It's Coming Along

Okay, so I finally have a little update on our garage sale chair... which still isn't done, but we are so close I can taste it! It's become one of those projects where I desperately want to finish it, but can't be bothered to finish it all at the same time. We all have them... right? Please tell someone else out there does this?

But yes, back to the chair. It's been sitting in our sunroom (which is once again leaking as our west coast rain has returned full force), mostly painted with the fabric cut and draped over the seats for quite a few weeks now. Back when my parents were visiting, I recruited my incredibly talented Mother to help me cut out the fabric pieces, and she was a saviour. What I am about to share with you was 100% her idea. I am sure other's would have done it this way, but I am not one of them. So here is what we did...

If you remember from my last post, I spent an insane amount of time pulling upholstery tacks from this chair, to carefully remove the old red fabric. I'm glad I took my time because each old piece of fabric came off perfectly, and I was left with great templates for my new fabric pieces. 

First, we took our brand new fabric and folded it in half. Then, we took the red fabric from the seat of the chair and folded it perfectly in half as well. We then lined up the two folded edges of both pieces of fabric like so...

Next we cut just outside the edge of the red fabric in order to get our perfect new piece of fabric.

It was really that simple - for the seat anyway. We started with that piece, as it was the largest. This left us with very little waste, and also helped us figure out how to line up the checks for the next two pieces we would be cutting. Since our new fabric was folded in half, we already had it worked out so the checks should line up perfectly once all of our pieces were cut and stapled to the chair. This would have been perfect - but of course the two pieces for the back rest were a little more tricky.

Our original plan was to continue matching up our folded edges. Unfortunately, if we did it that way for the two smaller pieces, it would've resulted in a considerable amount of wasted fabric. Instead, we played around with our two (smaller) pieces of fabric and how we folded the new fabric. It turned out, we could fold the new fabric in two spots and end up with the same repeat of the checks, running in the same direction so that our back and seat would line up nicely.

I don't know why, but I'm finding it a little hard to articulate our process in this post. I hope I have been clear enough, but if not, please feel free to ask any questions. I would happy to answer any specific questions, or to clarify on a certain point if anyone would like to know more. 

In the end, all of our new fabric fit perfectly and the lines matched up well. We have a problem with the checks on the back not being the same colour where they meet, but in the end, the lines match up so it still looks good. Here's our almost finished chair...

We are SO CLOSE! Seriously, so incredibly close and maybe this will be the weekend that we finally finish it up and put it to use in the house. 

Have you had any projects that just sit idle for way too long, even though you are dying to finish them? Anyone else having a lack of motivation on projects and blogging recently? Please tell me I am not the only one falling off the blogging radar. I do miss it... I just don't have anything worth writing about recently.

Take A Seat

I know it's been silent for a while around here. We've just spending some time enjoying being together as a family, so I can't apologize for that. Even with lots of family time happening, we managed to finish  the bentwood chairs last week! Just to give you a little refresher, here's how they started out...

I was clearly drawn in by the lines of the chairs and their potential. After painting them a beautiful Cornflower Blue, by Martha Stewart, the fabric hunt began. I originally hoped to use a fabric that I already had on hand, but it turned out that I didn't have enough of any one fabric to cover all four seats. I'll be honest though, I didn't complain too much about having to go fabric shopping. So, two weeks ago now, we piled into the car and headed to the closest Fabricland. I made a couple laps of the home decor section, double and triple checking every single fabric that caught my attention. Finally, after getting the okay from B, I landed on this fabric...

I loved the pattern and the colours, and I knew that it would be mess friendly. After sitting on it for a few days, last week B and I finally got around to recovering those old seats. (Have I mentioned that B is the best? Totally supporting every little project I undertake, and always willing to lend a hand. Yup - THE BEST). Anywho - here's how it all went...

{B set up the compressor and my staple gun and then tested it out quickly before we got going}

{Halle hung out nearby and supervised the whole thing. I think she was telling B what to do here. Seriously, little miss has quite the personality}

{Pretty self explanatory - don't you think?}

{Halle was more than willing to lend a hand when B reattached the seats for me}

I guess that leaves little else to share except for the final product. So let's take one more look at the original chairs...

Followed quickly by a reveal of our final chairs...

I LOVE THEM! I love them in the awful, ugly sunroom, but love them even more in our slowly progressing breakfast nook...

I love that little hint of blue in our kitchen, and I think they will look even better once I get those two end chairs painted up as well. Something I should consider getting started on this week. In the meantime, since not a whole lot has been progressing around here, I do hope to share some more of our adventures with you this coming week.

In the meantime, what's the consensus on our chair transformation? I'd love to hear what you all think....

A Case of the Blues

Last week I shared with you the beautiful chairs that we scored for free...

You all agreed they were a great find, and I wasted absolutely no time getting to work on them. I'm tired of living in a partially put together rental that doesn't feel anything like home. It really lit a fire underneath me, so here's what we did. 

We started by flipping the chairs over and taking them apart.

