Curl up and Dye: How to get a canvas drop cloth any color you want!

I found a set of french chairs out by the dumpster during the great semesterly migration of Augus 2011. The best thing about college towns it that three times a year, most of the population is moving. So at the end of every Spring, Summer, and Fall the dumpsters are filled to the brim with potential. (And garbage. Mostly garbage.) Every once in a while we get lucky though. 

Here's the before:

If you're looking for a tutorial on how to re-upholster a french chair, look elsewhere. Many others have already explained this process far better than I ever could. Esspecially considering that my tutorial would go something like this: 

1) Find a cool chair in the garbage

2) Find a tutorial on how to re-upholster said chair.(Click here for a really comprehensive one @ Little Green Notebook)

3) Find someone who has a ton of knowledge and skill to help you out. (i.e. My mother).

4) Hope for the best.

And that's all there is to it! HA. 

But how about that color? That, I can tell you about.

I the look, feel, and cost of re-upholstering with canvas drop cloth. But I was torn, because I really wanted a pretty green chair. I went to JoAnn scouting for the perfect fabric, but the closest I could find to what I had in mind was  olive green suede. Expensive suede. Suede that, if we were to make a mistake and have to buy more, would cost us $60.00. And while, considering that the cost of the chair was nothing (aside from my dignity. Dumpster diving will do that to you. It was worth it.) we had a little bit of room on the budget. But not $60.00 dollars worth.

So I hatched a crazy idea. What if I found a green canvas dop cloth?

They don't make those. What if I made a canvas drop cloth green?

I used three bottles of Kelly Green Rit Dye for a 9x13 canvas dropcloth. I followed the instructions on the bottle for washing machine dying. 

The color was a little bit too "grassy", so we dyed it again mixing 1 bottle Kelly Green and 1 bottle Dark Brown. (I'm not sure why I didn't take any pictures at this point. Probably because I tired of the whole thing by then.) 

The mixture of the two colors toned it down just enough. If I had dyed it with just a bottle of brown dye to tone it down, the odds are good that it would have dyed the whole thing dark brown. 

Want to see a before?

And the after one more time:

I just love that green!

The Great Wall of China

I've been wanting a cute hutch for extra storage for a while now, but seeing Jackie's post about her cute new hutch earlier this week really clenched it. So, being a woman of action, I turned to craigslist.

Craigslist and I are BFF. It knows me. Every time I need something I just pop in, and it says, "I've been saving this one decently priced, perfectly casual thing just for you. You're welcome."

Seriously. After two seconds of looking through the Craigslist search return of "China Cabinet" I saw this little gem.

It was priced at $65.00, but I offered $50.00 and they guy said okay. Sold!

It's not solid wood,  it was pretty beat up, and I'm wanting to lighten things up around here, so I knew I'd be painting it a la The Nester's China Cabinet.

We picked it up on Wednesday, and I spent Saturday listening to wise people and painting my heart out. It was an amazing day.

Done! Well, really she needs to dry for at least 24 more hours. I should have waited at least that long before putting stuff in her. I just get too excited. One of my nearest and dearest friends was over that night, and I enlisted her help in putting it together, and rearranging my collection of white dishes inside.

What's better than a Saturday night spent accessorizing?

 I can't think of a thing. Maybe she can, but she didn't complain.

Here's so you can see how this painted piece kinda works with the paint color of the "entertainment center" in the next room over:

I was worried about having two big painted things so close together...but, I think it turned out just fine.

I had these little pink knobs lying in wait for the perfect future project. Do you think this is "the one" for them? Or should I go with something white and bright?

I didn't really notice these cute little details before--I think the paint really brings them out:

And here's how it looks from the other side.

