My next project

 

This was my first foot stool that I purchased. It was $5 at an estate sale pretty much around the corner from our house. And I bought it before we even owned this house, so yeah, its definitely TIME to make it over. I look at this and think "Why, oh why, have I not done this yet?!"

So today I took pics of it to show you guys and because this week has been, and will continue to be, so so busy I had to restrain myself from ripping that lovely green fabric OFF. Ughhh, it will be nice to say goodbye to that.

 I have always loved the little detail of the curved corners.

 This is a SOLID stool, and its pretty heavy too. And pretty old, who knows actually. I always try to ask the history on a piece when I'm buying it, but with this one they didn't know, except that for as long as they remembered their grandma, she always had it and used it. So now its time to get this little thing USED again.

 Actually it is occasionally used.

 When its not hiding beneath the MCM chair I reupholstered once. :) Actually I love that it fits just underneath it. Its great for when its not in use and our room doesn't allow for much room in this corner, so its nice to be able to tuck it away sometimes.

SOLD

So I meant to get a good picture of the desk and chair together, but I decided to sell it, so I cleared it all off and then I took my pics. for Craigslist. Sorry guys, dumb of me I know, I clearly wasn't thinking. But this was so exciting for me, my first real "sale" and I made a little $ to put into my next project!

I'm SO happy it went to a WONDERFUL home, for twin girls just starting middle school :) , but then I have to be honest, as soon as it was gone I was missing it BIG time.  And I really really turned out loving that chair.

Thankfully I have another desk out in the garage that I am so excited about. And I will show you soon.  Because of school starting this week, why is it so exhausting to prepare for this?...and family stopping in this weekend I haven't got any time for the projects I wanted to tackle this week. So it may be quiet around here for a little bit, just a heads up. But hopefully i'll be able to do a smaller project. Wish me luck, cross those fingers, and don't expect too much... ha ha.

Estate Sale and Consignment Shopping

This last weekend we went shopping.  The whole gang! So it wasn't exactly the best shopping, but I still had a lot of fun and my husband and kiddos were sweet enough to take me.

Actually my boys usually like going to the estate sales because there are usually some old toys that are pretty cheap so they know they might get an old board game or matchbox car out of it.  This time though because my garage is full of projects it was really just for fun or for small items only.

But of coarse I found some bigger items I wanted.

 Like this beautiful black lacquered chinoiserie chair!!!! I would change the seat cushion for sure, maybe paint it, but the black looks great if it works with your decor. I've been dreaming of this chair ever since I saw it, because yes... I didn't buy it. Once I refinish my campaign desk it would be perfect with it too.

Here are some images to show you what I mean.

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And this beat up beauty, (needed a LOT of work, trust me) I haven't stopped thinking of it either.

I just shouldn't have looked at all, Now they are just haunting me, Maybe they'll still be there when I feel like I can spend more money on furniture?... HOPEFULLY.

I did get a few fun things though that I was excited about. A Fenton hobnail milk glass sugar dish, a globe for the boys that also lights up, and a big old brass lamp that right now is going in my daughter's room and needs an updated shade.

Her room is a work in progress, but here is a picture, plus you can see how we are using the message board so far.

I have so many plans for it and I even bought my paint but we haven't had the time to paint it yet. Hopefully soon, because family is coming to visit soon.

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.