Black and White Striped Armchair : The Reveal

Remember the sneak peek of my chair I gave you last week? 

It is finished. Yay! 

Took me forever. 

Bought the chair for $50 in November and it is now April. 

Yup, took me forever.

Here is a quick rundown of what was involved. 

Removed the ugly vinyl that was nailed on with a gazillion 1" nails and nail heads. 

That took forever, patience was needed. 

Then removed second layer of dusty fabric that was nailed onto the frame with hand forged nails. Those took forever to remove.

Can I say that again? 

Forever.

Achy hands set in. Took a break. Cursed a bit. 

Found straw stuffing under the upper part of the chair. Sneezed a bit. 

Stapled fabric onto chair. This was by trial and error. Cursed some more. 

Then nailed in 223 nail heads. 

Don't ask me for a tutorial, I might throw the chair at you.

But......

I am happy. The chair is done. 

Want to see?

Before:

After:

Will I ever try something like this again?

 Not sure, after all that work I don't think I would hesitate paying a professional.

But my total cost might make me try again.

Chair: $50

Fabric {from Ikea}: 2 m @ $7.99m = $16

250 nail heads @ $ 0.8 ea = $20

Grand total: $86

 Have a wonderful weekend all my lovely readers!

 I finally finished my painting project that I have given you peeks of on my Facebook page. Hoping to set it up this weekend. 

What are you up to?

XO Barbara


*This chair is visiting:
SNS @ Funky Junk Interiors
Addicted 2 Decorating
Designer Garden

The Tale of Two Tables

*This blog post is brought to you buy two thrifting pals, who never leave a thrift shop empty handed! 

If you want to read the other half of the story you can read it here.

Once upon a time in a land far, far away, where the rain falls freely, giant trees tower above, snow covered peaks loom and the ocean waves crash upon the shore...

Two blogging and thrifting pals, Barbara from hodge:podge and Carol from The Design Pages, were on the hunt for an end table for their lovely daughters. While on one of their thriftting excursions they hunted high and low for the perfect table, one that had good "bones".  But alas, they came away without finding that perfect table {but they found other treasures, that is a another story for another day}

Sniff....

The one friend decided to search Craigslist to see what she could find. One stormy evening she stumbled across a bedroom set that had the perfect pair of end tables. She emailed the seller and asked if they would be willing to separate the set. The seller said "yes". Quickly,  the ever-so-excited-friend emailed the other friend a link and asked if she was interested. $50 bucks for the pair! 

"Why yes!!!" she said, "how perfect!"

The thrifty gals took their tables home and worked their magic on them, transforming them from their 70's lacquered horror to glamourous side tables fit for their princesses.

They went from this:

To this:

Carol  painted her table with a glossy black paint and silver leafed the top and handles to create a table fit for a queen.

Want to know her costs? And how she did it? Visit her blog to find out more.

Want to know how I worked my magic? 

My costs:

Table: $25

Paint: 1 quart Behr indoor latex in satin finish, $18

{colour matched to Benjamin Moore's Spectra Blue}

Primer: Benjamin Moore's oil-based primer, already had on hand {cost $18}

Sealant: Diamond Finish Sealant in satin by Varathane, already had on hand {$14}

Handles were left as-is

Total cost: $34

How I did it:

Using a power sander I sanded the surface of the table as the finish was quite damaged. Then I painted on a coat of oil-based primer with a foam roller for a nice smooth finish and using a foam brush for the crevices. Next, I painted the table with 2 coats of the Behr paint, using a foam roller and good quality paint brush.  Finally, using a foam brush I painted on 3 coats of the Varathane sealant.

Screw back on the handles and 

voila!

And this table lived happily ever after.

The End

xo Barbara

Sneak Peek

I am off today to Victoria, British Columbia for J's soccer tournament.

{source}

 So while the paint is curing this weekend on my recent thrift store find... 

{ for "behind-the-scenes" peeks you can follow my Facebook page}

I am giving you a sneak peek of a LONG overdue project that is finally finished.

Quick overview.

Found this:

Removed a gazillion nails and staples...

Found straw as the stuffing..

Stapled on this:

And hammered in these:

Have a wonderful weekend!

Make sure you come back Sunday for my latest crazy talented "So Canadian, eh?"!

XO Barbara

Re-vamped Chair

Remember the saga of the one chair I was painting?

First the paint bubbled.

Then the black and white fabric looked "off"

After a few coats of black spray paint, it now looks fabulous!

I managed to get some quick shots on a rare sunny day.

If you were looking forward to the next part in Painting Furniture 101, I hope to have it up towards the end of the week. Mother Nature is not cooperating, we actually had sleet yesterday! Too cold for my latest painting project where I was planning to photograph and share the nitty gritty in painting! 

Thanks for all who stopped by to read my latest "So Canadian, eh?" interview with Margot Austin, it was such a pleasure to get to know the person behind all those amazing design stories at Style at Home. 

I have so many more amazing Canadians lined up in the next coming weeks, some who are very well known, make sure you stop by!

XO Barbara

{friday musings}

This week I managed to start to paint my lovely thrift store chairs I found last week while thrifting with Carol from The Design Pages. They are gorgeous cane back chairs made from solid wood.  I am spray painting them Blossom White by Rustoleum and upholstering the seats.

But...yesterday I had a setback.

I am not happy. 

They are coming into the house to cure in a warm dry environment and then I will have to sand, prime and paint again.

But....

