2 Dollar Chair Revisited

Remember the $2.00 chair I got at the thrift shop, despite the fact that I have chairs coming out of my ears over here? Well, I liked the pretty blue color, but the fabric was badly stained and covered with cat hair. I was a little nervous about re-covering it because I've only done chair bottoms, not tops and bottoms.

When I took off the fabric, finding a gazillion staples in the process, I got a little nervous. I considered keeping the bright aqua vinyl I found underneath, but alas, it had rips in it, so I knew I must plunge forward.




With Tom's assistance and Molly's encouragement, I started folding, cutting, and stapling. There is no sewing in this household. I just kind of made a hospital bedsheet fold in the back, with lots of extra fabric, and stapled it all underneath the chair.



I wanted a funkier fabric, but settled on this brocade pattern because the price was right. Here is Tom pretending we're going to use duct tape on the chair. Well, we might have used a smidge, but it's not where you can see it!




Here's how we ended up:










Could someone please reach up into the above picture for me and move my coffee table over about 6 inches? Thanks.

Cost:

Chair: 2.00
Heirloom White spray paint: 3.00
Black and White fabric: 15.00
Total: $20




And for those of you who are worried that I'll get buried under a pile of chairs and be featured on "Hoarders," I did put 4 chairs on Craigslist last week. Still waiting for takers.

This post is also featured at Shanty to Chic.

Shrugalicious-- No Sewing Involved

Here’s another project for Do-It-Yourself Day at A Soft Place to Land.

Since I spent most of the summer recovering from being dragged by the dog, I had to wear long sleeves to keep my wounds out of the sun. Problem was, it was painful to pull long sleeved shirts over my head. Once again, my Do-It-Yourself project was really done by someone else, this time my fabulous sister.

She took a long sleeved Old Navy shirt of mine, sliced it right up the front hem to collar, then cut it short around the back leaving 2 long tabs in the front. She didn't even use my nice scissors. Instant shrug! It was much easier to take on and off than a regular shirt, and when I washed it, it didn’t fray. It just got a little curled around the edges, which I like.



My arm is much better, but I still like my little shrug. It makes me feel very Flash Dance-y or Fame-y or even a little Yoga-ish.

Be sure to check out the other projects at Kimba’s place!

Do It Yourself Party-- Black Side Tables

I love checking out Kimba's blog for great before and after shots at her "Do it Yourself" Parties.


I'm not sure if this counts as "Do It Yourself" because Tom actually painted these for me, but I'll share anyway.


I found these smelly, broken, little guys on a trash heap in the rain. They were once on either side of a mirrored vanity, but the mirror was long gone. The veneer was chipping off and the knobs had to go.

I thought of spray painting them white, but with Tom's recent comment that I was going a little overboard with all the white in the house, Tom sanded them lightly, painted them black with an oil based paint we already had, and we switched out the knobs with the old wooden knobs from my last dumpster dive .

They are now cute bedside tables in our guest room. Total Cost: $0

Check out the other projects on Kimba's website.