Rocker and pillows...

One thing I enjoy about doing a flea booth is it allows me an opportunity to work on projects I probably wouldn't otherwise if I were just doing for myself. 

My first project today were pillows.  I bought two large pillow forms at an auction a few weeks ago.  I wasn't quite sure what to do with them until Debbie at Midtown Eclectic started decorating with some really nifty looking coffee bean burlap bags.  Inspiration!!! They are pretty cool looking, but honestly, they aren't something I would curl up with to read a book...kinda scratchy!  But they are neat! 

This weekend I bought a precious little rocker at an auction...a lady told me it was a sewing rocker.  Evidently it is a little rocker women would sit in and sew. I thought it was just a little "kid's" rocker. It is surprisingly sturdy but was in pretty bad shape cosmetically. (Did I take a "before" picture? Um...no!)  It was painted white and had a red velvet upholstery crudely tacked over a busted cane seat. One thing I would like to do eventually is learn to cane...but until then I will just do the best I can upholstering!

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First I removed the sloppy upholstery. I sanded the white paint and ended up with the raw wood showing on the edges.  I kind of liked the look but the wood was a little light so I hit all the "raw" spots with a pecan stain.  I used mineral spirits to get the stain off the white paint.  After I 'aged' it by sanding and staining, I coated it with a clear poly to seal it.  Then I recovered the seat with this pretty blue fabric.   I had a little bit of fabric and piping left so I made a little pillow.  Katie thinks it is "too much" of the blue fabric so I will probably try to find another fabric to make a contrasting pillow....maybe...some day when I have nothing to do...lol!  It really doesn't need a pillow...I just like pillows and can't stand to waste a scrap of fabric!

Summer finally hit here today and it got a tad warm.  After working on the chair and pillows I went out in the garage to tag some things I bought this weekend and it was rather toasty!  I finally cried UNCLE and turned on my AC...only to realize after two hours that it was still 84 degrees in my house!!!!  Guess I will be calling the HVAC guy tomorrow....curses!

I had to reinstall a sink and grout some tile at the apartments...tomorrow I have to install an AC, paint and finish some bath repairs...this is the time of year I try to hit it reeeeal early and finish up before it gets too warm!  I'm trying to finish up some paint projects here at the house and I am saving the bigger upholstery jobs for when it is too hot to work outside....which may be this week!  

Did I mention I'm not real fond of summer and the heat? 

Getting ready to go retail....

Wow...getting ready to go "retail" is a LOT of hard work.  I have been going to auctions and garage sales every weekend.  And if I was a hoarder, I would be in deep doody  because there is a whole world of really nifty stuff out there. ​

I have tried to focus on things others will LOVE!  I know I love most of what I bought...but since it is all piled in my garage and I have NO place to put it, I won't have a problem parting with it.​

This weekend I scored big time on July 4th and Christmas decorations, a big mirror, frames, planters, milk glass, candle holders...you name it, I found it!  Anything I can find that I think is wonderful, at a price that hopefully will let me make a few pennies...or at least break even!!!  I don't plan on getting rich on this little endeavor.  Again, I need an outlet for my creative juices and it is wonderful to find things I know others will take home and LOVE!

And honestly, this gives me an excuse to do something I use to love to do...go to auctions!!!  I forgot how much fun they are!  Even Brian has gotten into it so it is something else he and I can do together....that is always the BEST part of any hobby...sharing it with your best friend!​ And Matt, my youngest son, comes when he is free!  Family fun!

I have found a few pieces of furniture that are inexpensive enough for me to put my "spin" on.  It is hard to pay a premium for a piece of furniture and then come home and put a lot of money and hours into it.  I probably devalue my time and labor way too much, but when I go out and buy $100 worth of upholstery for a little ottoman it makes it tough to sell it for $75...especially when it took me all day to recover it!​

So I have to be very careful when bidding on and buying furniture.​ I found a wonderful Duncan Phyfe table that would have been beautiful...but the top was in pretty bad shape and I knew it needed a great deal of time and attention!  So I set a max in my mind and I tried not to groan too loudly when it sold for $15 above my maximum! But I knew if I paid more than that, I would NEVER recoup my time and expense.  

I also have to be very cognizant of what buyers want vs. what I personally like.  I am not that big into the shabby chic/plaster paint thing...but I know the buyers love it.  ​

This oak chair is a prime example.  Kinda dated before so I knew I would have to do something with it...​

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When I first started my plan was to prime, paint with high gloss black and then recover in a black and white damask...very "formal."​

But I had to do some sanding on the paint coat and before I knew it, it had a "shabby chic" flair that everyone LOVES!​

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So there you have it...a little shabby chic chair flair!  

