A tribute to a wonderful woman!

I was given these chairs to recover a while ago. They where from a friend's Grandmother who was downsizing. They were sentimental pieces, connected to her with memories from childhood. While still in mostly good shape, they were somewhat outdated.

I really looked forward to the challenge. Simple upholstery is right up my alley...but these were not just slap it on and staple it down. These had cushions! Dreaded cushions. :-) With corners to kill.

To bring it into a more modern era, she asked me to paint and cover with a graphic fabric. Ok, no problemo. I did have some trouble with the paint actually sticking. I skipped sanding...BAD IDEA! It created more work for me to keep the paint on.

However, I finally finished up the frame with paint and upholstery. Then came out my sewing machine. Well, actually it is my MILs mostly. We had to put the two of ours together to make one work. I keep meaning to give her part back...and then I get projects!

Overall, they turned out pretty well! I was asked to put white piping on as an accent, and it came out really well.

We had gotten 7 yards of material to do these chairs, and ended up with about a yard left over. I did have to cut a bit more thank I normally would, because of the pattern. I had to make sure the large foils and flowers were somewhat centered on cushions and such.

Turned out nice and sharp and well loved by my friend! It will be a lovely memory for her to remember her Grandmother by. Hope I did you proud.

Comments

Heidi said…

Love them! My dining room chairs (project) are this same style...straight back though.

March 26, 2012 at 5:38 AM

Labor of Love (Part 1 of 3)

I love lace. I love the delicacy with which it presents itself to the world. That being said, I dont really use it very much. I do have some family doilies, and my wedding dress has some lace, but I dont go too crazy. I like to be able to clean things, and not have dust mites clinging to every available piece of cloth (they cling to everything else anyway.) So, I decided to try a painting technique. Why not paint the lace on the object? Easy to clean, lovely design, what could be better? We got this child's vanity in an old attic pick. Yes, we went into someone's hot and muggy attic for several hours. Yes, they let us jsut dig through things (can you believe it?!?!) unsupervised. Yes, we had to take our own flashlights. And yes, there was mouse droppings and dead birds up there. It was gross, but worth it. My boy LOVED it! American Pickers is his favorite tv show. So this school bus yellow vanity sat there looking at us. Begging for new life! I knew if we left ...

Blind Man Stood on the Road and he

First, I need to say that every time I think of this song, I think of one man: Don Strunk. He shaped my middle school years and beyond by singing this song....alot :-) On my way to work yesterday I passed by the subway stop. Usually there is a man with a mohawk at this corner passing out free newspapers. I realized as I was crossing the street that it was a different man (also signaling that it was a different free paper). I also noticed the man had a cane, a cane like blind people normally walk with. As I got onto the sidewalk I was going to continue down the avenue (as opposed to into the train like most people would be doing) and the man asked me if I'd like a newspaper. I was pretty amazed that he heard me walking by in tennis shoes while big trucks zoomed past us. I'm lucky if I can hear the conversation that's meant for me to hear it in these situations.

Me and my shadow!

Please feel free to listen (or watch!) this song while reading this post. :-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyEf1Lp7Byk I have always thought silhouettes were such lovely and understated works of art. I would be fascinated by the people who did it at Disney World, Kings Island, or Central Park. They could cut your silhouette out in minutes! I decided I thought it would be fun art to hang in our humble bedroom. Our bedroom is a work in progress. These silhouettes are only the second thing I have hung on the wall, so I am taking my time with it. We did get around to painting in over the summer. It went from drab and boring, to vibrant and living. It was amazing to me how the paint actually made the room look much bigger! In a house cursed with small rooms, that is indeed a blessing. I started out with some frames and material. The frames were fine as they were, but several accent things in our bedroom are white, so I opted to paint them. The material...well, I want to use it behin...

Strikes my fancy

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