Wednesday, April 28, 2010

A Custom Set for an Eclectic Salon

Sorry I’ve been MIA again.  Last week was a whirlwind, which carried into this week, and I’m just now getting my stuff together enough to post.

Saturday the 17th, Cara and I set up for our first try at a big furniture sale.  We set up at a community wide yard sale day in a large, local subdivision.  It was a gorgeous day.  We were excited.  But the crickets chirped, we had few visitors, and didn’t make a single sale.  I was about ready to throw in the towel.  How can we keep doing this if no one is buying the things we’re making?

Cara set out to try and get some of our pieces out of our homes (halleluiah!) and into some local Salons.  She had great success with one Salon in particular that is decorated in black and white with lots of damask (perfect!)  Silver lining #1!!!

I decided to give another push at doing some nice Craigslist ads to move along some of the pieces we had on hand.  We were contacted by a lady who is starting up a new little boutique with her Mother-in-law and Sisters-in-law.  She had seen our pieces on CL, LOVED them, and wanted to talk to us about furnishing their boutique with our furniture.  They would, in turn, sell the furniture for us in their store for FREE (read no consignment percentage!)  They have the benefit of having a furnished store from which to display all their goodies (jewelry, handbags, etc.), and we get (hopefully) some great exposure and a place to sell our stuff!  Silver lining #2!!!

The shiny, sparkly, gleaming silver lining #3:  On Thursday, I met with Elizabeth, who had also seen and fell in love with the stuff I had posted on CL.  She works at a cute and eclectic Aveda salon where each of the stylists have their own little room which is theirs to decorate.  She wanted me to do some custom pieces for her salon room.  She needed a large dresser to keep all her equipment and stuff, a large framed mirror, and a small piece to house all the product for sale.  Elizabeth was SO fun to work with.  We came up with a great color scheme and design ideas, bouncing ideas off each other.  I think she LOVED the finished product as much as I did.  :)

Here are the pieces as they were when we started on Friday:

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And here’s how they turned out:  (The top color on the paint chip on the dresser is the wall color in her salon room, “Sea Kelp” from Behr.  The GORGEOUS main color on the dresser and side table is Catalina Mist from Krylon.  Yes!  A spray paint!)

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So, things are looking up.  I am finally starting to get the feeling that this endeavor could really work out.  Thank goodness, because it’s so FUN and rewarding!  And I love working with Cara (hugs, Cara…)

Oh!  And a great big thank you to my cuz Meghan, who is the proud owner of the Springy Chair and End Table!  (hugs, Meg…)

Linking to some par-tays!

Domestically Speaking, My Backyard Eden, Reinvented, Lucky Star Lane, The Persimmon Perch, It’s So Very Cheri, DIY Showoff, Miss Mustard Seed, Funky Junk Interiors, A Soft Place To Land, Thrifty Decor Chick

 

This project is also participating in the Spray Paint Challenge over at the CSI Project!

Visit thecsiproject.com

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Take Two! A Garden Bench

You know when you finish a project and your just not “feeling it?”  Or maybe a giant wind comes up and knocks something over and breaks it, so it’s back to the drawing board?  This project was born of just such circumstances.  And do you know what?  Cara and I both agree it may just be one of our favorites so far.

We had a pair el-cheapo side tables with really nice legs but ugly laminate tops.  Cara did a great job fixin’ them up as best she could, but like I said before, we just weren’t feelin’ them.

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Then there was the beautiful headboard that Cara painted.  We were definitely feeling that one, but in an unfortunate accident, it was injured and couldn’t be used as a headboard any longer.

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So in our second take, we put the headboard, it’s matching footboard, and the two side tables together to make a garden bench.  We spray-painted it (yes that gorgeous color is SPRAY PAINT) using Krylon's Satin Jade.  With a hand-painted bough of cherry blossom, and some brown glazing, we’re very proud of the final product (and fighting over who gets to keep it for their front porch!)  :)

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This project is competing in the Spray Paint Challenge at The CSI Project!

