Yep...I did it...(with some help from mom)

So the great reveal of my amazing new couch...recovered for a low cost of only $180 you heard it folks...I used six- 6x9 paint drop cloths and purchased my pillows on sale at JcPenneys for $12 each. The only other supply I needed was one king size quilt batting from Wal-Mart which was about $10...

If you saw my previous post, I started by creating the slipcover for the base of the couch, finishing the arms, but leaving the under cushion part open to pull out the sofa bed...

I waited for my mom, Roseanna to come up to tackle the cushions. First, we took the cushions out of their old covers and wrapped them with the quilt batting. We stitched the seam up with a whip stitch. This took about two hours, but we watched the movie Elizabeth: The Golden Age with Cate Blanchett while we were stitching, so the time flew by...

Next, we sewed miles and miles of piping...a job my mother now enjoys..."very therapeutic" she says. While she sewed the piping, I cut out the pieces. Then we pinned the fabric and piping to the cushions, inside out and then off to the sewing machine we went...





and just a short two days...and eight hours later...


It looks like Lawson approves...

Terry's Favorite Chair

When we moved, we had several pieces of furniture that we just could not part with, even though we knew they had seen better days. One of these items was my husband Terry's favorite office chair. This leather chair was the most comfortable chair to sit in while surfing the net. A small tear in the seat ended up as full blown rip right down the middle of the seat. Unwilling to throw it away, it made the move with us only to find a new home in the basement...in cue with about six other chairs on my "to be reupholstered" list...

Last weekend, I visited the chair graveyard in the basement determined to give one of the chairs there a new life...and so I chose the leather office chair. With the help of Layton, we ripped the seat right down to the springs.



This took about two hours...why so many staples...why...why...why...

I decided not to take the leather off of the top part of the chair because it was still in good shape. I was going to slipcover the chair with use paint drop cloth so that I can wash the slipcover when needed (kind of a necessity...three kids...need I say more). I added new foam and wrapped the foam with batting and covered with drop cloth fabric. I then stapled tightly to the bottom of the chair. This was the only part that was upholstered. Next, I cut the fabric to size and pinned the fabric together over the chair. I included piping in between the layers. I made a fitted skirt for the bottom, to cover the upholstered seat. (For a great tutorial dvd on making slipcovers check out Shelley's blog.)

After the pinning was complete, I sewed an edge on the bottom of the top slipcover and added a ruffle and ties to the bottom fitted skirt.

I still have to spray paint the bottom,and remove the sticker... Can you see it there?... but I think it came out great...What do you think?

My new treasures...

This was definitely a great weekend for treasure hunting...and finding...as I prepared for a yard sale this week (aided by two of my young neighbors, David and Peter, who are fearless...and by that I mean they are not afraid to dig amongst spiders and cobwebs in my old barn)...I found some unexpected treasures...and I wanted to share them with the world...

First, I found a NEW set of twins...

I just love these chairs and the best part is I had just saw a chair just like them featured on Design Sponge. You can check out this chair's before and after here...

Then I found this great kitchen scale...


...which my mother immediately traded me for a fan that I let her have last time she was up...

She must have REALLY liked the scale because she even offered to spray paint it for me...

Later that day, my neighbor, Aunt Becky, told me about an old typewriter she
had in her barn...and she gave it to me... I heart this typewriter...It is going to look so amazing in my library...but what would a library be without...

A LIBRARY table...yeah!!! I found this at the end of the day at a yard sale...and I got
it for only $60...I have been looking high and low for a real library table...when I got
out of the car...and saw it I actually started running...SO EXCITED...

Stay tuned to see before and after pictures after I refinish some of these
pieces...Ohhhhhh MOM!! We need to get to the fabric store...

Adventures in Reupholstery...Kelly and Bob's Chair Part I

So I have to admit...this was a new adventure for me. It all started when I stashed a chair (which my husband purchased for 50 cents at a yard sale) in my barn and held on to it for five years swearing I would someday recover it. One day while digging in the barn I found the chair and pulled it out. As it is nearly impossible to get anything accomplished while watching three children, I called my mother and she suggested that I get started and just start ripping it apart first...Little did I know that pulling out nails, tacks and staples would be such a therapeutic task.

So, I ripped the chair down to nothing...see...


I had no intentions of reupholstering on my own... in fact, the next week my mother came up and we bought all of the materials and I sent it home with her, completely content to find a new chair to dismantle. (Check out my mother's story about the chair on her blog After I Finish This Row).

So, I continued on with my dismantle therapy...I was hooked...One day I remembered that I had an old favorite chair somewhere in the barn. When I asked my husband he said he had thrown it out...but I found it. This chair was a hand-me-down from my husband's sister Kelly and brother-in-law Bob. By the time we were done with it, it looked like this:


I know...scary...but I got to work and in the end it looked like this...
But this time I did not stop here...and put the frame in my mother's car. I decided I was going to give this a try... So I went to Joann's, and bought fabric and foam..determined to give this a try.

First, I used a staple gun to add fresh burlap. Then I used this upholstery "stuff" and weaved it together to make the back. The chair had cardboard there previously, but I didn't think it would last very long, so I used the weave method instead...Here is the chair after these additions:


Looks so much better doesn't it?? Next came the foam and organic cotton batting...


Completely foamed and batted...


One "How to make bias tape" tutorial, thanks to Erin at Patchwork Underground, one "How to make cording" tutorial, thanks to Jen at Just Another Day in the Lives of... and a little sewing later and ....

Voila!!! A New Chair...Or should I say...a new old chair!



Not too bad, huh? I would be lying if I said I wasn't ecstatic that this project will not be added to my new found favorite blog CraftFail, my mother and I laughed until we cried last night looking at some of the mishaps on this site. Stay tuned for Part 2...after I sand the legs and put this chair back together...