Transformation Thursday

Back when we found that awesome free dresser on Craig's list, we also bought this chair. The man who was giving away the dresser had had a garage sale the previous weekend and was not able to sell this chair. I was aghast that not one person saw the potential in this chair. What is this world coming to?

The funny part is, I actually loved the fabric just the way it was. It had a 60s vintage feel that I thought was groovy. The bad part was it did not match a single room in my house. When my mom and I reupholstered the couch I knew that the green chair and ottoman had to go, and that this chair would be the perfect replacement, for the over sized green chair at least.

As you can see from the photo, I began deconstructing the chair and then remembered to take pictures. Not so much with the thinking.

The chair was relatively easy to recover as there was not a lot of sewing involved. I did quite a bit of hot gluing of fabric and cording. The chair cushion gave me the most trouble and I injured myself quite badly. I was working the fabric through the machine and got a little carried away with perfection of the seam. What resulted can only be described as horrific.

Graphic image ahead. Put down your snack and cover your eyes.

Yes, I did. I sewed right through my finger nail. I broke the nail and took off a chuck of the top of my finger. The worst part was the force of the needle pushed the nail into the skin and I had to work it out.

Um, ow.

This delayed the completion of the project for about 4 days. My finger is still sore and I have no feeling in the tip. I did not let that stop me, oh no I didn't. I completed the chair Wednesday afternoon.

To say that I am happy with it is an understatement. I am thrilled with how it turned out. The cushion is a mess on one corner but I don't care. I also have not yet stapled the fabric to the sides and back of the chair. That is a job for my husband. And I have not added the zipper to the chair cushion. That is a job for my mom. (Hi mom! :-D)

So it is not perfect, but it sure is purdy!

You know the part in Pirates of the Caribbean 2 where the two pirates Pintel and Ragetti are rowing the boat, having just lost their immortality? Ragetti is reading the Bible preparing to meet his maker and a hilarious conversation ensues.


Pintel: You know you can't read.

Ragetti: It's the bible, you get credit for tryin'.

That is how I feel about this chair. I get credit for tryin'.


What are you going to try to do this week?

Transformation Thursday

I am a putz. Seriously. I somehow deleted the before picture, and I was being so diligent to chronicle the whole project. Wah! You can see the couch as it was before, but not in all of its glory, just piece meal.

We bought this couch (And chair and ottoman) last summer from a friend of ours that was having a garage sale. It has great bones. It is the kind of couch that hugs you when you sit in it. The seat cushions are deep and the back cushions are high. It invites you to nap and rewards you with a restful slumber. Now, if only I could teach it to make coffee and do the laundry, that would be something. We paid $150 for it and I know that we got a good deal. To be honest, I have never loved the green color of the ottoman and the club chair, and the couch pattern, although lovely, said fall to me all the time. I let those things go because the furniture itself was in such great condition and I knew that it was coming from a clean home.

I decided to slip cover the couch and I knew that it would be a big job, so I waited until my mom arrived to begin the undertaking. I picked her up from the airport Wednesday evening and we began working Thursday morning.

We decided to use the existing fabric as our pattern, and to save money, salvaged all of the cording. There is my mom, hard at work. She is really the brains of the operation.

We had the Batman house and all of its figures out just in case we needed some super hero help. It turns out that Batman can't sew worth a lick and the Joker just complains that Batman is a goody two shoes. The two of them are about as useful as a back pocket on a shirt.

Here we have the aptly named right side of the couch. This was my mom's side. The cording is perfect as are the pleats and the fabric fits the arm like a glove.

And here we have the wrong side of the couch. My mother is fixing my novice work. I told her that my side looks like a ghetto slip cover. She laughed and consoled me by saying that this is not beginner sewing, and the ghetto should be proud to sport such a slipcover.

My mother is a very good seamstress, and I do exactly what she says. She was giving me directions on pinning the cording to the fabric and I asked her if it would be easier to do it another way, and then I described the way to her. She said that, yes, that would be an easier way, but this is not sewing 101. I got a baptism in fire, m'dears.

My sewing skills improved. I had a cordingpalooza Sunday night and sewed until my fingers bled. I also made the back cushions. I was beyond thrilled with myself, and attempted a one person high five. It turns out that a one person high five is really just clapping.

