Work Table Makeover

Here's another hand me down. Just like the chair from yesterday, this drop leaf table was in our house growing up. I remember it being in our living room.

When I moved out I totally stole it.

No, no. My mom was happy to cast it off on me. Promise.

Back in the day (13ish years ago?) I painted it two different shades of sage green to match the chair.

But now I think it's begging for something more bold.

A black top and white legs suits it well, don't you think?

Here is the pair together in my work area in the mom cave.

Looking good! (except that faded denim pillow. How'd that get in there? That's not staying).

What I like most about this table is the versatility. With the drop leaves down, the table and chair fit snugly side by side.

I can flip out one leaf for more room, and sort of a desk.

If I have a project that requires lots of room, I can flip both sides out.

And then put it all aside when I'm done.

Nice!

Before:

After:

Linking to some of these great parties.

Now go make something!

Chair Makeover

This could also be called "Seat Recovering 101".

Here's a pretty chair that has made the rounds.

It was originally part of a set that my mom bought for our dining room when I was a young teenager. She found them in the classifieds section of our local paper.

They served us find for years. My mom eventually bought a new dining set right around the time that I got my first apartment, so the old dining set (a 70s table and 5 redone antique chairs) came with me. Shabby Chic was just become the thing at the time, so I remade the chairs with distressed minty green paint and softly colored plaid seats.

Eventually I bought a new dining set, so the table and 4 of the chairs went in a garage sale. But I kept this captains chair (the other 4 were armless). I use it primarily at my crafting/sewing work table. It still sports the paint scheme I gave it 13ish years ago.

I gotta say, I'm pleased it's not that out-of-date. It still looks ok to me. But my tastes are changing slightly. I still like time-worn finishes, but I like bolder and more modern things too. So it's time for a makeover.

True confessions time. I bought too much black and white fabric.

I only needed 3 1/3 yards for my ottoman makeover. I was nervous about that project and bought 5 yards. Normally I'd pick out a new fabric for this chair, but the cheap side of me is just going to use what I already have. I'm sure it will be fine, it will just be a little more matchy-matchy than I originally wanted.

(channeling my kids' whiney voice) But I don't like match-matchy.

I'm trying to get over it.

Have you ever recovered a chair with a fabric seat? Don't be intimidated. It's super easy. Flip the chair over. You'll see 4 screws.

See the black dots in the cross braces? Those are the screws.

Take out the screws, and the seat will pop right out.

Cut out a piece of fabric large enough to wrap around the back.

You'll be wrapping the fabric around the back and stapling it.

I alternate opposite sides when stapling. For instance, I'll do a row of staples across the top, then I'll staple the bottom (while holding the fabric taught). Then a row across the left side, then the right (stretching fabric taught again).

Alternate sides when stapling.

Leave corners for last.

When you're finished, just screw the seat back in. A couple coats of white semi gloss finish off this chair makeover.

Before:

After:

Did you notice my work table got a makeover too? More on that tomorrow.

In the meantime, linking to some of these great parties.

Now go make something!

Color Obsession

I have an obsession with a new color. What should I call it? It's sort of... leaf green. Darker and more mature than chartruese, more youthful than olive. There's just something about it.

I found this mid century modern dresser for the basement.

And there's only one color it could be.

This is my go-to green. It's Meadowlands by Valspar.

This dresser was just $40. I thought that was a steal for it's modern sensability. But it had a few small condition issues. Like this cigarette burn.

A little sanding took care of that.

This particular paint has primer built in, so after a little all over light sanding, I just dived right in.

After one coat.

Let it dry for a bit, then the second coat. I let this paint "cure" for several days before putting the HUGE heavy TV on it. Maybe I should have put a bit of polycrylic on it for extra protection. I guess time will tell. If it gets a little knocked around I can always sand and touch up.

And now the moment of truth. A couple before and afters!

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Linking to some of these great parties.

Now go make something!

Slip Covered Ottomans

When redecorating your home, often the most inexpensive option isn't finding the best deal for something new... it's repurposing or redoing something you already have.

Enter my ottomans (please ignore the flaking, painted concrete basement floor).

I registered for these suckers at Bed, Bath and Beyond before Mr. RBR and I got married. It was when these square ottomans first came out. I thought they were mega cool. Of course now these little ottomans are all over the place. Now they have cool fabrics, and even storage inside. Nope, not these. No storage. Just little square ottoman cubes. Plus they look a little boring, don't they? It's not like they're offensive. They're just... yawn.

