Tag Archives: Furniture

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Hanging from the Chandelier

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I got it is my head that I needed a chandelier to hang above my Cherry Red kitchen table.  So I started searching for one.  Of course I hit Craigslist.  I found one right away and emailed on it.  I was about to go and get it when the man called me and informed me that his wife had actually sold it.  That’s what you get when dealing with Craigslist.

Long story short:  I found this one and grabbed it right away.  I was so excited about the Calla Lilly glass shades.  Once we got it home we realized that it was in pretty bad shape.  The tubes were all full of rancid water and there were chips and scratches everywhere.

The entire thing had to be taken apart, cleaned, rewired, painted and reassembled.  I have had a few project that required the daunting task of cleaning.  And more than once I have tried different chemical products. But you know what has worked the best?  Boiling hot water, a scrub brush and elbow grease.

The next step was to paint it, for this I used    Rust-Oleum Hammered Metal Black.  The Hammerd Metal paint leaves a nice finish because it has some depth to it when it dries.

I wanted to make the glass shade look a little more like flowers but did not want them to stand out too much.  To give the impression of a Calla Lilly bloom I spray painted the metal bands that screw over the socket with Krylon Gloss Sun Yellow.  It gave me exactly what I was looking for.

Once it was dry, Mr. Chaos re-wired the whole thing.  Then it was finally time to put it all back together and hang it up.  Now rather than a plain old pot light above my table, there is a beautifule Calla Lilly chandelier.

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Wing Back Chair Makeover

I am so excited to show you this.  It is my first real re-upholstering job.

I think I may be addicted…. I already have another wing back chair coming.

Okay, this is what I started with.  A VERY sturdy chair, great shape but not so nice fabric.  The fabric was really faded, super dirty and a little damaged. I found the chair on Craigslist, and picked it up this summer.  I paid about $25 for it.  What a deal! I was so excited about the transformation possibilities.  I got my hands on a coupon for 50% off 5 meters of fabric from FabricLand and I went for it.  With a friends help, I chose fabric that would look great in my living room.

The question I get most often is “How do you have time for all your projects with 3 kids and 2 dogs?” Part of the answer is pictured here…. When I am working on a project there are always children or dogs or cats or everyone ”helping” me.  For the things that are not child friendly… like using an air stapler… I wait until everyone is in bed and then I get to it. 

 

Taking apart the chair was a challenge.  It took a while for us (me and my incredibly patient husband) to get inside the chair.  Thankfully Mr. Chaos outsmarted the chair and we were able to take it apart.

I took it apart one piece at a time - removed the staples and separated the fabric from the chair structure.  After tracing the pieces onto the new fabric I re-stapled it onto the structure.  Some of the pieces were stitched together.  They needed to be unstitched, traced out and stitched back together. 

All together it took about 15 hours to compleat this project.  Unfortunately, while working on this chair I realized that I would not be able to keep it.  Trust me, I am not happy about this but the fabric I chose is NOT cat friendly.  Their claws catch the fabric and make it run.  So I have to part with this one.  It is for Sale!

But here it is, I think I will have a hard time saying good-bye!  Update: I decided to keep the chair! The cats have learned to leave it alone.

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Coffee Shelf

This project, to which a whole ton of credit goes to my very skilled husband, was something I have been looking forward to for a long time. 
 I have a space between the kitchen counter and the pantry that I have wanted to decorate somehow but couldn’t quite figure out what I wanted to do……. UNTIL NOW!
The picture of the coffee cup and steam was painted on this summer.  I used a projector and combined a few clipart pictures that I liked. 

And for the shelf…. 
My Handy Man D cut a piece of crown molding with a miter saw.  He held the crown at a 45 Degree angle and aligned the saw at a 45 degree angle.  This made a 90 degree corner for the shelf. 
The desired length is determined by the place where the shelf will eventually live and the width is determined by to width of the top board minus 1/4 of an inch. 
After the angles were glued together he attached the top board  and left a ¼ inch over hang on the front and sides.
Then it was my turn with some paint. I chose a dark espresso brown.  I used left over paint and added some acrylic craft paint to get the desired color.  If you do this, make sure that you only add water based to water based.  Then I glazed it with black tinted glaze. 

 
The difference a glaze makes cannot be overstated.  It brings out the movement in the wood and gives it so much character. 
It is attached to the wall with small L brackets that are screwed into studs. The shelf is then placed over the L brackets and centered as desired.  Then Handy Man D reached the drill in and with small screws attached the shelf to the brackets. 
It will also make a great picture frame shelf.  I think a plant will look really good on there as well.  But really where won’t a plant look great?   We may see this idea used again soon, but for a whole new piece of furniture………