Vintage Bedroom Chair

There's someone new keeping us company in the bedroom at night. And during the day. He's short, chubby, and older, but I think I love him.

Meet our new man:

Tom's been making me go trail riding (mountain bikes) with him lately - though really I do like it, so it's not like he's dragging me through the forest. I think he wants me to go with him just so he doesn't feel guilty buying pizza afterwards. This last week, as we drove from the trail to the pizza place, we passed an old antique shop near Sharon, Ontario. (That's for you locals.) It's a tiny little place that used to be a motorcycle repair shop. Sounds bad, right? They had all kinds of solid wood furniture outside though, so I made Tom stop to take a look.

There was nothing that we really wanted - well, there was a dining room set but we don't have room for it. Just as we were about to leave I saw this chair with cardboard boxes piled on top of it. The fabric looked brand new and it didn't sag, plus the grey would match our bedroom, so off I went to find out the price. The guy told me $45 or best offer. Seriously? I was expecting over a hundred dollars. Especially since the manufacturer's tag was still on the bottom. And did I mention that the fabric was brand new? Tom had $35 in his wallet (I conveniently didn't bring mine), so just like that it was ours.

The tag on the bottom says it was made in 1967 and the upholstery was originally tangerine. Can you imagine? Though our bedroom is done in grey and orange, so maybe it would have matched regardless.

The finish on the wood is peeling, but I'd like to stain it a darker shade anyway. I'm thinking espresso or ebony.

The seat is really wide and the arms are low - perfect for slouching in while we talk about our day.

The fabric is a little bluer than the walls, but it seems to match the grey in the pillows exactly. (Not that that pillow would stay there - it's a bit big - but I wanted to add some colour to the shot.)

The room really needed a dose of old-fashioned. Even Tom, who originally didn't want a chair in the bedroom, said, "Hey, this is pretty comfortable to sit in." Better believe it! This guy is staying.

Yard Sale Bench Finds a Home

Way back in April of 2012 I bought a bench at our company yard sale. For $2. Quite a bargain, right? And this past weekend I got around to refurbishing it.

Do you remember it before? It's a very solid piece of furniture, with a slapped on paint job. It was for background in a photo shoot, so I'm sure they weren't too worried about the quality of the work at the time.

I popped out the front fabric panel inserts and gave the sides a fresh coat of white paint, then painted the top with a paint and poly in one in brown. I really wanted to stain and poly the top, but it's only made of particle board, so no wood grain for me.

After work on Friday I bought some 2" foam, quilt batting, and upholstery fabric with a bit of a herringbone pattern. I had Tom cut down a piece of plywood to the same size as the top of the bench and used that as my base for the cushion.

While he was cutting the board, I recovered the front inserts in the same fabric. The inserts were made up of a thin piece of plywood, an even thinner piece of batting, and then the dropcloth material. Recovering it was a simple matter of removing the old fabric by pulling out the staples, cutting a new piece of fabric - make sure you leave enough on each side to wrap to the back - and stapling it to the back of the board. It really only took about 10 minutes. (Four of which were spent finding a heavier stapler than the one I thought I could use.)

I handed the inserts off to Tom to reinstall, and got to work on the cushion. I cut the foam to size and then spray glued it to the plywood board. The glue isn't there to do more than keep the foam in place while I'm pulling on the fabric, it's not really strong enough to hold something with this amount of weight.

 

I measured out a piece of quilt batting that would cover the front and sides, and wrap to the back by a couple of extra inches. I flipped the foam and board upside down on the batting, wrapped it tightly to the back and got to stapling. You'll want to start by stapling the batting to the center of each side of the board, to get it anchored firmly. You can then flip it back over and make sure that everything is smooth and there isn't any gapping.  I usually work on the corners next. I folded the batting material to get nice clean corners - kind of like wrapping a present - and then stapled it down.

I then filled in with more staples between the center and the corner of each side. Make sure you keep pulling the material taut all along. You may want to have someone else hold it for you if you need two hands to work the stapler.

