Sweet Little Side Table

This poor little table. I have had her for years. I *think* my mom got her at a yard sale. In fact, when I was stripping the paint (yeah, she was that bad) I found an address stamp for the mother of a friend in high school! Years ago, I threw a coat of white paint on her. This made refinishing her problematic because when I was sanding her, the paint started to peel off in long sheets. I eventually had to strip the paint (ugh) which was a huge mess and pain. She's still not perfect, but she is much better than she was before!

I was so eager to start this project that I did not take a proper before shot. I found this one by chance when I was writing the post about the toile chair. Here she is, off to the side and in the background, which pretty much sums up her life - always in the chorus, never the star:

Here she is after, ready to take center stage!

I didn't want to go all crazy and over-stencil her, so I did a design on the top, a randomly placed one on each side, and on the center of the drawer. I left the inside of the drawer the creamy white I painted her before I decided I needed to just strip it and start fresh.

For the body, I used Sherwin Williams Latte which I made into chalk paint and a random sample of brown that I had on hand for the stencil. I also used that same brown to paint the knob. Honestly, this is not the color direction I was going to go with at all (hence the creamy white on the inside of the drawer) but I am pleased with how it turned out. Trust me, she is sooooooo much better than she was!

I am either going to list this on Craigslist or take her up to Easy Street in Pelham.

I am going to link this to my favorite Friday pastime, Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday.

Thanks for looking!

*Update: This piece is SOLD!

Lovely but Uncomfortable Chair

My mom gave me this chair over a year ago, and it took me until about a month or so ago to do something with it. I had never recovered anything before, but I had lots of fabric and paint choices in my stash, so now seemed like as good a time as any. The springs hit your booty in all the wrong places, so it's not the kind of chair you would invite someone you like to sit in.

Here's the poor thing, all nasty and dirty, but her inner beauty showing through:

 It took quite some time to take all the staples out to remove the fabric. I used my magnetic pin holder to keep all the staples in one place and off the carpet. Doesn't Bailey looked thrilled?

Please excuse the bed. I have to do so many of my projects inside!

There she is, all naked and ready for some new clothes. I thought about using houndstooth:

Or some plain cream canvas:

I also had this tablecloth that was a golden, yellowish color with red flowers:

Or this bold black and cream floral:

In the end, I decided to use the yellow and blue toile panels I got at Lowe's for 50% off the $7.49 on the package:

I had two packages so I had some leeway in case I messed up. I didn't replace any of the foam or batting because it seemed to be in pretty good condition.

I painted the body with ASCP in Arles (two coats) and sprayed a couple or three coats of polycrylic:

I used the fabric pieces I removed as my pattern. This was the hard part, because the pattern pieces weren't exact and I had to cut the back part twice. Thank goodness I had two panels! I fitted, trimmed, pulled, tucked, folded, and stapled the fabric to the chair. It's kind of the type of thing you have to do for it to click, and now I feel pretty sure I could do it again.

I got some cording at JoAnn and made what I like to call "bootleg double welt cord." There are two really great tutes out there, one from Centsational Girl and the other from Prudent Baby. I don't have a zipper foot (I don't think) and I didn't have much of a bias to cut on since I was trying to just use scraps at this point and save the larger pieces I had left for later. So, I had to improvise.

I folded the fabric around the cord as tight as I could, sewed along the cord, and then folded it over and sewed it again, but in the middle between the two cords. It worked! It's best to leave some fabric at the end to attach to the chair. Sorry, I didn't think to take more photos than these two. I was trying to figure this out!

I attached cording to the chair around the arms, along the rear panel, and around the legs to cover the staples. I used my cheapo Dollar General hot glue gun. Et voila, c'est fini:

I had to kind of rig this to cover the over cut! Oops.

I put this for sale on Craigslist because while I have nothing against toile or this style of chair, it's not really what I am going for in my house. I honestly didn't think it would sell, and I offered to give it back to my mother. Low and behold, it sold, and for my asking price! The woman who bought it seemed to really like it. She said she wanted a chair for her foyer and I told her this would be perfect since it wasn't that comfortable anyway.

I might try this again, but it was quite the project. However, I think I have a better of idea of what to do, and I think I started with a rather ambitious piece.

Thanks for visiting!

I have two pieces for sale at Easy Street Resale in Pelham, AL. Easy Street is located on 31S just before the intersection with 119, right next door to McAlister's Deli.

I have had this waterfall side table for years. I wasn't sure what to do with it, so the end product is totally improvised. I think it gives it more character, but it's certainly not for the faint of heart!

Here she is before:

Not too impressive, although I love the shape of waterfall furniture. Here she is after:

I custom mixed the paint and then (accidentally) went to town with the sander. This is a much more aggressive finish than what I usually do, but I think the outcome is pretty cool. $69

The second piece I found last summer at a thrift store in Hanceville, AL. I thought she would look great updated with a stained top and a painted bottom. I forgot to take a true "before," but here she is with some of the top already sanded:

And with her all good and sanded:

And after, all stained, painted, glazed, and the top coated with poly. These were taken at Easy Street. The nice folks there staged her pretty nice:

I think the sign is funny. I do wish I had a lake (or pool!) to jump in to! I didn't take a photo of it, but the table is sitting next to the most rustic adirondack chair I have ever seen. They look pretty good together! This table is priced at $79.

*Update - this piece is SOLD!

These are the only two pieces I have there now, but I have a beachy/cottage side table I am working on that (hopefully) will be ready soon. I have to do most of my projects outside, so I have to wait until evening to be able to work on anything without dying of heat stroke!

Thanks for stopping by!