Painted Queen Anne Chairs

I titled this one Back to my same ol' BS because a long time ago I frequently painted furniture. And I know it's so controversial! I get it!  And I totally agree that certain wood furniture, namely Antique furniture, high quality wood furniture, heirloom furniture, etc. should remain untouched. Or at least maintained so it lasts forever.  Certain furniture though, in my opinion is worth giving a makeover. In this case, I found these chairs for $10 a piece at a local online auction house.  I didn't know if they have a maker, in fact I couldn't locate a single name on any of the chairs. So I took that as a "go" for me bringing them a new life. 

As you can see, there was some wear in certain areas and I loathe the existing fabric. I'm just not a primary colors kind of person. The style is Queen Anne but almost with a unique top part that flares. 

And of course, I went to work ordering paint and new fabric.  I was excited to try Anne Sloan's Paris Gray as a base coat and Old White as a top coat with clear wax. I ordered three yards of Waverly Regency fabric from Fabricguru.com. And as much to my surprise when I started to carefully take apart the chairs and take off the existing fabric I found the original label. Statton Furniture, made in PA.  My research suggests these are very nicely made chairs indeed and are considered Heirloom quality to be passed on to future generations. I really started second guessing my need to redo the entire chair.  But I had already ordered my paint and Anne Sloan Paint is not cheap!  Anyway, they are still the same quality chair only now with a French Flare! 

This time around I thoughtfully removed each chair cushion using a flat head screwdriver and pliers and laid each set down in an order so that they could be placed back on the same chair later. Thankfully the batting underneath and black bottom fabric were all in great shape so I just needed new top fabric. The fabric is upholstery grade and it was really helpful to have an electric staple gun to get this job done. I carefully used the old fabric as a stencil and traced the exact size onto my new fabric.  I used fabric sheers to cut out the fabric and then stapled around all the sides making sure my pattern was straight and the corners were tight. 

I used the old black fabric back on bottom and that's pretty much it! Now for the fun part. The painting!

Anne Sloan paint says you don't need to sand or prime or anything, but I am old school so I like to give my surface a good sanding and then a good cleaning with a strong solvent.  Then I clean it to get all the dust off. In this case, I used one thick coat of Paris Gray and let it dry for a few hours. Then I used a lighter coat of Old White. I let that dry overnight.  In the morning I applied a coat of clear wax and let that dry for one day.  Then it was time to lightly sand so that the gray peaked through a bit. In my opinion, if I ever do this again, would be to sand before waxing, but I was following their instructions. Once I was happy with my sanding, I applied another coat of wax. I again let it dry over night.  The final day of this project was reattaching the chair pads with the four screws at the bottom using an electric drill. 

I think it's the season, but I especially love to lighten things up around this time of the year. Who knows, by Fall I may be taking out the black chairs again!  Oh! and with my three yards of fabric, I even had enough left over to make a wide runner for the table. Maybe a little too wide, oh well. 

Someone likes hiding under the table, I wonder if he notices the new chairs! 

 Happy Spring. I better do a garden tour soon as I have so many new plants this year! 

xo

Cathleen

Counter Stools from Frontgate

It's October and also my 26th anniversary! I can hardly believe its been that long.  Joe is in Switzerland this week but he let me pick our gift this year. Maybe so I wouldn't feel so sad this week.  Although I didn't mind our old metal barstools, they were super easy to clean, comfort seemed in order.  I wanted to eat at the counter and be able to linger a little longer.  I was in love with Frontgate's Angelina's counter stools for a while.  They are modern, and feature iron and brass details and the fabric is Dove Gray Velvet. They combine several of my favorite textures and colors. They are very study and heavy too.  They finally went on sale so I jumped on the opportunity to upgrade.

Our kitchen island needed a little love too and since the new chairs were arriving I decided to paint the island a shade of pink. In order to save a bit of money and use what I already had on hand I decided to mix up a 50/50 blend of Farrow and Ball's Sulking Room Pink and White to reduce it a bit.  Our guest room is painted this color and also the downstairs doors. It made sense to stay within the same color family and it saved me about $80.  I don't know too many people with a pink kitchen island. But that's okay.  It actually feels really warm in here and reads darker in the evenings. You actually hardly notice it at eye level. 

