~chair makeovers~

Hello my friends!!

Happy Tuesday to you!

It's snowing here in the northwest....

crazy!!  we really haven't gotten too

much but they got 6 inches in Seattle!!

but the kiddos are bummed since they've missed

no school yet.....

here's what I've been working on....

{I played with Picasa for different tones

of sepia & black and white}

I've been working on 

~chair rehab~

that's what's been happenin' here

while I've had time off from the

Linen Shoppe

you may recall a few hundred years ago

my crazy chair extravaganza via craigslist??

no?

well read here for the full scoop....

I was actually relieved to see it has only

been a little over a year since I bought them....

phew....wouldn't want to be seen as a

procrastinator or anything like that....

I have a reputation to uphold ya know....

here is my dining room filled with all chairs

and no table a year ago....

see now you may be intrigued....no table?

what did she do with it???

read here to recollect my craziness

well since I had some time off from sewing

& such ~ thought it'd be a good time

to finally tackle these guys....

so here's the before!

a big part of the problem is the

gaping hole in the seats...

ya see it there? he he he

I really wasn't quite sure how to fix it

(only 2 needed the holes "filled" thankfully!)

but I did figure it out~

since the chairs (6 of them) all came with

these lovely & fashionable seat cushions

so purdy.....;)

we cut a piece of plywood & secured

it to the seats ~ no one will   e  v  e  r   know....

I decided to try a homemade chalk paint

recipe since I didn't want to spend much

 $$ for the Annie Sloan chalk paint...

{although I really do want to try hers soon}

I can't take credit for the homemade stuff ~

definitely not that smart....

It was Joy over at Savvy City Farmer

who posted on it awhile back...

you mix about a third of plaster of paris

{available for about $3 or 4 or 5? can't quite remember! at Lowe's or Home Depot}

with regular paint & start painting!

so I mixed some white (on hand) with

some beige (on hand) with a little grey

(yep on hand as well....) along with

some artist tints I had laying around...

came up with a nice creamy grey tone...

then I went over it with an antiquing glaze from

Lowe's....{American Tradition Antique Glaze ~ about $8}

I did 2 coats of paint & then the glaze...

& then used a dry and a wet rag to take

off the glaze ~ you just have to play with it...

I have to apologize for my picture quality...

my camera is officially broken & I'm looking

into what to buy....meanwhile it's the.........

shhhhhhh don't tell....

cell phone camera....

yikes.

well I had to show you something right??? :)

here's a couple shots in b & w

wow way to stage a shot with

no props....whoops!

sepia....gotta love picasa!

glazing works best (in my humble

non-professional opinion....)

when there are grooves & such

in the furniture....

it gets in those little cracks & crevices & stays...

gives it a nice aged look...

so next is the cushion recovering....

I've gone back & forth with the idea

of using my antique grainsacks....

or a yummy french linen sheet...

or painter's dropcloth...

the grainsack is so beautiful but very

thick.....and the chair cushions have piping

so I'm not so sure it'll work....

thoughts????

anyone ever tried to make piping out of that amazing

luscious fabric??

so there ya have it!

the chairs are painted & ready for seat cushions....

yay!!

next the dining table gets an overhaul as well....

here's a sneak peek at what we have in there

now.....

{don't mind that beautifully upholstered chair there! I know you all

love green upholstery but no I'm not selling it!!}

so it's just a queen anne style table that I picked up

at goodwill.....{spent like $10 and you'll recall if you went back and read my insane post we had n.o.t.h.i.n.g. in there! what a mom I am!}

I'd really like to build a farmhouse

table like I've seen around but for now ~ I'm thinking

just doing the same paint treatment on the legs &

maybe a natural bare wood finish on top ~

ya??

I'll be sure to update you on my cushion progress...

it's on the agenda this week!

oh, and a little sidenote....

the Ticking and Toile Linen Shoppe is

open again

so take a look if you like!

Hope you all have a fantastic week!

xoxo,

Shellagh