Mixing Chairs and Fabrics

As a follow up to my last post on Rescued Chairs I wanted to share the arm chairs that I plan to use with the group. All of these will be used at our summer cottage. I purchased a pair of wicker chairs at an estate sale and made the cushions for the seats. I started by using a piece of newspaper to make a pattern. Next I transferred the pattern to the fiber filler for the insert. I traced around the pattern with a marker. Next I used an electric knife to trim the insert. Notice that...

More Rescued Chairs

I have had a very productive week and was able to complete the set of dining chairs that I recently rescued. It was a lot of work but I love how they turned out. Let me remind you what they looked like when I found them for a whopping $20 each. It took quite a while to remove all of those nail heads. Then I had to remove all of the staples. I actually got a big blister in my palm from that! Eventually they were deconstructed and ready for a new look. All of the chairs appeared to be...

How To Make Simple Furniture Repairs

When I stumbled across this little drop leaf side table I was immediately drawn to it. The price was $35 and when I showed interest the dealer immediately told me that he could do better on the price. I asked how much better. His reply was $20 and I agreed to buy it.  You wouldn’t believe how many $20 jewels I have rescued! One day I will do a post on them. I thought that I would be painting this table and selling it but my plans changed. I decided not to paint it and I decided to keep...

How To Make Lamps from Candlesticks

As soon as I spotted these brass parrot candlesticks at a second hand store I knew that I wanted to make lamps with them. Let me show you how I did it. I started with these brass candlesticks. In the photo below, I have already polished the one on the right. I purchased a bottle lamp kit. I did not use the wire in that kit because it is very heavy and white. Instead, I used a clear wire that I took off a thrifted lamp. There were three rubber stoppers in the kit but unfortunately none...