5$ Chair Updo

I got this chair at a thrift store for $5! I love the shape and thought it would be an easier chair to reupholster due to it having wood arms. I have wanted to try drop cloth on a chair for a while so thought this one would be the perfect project! {drop cloth $10 at Home Depot}. I painted the wood white and love the results! So here is the before and after my friends!

Dumpster transformation!

So we mentioned before that there is a wonderful week in Fargo/Moorhead that is called clean up week. I would consider it a holiday that we celebrate. We wanted to share some of our dumpster transformations with you. Yes, people threw goodies out in their trash.....but no need to worry.....the White House Gals rescued several treasures before there time was done. Each has their own story..........

This little chair I saw great potential in.

My mom got this a while ago at a thrift store...and it didn't take much in talking her to give it to me.....haha...I fell in love with the tribal print. Who would actually wear this awesome vest in the first place? Might as well give it some love.

So put it on a chair. Add some pen painted free handed arrows and you got yourself a pretty dang cute little chair.

How cute would this be at a cabin or in a deer shack? They can be pretty too right?

See inspiration here.

Tribal Chair

So once again I got inspired by the fabulous  Vintage Revivals.  The talented Mandi from Vintage Revivals was inspired by this print from Pockettiger {which p.s. she has an AMAZING etsy shop}. Which she used as art on a mantle headboard.  I just feel in love with the tribal look.

So I added it to a different element, a folding chair!! You can find these boring folding chairs almost anywhere!  & for CHEAP!  Which is the best part about it!

 So here's how I did it.

You will need a paint pen (I got a metallic gold one at Walmart for under $3), painters tape, and a ruler. First I measured it out so that each arrow was two inches wide and taped it off with painters tape. Then I free handed arrows in each row with a paint marker. I love it more than I even imagined! Its absolutely awesome!!! I love arrows an metallic's! Inspiration is free....now run with it!

WHO'S eXcItEd? I AM I AM!!

Isn't she a beauty? What if I told you I have two of them? You'd probably call me a liar....BUT ITS TRUE! Yippy there is two! :) My mom had these in her house and she told me I could have them! I am so super excited. I am going to recover them due to the fabric having some stains. I think I'm going to keep the wood natural what do you think?

So I've been looking at these 6 wonderful fabrics but can't seem to choose which one I like more? Here is the couch that I have that will be in the same room as these two amazing chairs. What do you think?....any suggestions?

 

Stay tuned.......

Fabric painting frenzy!!!!!

     Yes our mom caught the bug. The chair painting bug. We are so proud of her because this is a bit daring for her. (Even though she painted it white, we always tease her because she paints everything white and we always try to tell her to paint something with a little color). hahaha. She did awesome and all by herself! It turned out beautiful! She ran out of paint medium and is planning on painting the cushion as well (Thief River Falls doesn't carry the paint medium). Last night she was looking around her house to see if she could paint anything else. hahaha....So if you do this BEWARE you might catch the bug yourself.  We wanted to share the beautiful chair with you. Click here for the how-to.

Before

After

We've got a first timer!......Reupholstered Chair

My sister and I got these chairs last winter....and had to get them ($20 for the pair). There was two of them...and since everything is better in pairs we couldn't pass them up. Not to mention we loved the shape and size as well. But what and how should we make these a bit cuter? They were a peach color and had no holes but lots of stains on them. We contemplated painting them perhaps? I just wasn't quiet that daring....yet..(see our painted chair here)...my sister got this awesome fabric that she put onto this fabulous bench. As soon as she showed me birds started singing in my head and butterfly's fluttered in my heart......

 I then knew that I HAD to do or try to reupholster these chairs in this fabric....BECAUSE I WAS OBSESSED! Heres were I got the fabric. So here I go....I googled and searched for a day on how to reupholster a chair. So I attempted and somewhat succeeded I think? I love the way it turned out...I just hope it stays put? So here's how I did it. * Note: I advise to use home decor fabric because it is easy to work with.

I read on one blog to reupholster a chair in a spot that is in your way (example: the middle of a hallway) this way you get it done faster haha (it was great advice that I followed and oh so true). First I started ripping! I took off the piping all around the chair (I used a pliers to help me out on this). Then I started to rip off the fabric. Some staples came out with the fabric and some stayed on the chair. I read on some blogs that the individuals took each staple out (which would take forever) and on others that they didn't worry about taking the staples out so I decided to take the easy way out and not worry about taking the staples out and it still worked out great. On blogs I read to start with the inner arm cushion first and work your way out from the chair, doing the side arms and the back last.  Make sure when you are ripping off the fabric to keep it in the original shape that it is stapled on at as much as possible. You take the pieces off and lay them onto the fabric and cut out the shapes.

When disassembling the chair fabric just try to remember how it was put on and you just put the new fabric on exactly how you took the old fabric off. A tip *Take pictures of every angle of chair...that way you can remember how it was assembled. 

 Next after ripping off the fabric I painted the wood frame. I chose black. I had to put two coats on.

