The Ugly Chair Project

I stumbled across this completely gross chair at a garage sale--but it was disguised with a blanket.  I was in need of a comfy reading chair for my home office--something that no one else would ever use except me.  The owner of the chair saw me looking at it and invited me to sit in it--it was wonderful!  Deep and soft, sturdy, and just perfect for reading.  I asked why she was getting rid of it, and that's when she took off the blanket.  I was about to turn away when she said something that immediately caught my attention:  If you take it now, I'll give it to you free. 

Well, needless to say, it went into the back of my truck.

At home, I threw it in the corner of the office, covered it with a blanket of my own, and there it sat until a few weeks ago when I decided to rearrange the office.  The chair, I thought, would have to go.  I would get a new one to replace it.  But then I remembered the curtains I had snagged at another garage sale...

I snagged 6 panels of these floor-to-ceiling curtains for a steal!  They are reversible and lined with fleece.

...and decided to try my hand at creating a slip cover.  I was inordinately please with the result, and it only took a couple of hours to finish.  Here's how it went:

First I separated the curtain panels so that I had two lengths of the same fabric.  I draped one of the lengths across the front of the chair, letting it drape over the back.  Then I tucked in the fabric around the back and arms:

Next I draped the second length of fabric over the bottom half of the chair and started tucking again. 

This time I used a long wooden spoon to really get the fabric tucked in well.

 

Next I started gathering the extra folds of the fabric and creating pleats.  I pinned the pleats with safety pins temporarily.

On the sides, I pulled the fabric around and pinned it.  I didn't worry about the bottom edges.  It was looking great everywhere else, and I had a plan for covering up the messiness at the bottom.

On the back, I pulled the edges of the fabric together and pinned those as well.

Next I took a long piece of narrow fabric (about 18" wide) and hemmed one long edge.  This would go at the bottom and cover up all the messiness.  I turned under the other long end.  I wrapped this piece around the bottom of the chair and pinned it in the back.

Last, I took a piece of fabric wide enough to cover the back, folded and sewed the edges, and pinned it to the back of the chair to cover up the edges of the narrow piece at the bottom and the space that the fabric did not cover.

At this point, everything was still pinned, so I got out a long needle and some strong thread and sewed the pleats.  But for all the rest I used this awesome fabric glue:

I just went around the chair and anywhere the fabric folded or was pinned or met up with another piece of fabric, I squeezed in a line of glue, pressed and held for a few seconds, and kept going.  Although this is great glue, super strong on fabric, I was concerned about using it on the pleats, because there were several folds.  That's why I used the needle and thread instead.

I still can't believe the finished product!  This was so much fun I am tempted to do it again with my "cool down" chair at school--another comfy chair for reading or just chilling out, but has some major flaws.  We'll see...  For now I'm just enjoying my "new" chair.

And we have to have a before and after:

Thanks for looking!

Until next time,

Go Get Crafty, Sister!

~Sister #2

Toy Box from Desk Drawer

See the drawers on the right?  The bottom two are really just one big deep drawer with two handles so it looks like two.

A few months ago I scored several drawers from an old wooden desk similar to the one above, only painted black.  They were just too sturdy to end up in the recycle bin, and I was sure I'd be able to put them to good use one day.

That day came recently when I decided the toys being stored in different places around our house needed to be weeded out and placed in one spot, so when the kids came over they would know just where to go to find their favorites.

 

The large drawer was already the exact size I needed, so no need to do anything to the basic structure.  

The bottom of the drawer, however, was made of thin wood and would never be able to withstand the rigors of life as a toybox.  

Lucky for me I had held on to an old cabinet door that was just the right size.  

I nailed that on with my trusty nail gun.  Yes, I left it white.  It wouldn't be seen anyway, and I was on a roll and didn't want to take the time to paint it and then let it dry.

Next came these sturdy castors from Ikea.  I love their castors, even though the largest ones are quite pricey.  These are the medium size, though, and just right for what I needed.  Plus, any larger and the box would not have fit the space I had in mind.

One side of the drawer had holes where two handles had been fitted in order to make it look as if it were really two drawers instead of one deep one.  

I covered the bottom set of holes with a random piece of hardware and glued one in place on the opposite side as well, so they matched.  Then I inserted a length of rope for the handle--long enough so the box could be pulled around by someone under two feet tall, lol.

I didn't bother with repainting the box.  The color goes with the room, and I love the beaten up weathered shabby chic look.  (Even if I'd painted it, the box would eventually look like this again.  :)

The final touch was adding the label.  I used my Robocut and some grey vinyl I had left over from another project.  The vinyl sticks great, but since I knew it would get a lot of wear and tear, I gave it several coats of Modge Podge. 

The box fits perfectly under the bench in my entryway.  Now the kids know exactly where all their toys are, and I have a less cluttered home to boot. 

