This table's got curves!

Hello! I hope you are all having a nice weekend. I've been busy cleaning because I've had a recent need to clear out my guest room where this table has been sitting for months.  It's one that my sister got at a thrift store for about 5 bucks!

I hauled it downstairs, turned on my most recent television obsession, Parks and Recreation, and started painting.  The table was in pretty good shape, but the veneer color just wasn't cutting it.  I like the curvy legs but the style of the table doesn't work in my home, so I knew that I wanted to try to sell it when it was done.  Because I too lazy to go buy paint, I scoured through my cabinet and found the left over blue gray from this dresser.  

If you are looking for a very good quality, easy to apply paint for furniture or cabinets, try Benjamin Moore's Advance line.  It is quite expensive at around $18 for a quart (if I remember right), but it goes a long way since it covers so fabulously!  I only had to do one coat over my primer on this table. It also has an extended open-time which means fewer brush marks and low VOC's so if you paint indoors like I do, there is much less odor.  They also claim that you don't need to add a protective coat because of how hard the finish dries so it is a time saver for sure!  

So after a coat of primer, a coat of Wedgewood Gray, and a coat of black glaze to antique it a bit, here is the final product!  

 

Much better than the before don't you think?  I used the original brass hardware, just polished it up using equal parts vinegar, flour and salt. You apply the paste to the hardware and let sit for 30 minutes to an hour and then rinse off and polish with a clean cloth.  It actually works really well to get rid of the tarnish and bring back the shine!   

 

DIY Starburst Mirror

After being sick off and on for the past 4 weeks, I am finally feeling healthy again.  I haven't been up to doing any projects lately because of the lack of energy and constant coughing that I've been dealing with.  Now that I'm back to normal, I decided to tackle a project that I've been wanting to do for some time.  A starburst mirror.  

If you'd like to make your own, you'll need...

1. A round mirror of your choosing.  I bought this 14" diameter one at Michaels with a 40% off coupon for less than $5. 

2. Wood shims.  I used two packs of longer ones and one pack of short ones both found at Home Depot for a total of $11.

3. A hot glue gun and glue sticks.

4. Mounting hardware. 

5. Spray paint (optional).

First, you will want to lay out the shorter shims in a circle to get an idea of how far apart to space them.   Place your mirror upside down and start gluing the shims down.  Make sure to angle them so that they are stemming from the center (like rays) and not leaning towards one side.  I had to pull a few off and re-glue because it started to look like a pinwheel rather than a starburst. Oops!

Next, break the long pieces into slightly shorter ones.  I found the easiest way was to step on one end and snap the other end off.  The only reason I did this step was because I found that the long pieces were just slightly too long for the look I was going for.  

Start gluing the longer pieces just as you did the shorter ones.  These ones are a bit more tricky because of the amount of layering that you have to do.  Make sure all of your shims are hanging off the edge of the mirror about the same length.  Mine ranged from 9-10 inches past the edge.  

Finally, attach your hardware on the back, hang on your wall, and stand back and admire your work!  Or, do like I did and take it down a few times to repair random pieces that stick out like a sore thumb until you are satisfied. ;) 

For now I am leaving mine the natural wood, but I will most likely spray paint it a metallic color.  I am thinking gold, but am open to suggestions.  

PS...check out my new drapes!  I was feeling like I needed another dimension to my coral and navy palette and I think this chartreuse green is perfect!  It makes me happy and that is what color in our home is supposed to do! 

December Happenings

December is flying by and I haven't had time to post anything lately.  I spent last week in my hometown with my family celebrating Christmas early.  My brother and his partner flew in from Louisiana and my sister drove over 6 hours with her sweet baby boy so that we could all be together for about 5 days.  It was fabulous!  I love my family!  

While we were there, my friend Megan who is a great photographer, snapped a few pictures of us. It was SO cold outside and baby boy wasn't feeling well so we had to make it quick.  Thankfully, we did get a least one really good shot. 

This is my brother, Adam, and his partner, Michael.  I love them both very much and wish I could see them more often.

Here's my sister (and her adorable baby bump), Raiden, and myself.  I had so much fun loving on this little guy.

 Isn't that the cutest grin you've ever seen?

After my week full of family, I got to go pick up my love from his parents' house.  He flew back from New York for two weeks to spend Christmas at home.  I love having him here but it's bittersweet because I know it's almost time for him to go back already.  So far, we've went out to dinner too many times, visited his favorite brewery, went shopping, and have generally just been lazy.  It has been great :)  We plan to go snowboarding next week so we are both looking forward to that! 

And finally, after I unwillingly pulled myself out of bed today, I saw that my zebra table been featured on another blog called Better After.  Check it out!  Lindsey scours the web for "transformations of thrift store treasures or overlooked items into beautiful and functional design and decor," and features them on her blog.  Thanks Lindsey!!

How to Sew Double Cord Welting

Hi everyone!  I hope you are having a good week.  I promised I would write out the instructions for making double cord welting when I re-upholstered my cane chair back in October.  So here you go...2 months later! 

