Jane's Chairs

Jane picked up my business card in my booth, and called to see if I would be interested in reupholstering a couple of thrift store chairs that she planned to use in her classroom. I said "sure" and we met so I could look at the chairs. Turns out that Jane is the aunt of my good friend Carrie. Funny how that kind of thing works! So this is what we started with.

 They were pink and dirty and not very fresh smelling, but they were such a cute shape!! I knew we could work some magic :) Jane picked out a vibrant multi-colored chevron pattern fabric that will be awesome in her classroom. I stripped the chairs, painted the legs black, and got to work making them pretty. I decided against keeping the channel back on these guys. It is not that I was afraid of working that in while trying to keep the pattern straight or anything........Ok I was afraid. I was very afraid. I think it worked out just fine to leave that off and Jane was on board so we went without :) Here is what we ended up with.

Pretty darn fabulous if I do say so myself! I want to be in her class! I am sure the kiddos love the bright colors and pattern. Alright, well now that I have totally blown your minds and posted twice in a week I will see you later!  ~Christy

hello.......

A very sheepish hello is all I have to offer. I guess I am not cut out to be a blogger. I love redoing all of the furniture and bringing new life to pieces, but I am really bad about posting :( Well I guess that is how life is around here. If you want to continue on this roller coaster with me then let's roll!
 I have been really busy redoing lots of furniture and keeping my booth stocked. My favorite thing I have been creating lately are my headboard benches. I sometimes have the foot board as well, and that is really handy! I think I have done six so far. I am going to show you my latest one that went down to Market Antiques for the Holiday Open House today.
As usual I did not get a before picture. It was just a wooden headboard purchased from CL and some salvaged posts from another project. I use 2x4s to make the frame for the bench. I attach the posts turned legs, and then assemble the seat. I use 1x4s for the bench seat as well as the bottom of the frame for built in storage when the seat is lifted. :) I then painted the piece black and distressed and waxed it. For upholstery I went with a classic red and cream hounds tooth for the seat. Cream duck cloth for the back pillows, and French patterned accent pillows. I absolutely love how it turned out!

I will make sure to take in process pictures next time! Gonna take a while to get back in the swing of things here :)  See you next time! ~ Christy

Wowsa!!! I Have No Excuse!

Holy Moly!!! Has it really been since May that I posted?! I am really embarrassed! I have no excuse.......except for the fact that life just swallowed me up. I can't even remember where I left off and if I take the time to go back and read then this post will never get done! So let's see: the house we wanted to buy sold to someone else, we decided to stay here and make things work space wise, the kiddos are out of school, the hubby has been out of town WAY too much, business has been quite busy, between the booth and kids and dogs and gardening and mowing I am meeting myself coming and going! Wowsa! I am tired just writing about it :) I hope all of you are enjoying your summer and not too overwhelmed with life :) Even when it is good it can really be a lot. I also celebrated my 20th anniversary on the 26th of June. My hubby was out of town of course :( Just so much has happened around here. I have done so many cute projects and haven't posted a single picture! Lots of custom upholstery work as well as awesome booth items! I will share Jane's super cute chairs in the next couple of days :)
Sorry I left you hanging! I am back and ready to get down to business! Hopefully you will enjoy seeing some of what has rolled out of here in the last 6 weeks :) Happy Independence Day tomorrow! Have a great holiday and be safe:)
See you soon!  ~Christy

Awesome Chairs From My Craigs List Lot!

Hello! It has been Busy, Busy, Busy around here lately!! My booth is doing really well and I having been trying to get lots of cute fun projects done for the flea market this Saturday. If you are in the area you should check Market Antiques in Ottawa this Saturday from 8-5 for some wonderful flea market finds!
First off let me tell you how much fun I have been having with all of my CL finds! What an awesome lot that was. Thanks Shar!! Here is the before of these sweet little chairs.

I have done other chairs like these before and loved the way they turned out so I was excited to see the finished product this time around :) I took my 14 yr old daughter with me to Hobby Lobby to go fabric shopping. Turns out she has really good taste!! The apple doesn't fall far from the tree :)  She picked out an awesome fabric that I absolutely loved! I then used an Annie Sloan color that I have never used before. It is called Versailles and it is in the green/beige family. I painted and distressed the chairs and then followed that up with wax. SOP for me :) Then time for the upholstery. I hope you like them as much as I do!!

I love them paired with this little turquoise table! It matches the bird in the fabric perfectly :)

Hope you enjoyed this little peek at just a couple of items you will find at Market Antiques in Ottawa this Saturday for the flea market!  See you soon! ~Christy

One Man's Trash Is Another Man's Treasure!!

