DIY: Refinishing a Chair

It seems like shopping at thrift stores is becoming more and more common, but I never really understood why. But as I have gotten more and more into design, I thought that maybe I could do what I see all over the tv decorating shows or on blogs and take something not so great and turn it into my own little master piece. A few months ago I did some research and found out that I had a goodwill store close to our house.  So the kids and I ventured out and made our first trip to Goodwill.  I went with an idea that I wanted to refinish a chair.  It seems like when we have a lot of people over for dinner, we don't have enough seating.  Therefore, if I could find a chair it would be a fun experiment and if it turned out I could actually use it in the house.  When we got there we headed for the furniture and to my surprise I found a chair for $3.99.  It was a little wobbly but I thought that I could just tighten up the screws and it would be fine.  It also had plastic on the seat so I thought maybe it wasn't as dirty as other things ( I am a little germaphobic) and decided to buy it.  I started carrying it up to the front in one hand while pushing a double stroller in the other when a worker told me that I only need to take the tag up to the front (good to know for future purchases).  I was so excited and couldn't wait to get started.

This is what it looked like when I bought it:

DIY steps to refinishing the chair: (didn't take pictures because hadn't started this blog)

1. Using a sander, sanded the wood part of the chair.
2. Dusted off and washed the chair with a slightly wet rag.
3. Took the seat cushion off and tighten any screws that need to be tighten.
4. Applied 3 light coats of spray paint letting them dry for 24 hours between each coat ( it was cold outside)
5. Using pliers, took out all the staples that were holding the plastic as well as the fabric to the wooden frame of the seat.
6. Measured the wood frame to see how much fabric and foam I would need to recover the seat.  Add a few inches, my philosophy:  better to have too much then not enough.
7. Lay the foam on top of the wood frame and trace with a pencil the shape of the seat.  Cut the foam to that shape.
8. Cut the fabric, making sure the pattern is centered and how you want it to look.  Take into consideration how big your foam padding is and add enough fabric so that is will cover it.
9. Lay the fabric down, then the foam, and finally place the wood frame on top.  Using a staple gun pull the fabric up and over the wood frame and staple away.  Make sure you are pulling the fabric tight as you go because you don't want to to bunch and it will loosen up over time. 
10. When doing the corners (this gave me some trouble)  the best way I figured was to wrap it like you are wrapping a present.  Lay the one side of the fabric down and wrap the other part over it.
11. Screw the newly covered seat cushion onto to the chair.  
12. Have a seat!  

Finished Chair

I am very happy with how my first thrift store project turned out and can't wait to do another.

Upcycling

With little ones we are constantly using straws and I wanted to find a better storage spot for them instead of the box or bag they come in.  I thought about buying a new canister or jar to put them in, but then thought is there anything I have on hand that would work? 

I have been saving old pasta sauce jars and thought this would work great.  I added a simple label from chalkboard contact paper, and viola!  I think this would have taken only 2 minutes if I didn't rewrite "straws" about 15 times.  

Now a much nicer holder for our straws and the best part, free!  Had everything on hand.

From this:

To this:

 

Shoe Organizer

Our house has a no shoe policy so the kids and my shoes go in a basket in the laundry room and my husbands shoes go on a shoe rack outside. But sometimes the shoes don't make it in the basket or the shoe rack and end up on the floor.

So I decided to buy a shoe organizer.

Spent about 5 minutes with the help of my 1 year old son and this is what we ended up with:

Now all of our shoes have their own place on the back of the laundry room door. No more tripping over shoes or digging through the basket trying to find a shoe. I know this will save us time when we are heading out the door and it looks so much neater.

Little Boy's Closet

January is that time of year that everyone decides it it time to focus on organizing. I know I got bit by the organizing bug and have found myself trying to organize everything at one time instead of picking one task and finishing it before I start another. One spot in our home I thought needed some attention was my son's closet. I thought the best approach would be to completely empty it out and figure out just what was in there. As I started emptying it out I realized it is one of those places that is a catch all for everything. I had things I needed to donate in there, things that didn't fit in my daughter's closet, things I didn't know where I should put, and even some old lamp shades. Once I cleared everything out and started putting back just what should be in there I was surprised on how little stuff went back in and how much room there was in his closet now. In a short amount of time it went from this

to this

I want everyone to know that you can start small and continue to improve something as time goes on. Now when I open up my son's closet doors instead of wanting to shut them as fast as I can, I smile comes across my face and I take some time to think about what I can do to next to improve it.