The first step is to cut 3 inch (or so) strips of your fabric on the bias. Cutting on the diagonal helps with giving the fabric some stretch so it bends around the corners easier.  Or so I've read. 

By the way, this was my first sewing project in years.  Literally, YEARS.  I haven't really sewn anything besides fixing a seam now and then, since about freshman year of highschool.  That's been 10 years.  Wow.

In order to not waste a ton of fabric, you can sew shorter strips together to get the length that you need.  Just pin across and sew a quick seam. 

After you get all your short strips sewn together and have a long enough piece for whichever part of your chair you are doing first, put your cording inside and roll the fabric over the top and pin. I bought my cording at JoAnn's fabric for something like 30 cents per yard. 

 

 

 Next, attach your zipper foot to your sewing machine (or in my case, your friend's borrowed sewing machine) so that you can get really close to the cording with your seam.  Sew down the length of the cording.

 

The next step is to insert another length of cording next to the first seam and roll it all over to enclose it in the fabric.  I put the normal foot back on the sewing machine and sewed right down the middle of both pieces of cording. 

 

 

This step is a bit tricky because of the bulk of material.  And especially so if you haven't sewn anything in YEARS.  I broke a needle at one point, the thread kept coming out of the needle, and I kept knotting up the bobbin thread.  I had to enlist the help of my friend, Alejandra for this step because of my lack of patience.  But you can do it, I'm sure ;)  The key is to use an upholstery needle...I think.

 



So after you get all of your sewing done, its time to attach the cording to your chair.  I used a hot glue gun and glued it on a small section at a time.  I had two lengths of cording, one for along the back of the chair and one for the front along the bottom of the seat.

 

 

 

 And after all is said and done, you have covered all of your staples with welting and completed your chair!

 

I've been featured!

Ok, so I have to take a moment to brag a bit.  Remember my zebra print table that I created from a garage sale find?  I linked it up to the Thrifty Decor Chick blog about a month ago and Sarah chose my project out of over 400 to feature on her blog!  She has so many great ideas and inspiring posts so you should definitely head over there and check it out!

http://thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com/2012/12/december-before-and-after.html

On another note, I got my Christmas tree up a few days ago so I thought I'd share some photos.  I bought the tree and ornaments on clearance after Christmas last year.  It's definitely not the most beautifully decorated tree I've ever seen, but it's my tree ;)  The kitties have already climbed to the top and knocked off the angel once, and they pull off the ribbon daily.  It may be totally destroyed by the time Christmas rolls around, but oh well! 

 

See what I mean about it being destroyed by Christmas?! Stapler likes to climb it.

And hide out underneath it.

 

Merry Christmas! :)

Goodwill Lamp Transformed

I finally found a lamp for my living room at Goodwill a few weeks ago. I was looking for a cheap lamp that I could spruce up, so that I can get rid of my ugly torchiere floor lamp.  Here it is before. Ugly brass, but with great curves.

 

I wrapped up the electrical parts in some aluminum foil and painters tape and primed the base on one of the few sunny days we've had here lately. 

I originally painted it with a silver metallic spray paint, but didn't like the way it looked.  I actually liked the white primer better than that!  So I primed again, and finished with a few coats of Rust-Oleum's Heirloom White.  Here's the new lamp in my living room.  The linen drum shade was on sale at Fred Meyer.  I've seen some great painted shades on Pinterest so I may attempt that someday.

  

 

 

 

Linking up to:

 



The Table From H-E-Double Hockeysticks

With this table redo, I finally just had to put the paint brush down and call it done.  I'll get to why it is the table from HELL in just a moment.

My sister got this table at a thrift store for $5 (and I think it was another 20% off). It's real low - too low if you ask me - but for $5, I figured it was good enough for a revamp project. It was another one that sat in my guest room for a few months while I tried to get some inspiration. I finally decided to fix it up and give it to my sis for her birthday so I wanted to paint it cream with a black top to tie into her black coffee table. Here's the before pictures.

 

 

I actually tried to pry off that diamond shaped detailing around the legs but had no such luck.  That was the first of the obstacles.  In order to paint the base and top different colors, I spray painted the base cream first and let that dry.  I then used black garbage bags to tape off the base so that just the top was visible and painted that black. 

 

Sounds easy enough right?  Wrong.  Most of my problems stemmed from not letting the paint cure long enough before moving on to another step.  I found finger prints in the paint from moving the table from outside where I was painting to inside out of the impending rain.  I chipped the paint on the sliding door bringing it in at one point.  I ran out of black paint and had to wait a few days until it was nice enough to paint outside again.  Ugh...I felt like I was never going to get it done! 

 

I also had to add wood filler to the existing holes for the hardware, since I didn't want to use the original and my new pull needed different holes drilled.

 

 

There are still spots that I should really touch up, but I am calling it good on this one. My sister can use it until she gets tired of it, and then she can throw it out. ;)