Well not anymore, honey!

A little fun black and white fabric (3 1/3 yards for two). Esmee by Wavery.

Sewn into a slipcover. I have not done much of this, but you just pin it inside out and sew. Sometimes the best way to learn to do something, is just to try to do it!

Now take a look!

No one would ever dream of calling these two boring. They're the life of the party, er, basement!

Speaking of basement, I owe you an update. Major progress. You know it's going to be my mom cave, right?

A before and after? You bet.

Linking to some of these great parties.

Now go make something!

Bolstering your Pillow's Appeal

See what I did there? I used "bolstering" the verb, and I'm talking about "bolsters" the noun. Get it? AH HA HA HA HA

HA HA

HA

Nevermind.

I have two bolsters. I've had them for ages. And they've always sat on these two chairs.

There's nothing wrong with them. They're perfectly fine tan, faux-suede bolsters. Nothing offending enough to warrant them getting tossed.

But I think they lack pizzaz. Despite the bold geometric on these two chairs, this area was rather... boring. What's missing? Then it hit me. Duh.

COLOR.

I hate to throw anything out. And, heck, I'm cheap too. So how about a facelift?

I found the PERFECT fabric. Epic Tale by Waverly. It's the stripe in this stack.

It was a little more expensive than I usually go for at $22/yd. But I only needed two feet (2/3 yd) for this project, which came to about $14.50.

All I did was cut out two identical striped areas, seam the raw edges, and sew it together to make a tube.

Then just slipped it on. Come on, what's easier than that? And a nice transformation for little time and little money... two things I don't have much of these days.

Linking to some of these great parties.

Now go make something!

This project was featured on Finding Fabulous.

Handpainted Jewelry Box

Several years ago I asked Mr. RBR for a jewelry box for Christmas. I'm usually not extremely picky and didn't feel the need to pick it out myself, but I did ask that it be 1. large (larger than the one I had at the time) 2. Be white 3. Have silver hardware.

Mr. RBR found this.

It's not tooooo bad. The size and functionality of it I love. It's worked well. But I've never loved the finish.

Mr. RBR said he looked everywhere, but couldn't find something that was large and white, let alone with silver hardware. This finish is kind of halfway between cream and pickled oak. You can't really tell in the photos, but there's a pickish hue and some wood grain showing. And the brass just didn't go with our bedroom decor.

But now that our bedroom is getting a refresher, why not change it?

I started with some spray paint. Just give it a light sand and paint away. The drawers on this jewelry box shut pretty tight, so I didn't even bother to take my jewelry out.

Don't be like me.

Here's what it looked like after 3ish coats with some spray paint. I liked it. I thought it looked nice!

But why not take it over the top? I decided to put a little handmade detail on it. Something branchy. I got me some spring fevah! I got a large artist's brush and practiced on some scrap paper.

Uh oh. I might be in trouble. That sucks.

To the internet for some inspiration!

Um, yeah. Something like THIS!

This is wallpaper by Schumacher, found here.

So I printed out the inspiration on my home printer. I got out a teensy tiny artist's brush and some regular white semi gloss trim paint. I found the paint was a little too thick and clumpy to get the small detail, so I added a few drops of water right on the paint lid. Then I just went for it!

It was a little scary, but I figured if I hated it, all I needed to do was re-sand and re-spray. No big deal. Luckily it turned out very nice! It's not hard. Give it a try! Find some inspiration. Practice before you paint your piece. Go slowly--take your time!

When it was dry I wanted to make sure to protect my hard work. The spray paint seemed very durable, but I didn't want my branches to scrape off. I found some matte protective spray I already had (I used it to protect the chippy finish on the dump truck and train in the boy's room). I didn't want to spray the whole jewelry box in this case, because the sealer is matte and the spray paint was gloss. I was pretty sure that would rip a hole in the universe.

Nah, I liked the gloss, and I didn't want to cover it with matte. If I had gloss spray sealer, I would have sprayed the whole thing. Instead I sprayed a little matte sealer right in the cap. Stuck my brush in there and painted over top all the white areas I wanted to protect. After I was finished I immediately cleaned my brush with mineral spirits so it stayed nice.

All done! Here it is in its new home.

You think if I brought it outside it might inspire spring to come sooner?

Hmm... Not working.

It's still pretty. One more before and after.

Linking to some of these great parties!

This project was featured on the CSI Project.