Take a seat

Boy, oh boy does the hubbs know me or what?!

His work is remodelling the model apartment and they were getting rid of furniture. They actually told him to throw it away. So he did the next best thing. He loaded it int the back of his truck and brought it home.

YEAH!

Remember when my dog Frazzle ate my office chair?
 I was going to reupholster it but I didn't get around to it because I have been so busy taking my classes. I tried using a pillow but boy was it ever uncomfortable!

Then I was using a folding chair with a pillow. It was slightly less uncomfortable but not much.

So this awesome chair is now being used as my office chair.

 I have it the living room as an occasional chair. I am not crazy about it being black leather/ pleather/ vinyl. But all the decorating experts say every room needs a little black, so there you go.

When I need it for the desk I just wheel it around . A much needed improvement! No more achey back or numb butt, haha.

The hubbs also brought home a matched pair of these dining chairs. I wish he could have brought a dining table with them, haha. I would like to reupholster the seats, other than that they are quite lovely! They are in the garage for now. Boy Meow Meow, our cat who live in the garage,  has already claimed  them to sleep on. So I put old towels over them for now. He may give me a fight when I finally take them back.

Gossip bench re-deaux

Ok I have no ideal if that is really a word and since I don't speak French.  I hope I didn't just accidentally call someone a walrus's ass. But everything looks and sounds so much more sophisticated and classy in French. Anyhoo I recently blogged about this sweet little gossip bench HERE

It was looking a tad unloved and mistreated.

First thing I did was remove the seat by flipping it over taking out the screws.

Next I gave the entire bench a good sanding using a sanding block. I wasn't concerned with the imperfections, I just wanted to give it some :teeth" for the paint to adhere. After sanding I tacked off the frame to remove any dust and particulates.

The color I painted is a mis-tint quart I found for $2.00 at Home Depot! Sweet! And it is the perfect Robin's Egg Blue!

I didn't bother priming because I am going for a distressed finish.. I used a dry brush technique, which is funny because it really isn't dry or a brush. I used a cheap-o  $0.79 foam pad applicator which I dampened and then blotted on a paper towel. I applied a very, very thin layer of paint  going with direction of the grain. Allow to dry completely. I repeated this process until I began to get the desired effect.The original dark finish is more evident in some areas, less in in others. I really thought about where would the wear be most evident, so the darker "original finish" would show through

While the paint was drying, I removed the tacky red velvet , which was covering an even tackier plaid.-ish material. Not to mention...STANKY...I don't want to think about all the butt's that have sat on that cushion... Bleh. (Now I have to bleach my hands)

I inspected the wood seat for any cracks to determine if I needed to replace it. It does have to be strong enough to support my...errr girth? Heft? My chubby bum. It pretty much splintered apart so a new seat was fabricated from a 1/4 inch piece of scrap  plywood.  I bought a 2 inch piece of foam from Hobby Lobby. They were have a 30% sale so I scored my cushion for $2.97. Sweet!

I had to cut a small notch from the foam to align properly on the seat. An old electric carving knife works great for cutting the foam. Cuts like butter! Once I was sure I had the correct sized cushion, I did a dry fit on the foam.  I applied a thin spay of adhesive to the cushion and wood. Let that tack up for about 15-30 seconds and then attached the foam. I let this sit undisturbed for about an hour while I was on Facebook, Pinterest, napping, cleaning my house. ha!

 I used a water-based gel stain (Mahogany) for the table part of the bench. I applied 2 coats, allowing to dry between applications.

I also applied a very diluted wash of stain over the entire bench to further "age" it.

After laying out my fabric I decided where I needed to cut to have the optimum display on the design. The fabric has a fairly dense weave so I didn't bother using any liner fabric.  If this was a piece of furniture that would receive heavy use I would have gone with a denser foam pad, used batting, bought a heavier weight fabric and  used a muslin liner. But this bench will mainly be for display with very light use.

The fabric is LeJardin Garden and and Birds by Richloom 

Center the fabric and do a small fold over. Staple 1 staple in the center. Pull the fabric taut, turnover to check there are no weird creases and put a staple on the opposite side. Repeat this process until secured. For the corners I did a simple envelope fold.  I used 1/4 inch  (6 mm) staples heavy duty staples. My plywood is 1/4 inch and even though I have a 2 inch cushion, I would really hate for a staple to pop though (ouch!) so I used the smallest staples I could find.

The seat was re-attached to the bench . It turned out so much better than I expected!

What do you think? Do you love it as much as I do?


Shared on  Project Parade  2/06/2012

Shared on  2/07/2012 
Shared on   2/19/2012

Pull up a chair and let's gossip

Did you know a generation or 2 ago most people had a special chair dedicated to their phone. It is called a gossip chair or gossip bench.

The days of being attached to a land line means you need a (presumably) comfortable place to sit AND to show off your phone.

To have a telephone was a sign of affluence in the 1800's. Initially the gossip benches were designed to reflect the fashion of the time. They fell out of favor for while but there has been a resurgence or nostalgia. Some designer models or antiques can cost upward of $1200. Check your local thrift store chances are you can score one for less than $50. With a little TLC, you can make it whatever you want.

Victorian Inspired

Danish Modern

Gothic Revival

1920's

Mission Style

Mid Century Modern

The Atomic 1950's

um no--so very wrong!

Wicker beachy

Simple and sweet (Love this!)

Vintage  reproduction (and this!)

Modern Country--so cute

Jonathan Adler Modern but a nod to the 1960's-very sleek

Contemporary

It just so happens I was perusing one of my local thrifting haunts and came across this little beauty. 

 (I know I know it looks a little rough) But I see the potential. And hey doesn't this look kinda familiar?  (Scroll up to vintage reproduction). Haha-serendipitous yes?

Nothing a little fabric, paint and some elbow grease can't fix. Stay tuned for the reveal  because it looks adorable!