Here are a few tips if you're ready to take on your own huge piece of furniture painting:
1) You should sand. And prime it, if you're really going to do it right. I sanded, and got so caught up with I forgot to bring out my leftover primer. Luckily, the sanding helped the paint stick, and the BEHR paint is quality, so it's fine so far, but I do worry about peeling.
2) The right paint and tools make a difference. I splurged on the real deal paint and I finally bought a Purdy paintbrush. I used a small sponge roller for the flat areas, but that Purdy got right into the nooks and crannies like a charm. It was amazing. There are no stray brush hairs, and the paint went on so smooth...okay, I'm gushing. I don't think I can ever go back to the two dollar brushes.
Update: 3) The paint color I used is BEHR's Garden Wall (730D-4) from Home Depot. It's my new favorite shade of Greige. It goes on really light at first, and might give you a panic attack as you realize "This is NOT the color I wanted", but once it dries it does darken!


Alright, Kourtney. Now it's your turn to get a hutch. Everyone else is doing it. I expect your post within a week :)

I can't wait to get started on our dining room table/chair revamp now! Well, actually I can. This job was a lot of work. But I'm excited to get started in the somewhat near future, and get the dining area DONE(ish).

Linking up to:
Metamorphasis Monday
A-Z Tutes and Tips
Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday
 Perfectly Imperfect Random Furniture Link up!

Dresser Makeover

Yesterday I finally got around to painting an old dresser I....found on the side of the road 9 months ago. I'm not sure which aspect I should be more ashamed of: The fact that I'm posting back to back trash projects, or the fact that this dresser sat in my house in this condition for 9 months.

I've decided not to worry about either. Can't win them all, right? 

I wanted to retain the true "cast-off trash" aura of the piece, so I decided to redo it only using items I had leftover from other projects. I like to do projects this way every few months to use up leftover crafty stuff.

 I succeeded, so this makes this total project cost: ZERO dollars. 

I'm pretty excited about that.

Here's the big reveal:

 What do you think?

There were a few problems we had to overcome. The right side of the dresser looks liked like this:

While the left side of the dresser looked like this:

At first, this seemed like a deal breaker. But once I looked a little closer, I realized I could just take the ride side molding off.

Easy peasy.

Then I introduced our dirty little dresser to Mr. Clean.

I filled in the gouges and nail holes with a little bit of Elmer's Wood Filler.

Someday I'll invest in a putty knife.

Once the filler dried (it took about 15 minutes), I ran the mouse sander all over it to prep for painting.

 It took about three coats of white paint to cover it all. I ran out of paint towards the end...but I had enough ivory spray paint left over from another project to finish it. "Good enough" is becoming an increasingly popular motto around here.

A few months ago I bought some pink vinyl shelf liner from Micheal's. It was on super sale, and I wanted to use it to cut stencils with the Cricut. I decided to use it in this dresser instead.

I roughed up the edges a bit for some distressed effect...something that baffles my husband, Cory, every time I do it. I'm not sure if I'm completely happy with how the distressing looks now, but it definitely helps the cute details on this dresser stand out. Right?

Here's a look at the side molding trouble spot:

I use this dresser to organize my crafty stuff. Pretty paper, unused picture frames, at least nine different types of adhesive, etc. I love the versatility of dressers! It's right next to the desk/closet where I keep my desk and sewing machine for easy access during projects.

That's how I filled my spare time on a busy Saturday! It feels so good to get that long awaited project DONE. You should tackle that project you've been putting off. I know you have one.

Lindy

Take a Seat

Things have been crazy around here lately, but I finally have made some crafty progress around here. Let me show you the best college graduation present I could ever ask for.

A few months ago I found this sweet chair (Click here to read the full story):

Last week my my parents were in town to visit, and I enlisted their help in a little re-upholstery project. They are the ones who bestowed this DIY, crafty attitude on us, so the least they can do is help us out every once in a while, right Mom and Dad? :)

 I sanded and stained my little heart out on Wednesday night, so we'd be ready to put on the new fabric Thursday.

Look at them go! The skills our parents possess never fail to amaze me. We grew up refinishing furniture together, so it was a nice little jaunt down memory lane to have us all working together again.

It basically turned into the lord of all crafting sessions, when Tanya and Jesse stopped by and couldn't resist the fun.

How many Hansen's does it take to reupholster a chair?

As  many as we can get.

We worked hard, and whipped it up in no time! Check it out:

I stained the wood with Miniwax Dark Mahagony, left over from a previous project. I finished it with Miniwax Finishing Wax.

