The Frosting Chair

Bentwood Chair Upcycle!

 

This chair was found by my mother in law at a garage sale for $5. Of course I just knew something cute could come of it! So I dug through some fabric scraps and found an unused can of spray paint and got to it. It was a little trickier than I had originally anticipated. Normally when I do a chair, the seat comes out and makes it really easy to upholster but not this one! I had to peel off the fabric trim that was glued on, then rip off fabric and tear out staples. It was a mess. But I powered through. Then I had to start stapling my new fabric down... not so easy when there are chair pieces blocking the area you need to staple. But I think I did it just fine! Painted... check. Upholstered... check! Now I just needed to find some trim to cover up my messy, stapled, raw fabric area. No big deal. I hit up the local fabric store in search of upholstery trim. Lo and behold there were SO MANY choices!! So I bought 3. A neutral, a frilly one, and a bright green one (it was like 75% of too - bonus!) The neutral was ehhh, the green was fabulous but the blue rosette was my absolute favorite! It was so girly and added just the right touch of chic to this little chair's shabbiness! Got the hot glue gun out, applied the trim, and this little baby was good to go! I think the rosette trim looks just like the frosting on a cake, this chair just makes me want to go sit in a little cupcake shop or ice cream parlor. So cute!

Total cost: $15

 Boom.

Old fabric torn off, spray painted white.

New fabric stapled on, as you can see the edges are pretty rough!

Here she is, I just adore the rosette trim!!

It just looks like cake frosting, it's adorable!

Little Odds and Ends!

Hexagon Side Tables

Would you believe me if I told you I got TWO of these tables for $13 total!? Crazy right?? Who would want to part with these beautiful end tables for such a ridiculously low price? Not me! I just love the shape, the doors, the hardware... these little guys are great! I have actually finished one of them in a nice turquoise color, not sure if I want to do the second one the same and sell as a set or do a chalk paint and antique finish on the other one and sell individually... Also I kind of want to keep one. For the price I paid, it really wouldn't hurt my budget if one of these didn't sell. I am trying to talk myself into it haha.


UPDATE: I painted the second one a lime green, it looks fabulous. And I sold them both. Wooooohooo!

Total Cost: $25
 




Bought 2 of these at a little antique thrift store for $6 a piece! What a steal!!



Spray paint used to be my friend, after this table... not so much. I'm in hand cramp central over here!


 And here are the last 2 things that I forgot to take before pictures of... I always do that. I have a nice, fancy little camera and either I take pictures with my shattered POS iPhone or I totally forget to take a before pic at all. I blame it on Mommy Brain, it's a disease. You forget your phone, your keys, your phone... I said that. Okay well here are a few more things I restored. I'm going to end this for tonight because things might get weird if I don't. Toodle-oo Kangaroos!

This was a $10 swap & shop find, I think it is absolutely gorgeous. The beads and the little cherubs, sooo cute!!

Last, but not least, another swap & shop find that has been sitting in my daughter's room untouched for about a year. I took her to home depot and let her pick out the color and this is what she chose. I'd say it was a mighty fine choice!

Dip Dye Obsession!

Dip Dyed & Upholstered Elephant Chair

 

This is BY FAR one of my absolute most favorite pieces I have done so far. It has such a funky charm to it, I actually can't force myself to part with it. It's up in my living room now, I think it has found it's forever home... for now. Until I find something that I love even more, who knows. I change my mind like I change my underwear. Anyway, here are some photos!

Total Cost: $35



This was a swap & shop find, for $15 I couldn't pass it up! It had such wonderful potential.

I decided to do the front and back of the back piece different fabrics to switch things up. I really love how it turned out and it matches my living room PERFECTLY!!



 The elephants, the colors, the dip dyed legs.... TO. DIE. FOR. I am slightly obsessed with the dipped legs right now, it gives it a great pop of color without making the chair too overwhelming. Plus it's really easy. I went to an estate sale recently and found some fabric for SUPER cheap and had planned on using it for this chair but I decided to hit up Joann's just for shits & giggles and found these fabrics and I just knew exactly what to do with the chair. I'm a proud mama bear right now :)





Chevron Side Table DIY



Navy Chevron 1950's Table DIY

 

This piece is very simple, slightly destroyed, but still a funky little table. I got it for free so I really didn't care what I was doing to it but I knew I didn't want to do anything too overwhelming. It's a very mid century/1950's piece, I thought it would be adorable for some plants or to unscrew the legs and hang it as a piece of wall art. So many possibilities! I opted for a thick chevron pattern, I've done chevron before so I knew what I was doing. I used a carpenter's square to get precise angles, measuring tape to make sure each chevron section was the same width apart, and then taped it down and got to work!

Total Cost: $9




The before. What a mess. I had to take off the shelf piece because it was completely broken on the other side. Not a big deal though!



