Finished Picture Frame Reveal/ Fair Weekend

Over the weekend I didn't get a lot finished, but I did get to pick up one of these. 

source

It's called a tack puller. It is REALLY useful tool for stripping a piece of furniture. Stripping furniture takes a lot more time than you would imagine because you have to get every S-I-N-G-L-E tack or staple out of the frame.  If you do not have a tack puller, a flat head screw driver will be sufficient, but it will go A LOT slower. Trust me on this one. 

I couldn't find one at my local walmart or Lowes, but I finally found one at my local lumber store. I purchased my tack puller for under $5. 

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I also finished the chalkboard picture frame. 

The paint has to cure for a week, so I cannot test it out just yet. I am sure this will become filled with my beloved children's artwork.

The "fishbowl" is filled with unrippened persimmons and pinecones. The pumpkin came from my grandfather's garden. He's such a great gardener.

He even won the 1st place ribbon for the best giant pumpkin in the parish fair. 

 I thought I'd sneak in a photo of the kids riding the cars at the fair. You can't make out the expression on my 7 year old daughter's face, but I don't think she's too happy riding on this kiddie ride. My younger daughter and oldest son were thrilled with it though. 

Biting the Bullet

My Mother offered to let the grand babies sleep over this past weekend, which gave me the perfect opportunity to try out this bad boy. 

Amazon Link

Yes, I finally bit the bullet and ordered one. Since I am just learning to upholster, I decided this would be a perfect gun for me. The best thing is..it was super affordable and it works great!

I mentioned a while back that I would reupholster the red chair within the month.

 Well, at least I got started within the month.

The chair's burlap needed to replaced on the deck. 

Here's a close up of it freshly stapled in place. 

And here is the front. 

 (Please excuse the mess, I am currently overtaking my living room with my projects.)

I replaced the old cotton batting. 

When I was stripping the chair, I accidentally tore the front batting.

 I hope that won't be a problem when I recover it. 

Hopefully I can manage to get a little more done this week. I'll keep you posted as I go.

Yard Sale Finds

Boy, has this weekend has been crazy! I literally have been running around town ALL weekend. Don't worry...I've been quite blessed through the whole process.

Last weekend I really had the urge to go yard sale shopping, but I chose to sleep in instead. So when this Saturday rolled around, I was ready to go. I woke up at 6 a.m. and was at the first sale at a quarter till 7. (Sales usually don't start here until 7 a.m. and people are not so thrilled if you are an hour early!) I managed to hit 5 yard sales and was done for the day at about 8:30. 

I found a lot of cool stuff and I will show you pictures tomorrow. I am especially thrilled about the new vintage furniture that I have been drooling over for about three months now. Do you want a hint at what it might be? Think Louis XV style, but you will just have to come back tomorrow to see the actual pieces. 

Since I brought home a couple of new furniture pieces on Saturday, I need to make room in my house. Here are some of the pieces that I will be putting up for sale in the near future. 

 I have had this piece for about a month and I originally planned on reupholstering it, but I just do not have the time or the space. This lovely piece was originally constructed in 1960; it is a very sturdy chair in superb condition. 

Do you remember the chair that I showed you last week? Yes, the one that I made the slipcover for. Though it has been well loved, I will have to say "good bye" to it. I am not quite sure if I will make a new slip cover for it or sell it "as is". 

In addition to these pieces, I have two others that I am currently working on. 

The red rocker is waiting patiently for it's new look. 

See ya tomorrow!

Grammy's Front Porch

 My children always anticipate going to Grammy's house where they enjoy spending their long summer evenings. Upon entering Grammy's house children's laughter echoes from the walls. Like the laughter that can be found inside the house, it is always present outside as well. The grandchildren enjoy trips riding around the property in the golf cart, with Grammy as the chauffeur. When the kids are not riding in the golf cart, they can be found swimming in the pool. They have become quite the little fish.

My Mom is the most bubbly, cheerful, giving person I know and It seems as though my children are the happiest at their Grammy's house.  

Recently, one of our dear friends offered to give me a church pew. I did not have any room for it in my house, but I recalled my mother stating how she'd like to have a church pew for her front porch. I was pretty tickled that she received such a beautiful blessing. 