I wanted the hand-rubbed, vintage effect of the Finishing wax for this chair, rather than the ultra glossy finish of varnish.

We used a painter's drop cloth for the chair seat cover. We purchased a 9 ft. cloth at Lowes, and it only cost about $12.00!

For more drop cloth ideas, you really need to check out Miss Mustard Seed. She is basically the queen of all things drop cloth, and has an awesome drop cloth slipcover tutorial.

Sometimes I thought I was going to lose my mind (I forgot how much work it is to refinish wood! I thought the sanding would never end!), but once the reinforcements arrived, things moved right along.

Seeing as how this project was pretty much completely inspired by the amazing Miss Mustard Seed herself, I'm linking up to her Furniture Feature Friday Party! You guys need to check it out!

Lindy

Pile o' Wedding: Chandy Edition

Weddings. Who doesn't love them? The summer of 2010 was truly the summer of love as we came together TWICE in less than two months to celebrate the addition of new members to the family. The planning process was fun, intense, and sressful but the challenge to create the look without busting up the budget really stretched us all to the edge of our capabilities. Many hours were spent via long distance phone calls to brainstorm ideas, beg for assistance, and maybe sometimes vent like there was no tommorrow. But we made it through, and even came up with some amazing ideas. Some of them worked, some of them didn't. And so, from these learning experiences we bring you our first ever blogging series....

We're going to showcase some of the crafts that went into the wedding planning last year, give a how-to if necessary, and show you where they are now (because what's the point of all that crafting, if you're not left with awesome stuff to put in your house??) Every project was done with a very specific budget in mind, and will maybe offer you some ideas for your own party planning and decorating self.

To kick things off I'm going to show you one of the first projects: The Trashy Chandy. This project began in the Good Cents store (It's where the Good Will reject items are sent to die) and seeing a beautiful, albeit broken, brass light fixture in the $2.00 bin. It looked much like this one:

Photo via YoungHouseLove

Our lovely little light fixture still had the jagged wiring exposed at the top, as if someone had ripped it from the ceiling in a home reno rage, and most of the little candle light parts (technical term) were broken. It was beautiful. I snatched that bad boy up with plans to give it some TLC and hang it in my bedroom.

Our Dad helped me remove the wiring, the whole thing got a few light coats of Valspar Porcelain spray paint, and we exchanged the broken plastic light bulb candles for the real thing.

Then the perfect opportunity to use it came in the form of our engagement pictures with Kim Brock, and then it was officially a "wedding craft."

Photos via Kimbe Photography

This cute little light also made an appearance at our wedding reception in July. We hung it up over the dessert tables (Stay tuned for the dessert table edition coming soon!) in the arbor at our parent's house. Kourtney added the touch of light blue satin ribbon to fancy things up. It really added a little romance to the table, dontcha think?

Photos via Kimbe Photography

 It held up beautifully to all the wedding abuse, but where is it now you say? Finally hanging up in the corner of the bedroom! Where it was always meant to be. Here's our little $2.00 chandy today:

Photo via yours truly. ( me)

Cost breakdown:
$2.00 Chandalier
$0.00 Left over spray paint
$2.00 Taper candles
$4.00 TOTAL

Tips for spray painting your own chandy:

• Take a little bit of sandpaper and rough the metal up a little bit before you paint. The paint will stick a little better, and chip less.
• Hang it up while you paint. It makes coating it evenly a breeze.
• Light coats. If you spray it on too thick you'll get some nasty runs. It probably took about 7 very light coats to cover it all evenly.

Good luck!

Lindy

Linking this project up to Frugalicious Friday and the Shanty Sister's I Made it Without My Hubby!

The things some people will put in the trash...

A few weeks ago I got an awesome voicemail. My friend Kristen called, and she said, "Hey Lindy--I was driving down the road and I saw this old door in the trash. I thought you might want it..."

Wooohooo!!! I was soooo excited. This was a Sunday afternoon, and Cory had just fallen asleep. I was sure that the possibility of obtaining an awesome old trash door would wake him up with no problem....for some reason the news didn't fill him with the same rush of adrenalin that coursed through my entire body. Needless to say, I set off on Mission Retrieve Trash Door all by self.