 

Then I took the pieces of the fabric and started to staple them on (the way the old fabric was on). (sorry don't have a good picture of this). I stapled all around the fabric with a heavy duty stapler and had my staples about a quarter of an inch apart from each other.

 After completing the staples I went back and trimmed off the fabric.

Here was a tricky part. I had to fold over the fabric in the corner (as seen). I just pulled it really tight and folded it over and stapled it down. I hid the seems later with piping.

 Next I took maxi piping and glued it all around the edging of the chair with hot glue. And here is my finished project. I LOVE IT! I am now in the process of chair #2! So cute so fun.

Fabric (about 2 yards) $20
Chair $10
Piping $4
Total cost of chair $34

 Before

 After



HUH? Did you say PAINTED Chair?!?

As some of you know my Sister & I pretty much wing most of our projects.  We see something that catches our eye may research it a little on pinterest, ask around to some of our crafty friends but then the rest of it is pretty much fly by the seat of our pants!  Trial & error is another good way to explain it!  I am on the hunt for two chairs for our living room.  I wanted something fun yet cozy, & most importantly something that won't break the bank!  I was thrifting one afternoon {crazy I know} when I came across this super cute chair!  I was in love with everything the size, the coziness, the shape, loved the wood detail, and I swear the thing had never been sat in because it was in AMAZING condition!  Only one thing....I was not crazy about the pattern on the fabric.  Hmmm.....I purchased the little lovely anyway hoping that I could get in touch with someone in the upholstery world or heck maybe even I could give it a try, for some reason she had to be mine!  My purse is now $30 lighter!  I got in touch with a few people that knows a little something about recovering but I just couldn't bring myself to spend that much on fabric and also to get it recovered!  I had a couple gals telling me to paint it!  I was for some reason nervous to go with through with it but we had just freshly painted & given some new life to our living room that I finally became to antsy to wait anymore!  So I WAS going to paint it!  


If you dare to be as daring here are the few things you need:
Fabric Medium {Michael's or Hobby Lobby} found in the arcrylic paint section
Paint tape {if you have wood detail that you do not want to paint}
Paint {interior paint in your color  of choice}
Paint brush

 I ran to Michael's on my Sunday evening {Hobby Lobby has it as well} and grabbed a few bottles of Fabric Medium $1.99 a bottle.  I taped off the wood detailing so I would be sure not to get any paint on it!  I then grabbed an old container and dumped in two bottles of fabric medium {fabric medium is used so it won't be so stiff, it softens the fabric} I measured it 2:1 paint to fabric medium.  I mixed them two together grabbed my brush & got busy!  I just simply painted away!  I was so excited to see the end result!  Once dry remove your paint tape and you now have a new chair!  Some spots may require a double coat depending on your pattern and fabric you are painting over!  This chair had a bottom cushion and I just happened to have a pillow case that matched this color perfectly.  To add a little extra comfort I took the cushion and covered it with the pillow case tucked it under and stuck in on the chair giving it some added character & comfort!  I ran down in the morning once completely dry and placed her in her new spot!  I am so thrilled with the results!  I now have the perfect chair and it only costed $35!  Now I am hoping to find the perfect partner for her to complete our living room!  Thanks for stopping by!  Let us know if you have any questions!  Much Love, The White House Girls

How to give a chair new life in 1 hour!

How to give a chair new life! My sister and I have been spotting these cute chairs everywhere! We even picked one up on the side of the curb!  We have a serious addiction to any kind of chair! These chairs deserve a second chance and we are having so much fun! It seriously only takes an hour and you have a brand new chair! This chair we picked up for $2 at a thrift store added a new layer of paint! And Tahdah...a brand new super cute chair!  It's a heroic feeling when you can safe a life!!

What you need:

• A Chair
• Tape {any kind masking, paint tape, packing tape, etc.}
• Garbage bags..or any kind of plastic or newspaper paint {spray paint or latex
• sandpaper {if you want to rough the edges to give it some vintage love}

How To:

1. First you need to wipe down the wood of any dirt or dust. This is so the tape will be sure to stick!
2. Next step is to cover the fabric. Lay down the plastic {or newspaper} close to the edges but not too close so the tape doesn't stick.
3. Next run tape along the edge of the fabric tucking it under the piping of the fabric and make sure you are taping the plastic {or newspaper} to ensure a leak free paint job!
4. See pictures for guidance.
5. Once you are sure that you have it all sealed up and safe from paint you are ready to get busy painting. Pick a color that will compliment the fabric~ White is always a safe color and it brings out the funky color these chairs usually are! In this case we choose a fun mustard yellow! Dare to be different!
6. We usually add 2 to 3 coats depending on the brand of spray paint or latex paint.
7. Let dry... once it is dry we grab a sheet of rough sandpaper and sand the edges to give it a shabby vintage appeal!
8. Peel off your plastic and check out your new chair! Yippie...you did it!! It's as easy as that! Let us know if you have any questions!

To think this little lovely above was found curbside....rescued, received some love & she even found herself a new adorable little family.

photo courtesy of Kim Jansen

Share your pictures of your re-do's would love to see them!