Chair Reupholstering Anti-Tutorial

I reupholstered a chair. Isn't it cute?

Want to know a secret?

It wasn't easy.

IT. SUCKED.

Big time.

This was a multiple bottle of wine project.

I'm not going post a tutorial because there are a few really, really great ones already out there and if you follow them, you will probably have a delightful reupholstering experience. (This one from Little Green Notebook is uh-maze-ing.)

But, I do want to add this: If you'd like to have a blood-free, pain-free, Alcoholics Anonymous-free experience, please take heed to the following nuggets of wisdom:

Befo' - Ugly Alert!

During Original Chair Deconstruction
1. When using makeshift instruments to pry out the original eleventy bajillion teeny staples already in the chair, do not stab yourself in the hand with a flat-head screwdriver. And definitely don't do it twice.

2. Don't just cut away the fabric, pull out the staples. Cutting the fabric will give you an inaccurate pattern for cutting the new fabric. And you will cut a new piece too small. And you will cry. Because upholstery fabric is expensive. And you ruined a huge piece. Because it doesn't fit.

During Painting
1. Don't ask your 10-year-old neice to help you paint if you care about brush strokes. Or drips. Or spilled paint. Or ruined paintbrushes. Or maintaining your sanity.

2. Don't paint only the parts of the chair you think people will be able to see. Paint the whole thing. Or SOMEONE will see the tiny half-inch square of primered, unpainted wood on the underside of one of the feet and tell you that you "missed a spot."

Extreme Close Up

During Sewing
1. Don't do it yourself if your sewing skills are exclusively the result of your 8th grade Home Economics class when you spent 6 months trying to sew a scrunchie.

2. Don't hot glue new fabric to old upholstery buttons. It works, but it's lumpy. My buttons look like they have elephantitis.  

3. Avoid this: Measure how much piping you will need for the chair. Then measure it again using a different tape measure. Then measure it again. Then make a foot more than that. Then still be short several inches of piping. Then throw a temper tantrum. Then drink several beers. Then care less about it the lack of piping. Then say "I'm sure no one will notice," and attach it anyway. Then pass out go to bed. Then wake up in the morning and rip the piping off and cry a little. Then start over.

During Reassembly
1. Don't use a manual staple gun. They are great when you need to insert 2 staples - they are the devil if you need to insert 150 thousand staples. If you do use a manual gun, this will happen - after your hands seize up for a while and then return to normal, you will still get sporadic hand craps randomly for the next few days, making it impossible to apply lip gloss, send text messages or change the channel on the TV. I almost blinded myself putting my contact lenses in. And no one thinks eye patches are sexy.

I hope that these little life lessons will assist you if you ever decide to tackle a project like this.

Me? I'm hoping this little project will serve as a reminder to never again reupholster something, in the case that I have a mental breakdown and say, "Hmm, this item of furniture would be awesome in another color/fabric/pattern."

Then can reflect on my adorable chair and my carpal tunnel and multiple hand scars.

And step away from the staple gun.

Far, far away.

I have a post on this mirror coming soon

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Autumn Vase (or Crap + Hot Glue = Hot Crap)

Happy Wednesday! According to my calculations, we have 2.5 days until the weekend!

Say wha...? Heck yes!

So, anywhosie.

My birthday was a few weeks ago, (don't tell anyone,) and my sister gifted me these ADORABLE votive holders from Yankee Candle. I'll wait while you admire them.

Well, what do you put between two gorgeous votive holders?

(Definitively not the matching pillar holder from Yankee Candle because that thing was like 20 bucks!)

So, I hot glued some fake leaves (they were on sale at the HobLob) to a vase I had, tied a piece of twine around it and filled it with some glittery acorns I picked up at a yard sale.


End result:

Hey, the owl is back!

One of my biggest issues is decorating an 8-foot mantle - cause it's HUGE. If I only put up a few things, it looks barren. If I fill it up with stuff, it looks like a yard sale threw up on it. I can't win.