Visit thecsiproject.com

Linked to:
Finding Fabulous, Mustard Seed Creations, The Shabby Nest, Remodelaholic, Funk Junk Interiors

A Springy Chair and End Table

Cara and I are preparing for our first big furniture sale at a community yard sale day this Saturday, so we’re busy, busy, busy finishing up some last projects and getting stuff together, but I thought I’d post the reveal of the chair and end table that I teased you with the other day.  If you remember, the horrid 70’s-ness of the duo:

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The disgusting “upholstery” was actually more grody on the reverse side of the “fabric.”  It was covered in a brown kind of rubberish stuff that looked and felt like dirt.  (…shudder…)  Thankfully, it’s gone forever, and in it’s place is this cheerful and springy floral print.

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Hope your Spring is off to a great start!

Linked to:

Finding Fabulous, Mustard Seed Creations, The Shabby Nest, Remodelaholic

Monday, April 12, 2010

An Upholstered Arm Chair

I must apologize for my way-too-long absence.  This upholstery project just about did me in.  I have a new found respect and awe for people who do real upholstery and sew real slipcovers.  Everything about his took me longer and was more difficult than I anticipated.  BUT… I’m DONE and pretty happy with the end product, so I won’t waste one more minute complaining.  :)

I started with this mauve armchair that I got from the “free” section of Craigslist…

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I decided I wanted to use several different black and white fabrics to make a slip cover of sorts, but I pulled the sewn slipcover taught and stapled the fabric underneath for a more tailored look.


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I made the back tufted cushion reversible between the houndstooth or the denim:
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The chair originally had a rocker/swivel mechanism on the bottom that was broken and made the chair sit cockeyed, so that came off and was replace by some modern looking wooden legs ($6 for all four at the Habitat Re-Store) which I painted black.

I’m happily taking an upholstery and sewing hiatus, and returning to the familiar world of painting/glazing/distressing, where the only fabric to be seen is stapled with my trusty staple gun and the strait pins are safely away in their cushion.  And BOY do I have some exciting pieces to move onto next!!  I picked up this great chair ($3) and end table ($4) at the GW this past Saturday, and can’t wait to jump into them!!


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Let’s take another look at that “upholstery.”  (GROSS!!  What IS that?!?!)

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‘Till next time,


This post linked to:
Cottage Instincts, Between Naps on the Porch, Making the World Cuter, Its So Very Cheri, The Girl Creative, The Persimmon Perch, A Soft Place To Land, Southern Hospitality, Reinvented, My House of Giggles, My Backyard Eden

Friday, April 2, 2010

Button Monograms

I thought I’d share a project that I did a couple months ago when my new little niece Isabella was born.  My sister-in-law is preparing a room for her big sister, Lilya, and her to share, so I decided to do a project for both the new baby and new big sister.  SIL has told me before that she’s been in a quandary about things to put on the walls, so I decided to do framed monograms for both the girls.

I got a couple of matching 11 x 14 frames from the GW.  They had great carved details, but were a gaudy gold.  (I don’t have a before pic, since this project was pre-blog.)  I painted them with a Burt Umber craft paint.  Once dry, I painted over the Umber with Black craft paint, then immediately wipe away with a cloth, to leave the black in the crevices (like a glaze.)  Then, I took some sand paper and (of course) distressed to bring out the carved details.

I found a great paisley print fabric at Hob Lob.  I wrapped the fabric directly around the pieces of glass from the frames and taped it to the back.  I hot glued the ribbon across the top and bottom.  I printed the monograms off on the computer, cut out the letters and traced them with a pen on the fabric.  For this kind of project, you want to pick a nice, wide style of letter, with lots of space to fill in. (I used AR Julian)  Once you have the monogram traced, you start filling in the letter with buttons, hot gluing them to the fabric.  (I got the buttons I used at Hob Lob also.  They came in a tube of assorted buttons, all in shades of white with the occasional metallic thrown it.  It worked perfectly for this application.)  I started with the largest buttons, then filled in with the smaller buttons.  Be sure you cover your pen lines from tracing the letter on the fabric.  This part is pretty time consuming, but the finished product is well worth the mindless work.


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Have a blessed Good Friday!  I’m going to be on a computer fast the rest of the day.  If you haven’t already, check out the 100 follower giveaway!!



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