The finish work was brutal. We stapled the skirting onto the couch, but had some issues. We had to ask my husband come in with the nail gun to help us because the electric stapler was useless against the wood of the frame. The bottom cording is hot glued on because it was just easier. I sustained a life threatening glue injury. All I have to say about that is finger prints are over rated. The glue gun is hot, y'all.

I love the little pleats on the arm.


There she is in all of her glory. I christened it yesterday with a little snooze.

My mother said, when we finished, "Can you believe we did that?" Yes, I can. We jumped into it before we could think about it. This was not just a slipcover job, we re-upholstered this sucker.

Mom, we rule! (Well, you rule. I just do what you tell me to.)



**UPDATED*** Didja know that tonight begins the new season of Project Runway? Let's dish tomorrow.

Transformation Thursday

Thanks again to House of Wepworths for the opportunity to show what we homemakers have been busy doing. I have been amazed at the creativity and ingenuity of the women whose blogs I visit via HoH. And, she featured my dresser from last week! How awesome is that?

Last month, when my mom was visiting here from Florida, we hit some garage sales. My mom is like a good luck charm because we found awesome stuff! We bought something at every yard that we visited. This chair caught my eye because of its legs.

If I were a man I would be all about the legs. She also has a great back. Even though it was purple, I could not pass it up, especially when I inquired about the price. The owner told me it was $3.00. I ran and grabbed it faster than as you can say, Boo.


I repainted the chair white and then recovered it in a lovely Waverly paisley. I loved the paisley so much that I made some drapes out of it, too. A pair of thrift store sheers that I scored for $5.00, completes the window.


We are fortunate enough to have an office/guest room in our home. I wanted this room to have a real feminine feel and I think that I am on my way to achieving that. I still have a computer desk that needs to be painted white, and when my mom visits she is going to help me with putting up some wainscot wallpaper. Hi, mom!

Thanks for all of the sympathy and well wishes concerning my scourge. I am on my second round of steroids and feeling better. I have been swimming in the pool everyday and that has helped tremendously. If you ever get poison ivy please let me know so that I can send you all of the sympathy in the world. And also chocolate.

Thanks for stopping by! I can't wait to see what you have done this week!

CSI

Well, I am still suffering from poison ivy. Last night, as I was combing the interwebz for fast poison ivy cures, I came upon a message board for gardeners and the number one recommendation for quick relief was Zanfel. I hopped into my Tahoe and drove as fast as I possible could to the drug store only to find that they were all out of it. I went to Shop Rite and combed the first aid aisles, and they had none. I seriously started to cry. A man who works at Shop Rite asked me if I was alright and I told him that I was dying. Clearly this man is married to a drama queen such as myself because he did not bat an eye, he just asked me, "What from?" I told him poison ivy, and he said that the really expensive stuff is kept behind the pharmacy counter.

I went to the pharmacy counter and there it was. The only one left. The pharmacist said, "This is really expensive," to which I replied, I.don't.care. At this point I am ready to find a witch doctor and let them cast a spell on me using goat's hair, fairy dust and yak farts.

Since life does not stop even though I am miserable, I give you the main point of today's post which is Transformation Thursday courtesy of House of Hepworths. Today I am featuring the dresser that I got free off of Craig's list.

Here is the before, complete with the handles smiling at you like they know something that you don't.


Here is an almost after picture. I will not regale you with my tales of woe concerning Valspar paint. Let's just say that should Valspar come a knockin' at my door wanting to purchase ad space I will slam the door in their face. Not all black paint is created equally, I found out the hard way. It is what I deserve for not using my old stand-by, Benjamin Moore. How do I love thee, Benjamin? I should have waited until I had the right paint, but I suffer from havetodoitnowbecauseIcan'twait syndrome. You can clearly see that the doors and the leg are two diffferent colors. A neurotic like me would never be able to live like that. I would need to take a valium to calm me down every time I sat in the family room.



Now, here is the real after. The knobs were a splurge, but I had to have them, they are real glass. Since the dresser itself was free and we sold the other piece that we had to house the TV, I decided that the splurge was OK.


My poor photography skills do not do this dresser, nor the knobs justice. It is my most favorite piece of furniture.



Wow. That really is a bad picture what with the flash and all. If I wasn't so itchy I would care more.

Thanks for stopping by!