Even though everything about them seems pretty uniform, we decided to mark each chair and seat, so we could match them up later no problem. I also decided it was best to keep the screws from each chair in separate bags to avoid any problems later (we've learned that even though everything seems like it will match up fine, that's not always the case). 

The next step was cleaning them up... and that was a must. There was quite a lot of grime built up in the chairs crevices, and even some mystery stuff on the bottom of one of the seats.

With the chairs all cleaned up, it was time to start sanding. Of course, with B at work and me watching Halle during the day, my time to work no them was limited. So in between naps, I would sand and last Wednesday, Halle and I headed to Home Depot to pick out some paint. I finally decided on Martha Stewart's Cornflower Blue. It's the perfect cheery blue to brighten up our little breakfast nook. I had it colour matched to Behr's Ultra Paint & Primer in one. It made the whole process a lot easier and gave some great coverage.

{All sanded & ready for paint!}

{LOVE this blue!}

When painting them, I made sure they were completely cleaned, well sanded and then dusted off. Once they were ready I applied the first coat and let them sit over night (the guy at Home Depot told me to wait 8 hours between coats, so this ensured they were well set). Once dry, the second coat went on and they sat for another night. So what do they look like... we'll get to that in a second.

Of course, paint wasn't the only thing that I needed to make a decision about. Those chairs needed to be recovered. Though the fabric would work in some houses, it doesn't really go with our style... plus it was dirty and gross, so it had to be recovered. 

With the project already running us a whole $0 (Chairs were free and we used some store credit we had from Home Depot to buy the paint), I felt like trying to keep it that way. So down to my loads of fabric in the basement to see what I had on hand that would work for the seats. I was a little disappointed to discover that I didn't have enough of either of the neutral fabrics that I had in mind, to cover all four chair seats. This mean, I've hit a bit of a standstill, and I'm not completely sure what to do now. Do I run out and start searching for new fabric? God knows that could be another few months before I find something I really love. My other idea is to use two fabrics, so that two chairs are neutral, and two have some sort of print maybe? I'm not sure if I have enough of my Robert Allen fabric left over to cover it, but if it works it could be an option. Thoughts?

Well, with seat remaining uncovered, I have the chairs in our breakfast nook. Here is how the space is set up now (it's slightly grainy, it's been hard to capture a good shot of it the last two days)...

I decided that the space was large enough to leave the leaf in the table, especially now that we have more chairs. I also removed the rug that was on the floor - it was impractical at the moment with Halle throwing and dropping food off of her highchair constantly. I plan on keeping and painting those two chairs on either end, but I'm not sure what colour I want to paint them. B has suggested a dusty, antique kind of red to keep with the print (I think he just wants a little red, white and blue in our home). I'm not opposed, but I'm not completely convinced either. Regardless, they need a coat of paint as they are a little hurting from the previous owners...

So that's where I am! Some real time updates for you (very real as we've been busy, busy so I didn't even have time to finish up this post yesterday and pre-schedule it). Would love to hear your opinions on my fabric and paint dilemma! 

The Dresser Transformation

Two weeks ago I shared our plans for the dresser for the baby's nursery. For those of you who are not familiar with it, we will be repurposing the red dresser that previously resided in our old guest room.

 
To read the whole back story on the red dresser, you can find it here. The red dresser had a good run, and served it's purpose well. However, when we found out we had a little peanut on the way we decided the dresser would no longer hold my clothing, but would be given a new life and provide baby item storage, as well as a nice big surface for diaper changing.


After finally getting the room primed and painted white (which turned out to be a long drawn out task), we were finally ready to tackle the dresser (I'm dying to wash and put away the adorable tiny clothes we already have. However, priming and painting was not the only thing we had on our to-do list for this dresser. On top of changing the colour, there were a lot of fixes that needed to happen to make this dresser completely functional for baby.

- On the back of the dresser was some peg board someone had nailed on somewhere along the line, and we knew it would finally have to be replaced
- Most of the drawers were separating leaving gaps at the back, and one even worked as a "trick drawer". Every time I opened it I found only the drawer frame sliding forward, while the bottom of it more or less stayed put...

That would be the trusty old trick drawer pictured above, and you can even see the peg board backing on the dresser in the background. Solid piece of furniture, just needed some more TLC than we gave it the first time around.

As you can see from that same picture, the inside of the drawers were looking a little less than stellar as well. My plan was to paint the sides white and line the bottom of the drawers with some vintage wallpaper I had purchased last fall and had laying around. Yes, baby's dresser was going to be spectacular. With the whole plan laid out, B and I set to work priming...

(Yes, the whole project was completed indoors with open windows. It was not worth trying to manuever that beast down our awkward narrow staircase one more time. Plus, I think having it laid out in the nursery really motivated us to get moving). On Good Friday, while B and my Father were outside beautifying the exterior of our home, my Mom and I spent some time inside discussing the nursery plans (I've enlisted her to help me with a couple of projects). As we chatted, the first coat of turquoise went on and it was L-O-V-E! I must say once again, B deserves some serious recognition for picking out this colour... so proud of him!

