What I Learned: Reupholstry Edition

Once upon a time, I reupholstered my office chair, and thought that made me an expert. Clearly, I could rule the world with some fabric and a staple gun. So when one of my neighbors began downsizing their stuff with a garage sale, I did not shy away from this settee.

Allison loves this seat and has called forever dibs on it.

I loved the shape of the legs and I knew it would fit perfectly on the wall in our living room that stretches into the dining area. And for $5 I was in. The Mister I proudly walked home carried my new project down the block and set it up.
Step one of my project was finding the right fabric. Because of where it was going to live in the house, I wanted something yellow and gray to match the kitchen and living room walls. Yellow and gray is hot right now so I figured it wouldn't be that hard to find something. Well, it wasn't hard, but I wasn't willing to pay $20+ a yard for a project I only kind of knew how to finish. After going to 3 different fabric stores I found a nice yellow/gray dasmask-ish print on upholstering fabric on clearance for $15/yard. Because it was President's Day (and the best way to honor the President is to buy cheap fabric) all clearance was half off. Then I had another 10% off coupon. When all was said and done, I got 3 yards for $15.
Then, I had to figure out what to do. I started by flipping him over and removing the legs and 7,000 staples.

After pulling out 45,000 staples, I got all of the fabric off the settee realized this was done in 7 pieces of fabric. Hmm. This was going to be a little trickier than recovering the chair. I decided to use the individual pieces like a pattern: I pinned it to the fabric and cut out all 7 pieces.

After cutting out the pieces, I started to put them back on the settee.  I tried to take pictures as I removed the fabric as a way to remind myself how to put it back together but they were too close to help me. After figuring out where each part went, it was a lot of pulling it tight and stapling it. However, the side pannels had these tack thingies that were a little bit more difficult. So much so, that I put down the staple gun and walked away from the project until this week.

Time away did me some good. This week, I finished up the fabric part of it, with a million more staples. Then I decided to paint the legs. Now that I am an expert with a can of spray paint, I knew some semi-gloss white is just what these legs needed. Using two pieces of styrofoam (that came out of my sewing machine box) I sat the legs up and sprayed away.

I glued a circle of felt on the bottom and screwed them back into the settee. I had some red left from the pillow I made.

And here she is flipped upright.

I'm pretty proud of this project, it is the largest crafting/DIY project I have done, but it is far from perfect. I still need to make some fabric covered button/tacks for the arms, but I will get around to it eventually. Even looking at the picture above, I see a place where the fabric is a little loose and could use some more staples.
What I learned:
1. You can't use use too many staples.
2. I am really impatient waiting for paint to dry.

3. There is a 95% percent chance that this little girl will use this more than anyone else in the house.

4. Yes, with a staple gun, fabric and a little bit of spray paint, I really can rule the world.

#4 Reupholster Something: What I learned

Source

I used to watch a lot of Trading Spaces. Did you ever watch it? Two neighbors switch houses, get a fancy designer, a small budget and redo a room in their house without their neighbors say in it. Then after two days, there was a reveal and they got to see their newly designed living room/bedroom etc. I secretly always wanted them not to like it. I don't know why, it just made for better TV. I bet the producers also liked it when the women would cry or cuss about how bad it was. Usually though, they liked it. And usually the designers would take a piece of furniture they already had, and recover it with some fun fabric. They always made it look so simple. When they were done the furniture had new life and looked fabulous. Ever since watching that show, I have wanted to reupholster something.

Since writing my list I have been scouring thrift stores for a cute chair with good lines that was in need of a coat of paint and some new fabric. However each time I would look, nothing would jump out at me. And, realistically, I didn't know where I would put it in our house when I was done.

One of the blogs I read, Better After features before and after posts about furniture/room redos. If you have never seen it, you MUST click the link and check it out. Have a tissue near by because a lot of the stuff is drool worthy. She has shown a couple of rolling desk chairs that got a make over, and I was inspired. I have a cheap-o rolling desk chair that is in less than perfect shape, and I want to recover something. So today, I grabbed the Mister's tool box, some pretty fabric and my staple gun and got to work.

