Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Antique Chairs Makeover

 I'm  impressed by how many of you have already been decorating for Christmas already. I still need a few days to get in the Christmas spirit. I've been enjoying being inspired by all of your beautiful decorating ideas and am looking forward to more!

On Sunday I revealed the antique chairs from my grandmother's basement.
Today, I'll show you how I painted and recovered the seats.  Reupholstering dining room chairs is

Remember, they looked were in pretty bad shape and looked like this:

Since they were already sanded,  they didn't need any prep, other than to dust them off. After a couple of coats of black paint, they were looking pretty good.

The fabric was worn beyond recognition and came off pretty easily.


 


Cotton batting was used on the original chairs and Mary Jo's had some in stock. It is so soft! 

Since the cotton batting was so thin, I used 4 layers of it. Three layers were cut the same size as the wood seat and the fourth layer was cut 2" larger on all sides.

The batting was attached with a staple gun.






The fabric was cut larger all the way around, as well.


Voila! Antique Chairs are finished!

Hopefully, there will be time to make two pillows in the midst of Christmas decorating!

Update: you can see the finished pillows by clicking HERE

Pam 

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Shopping For Fabric

Do you have a store that you like to shop at, but it's too far away to get to often? Mary Jo's fabric store is one of those places for me. I live south of Charlotte and Mary Jo's is all the way in Gastonia ~ about an hour drive from my home. I usually end up going to Hancock Fabrics which is closer to me, but they just don't have some of the nice fabrics that I love.

I had been looking forward to going to Mary Jo's for quite some time and finally made it there last Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

Here's a row of upholstery fabric. They carry Waverly, Richloom, Braemore and more. Look at all those beautiful fabrics! My head was swimming as I walked up and down the aisles trying to decide what to get.


There are hundreds of different types of cording and trims for upholstery projects. Thank goodness I didn't have to choose from these...my project was just a simple seat recover and a couple of pillows.


There are more ribbons and trims the other side of the store.


Mary Jo's has a huge selection of laces for wedding dresses.


The laces were gorgeous!



 
This silk taffeta with pearls was so pretty.


 Guess who I thought of when I saw this fabric on the upholstery aisle???? Debbie from Debbiedoos...Blogging and Babbling, of course!




I fell in love with this fabric for my family room. I resisted the temptation to buy it because I needed to focus on one project at a time. Otherwise my craft room will end up with piles of unused fabric. Does anyone else do that, or is it just me?

Here's the pricing of the fabric above. $21.95 was the cheapest that I could find it online, so Mary Jo's is much cheaper.



Here's what I ended up with for my chair(s) makeover and pillows projects.
The striped fabric and the flocked floral were $20.95 a yard. ( I know, ouch!) The fabric on the left was $10.98.
Mary Jo's also has some remnants on the end of the aisles, so definitely check them out.


OK, confession time... I did buy  a 1/2 a yard of each of these Waverly fabrics...I couldn't resist. I'm hoping to make some pillow covers with them at the same time I make the pillow covers for the vintage chairs in my foyer.

Maybe it's a good thing Mary Jo's is an hour away.
What store do you have a difficult time resisting the urge to buy something?


Pam




Sunday, November 27, 2011

Do It Yourself Project: Antique Chair Makeover

Hope y'all are doing well and had a great weekend. 
I'm glad I get to show you this projects before all the Christmas decorating rush starts. Here's a peek at what I've been working on...



It all started when I wanted to make an upholstered bench like this for our foyer. Seems like a very simple one weekend project for Mr. Fanatic and I to do, but the problem is, he has a long honey do/project list already and I didn't want to add to it right now.

One Kings Lane




I'm a little ~ ok, a lot~ embarrassed to say that I've had these two chairs for like, forever....They've been in my basement for 11 years and I had them in my garage in California for a couple of years before that. I originally found them in my grandmother's basement a couple of years before we moved to North Carolina. I thought if I finished them both the same that I could put them side by side in our foyer and they could suffice instead of a bench.
As you can see, they've been sanded a bit, but that's as far as I got....until now. 


Here's what they look like now:


Last Tuesday, I finally made it to Mary Jo's out in Gastonia. I was originally looking for a light linen, but only found this large striped linen.







I also found two other fabrics for pillows I'm going to make for the chairs. The price of fabric sure has gone up. Either that, or I have expensive taste.


The fabric on the right is flocked anywhere you see black..

I can't wait to get started on the pillows!

I'll show you how I transformed these antique chairs some time this week. If you aren't a follower, you can become one by clicking on the Google Friend Connect on my sidebar.

Pam

Friday, November 25, 2011

Thanksgiving Table

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had a very relaxing day...or at least I did. 

Ok, don't hate me, but Mr. Fanatic did ALL the cooking. 
Yup, ever bit of it. 
I am a lucky girl. If it were up to me I would make....reservations. 
Seriously!

There were three of us this year~ the first holiday without our oldest daughter, who moved to California last May.

My youngest daughter and I set the table. I usually set the table for a holiday several days in advance, but we didn't start this year until the turkey was almost done.





Mr. F. brought home flowers for the table on Wednesday, as well as a bouquet for me and one for my daughter. Ah, so sweet!


Yum!





I took this photo with my cell phone...I know...cell phone at the table? I was texting our daughter in California and sent her this photo.

Today was a carb free for all! No counting carbs today...It was glorious!





I couldn't wait for dessert.

Mr. Fanatic made a pumpkin pie.


I bought a little apple pie at Trader Joe's, since I don't care for pumpkin pie.

I had two helpings of apple pie, ice cream AND whipped cream. It was sooooooooo good.
We had our meal at around 3 pm and watched movies all afternoon.

Hope you counted your blessings yesterday. I know I did.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Pam