What a Find!

We have not yet started school this year, which is late for me.  I have yet to purchase all of the school books.  I hope to do this Monday and hopefully start school at the beginning of September.  The kiddos are loving it.  I am loving this fall-like weather we have had for the past two weeks.  I am trying to get a jump on some of my roadside finds.  

I found this end table recently.  This is a pic of it after I cleaned it and my son sanded it.  I actually had started to stain the top when I took this pic.

End tables like these sell at our Amish markets for no less than $125.00.

I stained the top with dark walnut.  I also used Clear and Jacobean wax on the top.

I painted the bottom in Annie Sloan's French Linen and then waxed it with clear and dark wax.

This one is a keeper.  It is going in hubby's office.  

He also wants me to paint the other wing chair in French Linen.

I painted a swatch to see if he would like it.  He would rather me paint the chair than reupholster it.  

Hmmm..... This will be interesting.

My First Upholstered Wing Chair

I made my first slip cover back in June, and I wasn't really happy with the look of a slipcover.  I really wanted the chair to be reupholstered.  I like the fitted look on furniture.  I knew I had two of these chairs, so I wasn't so nervous about ruining the chair.  However I wanted to use as much of the drop cloth and piping from the slipcover I had made, so that I wasn't putting anymore money into a project I was going to be experimenting with.  As much as I wasn't thrilled with the slipcover, I did like it better than my torn and dirty looking wing chair.

So I spent a day tearing apart my slipcover in hopes that this was not all in vain.  I was able to use almost all the pieces from the slipcover.  I had to recover the wing part by itself and make that two separate pieces at the arm.  I am glad I did the slipcover and had those tips from Miss Mustard Seed's Videos.  I was definitely more relaxed from having that experience.  

I am not going to do a step by step tutorial.  I am just going to show you different pics.  On the left you can see how the wing and the arm are two different pieces.  I just folded the fabric under and stretched and stapled it.

When it came to the back of the chair, I did not have the cardboard thingy that they used.  It was not able to be used again, so I came up with my own template.  I explain it in the photo below.

I did reuse the metal clips the factory had used.  I also reused the hardboard template they had in the arm front.  So sorry for my layman terms.  I am not a professional and have no idea what I am talking about with all of these pieces.  

Here is a pic of the slipcover I did back in June vs. the upholstered chair.  I personally would reupholster before I made a slip cover.  Once you tear things apart and see how it is put together, it really isn't hard.  There is a lot less sewing involved!  I love that part!  I am not even sure if I would have had to sew if my wings were like some of the wing chairs I saw on the videos I watched.  Again I am so thankful for making that slipcover so that I had a clue with what to do with the wing part.

I love it!

Guinea Pig

I am a little nervous to even post about this.  I am in the middle of reupholstering my other wing chair.  I am not making a slip cover, I am tearing it apart and recovering it.

 So far this chair is not like the video I was watching, so I am about ready just to go on my own instinct.  I am thinking that may not be a good thing to go by since I have never done a wing chair before.  

When I tore apart the wings, the sides, the arms and the wings were all one piece.  I am going to try cover it a different way and hope it looks good :)

So this is what is staring at me today.  

I am going to use drop cloth so there is no major money going into my guinea pig of an idea.  

Hubby is routing for me.  

What a pal!

So hopefully I will have a completed--good looking wing chair to share with you next week!  I will even share with you my failure of a chair if need be....

A Nice Visual

My former Pastor and his wife are getting ready to step out and be an Evangelist.  They were having a yard sale to literally get rid of almost everything they owned.  One of the items was this rocking chair that I believe was his father's.  The price was right, and I knew I could recover it.

 I really like the size of this rocker.  It is really comfortable to sit on.  

My son and I began to remove the old vinyl that it was covered with.

I stapled some batting to the bottom ledge before covering the rocker with drop cloth. 

Using the hem of the drop cloth I covered the staples.

I glued the hem strip in place with a hot glue gun.

For some reason I had a real hard time capturing the color of the dropcloth on the picture of the rocker.  It looks like the oatmeal color on the close-up shots to the right.

Now I have a nice visual to remember to pray for them on this new journey in their life.

Headboard Made from a Door

      Well, I finally did it!
After a year of holding onto a door that I found along side the road, I finally made a head board for my oldest son.  I can't actually say that I made it.  I designed it, and he cut it and nailed it together.
...I painted it :)

So I started with a full length wood door.  I really can't believe someone threw it away.  My son cut off the top panel of the door.  He then cut another inch and a half off of each end.  I was pretty impressed at how straight he cut it.