As far as materials and costs go, I only had to buy one thing: 1/2 yard of fabric ($3.49). Everything else I already owned.

This is not entirely a "before" I forgot to grab my camera until
after I started to remove the hardware.



I started by removing the arms, legs and hardware that kept the chair together.

The bottom cushion had a rubber thing surrounding it that was stapled to it. That was annoying.

After all the hardware is off and the bottom and top cushions are free, lay the cushion on top of the fabric, and begin to staple around it, pulling it tight.

When you are done with both, put it back together!

Tada! Isn't she lovely?  It's not perfect, but for my first try at this, I think it turned out okay, and when I open the door and see her at my desk it makes me smile. This was easy/cheap enough that I might do my chair at work.

What I learned

• Buy 1/4 yard more fabric than you think you need. I was this short on fabric. You can't really tell from the picture, but the bottom cushion has a small "patch" that I rigged up. I may actually go buy some more fabric and redo it later.
• It is hard to take pictures of yourself doing a project for a blog. How do you other bloggers do it?

Do you have a desk chair that needs a make over? Have you ever reupholstered anything? Any tips for a novice like me?

Halloween Crafts!

I have been in a crafting funk lately. This happens every year at the start of the school year. I get really busy and the creative juices get backed up. With Pinterest I have a ton of ideas, but it doesn't give me any more time to work with. After the trip to the pumpkin patch I had all the tools to create my mummykin.

To make this little guy, I used

• 1 small-medium pumpkin (with a good stem)
• 3 rolls of roller gauze (there is only 1 in the picture)
• A pair of googley eyes
• A hot glue gun (Not pictured)

Start wrapping the gauze around the pumpkin. I started back middle. Use additional gauze as needed. When you are happy with the coverage, use a hot glue gun to add googley eyes. Smile every time you look at it.

This project was super easy, and really inexpensive.

• Pumpkin- $3.00
• Googley Eyes- .99
• Already owned- Gauze & hot glue (I used to teach for the red cross and have several open/used rolls of this gauze that can't be used for first aid, as they are no longer sterile)

Total cost- $3.99




Since I was in a crafting mood, I tackled another small project. I wasn't going to do this for Halloween, but it adds a fun touch to our walls. I am planning on doing something similar for Christmas, so I used this as a learning tool.

For this project I used:
1 piece of 9x12 black foam sheet- .99
3 pieces of scrapbooking paper- 2 @ .59, 1 @ .99
Black Ribbon- $2.50
Already owned- black letters, spray glue, box cutter, paper cutter, hot glue gun

Total cost- $5.66

I cut the foam sheet into quarters using a box cutter. Then I cut my scrapbooking paper down to size and attached it to the foam quarters with the spray adhesive. I glued the letters down to the squares.

After cutting 2 three inch lengths of ribbon, connect the three squares together. Cut a longer length and glue a loop to the top. Make a cute little bow and put it on the bottom.

For Christmas, I think I will buy some cuter letters. I saw some at Michael's, but decided to just use the letters I already owned for this own. I also will do a bit more measuring when I attach the ribbons. You can see that the second "O" is a little crooked. I want to use Modpodge instead of spray adhesive.  I also think I might attach some jingle bells to the bottom.

I think I will also be making weekly-ish trips to the craft store to use the 40% off coupons to collect the rest of the materials.

Here's our fun mantle. The little pumpkin and ghost dishes and the jack-o-lantern bucket are from Target years ago. On the far right is my bouquet from our wedding.

Do you decorate for Halloween?

Jewlery Holder: What I learned

In my first Top 5 post I mentioned finishing my new necklace/jewelery rack. I had previously crafted a rack out of a frame and some eye hooks, and to be honest I outgrew it. So, when I came across the inspiration post I knew I was in. It didn't take me long to find this rack at a local antique "mall" for only $5!

