refinished faux bamboo chair - part 1

After much perusing of CL, I managed to come upon this bamboo chair (aside from it's homely appearance, I was still willing to adopt it for it's awesome bambooey frame).

With a price tag of $15, I was smiling ear-to-ear and thinking about Jonathan Adler's bamboo chairs (they look almost identical to mine), the Chippendale, selling for a mere $650 apiece.

*insert unattractive happy dance*

So, the first order of business was to carefully remove the original fabric. I didn't want to keep any of it, so I wasn't too worried if the fabric ripped.

The only thing that kept me going while grunting like a wild animal & yank out staple after staple were the potential ideas I had for the chair, which I scribbled down:

From the sketch, you can tell I wanted things pretty simple & classic; I wanted it to fit in every room, regardless of the colour scheme (which unfortunately ruled out some of the funkier options).

I decided to give the chair a glossy white finish, and using this neutral, yet patterned print from Tonic Living (seriously one of my favourite places right now!)

It's called Secret Gate in Silver and I only needed a yard, which was $25.

As much as I want to flex my re-uphostering muscles and show this chair who's boss, I waved a white flag after getting tendonitis, and just decided to hand it over to a professional (who I really wanted to give a great review of, but because of several irksome moments, will remain anonymous).

Before I do the reveal... just want to have a lil' before n' after action:
Before:

After:

Generally speaking, I was pretty pleased with the results.

The chair will be going in our master bedroom (probably somewhere near my Ikea rast hack). Our bedroom is nowhere near being post-able on the web, which explains the temporary staging in my hallway.. gotta protect your eyes from the mess ;)

they're an alright pair!

She also looks pretty cute with the pillow I made!

Until I do a final bedroom reveal (which, trust me, won't be for a while...), it remains prettily in our living room :)

Well, it was a good way to end a snowy, rainy day (can you believe it?! The 'May flowers' have probably shriveled up by now!)

Hope you're experiencing more favourable weather wherever you are! :)

credenza makeover for $0.

I really wanted to call this post: the magic of paint, but I'm sure we're all pummeled with that with every DIY blog we come by. Well, consider this another ode to how a cheap can of paint does wonders to a piece of furniture.

Take exhibit A:

I got this credenza from my parents who said my aunt no longer wanted it (tracking with me?). It has solid bones, simple lines, and a WHOLE lotta dust.

Seeing as our house was no longer welcoming new stray pieces of furniture (my husband will have a canary if I brought another), it stayed in my parents' garage. It was a bit burdensome having to drive out there with (hopefully) all the tools, so I wanted to turn it around quickly without having to spend too much; I decided to be resourceful and use stuff I already had. 

I started first with wiping the piece down. Then after removing the hardware, some of the more noticeable cracks and holes were filled in with wood filler, levelled & sanded down.

When the wood filler was dry, I gave the whole thing two good coats of primer.

I was always wondering what colour to change it to, but I decided to take a simple, classic approach and stick with a warm white.

For the hardware, I went ahead and bought new simple & oh-so-purty handles, but I decided again to keep this as cost-effective as possible, and just decided to work with the existing handles. 

Take exhibit B:

definitely not the belle of the ball. 

I even tried using Brasso on them, but nope. They stubbornly refused to be pretty.

So, I broke out the big guns: in metallic spray paint form.

Aaaand the final product (thought it would be more exciting with a before + after):

Before (with the front door open): 

After:

I wanted to keep the natural wood inside the drawers, and I loved how it looked against the white.

And the handles cleaned up well!

As much as I want to have it nicely in our living room with a mirror above it, tray with flowers and cool coffee table books on top, it still remains in my parents' garage... (hence, the lovely boxes in the background and cozy concrete floor beneath). 

I guess some would say that picture's 'keeping it real'. I say it's keeping it ghetto, regardless,

not too shabby for a free credenza & free makeover!

Happy Monday everyone!

DIY brass-edged frames

If you remember back to my temporary living room frames, I got $5 frames (with coupons from Michaels) and took advantage of a major sale on printed photos to create a budget-friendly wall of photos. Until I get larger frames & larger prints for a va-va-voom forever wall, I figure I would make-do with what I have so far.

I came across this great post from A Thoughful Place, where a picture from House Beautiful magazine inspired a very easy & low-cost knock-off (the perfect way to add some character to my plain frames).

Source

Here were the simple steps:

First, I got some painter's tape (it's best if it's width is thick enough to wrap completely around the frame) and metallic gold spray paint. Then I spray painted them (with a little unfortunate droopage).

2. As the paint dried, I marked my frames with a pencil (I chose to make them 5 cm along all edges).

3. I removed everything out of the frame. I then snipped enough tape to cover each side, making sure to make them as straight as possible. 

Here's where I did things a little differently from the post I was inspired by; I tried overlapping a piece of tape over the initial piece, but when it was smoothed out, I could see a line from the tape underneath. It is noticeable closer up, so I got a little OCD and decided to try something else.

4. For the initial piece of tape, I cut the tape at an angle at the corner,

5. And did the same for the second piece (this method definitely takes more patience and concentration... and well, more tape when mistakes are made - and they will be!)

But the final result was a smooth-like-buttah edge that looks like it was made that way.

Here's the after:

A before n' after, shall we?

Before:

After:

My husband is still dealing with the fact that gold is encroaching on his only-silver-is-allowed space, but after all of that measuring & taping, those suckas aren't going anywhere!

I hope you have a terrific weekend! 

we're supposed to be getting a lot of rain for the next couple of days, so gotta get in as much outdoorsy stuff that I can!

life, as of late (part 2)

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

I've done posts about random happenings in my life, and I figured I'll stick with the theme 'life, as of late'. I hope you had a relaxing Easter weekend! It's been an awesome, awesome long weekend and here are some tidbits.

Sold this baby on CL. It was my second ever DIY project, and I was glad to hand it over to a pet photographer who will use in Woofstock (which I'm thinking of attending with the husband and fur baby this year!)

I visited Creative Bag, which sells party supplies/wedding shtuffs in bulk for factory prices. I was in awe of how much stuff they had! They had myriads of ribbon, 

cute butcher's twine (I've been looking for you!),

and adorable straws in many colours (I bought the mint green ones). They'll funkify any boring beverage. fo sho.

The only thing I wasn't super impressed with was Creative Bag's 25% restocking fee when something is returned (getting back $8 for an $11 spool of ribbon kinda stinks when they just have to put the spool back on the shelf. sigh...)

On another note, I took a trip down to Tonic Living's warehouse and m'lord, was it textile heaven. Not only was the owner, Janine, extremely helpful and sweet (even amidst the phone ringing off the hook), she even gave me every swatch I wanted for free because I took the trip down. Free?! That made me a forever client.

I was beyond giddy seeing all of their fabrics first hand and getting a good look (and feel) of them in person. I seriously stood there like a creep just touching them. The quality's great, btw :)

For another upcoming project, I was inspired to take a little trip to a local gardening store where the sights, scents and textures were enough to make me want a green thumb (currently it's black and will kill every green thing it touches).

Me also gots a pedicure (in OPIs On The Same Paige)

And I took a trip down for the day to the Scandinave Spa in Blue Mountain with a good friend. We were sun bathing in muskoka chairs by outdoor fireplaces, wading in pools with varying temps, lazying around in steam rooms, lying on hammocks with magazines, and last but not least, we ended the night with swedish massages. 'twas too much goodness for me to handle.  

I also got in some projects, a whole lotta R&R, and quizzed my hubby as he studied for a final he has today.

I do not envy him right now.

I hope your weekend was well spent, and it's back to the grindstone (an expression often used in our home, for some reason ;)!