New Chair Cut

This week while I was at home I decided to pick up a new craft! I saw this post on reupholstering these kinds of metal folding chairs that my parents have all over the house. I will use it as my new desk chair in the apartment instead of the ugly black chairs that the apartment comes with. Here is the result!
Note: I didn't bring my camera home so sorry about the quality!

I started off removing the seat covers from the seat itself. It was really easy and all I needed was a screwdriver. You can see the places where the screws were. This only took me about 5 minutes.

I took some regular house cleaning and sprayed off and wiped down the chairs before painting. If you take a closer look you really start to see the wear and tear on the seats. This one had random paint marks and scratches seeing as we have had these chairs for so long now!

Here are the cushions taken off..they aren't so bad. They only had a few scratches here and there from normal use. On to the painting!

I used this spray paint and it didn't work good at all. It really is my fault. It's supposed to be for flowers...but in my defense it also said it could be used on wood so I thought...why not metal too? Anyway the real reason I bought it is because I loved the color. It matches my accent in the new room kind-of. It took me 2 cans of this stuff and it still didn't really cover that well and scratches off really easily.

I ended up having to put on this sealer on in order to make a glossy look as well as keep the paint from chipping like it was.

Here is a glance at what the chair looked like after the first coat of paint. It took me about 3 1/2 coats of paint to finish this off and almost the whole day in time. I decided not to waste time (or paint) spraying the seat and the back rest because I knew the fabric would cover all of it. But as you can see it really is splotchy regardless and thats how it looked all over! It was a pain to do the little cracks and crevices of this chair.. folding and unfolding it etc.

After spraying the chairs three times it was finally time to get to reupholstering the fabric. We chose a black and white patterned fabric from Jo-Anns that I really liked and that somewhat matches my room as well. First I had to measure out the length of the chair seat. I added 3 inches to both the length and the width (which came out to about 18' on each side.)

Afterwards, I measured in 1.5' on each side so that I knew what was the middle of the fabric and also so that the pattern would be even. It's hard to explain but the picture shows it pretty well!

This helped because I knew exactly how much fabric I should be folding over. I used this staple gun from Walmart and it worked amazingly because I didn't have to use any arm strength (good because I have none) and it plugged right into the wall.

Now for the stapling! Pretty simple. Just fold over and tighten as much as possible to avoid creasing. Here is what it looked like after I had stapled all 4 sides and left the corners.
Tip: Put one staple in the middle of each side to put the sides in place first and then start working on opposite sides starting from the middle and going out to the sides. Leave the corners for last.

The corners were a little bit more tough, but not so bad! I cut some off of the corners because it was too much fabric and creased the inside to make the outside look like it wasn't creased.

And voila! There you have it! New seats (excuse my swollen feet). Next I did the back rest and assembled it all back together using the screws that I took out earlier on!

Heres the finished product once again. I love the results and I especially love the way it fits right into the desk and I hope it does the same in the new apartment.

Surprising Sunflowers

Sitting in my room on a cloudy day I start to realize how beautiful these sunflowers that Matt bought me for our year and a half are.

Not only are the flowers beautiful, but they really brighten up the entire room! The clouds outside are no match for these sunny flowers.

Here is a closer shot of the beauties. Looking at this close up I am thinking of getting this picture printed out to hang up in a collage in my new room.

It really amazes me how much of a difference flowers in a room can make...let alone sunflowers. I can not stop looking at them! (Note: my little lamp in the corner ;))  We are really trying to keep these babies alive (the last flowers he bought me died in a few days). I am giving them a ton of sunlight and plan on changing the water frequently and adding some of the flower food with each change. Any other tips on keeping flowers in a vase fresh?

I love keeping the blinds open in Matt's apartment mostly because I LOVE natural lighting. I never open the windows though because as you all know, I am afraid of bugs and lizards and frogs and lots of other things that crawl and fly. I know that there is a screen but back home bugs always found a way around it (remember all the lizards in my room after my window was opened for a day?). I am not willing to take the chance.

Dare to Compare?

Seeing as it was my first real DIY purchase ever I sat down to myself wondering if the $23 I am going to end up spending on this lamp was too much. And just when I started to worry I came across this $214.00 lamp from noyadecor.

Or this $442 lamp

 Here is my $23 lamp from goodwill and target (still needs a smaller shade and some shade decor). I think it looks pretty good being that it saved me $200-$400.

TV Stand Progress

Me and Matthew bought this TV Stand for $5 a few weeks ago in hope of re-selling it. It is made of particle board and laminate wood and we finally found a great way to paint it to look brand new.

Today it looks like this.

Still very unfinished, but I'd say that it is a lot of progress from what we started from! We first had to remove the spinning top. It made a TV sit really uneasy on the top due to a screw placed in the very center. Then we filled in the holes that held the spinning top with DuPont AirTite Siliconized Acrylic Caulk for interior and exterior surfaces. We got a 5.5 fl oz tube at Lowes for $2.

We then removed the backing of the original TV Stand because it had tons of problems. We got a new backing (not shown here) at lowes for $6. It was basically a piece of wood that they cut to the exact dimensions of this original backing. We brought in this backing shown to have an exact measurement.

That's when we started to prime. We used Zinsser cover stain oil based primer and it worked wonders! However, whatever you do, make sure not to get any on you. It stained us for days. Also, use cheap brushes that you wouldn't mind throwing away because this stuff will not come off of paint brushes without a paint thinner.

We I was super nervous after the first coat because the TV stand looked like this.

Matthew kept telling me that it was just the first coat and it was just primer. And turns out he was right. Once again. Now I put the doors on just to get a little sneak peak at what it will look like once we do paint it white. Still to do?

1. Paint over the primer white. 
2. Put (cute) little knobs on the doors
3. Paint and install new backing
4. Remove those wheels and get some legs installed

Well, till the next update! It already looks better than the $5 piece we bought from goodwill if you ask me!

Lamp Progress!

I bought this lamp a few weeks ago at goodwill!

First I taped off the parts I did not want to paint. Then I spray painted the lamp white in our back porch using Valspar Lacquer in white.

Now, after buying a new lampshade, it looks like this!

I will be covering the lampshade with fabric, which color I have not yet decided. I am also considering getting a smaller lampshade. I bought this one from target for $13. A small might have been more appropriate! I still need some time to adjust to it, but I cannot wait to add this lamp as an addition to my new home!

I had some troubles finding a good lampshade and couldn't find a lampshade that fit these gold things that came with the lamp. Matthew simply pulled it off the gold thing and voila!

Here it is detached.

After that I simply put the lampshade on the stub that was left. Now the only thing left to do is make a nice lampshade! I will spend about $4 on fabric and the ending cost of the lamp will be about $23, the shade being the most expensive (if i do not return the lampshade).

DIY Abstract Art

I am looking into some abstract art for my new apartment. I have no artistic ability, HOWEVER, abstract is not so hard to accomplish by yourself. Here is a picture of the finished project 

I started with smears of that mint green color that I created by adding turquoise with green and white. I did a few smears and then added some yellow smears and some red mixed with white and shaded some yellow in the mix! Really its up to you but find some inspiration and go with it!

Now all this needs is a frame!

Paint Chip Art

I went to Lowe's today to find some cute paint chips in some colors that I liked. Unfortunately, I didn't consider WHAT exactly I would do with these paint chips. I am thinking something creative like this or this. Here is a picture of the frames that I am going to need to fill up (I still need to buy two more to balance out this mini collage!)

I will add another longer frame under the small one as well as another small frame next to the already small one. This might help make it more clear