I already featured the 3-legged table with the plaster paint legs...but I also have a nifty little oak table and a few other projects I will share over the next few weeks as I get ready to fill my booth!

Course at this point, I think I have enough to fill an entire store...not just a booth.  Typical me...at some point I will learn moderation...or just quit going to to auctions and stopping at garage sales....because honestly, I am running out of room in my garage!!!!

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​Love this fabric!

Walnut chair reveal.....

Well, it is done....and while I know where the little "goofs" are, I have to keep in mind one of my father's pearls of wisdom...​

"You'll never notice it on a passing train!"​

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As I have mentioned before (here), Mom told me she and Dad found this chair in a field when I was a baby.  When they found it, it was bleached white from being in the sun...and she is pretty sure it originally had a cane seat and back.  Dad knew it was walnut so he took it home, repaired it and refinished it.  I would bet the upholstery in the "before" picture was probably the second time he refinished it.  This looks more like something he would have done in the 70s or 80s.

I pulled the 5,486 nail heads (so I exaggerate a tad) and removed the old upholstery, nails and padding.  Dad wouldn't have touched polyurethane so stripping the original varnish finish with my favorite Formby's varnish stripper was not a real challenge.  I repaired a few loose joints with glue and clamps!

Even with a new coat of dark walnut stain, it was very "uneven" in places so I had to do some patch-work staining.  Then I put 4 coats of tung oil on it.  And then it sat...and sat...and sat....

I just didn't know what fabric to get.  I knew I wanted something a little more formal and neutral. I let Brian pick from 7-8 fabric samples...wouldn't you know he picked my least favorite, but in all honesty, it turned out beautiful!  I opted for the double welting vs. the nail heads.  I contemplated having it recaned....but decided against it...maybe next time! ​ And I have just enough leftover material for a little pillow!

Every chair in this house has been bought or repurposed to uphold to "abuse" from kids and animals.  But this chair is special and it will be tucked away in the corner of my room where the worst thing that can happen to it is one of the cats will find it!

Maybe someday, when I am long gone, one of my children will cherish it as much as I do....thanks Dad!​

Pretty in pink....and a little zebra....

Earlier I posted this "before" picture of a little dresser I brought home from the apartments.....​missing a drawer and really not attractive! (I found it, and this one, in the same unit!)

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​But it was relatively sturdy and I knew I could install a shelf where the drawer was missing...perfect for little decorative baskets! Or books...or whatever!

​I never posted a before picture of this chair....and unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture BEFORE I took it all apart.  But basically it was just a little gray chair I found at the apartments...kinda nasty as usual and veeeery boring.

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Both have been in my garage for months...kilzed and ready to go.  What to do, what to do.  I just couldn't get "inspired."  I don't have a problem doing this stuff, I just have a problem deciding exactly WHAT to do.  But the other day I was walking through Hobby Lobby and I saw all this pink and zebra stripe little girl's decor, and I thought "Oh MY!"  Inspiration at last. Keep in mind, I have NO place in my home for this but some little girl somewhere is going to love this stuff....​

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The zebra stripes on the drawer fronts are hand painted.  Don't get too impressed.  While I have a tad of artisticness and creativeness in me, I'm honestly not THAT talented.  Here's a little secret...if you see a design or picture you want to put on a piece of furniture, trace it onto a piece of wax paper.  Then place the wax paper on a piece of sewing trace paper and trace it onto your piece.  (TIP: use sewing trace paper...it doesn't "smudge" as badly as other traceable papers and the markings are easy to remove with a damp cloth!) You can do this on ANYTHING...walls, glass, furniture, anything!!!  I painted the drawers white, traced the fabric design on wax paper and then traced that onto the drawer fronts....then painted them with black latex paint.  And with everything, I sprayed it with a clear coat!​

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You can even print things off the computer and trace that...if the printed picture is too small for the project you are working on, just take the picture into any edit program and break it up in sections that can be printed off and then taped together.  If it is REALLY big, you can always project it onto the object with a projector.  We did that with a mural on my daughter's wall...if she EVER gets her room clean enough for me to take pictures, I will share her mural...totally awesome.  Ever hear of a "fail whale?"  Google it...it really is awesome!!​

Anywho....animal print is not really my cup of tea...evident by the fact that I pretty much hated my bathroom when I decorated with "leopard print" in a failed attempt to decorate around my ugly gold shower doors!  

But after seeing a little inspiration and how "fun" it can be, this was a fun little project. 