Does anyone else have this problem? If so, please help.

Crayon Art (or Does anyone know how to get crayon off of walls?)

This weekend my niece stayed over at my house and we got in a little "crafting time." She is hands-down the most creative little girl and she really adore making things, so we tried out some crayon art.

We used a blow dryer to melt the crayons after we hot-glued them to the canvas.

NOTE: I had assumed that the crayon wax would melt downwards on the canvas in nice neat lines. We started with just newspaper on the floor to catch any runaway crayon. However, once my favorite 10-year-old got a blow dryer in her hands, we soon found out that wax will most definitely also end up on the walls, the blow dryer, your skin and the cat.

So here is Layla's final creation:

I think it turned out really well and looks amazing on her purple bedroom walls.

Layla loved it.

She told me, "I would TOTALLY buy this at an auction."

Which I thought was funny because:

1. As far as I know, she has never been to an auction.

2. She has no money.


But then I thought about it.

1. I've never been to an auction.

2. I have no money.


But, she is right. I'd still TOTALLY buy her wickedly awesome masterpiece.

She is such a rockstar.

NOTE#2: I made one of these for the guest bedroom (whimsical? or just weird in an adult room?) which is done in yellows, greens and browns. So, who knew that green, yellow and brown crayons, when all melted together, look like baby poop?

That is one project that is NOT going up on the wall.

Candy Corn Wreath (or Why I Will Never Eat Another Candy Corn... For At Least 2 Days)

FALL IS ALMOST HERE!!!!! (Can anyone tell how excited I am???)

In honor of the bestest season EVER, I spent a lovely day with my sister and niece crafting fall decor.

Kelly (my sister) painted a ceramic pumpkin and my niece (Layla) made some sort of wall art.

Me? I made a candy corn wreath! Nothing says "autumn" like tri-colored, waxy sugar cones.

And, let me just say this: I bought 4 bags of candy corn. I mean, fairly large bags. I used about one and a half on my wreath and gave one bag to my sister.

But all 4 bags are gone.

So, SOMEHOW, between my sister, niece, brother-in-law, boyfriend and me - one and a half large bags of candy corn were consumed.

In a period of a few hours.

I'm not sure how we are all still alive.

I vowed to never eat another candy corn. That was Sunday.

I ate some more on Tuesday.

I hope I will take my wedding vows more seriously!!

But then again, I don't think any man could tempt me as much as Halloween candy tempts me.

So my future husband is probably safe.

Supplies (Didn't use the Mod Podge. Sprayed with 3 coats of protective spray paint instead.)

Weeding out the broken ones. 

Layla eating the broken ones. 

Wrapped the wreath form in orange ribbon. 

And then glued on 57 bajillion candy corn. 

After about 2 hours of wrapping and gluing (and three girls with a sugar high) this is the finished product!

I felt like it was missing something with just the candy corn, so I wrapped an orange and white striped ribbon around it and LOVED IT! (I suck at blogging. I should have taken a photo of it without the ribbon. You can say I'm lame. I know I am.) I hung it on an old window I bought for $2 at a home improvement type thrift store. (I know, I couldn't believe a thrift store specifically for building stuff existed either.)


















I'm craptacular at staging, so here's an owl!

I think it's super cute, but I took it down for now. I'll put it back up around October 1st when I put out Halloween decor, since it looks more Halloweeny (LOL - Hallo-weenie) than "fall-ish". This fact annoys me a tiny bit. I used orange ribbon instead of black ribbon SPECIFICALLY because I wanted to be able to hang this wreath until the Christmas decor takes over.

But it definitely feels more Halloween than "fall," right? I mean, I eat candy corn for three months straight, but I'm probably the only one. What do you guys think?

Coming soon: The Halloween Mantle. I am currently scouting thrift stores for crap I can cover in black glitter.

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