A Stick-y Situation

Here's a shoutout to all those people who absolutely make their husband/friend/family member/ cab driver STOP THE CAR because you saw some really cool branches by that Bank of America ATM. 

I think I need to create new Pinterest board entitled "Things to do with sticks". 

Here are a few of my favorite nature-inspired ideas that really "stick". 

  via

 This is a super easy idea to DIY, and given that they're even tied together with string, you can remove as needed! I love incorporating natural elements like this into my seasonal decorating, especially around Christmastime and springtime.

Via

Driftwood hurricane idea courtesy of Anthropologie. I literally could put this anywhere, anytime. I may actually just carry it around with me.

I've got immediate plans to DIY this bad boy- just ordered some driftwood from this shop on Etsy and my hot glue gun is warming up!

And of course this Branch-o-lier from Mrs. Limestone at A Brooklyn Limestone in Progress. It's so pretty for the holidays, but wouldn't it be fun for Halloween, too? Maybe with some black crows perched ominously? As you can tell, it is barely summer and I am already jonesin' for Halloween. Just 5 more months, people!

I just love the impact that these few, and usually FREE touches make!

If you come across any more stick touches, you need to let me know ASAP. 

I'm not kidding.

I'm a bit of a fabric whore

and I cannot WAIT to put THIS gorgeous gray ikat linen ( found here on etsy)

 onto these:

This is about my 3rd fabric purchase in 1 week. Our little secret, k?

xo,

Margaret

Four Words

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. You've heard of this, right? If you have not; it is this paint, right,  that gives you this rich, purty color AND 1. you don't have to sand, prime, or anything. Just slap it on, let it dry and distress to your heart's content.  Say whaaat!

It is Le perfect for an easily distracted individual such as moi. I can slap on a coat when I get a surge of inspiration without having to do all that stupid prep work. Prep work is no fun. I reupholstered this chair that I got at Goodwill:

 

Close up shots! 

Everyone is going OOON and OOON about chalk paint, and you know what, they should. I am sooo on that bandwagon. If you're going for the distressed look, look no further. The folding chair was done in the first color I ordered, Paris Grey (are we surprised?)

I have since ordered Aubisson Blue and Old White. Everything is getting painted. It adheres to everything.  Plastic, other paint, metal, wood, veneer, toothpicks, meatballs. You name it.

 I'm gonna mix and match these things like it's my job. 

On house news, I haven't updated you because there's nothing really to update. Still working through the process, so we shall see! 

your delightfully delinquent blogger bud, or DDBB: 

How to upholster over a cane back chair: Take two!

This method is seriously a big-time improvement.

 Before we begin, some notes and reflections: 

Reflection #1: Really take the time to cut your fabric as close as possible to where you want it to go. Trying to trim off the excess like a pie crust after you've glued it is pretty difficult. Plus, you've got fraying to contend with. 

Get your materials together: Batting, glue gun (glue gun sticks, obvi), Fabric and spray adhesive if you have it. 

I put two layers of batting down, using the spray adhesive to hold it in place while I worked. 

Then, cut your fabric as close to size as you can, and begin to hot glue it around the edges. My method for this is put the glue as close to the edge, directly onto the caning and carefully place your fabric over it. 

And it should look generally like this. 

Easy, right?! 

Now just add your trim of choice and you are done on the back! 

The front is just exactly the same thing. 

Two layers of batting, hot glue and fabric. The secret is to trim trim trim before gluing to get a really good fit. 

I have it shown here without trim so you can see. The batting really gives it a nice comfy-lookin' poof doesn't it?

Ah, sweet success! 

Does this not look wonky?

Well, it totally does, right? Gaaah! I tried to do the stretched canvas approach, whereby I streched the fabric across the opening on the back and stapled it in place, and used the gimp trim to cover up the staples. Bad idea. 

So, I cast that chair aside (for now) and focused my attentions on my pretty distressed gray chair of the set. Yes, this one chair is different from the rest of the set. I was in an experimenting mood. Don't judge me! 

I love how this gray chair turned out. The patina is just too pretty for me to paint over to just plain white. So I kept it. And decided to try another method for upholstering the back since the caned back was busted through. 

Oh, hey, what's that? Yeah. Totally looks like a chair. An awesome chair. Woot woot.

It's not trimmed, but is this not so much better? Forget what I said about using cardboard to upholster over a caned back. Well, no, don't forget it. You could still use it for simple shapes, but this is WAY easier when you have a fancy shape that you need to get exactly freaking right or else it just looks like it belongs on the short bus. Like this guy: 

Blerg. Anyone know how to remove trim that's been hot glued on? Anyone?

I'm working on the full tutorial on how to make your upholstered caned back NOT suck, but the gist of it is: 

You need batting,  your fabric, scissors and a glue gun and that is it. 

If you've got spray adhesive it makes things that much easier for you. I used staples at first. no. don't do that. Not necessary. Glue gets it so much more precise every. single. time.

P.S. The wonk-ified chair is the back to my ikat upholstered french chairs! I'm totally gonna do it, you guys. I have 3 of 4 chairs in various states of non-matching-ness, so I really ought to quit typing and start upholstering.

Toodles!

xo,
Margaret

Crafting Kabosh

Man, the crafting Gods really don't want me to get anything done today! Seriously, I was all crazy nervous about doing these chairs, and I finally got up the guts to start, and it was just not happening, folks. The method I wanted to use, that I used for this chair:

did NOT work for these. 

Cause of the fancy-schmacy back, I couldn't get the poster board cut quite right. So. Where does that leave us?

STAPLES!