I repeated the process with the upholstery fabric. If you want to have tidy edges, see here for a tutorial. The underside wasn't going to show in this case, so it didn't matter what it looked like.

I've sewn the corners before (here and here), and done a double-fold (my favourite, I'll have to take pictures sometime), but I kept this one simple - just tucked one side in and folded the other over.

See how easy that was? We then drilled four holes in the top of the bench and attached the cushion to the top from underneath with screws. Make sure they aren't too long - you don't want to poke someone in the butt!

Here you can see the detail of the front panels.

Now a little before and after:

I was considering painting the side inserts the same colour as the wall behind the bench, but I think I might just add some antique-looking handles instead.

The best thing is that now we have somewhere to sit to put our shoes on. No more sitting on the floor and getting slobber-attacked by dogs!

Say Cheese!

My sister dragged me off to the flea market today only slightly against my will. I try to avoid them mostly because I spend too much money there. Usually on food. Those food booths are my kryptonite. Especially the ukrainian-polish ones. My favourite was a phyllo pastry filled with meat called burek. I behaved myself though and only bought some samosas and some brownies. I forgot to stop back at the mini-donut booth - probably best for my waistline anyway.

Attached to the flea market is an antique market with hundreds of booths. So many things that I wanted! But most were out of my price-range. Or I'm just too cheap. Either/Or.

I only made one purchase and it was this Argus C3 Matchmatic camera.

It was mass-produced in the US between 1939 and 1966, so it isn't valuable, but it is awfully cute. It was the camera that made 35mm photography popular.

It came with a two-piece leather case and is in excellent shape. I don't know if it actually works since I don't have any 35mm film any more.

I just think it's so handsome. I can't stop taking pictures of it. 

Is it weird to be taking pictures of something that takes pictures? Am I falling down the rabbit hole?

Thrifting

Welcome to Thrifty Thursday Friday! Yeah, I'm a little behind this week. But I can explain! I had a dentist appointment after work yesterday, then I came home to paint the upstairs hallway and thought I'd broken something because the lights wouldn't turn on. I checked the breakers and nothing was flipped. Turns out I was just being dumb - but I needed Tom to come home and tell me that. The lights are on a 3-way switch and the other switch was sitting at the halfway mark. Super easy fix. So it was after 11pm when I finished painting and pulling down tape. But it looks good! It even makes the boring beige carpet look good. What a team player.

Had enough of my excuses? On to my finds this week.

I'm loving this framed mirror. Seven dollars. It's at least two feet square. I walked by it once but I didn't have a cart so I pretended I didn't even see it and just gave it the side eye. Do you do that? There was another lady close by who did have a cart and I didn't want her to know I was interested in it. I'm pretty sure it paid off because when I got my cart and came back she was still there. I know that was disappointment in her eyes as I loaded it up.

I haven't yet decided what I'm going to do with it, whether to paint it or just leave it. I don't even know where I'm going to put it. With my other mirrors hanging out in the spare room? Shhhhhh.

There was a whole shelf of these mdf picture frames. Probably 20 or 30 frames. I took 9 of them. I'm going to arrange them 3 x 3 on a wall in the basement tv room, once it's painted. I think they'll have black and white vacation photos in them. The frames will probably end up white as I'm going for a beachy look for the whole room.

How sweet is this planter, bowl, pedestal, whatchamacallit? I think it was something like two dollars. 

It's a substantial size and really has presence. I'm going to fill it with either a drapey plant, or fruit. Not drapey fruit though, just regular fruit. :-)


Three of Tom's relatives liked the wreath I made for his mom for Mother's Day so much that they asked me to make wreaths for them as well. My first commission! I've been collecting materials over the last month or so and I think I have everything I need. I'm going to use this picture frame and wreath together for one, but I'm not telling you anything else - it's a secret.

I also snagged some paperbacks and another frame for our living room gallery wall. The gallery that might have pictures in it some day. It's on the list, really!

