furniture restoration projects.

PROJECT #1: 

Recently, while cleaning out the garage, which is currently a combination garage sale/ antique store, we came across an old rocking chair that needed an intense amount of work. We decided this would be a fun activity to do as a family because Madeline’s room lacked a rocking chair. It was definitely an experience to say the least!

We started by cleaning it off with the hose, which was done mostly by my daughter Madeline and ended with all of us looking like we had been hit with Super Soakers. However, she had a blast and got the job done!

After the chair looked spic and span, we sanded it down. My husband, who is definitely the repair guru around the house, got out some tools, and so did Madeline, and they reestablished the frame and the arms of the chair.  At this point, we were getting closer to it being ready to rock!

Sharing Daddy’s tools!

Next came the really entertaining part…the paint job! We went together and chose a light blue color that was similar to the original color of the chair and proceeded home to make a serious mess on the driveway. We all grabbed a brush and went to work! I really think just as much paint ended up on Madeline and the driveway as it did the chair, but she did a really impressive job for only turning three years old a few months ago!

It was a sad moment for Madeline when the chair was all painted because she could have put about 100 more coats on it, but it was time to move onto fabric options. We headed to Hancock Fabrics and chose the material and pattern we wanted for the seat cushions. We ended up leaving with a vintage striped pattern, but it wasn’t without a fight over Thomas the Train fabric. Oddly enough, even though times have changed since the 1950s, I was once again showed up by my husband on what should be the female aspect of this project, which was sewing the fabric onto the cushions. However, I am not going to put myself down because I am excellent at holding and handling the material and giving it to my husband as needed, if that counts!?

The finished product turned out much better than I thought it would from the looks of the chair at the start of this endeavor. Since we were able to reuse this chair for furniture in our home instead of sending it to the landfill, it was a green as well as a fun project to do as a family. Plus, I mean seriously a nursery is never complete without a chair to rock them to sleep in!

If you want to restore your own rocking chair, or any piece of furniture, and you haven’t given birth yet, it is still a great way to spend time with your significant other doing something that is more or less a little bit of a “man thing.” The payoff for your hard work is that you get the traditional rocking chair for your nursery or child’s bedroom at around $30 versus the high costs at the store buying new and you have made something that you can eventually pass down to the kids.

PROJECT #2 -

Got this twin bed frame for free for helping a friend out and it needed quite a bit of work. Here we go on our second furniture restoration project!

This is the frame as is. Needed some slight repairs, a good sanding, & a nice paint job --

First off my wonderful handyman of a husband fixed a broken piece with some wood glue. Wood glue is perfect because it does not expand & can be painted as well as sanded after drying (which is quick) --

Next came the sanding part, which was by FAR the worst part considering this piece needed quite a bit --

Then the fun part! Painting! I used light blue paint (same color we used for our hallway -- can we say reuse & recycle!?) because our daughter's favorite color is blue & we will be decorating her room with the hungry caterpillar by eric carlyle.  Did I mention Ball jars/mason jars are perfect for storing paint?!

And of course after the paint dried, we have a finished product! Can't wait to set it up in Madeline's room with her new bed set! --

SHARE your furniture restoration projects! I would love to see them! <3

things i am lovin' this week.

1- made some halloween treat bags for Mady's dance class. They loved them, especially since they were personalized with their names on them!

• Materials: 
• Purple Bags (as many as you need
• Large size googly eyes
•  Gold glitter glue
• Green squeeze (fine tip lid) paint
• Black squeeze (fine tip lid) paint
• Orange paint
• Hot Glue Gun

•  put names on in Gold Glitter Glue. Do on all bags. (make a decision according to name - whether to do at an angle or across the bag)
• after mostly dry, carefully paint pumpkins (basically circles, but you don't have to be exact -- it is a pumpkin after all)  in appropriate spots ( so the googly eye will have room later). Have to make a decision according to the length of the name.
• Let mostly dry, then hot glue LARGE googly eyes on the bag.
• Once all paint is completely dry, which should not be long, since you don't need to use a lot, accent gold glitter with green (I used a hunter green for depth), to the names and tops of pumpkins. I made a little cap and vine on the pumpkins in addition to the name accent.
• Add black accent to the pumpkin. Again does not have to be perfect, its a pumpkin. LOL I basically traced the pumpkin and added some lines in the middle.

•  With your finished product, tie orange ribbon at the top and add candy. We are putting a ring pop, small bag of M&Ms, a sucker, and some halloween bubbles (super cheap to grab at a local dollar store!)

 

2 -  pumpkin' pickin'!(and you can just consider 3 & 4 as lovely fall weather & baked pumpkin seeds!)