French Chair & Room Redo!!

Here's a chair redo that inspired a whole room redo!

I finally finished my thrifty French chair....

from brown....

to Heirloom White

with some left over French Document fabric on the seat.

And now for the guest room redo - inspired by the chair!

The computer armoire is a wonderful black piece of furniture with lots of detail...however, it just jumps out when you enter the room.

Enter Daughter, who suggested just a 3 foot slide (easy for you to say!) to the right, and

voilà - a whole new look and a seating vignette! (There is a floor lamp in the left corner, but its brightness makes it almost invisible in the pic!)

Of course, she redoes the dormer areas .....

and even adds some wall decor inside the dormer.

A lamp by the door and a place to use my Ballard clock (special sale for $9.99 - regularly $250??!!)

Daughter made a little table out of stacked thrifty baskets.

So cute!

(The fake book had an accident, so the rubber band is holding the edge till the glue takes over!)

Some more thrifty baskets - is there such a thing as a "basket-aholic"?

Adding a little light inside the computer armoire....

The other dormer.....family photo haven, along with a mirror.

A thrifty find leopard bulleting board, which

Daughter mounted (tied) over the armoire door....

Removed some pillows from the bed...

All done!!

The room is much more inviting and lighter....

All from a gentle (?) shove of the armoire to the right 3 feet...

Go figure!

Thanks, Daughter!

Blessings and have a happy week!

Linda

I'm joining:

Between Naps on the Porch for Met Monday

A Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesday

Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us on Wednesdays

Type A Decorating for Anything Goes

Primitive and Proper for Piece of Work Wednesday

No Minimalist Here for Open House Thursdays

My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday

At the Picket Fence for Inspiration on Friday

Miss Mustard Seed Inspiration (& a little perspiration!)

Here's a little inspiration (aka "copy cat")

from Miss Mustard Seed.

If you don't know her - which is almost impossible to imagine -

then she is:

"The Slipcover Star"

"The Perfector of Painted Furniture"

"The Music Wreath Mama"

"The Drop Cloth Diva"

And much more!

I am joining the "Copy Me Challenge" that she issued.

I was inspired by MMS to slipcover an ottoman.....

Paint an old stool.....

Slipcover a chair....

Make a cushion for the ottoman....

Paint my Grammy's telephone table & chair....

Make a music wreath....


Bleach (with her directions) drop cloths
and make panels for the dining room.....


Upholster 4 antique chairs with a drop cloth and double piping.....


Paint 6 Hepplewhite chairs Heirloom White.....

And paint a brass lamp Heirloom White.

(BTW, I have a new, round burlap shade....forgot to take a photo.)

That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it!

Thanks, Miss Mustard Seed, for sharing your

creativity with Blogland.

I am happy to copy you!

Blessings to you, MMS, and to you readers!

Linda
I am also joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch

for Met Monday. Thanks, Susan, for your faithful hosting of this party for soooo long!

and with Kim at Savvy Southern Style for Wow on Wednesday.

Thanks, Kim for sharing your wonderful blog and blog party.

A Chair & an Ottoman - or Sew What?

I got some projects finished - finally! Last week I showed a chair that we have:

I finished one - yea! I made some double cording (welting, piping, whaterever!). I'll show you how at the end of this post.

I'm pleased with the way it turned out.

I like its neutralness.

If I want some color, I can put any pillow on the chair.

Now for the bad news.....1 down.....3 more chairs to re-cover!

Also tried my hand at sewing a slipcover for this ottoman out of scraps. Whew! I had just enough.

Oh, I'm not hiding anything....I just like the way it looks with the afghan thrown over the ottoman. You never know when you might need an afghan in 90 degree weather!

Thanks to all you courageous and crafty people out there in Blogland!!!! I would never have even attempted upholstery or making slipcovers had I not seen all your fabulous make-overs!

And, BTW, I spent $10 on linen fabric, $3 on cording - total $13 - so that's $3.25 per chair! Well, I guess I have to add in the presser foot for the cording - $15 - so that pushes it up to about $7.00 per chair....not bad!

Found a place for my flea market spools, on top of the thrift store OLD books, and a little Dollar Tree pumpkin.

or maybe this gravy tureen......

or maybe this old pitcher.

OK, so how do you make double cording? This is my "by the seat of my pants" version. If you are a serious upholsterer, you might want to check out now! First I sewed one piece of cording on, using my zipper foot.

Next I placed the second cording next to the first cording, as close as possible.
Then I rolled it over to the finished side and stitched right down the middle, using my double cording presser foot. The extra fabric can be cut off close to the seam after you are finished.

The presser foot had 2 humps that sat on top of the cording.

Here's the finished product.

Oh, it takes almost 5 yards of cording per chair for double piping, so I finally put my antique spool to use - it's holding about 15 yards of cording!

I'm linking up to:

Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Met Monday

Rhoda at Southern Hospitality at Today's Thrifty Treasures

Marty at A Stroll Thru Life for Tablescape Tuesday

Linda at Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Hope you have a wonderful week. Blessings to you, Linda

Chairs, Clocks and Craziness

We recently inherited 4 beautiful chairs from my MIL. They are over 150 years old and my MIL used them in her dining room. This rusty orange color on the seats may look odd, but it went perfectly with the black and green colors that she had in her dining room. HOWEVER, the color doesn't go with anything in my house. So......enter craziness....yes, I am attempting to upholster them myself! As you can see, they are not the normal "take off the wooden seat, wrap and staple and voilà!"


Isn't the wood gorgeous!

I just love the detail.

I got some linen fabric for $3 per yard - yes, you heard me right! A total of $6 for 3 chairs - that's worth giving it a try myself. I stapled it on. Not bad so far.

And there she is......hmmmm, well, almost. I am trying to decide what to use around the bottom of the chair....gimp? braid? or double piping? After looking through lots of magazines, I noticed that double piping seems to be very popular and very pretty. Have you ever made double piping or upholstered? Any tips or advice (other than take it to the professional!)? I am going to get a double piping presser foot.

I am thinking that either the chair is very plain now, OR perhaps with the neutral fabric, the wood can take center stage and be the focal point. Whaddaya think? I guess this is a 3/4 metamorphosis!

I love clocks....having taught school, I have been "by the clock" for too many years. I love this little "Big Ben" from the flea market. No batteries! You just wind 'er up! Love that!

This little baby mantel clock and silver candlestick were also flea market purchases.

Now this wonderful clock was free.....another special thing from my MIL. It stood in her grandmother's kitchen over 100 years ago and it still "bongs"!

I'm joining the following parties:

Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Met Monday

Rhoda at Southern Hospitality for Today's Thrifty Treasures

Marty at A Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesday

Linda at Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Have a wonderful Week! Blessings to you.....Linda