Pull up a chair...and another...and another...

I have a thing about chairs...and tables...unfortunately, I am running out of room.  But I can't help myself...I see an old battered and abused chair and I KNOW it can be beautiful again. ​

A few of these you have seen...but I thought I would share a few more.  As I have mentioned before, I was DIYing before it became vogue so I have many pieces I don't even have "before" pictures of...I just brought them home and did my thing....​

I think I bought this little guy at a garage sale for $5.  Can't even remember what kind of fabric it had on it, but I bought it when I was remodeling my youngest son's room after he went off to college (it was the last room to get laminate...hence the green carpet)  The oak frame was in pretty bad shape, but a little cleaning, stripping and tung oil spruced it right up and the alligator vinyl is just awesome!​

Another apartment find...I remember it had orange vinyl and was in pretty bad shape...walnut maybe?  Again, strip and oil!  The seat was VERY uncomfortable so I added 4" foam and batting.  I expected the fabric to be "funky and whimsical" but it actually turned out kind of nifty looking and is perfect in my den!  What was really interesting about this chair was the little plaque I found on the underside....

Every piece has a story...I just wonder how this little guy made it all the way to Arkansas from a bank in Galveston, Texas!

I told you at one time my taste was more "traditional."  I loved antiques....I bought a mahogany dining set at an antique store 18 years ago...I think it is all I have left of "that phase."  I have six of these chairs and the table...absolutely beautiful wood. I know a lot of people are painting these now, but I just can't! Over the years I have stripped and oiled them and just recently changed the seat cushions...again.  Nice thing about these chairs...the seat fabric are easy to change when your style changes!  I keep eying the "mid century modern" sets floating around but I'm just not ready to turn loose of this set!​ Yet!

I found this nasty little oak creature when we were cleaning out a house...a little cleanup, Kilz and green and white paint and it is now a sweet little desk chair at Kaitlyn's!  Sometimes you have to be willing to look past the grunge!​

I have no idea where this chair came from.  I do know it has been in my attic since I moved here 13 years ago, and I remember moving it around for many years prior to that!   When I remodeled my office, I searched high and low for the perfect chair! 

One day I found this lurking in the back corner of my attic and I pulled it down with the intention of cleaning it up and painting it.  But after stripping away all the ​nastiness I found a beautiful mahogany chair...so I put 4 coats of tung oil on it and recovered the seat....sometimes the very treasures we are looking for are hiding behind our Christmas decorations...lol!​

There was a reason this chair was 1/2 off at a thrift store...but I saw potential!  And I think it had a little!  ( I will not mention the horrendous mistake I made during the construction of the cushion because no one but me probably notices that a very important element of the fabric design is JUST ALL WRONG and is the perfect example of mistakes one can make even when they are being VERY careful and SOMEDAY when I have an extra 4 hours to spare I will redo the cushion...until then, I just keep hoping nobody notices!​  Grrrrrrr! )

I have posted these along the way...but they are just reminders of my obsession with chairs.  And it doesn't stop inside.  In my yard I have built two swing pergolas, one large patio pergola and have started collecting the old metal lawn chairs from the 50s and 60s...I may be constantly moving, but when it is time to plant it, I want something awesome to plant it on!!!!

And last but certainly not least, my dad's walnut chair.  It is currently sitting in the corner of my room and 

every day I look at it and wonder what upholstery will do it justice.​  I've looked for fabric several times and I just haven't found "it."  I will...one day a fabric will just "jump out at me."  And it will be perfect.  Until then.....

Doing a project "right" is about being patient...taking your time..sometimes waiting for the inspiration! 

The Houndstooth chair

Sagging seat, flappy arms, wobbly legs...getting old sucks.  This old girl had seen better days and took some serious gluing and clamping!  But after this facelift, she was one hot piece!

Off with its head...or upholstery...either one!

I promised to tell you the story of this sad little chair.​

I bought it YEARS ago at an estate auction.  I paid to have it reupholstered...​lots if I remember correctly.  And 15-20 years ago, the green fabric and the style was to my liking. 