We took some old trim and baseboard scraps I hoarded saved and added some architecture to the door.  This door already had great panels.  It just needed a little more character.

I couldn't believe my ears when it came time to paint it.  He wanted Annie Sloans French Linen!  He is usually a black paint kind of guy.  He likes things to look rich.  I think my primitive cottage look is rubbing off on him :)

This is after I waxed it with clear and dark wax.

I wasn't brave enough to take a pic of his room today.
That will have to come in a later post.
I love the way it turned out!

If you can't find a great door to use try this Simple Headboard idea I found at one of the blog parties a couple of years ago.
Thanks, Pam!

Dresser in Linen

I've been wanting to paint this dresser for a long time.  I bought it right after I graduated from high school in 1995.  I finally decided that Annie Sloans' Linen was the color I wanted it to be.

Now before anyone gets too upset that I am painting a lovely wood dresser, I thought I'd share with you some of her blemishes that I've lived with for years.

I covered them up with linens on top of the dresser now I am ready to clothe her in 'Linen' and some dark wax.

I love how the dark wax just enhanced her natural beauty :)

I am really pleased that the hardware looked great against the Linen.

Sigh!

Simple and Lovely!

A New Linen Look and a Tip for Making Your Own Piping

Remember these?

The one chair was a roadside find, and the other was my craft chair.

I am gearing up for some slip covering, but I thought I would try a little reupholstering.  I used a 7 oz. canvas drop cloth.

For this chair back, it was not worth taking out the back vinyl part, so I painted it with AS French Linen.

I then did a white wash over the linen.

For the front of the chairback, I used the old vinyl as a template and then stapled it inside over the existing foam pad. 

I then stapled some batting and drop cloth over the foam on the chair's seat.

Making sure to stretch opposite sides and corners.

For the piping I bought a $1.50 clothesline.

I measured around the edges.
Tore a 2 in. canvas strip, wrapped it around the clothesline, and with a zipper presser foot I sewed and made the piping.

I attached the piping with a staple gun to the bottom of the upholstered seat.
I also stuffed it in along the edge of the chair back and glued it.

They turned out wonderful.

I wanted to make it look like old linen, so using some frog tape and watered down acrylic paints; I made some "linen" stripes.

After it was dried, I ironed over the paint to help it stay in the fabric.
I love them!

Ms. vanity sold at my sale this past weekend, but the lady didn't want a chair.
I really thought either chair would have worked well with her.

What I Painted with One Can of Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint

I thought I would do a post to show you all how far a can of Annie Sloans Chalk Paint went for me.  I just used up my can of Duck Egg.  Well, I could probably still paint a picture frame or something small with what is left in the can.

I think people apply paint differently.
 I will share with you how I used this can.  Some projects took one coat while others took two.
*Warning*
There are a lot of pictures in this post.

I wanted this color as an accent color in my bedroom.

So I did just that.
Here I painted a pair of gold medallions that were at the foot of my bed.
I used 2 coats.

I painted a small wood bowl that I use on my dresser to hold odds and ends.  The bowl was a hunter green, so I only painted 1 coat over the hunter green and distressed it to let the dark come through.  You can't tell that it use to be hunter green.

This was a gold picture frame.
I only used 1 coat on this because I also wanted that to come through as I distressed it.

My dresser was the first piece of furniture I painted Duck Egg.  It had laminated type wood on the sides.  I noticed that Chalk Paint spreads really well on shiny surfaces.  I had taken the chipped laminate off of the front of the drawers, so the wood soaked the paint up more on them.  I used 2 coats of paint on this, however I was not so picky about it being totally perfect because I don't like perfect--I like distressed pieces.

My next furniture piece was this roadside rescue rocker.
It got 2 coats--again not perfect just filled in the center seat and let the edges go with less paint.

Our night stands only got 1 coat of paint because the base was black, and I wanted the black to come through when I distressed them.

Ms. Vanity was hard to paint.  I suggest you don't sand when using Annie Sloans.  I had to sand some bad stuff off of this piece.  The wood just really soaked up the chalk paint.  It took 2 very thick coats of paint.  It was really hard to smooth it out.  I probably should have added some water.

This window took 2 coats of paint, but the paint went far because of the smooth surface.

My final project was these swivel counter chairs.  They had a coat of shiny white paint on them.  I did use 2 coats of Duck Egg, however I still left some white show through.

There ya go.
I feel like I got my money's worth.
If you are very picky about having every inch of furniture painted perfectly and totally covered, you may use more paint than I did.

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