I've had a terrific week . But my favourite thing for this week isn't that I finally got round to mopping my floors or cleaning out my guest room or feeding ducks or taking little P to the beach for a swim (He rode the dodgem cars for the first time with his grandpa- it was hilarious-Little P was driving ) This week my favourite thing is a good furniture makeover.
I love to take something and make it over. There's something infinitely satisfying about taking an old piece of furniture and making it into something that means it'll get used for more years to come. Old furniture is generally built to last and I think it's a huge shame to send it to the tip. Another plus for re- finishing furniture is that it's generally a lot cheaper than going out and buying a piece of mass produced furniture. And you end up with something completely unique. I've spent hours looking in second hand stores and on Ebay for the "perfect" piece because I've had a vision of something that would be "perfect" for a particular space in my house.
One such hunt was the tale of the kitchen dresser. I'd given up finding something that looked like this after months of searching when BAM - there she was in all her (former ) glory.
A coat (or 5 ) of paint and this is what she looks like now.
Or you can take a table and a set of chairs you bought second hand for under 80 bucks
And spend 40 bucks and spend some time and elbow grease to make them look like this
Take a 50 year old desk and strip and paint and glue the crap out of it
to breathe this kind of life into it
On the downside I have a really small house, so I have to be selective about what I bring home. I had a couple more brilliant ideas recently and yesterday this piece of potential lusciousness found a home at Maison Pyjamas.
That fabric is truly truly hideous.But look at some of the details and past it's current hideous state and pretend its re-covered in something wonderful.
I'm already auditioning other colour palettes.
I must admit to some trepidation with this project . Firstly I have to find the perfect fabric. Then I have to google myself blind to get a ton of tips about how to recover something of this magnitude without completely ruining it. But I'm up for the challenge. There's always profanity to let off the accumulated steam. Stay tuned. And with another "brilliant " idea fermenting in my brain it looks like I'm going to be one busy chickee over the next couple of weeks.
If anything has particularly thrilled your heart this week feel free to shout it from the rooftops and link it on up to this post so we can get excited with you. Have a brilliant Friday!
35 comments:
Knowing you Shay, when you have finished with that gorgeous chair it will look AMAZING. I adore all of the work you have done on your unit and table and chairs, you have a wonderful talent for re-vamping things, I wish I had the patience to do it, I love the looks you achieve. xx
Hi Shay, I love the china cabinet piece! I can't wait to see the chair finished. I know it is going to be amazing. You are pretty amazing, you know that right? I'm jealous of the whole going to the beach thing. Love your new profile. Sign me, freezing my patootie off in RI USA
a book, a blanket (it's cold up here) a cup of tea and I'd be in heaven in that chair....love the detailed carving ... have fun finding the perfect fabric !!!
You do some fantastic makeovers, that's for sure. I can't see what your chair turns into.
Ooh, I love the grey on the chair. It's an awesome find! Very nice scroll work. If you get bored, you can come strip my kitchen table and chairs. And paint them white. You have more experience with that than me. ;)
I am excited to see what you can do with that chair, which has such good "bones." You do such wonderful re-dos. Quite the talent you have!
Gosh, what awesome makeovers...they all are wonderful. LOVE that hutch.
Not sure my post qualifies for your link party this week. It's about some favorite things from my past. :))
xo bj
You do amazing things with tin of paint, and elbow grease! Fantastic!! I love the zebra print in the chairs. That last chair is awesome!! I can't wait to see what come up with for it's makeover.
That is going to be something ..
I think all your redo's are brilliant. I have had visions of redoing furniture and I have had a couple of attempts but I don't really have the staying power for the preparation work and so the end result is never any good. I am sure the chair will be equally brilliant.
all your 'new lifers' are gorgeous and I am sure the new addition will turn into something gorgeous too. Can't wait to see what happens next.
One day when I own my own house, and need furniture - I'm going to fly you in and use you as my personal designer. Deal?! I would love it if I actually remembered it was Friday when I did my post later on so that I put a FTF in and linked it. Failed lately, a lot!
Good on you for challenging yourself and upping the anti....it makes us grow, and think of the pleasure you will have later looking at that gorgeous chair in its new skin and knowing that you did it yourself!! Wonderful Shay, looking forward to the profanity and posts that will accompany this chair :-)
Fabulous chair! Perhaps look for a TAFE or WEA course on re-upholstery....I did one years ago and it was money well spent. (Not that I've re-upholstered anything recently....)
Its going to look gorgeous Shay ...Can't wait to see the finished result.....are you coming tomorrow for Farmers Wife day ????
What an interesting chair! If you cover it in a fairly bland neutral, you can have fun ringing the changes with different coloured cushions.
Love all your redo's. They all turned out beautiful. Love the detail on your new chair. Looking forward to hearing about the redo and seeing the end resuilt. Have fun playing with all the possibilities.
You are soooooo talented. And from what I have seen so far that chair will be outstanding once you are finished. Great favourite!!
I like the cushion with the map on it. My sister sits on the couch and reads an atlas (for fun - she's a bit odd) and I think it would be nice to make a map sandwich with her in the middle.
Knock Knock ... may I come in? I enjoy your blog and I could use the inspiration your photos provide ...
I've linked a non-crafty, non-quilting post ... feel free to point me in a different direction.
wow ... i've upholstered one piano bench in my life ... i can't wait to see the chair !!!
laurie
threeoldkeys.blogspot.com
virginia usa
I want to come over. (Did you just re-do your 'disclaimer'? It sounds fantastic - now I really want to come over and hang out)
Beautiful chair - Look forward to seeing it all dressed up in whatever you choose for it's new outfit.
