Wednesday, June 27, 2012

The Story of a Chair

This little and some what beat up white chair has traveled with us from Mass to Texas and from one house to another. It started out as a freebie destined for the trash ... until I came along.

You see, when my sweet hubby and I got married we have very little money and very little furniture living in a very little house. When I saw this chair, I knew it would make a great "desk" chair (aka very small cheap end table size desk from Target) in our bedroom. And it did! Well, as the years went on and after a major move across country and as we started replacing old furniture with nicer pieces, this chair has stuck by our side.

 It has gone from its original ugly fabric on the seat, to a bit nicer (we thought so at the time!) fabric, to even nicer fabric. This sweet little chair actually is very heavy weight and has good bones. I love the lines of the chair and it is very comfortable to sit in, too. When it was no longer needed as a desk chair, it made its way to our living room. Anyone who knows me knows that I love flipping through magazines. In an old issue of Better Homes and Gardens, I saw a living room arrangement that spoke to me. It had the standard pieces... a couch, comfy chair, end tables and coffee table BUT it also had a white wooden chair at one end of the coffee table making a nice little arrangement. So that is the story of how this little chair destined for the trash made its way into our living room.


With little kiddos running around our house, our white chair needs new paint from time to time. After a while, it begins to get grungy looking and occasionally someone decides to add a little crayon to it... their idea of "sprucing it up?" maybe!
Before, I just used white spray paint. But not this time! This time it got Heirloom White Painters Choice spray paint. It is a much softer white and is very soothing. It might just be my new favorite place to sit!

And from time to time, I get tired of the fabric covering its seat and change it up. This last fabric that I picked, I actually really love... at the time. It worked well with the red couch and chair that we had. Now that the couch has been replaced with something so much more comfortable and soothing and throw pillows were changed out also, this fabric on the little white chair didn't go with anything.


A few weeks ago I came across a diy french linen table runner tutorial and fell in love. I might still make the table runner but for now, started out by making my own french linen fabric for the chair! I. AM. IN. LOVE with how it turned out.

I taped, painted, washed, sanded and washed some more for a very nice soft broken in look. You can't even tell it is paint now! As for paint colors, I used Folk Art "Skyline" (same used in the diy tutorial) and for the fabric, painters drop cloth of all things! It sort of looks like linen but for much less- and is so nice and heavy weight, it really makes great upholstery fabric.




If you haven't done any fluffing lately, whether big or small, I highly recommend it.

I hope I've inspired you to fluff something!
 



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5 comments:

  1. Um . . . WOW! Your chair looks like it is straight out of Country Living! You did such a great job! I have that same magazine page torn out . . . but you actually did it! :)
    And I still have the first piece of furniture Josh and I grabbed from the side of the road. i just can't bring myself to getting rid of it. :)

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  2. this looks so good!!! i love it! and you made the fabric to boot! great job! :)

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  3. It's so fresh and clean...I love it!
    We are still working on a budget to keep our house 'fluffed'.
    I know someday we will be able to get the things we really desire, but I also know there are some items that will stay with us, much like your chair.
    So much fun!

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  4. Wow! What an awesome chair! Kudos to your creativity!

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  5. What a great chair and I love the fabrics it has had in its lifetime.

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