed-n-wax is definitely the "closer" here. (sorry we just started watching Suits, and we love it)

So for a few days this is how the chair looked tucked under the desk in our home. Then I was able to finally get to the store and buy some padding.

 And with a little trimming the foam I bought was the perfect size for the chair seat. And for the Nate Berkus fabric :)

 So I put it on the top and then flipped it over and placed it on my fabric where the "dots" lined up how I liked with the edge. Then I got out my upholstery tacks and hammer.

 Then I just secured my fabric how I wanted, checking the front along the way. One trick I learned in my upholstery class was that you don't have to nail them in all the way until you are happy with how tight or loose your fabric is.

 Then when you get it how you like you finish hammering them in, trim your fabric and then you are done.

Well you are done once you secure the seat back onto the chair frame. And that's when you hear the choir sing and you just have that happy feeling rush over you because you've actually made a sad old chair feel fresh and beautiful again. LOVE IT!  

 I'm so happy with how it all came together. I originally was going to choose the white with off-white dot fabric, because I thought it would look better with the desk, but then I didn't want any dirt to show since we have littles running and climbing around the house. And the blue ended up looking so much better than I imagined with the wood. the wood also ended up being a little darker than I expected, but I really love it. And I hope you guys do too.

The Before:

 AND

The After:





















Hooray!!! We have a chair people! Soon I will show you how it looks with the desk.

Floral Message Board - DONE!

 This is about where I left off in my last post. I got the fabric glued on by just using some old fabric glue I haven't used for almost 7 years, still worked like a charm! Although it was pretty potent so I only could work on this during nap time, if my older boys let me, and after bedtime. Oh the mommy project schedule is NEVER predictable.

 This is the Better Homes and Garden's magazine that I've had on my shelf for years because of this picture, its great huh?! I wanted to do this trellis pattern on my own, but after I chose this fabric and my ribbon I decided I'd better do something more simple.

 So for ribbon choices I picked up this darker purple that matched the fabric perfectly, but It looked too grown up to go in my daughter's room, she is 15 months old.

 Then there was this lilac ribbon that was a little thicker that I thought helped bring the age down on this piece even though it didn't match the best it coordinated.

And then last was this thin imitation leather cording that was flat. I already had this on hand and when I remembered it I thought for sure I'd use it, but then when I pulled it out and tried to visualize it, I felt it would again be too sophisticated for her, this would be a much better choice if it was my own message board.  But really, I LOVED the idea, it was subtle yet had an unexpected gleam and is totally on trend right now. Maybe for a later project...

 So after I decided on my ribbon and the pattern I wanted, I got started.
I have been wanting these Deco Pillows for a few years from Caitlin Wilson. You guys if you don't follow her already you should, I have just LOVED every thing she does.

 After I got all of my ribbon pieces measured and cut, really I just eye-balled mostly, so its not perfect, I started placing them to form the pattern.  I used my pins from my sewing stash to just hold everything in place so then I could go back and lift sections to glue without ruining all of my hard work. 

 This is the whole thing pinned into place. I loved it, and can you believe that teeny bit of ribbon left on top of the ribbon spool in the bottom picture? PERFECT measuring people!...yeah right, total chance AND what a blessing that I didn't run out!!!!  

 So here it is all done. And as soon as we get it actually on the wall in her room I will share pictures.

We are using it already though, just propping it against the wall on her dresser next to her changing pad, and she LOVES it. I really didn't realize how much she'd enjoy pointing too, and talking about the people in the pictures. So happy I finally did it.

So what do you think? Over the top? Too busy? Or just right? My husband, I think, is being really nice when he tells me he likes it, especially because if it was going in our room I'm sure he'd change his tune.

Starting a new project

I've been walking by this floral fabric at Joanne's for over a year and wanting to put it in my house. I live in a house full of boys, so yeah I don't have anything really girly, especially not floral, anywhere.

Well... then we were blessed with a beautiful baby girl! So slowly the girly pinks and purples and floral (maybe) are making their way into our home. Just her room really, but that's progress.

 

 So today I bought about half a yard of it, its 50% off right now, and its friends and family you guys! that means an extra 25% off your total purchase, if you shop at Joanne's you know that one doesn't come along often. Only this weekend though.

 So I have this great message board that I've been wanting to make over since before our little miss was born.

 Unfortunately I'm just now getting to it. Thanks to some left over chalk paint I had mixed from the dresser. I knew that it was supposed to apply effortlessly to pretty much any surface so I thought I'd test it out. This frame is actually a really slick plastic so I knew I couldn't just spray paint it without roughing it up first and using a special type of spray paint. So chalk paint sounded like the easiest solution.

 And it was, it went on so nice! Really just like it was wood. I did have to do about 4 coats but I hardly used any paint so it wasn't a big deal at all.

Here is the fabric laying on the board, sorry guys, I actually haven't finished yet. Thanks to lost glue and being a Mom, but I'm hoping by the end of the week it will be ready to use.

the desk is done!

And I'm so happy with how its turned out.

After I finished painting I was ready to put the wax on. I wasn't sure how to apply the wax with the bbfrosch brush so I called Whipperberry, she sells the bbfrosch chalk paint powder and teaches work shops which I still want to take. She also was SUPER sweet and totally talked me through it. And I'm so happy she did because it all worked out just like she said it would.

 

 She just told me to apply the wax with your brush in about a 12x12 area, then wipe the wax off with a lint free rag, microfiber worked for me. Then when you are done, you go back and buff it a little, or a lot for a more shinier finish. That part was my favorite. And just like they say, the Wax finish MAKES the piece come to life. The pictures don't really show that unfortunately, maybe because of the color I chose to paint it, but the look in person and the feel is much more professional.

 Then it was onto the jewelry! The hardware before would've looked great, I think, on this desk. However I wanted something more current that still was true to its style. So I went with these really pretty knobs and drawer pulls from Hobby Lobby.

Here are the old and the new. I decided to make things easier by creating a quick paper template for the drawer fronts, that would speed up the process of putting the hardware on.

Well folks, it didn't really.  Actually if the drawer pulls would've been consistently spaced it would have. But they were just a little off here, and there. Which translates into 2 days trying to get this hardware on!

 I first started with a smaller drill bit just to be safe, then I moved up, then when I realized that the hole on the pulls didn't all match up to my template, the one I measured did :) then I had to try to widen each hole by wiggling my drill side to side. Sometimes I only had to do that on one side, sometimes both, it was just super annoying.  So lesson learned, next time if I make a template measure each drawer pull to make sure it will work.

 The first one went on so fast, the others took forever... but I got it done!

 And it feels so good now to see it done!!!

 So last night my wonderful husband helped me move the desk over to its new home, for now anyway, and then I could get our dinning room back to normal too. I was ready for that.

 So I was tired of it looking so empty so I grabbed a lot of our books and some of my milk glass and now it looks like its always been there.

 I also wanted to show you how the one side has a deeper drawer, I thought that was fun, and the boys think its pretty cool too.

 Then I remembered that our yard was overflowing with cone flowers so I switched it up a little. Fresh flowers are so rare in our house, I can't believe I didn't think of doing this sooner!

So what do you think?