Primed and taped. I used a carpenter's square to make a precise chevron. Pretty simple stuff.




Finished product!

This little guy just went off to a new home this evening. It really makes me happy that this stuff is selling so quick, I feel like I'm finally on the right track! Painting furniture makes me happy, it puts me in the zone and I feel such a sense of accomplishment once a piece is on it's way to looking like a million bucks! I will be posting several other items I have done so keep your eyes peeled!


My new business venture, adventure!

Recently I have decided that instead of answering to "The Man" that I was going to continue being a stay at home mom but I am going to try to start up a little side business/hobby thing. I have been painting furniture for a while now but have kept everything I painted, never thought about selling it. I decided that since I have all this free time, tons of space, why not try to venture into the upcycling furniture world! I am really, really excited! I have my mother-in-law helping me find these junky old pieces, which has worked out great because we have found LOTS of awesome things. She is my junker and I am the creative eye. I see something and just know what I would want it to look like and then I try to do it! I have found that local Facebook swap & shop pages are by far the easiest way to get your name out there. I am on maybe 4 or 5 different swap pages and it is so much easier than craigslist or etsy. It's free and it's local, can't beat that for starting out! And for those of you that don't know what a swap & shop is, it's a Facebook group with several hundred to several thousand members. You post a picture of the item you have for sale; clothing, furniture, whatever it is, put a price on it, where you are located and how far you are willing to meet and wait for the fish to bite. It has worked well so far! Out of the 3 things I have listed, 2 have already sold and one is getting picked up at the end of the week! YAY!!! Okay, without further adieu, here is my first project!

Floral Upholstered Bench DIY

 

So here is the very first piece I finished, and I am selling it this week! I covered it in a bright blue exterior paint and found a great outdoor fabric for 40% off at Joann. I think it turned out great for my first attempt at upholstery. I would keep it but honestly, I have no idea where I would put it and it doesn't even come close to my color scheme.

Total Cost: $30




Before picture, this thing was covered in some pretty hideous fabric. Ick.




Primed in a dark grey, ready for some fun!!

 


Final product. Look at how the colors just pop! It is so bright and cheerful, I absolutely adore this little bench!

  EEEEEEK! How lovely it turned out!! So bright and cheerful. Man, it was a drabby little thing before, such a sad little bench. But now it's just the cutest little thang!

I am so excited to get the ball rolling and start churning out some stellar pieces! There are some awesome pieces I've acquired recently and I am pretty sure they are going to turn out AMAZING. So come back soon for more!

Crafts from the Past

Hey guys! It's been a couple days since my last post. Sorry. But this momma had a super fun night out on Friday and then spent Saturday curled up in the fetal position trying to not vomit. Anywho..... I am here to share some of my crafts from the past. They aren't detailed, but who cares. I'll explain them to the best of my ability. And if you have any questions you can always e-mail me at jayandkin@gmail.com Okay, here we go....

Project #1
Shabby Chic Dresser

I got a dresser like this when I moved to college.... it was a little different but this is pretty similar. This one is from Nebraska Furniture Mart's website: http://www.nfm.com/DetailsPage.aspx?ProductID=21755129

I got real tired of it's ugly color and wanted something a bit fancier, so I painted it a dark brown with a beige trim on the top that had a very faint zebra print. I have an animal print obsession.... fun fact about me! Anyway, that was college. When I moved into my boyfriend's house I decided that the spare bedroom was going to be ALL mine. I found this AMAZING white ruffled quilt at Urban Outfitters ( I think online it's called the Waterfall Duvet) for 75% off and pillow shams 75% too so I had to buy it, and I could have either bought a new dresser or give my old one a makeover again and since I'm a cheap ass I went with option number two. I opted for a shabby chic feel and this is what I came up with....

For the pinstripes I used blue painters tape and just started on one side of the drawer and put a piece down. Then I left a tiny space in between and laid the next piece of tape next to it and so on and so on. I don't like rulers and measuring tape and that crap so I just eyeballed it, if you want to be precise you could measure out a cm or however wide you would want your pinstripe to be. But I'm like a honeybadger and I don't give a F**K!

Finished product. Sorry I have no pictures of me actually painting this. I did this a couple years ago, long before the thought of blogging ever planted it's little seed in my brain.

 Ebay knobs!! Sooooo chic!

I painted over the dark brown color and then sanded off some of the corners to get a distressed feel. It definately adds some characted and who would've guessed this dresser EVER looked like the one in that first picture? Soooo much easier and cheaper to DIY... or so I think.

View of the top, which I painted the same shade as the pinstripes just to add a little more color.

This was a pretty simple project, it just took time to let everything dry, then add another coat, and wait even longer. The one downfall to painting is you don't get immediate results, and I have zero patience when it comes to things like this. I just want them to be in my bedroom looking pretty, sort of how I like my men ;) Haha. Okay, well onto the next one.


