Chair make over #1....and some other stuff!

It's no secret that I have a "thing" for chairs. Every time I stop at a thrift store or yard sale, chairs are always one of things I'm on the lookout for. I like to have a lot of chairs and fill them with family and friends. I love the idea of sitting down at the table for a meal and having to scoot out to add a chair or two! 

Another thing  I love about chairs are their differences....There are just SO many kinds of chairs.

When I was younger, my family lived in England.

 I believe my obsession with  appreciation of all things old began there.

My parents acquired some antiques while we were there.

It seems that over the years, a lot of them have been passed on to me.

I have happily received them. (Craig-not so happy! ha ha!)

Here is the first make over in a series of several chair make overs.

This simple little chair is one that we brought back with us from England.

 There were two of them originally, but I used one outside in our garden many years ago

and it had to be thrown out because of weather related issues.

I am sad about that now, but anyway....

At first, I  weaved old ties together to form a "seat" and stapled them to the underneath side. It looked super cool, but after a few behinds sat on them, they began to sag.

So, I started over with a new approach.

The whole thing got a coat of black spray paint.

After that, I sanded the edges and rubbed it with a nice gel stain.

While that was drying, I attached a few layers of batting to the piece of wood that my most dear and helpful husband cut for me to use as a seat. (I used spray adhesive to do this)

The chair is kind of a smallish one so I didn't want the seat to be too padded.

Then, I used a $3 remnant of upholstery fabric to cover the batting.

I used the spray adhesive here too, but also used some staples to secure the fabric underneath.

And, here is the big reveal....

 

I will add a little throw pillow and some other things with color as soon as

I get enough gumption to drag all of my spring/Easter decorations out!

Another thing that I have been working on is re-framing this sampler.

I got it at a thrift store about 10 years ago. I didn't have that many choices as far as framing it back then. To have it professionally framed would have cost me a lot and the sampler is just an odd enough size that it was impossible to find anything already made.

 So, here is how it looked before.

 I enlisted my husbands expertise in making a frame for it that would be the right size,

but one that would still let me use the glass from the old frame.

He routered the wood a little deeper on the insides of the frame so the glass would fit....

 Sides of the frame

And top and bottom of the frame (I have no idea what that fuzzy bit of stuff is there...gross!)

 This frame also got a coat of black spray paint and gel stain.

I like it much better now.

I just love making over things that someone else has given away!

I am linking up with Kindra again this week. She is having another Thrifty under $10 Tuesday linky party.

Go on over and see what everyone has been up to.