More Pics of Chair

Yeah- 3 posts. I know. Anyway- Amy wanted me to post more pics of the chair so she could get a better idea of the purple on the wood. Hope this helps...it was kinda hard to get the real look of it on camera.

Anyway- below this post I have my new hair, and a tutorial on how I did my chair.

New Hair

This is my new hair. Got it done at Austin Kade Academy (Idaho Falls Beauty School) by a STRAIGHT 31 year old man with 4 kids. Nope, not joking. He was definitely straight.

Look at my next post if you want a tutorial on how I reupholstered my chair.

Chair Reupholstering: the tutorial

Alright, so...some of you have said things like, "wow, I am so impressed"..." or "I want to do that, I just don't know how"....about my chair.

So, I already told you I took pictures along the way, I just never posted them. Now is the time- to unveil the secret....it really isn't as hard as it looks! I'm serious! As long as you have the right tools, which would be: a)flat head screw driver; b)staple gun; c)fabric; d)a desire to have an awesome looking chair in your living room.

Welp, let's get started!

First thing we did, was take out ALL of the decorative tacs. We did this with flat head screw drivers, like so:
If you look at the bottom left picture, of the collage above, you'll see us taking out nails...this was HARD and REALLY annoying. In all the spots they didn't have decorative tacs, which was basically the majority of the chair...were NAILS! We could've just taken hold of the fabric, and pulled...but then the fabric would rip...and we wanted to use the fabric for a pattern.

We paid VERY special attention to the detailed spots so we wouldn't forget how to put it back together. Like the following spots:
Certain spots like the legs...were done certain ways...like, folded under in one spot, tucked in another...you know. So we had to take note to make sure we did it the same way.

So after we took out all of the tacs and nails (this seriously took at LEAST 3 hours...and that is with Lori- so if I did it by myself it'd probably be like 8 hours. Yes, I know that's MORE than double the time...but she is pretty speedy) the chair looked like this:
K- I kid you not- the inside of this chair was NASTY! It had food and toothpicks and coins CAKED on. So gross. So of course, the next step was to vaccuum out all that disgustingness.

Next, I didn't take pictures of this part (should have!), but we unpicked the piece where your back rests, so that we could get a real dimension of what those pieces are before the piping is sewn in. Then we laid out all the pieces we carefully took off, onto my beautiful fabric.
We honestly traced the pieces with a pen. I wish I had a permanent marker, but I didn't- otherwise I would've done that. It doesn't matter because all the edges are tucked in the chair- so who cares if you see markings? Not I!

Then we carefully cut out the pieces...and I sewed my piping. If you don't know how to do piping- it's super simple. Google it or something. I will do a tutorial later on that maybe when I do my second chair.

Then...we used a friggin SAWEET staple gun that Patty & Paul lent us, which is powered by air...and it was P-O-W-E-R-F-U-L! The boys (Kurt & Clay) kept saying, "Don't hurt each other", "Be Careful", "blah balhbalhlahblah". We did just fine:) Anyway, we basically put it back together like so: the LAST piece we took of the chair, was the FIRST to go back on. The FIRST piece we took of the chair, was the LAST to go on. You see? You just go backwards.

So, after we did all the stapling, it was time to put on the pieces that were held together by the decorative tacs. I didn't take pictures of this...but a tip we have is, use the same holes they came out of! Makes it so much easier. Lori pretty much did this entire job on the chair, and she found that if she pulled the fabric back, poked around the wood and found the hole, it was way easier to put through the fabric and into the chair. A few times we couldn't find a hole, so we had to nail it in- which was HARD TO DO! But, we managed.

A few things that weren't in the step by step, that I would suggest:

• Use the batting that the chair already has
• Fabreeze the inside of the chair if you are using that batting- I did, and could no longer smell anything:) Gross you out?
• Use a friend- it makes it way more fun, and way easier, AND way faster
• I spray painted the legs and arms....purple. I did this after all the old fabric was taken off, and before the new was on. I didn't even remove the batting...it didn't matter if it got some spray paint on. If you don't like the look of bright colored wood, or painted wood, re-stain it!
• Reuse the decorative tacs. Why go spend a bum-load of money when you have perfectly good tacs from the old chair?

And with that, you'll have this gorgeous chair!
After you reupholster something, you will think of all sorts of things you want to reupholster. You will love it. DO IT!

We got inspired by allthingsthrifty.com. They did a tutorial on how to reupholster a chair.

Aliese's b-day, Dante, Reupholstered Chair...

Let's start with Aliese's birthday. Aliese (my niece) turned 12 this month. Rebecca has been working her TAIL off to get this dress done, and not just get it done, but make it look beautiful! I think she did a marvelous job myself. Aliese loved it and looked so so pretty in it.

















































For her birthday we went to Olive Garden, and it was great! Then we went home and opened presents and ate cake (except me).


















































I wanted to make Aliese something for her birthday- so I had a TON of fun making this cute purse.


























































It's lined on the inside, and I made the ruffles myself! So fun.

This is how Dante looks right now. HUGE! His back hits my upper thigh. I still call him "puppy" all the time though. He still has such a cute face and I just love him. He is really annoying cause he slobbers like CRAZY! But...........still...he is seriously soooooooo sweet. I love him. He is so big now that he can easily put his head on our kitchen table, as well as the kitchen counter. Kinda scary. Forces me to keep the kitchen slightly in order:-)




















































So- one thing I've been doing with my friend Lori, is reupholstering this ugly chair.


