DIY Painted Chairs

My post with the perfect chairs is finally happening. My hubby told me the other day that he thought it was funny that I was so excited about getting those chairs and I haven't done anything with them. Well... To show him, I got all the paint and tools and things I needed to start my project a few days later. I followed the post from Kristy Swain at Hyphen Interiors. I would explain it to you but she does it really well.
BEFORE:

Supplies:

Textile medium

Acrylic paint

Latex paint

Brushes

"stirring sticks" from the dollar store

Paint cups from the dollar store

Spray bottles also form the dollar store

First cup of paint!

 I painted the front first.

Here is the cushion

After the first coat. On Kristy's blog she says it'll look worse before better. SO TRUE!! 

 This is after the second coat. Not too shabby!

Now with the cushion on... All I have left is the last coat with the acrylic paint.

Well That is pretty much all it looked like. It's a little more grey but I love it. Still some crunch to the sitting but it's getting better. I made these back in May. Ah!!!! Sorry for not blogging it sooner.

HEADBOARD!!! (Bedroom Makeover: Part II)

For our wedding present my brother-in-law said he'd make us a bed. (Even though it's a year later. Haha Chris I just had to say it. :) We are very grateful and love it!!!) We now have a bed! I'm so excited for this post because I absolutely L.O.V.E. the headboard. It was inspired by Don and Betty Draper (Mad Men) and this post by Jenny Komenda at The Little Green Notebook.  I decided we could make one too! 

It was a 5 person job. My sister threaded the needles, my mother and I pushed them through the back and stapled the threads down when they were ready, and my father and brother-in-law put the buttons on the needles and pushed really really hard to get super deep tufts. 

I just followed the tutorial from Jenny's blog with a little changes of my own. We used regular plywood (that's what Chris already ha ha) and only 2 in. upholstery foam (all I could afford). Other than that we did as directed and here's how it turned out!

SO great!!! Not quite as elaborate as Don and Betty's but perfect for us!  I can't wait to finish the lamps and get an old chandelier to use as our light fixture (instead of the standard one everyone who rents gets in every room.) Thanks for reading!!! Good luck if you try the headboard thing. :)

-Tayci

OMGoodness! I finally found the perfect chairs!

I've been wanting to re-paint some wingback chairs for a long time. I found a great tutorial here. I looked and looked and watched ksl and craigslist for like 3 months and never found any at a price I could afford. Then today I spotted them. I took a trip to the Provo DI to see if I could find a really cute handbag... But, there they were. Just sitting there together looking up at me and saying "Tayci! We want you to fix us and love us!"

So naturally, when furniture speaks to me I can't just ignore it! (Who would do such a thing?) And I bought them. It was a trip to get them home but they made it. :) I am in love and I can't wait to get started!!! Now the only problem is deciding what color to paint them. I don't want to pick a color that I'll get sick of and want to change soon. But I also don't want something that's boring. if any of you have suggestions I would love them! (I want to put one in my office and one in the craft room/future nursery. I really like the idea of white but I'm not sure if the blue would show through.)

If you have any ides at all!! Let me know. :)

DIY Painted Vases Tutorial: Part II

Here is part two! It's not very exciting, I did however need to turn them right side up about two hours after I painted the first coat because they weren't drying properly. Then I just gave them all a second coat. :) Haha.

Before...

 And after...

 

This one looks a little like before but They were still pretty wet. once they dried they looked like the next one.

Thanks for checking this out! Good luck with your projects and if you have any cool ones let me know. I'd love to see what you have done!

DIY Painted Vases Tutorial: Part I

Well I got this idea from Pinterest! I love that place to death! You can ask my husband how well I have conversations when I'm looking at it to prove that. Haha. I saw these on there and decided "I can do that!" I bought 6 vases from Dollar Tree in Spanish Fork. I bought the paint and brushes from Michael's in Orem. 

1. Wash vases with hot soapy water and peel the stickers off the bottom. DRY COMPLETELY!

Protect your surface from paint splashes and for when you turn them upside down to dry.

