Yum Yum Yellow!

I've always wanted adirondack chairs but they are SO expensive around here.  There is a Yard and Garden around the corner that has them in all these yummy colors but they are $600 EACH.  I'm sorry, that is as crazy as a sprayed roach.

When cruising the Home Depot a couple of weeks ago I spied these beauties.  They were kinda boring.  Anyone can have white chairs.  I don't want white chairs.  No sirree Bob! I wanted Yum Yum Yellow.  I want people to KNOW my chairs are yellow.

 And this was the price.  SCORE!!!!

So what's a girl to do?  Spray paint baby!  I used Krylon Fusion for plastic in Sunbeam.  It worked like a charm.  Covered great, dried fast, insto-presto Yum Yum Yellow chairs.  I had the little white table sitting in a box in the garage.  I got it at Lowe's last fall on clearance for $5.  (Can't beat that price with a stick.)  The pillows are Karma Living that I got from Joss & Main last time they had them on sale.  I love the crewel embroidery work on them and I certainly wouldn't do all that work for what they cost.  I love them in the chairs.  The bird house was made by a church in Pascagoula, MS from items salvaged from the church after Hurricane Katrina.  Sorry my coffee is in there.  I was sitting in the chairs when I decided to take some pictures.  This is the morning when they are in direct sun, but after about three in the afternoon they are in total shade and so pleasant to sit in and watch the world go by.

Someone should warn LB that there is a bunny stalking him.  The bunny is named Bob after my Daddy.  It's a long story I'll have to tell you one day.  I recently got Bob at an auction.  Isn't he fabu?

I hope you love my chairs as much as I do.  Spray paint is magic I tell you!

Have you transformed anything with paint recently?

(I wasn't compensated by any company mentioned in this post.  I just like their stuff.)

LOVE, LOVE, KISS, KISS!

SNM

 

Still Looking for the Beauty in the Beast

So here is where we are on turning the beast into the beauty.  There was a lot of damage to the wood over the years and LB figured out a way to fix it.  I'll give you more details after we get a little further along.

This stuff sands beautifully and says it will hold nails once dry.  Guess my staples will give it a chance to show if it will.

Here is the backside almost sanded and ready to go.

Sorry this is the boring part of the work but it has to be done.  Moving right along!

LOVE, LOVE, KISS, KISS!

SNM

And the Suffering Continues...

Apparently the hives weren't the only results of my little allergic reaction the other night.  After I took the Benadryl to stop the hives I was knocked out.  That children's Benadryl packs quite a punch.  I was late for work the next morning.  The office called at 8:15 when they hadn't heard from me and I was still weaving around like a drunk when I got out of bed.  It didn't wear off until almost noon.  That stuff should come with a warning!

Then my hands started peeling.  I mean peeling like a lizard peels.  BAD, bad peeling.  I've put Bag Balm on them a gajillion times a day and still peeling.  I've trimmed the skin off as it peels and they are still a wreck as you can see.  This is how they look now that it's almost stopped.

LB went to Lowe's for me today and returned home with these.  Wasn't that sweet?  Guess he doesn't like the amazing lizard wife.  He even got pink, my favorite color.  Who knew they had work gloves in pink?  (Don't tell LB but they really helped with the work I did today.)

So here are the tools all assembled now that I have my gloves all ready to protect my hands.  Those small tacks in the pictures came out of the chair.  LB inspected them and thinks they are original to the piece.  Hard to believe these are 120 or so year old tacks.  I guess they did make things to last back in the day.

After working all day I had this lovely pile.  This is the second round and the cleaning fairy already cleaned up the first pile.  I swear I don't know why old chairs have so many staples.  It really doesn't take that many to hold fabric.

That's my big helper's feet next to all the trash from today's work.  It's not easy to work around a 100 pound Chesapeake but I got it done.