Hello!! Hope you have all been enjoying the absolutely beautiful weather the last couple of days. I know I sure have :) I am so excited to share my latest trashy find! Last Monday while taking my youngest to school I spotted what appeared to be a dresser with lots of potential sitting out next to the road. I could hardly get him dropped off soon enough! I just knew someone was going stop and get my treasure before I could get back there!! Doesn't everyone want to stop and pick up other people's trash?! My teenage daughters assure me that I am a different breed all together :) Well they would have been completely mortified on Monday morning. Apparently I was running late and thought that driving to school in my pajamas was a fine thing to do. I usually never get out of the car so this does indeed happen from time to time. It wasn't until I was standing next to the road in said pajamas while a steady stream of traffic passed by that I realized I had not bothered to brush my hair or even look in the mirror that morning. No one would recognize me right? About that time my good friend Leigh Anne drove by and called out to me. BUSTED! Oh well, I guess I am the crazy lady in pajamas with wake-up hair that goes through other people's trash :) I suppose it could be worse!
Well it was indeed a dresser. It was once a four drawer dresser. It was now a dresser with four drawer spaces and three drawers. Fortunately/unfortunately they had awesome curved fronts so there was no finding/making a new one. I knew I would have to get creative with that space. There was also a slight veneer problem. There was slightly any veneer left in good shape!

I decided to scrape off the offending veneer. It was a solid wood dresser, but the wood underneath was not as pretty. My solution was to sand it and paint it.

Here is the pile of veneer I removed. Now to give it a good sanding.

Before.....

Before times three....I just love the shape of the drawers!!  I decided to put a piece of wood in the top drawer space and create a cubby. I traced the pattern of the top so it would have the same curved edge. After sanding I broke out the ASCP in Provence and painted it right up! Some slight distressing, wax, new knobs, and a couple of white baskets later and voila!! Fabulous!!

 Here is the cubby area without the baskets. It could work either way. As a matter of fact this little beauty never made it down to my booth at Market Antiques in Ottawa. Remember my friend Leigh Anne who busted me in my pajamas? Well she snagged it to use in her bedroom to house her TV on top and her receiver/dvd player in the cubby area. I am always thrilled when friends buy pieces because then I can visit them and know they are loved!
Well that is all for now. I will have more to show you very soon :) Get out and enjoy the beauty of Spring!
See you soon ~ Christy

Where Has The Time Gone?!

Wow!!! This roller coaster we call life needs to seriously SLOW DOWN!!! My kids are in the final few weeks of school. How did that happen? It has been a month since my last post. How did that happen? My first born is going to prom with her boyfriend on Saturday. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN? I turned 42 on the 26th of March. Hooooowwwww did that happen?! Snif Snif. Like I said before, things need to slow down. It has been like someone is pushing the fast forward button and they need to let go of the remote. I talk to my friends and it seems to be a universal problem we all are facing. These wonderful, crazy, trying, hectic years of our children at home go way too fast. I am so thankful that I have been able to shift things around in my life and dedicate more time to being Mom. It has helped me feel like I do have a little better grasp on my life at the end of the day. It has however meant other things get pushed to the back burner(....my blog). I hope some of you readers will continue to hang on for the inconsistent ride we seem to be on! I love being able to share fun projects, daily life, and anything else of great importance with you all!!

Over the next few weeks I am going to have so much to share with you!! Last week I found the most AMAZING lot of items for sale on Craig's List. I am so excited to dig in and get busy on all the fabulous pieces. I can't tell you how lucky I was to stumble upon that listing. It was like God put the perfect gift right in my hands :) The family selling it was super nice and so helpful! Good luck to them on their upcoming move.

I am going to share some booth pictures with you today. Sadly they are outdated as several of the pieces have sold, but I thought you might enjoy seeing what the booth looked like the last couple of weeks :)

I hope you have a wonderful upcoming weekend! I am hoping for more Spring weather and sunshine so I can get busy on some projects!  See you soon!  ~Christy