 2. Here's my paint. I used Martha Stewart craft paint (satin finish) in "pool" and "green curry." I also bought gesso (primer) but didn't end up using it. I'll keep it for another project.

3. Put a blob of paint in the bottom of the vase. Start painting! I'm going to apply 2 coats, so with this one I just covered it all up and made sure I didn't miss a spot.

4.  Once you paint all of one color, rinse the brush and start the next one. ( I had two brushes so I used different ones and had the first one soaking in a cup).

5. Put the vases upside down on the plastic (or paper towel or newspaper... whatever you used to cover the table), to dry and let any excess paint drip out.

I'm going to wait until tomorrow evening to paint the second coat, just to be safe that they are completely dry. I just love these colors!!! They'll look great in our new living room (when we move) and after I finish the new pillows I'm making!! I'll keep you updated on the progress of my vases.

PILLOWS!!! (Bedroom Makeover: Part I)

I am making new pillows for our bedroom! Our bedroom colors are black, white, gray, turquoise, and dark purple. I'll take pictures of the bedroom before and after we get an actual bed. :) My brother-in-law is making it for us this week. YAY! So here is the purple ruffle pillow I made. The turquoise and lace one will be done soon (I hope).

What you need:

2 yards of fabric (of your choice)

Sewing machine

Pillow form

PATIENCE!!!

1. Cut 2 pieces of fabric to the length and width of your pillow form with a 1/2 in. seam allowance.

 2. Cut 6 1.5 in strips the WHOLE length of the fabric. (You'll cut them in half later to = 12 totally strips.) I did 12 ruffles cause I wanted ruffles the whole length of my pillow. You can cut however many you want.

3. Set your stitch length to the longest setting your machine has. (mine was 4)

4. You're going to need a simple straight stitch 

5. Take your 6 ruffle strips and sew down the middle as best you can. My strips weren't cut out straight so my lines were a little crooked.

6. When you are done leave a very long string before cutting it. (This will help you pull the stitch to cause the ruffling).

7. Here is where the patience comes in... I had my husband hold one end of the fabric while i felt and tugged (lightly) on either the top thread or bottom thread to start the ruffles. (each one was different and yours might be too) I had to re-stitch some because I was pulling too hard and the thread would break. I got so frustrated at them! But you just find a happy medium between lightly pulling and pulling hard.

When you do this ruffle a little section and then slide it on up to the end where it's connected and stable... (the end my husband was holding). Go through and continue to cause little ruffles and when it's all ruffled they should look like this pile here.

8. Lay the top piece of fabric down and start pinning a ruffle on in the middle. When it reaches the end, cut it off and pin the next one using the other half.

(two rows from one ruffle!)

9. Continue to pin until you run out of ruffles. 

10/ When they are all pinned on the fabric sew down the center of each ruffle using the . I started with my middle ruffle and worked my way out. That way if I needed to reposition any of the ruffles I could do so and still cover the whole piece of fabric.

(Another part of my patience was tested here. I got stuck with so many pins my fingers were bleeding. Make sure you're smarter than me and pay attention to which way the pins are pinging when you sew them.

(finished sewing them on...)

11. Lay both pieces of fabric on top of each other right sides in the way you would for a normal pillow. and pin around the edges, leaving enough room to stuff your pillow form in one end. 

12. I know it doesn't look much different but this is after I sewed them together and cute the fringes of ruffles off and cut my corners.

13. Then you shove that pillow in and ta-da!!!! Ruffle pillow. 

I haven't hand stitched up the end yet cause I'm not very good at it. I'll do it eventually. :)

There is the purple ruffle pillow. I will update this with the turquoise and lace one as soon as I make it. I hope you enjoyed it and wish you luck with your new project. 

(UPDATE!)

This is the turquoise and lace pillow. 

I didn't make a tutorial because it wasn't very hard.

Just sew the lace onto the fabric, then sew it all together. :)

Here it is in our bedroom with the purple ruffle pillow above.

Next on the list is to repaint the lamps and rover them with fabric, then make new curtains! :) I'm very excited to continue on with the bedroom makeover!!!