Decorative Deals

Barstools Made Beautiful

2010-08-16T21:15:00.008-06:00

This week I finally made time to get a project done. A project which has been needing my attention for, well, lets just say a while now :).

Behold the lovely before picture. Yes, though I'm ashamed, I will admit that this is what my barstools have looked like for waaayyy too long. I know, yuck! And I'm sorry to any guests who politely sat down on these beauties while secretly cringing inside.

The green fabric was actually microfiber that my husband bought to recover the barstools and surprise me for my birthday a couple of years ago. Sweet thought.....not so sweet fabric (sorry hon). Microfiber is supposed to be very easy to keep clean, and some types very well may be, but not this stuff. Water stains it. Seriously.

So I've been wanting to recover these for a really long time, and I finally did it!

The first thing I did was remove the old, yucky green fabric, then I measured out my new fabric by placing the seat onto it and cutting around it, making sure to leave enough fabric to work with on each side.

To attach the fabric to the seat, use a staple gun. Start by stapling one side, pull the opposite side tight and staple it. Then do the two other sides the same way until you have one staple holding the center of each of the four sides.

Then you'll want to do the corners. This part can be a little tricky. It's a little like wrapping a present, just a lot more difficult :) No, it's really not that bad, you just have to give it some practice. The most important thing is to make sure you are pulling it TIGHT. Tuck one side under the other, pull them tight, straighten and tighten, staple, pull again, tighten again, staple and.....voila! You've got it perfect, (or dang close to it).

Now, some perfectionists would have to have it looking as pretty on the bottom as it does on the top...not me. Who cares what the bottom ends up looking like as long as I've got enough staples in it, and the top looks nice and smooth.

So are you ready now to see the result? Drum roll please...........

Before:

After:

And here's a picture of all four chairs together. Don't they look happy now?! I just love the way they turned out. It's amazing how such a small change can make such a huge difference. My kitchen just looks so much cuter now!

For anyone who might want to know, I purchased the fabric on Joann's website. It was a special order fabric made for indoor/outdoor use. It's supposed to be a lot sturdier and easier to clean than regular fabric....and I think it will be.

Tropix Outdoor Canvas is the brand name and the fabric is called Maxime Thyme (Waverly Sun N Shade also has some really nice prints, I ordered some for another project I'll be doing.)

The reason I ordered my fabric online as opposed to in the store is because not only was the shipping price cheaper online, but it was also much quicker. It was on sale for $8.99 a yard, and I purchased 2 yards. I paid about $4 for shipping, so my grand total was about $22. Pretty good bang for my buck, don't ya think!

I'm linking to a before and after party at Thrifty Decor Chick

I Need More Time!

2010-08-16T20:29:00.003-06:00

There's one bad thing about decorating projects.....they take time.

I have so many projects planned.....so many things around my house that could be improved....so many wonderful ideas for decorating....~~so many closets I should clean out~~....now if only I could find the time!

This summer is seriously flying by, and in some ways I am really NOT looking forward to school starting again. Going back to the daily grind of making sure all homework gets done, making sure kids get to and practice piano, orchestra, dance etc. makes me a little tired just thinking about it.

But I have to admit there's this tiny little part of me that's ~~jumping up and down and shouting hooray!~~ looking forward to it, just a bit. Six hours a day with only one little one demanding my attention.....oh what will I do with all of that free time? Hmmmmm.

The Antique Chair Mystery

2010-07-06T10:11:00.000-06:00

I have a mystery on my hands, and I need some help getting it solved.

I bought these lovely antique chairs on one of my junk sprees at the DI (Utah's version of goodwill).

I had almost decided against buying them, but there was a little voice in the back of my mind saying Brooke at All Things Thrifty would be so disappointed if I passed up the opportunity to glaze these beauties!

So I bought them with the plan to refinish and make them gorgeous.

It wasn't until after I ~~made~~ had my handy hubby go pick them up for me and we were unloading them into the garage (a.k.a. old furniture storage place) that we noticed these nifty little tags on the bottom of each chair.

Two things caught my eye..."The Singer Company"...who hasn't heard that name before?...and "Rockefeller Plaza, NY".

"Hmmmm", my mind started thinkin', maybe these little beauties are worth more than the $15 (each) that I paid for them. Or maybe they really are just old junk that needs to be made beautiful again.

The problem is, I just don't know!

I've tried researching online and I've discovered that the Singer Company, which is famous for it's sewing machines, did branch off into furniture for a short amount of time beginning in the sixties.

But I can find no evidence of any other Singer furniture anywhere online.

So I need help --- I'd hate to refinish these if they have any value in their original state, but I'd also like to get them done and out of my garage if they're just old, ugly chairs.

Does anyone, anywhere out there know anything more? Have you seen anything similar to these or other furniture that is made by the Singer Company?