For what it is, it was in good shape and had those 3 pegs at the bottom to hang mugs(?) from. But I knew those wouldn't be enough for my growing collection of neck lovelies. And I wanted to make sure I had some shelf space for bracelets, earrings and the like. So I popped those bad boys out and decided to turn it around.

Using wood putty I filled the holes from the pegs and a few little divots from nails and scratches so that I could get a nice even coat of paint over the whole thing. After letting it dry, I sanded over the entire piece.

I still have plenty of marshmallow white paint left, so using a small foam brush I began the process of painting. It took a couple of coats.

Some of those coats were a bit thick, and dripped so I sanded the back after it was dry.

I then started the process of screwing in a couple dozen hooks into the bottom and inside the top of the two longer sections.

I added some picture hangers on the back, and it was almost ready to go.

I put it up on the wall, but I didn't really like seeing the painted wall through the holder, so I added some scrapbook paper to the back of the frame. I liked the contrast of the dark purple against the lilac paint on the walls.

I hung up my necklaces and put away my bracelets and here's what she looks like now!

What I learned

1. I went a little crazy with the wood putty. It said over fill the spots, and I definitely did that. You can still see some "lumpy" parts where I didn't sand enough.

2. Paint the inside first! I didn't do that on the first coat, and it was hard for me to find a good position for my hand/brush when I went to do the more difficult inside.

3. The paint I used was interior wall paint. Not exactly the best paint for this job. Craft paint would have been much better. Maybe even spray paint. I've never used spray paint, and I think I'd like to give it a go on a future project.

4. I really love my necklaces.

What I Learned: A little background

I love looking at before and after posts & how-to posts. I fully admit, I am a novice when it comes to these sorts of things, but I really do enjoy crafting. One thing I realized, is that I learn from each project I do, and I get better at it. In all honesty, I don't think I should be writing how-to posts. I look at how to posts as "experts" in that project, and I don't consider myself an expert in anything. But I still want to document my little hobby and maybe it can be some inspiration for someone else. So at the end of each post, I will write a few things that I learned from the project, and would do differently next time. My bathroom desk is already up, and I have another What I Learned post coming soon!

Bathroom Desk: What I learned

As I said, the desk I found to give me some more storage/counter space in the master bath was in not so good shape. I don't have any "before" pictures, but know it was a used kids desk that had been marked down three times before it found its way into my home.

I took Little One (the desk) outside and put it down on a drop cloth. I wiped it down and used some goo-gone on the stickers/tape that was stuck to it. Then I went over the whole thing with sand paper and a couple of coats of marshmallow white paint later, I was (for the most part) pleased. I switched out the drawer pulls with some pewter colored pulls from Home Depot and brought it inside and set it up. I liked it, but something was missing. I looked through some inspiration and decided I needed some cute little birdies on the drawers. Since I am a no good draw-er, I did the next best thing and went to etsy for some vinyl decals. I found these from etsy seller Cherry Walls and purchased them in violet.

I added the lovelies (after the three week wait time for freshly painted surfaces) and I lurve the outcome. So cute! The Mister said he put Garbage Pail Kid stickers to his furniture when he was a kid. So it's the same. Here she is:

See how perfectly it fits in the space? And its just the right size for kitty box!

And the up close at the adorable little birds. See my little attempt at staging on the top?

Admittedly, I am a novice a furniture refurbishing so I learned a bunch of stuff from this first "big" project.

What I Learned

1. Small dings in the surface are magnified with paint. Next time, use wood putty to fill in those dings for a smoother finish.

2. Drawer pulls are kind of spendy. I happen to like the less expensive ones, and only spent $2 each, but there were some that were $6+ each. Yikes!
3. Vinyl decals are fun! There are so many on etsy that you can customize with colors/words. Plus, I just saw some at Target the other day that are fairly inexpensive. Putting a larger decal (a whole wall!) would be quite the undertaking, but could make a (removable) impact on a room.

4. The Mister does not share my vision when it comes to redoing furniture- yet. I think he will come around. Maybe.