New Whites in the Dinning Room

I finally finished my dinning room chairs.

It wasn't really a daunting project, well maybe in my mind only.

Four chairs to paint.

4 Times x 4 chairs.

Sand and stain.

Remove the 3 layers of upholstery.

Add a layer of cotton batting.

Reupholster in simple white fabric.

Sew four seat slipcovers.

It sound like a lot, but really, each chair only took 2 days to paint.

One day to reupholster all of the chairs.

One day to make several of the slipcovers.

All in all, I think I finished the whole project within 2 weeks with lots of swimming breaks in between.

The best part is that I had to purchase nothing.

The chairs came free from one of my cosigners at my old shop.

I used fabric I already had, a cheap lightweight cotton denim from Walmart.

The paint was some I had used on some of my interior walls.

First, two coats of flat paint, a coat of Annie Sloan Old White and the top coat was semi-gloss.

You may be wondering why I painted the semi-gloss over the Annie Sloan.

The first chair I tried to like the chair before the semi-gloss, but I did not like just plain waxing.
I used my go to method of using semi-gloss and either let life (meaning 3 children) distress a piece of furniture or sand and stain the furniture.

Simple ruffled slipcover.

Look at those legs!

Ballarina ties on the back.

I like the look with the full slipcovered parson chairs, my newly slipcovered white chairs and the vintage farm chairs.

Now, if only I could do something about that table!

How about you?

Have you finished any projects lately?

I am sharing my white chairs with Kathleen from Faded Charm for White Wednesday.

and

Miss Mustard Seed for Furniture Feature Friday.

and 

Courtney from French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday

and

Cindy from My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday.

Goldilockes and the Three Blues

Remember how I said I don't like blue, well, I must have been having a weak moment and forgot myself.

BECAUSE

I bought two new blues.

I don't know what I was thinking.

This blue was TOO green.

This blue was TOO blue.

Mix them together and.........

The third blue was JUST RIGHT!

I hope.

I like how the chair looks, even before distressing and waxing.

The new color goes great with the fabric I was using as my inspiration.

I like it, but just in case I have some WHITE PAINT waiting on the counter if the blue doesn't grow on me.

So what do you think, will I keep it or will it be white next week?

I guess we will just have to wait and see.

The green/blue paint is an oops from Home Depot and the light blue is Louis Blue chalk paint.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

I am joining Miss Mustard Seed Furniture Feature Friday for a chalk paint party.

Twins!

It has been a while since we last chatted but, no, I'm not having them.

 I slipcovered them!

Aren't they adorable!

After my success with my chair last week, I decided it was time to conquer a wing back chair.

Now, if you know me, you know I do not do things the easy way.  So, not only did I slipcover a wing back, I did two at the same time. 

 And I LOVE THEM!

I must say, I did a pretty good job for not having any training from grandma.  You see, my grandma passed away recently, she was 93.  I found out at the funeral that my cousins were ALL taught by my grandmother how to sew a slipcover. 

WHAT?  ARE YOU KIDDING ME! 

I guess I missed out on that one. 

Oh well, I did pretty good with what I remembered from my mother and the help of Miss Mustard Seed's videos.

This is what is under the party dress.

I was lucky enough to find a matching pair of RED wing back chairs at our local Salvation Army several years ago around Christmas time.  I love these chairs because they are well built, heavy duty......but I wanted to use them more, instead of just for the holiday season.

I used a mixture of two fabrics I had in my stash in the basement.  The textured one is a vintage bedspread I bought at a flea market with this very idea in mind. 

Right now I have the chairs in my dinning room, I am patiently waiting for the lazy boy to die a slow death before I can put them in the living room.  Maybe I can speed up the process and have the kids see who can launch their sibling the farthest from the foot rest, no I wouldn't do that, I'm not that naughty. 

I am happy to be able to join Kathleen from Faded Charm for White Wednesday, Restore Interiors for  Restored it Wednesday and Furniture Feature Friday with Miss Mustard Seed and a new party in the house over at Designer Garden it's V.I.P. because we all are!

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful day!



Lost In Creativeness

I'm BACK!

Really, I wasn't stuck in a snowbank looking for dirt like my friend Melissa from Pink Satin Sashes wondered.

I was hiding in my fabric!

In fact, I am not looking looking out the window again until that WHITE STUFF on the ground is gone!

I was stuck in a craft room.

I was doing the cleaning thing,

well,

kind of.

I think all moms know what happens when you send your kids to their rooms to clean.

THEY PLAY!

Well, the same thing happens to us creative people when we are SUPPOSED to clean our craft room.

WE GET CREATIVE!

I planned some posts to show you last week what I was up to, but then circumstances that you can not control sometimes happen; sick children, computer problems.

So, children get better and Mr. M. the computer man brings home a shiny new hard drive and life goes back to normal.

 Except, I was having so much fun CLEANING the craft room I almost did not want to come out.

But I did, I wanted to share with you and tell you that you can do it too with a little practice and some of Miss Mustard Seed's help.  In case you have not seen them, Marion from Miss Mustard Seed posted some video tutorials on how to make a wing back slipcover; from cutting to sewing a slipcover.
 I watched them over and over.

First I practiced by making a bench cover. 

I painted the legs white and removed the green embroidered cover and made a simple slipcover with a ruffle edge.

I think my daughters' cat has found a new spot to hide from the boys.

Next I tackled a spare chair.

 I ALWAYS have a spare.

But, don't ask, because I can not share a spare chair.

before

AFTER!

I just love how the chair turned out! 

And I thought a wing back would be hard to do, this arm detail was a bugger, but I tried and tried again and I am just tickled with how good it looks. 

Just look at that cute ruffle, it just brings out the cuteness of her legs.