Outdoor Fire Pit

In laying out my outdoor zen garden (as my mil likes to call it),  I included a spot for a fire pit.  We had a number of bricks stacked haphazardly behind our shed, but for a long time I was secretly holding out on using them for anything, hoping that those bricks would be some day be used in a kitchen add-on.  However, when neighbors added on to their similarly shaped home without the use of extra bricks, I realized that I was holding out for naught.  So, with a little premixed mortar and some planning help from my brilliant son, I went to work.

These bricks have been stacked behind our shed since we bought the house, over 10 years ago!  And who knows how long they were there before that.  I didn't encounter any snakes, but there were TONS of spiders and lizards!

My biggest issue in building the pit was the inability to cut my bricks. I had to plan around full bricks.  I had seen a youtube video describing how to make a rocket stove, which leaves space at the bottom between the bricks to feed the fire.  I thought maybe I could do something similar.

A few weeks before "the build" my son was visiting.  I  described what I wanted and between the two if us we came up with a design.

As you can see, he gave some serious thought to the project.  :)

 Everything I needed I already had:  the brick, the tools and even the mortar.

I've had this premixed mortar around for a while, and it's come in quite handy for quick tile projects. Even though this one was planned out before hand, it was carried out "spur of the moment" (as in, I woke up one day and decided it was the day to make a fire pit).

I had placed a squarish piece of cement to mark the spot for the pit, and I decided to 

just build around it.   First I laid the bricks in a square around the piece of cement, which will become the base of pit. 

The second row, however, would allow for an opening the size of a half of a brick.  It will be used later to feed the fire, or I can block the space with a broken piece of brick.

The mortar was real easy to put on, sorta like icing a cake.  Unfortunately, my cakes turn out a little messy, as did this project!

The next row was laid out the same as the first, as well as the third and fourth ones.  I was concerned about the stability of the walls, since I didn't stagger the bricks, but they seem fine.

Just for good measure, I slapped on spread some extra mortar on the inside corners.

The last row was not really a row at all.  I just placed two bricks at each of the corners.  This will hold up a grate for fires, or the wooden top I plan on making to cover it during the summer.

The mortar shows quite a bit in the photos, but with weathering and use, it will blend in nicely with the brick.  (At least that's what I keep telling myself, lol.)

At dusk, it's the perfect spot for a glass of wine.

With the sun almost all the way down, it's ready for some marshmallows on a stick!

Palette Chair

This is the palette that became the chair that appears in the picture at the top.

I've seen chairs made out of palettes, but when it came time to actually make my own, I couldn't find the instructions anywhere.  I finally was able to find a 60-second "How to build a pallet chair" by HGTV, which I played over and over and over again until I had a good general idea of how it was done.  Still, it took a lot of trial and error on the first one.  And since all palettes are not the same, each one had to be done a little bit differently.  Still, I think with that good general idea and a lot of patience, anyone can create one of these!

Now the one in the picture above is not the one I am showing in the tutorial, but it's the same general process. 

First find a palette with 4 side beams.  Cut your palette into 3 main pieces:

A piece like this, complete with two beams--one on each side.  We'll call this the bottom.

And two incomplete pieces that look like this, with a beam on only one side.

Remove the slats from the bottom so you have three left.

Remove all the slats from one of the incomplete pieces, leaving you with a beam.

We are going to insert this beam into the remaining incomplete piece so that it will also have two sides, but be thinner than the bottom.  We will call this piece the back.

Now, this next step is very important:  Measure!

You want to measure the inside width of the bottom and the outside width of the back.  In this case, the inside width between the beams of the bottom is 13.75.

Position the new beam between the slats of the back, making sure the outside measurement of the beams in the same (or about a 1/4" less) than the inside measurement of the bottom.  The tighter the fit, the easier it will be to work with later.

Nail the slats in place, then flip it over and nail the supporting slats as well.

 

Next, remove the lower 3 slats from the back.  

(Sorry I don't have a photo of it, but you'll see what I mean in the next step.)

Lay the two pieces on their sides and wedge the lower part of the back between the lower part of the bottom.  It should be a tight fit.  I had to use a hammer to tap it into place.

Set it back up and adjust the back slope to your liking.  I was using a nail gun, so I just put a couple of nails where the beams cross.  Then at the end I went back and put in the screws.  But you can skip the nail step and just go ahead and put your screws in now.

Take a few of the leftover slats and nail them to the front for the legs.  I used 13" legs and they were just right.

I added another slat about half way between the top and bottom slats for more support.

One more support piece went to steady the back.

Finally I used screws everywhere I used nails.

And here it is in the garden.

So that's it!

Now with a little sanding and maybe some stain, I'll have some good garden chairs.  

 And the great thing is, they didn't cost a cent!

Until next time,

Go Get Crafty, Sister!

 ~Sister #2