My Pages

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Its A Beautiful Morning

It is a nice cool morning as I sit here sharing with you. The coffee tastes extra good and my fluffy robe feels nice and warm. Both kids are still sleeping and all I hear are the birds singing away. I LOVE this part of the day.

I told you yesterday I'd be rearranging the booth, well Steve got called to work. Since his jobs are sometimes few and far between he is going to work instead. I will still be going because I haven't stopped in for awhile and need to pick any money we made. I will hopefully be taking some pictures since I haven't for awhile.

Yesterday I worked on finishing up a few projects I started awhile back. First, off I bought two baskets from Goodwill for $0.79 a piece. They both were unfinished like this one. I forgot to take a pic of the other.



Well, I debated and debated whether to paint or stain them. I even went as far as to buy spray paint. But the little voice in my head said reach out for help on this one. So I posted on Facebook and one of my good friends PAM, who makes baskets and samplers that are so beautiful, answered back and told me staining would work better. She advised me to use either mineral spirits or paint thinner to "water" down my stain and then put it on. Let me tell you the stain flows better and gets in all the cracks and crevices my brush couldn't. I think they turned out awesome!



Next thing I finished was this chair I found in the trash last summer. It was in front of my neighbors in laws house shortly after she passed away. He told me she died in one her chairs. I am hoping it's not this one! I don't think he saw the chair in my garage yet. LOL This pic was from my phone so it's not great. It is a dark brown with a striped cushion.



HA I found another picture on my camera...




I had Steve take the seat off because I would be recovering that and painting the chair. This is the first chair redo and seat covering I've done. I painted the chair back a week or two age when I had time. Yesterday I grabbed the seat and got started.

I took off the first layer to find this. They must really like stripes. lol



So then I took off the next layer to find this. WHAT??? another layer seriously people.



My hands were hurting from taking out all the upholstery tacks by this point. But since the batting was still in excellent condition I left it on the seat. You know it's weird. It looks just like raw cotton. It still has all the plant parts in it.



I'm pretty sure most of you have probably recovered a seat so I won't go through the steps. HOWEVER... if you haven't I learned a little something I'll pass along. To cut the new fabric for my seat I used the last covering as my pattern. I traced around it and added a little extra just in case. I then put the fabric in my coffee stain and soaked it. I laid it out in the sun until it was dry. OK so far so good. When it was dry I brought it in to begin. I laid it down on the floor and put the wood seat on top. WHAT ?!?!?! it shrank!!!!! It was not as big as it was. SO if you are going to recover a seat either wash the fabric or soak it first before cutting. I pulled and tugged and made it work though. I even used upholstery tacks instead of staples. I even hit my thumb a few times in the process. LOL.

These pics were in my garage I know the color is hard to see but it is a neutral colored ticking fabric I had on hand.



So after a coat of black paint here she is. I have a few touch ups to do. But this will be my new kitchen chair since my other one broke one night when Steve leaned back in it. LOL.





Steve cleaned up the garage a bit so I can get to some of my other redos in progress, so we'll see what I get into today. Have a primtastic day!!!

OH there was a question on my yard sale goods I posted a few days back and forgot to answer yesterday. I couldn't reply by email since I couldn't get the addy. Anyway , the grouping in my bedroom was $22 for the chair, table, and candle holder. Totally terrific price right!!!!

6 comments:

  1. Great finds. I enjoy your blog. :)

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  2. Glad to see you are taking your time this morning and enjoying that coffee and quiet. Your chair turned out nicely and I'm glad you shared the tips on the staining of the baskets. They turned out great!
    Have a wonderful day Mary~
    Sheila

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  3. I love how the baskets turned out, great staining ideas. The chair redo also turned out well, have to remember about washing fabric first before you cut, just don't think about things like that first. Vicky

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  4. Love those quiet peaceful starts to the day .Those baskets look amazing ,thanks for sharing the tip with us.Love how your chair redo came out too.Have a great one,Jen

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  5. Both the baskets and the chair turned out great, Mary! I've always wanted to learn how to reupholster furniture, but, haven't seen too many class offerings - and I'm too chicken to go solo!!! Like your choice of seat covers (a nice "nod" to stripes!) ;o) Have a wonderful day ~ Smiles & Hugs ~ Robin

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