I pray they stay this nice for a long time! They do have a nifty handle on the back to slide them in and out. And velvet is generally easy to clean.  

I am painting the eat in kitchen table pink at moment as well in order to save even more paint. Stay tuned for that makeover!

xo
Cathleen

Turn an old dresser into a desk

Yay! I'm back in business baby!  I finally have a dedicated work space with a super fast computer!  I just love it!  It wouldn't have been possible if my son didn't love building computers and shopping for parts.  He is only 15 and I must say I'm pretty darn impressed. I'm actually sitting here now writing this and I couldn't be more pleased.   A little back story, my husband works from home so took over the home office a few years ago. I had my computer in there, but working next to someone who is on calls all day is quite distracting.  So I decided to make use of the guest room that anybody hardly uses. I didn't want to spend money on a new desk and have to sell this beautiful dresser I made over a while back so I decided to convert it to a desk.  Also my old computer was REALLY old and painfully slow. 

It's a bit tall, but with an adjustable chair it works.  You see that the keyboard and mouse are out of sight.  

We removed the top drawer of the dresser and installed this slide out pop up keyboard and mouse tray (link below.) We had to do a bit of a configuration underneath by adding a piece of wood to the inside for the mount since it wasn't quite flat. But it ended up working perfectly!

I love how it's cozy and not too sterile looking like in a normal work office.  I can also just tuck the keyboard tray away and use this monitor as a TV for when guests sleep in that Murphy bed you see in the mirror. 

Here is a close up of the keyboard tray.  And it's very convenient to have the drawers below for office supplies.  I like a clean look when it comes to organization with not too many things sitting out on the desk top. 

Here is a visual of the parts used in my computer. The box is not shown, but it's called a SAMA and comes with a slot for a DVD/CD player.  Who uses those anymore, this old lady does! BTW, my child may have gone a bit overboard on storage and speed when building this. Like did I really need a Gaming Graphics Card?  Who knows.  It's pretty awesome though and I'm uploading photos at light speed now.  All I really cared about was a cute white monitor and keyboard, lol.  But glad I have both the cuteness and functionality. 

Here is a source list in case you are interested:

1) Keyboard and Mouse  Newegg MSI Vigor GK30 Combo White, 6-Zone RGB GK30 Gaming Keyboard & GM11 Gaming Mouse, Water Repellent & Splash-Proof, 5000 DPI

2) Monitor: HP HP Series 5 27 inch FHD White Monitor - 527sw 27" FHD (1920 x 1080) 48-100 Hz

3) Keyboard tray:  Amazon Mount-It! Under Desk Keyboard Tray, Adjustable Keyboard and Mouse Drawer Platform with Ergonomic Wrist Rest

4)Webcam: Newegg  Logitech Brio 100 Full HD Webcam for Meetings and Streaming, Auto-Light Balance, Built-In Mic, Privacy Shutter, USB-A, for Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Zoom and More - Off White

6) Desk chair - Home Goods 

5) All of the computer components came from Newegg.com 

Also tomorrow is the Fall equinox and Halloween ideas are swirling in our heads over here. 

xo
Cathleen

Game Room

One week ago we decided to give the Game Room a quick update. We needed to move the computer out of there and into an open spot where we could supervise the kids on it. Now the computer is in our loft and we needed to make a spot for Joe to work from home.  The game room is now more of a Teen Hang out room and also includes a Daybed with Trundle for Sleepovers. Here are some Before and After photos of the space. 

BEFORE

 DURING

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

In a weeks time I painted the walls Boothbay Gray by Benjamin Moore in an Eggshell finish. Joe added crown molding to the room and we painted the existing bookcase and this one below that was hot pink the same colors as the walls. 

We added new curtains by DKNY wtih cute fluffy gray dots.

The Daybed with trundle is from Joss and Main and the bedding is Kate Spade.  The lamp teal lamp is from Home Goods.

I sewed some cute coral and mint vintage looking floral curtains to hide the games in this bookcase.

The game table was sanded down and painted with Magnolia Home Chalk Paint in "It is well." 

As the kids grow and obtain more games, there is plenty of shelf space for them to organize their things.

Someone is already right to work relaxing and enjoying the bed.

Glad to have this space finished for the meantime and ready for play time this summer.

Happy Summer!

xoxo
Cathleen