Mustard chippy milk paint book table

I loved the quirky shape of this little bookstand/library table.  It was in pretty rough (and very dirty) shape when I got a hold of it.

I gave it a good scrubbing with some white vinegar to prepare for painting.  I knew I wanted to embrace the primitive nature of this little table, so I picked up some Yellow Ochre Milk Paint from The Real Milk Paint Co. and went for it.  It turned out just how I wanted, perfectly chippy and awesome!

I’ve been collecting a bunch of cute, vintage, hardback books to bring down to the Vintage Market, including a some of these Readers Digest Condensed Books.  I think they look so nice on a bookshelf!  Aren’t the covers just fab too?

And (in my best Christ Traeger voice) this one is, literally, for the books. ;)

Simple seat “reupholster” and project mania

I’ve been busily getting ready for the Junk In The Trunk Vintage Market at Scottsdale’s Westworld that’s sneaking up on us on November 9th.  Camryn (from Livy Lou’s) and I are bringing down some awesome furniture and vintage finds for the show.  I hope you can join us (and the other hundred of so vendors) if you’re in the area!

I was pretty excited about my resourcefulness with this first project.  I loved this realistic looking pleather vintage rolling chair when I spied it at the thrift store. 

Overall, it was in good shape.  I could tell the wood legs needed refinishing, but that wasn’t a big deal to me. What made me stop and go hmmmmmm was the state of the seat cushion.

Not great.  And, if you know me, you’ll know that I really loathe doing upholstery.  It’s something that I would love to get better at, but as of now, not something I’m good at so not something I like to do. 

But it was such a cool chair!  It reminded me of an old bomber jacket.  I had to figure out an easy way to fix up the seat.  So I stood there in the thrift store starting at the chair for way, way too long.  I’m sure I was making people uncomfortable. Then it came to me!  So I picked up a man’s tweed suit coat for a dollar and headed home.

I cut off the little covered buttons on the seat cushion, then cut off the entire back of the tweed jacket.

The jacket I got didn’t have the center seam on the back of the coat, which worked perfectly for this!  I even used the bottom hem at the front edge of the seat for a nice clean finished look.

I got some thin, black, satin ribbon and basically did a big whip stitch to attach the tweed to the top of the seat cushion.

It was tough to get the needle through the pleather and I had sore finger tips for days.  Once the tweed was stitched all the way around, I just re tufted the cushion using the same covered buttons in the same place as before.

The legs got a sand and stain and were good as new.  (Sorry about the crappy pictures I snapped just before taking it down to the shop.  You get the idea.)

I love the manliness of the tweed and the worn leather look!

 

In my project mania getting ready for the market, I also made over this old, unusable, antique dresser mirror with by stripping off some of the reflective backing with some paint stripper and adding some vintage fabric behind the glass.  I painted and distressed the frame and finished it off with some hooks for keys or such along the bottom.  The glass makes a great dry erase board for family messages.

Also did up a fun herringbone skeleton shade for a bright yellow vintage ceramic lamp I picked up.  Added a new Edison light bulb and this one’s ready to go too!

Speaking of yellow, how great is this gold brocade vintage sofa I picked up?  Check out that carving!

I also got a fantastic French Provincial China Cabinet the other day as well.  It’s in really great shape, so I think I’ll give a go at selling it in as-is condition first before I paint it.

I’ve also been stocking up on vintage finds as well.  Bringing lots of salvage sign letters with me.

I’ll be back soon with a fun little book stand side table I refinished yesterday with some chippy mustard milk paint.

Glam Gold-dipped french vanity set

Don’t have a whole lot of time to write this morning because I’m having a girl’s day with my lovely sister-in-law at Ikea.  It’s 2 hours from home, so I rarely go.  It’s a treat!  I’m stoked!

So here’s the down and dirty on this vanity re-do.

The diamond in the ROUGH before:

And the oh-so-glam after:

Doesn’t it look so great with the rocker?  I think these pieces would be fantastic for a tween or teen girls room, don’t you?

I’m off to have my fill of affordable home décor and swedish meatballs!

Gilded bentwood rocker with cross-stitched caning

Dearies, sometimes I get giddy with excitement when I’m working on a new project, and this one had been simmering in my little noggin’ for quite some time.  Even though I finished a few other projects before this one that I have yet to share with you, I COULD NOT wait to show you this!

It all starts with a neglected Thonet style bentwood rocker.  (I love the style of these and have been waiting and waiting to find one to refinish!)

I knew right away that I wanted to give it some gilded gold glam, but I wanted to do something fun with the caned seat and back.  I’ve had this pic pinned on my Furniture Inspiration board on Pinterest for a while waiting for the right piece to try it out on. (I haven’t been able to track down a source for this, so if it’s yours or you know whose this is, please let me know so I can give proper credit to this wonderful project!)