PROJECT #2
Baby Letters

While I was pregnant with my daughter I told myself there was NO way I am painting her room or putting anything in there that is pink. I opted for a coral, teal, and dark brown color scheme instead. I think my mom bought me the letters from Hobby Lobby.... or maybe Joann Fabrics. I'm not entirely sure.

What you need:
Wooden Letters
1 color of acrylic paint (those cheap $0.89 bottles from the craft store)
Paint pen or two depending on how many colors you want (I used 1)
Stick on rhinestones
Random swirly diecut things I found in the scrapbooking area of Hobby Lobby
Oh, and don't forget your Tacky Glue!

I painted each letter a coral color, and once they were dried I took my scrapbook brown swirly things and cut them up.

They looked like this KINDA...

These are from http://www.opentip.com/Home-Garden/Company-Diecut-Pc-Swirls-Frames-p-2359495.html
The ones I bought didn't have birds or flowers, just the almost cardboard-type swirls and they were all brown. But this gives you an idea.

I cut them up to the size I liked and just stuck them on my letters with tacky glue (I try to use tacky glue for everything, sometimes I fail. Like when I tried to tacky glue my pumpkin back together on halloween when I carved out a chunk I shouldn't have) but in this case, it worked. My kid just turned 2 and these still look perfect above her bed. Anyway, I glued on the brown swirls, then I took my teal colored paint pen and drew on some more swirls.

Voila

For the finishing touch, I added on some sticky rhinestones and added some ribbon to the back with.... wait, try to guess. Did you guess TACKY GLUE!! You are correct! To hang them up i glued two pieces of ribbon to the back of each letter, tied a bow with the ribbon, and then stuck them in the wall with thumb tacks. So easy! If you don't like the fancier version I made, you could always just go buy a couple paint pens and draw your own pattern. Be creative and get funky and I am sure it will look awesome!

Project #3
Bedazzled Skull Faces

Okay, one more super easy craft that I did last year for Halloween. OOH! Another fun fact, Halloween is hands down my FAVORITE holiday ever. Spooky ghosts, spiderwebs, pumpkins, candy, costumes.... I could go on and on about how much I love Halloween but I won't. Not today at least.

What you need:
Silver metallic spray paint
Large stick on rhinestones
cradboard skull faces

Are you ready?? Okay, here's what you do. Take your paper skulls outside, place them on your lawn (or your neighbors if you don't want silver grass), and spray them with your spray paint. Take your stick on rhinestones, plop them onto the skull and you're done. WOW! You could put on a clear spray finish, but I didn't know what to use and I didn't care because this project was pretty cheap. And to hang them up, you can add a ribbon to the back with none other than TACKY GLUE and hang them on a nail. I like to hang mine vertically with the non jeweled one in the middle. So cute, super easy, go try it because you won't be disappointed. Anyway, that's enough  of my crafts from the past. If I think of any other ones I feel like I need to share.... I will share them. But for now.... I am done!! Hope you guys learned something. And if you didn't, then.... I don't know what to tell you. BYE!

We are all mad here!

For my daughter's 2nd birthday I had planned to do an Alice in Wonderland theme. I found a chair at goodwill for $8 and decided to paint it accordingly. So I headed to Hobby Lobby and picked out some acrylic paints and some new paint brushes and got to work.

 

This is the start of my project. I began with painting the poles pink and the bottom black. The black on the bottom is a matte paint, which I didn't realize until it started drying. But then I decided I actually liked it that way, so I left it.

By this point I realized I should have primed the posts (the pink things on the chair, I dont know what you call them) because I had to do SOOO many coats of that damn pink to cover up the original color showing through. Such a pain in my A.

This photo is where I got smart and finally primed the rest of the chair. Then I added the purple stripes to the pink things to incorporate a cheshire cat feel to the chair.

Okay, so for this zig-zags, aka Chevron, pattern I didn't show the detail that went into this at all. So I will try explain to the best of my ability. I found an L Shape ruler in the garage (google it if you don't know what it is) and traced the points of the ruler out with a pencil, then kind of just used the width of the ruler as the guide to how wide my zags were. And once I had it all drawn out I got the painters tape out and placed it one every other one. Before I started with the black paint I took some white paint and painted over the edges of the tape to get it underneath any part where the black could seep through. I let it dry, then went ahead and paint over it with the black and got an AMAZING zig zag patter than I instantly fell in love with.

TA-DA!

I added a cute cheshire cat quote to the front with a FAT black sharpie paint pen.

Then last but not least I painted a smile with my leftover white paint and once it was dried I went over it with the Black Sharpie paint pen and outlined it and added the teeth. So cute!!!

This last picture just shows the mess I made of our garage.... which most of it is still down there 2 months later because I really hate cleaning!

I will add some photos of her birthday party in another post but I just wanted to share my beautiful Alice in Wonderland creation with all of you!