We received our first commissioned project to reupholster and paint this beautiful antique rocking chair. This chair would become the key peice in a couple's nursery, with the other key piece, the baby, still to come. First we had the painstaking task of removing all the brad nails, of which there were hundreds. Then we had to assess the structural integrity of the seat. The straps that supported the springs were rotten and beyond saving, so we bypassed the whole spring system and opted to use plywood as a foundation for the upgraded cushion that we installed. The result was a more supportive, yet comfortable sitting experience.
After doing some needed repair and reinforcement, we painted the wood (purists everywhere cringe). The desired color was heirloom white (shabby chic-ers everywhere rejoice). The customers had selected a fabric to match their nursery, and after placing the fabric against the chair frame with it's new color, we noticed that the colors just looked a bit bland. Thankfully we had planned on reusing the antique brass brads which provided just the right amount of pop and contrast we were looking for. After two days of battling the brads, that seemed to have a mind of their own at times, and fighting fabric resistance that loomed at every turn, literally, we finished. And the result speaks for itself, a happy customer!
The process is tedious, so if you have ever thought about redoing a chair like this, make sure you are committed to finishing, because once you tear into it, there's no undo button. In the end, it is very rewarding to complete a project like this. It shows you what you're made of, and sometimes more interestingly...what old chairs are made of. They used some weird stuff for stuffing back then, just sayin'.
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This is one of the Passport Stamps we transfered to the top of of son's dresser. This is a great way to personalize your furniture and give it that high end look for low end cost.
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What You'll Need:
1. Piece of Furniture, or an absent neighbor's piece of furniture. Think of their surprise when they arrive home!
2. MOD PODGE- Matte waterbase sealer, glue, and finish (approx. $4), or Liquitex Gel Medium (approx. $16)
3. Reverse Printed Artwork. If you need instructions on how to reverse your image, well, that's a different tutorial.
4. Sponge Brush Applicator ($1-ish)
5. Water and a Sponge or Paper Towel (cost determined by your preferred brand of Towel, but we recommend Bounty :) )
6. Fingers (Free...unless they are someone elses fingers, in which case, we don't want to know.)
7. Patience (although this project is quick on the gratification scale, the rubbing process does require a bit of patience and restraint, to keep from rubbing too hard in anticipation and damaging the transferred image.)
So, here is our first crack at an instructional video for one of our projects, and now one of our favorite techniques of adding a personal touch to your project pieces, transfers. The video quality is not the greatest, perhaps we need to watch a tutorial on producing video tutorials, but we digress. For now, we will offer you what we can, and our video production skills will improve with time. We hope you enjoy, and if you do, please share our blog with a friend, or sworn enemies, we're not picky. And if you have any questions or comments, don't be shy, unless you plan to be mean, in which case by all means, be shy.
 This Farm Chic Coffee Table is available for purchase. | We picked up this coffe table at a garage sale for $5. Immediately I was drawn to the "plank" style construction of the table top. I had a very clear vision of what this table needed to look like. The lines were making me think farm house, so farmhouse chic it was.
| | The first step is to sand and paint. A good point to note is that when painting a deep red, don't freak out when it goes on as fuschia, it will deepen as it dries. It is recommended to allow 15 hours to dry before recoating for a color like this.
Next, I created a design that fit the look and feel I was envisioning. After printing the design out on multiple pages taped together, the next step was to hand cut the stencil. Exacto knife + hour or two later = giant rooster design stencil.
| Finally, perhaps the most therapuetic step for me personally, distressing the table. There is something about taking a table that has a brand new paint job, and making it look like a really old one, it is quite fun. There is a balance to be had, and a fine line between too much, and too little. Where is that line? Finding it is a secret, and if i told you...well you know the rest. $5, two coats of paint, a sweet rooster print, and a bit of distressing later, we turned this ordinary coffee table into this Farm Chic Work of Art. | Using some repositional spray adhesive, I sprayed the back of my paper stencil, and adhered it to the surface of the coffee table. Next I painted through the stencil, being cautious not to over saturate the brush with paint, after all, this is a paper stencil, and it will only absorb so much paint before allowing it to pass through. |
We picked up this destroyed ladder back chair for FREE
because we saw potential. Sure enough, Matt went straight towards
the chevron fabric! I actually liked the mix of colors and thought it would complement many decors. So we cut off all the rope seating, painted it, cut a board for the seat, reupholstered it and
voila, less than $10 for this chair and matching pillow. This awesome chevron ladder back chair and matching pillow
are available for purchase! Only $60
So these chairs weren't so bad when we bought them, but at $10 a pair, we thought we could dress them up and make them pop! We purchased some chair cushions for $2.50 a pair and a blue chevron material for about $7. We took the seat bases off the chairs, added the new cushions and material and sanded down the chairs to give them a worn shabby chic look. The final cost was around $20 for the pair.
I picked up this coffee table/storage chest at a garage sale for $20.
It definitely had some wear... a few of the brackets were bent,
and it appeared to have been used as a children's coloring table and dining table, as it showed a lot of marker and fruit punch stains....
but nothing too big for us!  Matt sanded the living daylights out of the table, trying to get rid of the strong stains, and make it ready to repaint. He hammered the brackets, and removed the old handles.
 We had to tape off all of the brackets, so they wouldn't get painted and then we painted the outside of the table, but really felt like the inside needed a little something, so off to Hobby Lobby.
 We bought 2 new handles for the sides that cost about $12, and a funky mustache and bowler hat burlap material for around $20.
After attaching the new handles, lining the entire inside with the burlap, and "roughing it up" we were finally done.
Total redo cost was about $55.
We picked this arm chair up at a garage sale for only $15!
We liked the nice legs and overall shape of the chair,
but the material definately needed to be replaced!  First, we had to strip the chair of all the old fabric, while leaving the fill in tact....Not an easy task, since these old chairs are made to last! This took several hours and a lot of elbow grease.
 Then we used the existing fabric pieces as patterns for our new fabric. We picked up a gorgeous floral print to be the focal point of our living room. This material, along with piping cost around $90 from JoAnn's Fabrics (our biggest fabric splurge).
 Putting the new material on the chair was much easier than taking it off. Matt went to Home Depot to buy some staples and got a "great deal." He said the special was when you buy a box of staples, you get an elctric stapler at regular price! After much eye rolling, I saw the benefits of this new tool, as it made applying the fabric much easier and faster and we've used it on every piece since.
So far, this has been the most time consuming piece we've done, but the end result was well worth it! Final cost was just over $100.
We picked up this outdated glider for only $1 from a garage sale. Thankfully it fit in the back of our tiny car!  We stripped the fabric off and saved the cushions, and then sanded the chair down,
not an easy task with all the spindles! Once sanded, we painted it cream. We purchased some grey and cream chevron fabric from Hobby Lobby for under $30, and picked up an ottoman from another garage sale for only $5. I added a little pocket to the side to store books, burp cloths, etc.
Now we have an updated, and might I add, extremely comfortable
glider and ottoman for our nursery, for about $35.
We picked up this old ladder back chair for only $5 from a lady who resells furniture to redo. We got a FREE cushion, and picked up some ornate cream and orange broadcloth for the seat for less than $4.
Matt cut a board for the seat, painted the chair and we reupholstered it. The final project cost us about $10.
This chair is available for purchase!
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