Enjoy
So, I wonder how much it's gonna cost you to ship that chair to me? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
I can't believe your dining room set and the china cabinet. W-O-W
I love looking at before and after pictures, and I'd totally do this stuff, too, if it was as easy as looking at the before and after pictures was! Also, I just don't have the eye, the eye that can see beyond what some thing currently is to what it can become. You're really good at that.
Brett read a quote once and we use it all the time, it actually comes in handy with our graphic design jobs as well, we only send final products to clients because, the quote says:
Fools and children shouldn't see something before it's finished.
In the case of home makeovers, I'm a fool. I just can't see it until someone else finishes it. Then I see what it was able to become.
Great work.
Your talents are endless.
Serioulsy?? Seriously. My gosh. You put me to shame. How freaking sweet is all of this? I'll tell you how sweet...it's so sweet that it makes my teeth hurt! YOU WORK IT GIRLFRIEND!!! I am so proud of all you got done AND not to mention...how flippin BEAUTIFUL it all looks! WOW!!!!
I absolutely love your house. It is beautiful. I'm sure you'll do an amazing job with the new piece too!
Holy crap I am so crushing on your redos! I always dream of doing this, and have bought several pieces that just lie in wait. Too afraid to mess them up...also lazy about all the sanding ;) These are all gorgeous. Maybe when it warms up around here I will get me a bucket of paint and have at 'er!
Can you please come to my house? You inspire me....can't wait to see the after for the chair. Love, love, love the metal tack things. You'd better stay away from pinterest, or you won't ever sleep!
You know how much I absolutely love your kitchen furniture, right? You did such an amazing job! I love white furniture. And your desk is really gorgeous as well.
So, that chair is going to be amazing when you've finished with it. It is absolutely GORGEOUS (minus the hideous fabric)!
Glad you're enjoying your holiday. I didn't realize that you were so clse to the beach. Silly me.
I'm so sorry for not linking up at all this year. By the time Friday comes around, I've usually run out of steam. I began this week with a plan to do my most favorite of all favorite Fridays, something I've been wanting to do since you started FTF. But it requires quite a bit of prep to present it how I want. I thought for sure that I'd be able to get off work early yesterday. But it ended up being a much, much longer day than I anticipated.
I'd planned on running some errands after work, because as you know, I hate running all over the place, and once I get to work I'm half-way to where I need to get my errands done and be home with plenty of time to spare to write up my FTF.
My errands were a HUGE success so I'm going to share a mini-FTF with you in the comments because I'm just busting to tell someone. I know I'm getting long-winded, but I've already started so I might as well keep going. I got a blanket for Christmas which I don't need, so I exchanged for three new shirts {I always shop the clearance rack}. And my mom gave me two tops and some jeans for my birthday. The jeans were not flattering and one of the shirts wasn't either. So, I returned those for store credit and went about combing the clearance racks for cute stuff. I scored big time. I got a $150 coat for $18, and it is amazing. I got a $118 dress for $13.00. I got four more tops ($4.20, $8.54, $5.16 & $13.99) and two pair of jeans which make my butt look FABULOUS! One of them was a $70 pair and I got them for $24.15. The other was a $50 pair and I got them for $21. Amazing haul. I saved $429.24 off full retail price and only spent $53 out-of-pocket after applying the store credit from my returns.
I popped in at JoAnn's because they were having a sale too (saved almost as much as I spent there as well) and the went to the pet shop to get a new filter for the toad aquarium and some crickets for the toad.
When I got home, I pulled out all my treasure so I could admire them again and put them away, when I discovered that the sales woman had rung up the wrong jeans. I tried on six pair and when I came out of the dressing room, I handed her my two piles -- the no's and the yeses. I was unsure about one top and went to see if I liked it better in another color. When I came back, she had everything rung up and in bags. I paid and was on my way. I'm out the door as soon as I can manage to find those perfect jeans again.
I had a really great shopping day! I'm going to write it up for reals and show the evidence for next week, and I'm going to work on my very most favorite for two weeks from now.
Love your linky party, love seeing what you're up to and love you!
xo -E
P.S. I wonder if there is a limit to how much you can type in a comment. I guess we'll see when I hit submit.
Fabulous makeovers! I have a few to do myself but am waiting for warmer weather!
You are truly amazing at refinished pieces I love how they all match!
You've done a fabulous job with the other pieces you've restored, and while I'll admit that lovely old chair is daunting, I know you'll win in the end. Wonderful Favorite Thing.
I too love old furniture, but don't have the patience to do what you do with it. I'm sure the chair will be fab once you have finished with it.
Wow what an amazing looking chair! cant wait to see what you do with it! I agree it is very satisfying making over an old bit of "junk" that would probably end up at the tip ...or in my case be rescued from the tip! Have fun playing!
x
Ooh! I LOVE your favourite, Shay! ☺ And that chair is going to be gorgeous. I've had a chair I've been want to re-cover. Perhaps we should try together and blog the process?
PS - After researching, the best piece of advice I found was one from a lady who has re-covered many chairs. She says to remove each piece of fabric, numbering each as she goes. Look at the mess on the floor & the naked chair. Exclaim, "Holy #*%$&!!! What have I done?!?"
Then cut out your fabric, using each numbered piece as a pattern. Finally, put the new pieces on the chair in reverse numerical order.
I'm going to try her method. ☺ Happy Tuesday night!
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