About 5 minutes later, target located, loaded into the back of my car, and safely arrived in our guest/study/craft room. 

I basically told every person I know about it. Once they got over the confusion about why I was picking stuff up out of other people's trash, they always asked, "So, what are you going to do with it?"

My answer, "I could make a corner shelf, or a head board, or a towel rack, or just prop it up behind some stuff....What do you think?"

All of these awesome ideas!!! Unfortunately, we already have a headboard. And we don't have a place for a corner shelf. And we only use two towels, and they already have a rack...

Buuuuut...I have this problem.  I like shoes. A lot. My friend Lara gave me a handy little contraption to help with this, and it really saves the closet floor space:

Trouble is, this is the only door we can put it on in our house. And it makes it so the door to the room only opens up half way.

So far its been a minor inconvenience, and we've put up with it. But now that we actually do have a spare door, we think we might combine the two.

So, what do you think? Should I hold out for something awesomely creative to do with our trash door, or regain full use of the door to the 2nd bedroom? 

Lindy

Linking up to Look What I Found Friday @ Vintage Revivals, and Finding Fabulous.

Welcome to my entryway...

My first linky party post!!! I'm so excited, thank you Dana for the invite!
http://danajeanward.blogspot.com/2010/11/strut-your-stuff-link-party-and.html

Sadly, this is what it looked like for close to a year:

Then I sanded it one day in October since I had bought the stain and poly the day after I bought the bench almost a year ago:

Then I stained it and cried when my polyshade did not work as it promised to. So I sanded again and again and again. Then I called Dad, who politely reminded me no Hansen should ever be using a Polyshade for ANY peice of wood, and reverted to regular stain and polyurethane.


And while the stain dried, I made toilet-paper-roll wall art (idea found here: http://www.designspongeonline.com/2009/11/diy-project-toilet-paper-roll-wall-art.html).


Then one glorious day, almost a year after purchasing the bench and stain, a month after sanding and re-sanding and a week's worth of staining, it's done!





Look at that poly shine:Pillows were purchased at Pier 1 with coupons :D. Oh how we do love coupons!

Don't forget to check out the "Party Central" tab to see what parties we love linking up to every week!

Pillow Makeover

When I bought a couch with my very first room mate right out of high school, it came with two throw pillows. They weren't exactly my definition of cute. See for yourself.

It's been a little over 3 years now, and I finally did something about those ugly pillows.  I've been meaning to make some pillowcases for...well, a little over 3 years. Once I got started it was easy, especially if you're not picky about stuff like measuring.

A little bit of felt, some dollar store doilies, and spray adhesive later:

To make the yellow pillow I just sprayed doilies with Elmer's craft Bond, and stuck them on the fabric. They've held up pretty well, but I would recommend reinforcing with some actual fabric glue, or even actual sewing,  as well.

The grey pillow took a little bit more time. I'll give you a step by step.

 1) Cut 3 inch circles out of felt. I chose three shades of grey and black. One flower takes about 25 circles.









2) Make the first petal by folding one circle in half, and sewing the bottom down with a few tight stitches.





3) Repeat, and overlap the next petal slightly.


4) Continue pattern. The last petal should be sewn right next to the first petal.

5) Make one big circle of petals, and then a smaller circle inside of it.


6) To hide the stitching on the bottom of your petals, just glue a circle of felt to the center of your flower.

You should end up with something like this:

 

Here they are all together again, just in case you forgot:


























One detail that I was extra proud of was the back of the cases:

I used two separate pieces of fabric, and overlapped them. That way I can take the case off for easy washing, seasonal changing, etc. For someone who doesn't sew, it was a pretty huge breakthrough.

This took less than an hour, and completely finished the look of the living room. The colors matched the one other pillow we own perfectly, which is a major advantage to making your own cases.

Also, when I showed Cory the final results, he said, "Hey! Those look like real pillows."

Thanks for the vote of confidence, babe.

Lindy

Don't forget to check out the "Party Central" tab to see what parties we love linking up to every week!