My First Attempt At Slipcovering......An Exercise in Frustration

Good morning! Long time no see :) I have had a rather interesting last few weeks. I will get to the slipcover in a minute, but first I will fill you in on the happenings around here! My husband was in Japan on a business trip and I looked around and decided our current house was no longer working for us(mostly I mean me). I simply need(desperately want) a workshop space. I am constantly painting something in the dining room or have my sewing set up on the table. I have completely taken over the garage and am just feeling too crowded. What did I do? I simply found the perfect house for us to move to complete with a separate full two-car garage workshop for me! I was kind enough to tell my husband of our(my) plans when he checked in from the Dallas airport on his way home. Went over like a lead balloon. After much begging, pleading, and a tour of said new perfect home he got on board. What this means to my family is that I have been a crazy person for the last few weeks getting all those little projects finished that need to be done in order to put the house on the market. I am a perfectionist and it has been no treat for anyone living in this house I can assure you. We are done and the house is listed and our offer has been accepted on the other house(contingent on this one selling of course). The problem is the real estate market is still soft here and we need to sell our house before someone swoops in and buys the other house. God willing it will all work out the way it is supposed to. It will work out the way it is supposed to, I guess I mean the way I want it to :) Why do I have such a hard time putting thing in His hands?! Worst case scenario is we stay here. All the little nit picky things are now done :) I will just continue to park outside and paint and sew in the dining room. But I really want that workshop!!!!!!!!!!
Okay enough of that! Slip covering..........Miss Mustard Seed makes it look so easy. It is A LOT of work! I am sure that like anything it gets easier with each one you complete, but the first one is a bear!! It all started when I found this awesome wing back chair. I fell in love with the size and shape of it. The fabric not so much. As a faithful follower of Miss Mustard Seed (www.missmustardseed.com) I knew that I could do a slipcover and make it beautiful. She had more confidence in me than I did about an hour into the project. Step one: go to your local home improvement store and get a painters drop cloth. Awesome heavy duty fabric at a great price. Check. Step two: wash and dry said drop cloth. Check. Step three: measure cording for the piping on the chair and cover with fabric. Check. Arrogantly smile to my self thinking I have this in the bag. Check. Step four: cut pieces of the fabric similar in size to the various parts of the chair. Check. Step five: start to pin said pieces inside out with the cording in place. Check? hmmm maybe. Steps 5-100000000: keep working along continuing to pin and stitch pieces while turning right side out and trying each piece in place. Then turning wrong side out and doing adjustments and getting out your seam ripper and taking out said stitching time and time again. Then saying terrible thing about Miss Mustard Seed and her confidence in you. CHECK. So after taking it off and putting it on and adjusting and ripping out and sewing more about 1000 times it was done. The end result....not perfect but good :) I actually love it. I am sorry Miss Mustard Seed! You were right. Patience is the main ingredient needed for this project to be a success :)  The chair before:

Cute right? Very comfy too! Flame stitch? Uh no.

After :)

Way more cute!! Comfy cozy slipcover? Yes please!

Some cute little bows down the back, super cute fabric on the cushion, coordinating throw pillows, my blood sweat and tears........fabulous :)

 This little beauty is waiting at Antiques On The Prairie for someone to take her home.  See you soon! Really I mean it :)  ~Christy

Heavenly Seating

Today I want to share with you some "Heavenly Seating".......ok maybe it is a former church pew.  It is totally fabulous though!! Again I need to credit my friend Sarah with this find. This pew did not make the cut when they moved to North Carolina, and as always I am willing to give any orphaned piece of furniture a new home. Well at least a temporary new home :) Here is the really dark and pitiful before picture. It was night time. It was in my garage. I am very impatient.

It is a really awesome length. Not too long-not too short.  There was a kneeling rail attached to the back, but I removed it. The end had a cross engraved in it, but I filled it in. No offense to anyone. I love the Lord, and wear crosses all the time in jewelry, but it just wasn't the look I was going for.

Just realized neither one of these pictures show the cross. Oh well, trust me it was there :)  I gave the pew a really good sanding and a couple of coats of flat black spray paint. I then distressed and waxed it and gave it a couple of ticking stripe pillows.

Really cute, right? I love it! It would make a perfect entry/mudroom seating piece or even a great addition to a dining room harvest table.

This former "Heavenly Seating" is now at Market Antiques in Ottawa waiting to go home with you!! Oh by the way, please make sure to check out  the Market Antiques page on Facebook!! They do a really good job highlighting all the awesome booths there!!
See you soon! ~Christy

Left Behind Treasure

Hello! Hope you all are having a great day! I am loving the sunshine :) Spring is just around the corner and I can't wait!! Today I want to share a dresser that was left behind when my friend Sarah's tenants moved out. They are out of state now so I try to help out when they need anything done at the house back here in Kansas. The last tenants left quite a few things in the house that needed to be moved out and I was thrilled when Sarah told me to help myself!! Here is the dresser before:

As you can see it was missing the toe kick at the bottom. It also had some trim issues on the sides.

Oh but look what an awesome feature it had!!!

How cool is that?! So a new toe kick was added and new trim pieces applied. Those were then painted brown to match the stain color of the dresser.

Now time to give it a good sanding :)

I then decided to paint it in ASCP in Emperors Silk. It is a beautiful color or red. LOVE IT! I even loved the hardware, but gave it a coat of oil-rubbed bronze spray paint to update it.

So awesome! It didn't even make it to my booth. My lovely neighbor Holly bought it for her son's room. They are huge Husker fans so the color was great!  Here are a few more shots.

I have a feeling if the previous owners could see it now they would be sad that they left it behind!! I hope you enjoyed this transformation :) See you soon!! ~Christy