 I sent out a tweet on Tuesday asking for an opinion for an upholstery choice:  "black velvet or black and white stripes"? It was unanimous. Black and white stripes won but what solidified the deal was a tweet from Margot Austin.

 Yes, THE Margot Austin of Style at Home fame!

 margotaustin Margot Austin 

@hodgepodgeblog I vote B&W stripes!

So the same fabric that is going on this chair {which is still a work in progress}.

Is going on these lovelies.

Also......

a big thanks for Hare Styling {another talented Canadian}

for featuring my "A Little Bling" project on her blog.

Thanks Melissa!


So what projects do you have planned for this weekend?




BTW: Don't forget to enter my $50 gift certificate with Novica!


XO Barbara

{CSN giveaway winner & thrifty find}

Craigslist has been good to me this weekend. While on the hunt for a sideboard for our games room, I stumbled across this great mirror made from solid wood {it is heavy} for only $25!  It is going to go into J's room {almost 15 year old daughter}.

She ended up in a new space after we made the great switch and I have yet to do anything with that space {much to her chagrin}.

This mirror, once painted {maybe black or Tiffany blue?}, will look fantastic, echoing the lines of her diamond tufted headboard, 

yes, 

I made a second one but am waiting for a sunny day to take photos.

So now I have another painting project to add to my never-ending-list!

Now onto the $45 gift certificate for CSN winner!

Drum roll please.............

It is,

#45 

{still can't get that darn random number generator onto my post;( }

 Shel said...

Tweeted;

http://twitter.com/auntiethesis/status/32738947977191425

shel704 at aol dot com

February 2, 2011 1:56 AM

Congratulations Shel!

I am sending you your code, 

happy shopping!

xo Barbara

{thrift store chair: update}

Here is the status of my thrift store chair I shared with you over a week ago.

The bottom seat is finally recovered but not without a few glitches along the way. 

I had the whole seat recovered and then I watched some very useful videos sent to me by:

Marriah said...

It looks like you might have already started on your chair, but I've recently taken on my own chair re-upholstery project. I have deconstructed it to find broken old springs in the seat. In my search to find replacement springs, I found this website with wonderful supplies that seem to be very competitive price-wise. The gem though is the links to the youtube videos of the owner (45 years in the upholstery business)of each step in the process -- i think 13 videos in all. Here's the link: http://www.diyupholsterysupply.com/how-to-upholster-chair.html 

Good luck!

After watching the first 2 videos {very informative} I realized - I forgot to put a layer of Dacron {batting} between the foam and the fabric! 

So out went all the staples and I cut a piece of batting that I went out to buy, layered it under my fabric piece and stapled it back on.

Much better!

The batting gives the fabric a way smoother finish, a step not to be missed.

Now onto the back piece, that will be really tricky. 

My dilemma: 

I would like to finish the bottom off with some nail heads, should I just use a few like this photo? 

{Simply Inspired Home}

Or run nailhead trim along the whole bottom edge?

Don't forget you have until Sunday to enter my giveaway for a $45 gift certificate to CSN!

Enter here!

{thrift store chair}

My giveaway has been postponed until next week{fingers crossed} because a special one came along just few days ago, so I'll put off the other one for a later date. Just waiting for a few details to be ironed out.
I need to celebrate 354 followers! 

 So today I bring you my thrift store chair.

{Sad before photo -but aren't before makeover photos supposed to be blah?}

 This beauty I found back in November while shopping with 2 local bloggers, Nancy from Marcus Design and Victoria {formerly from Design Ties} now starting her own blog, Edin's House.

For $50 I couldn't resist.

My plans are to re-cover it in a black and white strip fabric from Ikea, to look like this inspiration photo that Victoria sent me.

{source unknown}

A few versions of my chair has popped up on the internet. One version is owned by my garden plot neighbour {we watered each others plots all summer but never met} who has started a fantastic blog, Simply Inspired Home {still haven't met}.

Here is another from Restoration Hardware, look familiar?

{18th Century French Burlap Chair: Restoration Hardware}

Hmm..$1295 {on sale}

Mine....$50

I have put off re-doing the chair as I am not quite sure how to upholster it, have never done anything like that before, shocking, I know...

My dilemma is whether or not to paint the arms and legs of the chair or to leave them the lovely mahogany stain the currently wear. They have such a lovely patina.

What do you think?


xo Barbara

~Thrifty Find~

Re-designing our 16 year old girl's room on a budget has been so enjoyable. Instead of running out to various home good stores to buy eveything ready-made I have sourced a few accessories for her room from the thrift store. 

It seems that thrift stores here on the west have caught onto us bloggers and their prices reflect that {grrr..}, 

despite that I have managed to find some diamonds in the rough.

I spotted this ceramic bird in all it's shiny glazed glory,  

Using a little white spray paint ...

  it becomes a chic accessory for her bedside table.

Last week I discovered a small local thrift shop where I found this beautiful metallic dish, perfect for storing her jewellry and hair ties she removes at bedtime.

Now I can't wait to replace her wobbly bedside table.

 I visited Ikea on Friday and bought this to hack {I am hoping to work on that today}:

BUT:

They were out of this:

source: Ikea

They told me to check back in a few weeks as they are undergoing renos and have put ordering fabric on hold -hmph! 

Guess the drapes will wait. I did buy some other fabric to replace her hideous venetian mini blinds - my plan is to make a roman blind!


The projects never end around here but I am having FUN!

Linking to:
The Shabby Chic Cottage
Remodelaholic Anonymous Project Parade
The Shabby Nest