I thought the idea of cross-stitching on the caning was GENIOUS!  A must try.

I’m not an adept cross-stitcher, so I didn’t think doing such an intricate design would be in my skill set.  I went with the much-easier-but-no-less-visually-pleasing asymmetrical vertical stripe pattern in fuchsia and turquoise.  I am so excited about the outcome!!  This ain’t your Grannie’s rocker!

  

 

Don’t you love it?  I think it’s so fun. 

I was busy yesterday taking a bunch of pictures of all my finished projects that have been waiting patiently in the hopper to be blogged about, so I’ll have some more goodies to share with you soon.

If you missed the announcement on the Facebook Page, Camryn from Livy Lou’s Boutique and I are going to be participating in the next Junk In The Trunk Vintage Market at Scottsdale’s Westworld on Saturday, November 9th.  Hope you can come!  It’s going to be a blast!  My hoard is growing in leaps and bounds, and I can’t wait to bring all the furniture, décor, vintage and salvage goodies down for this great event.  :)

hollywood regency bamboo chairs

This story begins a couple of weeks ago, when I spotted a pair of chairs on the local Craigslist.  They were certainly unique.  I had never come across anything like them before.  And they were cheap, which is always an intriguing factor for me as well.  I’ll admit, I wasn’t completely in love with them at first.  In fact, I couldn’t decide if I loved and had to have them or if they repulsed me, so I threw the pic up on the Twice Lovely Facebook page asking for opinions, and BOY OH BOY did I get some opinions!!

The post reached nearly 3500 people, and the fb page only has 3211 fans!!  That’s kind of unheard of. And they sure got everyone’s juices fired up in on both sides of, what I’m dubbing, Chairgate 2013.  People either were willing to trade their first born child for them or were physically made ill by the sight of them.  It was very amusing to read the 116 comments as they came in!

Of course, all the drama surrounding them only made me want them more.  I asked my friend Mandi from Vintage Revivals her opinion before I bit the bullet, full knowing she would love them and wanting some emotional back up to my now-undying-need to purchase and fix these babies up.  She said “I LOVE THEM!!!!!!!!!!! I am so jealous! Will you leave them to me in your will?” And the deal was sealed. 

I called.  And they were “no longer available.”  So sad! The time of great sadness, mercifully, only lasted until the next afternoon when I got an email telling me that the other person hadn’t shown up and the chairs were mine if I still wanted them.  Uh, yeah!

And when I went to pick them up, I was so excited!  These things are super sturdy, and even cuter in person than they were in the pic.  They’re solid bamboo and oh-so Hollywood Regency/Chinoiserie, which is super HOT in design right now. 

The grody cushions went right into the trash, and finding these great, practically-new Pier One cushions that were just the right size at my local Goodwill inspired the color choice for these beauts. 

There were quite a few people on the fb post voicing concerns about their comfort.  Of course, they aren’t barcaloungers or bean bags or whatever else you might consider the height of comfort.  You wouldn’t hunker down in one for an evening of Breaking Bad.  Come on. They’re occasional chairs.  But for what they are, I think they’re very comfortable!  They would make great desk chairs, or make a statement flanking an entry table in a foyer.

I think they fixed up quite nicely, myself.  What say you nay-sayers? ;)

More Ugly Art made into family organization chalk boards

In line with yesterday’s post, I also wanted to share a pair of ugly art pieces that I found quite a while ago (that happen to have the exact same style frame as my Bulletin Board!)

I did an antiqued silver finish on the frames and painted right over those “classic” art pieces with chalkboard paint.  I have a two month calendar, an area for notes and a to-do list as well as a shopping list.  I’m not in the habit of using it yet, but I really need to, especially with keeping the calendar.  It’s really getting difficult keeping everyone’s activities and our commitments in my noggin’!!

 

Happy weekend to you!

Family Bulletin Board from ugly art

An inevitability when you have a family is the accumulation of papers, and bits, and photographs, and greeting cards, and party invitations, and appointment cards, and very-special-you-can’t-throw-that-away-ever priceless pieces of 5-year-old art.  I hate having these things magneted to every square inch of my fridge, but what else are you going to do with them?

I decided to buy a very giant, very UGLY piece of vintage “art”…

…spray paint the frame, spray tack on a roll of cork and some pretty fabric, hot glue some trim around the edges and make a family bulletin board for all our bits and pieces:

It’s now hanging in the hall, back towards the mudroom, opposite of our family photo gallery.  Easy project that makes a big organizational and design impact, don’t you think?