And boy does baby got BACK!

I can't wait to unveil her at my daughters' birthday party next weekend.

Now besides cleaning the rest of the house for the birthday party, I just happen to have a couple of pairs of wing back chairs that I want to slipcover.
 
So don't bother sending a search party, I'm ok.

 My evil plan is that if I have enough pretty chairs in the living room, I can convince Mr. M. that the lazy boy HAS TO GO!



Hey Sara,
Now let's see if burger king can beat that.




Inside joke!  I'll let you know if my buddy Sara spit out her coffee reading it.

I am going to be joining My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia for Tuesday's Treasures,  Faded Charm for White Wednesday and Miss Mustard Seed for Furniture Feature Friday, and My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday with my pretty white slipcovers this week.
I hope you have a great week, or two!

For the Love of Cabinets

Happy Friday!

I just can not believe how fast the weeks are speeding by.
It will be spring in no time.

The snow is taking its' time melting so to fill the time until I can work in my gardens, I have been shopping.

I found a new cupboard, and it is made by the same person whom made several cabinets I already own.

 This is the one I have in my kitchen.

To think that he made this one using a window and some extra wood he had in his shop.

I just love the little details!

I store some of my favorites, buttons, white ironstone and other trinkets.

This cabinet is a small corner cabinet that I have hanging in my living room.

I also have this one in the living room.

My kids love to hide their toys inside.

Sometimes I find dried out play dough figures.

On one of my shopping trips I found a new cabinet, and it is made by the same person as the cabinets above.  



This is the cabinet I would like to buy, the only thing holding me back is where to put it.

We all know the saying "if you love it, then buy it and find a spot for it later."

Or is that just something I say to myself?

I received a wonderful email that said I was going to be featured. 

Happy dance!

Debra from Common Ground is featuring my button heart, thank you so much Debra.

I am joining Debra for Vintage Inspiration Friday

Cindy from My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday.

Marian from Miss Mustard Seed's for Furniture feature Friday.

Make sure to take some time and pop over and visit these wonderful bloggers, you won't be disappointed.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

As for me!
 (cue evil laugh.....)
Mr. M. is out of town for the weekend and I think I need to paint the basement.
I have never tried horizontal stripes.

What? 
Tell me you don't get into some trouble when your husbands go out of town!

A New Treasure

First, HELLO, I am still here!

Second, I am missing all the time I was able to spend in blog land before I started working at my new job.

Third, I just want to let all of you whom have left comments that I read them all, and I love the sweet things you have to say, but I am not as timely in returning a visit or comment.

However, I love my new job and all of the opportunities it offers me.

I do try to visit my favorite bloggers during my lunch hour but I can not always leave a comment as I want to.

This is the hardest time of the year for me and some others as I have been reading.

WINTER IS VERY LONG HERE!!!!!

I get in a funk.

So please bare with me as I fumble along trying to figure out how to do it ALL again.

I had been trying to do posts on my favorite days, but that didn't always work.

Now I am just trying to get a post in when I can.

  I found I can no longer stay up until Midnight blogging and get up for work at 5:30, that makes for a grumpy mama and wife.

Today I am going to show you a treasure I bought on my way home from work yesterday.  BIG advantage of going back to work is that I now have my OWN spending money that I earned.

Please do not think that I am putting down stay-at-home moms, remember I was one for 8 years.  I just enjoy working outside the home, it suits me better.

All of the work I had to do before I went back to work, oh yeah, I still do it. 

Yes Mr. M. does help out same as before, except he is cooking dinner more.

Now on with the treasure!

Isn't it beautiful? 

 Well, anyway, I just love the legs and the combination of the painted white and dark stained wood.

I was lucky enough to buy this piece before the shop even opened.

I have kept in contact with the owner of the antique shop I had worked for over the last few years. 

She has decided to open up another shop and I happened to pop in to say hello and that is when I fell in love with this table/shelves. 

I can't wait till the new shop is open and I can show you another wonderful place to shop.

I am so tickled it is on my way home from work. 

OH honey, I think I am going to be running late!

I enhanced the white heart box with some of my vintage buttons.

I just love how good white and green look together.

I like having the three shelves to display on. 

You may notice I am already using Spring inspired objects in my home.

I told you, the snow can leave any time now!

One of my favorite #'s 5 and a few favorite treasures.

Of course I have to have to include one of my vintage cameras and candle on one of the shelves.

How about you, any new furniture pieces?

Do you have certain objects that you like to display together?

I am joining Deborah from Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday.

 Cindy from My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday.

and Marian from Miss Mustard Seed for Furniture Feature Friday.

These three blogs are wonderful blogs and are worth your time to visit, I know they are high on my list!
I hope you enjoy your weekend!



Black Iron Beauties

I was visiting my local Salvation Army several months ago, but she is just plain Sally to me, I visit her almost weekly!  I happen to be checking out the furniture section, as I always do and I found these lovely outdoor iron chairs. 

The plastic fabric was absolutely horrid. 

It was the scrolls that had me.

The chairs have been waiting in the garage for inspiration. 

A deadline of 3 weeks for the flea market made me kick it into high gear.  They did not require more than one coat of paint to make them shine.

The fabric choice had me stumped until I was in the basement looking through my fabric.  I found a Ralph Lauren duvet, normally I would not have cut such a large piece of fabric up, but it really was doing me no good hiding in a box in the basement. 

I love those roses.  If I have enough left over I may make some pillows.

Well, I think they turned out great.  I almost want to keep them!

  NO......I already have enough chairs.

Those scrolls are really pretty.

Today is a double feature, I am linking to Show and Tell Friday with Cindy at My Romantic Home.

and

 Furniture Feature Friday at Miss Mustard Seed's Creations.

YEAH it's Friday!!!