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I'm on the hunt. (imagine me in fabulous riding boots and a wonderful tweed jacket with my beagle by my side)

I've got a piece of furniture begging for a paint job. It's true. It told me it wanted to be painted. In a heavy Scottish accent oddly enough. So it's very possible I misunderstood, but I'm certain he said he wanted to be navy.

Happy to oblige Scottish furniture, but the problem is there are no fewer than 10,000 different paint colors claiming to be navy. You may remember I've had navy paint problems in the past, so I'm still rather nervous about making another navy pick.

There is after all a fine line between "that's a really dark royal blue" and "is that black...or blue". I'm going for "hot damn that is one fine piece of navy furniture!".

Something like this...

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So don't hold out on me. Do you have any good navy paint colors in your stash? Please share if you do!

Do you have a color you can never seem to get right? Have any talking furniture? For more furniture ideas see my Pinterest board.

If you could paint my dining room bench any color, what would it be?


Would you go neutral?

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Green?

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Or maybe pink?

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Orange possibly?

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Of course, there are also a million other wonderful colors out there as well. As you all know, I'm no chicken when it comes to color. So I want to know - what would get your vote?

Good gracious. I've been cussing more than usual and my hands look like I've been working on a barge. This can mean only one thing - I'm reupholstering again.

Remember these beauties?


Oy what a labor of love they became. They took far longer than I had planned. I'm distracted easily. But wahoo, they are finished. Now no sense in prolonging the reveal even longer, let's get to it.

First step was stripping both chairs, some very light sanding and then painting them black. For some reason I had always envisioned these painted white, but my mom suggested black and I think it was a rather smart choice. Good work Jan.

newly painted chairs against my newly painted walls

Now compared to the couch, this project was a dream. No guessing on what part of the furniture to start with or thinking ahead about how each section would relate to the other. Nope. There is a seat and there is a back. Easy peasy lemon squeezey.

The outside back goes first. I made sure to rip off the old fabric pieces as much in tact as possible to use those pieces as templates for my new pieces.

The hubs helped me out on the inaugural cut.

These chairs have the same grooves as the couch did so following the staple line was really straight forward. After stapling the piece in place, I trimmed off the excess.


That band in the middle of the chair was there when I stripped the fabric. It is sturdy as can be and helps to keep the front cushion from pushing thru the back of the chair. If the first upholsterer was smart enough to put that in, who am I to argue? So back in it went.


With the outside back in place, next came the inside back... or the front back. The terminology on this chair got very confusing. Luckily the back cushions were in great shape, so I could reuse them. Score.

that's fabric. laying on top of a piece of foam. photographic genius.

After stapling and more stapling, I landed here. Staples showing but piping was in the works.


The base below the seat cushions were easy as well. Just a matter of covering the old base and stapling. Just like wrapping a present. Or riding a bike. Pick your analogy. And a cheat I made - you can see the rip in the fabric in the very back of the seat. I ran out of fabric. But a cushion is going over top of this so I didn't sweat it. If you come over and pull up your seat cushion to see the 'not all the way covered' base I'll be happy to pay for the extensive therapy you'll need to get over the horror. I'm a generous host.


Next up came the cushion. And as many of you know, I'm not sewing. I bought a sewing machine, but haven't yet taken it out of the box. Don't judge. There have been a lot of good Real Housewife franchises that require my attention. So, I sent them out to a local genius by the name of Catherine Healey (if you are local let me know and I'll give you her info). She made my cushion vision a reality.

I couldn't be happier with my little babies. Two words - contrast piping.


I also used some of the leftover piping for the back cushions. No more staples.


And with that, these chairs went from this


to this


Holla! Big difference.

A few things I learned this time around.


Although the couch was far more daunting in size, this project seemed to be harder because there are two. So everything I did, had to be done again. A big downer when you are on your third straight night of staple pulling and your hand is turning into a claw.

A chair like this, which doesn't have to be a 'central/big furniture' piece is the perfect opportunity to have some fun with fabric and patterns. For example, check out the fabulous junk in this chair's trunk.


This chair looks just as good from the back as it does from the front. And from their position in the living room they will be enjoyed from both directions. (more on that with the living room reveal)

And most importantly, embrace color. Live a little. It's good for the soul.

And now, just like with childbirth, I will promise that I will never again go thru the labor of reupholstering. Until this weekend when I see a sweet little chair in need of a little love.

And please keep your thoughts and prayers with everyone in the northeast who are dealing with the effects of Sandy.

I've been cussing more than usual and my hands look like a Pollock painting. This can mean only one thing - work on the living room has begun. (You can check out what it used to look like here.)

I've already painted the ceiling, walls and trim and we are now at the blank pallet stage.
I rather like the look of the dangling cords draped into the middle of the room, don't you? It is super fun with kids.

But I'm not only painting walls. Remember these beauties?

They've been so hot in this heat wave that they stripped down to nothing. But they've gotten quite a tan (aka - black paint). Their new outfits are underway.