I spent Friday night at my parents, and on Saturday before he drove out for Easter dinner, B got the second coat of turquoise on the dresser, and the first coat on the drawers. By end of day Easter Sunday, the dresser and drawers were pretty much done being painted (we just needed one more coat of white on the inside of the drawers), and the top of the dresser was sealed with a water based poly (care of B, while I was baking up some goodies for my last class).

Okay... so there's a little dresser sneak peak for you in the background. Gorgeous right? Want a little more of a look at that fabulous colour (It's a CIL colour by the way... called Thai Teal)? Well, two Sunday's ago B also managed to get that old peg board backing off, a new backing on and all of the drawers nailed and glued up to eliminate the trick drawer factor.

Once everything was all fixed up, our next step was to pretty up the inside of those drawers. They seemed to have some sort of dark red spray paint on some of them. I decided to use what we had, and line them with some wallpaper I had picked up on a thrifting trip last fall (I knew it would come in handy at SOME point!).

Our first step was to measure each drawer (there was a good chance the sizes could be different), and then mark up and cut our wallpaper...

Once all four pieces of wallpaper were trimmed, we headed outside with our trusty spray adhesive and got to work. It was no easy task trying to line those pieces of paper up perfectly inside of the drawers, but all things considered I think we did a pretty fantastic job. Only in a few parts can you spy some of the drawer underneath, which isn't even a big deal since we let white paint get on the bottom of the drawers while painting for this very reason. Also, let's be real here... most of the time the paper will be covered by cute, tiny baby clothes, so you'll really only catch glimpses of this gorgeous lining...

We let the drawers dry while B watched the Bruins eliminate the Habs in Game 7 of the first round of playoffs. He was pretty pumped after that, and had the energy to head back upstairs to apply the final coat of poly to the top of our dresser, as well as to the inside of the drawers (We wanted to make sure that pretty paper was protected from any potential spills / leaks in the future).

The final step was getting those beautiful rose bud knobs from Anthro onto the drawers and... finally my lovely readers, we have an after. But let's take a quick glimpse at what this beauty looked like when we first saved her from the dumpster area behind our first apartment two years ago...

And here she is today, looking all pretty and ready to hold some adorably tiny baby clothes for our little peanut...

There you have it! FINALLY, a finished dresser... and you know what a finished dresser means? It means time to finally start pulling the nursery together! More fun stuff to come!

What did you get up to this past weekend? Finish any fun projects? Enjoy some lovely weather?

Garage Sale Chair Revisited

Alright, so how is everyone with keeping up with all of the projects we're tackling over here? Finishing our basement, moving our bedroom, renovating our front entrance and of course always the smaller projects of refinishing something or another. Today I want to talk about my garage sale chair that I found way back in May.

When I last posted about it, I mentioned that I already had the fabric that I wanted to recover it in and that I knew what the finished product would look like in our renovated basement. I also mentioned I had started working away on it. At the time, both statements were true. Now, both statements still are true, just in a completely different way.

Work has started... but it's the same work I had started back in May, and I'm ready to get back to working on this fancy find. I'm almost done sanding, and I bought the wood stain during our weekend shopping trip to Lowes. As the temperature is slowly dropping, I am reminded that I need to finish sanding and staining as soon as possible, as I'd like to have this piece useable by the time the holidays roll around. With B focusing on our front entrance at the moment, I'll have more time to focus my energy on getting this portion of the project done. Easy-peesy.

The next part, not quite as simple. I had originally envisioned my chair done in a pretty neutral fabric, with the wood painted. This vision has very rapidly evolved and then over the weekend I stumbled across this photo...

Funny enough this picture (found on Janell's blog) is actually in her post about Grey and GREEN (not yellow). The thing is, I wasn't looking for the same thing, this photo just inspired me to go with grey and yellow.

Seeing this made me realize how gorgeous a yellow chair would look in our grey living room...

It'll definitely bring some colour into our very neutral space. So, this means I am officially on the hunt for the perfect fabric... and actually have been for a while. Just like with my office chair, I've been really indecisive with the fabric I want to use for this project.

For quite some time now, I thought that this would be the perfect fabric...

Now I'm realizing, that as much as I love it, adding more grey and white to the room will just seem way to boring to me.

For a short period of time, I also considered using this fabric, but as pretty as it is, I think it would be all wrong in our space...

So, with both of these aside... here are the new fabrics I am considering (I'm really focused on buying from Tonic Living, mainly because they are located in Toronto and I could have it shipped here quickly for free!)

I think that this one would really compliment the shape of the chair. I also like the two differing tones of yellow.

This one may also work. I like the combination of the grey and yellow, but not too sure how I feel about the stripes.

And option number three...

Loving the diamonds, and the combination of yellow and grey (again), but not sure if there is enough yellow in it for what I'm going for.

I'm pretty sure I know which one I like best, but I'm interested to hear some reader opinions. So spill - which fabric would you use for my garage sale chair in my living room? Not a fan of yellow? Seen something else over on Tonic Living that you think would work better? Spill!

We'll see where this whole thing actually takes me... I won't be surprised if I don't go with any of the above fabrics and end up with a very different colour when the whole thing is said and done...