It is the perfect place to spend those long summer evenings watching the kids and swim.

Mr. Teddy seems comfortable doesn't he? 

Here's the detail on the side of the pew. (Did I make you dizzy? Sorry about that!)

It's simply beautiful isn't it?

On another note, here's what I spent my last few evenings working on.

What's on your project table this week?

What Are These Holes?

Do you remember the red chair that is on my list of things to upholster? No...well, let me remind you. 

 Before you say anything... just think about it's potential. When I look at it, I look past the fabric tearing from the frame. I see it's hidden potential. Let me just tell you that it is a super comfortable chair. Did I mention the fact that it rocks? Yes, literally. So it has character, and a lot of it! One of the things that gives this chair a little more character is what I recently discovered.

Do you see the holes in the legs? 

I was not totally oblivious that they were there, I just did not think too much about it.

 Maybe I should have... As I have begun to learn more about furniture, I recently discovered that they were caused by woodworms.

Woodworms? What the heck is that?(Opps, I just noticed my foot! Oh, back to my answer) Woodworms are simply the furniture beetle. They lay their eggs on your furniture and the larvae eat it. This is bad because they literally EAT your furniture's wood.  How can you know if your furniture piece has woodworms? Like the above picture, there are a series of tiny holes in the furniture frame. You may also notice tiny wood shavings on the floor when you move your chair. The good news is that if you have an infestation, you can treat a woodworm infestation with a chemical insecticide. 

On a side note, when purchasing used furniture I would consider checking for woodworm before making your purchase.

Yes, my chair has a lot of woodworm holes, but since I have had this piece in my house for over a year without wood shavings, I think I am safe.

  Ehh, what's a little more character to my already unique piece.

At least I know now what NOT to bring home in the future! 

Fabric Blunder

Over the weekend I received the fabric that I ordered online. I have been waiting for this fabric to arrive for about two weeks. 

I wanted a light fabric that would keep with the simplicity of the piece am upholstering. My heart was set on a lighter colored linen. To me, it has an understated appearance. Since this particular fabric is on the heavier side, it will be ideal to use for upholstery. Because upholstery requires a heavier weight fabric, I made sure I was shopping in the "home decor" fabric. 

Like three times, just to be on the safe side. 

I did a keyword search for "linen" and I settled upon this lovely fabric. Isn't it so pretty. 

But, in my haste I made a very HUGE mistake. I did a keyword search for "linen", and the fabric had "linen" in it's name, but it is nowhere near being a linen in actual fiber content. 

It's 100% polyester. 

I did consider just keeping it. But in the end, I decided to send it back...even if this fabric is super cheap and sending it back would require further delay. 

If I keep this fabric and reupholster with it, but I do not LOVE the finished piece... it wouldn't be worth the time, money, and effort spent doing it. I know that keeping with my original fabric will help ensure that I'll LOVE the finished product. 

So, back to the fabric drawing board! 

Rockin' Red Chair

I want to show you the chair that I am planning on reupholstering soon. 

My absolute favorite detail about this chair is that it rocks...literally. Chairs that rock make my heart go pitter patter. Because of this fact, I gladly welcomed it into my home about a year ago. 

Yes, this what it has looked like for at least a year. A little rough looking, huh? In my defense I have kept a pillowcase over the seat cushion to try to preserve it a little longer. But I finally have set my mind to reupholster it. Soon... By soon I mean this month. 

You can't quite make out what the tag says here. Sorry, but it was upholstered in 1958. An oldie, but a goodie. 

In case you were wondering how the fabric is attached to the arm. 

Did you notice that when I reupholster this chair I will have to take the arms completely off? The arms are screwed in over the fabric. It seems like it would be a pain, but not really. 

The fabric towards the back of the arm is stapled to the back frame. This neatly hides the excess fabric used to upholster the arm. 

In addition to replacing the fabric, I will have to replace the burlap. The burlap supports the seat cushion or filling. In this photo, you can easily see the filling spilling through the burlap.  There is not a noticable dip in the seat, so I am hoping to reuse the original filling. 

I will show you the finished product soon. 

Jess