And today I'll be doing a little somethin' somethin' with this little can.
It reads a bit more orange in this pic but is really a fabulous raspberry. Not a color choice for everyone, but luckily I'm not everyone...I'm me. Very after school special I know. I think Neve Campbell will play me in the movie.

This process will be long as I try to get work done during naps and weekends, but I am of the opinion that the more upheaval this causes the rest of my house, the quicker I will be to get it done and get back to normal.

Does anyone else put things on their list that are small or they've already done just to have something to cross off? Well I do...

I'm currently working with a great family on a kitchen remodel, which always makes me think about my own kitchen (I'm selfish that way). Lately I'm really loving the whole two tone cabinets cabinets combo.

House and Home

The Kitchn

Tommy Smythe via House and Home

Tommy Smythe via House and Home

Decorators Show House via Design Indulgence

Obviously Tommy and I are ment to be besties as he's done this in two kitchens. Move over Sarah!

So what do you think? Ever something you would consider?

Oh Casey Kasem. You were the Confucius of our time. Now we are stuck with Ryan Seacrest. But this is a (worthy) discussion for another time.


Today I'm talking gold. I'm loving it. I need it. Since finishing my glitter vase for the Pinterest Challenge, I've been looking for something else to dip in gold and it didn't take me long to find my next victim subject. 


You all might remember these little honeys I picked up at an estate sale several months back.
The stars, my favorite detail of the tables, were just screaming for some gold.
I've had the tables in my living room for several weeks now, on approval from the basement, trying out the current finish. And although it wasn't bad, it wasn't working for me.


So the first step was to take the table out and gave it several light and even coats of my trusty black Rust-oleum Painter's Touch Ultra Cover spray paint.

The table after her first coat of black

After 4 coats of black and a day of sunbathing to dry, my stars were ready for their closeup.
I got a Krylon Gold Leaf Pen at Michael's and went to town. I love this pen. It is like a marker for grown ups. I put a napkin under the star to protect the rest of the table and then just sat down and colored. (That star spins, I know pretty cool, so I would just paint the part of the star that was on the napkin, spin and repeat.) And it dries super fast so I was able to do several coats rather quickly.

For those of you just joining in, you can catch up on the sofa saga with part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4.

I'm not a tease, no matter what you may have heard about me. But I feel like I've been dangling a carrot in front of you for too long.

Now technically I can't call this 100% complete as it is missing one rather important piece (the cushion is unexpectedly delayed) but I couldn't wait any longer. And anyway, my Polly Perfect card expired long ago, so I figure its better to show you real life, right?

There are so many great tutorials out there for reupholstering. Linda, Tiffany and Erin can all school you on the ins and outs. So I won't reinvent the wheel, but I will share some of what I learned about the process. (I'm going to go ahead and pretend that you are going to actually read this list and not just scroll thru to see the final pictures.)

It was easier than I thought. This is not to say that it was an easy project, but I had imagined bruises and cuts from ripping out old fabric and -not kidding - 3,000 staples. I thought there would be screaming, crying, punching, cussing. (Obviously I have a very dramatic imagination). But I made it thru with only one small cut. I did cuss through the whole thing, but I pretty much cuss thru everything so that's not unusual. I did find though that there were a wicked number of opportunities for 'That's what she said...' in upholstery. But that's a story for another post.

BYOF. That F is for Friend people! There are many areas of this project that are a two-person job. For me at least. I am sure there are master upholsters who can hold the fabric tight with one hand on both ends while stapling. Their friends probably call them 'The Octopus' or something cool like that and they wear hats with funny sayings on them. I am not one of those people. The hubs was a huge help in keeping things taut (that's what she said) while stapling. We were a rockin good team on this project and usually we don't work well together on DIY stuff, so that is a "bold statement" as John Travolta would say.

Upholstery is not a no-sew project. I don't sew, hence me sending out the cushion, but I now think I wanna. After my dear friend Becca (who also designed my blog header) helped me to sew the piping, I realized sewing isn't as intimidating as I always thought. Btw, when I say 'help' I really mean she did everything while I stood over her shoulder yapping in her ear. But it looks fun. I think the trick is figuring out the machine. Once you've got that all you need is time and the fabric world is your oyster!

Foam is a B@*#$. It comes in all different depths and densities. The ladies at the fabric store expect you to be as knowledgeable as they are on the subject and it never seems to want to cooperate. Don't get me started on foam.

All in though, I enjoyed this far more than I anticipated and I'm over the moon with how it turned out. I anticipated an epic failure, when in reality I've saved myself over $600!

So on to the eye candy. Let's remember first were we began.



And here is where we are today.

Sorry for the crooked angle, I was blinded by staring into that crazy window

All taut and piped up. Not bad for an old lady.

I really need to learn how to un-yellow my nighttime pics

So there she is, in all her 95% glory. I'll take some legit beauty shots when the cushion comes in. Does this give you the upholstery DIY bug? I say go for it! You might surprise yourself.

I'm linking up to POWW @ Primitive & Proper