But over the last few years, I have matured a tad and my taste has become more refined.  Okay, so I changed my mind about what I like and don't like.  Regardless, I didn't like it any more and I didn't want it.​

So, on Craigslist it went.  But for some reason, this pathetic little chair didn't seem to appeal to anyone...not even a little nibble. So one day in one of my manic "I CAN'T TAKE THIS CRAP AROUND HERE ANY MORE" moods, I picked it up to haul it to the curb.  See, in my neighborhood, if you set something on the curb of ANY value, it will be gone within an hour...I have done that with cabinets, vanity tops, light fixtures, furniture.  Gone.  Awesome.  Until you realize you could have taken it to Goodwill and gotten a tax write-off...but whatever.​

But then I got to thinking...if I can sew on a button and make a decorative pillow, why can't I upholster a chair?​

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!  Seriously, what sane person thinks like that.​

Obviously ME!  Because that is exactly what I did.  I stripped the little thing naked, taking hundreds of pictures along the way, bought the amount of upholstery the little chart told me to buy for this style chair, Googled "how to upholstery a chair", found a great tutorial...and settled in to complete a project I was certain would take me a day at the most.  Lets just say, it took me MORE than a day just to get all the stinking nails and staples out of the thing.  I can't even remember how long it actually took to finish the job entirely. (My youngest daughter agreed to help initially but quit when her hands began to bleed...not me, I'm a trooper!)

This is now my little reading corner in my office...okay, so its really the cats' chair, but it looks good.  And a few side notes on the other items...the table is one of my Lane Acclaim tables I truly LOVE and adore...and buy whenever I can find one affordable. Hard to see, but on the bottom shelf are old wooden tape measures and a wooden level that were my great grandfathers and an old hand tooled leather briefcase that was my grandfathers. The wall is adorned with "things I love" as well....two original works of art by very talented artists (okay, my kids, but they are beautiful), my college diploma (nice to know it has some use) a cross stitch picture I did for my dad 20 years ago for Father's Day, and a picture of my BFF (my better half, Brian) and me on one of our first ski trips together! Things I love!​ The neeto mirror was a clearance at Hobby Lobby and the sweet little crystal lamp is a TJMaxx find!  And the red lantern was $1 at the thrift store and is filled with sea shells I picked up in California! 

Oh, and the pillow?  It was a lady's houndstooth jacket I bought at the thrift store for $2 and cut up for a pillow....sweet!​

And now you know the story of the sad little green chair that was headed for the curb when a demented women thought she could actually turn it into something beautiful....see, this stuff isn't hard...it just takes a bit of imagination and a tad of insanity! ​

Dad's Walnut Chair....

Still trying to get my cyberlegs....so bare with me while I try to post one of my newest projects.  As I get use to this stuff, I will go back and post some older projects.  You will see I have a "thing" for chairs and tables...sad really, because I really have no place left to stick them in the house.  So many are shipped off to my children's homes where I know they will not be loved and adored like they are here...but whatever.​

My Mom told me that when I was a baby (MANY years ago...almost 50) she and Dad found this walnut chair in a field...the wood was bleached white but Dad knew it was walnut...his favorite (and now mine)!  So he took it home and refinished it.  And for almost 50 years it has been in our family.​

Recently I was able to acquire (sneak out in the dead of night) this beautiful chair.  It was somewhat nicked and bruised from years of use, and I am not sure what my father was thinking the last time he covered it in the ungodly upholstery and nail heads.  But I brought it home, stripped the upholstery and finish and lovingly nourished it with 4 coats of tung oil. ​

As you will learn if you continue to follow me, I have a "thing" for tung ​oil.  Being new to the "cyber world" I am not sure if I can tell you what BRAND I use, but suffice it to say it is with the stains and such in Lowes and it comes in a GREEN can.  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this stuff.   Dang near impossible to mess up a refinishing job with it.  I usually put 3-4 coats, lightly sanding between coats with OOOO steel wool and tack cloth.  I have a SERIOUS addiction to Lane Acclain tables, and this is how I refinish them...and now I use it on all my wood furniture.

The reason I love this stuff....super easy to "touch up" scratches and wear.  It doesn't create the "plastic" finish of a poly, but it allows the grain of the wood to shine through and if you get a scratch or nick, you just buff it with steel wool and then recoat the affected area with the tung oil.  Seriously, LOVE this stuff.  And unlike poly, it is next to impossible to mess up the application....but more on that later.​

For now, the chair....I have finished refinishing the wood, but haven't been inspired on the upholstery just yet.  I am thinking something light...maybe a "white"...since the ONLY corner I have left in the house is in my bedroom...and it will not be subjected to food or grandkids...now the cats, that's another story for another time.  ​

Between the cats, chairs, and tables...oh my. ​

​Anywho....drum roll for my first picture post!!!!!   (drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr)​

​Okay, well that didn't go well....the "before" picture is AFTER the "after" pictures....whatever, you get the idea. (fixed it...don't ask me how!)

Now, I just have to find the PERFECT upholstery....and decide between piping or nails...hummmmmm....