We took pics of the entire process...but I'm getting tired of blogging...so I'll probably put that together tomorrow...but it was surprisingly easier than I thought. I think it would've been harder doing it by myself...and if you do it, I highly suggest having a partner help ya. This is the final product.

I love love love it. If you can't tell, the arms and legs are painted purple...and we used a lot of what it already had. Like...batting, those little thingymabobs (tac/brad/thingys). I think it's perfect. I have another chair just like it. Patty bought 6 of them at a garage sale...and she gave two to me, two to her sister, and two to herself. So...I'm going to make another. If you want to get a head start on how to do it- we were inspired by allthingsthrifty.com. They have a tutorial on their site on how to reupholster.

Well, some big news I haven't mentioned...Clay has a new job. He starts Monday. He hated his old job, and so we were looking for jobs here and there..applying to some here and there...and whata ya know- he got one! Not just any one either, but the one he wanted most! He is now working as a web developer at a web developing company. We are so excited because he LOVES doing that kind of stuff...and it has full benefits, just like his old job, and a tincy tincy raise. As in, basically the same amount of money. But we are so excited.

I got my hair done...but I look gross right now, so I won't take a picture till lata. I love it though. I'm tired of blogging though..........so I'm gonna jet. Cya.

Yum. I love baking. And eating.

So you may all be wondering- DANIELLE! How in the world to you make that and not eat it all?!?!?! Well...here's the thing. I don't. As in...I've already eaten 4 pieces with butter slathered on each piece and it's been like...an hour and a half since out of the oven.

Poor Dante. He is restfully laying on his bed thingy by the computer, until I get up to go to the kitchen...he gets up...follows me there, begins to get comfy on the kitchen rug by the heater (one of his fav spots), when little does he know...I'm not planning on staying there...so right as he's laying his head down, I turn to walk back to the computer. He seriously gives me this look that has, "What? You're seriously going back? *sighhhhhhhhhhh* Fine." written all over his face. Then he comes back and gets comfy on his bed again. Poor guy.

Lizzie's French Bread....YUM!

Wednesday

Well, today was a hoot. Clay stayed home from work, worked on a website (he does websites on the side...why have I never said this? If you need a website built, Clay's the man- and no...I don't mean free labor...he charges moola to help us buy things like my saweet dishwasher and oven and an occasional Call of Duty (aka video game)) anyway- he worked on a website, and...........................PUT UP SHELVES IN MY SEWING ROOM! Yes! I was soooooo elated. I was actually worried at first. Cuz he sent me a picture message on the phone of his work, and it looked crooked. But, you know...I guess he mustve just taken a crooked picture because in person, they looked GREAT! Now I can finally organize and be happy. So I started...but realized that I am SO SLOW at organizing. If only I had Amy with me. She like...was queen of helping me clean my room growing up. What do I do when I go through things? I see an old picture and go, "awww...look at that! Oh that was so wonderful...blah balbhalh" and then I just sit and ponder on old times...or something. Or I see a piece of fabric and am like- OH MY that would make a great project...so then I start planning the project. I get sidetracked like...SO easy. So I basically got my beads on the shelf...and my scrapbooking stuff sorted through. Which was pretty much 2 boxes out of a ton. Tomorrow will be better. It HAS to be. I have so much to do!

Rebecca came over to work on a present for Aliese's birthday. I went to get the fabric with her and we decided to get double the amount of fabric needed...actually a little more than double...just to be safe. Well, surprise surprise, GOOD thing we did:) Gracie came with her and watched High School Muscal 2 on my tv. Oh, how I love that movie. Anyway- it was fun. We talked about businesses we want to start...or books we want to write...we realized that both of us are quite the dreamers/entrepreneurs. I have a paticular idea that I'm not going to share quite yet. Stay tuned.

I made this salad for dinner with berries, pecans, and chicken. Clay came upstairs and looked at it and said, "Maybe don't try such risky meals for me" then he kind of stared at it and at me the rest of the meal while I gobbled mine up. It was good times.

My kitchen is clean. Have I told you the wonders of my dishwasher? I'm not joking. It is the bomb-dot-com. It's not the most expensive kind, but I bet you it works better than the most expensive kind. If you ever get a dishwasher, ask me first what kind I got, because I kid you not...like...EVERY dish comes out clean...EVERY time. It's the best. I know I'm a dork, and am blogging about a dishwasher, but this SERIOUSLY brings me GREAT joy in life.

I've been craving brownies lots lately. I'm just going to admit that...it sucks. Big time. I sometimes wonder why I'm doing it. Then I remember that my life was dependent on chocolate after every meal. No lie. I thought of it all the time, and ate way too much of it. It's a good thing. I'm just sad. The other night Kurt and Lori were over, and the boys were eating cookies (nice, huh) and both Lori and I looked at each other at the very same moment with the saddest frowns on our faces...but then of course we bust up laughing because of how dorky we looked. Oh well.

I'm tiiiiiiiired. So...goodnight.

Oh. PS- That spoiler blog for the bachelor...said that Ella wouldn't get a rose on her one on one with her son at sea world because Jake thought she should be with her son, not him...so I'm pretty sure we can't completely believe everything that blog says...cause he obviously wasn't right about even the early episodes! Ella got a rose, and a kiss! This gives me hope:)