Any suggestions to help me solve this mystery would be sooooo wonderful!!!

Hope your Independence Day celebrations were wonderful --- mine were!

Thanks for reading --- have a fabulous day!

Small Town Excitement

2010-07-02T20:10:00.000-06:00

I live in a cozy little town in Northern Utah. If you were to drive down Main Street on any normal day, you would see mostly older homes that are well kept and attractive. You would see nice yards and big, shady trees lining the way.

But if you were driving down Main Street with me yesterday, this is what you would have seen:

Chairs, rope, blankets, canopies and yes, even caution tape set up all along the street.

People must be saving their spots for a parade, right?

Ummmm....right.

Only the parade isn't until Monday at noon, four days away folks!

Hey, can we help it if we all get a little bit excited for the biggest event this city has all year.

I mean, you can get your grocery sack filled half way up with candy if you've got yourself a good enough spot.

Of course, I would never go save my spot four days early. I just roll my eyes and shake my head at those overly-anxious folks who just have to have the best spot. *sheesh*

I am excited for the parade though. My two daughters are going to be on a float with their ballroom dance team, so that should be fun.

And we're having some family come to watch the parade with us.....

....Speaking of that, there's going to be quite a few of us. We're going to need a pretty big patch of grass for all of us to sit.....

....Ummmmm, sorry, I gotta get off the computer and go round up some blankets and chairs!

Happy 4th of July!

Patriotic Door Hanger

2010-07-01T01:13:00.017-06:00

I'm linking up: The Inspired Room

The Aftermath

2010-06-28T08:51:00.005-06:00

I promised to share all of the nitty, gritty details of my projects even if they aren't very pleasant. This is the downside of being a furniture transformer / DIYer. The thing is, when you're getting all crafty and handy, you have to have a place to do all of your amazing work, right?

Unfortunately, at our house, the garage is the victim of choice.

I used to like to park my rockin' mini-van *sarcasm* in there, but that's not exactly an option anymore. Not with half the garage filled with old furniture and the other half my kids ~~junk~~ stuff.

Thankfully, my sweet hubby has been pretty understanding and patient with me. See, the garage is usually his domain. He's the one who usually spends time working out there, and he's the one who gets to clean it up --- I've got enough work to do inside, thank you very much.

So when he learned of my new hobby and discovered that his garage would soon be taken over by me, he was surprisingly okay with it --- at least I think so.

When he saw the mess I made,however --- um, he may have lost a little bit of that patience. ;)

Here is a picture of the aftermath of my first project --- I should have taken "before" and "after" photos of the garage too! The after picture isn't so wonderful this time. This is actually after I'd already cleaned up a little bit --- it really was a BIG MESS! I'm going to have to try not to be such a slob next time, but hey, I was working hard, what can I say!

Now that the mess has been cleaned up, I'll be starting on some new projects. :)

I've got some great stuff to work on this week, I can't wait to share it with you!

Thanks for reading --- feel free to comment --- and have a FABULOUS day!

Now that's what I call thrifty!

2010-06-26T11:44:00.003-06:00

This morning I had a fabulous grocery shopping trip. It's days like today that make spending time cutting out all of those little coupons actually worth the effort!

This week Smith's is "doubling" coupons, well that's what they call it anyway, but really they are taking any coupon that has a value less than $1 and turning into $1. So, a .50 coupon becomes $1, a .25 coupon becomes $1, you get the point.

It's been a while since there's been a promo like this, so I was SUPER excited! I got nearly everything on my list, and felt only a little bit silly pushing two full shopping carts up to the register. Here's my haul:
The picture doesn't quite give the full effect, but let's just say it's a lotta stuff! Just in case you're extremely bored right now, I'll even give you a little list:

22 boxes GM cereal
15 Grands Biscuits
5 1 lb. packages string cheese
2 country crock butter tubs
10 hunts ketcup
5 bags wacky mac pasta
5 small Dawn Dish Soaps
1 dial hand soap (free)
2 Breyers Ice Cream
10 Totinos Party Pizzas
5 Totinos pizza rolls (free)
2 boxes smart taste pasta (free)
5 betty crocker cookie mixes
5 boxes banquet brown & serve sausage
1 pack Huggies diapers 36 ct.

So what's your guess??? How much do you think I paid for this pantry full of groceries?
$150?? $110?? Nope. Not even close. My total was $85.00 minus $3.00 that the manager just let me keep because she couldn't get her computer to take it off.

To top it off, I found a $25 Smith's gift card in my wallet --- from who knows when --- that I used. So I paid a GRAND TOTAL of $57 Bucks!!!
Woooot Woooot!

Of course my kids were excited about all of the groceries too.......but not for the same reason I was.

Grocery castles???

What can I say, I have creative children!