And here she is all nekkid.  That's the original burlap around the bottom.  I'm going to leave it.  It was good enough for the last 100 years so let's hope it'll be good enough for the next.  I'm also going to re-use the original cotton batting and horse hair.  It's really clean, and let's face it, I certainly couldn't replace those items with anything better.  Horsehair is considered the finest you can still buy.  I am going to cover it with a layer of cotton quilt batting so it's all contained.

We are a little concerned with the edges around the chair where the arrow is pointing.  It looks this way in several places.  It apparently has been recovered several times in it's long life and the wood around the edge is really showing the damage.  It seems those old tacks were really hard on the wood in old chairs.  Unlike modern tacks the old ones actually split the wood when they entered it.  You can really tell in the edges.  LB is going to help me reinforce the really bad areas.  He and BugEater discussed it tonight and I think he has a plan.  I hope so...  Need something to put all those new staples in.

So what fun things are you up to this weekend?

LOVE, LOVE, KISS, KISS!

SNM

Awful to Awesome Chair

I found this chair at a local thrift store that I made LB go with.  He couldn't see anything but an awful icky chair, but I could see the bones and imagine what it would become.  It was $20 and I promised I would do something with it.  He didn't believe.  AT ALL.  See these bones?  Aren't they lovely?

Of course I didn't think to take any pictures before I ripped it apart or when I had daylight.

 This is the faux suede fabric that was on it.  Yes, that is a roach egg and mildew on it.  Gross didn't even begin to cover the condition.  I stripped it bare before I would bring it in the house in case something else thought it would make a lovely home.   Under that fabric was the most fabulous 70's wool looking plaid you have ever laid eyes on.  ICKO!!!!

Here she is in all her new glory.  I used Annie Sloan Chalk paint in Paris Grey.  I did two good coats then waxed with AS clear wax.  I then distressed it just a bit.  Not a lot, just here and there.  Then I used AS clear and dark wax to get some definition on all the groovy details on the frame.  I stripped the back and seat to the wood frame and started from there up.   New strapping, new memory foam, a layer of cotton batting and then topped it with this cotton fabric from Premier Fabrics.  Even LB thinks the chair looks awesome now.  What a doubter he is, so left brained...

Here's the chair with all the pillows I made to go on other pieces in the room.  The only pillow that stayed in the chair is the one with the monogram.  They are all Premier Fabric also.

The blue on the right arm is just a shadow.  That's what happens when you take pictures at 2 in the morning.

I now love this chair.  LOVE IT!  My hands did look like claws for a couple of days from pulling staples.  I swear I pulled a gajillion staples.  I think it was worth the claw look.  

I've never recovered a piece of furniture.  I just took it apart carefully and labeled everything as I went along.  If I can do it anyone can.  Have you ever recovered anything?

I finished a major huge project yesterday at the new job and was so tired when I got home I just went straight to bed.  Now that it is behind us I think I'll have a little more time at night to work on some projects that have been sitting waiting for me.  And that means I'll have more entertaining projects to show you!  Hope you had a great weekend!

Love, Love, Kiss, Kiss!

SNM

Funky Fruit to Fantastic

These two fans were here when we bought this house.  They are on the sunporch that is now my studio. They do not say hip awesome art created here.  I'm not exactly sure what they say.  But they do say Hunter and that is a good thing.  I lived with them for 5 years.  Five long years of pretending they weren't hanging over my head EVERY day mocking me in their fruity way.

Please ignore the dust and just see the ugly fruit.

I don't like fruit on anything other than a plate when I'm about to eat it.  I certainly don't like it on fan blade arms. What about that  1980 blue plaid around the top?

So what's a girl to do?  Why get a can of spray paint in Oil Rubbed Bronze out and go to town.

I flipped the blades to the faux wood side since it was better than the white.  Painted everything and put it back together.

I'm not certain I love the faux wood look but I can't decide what would look better.  If you have any idea what would look better on the blades please let me know.  I do know that the fans look 100% better after being sprayed.

What have you used spray paint on to make it go from horrid to happy??

Love, Love, Kiss, Kiss!

SNM