Have you been thrifting lately? Any good finds? I kind of want to go to the Re-store tomorrow but I don't know if I'm pushing my luck with Tom. With the combination of things we bought while in Pennsylvania and my recent thrift store outings, the place is starting to look like a warehouse.

Thrifty Thursday

I got the itch to make another run to Goodwill last week. I've been really disciplined and haven't been there in months. I even took a truckload of things to the local store after our yard sale in June and didn't even have the urge to go it (probably because I was exhausted and hungry.)

Friday was 50% off day, my favourite day of the week. I'm so glad I took my huge IKEA shopping bag in with me because I filled that baby up!

ikea.com

I found this sweet little blanket that is so soft! It has pompoms along the edges that I'm not too fond of, but they can (and will) be removed easily.

I'm thinking it will either go in our living room (that I'm trying to introduce more blue into) or in the basement. I want to redo the basement with a beachy feel - sand, white, pale blues. I already have one picture ready to be hung, and I have pallet wood all sanded and base-coated, ready to be made into a huge sign.

This chicken wire basket called out to me just as I was headed for the cashier. It has just the right amount of chippiness - I'm not even going to paint it. I have some mason jar lanterns that match it perfectly - I'll have to find a place for them to all live in harmony.

I bought some sweaters and a pair of jeans this time. I never buy jeans at Goodwill. Mainly because, well, the stores in my town don't sell any high end brands so you're never going to find them donated. One of the sweaters - the oatmeal one - is so soft. I want to wear it every day.

I also bought two more white dishes. We don't eat off them, I only use them for photos. Don't you find that food looks better when it's placed on white dishes? I already have a few plates in different shapes and sizes, but I really needed some bowls.

Do you buy fabric every time you go to Goodwill? I can't stay away from it. I found these navy and white pieces this time. The fabric is satin and I have no idea what they were used for. Each of them is sewn together into a huge tube. Maybe they were curtain valances? No clue. They are going to become pillow covers I think, and maybe even a new lampshade.

But my big score, my gigantic, humongous, stop-the-presses score was this tripod. I'm not sure how good the name is - I couldn't find it online - but for $15 I'm not going to worry about it.

It converts from tabletop size right up to floor length, it's almost taller than I am when fully extended. I'm looking forward to playing around with it and hopefully improving the clarity of my photos.

Have you found any good deals lately?

Light Me Up!

After breakfast one Saturday we were wandering around the local Restore. Since we were holding a garage sale the next weekend we weren't really looking for anything in particular. But isn't that when you make the best finds?

At the Restore we found a basket of panels used to make cube storage. 

There were 30 panels, all of the connectors, and even instructions (that I accidentally tore just before I took this picture).

The panels are 14" x 14" each and I thought, wouldn't they make an excellent light tent? I've been asking Tom to make a light tent for me for quite a while - not because I can't make one for myself, but because he has better access to the materials. The panels are white plastic and just thin enough to let a light source through for a diffused look. The price on one panel said $5.00 each.

Per panel? That's crazy. I hid the panel that said $5 and took the basket to the cashier pretending I didn't know how much they were. The cashier said, "I know there was a price on here somewhere...", so I wasn't going to get away with it. I mentioned the "$5 each" and she told me not to be silly, it was the price for the whole basket. Sold! I only wanted 5 panels but I figured I could sell the rest as storage at the yard sale.

Later Tom said I should keep the extra panels in case I needed a larger tent.

They snap together so easily. The panel corners slide into the connectors in two different ways depending on the angle you need. 

And the wire frame is really sturdy. So until we get it together to build (or buy) a better lightbox, I have this one for about 75 cents per cube.

You can use it with both sides up,

A light source on one side for more illumination,

Or with one side removed for stronger light.

It also comes apart easily and you can then make a bigger box if you are photographing something larger.

And if the divisions between panels bothers you, you can hang a piece of fabric or paper over the back to create a smooth background. (I would get rid of the wrinkles first of course!)

I'm so excited to start using it.  After I wash it.  The whole thing is completely filthy.

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I'm linking up here this week!