Refinishing a Chair (Again!)

About five years ago, I painted and recovered an upholstered office chair. This is what the chair looked like after being in my husband's office all that time: 

 

It got pretty worn down. Time to revive it again!

 

I removed the seat and back and started sanding the paint off.

 

 

 The wood underneath looked pretty nice by itself, so I decided to just seal the wood and leave it with a birch look.

 

The sanding was getting a little tricky in the corners.

 So, I ended up dismantling the whole thing. Then I rubbed on 5 (yes, 5!) coats of polycrylic protective finish, sanding in between  each coat with a fine grain sanding block. The first 2 coats seemed to soak into the wood, so I kept going with the coats until there was a nice smooth sheen. 

I took off the old fabric and recovered the seat and back. I sewed the front and back of the top arch part together and the used staples in my compressor powered nail/staple gun to attach the rest. Then I put the whole thing back together.

I love the whole new look! It should hopefully get at least another five years of being sat on.

Linking to: Remodelaholic March Link Party, Link Party Palooza,

Angel Wings From Cardboard

I love the angel wings trend going on right now. I decided to make some large wings using cardboard.

I traced out a design, cut it out, and then flipped it over to make the match.

I cut out three different sizes of feather to layer on top.


I started at the bottom with the largest feathers and then worked my way up hot gluing them on. Then I went over the top with a dry brush with a little bit of paint.

They make a cute backdrop for Valentine's Day!

Linking to: Merry Monday 89, Show and Share 299, The Scoop 208, 303 Inspire Me Tuesday, You're Gonna Love It Link Party, Tutorials and Tips 245, Wake Up Wednesday 106, FDTR 203, Wow Us Wednesday 259, Talk of the Town 5, Dream Create Inspire 32,     

Tufting an Old Headboard (Using a Tablecloth)

I've been dreaming of a plush tufted headboard for ages. I have a thrifted wooden headboard that I painted a while back and decided to give it a makeover.

Here's what I started with:

I wanted to make it a little taller, so I could sit up in bed and rest my head comfortably on it. I added 2 inches nailing some scrap 2x4s to the bottom of the legs.

To make a flat surface to rest the foam on, I added some scrap wood where there were indents.

Then I figured out a pattern for the buttons and drilled holes.

Foam is expensive and for a king sized headboard, it was going to be about $100 at Joanns (and this was half off on Black Friday). That wasn't happening. I found a 3" piece of multipurpose foam that was almost the size I needed for $25 at Home Depot. I got two using a $5 off a $50 purchase coupon and then cut the second one to fill in where I needed it to. There is still plenty left over for me to use for a bench project I have coming up.

Then I picked out the tufting holes using my fingers.

I wrapped some quilt batting around the top and stapled it in place.

Then I propped it up using some kid tables and laid my tablecloth on top.

I used a tablecloth because upholstery fabric would have cost about $50 for this size project (eek). I've also heard of people using shower curtains. The tablecloth actually is nice for spot cleaning, but I ran into some problems with the polyester fabric running when I was pushing and pulling a thick needle through it with the cord for tufting. Fortunately, this spot is at the bottom and was mostly tucked under the back when I stapled the final product and it's now covered by pillows.

Anyway, back to the tufting. I used extra fabric from the corners of the tablecloth to cover some buttons using a kit. I started in the middle and worked out to the sides. 

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I was going to use some waxed nylon cording to hold the buttons in place, but I already had some thick ribbon/ trim on hand and decided to use that. I used a long upholstery needle and pushed up through the hole, strung on the button and then pulled the needle back through. Holding the ribbon as tight as I could, I tied a washer in place and then stapled the ends in a W shape to prevent slipping. The washer will help keep the knot from sliding through the hole.

Tufting complete!

Then I needed to staple the fabric to the back. I tried to create a few pleats to control the fabric as I was tightening and stapling.

Here she is all propped up and ready to be moved in place.

I love it! Just what my room needed!

Linking to: Merry Monday #86, Inspire Me Monday 94, 300th Inspire Me Tuesday, Show and Share 296, The Scoop 205, You're Gonna Love It Link Party, FDTR 200, Be Inspired Link Party 192, Upcycled Link Party, Talk of the Town 3,

Hanging Wreaths From Metal Frame Windows

I just got my Christmas decor up outside and we had a light dusting of snow! I really love the traditional look of wreaths hanging from ribbon on every window. Since I don't have drop open windows (they slide open left to right not up and down) or wooden frames to nail them in place, I used some super fancy 2-1/4" bulldog clips.

 Once I figure out how much velvet ribbon I need for the wreath to be centered in the window, I tuck it over the metal frame and then slip the bulldog clip over the top.

I try to leave enough ribbon at the top to hang over the front and cover the clip a bit.

I take the screens out of the upstairs window and just reach the wreath out the window and clip the ribbon in place. Once you get the hang of it, it goes really fast. This is the third year I've used these clips to hang my wreaths and they've worked perfectly. Even after a strong wind storm last night, one of the wreaths flipped over, but the clip held the ribbon in place (I just need to open the window and flip it back over).

 

My poinsettia trees need a little reinforcement and fixing after pulling them out of storage, but I probably won't get to that right away. From far away, they look passable :)

 

I saw someone stack an ornament wreath on top of an evergreen wreath is a magazine (can't remember which one) and fell in love. Since I already had an ornament wreath and an extra evergreen one, I was good to go. I used a little floral wire to hold the two together. I really love how they pop on my blue door!

I love the snow on top of the giant ornaments on my blue spruce.

 It got too cold too fast for me to put any lights up this year. (Maybe some laser lights, though).

 

 Thanks for stopping by! 

Linking to: Remodelaholic November Link Party, That DIY Party 69, Blogmas Link Party, The Scoop 199, 295 Inspire Me Tuesday, Inspire Me Monday 88, Show and Share 290, You're Gonna Love It, Be Inspired 188, FDTR 195, Wake Up Wednesday 97, Wow Us Wednesday 250, Dream Create Inspire 25,       

Bonus Room Reveal!

Finally, I'm ready to show you my Bonus Room. A year ago, this room was a blah dumping ground. 

It sort of stressed me out every time I was in this room. I wanted it to be functional, but also to be elegant, inviting, peaceful, and beautiful. (Not too much to ask, right?) So, one project at I time, I worked towards that goal.

Probably the most massive undertaking was planking the ceiling and making faux beams, which you can read about here.

Another time consuming project was making these built in bookshelves with cabinets at the bottom. You can read about that adventure working with the slanted ceiling here. 

On the opposite side of the room, I made this faux fireplace to hold and hide electronics. You can read about that here.

I added some doors to this IKEA cubby shelf to help hide clutter that couldn't be easily stored in a basket. See how I added a mirror- like touch here.

The chair by the window used to be a waiting room chair, which I reimagined (I have one more in my garage that I'm working on to match). See the transformation here.

I made this Murphy bed to keep our guest mattress at hand, but out of sight. To see how I fashioned a platform large enough to hold a double size mattress, go here.

I love my Harry Potter map project. To see where I got the fabric, go here. 

The piano bench was also a makeover project that used to be a coffee table, which I blogged about here.

I really feel like I achieved my goal. This room is now one of my favorites in the house. I come up here to read, but end up just staring at how pretty the room is.

Thanks for stopping by!  

Linking to BWT 4, Link Party Palooza, Remodelaholic November Link Party, Inspire Me Monday 85, The Scoop 196, 292 Inspire Me Tuesday, You're Gonna Love It Link Party, Sew Crafty Angel 94, Wow Us Wednesday, Inspired By You Link Party, Best DIY Project of 2015