Now, I've never used a stapler to upholster onto a frame, it's mostly been just upholstering around a cushion, but I know that the manual ones would kill your hand in 10 seconds flat. So I borrowed an electric one from my father- in-law, who has pretty much every tool known to man, and it was MISSING A PART. GAAH! 

Buzzkill.

Don't you just HAAAAATE when you get the balls/time/all the rest of the materials to do a project and the roadblocks crop up?

Anyway. Now I am sitting on my ass, giving my unfinished chairs a death stare and grumbling. Good story, right?

I fart on staple guns.

All I want to do is put 

THIS. 

onto THESE

grumble. 

Thanks for taking this ranting journey with me. 

On the bright side, I am going to cajole my hubs into getting me sushi take out for dinner tonight! 

Sweet, sweet consolation. 

Your grumbling, sushi-eating pal, 

Margaret

Chalkboard Buffet

I had such a blast working on this piece. It was a super ugly 70's server, but I saw huge potential when I saw its fold out top: 

I love the versatility of it. You get lots of room when you need it, with little big impact on your day-to-day space. I wanted it to have a really worn look. So the word of the day working on this was "bejesus"As in, " I'm going to distress the bejesus out of this thing". I really took that mantra to heart. 

 The funnest part? The fold-out chalkboard top! Please forgive me, I had no chalk so I couldn't write a fun little message for you. But I just love the idea! You can change it up for any occasion, which is my opinion of ideal entertaining-ware.  Buut I'll probably just write inappropriate things. Like "poop". 

 Extreme close up! Woooah!

Ain't she pretty?

If this post were a president, it'd be Abraham Linkin:
A Beach Cottage
Miss Mustard Seed

xo,

$5 Chevron Side Table

Happy St. Patty's Day! I have to say I am ashamed. I am Irish and totally forgot. However, I chalk that up to going buckwild in the name of good St. Patty this saturday past. 

I got this little guy for $5 at a thrift store some MONTHS ago, and didn't know really what to do to jazz him up. 

And then when my Valspar free paint sample arrived, it came to me! 

Chevron!!

Also, are we noticing a color gravitation? 

'Cept here's the thing, I really stink at measuring and consistency. Kind of two things you need when doing chevron. I, on the other hand, respond very well to tracing. I very much like not having to think too much about what I'm doing. 

So I cut out this here triangle. 

And traced it out on the tabletop. (Jasper is helping)

And taped it off (not pictured) 

And painted it (not pictured) Trust me, really not that interesting. 

Done! Whee! 

And it doesn't suck! Ah, the luck of the Irish! 

xo, 

If this post was a president it would be Abraham Linkin:
Shabby Chic Cottage
Miss Mustard Seed
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating
Sisters of the Wild West
Primitive and Proper 
The Shabby Nest

Perfect Fabric Happy Dance!

As this title suggests- I found the perfect ikat for my french dining chairs. Whee! 

My needs were simple, yet the search was extensive and HARD. I went through dozens, literally dozens of samples. Ordered swatches online, waited impatiently for then to arrive, then I compared, scrutinized and compared again. Narrowed it down only to realize that the fabrics I selected were $30/yd. Yeah, no. 

I considered scrapping the idea once or twice. 

And then yesterday my swatches from LS Fabrics showed up. And this beaut was among them: 

 Me: "oOOooh!" This could work...

OH! This is it! Yes! Yes! Yes! 

I sprint to my computer, whip open the screen, type the URL feverishly only to find ....

SON OF A....

I started praying and googling at the same time that I could find this PERFECT fabric. Well, I did. Except it was $44/yd. Yeah, no.  So I did what any mature adult would do. Spent the next 12 hours grumbling. 

But never fear, friends. There is a light at the end of that tunnel. Because TODAY I found this: 

From Tallahassee Decorative Fabrics

*Insert Liz Lemon manic laughter* I BEAT YOU, LS FABRICS! I WIN! AND FOR $1 less! HA! 

Anyhoo, I ordered it and now I am mucho excited.

The End. 

xo,

I Flippin' Love This Chick

Not only does she have rockin' style, I more or less peed my pants reading her blog today.  Who is this, you ask? None other than Bri at Me, You and a weiner. 

Dear Bri, 

Let's be buds. 

K, thanks. 

Some photos for your enjoyment: 

This is an ikea hack-ed dresser. Can you believe it? You can see the progression here

Her gorgeous home has more than enough high-style-for-peanuts-prices-DIY to feast your eyes on, but it's her commentary that makes this a trifecta of entertainment. 

That's one bad ass wiener. 

Oh and I'm seriously jealous of her DOG's bed. 

'Nuff Said- check this lady out. 

xo,

Anthropologie Hack Candidates

Guys. What a haul I had last night at Goodwill. Seriously. I just found out it was open 'till 8 p.m. (score!). I got a couple of nifty knick nacks to aid in my upcoming St. Patty's/ Easter Decorating. But the crowning jewel of my finds is this FOLDING CHAIR. 

This may not seem that exciting to you, so let me explain. I have been wanting to go Anthropologie hack on these chairs for EVER. 

Yeah you read that right, almost $200 smackers for a FOLDING CHAIR. Oh, did I mention that my goodwill folding chair cost $3.49?? BooYAH! 

AND now that I ordered my sewing machine, I can make matching double welt cording. Mwahaha! 

P.S. I like how that picture makes my flip flops look dainty. My size 10 feet are anything but. 

I also got these mirrors: 

For a grand total of $15 buckaroos. 

They each have a different pattern on them, and they're all in great shape! I was thinking about maybe trying to make it look like aged carved wood to tie in my cherry wood dining table (seen peeking through) and do an acid-eaten mirror thing: 

What do you think? Should I go the weather-beaten wood route, or do it some bold color like teal and glaze them? 

xo,