Another Chair Transformation, Before and After

A few weeks back I shared about this chair makeover, mentioning there was another on the way. Well, friends. Here it is! The decision to use some of the solid orange fabric remnants left over from the first chair for the buttons was a total last minute decision and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I'm a sucker for ticking stripe fabric and I love de-skirting cool chairs to show off their hidden, leggy beauty!

Chair Makeover Before and After

I snagged this chair a few years back at an Atlanta thrift store for less than $10. It was missing a back chushion and so horribly soft that when you sat down on it you needed assistance to get out, but I loved the lines of this sturdy, mid-century construction and saw potential. I had been saving up for a while to have it recovered, along with another chair, and we picked it up from our upholsterer friend, Doug, last week. It has a new seat cushion, a new back cushion, the skirt was removed and I found some cheap wooden legs to replace the chair's not-so-awesome original legs.

I stumbled upon the dreamy dahlia fabric on Ebay for $8.99 a yard. It normally runs at closer to $35 a yard. It looked really familiar to me and I couldn't place where I had seen it before. Oh yeah, it is the same fabric used on the Anthropologie Naive Tropical Astrid Chair which was originally $1298, marked down to $799 and then discontinued. In total, I paid less than a fifth of that price for a brand "new" chair! Happy dance, happy dance, happy dance! 

 So yeah, I love sipping my coffee and reading in our new chair and maybe you think it's loud and crazy, which it kind of is, but it my eyes it's happy and fun and just the right pop I was looking to add to our eclectic living room.

The side table is a fun, marble-topped piece we bought a while back from some friends for $30. It was primed white and we decided to keep it white since the color looked good against the tan marble. Nick painted it in a gloss white and now it's basically our chair's new BFF. Anything smaller/less substantial would have been dwarfed, anything louder would have competed with the busy chair. I'm pleased these two pieces work so well together.

Yay for cozy living room vignettes! Stay tuned for my second chair's transformation!

Office Makeover and Springtime Delights

Saturday was the perfect day to have a lazy morning and productive afternoon. After enjoying our weekly eggs, bacon and waffle breakfast (with coffee, of course), we set out to baby proof the office and in the process I was inspired to make my workspace more inviting and cheerful. First task on the list was to do something about our nasty, faded office chair. I really do loathe your run of the mill type office furniture. All function and no form! What's up with that?  There are some lovely Eames inspired chairs out there, but not in our price range, so my husband suggested we re-cover our current chair as a free alternative!

I had this sample upholstery square in my fabric box and it was the perfect size! I'm not sure what you would call the pattern... It's sort of Southwestern/Ikat looking and the color is a pinky peach, honeysuckle tone. If you have insights into the name of the fabric pattern, I'd much appreciate it. Needless to say, I'm in love. I'm so glad we didn't spend money on a new chair! 

All you need is someone to help you stretch the fabric taut and a staple gun. Voila! Easy, peasy project!

That prompted me to swap blank walls with post-it notes for some workspace pzaz. Virtually everything you see in these pictures was collected over the years from Goodwill runs, freely acquired or purchased very cheaply. The lamp was something I made-over a few years back and you can read about that here. I think the bulletin board was leaning on the side of a dumpster and the fabric covering the board is from Ikea. The desk was a piece we found on the side of the road when we lived in Midtown, the vintage metal TV tray is from Goodwill, the vintage faux bois clipboard is from Goodwill, the picture frame was on sale at Antrho, the wire basket that is serving as my desktop organizer used to house three herb garden pots, the gold frame is another Goodwill find and inside of it is a remnant of a vintage wallpaper roll that I found at-- you guessed it-- Goodwill! So, my cheerful workplace environment probably cost around $30 total.

After all that hard work, we decided to head over to our neighborhood park for a much needed stroll!

Along the way, we spotted this tree. Any ideas on its name? It's gorgeous for sure! That's about it. I love Saturdays with my little fam. Happy Monday y'all!

Thrifting's Greatest Hits

(source)

I don't think words can even express how much I love this print. I know thrifting is not everyone's cup of tea, but I get such a rush from a good find! Yes, it takes time and you don't always have success, but it's persistence that pays off and yields you some super duper finds. Below are a few of my favorite thrift store wonders from the past two years.

Tweedy pink fabric on cane chair goodness

 See before and after shots of this Eames era beauty of a teak chair here.

Mid Century Industrial Office Trays

Vintage Globe

Señorita Painting

 Catherineholm canisters

 Horse Painting

1940's Driftwood Lamp!

Teal Metal Toolbox

As Promised, the Reveal!

Last week I posted a picture of my sweet, albeit grungy, find from a local garage sale. I present to you, the transformation!

A HUGE thank you to the folks at Frugal Fabrics on Peachtree Industrial for having a super sale and carrying this delightful fabric and to Jose from Three Brother's Upholstery in John's Creek, who did this in record time without breaking the bank for me. They do quality work, for half the price of most upholsterers in the area (I did my footwork on this). If you live in the Atlanta area and would like their contact info, just let me know! I'm super pleased with our new living room chair:)

The patina is my favorite feature!

Stay Tuned....

This grungy garage sale find had loads of potential and, once spotted on the side of the road, I made my husband turn the car around so we could get a closer look. I plan on revealing its transformation sometime next week...

Nick and Steph's DIY Weekend

These pictures speak for themselves!

I love Nick and I love garage sales and I love summer :)

Vintage Chair Makeovers

I found myself the loveliest Eames Era chair at Goodwill for $7.99. It has such beautiful form, the only problem is that its seat is upholstered in an awful 80's puce fabric:( Good thing I can see past the abomination! Once I am done with the recovering, I'll post pictures. In the meantime, here are a few of my favorite chair makeovers. Hopefully it will inspire you to give an overlooked and seemingly unfortunate chair a new life!

Chair Makeover by Jessica Jones (source)

Ribbon Upholstered Chair (DIY here)

Shelby Williams Club Chair Makeover (source)

Michael Penney's DIY Chair Makeover (source)

$7.50 Chair Makeover (source)

Design Sponge Before and After (source)