I get all of my couponing information from an amazingly wonderful website called www.pinchingyourpennies.com

It's where I learned all of the tricks of the trade --- so if you want to become a couponing queen too, check it out!

Feel free to ask me any questions as well. I'd love to hear your comments!

Thanks for reading ---- have a fabulous day!!!

The Transformation of Junk

2010-06-25T15:15:00.023-06:00

I've been a very busy girl for the last two weeks. It started when my sweetheart of a Sister-in-law, Jamila, told me I just had to check out this awesome blog about decorating called All Things Thrifty. When I finally found some spare time to sit down and look at it (spare time? what's that?) I was hooked! I love the shabby chic style that she uses, and it's all so simple to do --- I kept thinking, "hey, I could do that."

So the next morning I got up extra early so I could make it to the D.I. right when they opened their doors.

Um, did I just say that?

Yes. I. Did. There's no shame in being a D.I. lover --- just ask my sister Heidi --- she has been a shameless D.I. addict for quite a few years now (although, the other day when a lady asked where she got her cute capris, Heidi ~~was too embarrassed to admi~~t forgot she'd bought them at the D.I. hmmm).

I will admit that I have now gotten up early not once, but twice, in order to get first dibs at the DI --- that place may very well become my new favorite place to shop :)

Imagine my delight when I found these three beauties!

Now, I know you're probably thinking "UUUGGGHHHH!" They're hideous, right?

But I knew they had great hidden potential, and I was really excited to try out the glazing techniques that I had read about. So I brought the bad boys home and gave them a major facelift!

I started by giving them a good cleaning --- which is the worst part in my opinion --- I hate cleaning up other people's stuff! Yes, I do it every day (kids, kids friends, hubby) but to clean up after a total stranger --- to actually have to wipe mysterious hairs out of drawers, can you say EEEEWWWWWW! seriously.

But once you've got them all spic and span, that's when the fun starts. The first thing I did was give them a good coat of primer. I've learned from my own experience and from the advice of Brooke at A.T.T. that starting with a good quality primer is a must. I've painted other large projects before without priming first, and it takes twice as long because you have to do twice as many coats of paint. Save yourself a headache and prime first.

Next, I spray painted them. Whooo Hoooo for spray paint! I can't believe it's actually taken me this many years to figure out how much easier it is to use a spray can instead of a dang paint brush.

A couple of years ago, I painted this entire thing using a four inch foam brush....it took for-e-ver!

It does cost a little more to buy spray paint than it would just to buy a can of paint, but it's soooo much faster, and we all know that "time is money" right? Right.

After painting, I put on a thin coat of glaze, this time using a paintbrush. On my first attempt, I used a brown tinted glaze. I had the hutch completely finished when I started thinking I wasn't loving it.

I don't know what it was, maybe the brown on white just made it look dirty or something, but I played around a little bit with different colors and decided that I liked the look of the black glaze better.

Sooooo, I started over.

And although I'm sure my glazing technique will improve after practice, I have to say that I really do l.o.v.e. the finished look. A little shabby with a little chic --- perfect!

The furniture cost me a total of $32, and I probably spent about $40 on the primer, paint, glaze and polyurethane. And I spent about 5 hours working on them (including my re-do).

Here are the before and after pictures side by side:

Pretty amazing what a little paint can do isn't it. I'm sorta proud of myself. *patting self on the back* :)

Let me know what you think.

My New Blog

2010-06-24T08:54:00.005-06:00

After being inspired by some super cute and fabulous blogs all about decorating on a budget, I've decided to join in the fun and create my own *awesome* blog about decorating deals! Does this mean I think I'm some sort of expert on the subject?

Um, no.

But I do really enjoy decorating, and I've actually discovered that I like to "save" old furniture by refinishing it (paint can do amazing things).

If you're like me, you've thought to yourself more than once, "I could be a fabulous decorator, and my house would look amazing if only I had the money." *sob, sigh*

Well my friends, that is exactly why I'm starting this blog, ~~to get myself off my rear and get some things done around my house~~ to help give you some easy, practical and most importantly thrifty, frugal, cheap ideas for sprucing up that wonderful place you like to call home.

Now, here's a little disclaimer for those of you who follow my "family" blog....

um, I know you are laughing hysterically at the thought of me being able to keep a blog updated regularly --- ha, ha!! I admit that I've been somewhat of a major slacker in that department, Buuutttt, I'm going to do much, much better from now on. *crossing fingers*

The idea of doing this blog --- and becoming a decorating-on-a-dime diva --- has me super duper excited!!

I plan to be constantly creating, and sharing all the nitty gritty details along the way --- the good, the bad and the ugly!

I hope to turn my pretty-cute-but-could-use-some-help house into a fabulously beautiful home, one room at a time, and I hope to be able to inspire you just a little during the journey, I hope you'll join me!!!