Redoing Dining Chairs for Miraim

Last year at this time I had been regaling you guys with tales of my niece's dining room.

You can check out that story here. here. and here. 

Miriam and I had found 8 chairs for her dining room.

EIGHT!!!!!

ARMCHAIRS!!!!!

And I may have told her last year.....

that I would glue, paint, reupholster and sew pillows for 

ALL

of them.....

Welllllll.......

So far I've done 4 of them.

This is not my fault....

no, no, no.....

Miriam is supposed to bring the undone four and exchange them with the ones I've 

brilliantly 

finished.

Here is a shot of one of the finished chairs....

But while I wait for her to bring the other 4!!!!!

I will now show off what I've already done!!!!!

We started with this.....

Don't they look nice????

Well they weren't!!!!

They were in horrible condition.

They were some of the most uncomfortable  chairs 

in the universe!!!!!

They had probably come from some school or business, because the way they were glued together in repairs was something baaaadddddd.

They had rounded plugs to cover the holes for the screws, which is a really tacky detail, according to Betsy.....

They're easier to install, because you don't have to worry about the face of the plug lining up with the chair frame.

So, I popped them out, and replaced them with flat ones that I sanded down....

Now they're ready for the paint!!!!

Milk paint to the rescue!!!!!

I used Miss Mustard Seeds new line of milk paint in Lucketts Green.

They took two coats, and then I added some details.

The one on the right had some cream chalk paint detailing.

I painted the edge of the top bar, the circle and the grooved lines.

On the back I added a circle outline by dipping a bottle cap in the paint.....

On the back of the top rail I wanted to paint numbers.

I couldn't find any stencils that I liked, so I used the Graphic Fairy's numbers that I printed out and traced.

But I still needed a No. and I couldn't find one, so I made one up, drew it out.....

So, then I tried to make my own stencil......

Well, that was a big fat failure.....

 So I went and got me some of that white school house chalk and scrubbed the back of the drawing and traced it onto the chair.

Then I had to go and get me one of those there #2 liner brushes that I've been reading about.

BOY!!!!

The right tool really makes a difference.

So I hand painted the #$% numbers on the back of the chairs.

What a pain the the @$$!!!!!

And there are 8 of them.....

NOW AT THIS POINT

I LEARNED ABOUT A STENCIL COMPANY 

THAT HAD JUST WHAT I NEEDED!!!!!!!

It's called Maison de Stencils!!!!!

Well.....

Needless to say I have now bought a lot of stencils from them.

Warning!!!!!

They are not cheap, but I like to spend my money on this kind of stuff.

Who needs diamonds when you can buy stencils???

So for the next four chairs, still to be done.....

I am going to paint them in cream chalk paint with Lucketts Green for the detailing, and use my new stencils.

I like it when all the chairs don't match.

YES I DO!!!!!

THIS IS NOT AN EXCUSE!!!!!

Anyway, 

back to the chairs.....

I was interested to see how the milk paint would chip on the chairs.

When I used it on my dining table it didn't chip at all, so I had to help it along.

One these chairs it chipped too much, so I bought some bonding agent from Miss Mustard Seed and touched up the places that I felt were too distressed.

The picture above is what it looked like when it first started chipping.

It just went a little too far.....

The pictures below is how I got it to look when I was done. 

Then I stripped the old fabric and padding off the old seats and added new 2" medium density foam, covered that in dacron and then put the new fabric on.

We used the fabric that matches the walls and draperies.

So here it is all painted with it's new seat.....

I like the way the milk paint looks....

Just a nice cottagey beat up look.....

But these chairs were still not very comfortable.

The backs just were not well designed for the human body.

So Miriam and I went back out to Calico Corners to look for fabric for the back pillows.

We didn't bring a chair with us, 'cuz that would have been too smart......

I thought that I could do it without a chair.

I am an idiot.

So we brought back several samples to try out.

I was looking for something in a green ticking stripe or check.

I WAS WRONG!!!!!

When we got back to my house and saw the fabrics on the chair, I realized what I really needed was a blue to match the background color of the main fabric.

Calico Corners was closing at 5:00.

It was now 4:00.

Calico Corners was a good 35 minutes away!!!!!!

Sooooooo.......

Miriam and I went flying back out there.

Then it was like being on Project Runway at Mood.

We were given 20 minutes to find a blue that would work and buy it......

(Actually, the ladies who worked there were very sweet, and stayed open an extra 15 minutes for us, 'cuz we was freekin' out!!!!!

Well, we found the perfect fabric!!!!!

So, here's a picture of the chair with the new blue pillow on the back!!!!!

The fabric is this really pretty quilted looking stuff!!!!

I sewed the pillow with a flange ruffle,

and then,

stick a fork in me.....

I was done!!!!!

So the chairs went from this                                     to this

I love them, they look like old garden chairs to me.

Now I just have to do 4 more.....

OY!!!!

Latah, Gatah

Partying at:

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The Last Waltz

Oh Kay campers.....

Let's finish up this story about the Junior League Showhouse I did in 1997.

We've gone over the floor plan.....

We've gone over the fabrics.....

We've gone over the dance floor.....

And the musician's dais.....

The upholstered servers.....

Doesn't it seem like I'm milking the story?????

Actually, I don't like writing long posts.

Some of my readers...,

(you know who you are),

 have short attention spans.

Today I'm going to start with all the toss pillows.

I really like to needle point.

I listen to books on tape while I do it.

I can waste a #$% load of time doing this..

It's a really wonderful past time when one has no life!!!!!

I designed and needle pointed all the pillows I am about to show you.

ISN'T THIS EXCITING????

I tried to make every saying relate to the party atmosphere.

I even did a pillow that said "Waltz", but I don't got no shot of it.....

I sold every pillow I made in this room!!!!!

I am da bomb!!!!!

I showed you the pillows on the musician'a chairs, but here I am showing then again.

'Cuz I'm talkin' about pillows here!!!!

I also wanted to show this round pillow.

It's an example of the graphic impact a stripe can achieve if cut and sewn on the diagonal,.

You can make either a square, or as in this case, a cross.

 I wanted the room to have a feel as if a real family lived here.

After all, doesn't every normal family have a ball room?????

So I added some personal touches to the mirror over the mantel by sticking some cards and invitations into the frame

 And as a last detail.....

I laid an Aubusson rug over the sisal carpet to help delineate the seating area and add a little color and pattern, 'cuz after all, 

I'm all about the color and pattern!!!!! 

So that brings to a conclusion the story about the ballroom.....

Oh, Wait!!!!!

I'm not done!!!!!

Couple of folks asked about how long this whole process took.

Well, from start to finish, it took several months.

Show house rooms go faster than normal jobs because we're working under really tight time constraints.

But we still have to deal with the time it takes factories and work rooms to create the items we dream up.

The overall conception and design process has to happen really quickly, usually within a couple of weeks, because we are so tight on time.

I start with measuring the room and doing floor plans and elevation drawings.

I draw an elevation of each wall, so that when it's time to install the room, I know exactly where each print, picture and plate is going to be hung.

By doing elevations, it's also really helpful in designing the draperies and any other window treatments I decide to use.

Sometimes I'll do a perspective of the room also, it helps with things like lamp selection, etc.

This way when it comes time to install the design; that process goes fairly quickly because I've worked out pretty much every detail in advance.

Oh Kay!!!

Now I'm done!!!!

Latah, Gatah

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