2016 Projects Review

It always helps me see what I have accomplished when I go back and review the projects that I got completed in the past year. There are many gaps in my blogging story each year because I do so many projects that I don’t consider “blog worthy.” I rarely publish any of my Christmas decor because I have some paid decorating jobs which I do first and by the time I get my own home decorated the blogosphere has been overdone with Christmas photos out the wazoo! One project that has not yet made an apearance on the blog was a fixer upper home that my son and daughter in law purchased this past fall that our family and my daughter in law’s family spent many hours making cosmetic improvements on. You can click on any of the green highlighted text to go directly to the post about the photos.

My biggest project this year was updating my dining room for the One Room Challenge last spring.

 You can read about that project by clicking here. That post also has links to previous posts with all of the details.

I gave the screened porch at our summer cottage a much needed update. You can read about that by clicking here.

My son got married in May and I completed a couple of projects for the wedding.

I made this mason jar chandelier for the reception tent. You can get the details here.

I also made these lazy Susans for the rehearsal dinner tables. You can see those here.

I refurbished this chair for my mother.

Even though it has a plant in it in this photo, I completed this beverage stand as a Home Depot DIH workshop project. Unfortunately it was not a positive experience. My hope is that my local Home Depot will work to improve these workshops.

This copycat tea kettle was a quick and easy project.

Of course my year also included plenty of travel, most undocumented on the blog. I did blog about our trip to Arkansas to visit Allen Smith’s Garden Home at Moss Mountain Farm.

I can’t tell you how many homes I have toured but this is one of the few that I could move into today and not change a thing! There is so much to see in that post!

The gardens were the icing on the cake. I did 4 posts on them so you can start with this one and follow them through here, here, and here.

Wow! That was a busy year! I’m linking to the Top Projects Link at Southern Hospitality. Click over to see lots of inspiration!

New Life for Another Old Chair

This post contains affiliate links. By purchasing through the links I make a small commission at no extra charge to you.

I love giving new life to something old. I just reupholstered this old chair for my mother to use in her bathroom.

I love a cute pagoda and I love the fabric that I used on the back of this chair. I chose to use a solid textured blue fabric for the seat. Let’s take a look at what it looked like before.

I found this chair in a second hand store for $35. That’s a little more than I usually pay for a single chair but it was in very sturdy condition and I knew it was perfect for my mom’s room.

There is a reason why upholsterers charge so much money. It is because it takes a long time to remove all of those darn staples!! I used this staple remover to speed things along. It really is a great tool to have. I’m thinking that if you are taking something to be reupholstered if you took the time to remove the staples first it should be much less pricey since taking the old stuff off is the most time consuming part of the project. You can get this one  from Amazon for about $10 and it is worth every dime! It is eligible for Amazon Prime shipping.

It was hard to get a good picture of the bottom of the chair but I removed the cover from the bottom to work on the springs that had come untied and were bulging out the bottom.

This looks a little better after I retied the springs. I didn’t do anything to the finish of the wood since I like its aged character.

I kept all of the original stuffing including the old springs and horse hair. After a little work and vacuuming up all of the dirt and dust it was ready for the new fabric. I don’t have a picture but I ALWAYS use this pneumatic stapler, also eligible for Amazon Prime and well worth the $30. I have tried many times to use a heavy duty hand stapler and I can never get the staples all the way into the heavy wood frames. I use the stapler with this pancake compressor and I have been very happy with the results I get. All of those tools can be purchased for about $100 total so if you use them one time they are paid for!

Once all of the preparation was done, putting the new fabric on was very quick. Gluing the trim around the edges to cover the staples was a little time consuming and tricky.

The fabric is Ming Pagoda by P Kaufmann in the Zephyr color. The solid blue fabric was picked up on a remnant table so I don’t have the name of it. I already had the gimp trim left from another project.

I love the way it turned out.

If you are interested in seeing some of my other chair rescues click on any of the photos below to see the post related to that chair.

 

 

Thanks for reading and a BIG thank you to those who take time to leave a comment!

I’m linking to Metamorphosis Monday, to Wow Us Wednesday, to Grace at Home, to Thoughts of Home On Thursday, to Before and After Wednesday, and to Anything Blue Friday. Be sure to click the link for lots of inspiration.

Dining Room Before and After–ORC Week 6

Hoorah! I made it to the finish line of the six week One Room Challenge. I was able to completely finish the project on time, even though it was just a couple of hours before we were hosting a party for 50 people at our house!

To say that I am tickled pink with the results would be an understatement! Let’s review what it looked like before.

I don’t switch things up very often and after nearly 30 years I have finally tired of this look. The first step, and by far the most tedious and time consuming was removing the old wallpaper.

A considerable amount of time was spent prepping the walls with spackling and a fresh coat of paint before I applied the P Kauffman “Malawi” fabric to the walls for wallpaper.

I used wallpaper paste to apply the fabric to the walls just as I would wallpaper. I painted the walls behind the fabric and below the chair rail with Valspar “Pam’s Lace.”

I switched out the brass chandelier for this crystal one and gave the mirror a fresh coat of Liquid Gold.

I also made new silk window treatments and covered the chair seats in a beautiful velvet.

This is the view from the foyer that I did last year. You can see that project by clicking here.

I am so pleased with the results! I hope you will click over to Calling It Home to the other projects.

I’m also linking to Thoughts of Home on Thursday at Decor to Adore and to Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style.