Fabulous french upholstered chair

The Primrose and Pearl boutique opened tonight, and it has a ton of darling things.  I had a very hard time walking out of there without spending a fortune buying one of everything.  If you live in the area you really should check it out.  If you missed the details, check them out HERE.  One of my very favorite pieces that I am selling at the show is this darling little French chair that I reupholstered.

When I first picked up this chair, it was actually already pretty darned cute and in fantastic condition.

It just wasn't, well, me.  So I did what any other insane person would do to a perfectly good chair.  Rip it apart and start over.

After I took off the cording and staples, I painted the frame with a watered down coat of Annie Sloan's chalk paint in old white.  Here's a secret.  I didn't remove the upholstery on this chair because it was clean and all of the foam and batting were still very firm and in good condition. Then, I sanded heavily for an ultra distressed look.  As a reminder, this chalk paint sands off super easily and quickly, so if you want minimal distressing, use a very fine sandpaper and press ever so lightly.  I protected the full frame with clear wax and buffed it quickly.

Next, I upholstered the top, bottom, and back pieces with a fantastic blue and cream outdoor canvas fabric I found for a steal at Home Fabrics.  I was ecstatic that they had exactly the amount that I needed, and I love the fact that it's outdoor fabric.  If you aren't familiar with this type of fabric, it's made nearly waterproof (but without a funky texture) so that it can be easily spot cleaned by just wiping it with a rag.  I plan on upholstering my french sofa in an outdoor material to get me through the next several years with little kiddos in the house.

After sewing together a new cushion and finishing the edges off with my double welting cord, she was oh so Penny Wenny.

And though it was hard for me to put her in the truck and drive her away from my house, she is for sale at the Primrose and Pearl Boutique. 

If you would like more detailed instructions on how to do your own upholstery work, check out my tutorial HERE.

I will share more details on the other items for sale in upcoming posts but thought I would at least share some pictures here.

I refinished this pair of accent chairs (you will DIE when you see the before),

this vintage dresser,

this fabulous Drexel Heritage hutch,

the matching yellow nightstands I shared with you here,

several darling accessories racks I made from vintage shutters,

and of course some pillows.

I had a lot of fun getting each of these pieces ready, but I'm not going to lie; I'm so ready for a little breather. 

Signing out,

~Penny Wenny

French Yellow Night Stands

It's back, friends... My motivation has returned!  Something about this second trimester of pregnancy has finally brought some of my normal Penny Wenny go go go attitude back.  I couldn't be happier.  I was so annoyed with my lack of interest or desire to work on any projects.  On a side note however, I have also been extremely busy with my real job at the dance studio.  I coach two competition teams there, and we are currently preparing for our upcoming competitions so I'm in crunch mode.  I can't wait to show you the finalized pieces after they have competed... these kids are gonna knock your socks off.

Anyway, please forgive me for my lack of exciting projects over the past few months and bear with me over the unexpected upcoming months.  While I do feel ambitious this week I can't promise I'll feel the same way next week.  Fair enough?

One of the best things about having your friends know that you "do furniture" is that they always call you before they dump off their trash to the DI or Goodwill.  My sweet neighbor gave me two little nightstands a while back and I finally did something with them this week.

They started as an average set of nightstands that looked dated and ready for new life.  I loved their curvy frenchy looking little legs. Typically, I love to highlight dark wooden tops but these are not super high quality and are made of MDF on the top with a super laquered faux-wood grain finish.

So shiny I could almost see myself in it.  :)  I didn't want to spend a lot of money on these, and really just wanted to use products I had on hand so that I could do the project that day when I woke up feeling surprisingly motivated.

I started by priming these babies with Kilz.  I often skip this step if I am using a paint and primer in one, but since the tops were so shiny, I really wanted to ensure a well primed surface for my paint to adhere to.

As a reminder, when working with spray paint you always want to do several light overlapping coats.  Do not try to cover the full surface in one coat or you will end with a big drippy mess.   Also, Kilz leaves a gritty texture so I like to lightly go over the dried surfaces with a fine sanders block to smooth it back out before painting.

Here's where the fun began.  I wanted to go for a color I don't usually do like my standard creams and grays.  I picked up a sunny yellow paint I had aquired in my collection from the oops section at Home Depot for $1.  I didn't want these to be childlike though, and felt that the yellow was way too bright.  I rounded up a brown I had also picked up for $1 from the oops section, and mixed a small amount of brown paint with the yellow in a plastic cup until I had a  nice mustardy yellow.

just in case you didn't believe me on the price...

I brushed on two coats of paint, right over the hardware also.

After the paint dried I lightly sanded over the high points bringing out some of the white from the primer and dark brown from the original wooden finish.

I also sanded lightly over the hardware to expose some of the original brass.

They turned out pretty cute, right?

The total cost for me was $8;  $6 for Kilz, and $2 for my oops paint (which I barely even dented so technically it was around $0.20).  Let me remind you of what my $8 did.

Before:

After:

It doesn't take a lot of $ to make fabulous pieces for your home.  Go for it friends!

~PW

Ottoman revamp and a new light

Hello, friends.  I've been meaning to share with you for a while a few updates we made in our master bedroom, but the sad truth is that I've been to lazy to clean my room to photo-worthy standards so that I could actually share with you the updates.  Those first 12 weeks of pregnancy really stole all of my motivation.  I am pleased to say that I finally feel (sort of) like a real live human being again.  Definitely not my crazy-always-has-to-be-doing-something self, but at least alive.

Here's a recent shot of my master bedroom.

Observant eye balls will notice the new ottoman at the foot of our bed, and the new hanging light fixture.  Really observant eye balls will notice that I most certainly did not iron my bed skirt when I cleaned my room for the pics.  Crap.

I finished my wingback chair a while back, as one of my first ever reupholstery projects.  Here's how she looked then, with my scary blue walls in the bedroom.

I didn't have the budget to replace the foam at that point, so it sat there with a saggy cushion for a long time.  I finally got the time, cash, and bravery to finish the seat cushion properly with new plump foam and a Dacron wrap and reupholster the ottoman.

Here's the much beefier seat cushion in my much calmer colored bedroom now.

It feels much better so sit on these days also.

Here's what the ottoman to this chair looked like when I originally picked it up at a thrift store.

Why didn't I just keep the original fabric?  It would have been so perfect in my bedroom... oh dear.

So here is that cute little ottoman now that I finally finished it, reunited again with its mate.

As you can see the ottoman slightly blocks the path to our bathroom, so unless I am reading or want to kick my feet up on the chair the ottoman resides here as a foot of bed bench.

I kinda like it.

Also, I found this steal of a deal at Home Depot on a lantern style hanging light fixture.  I saw one lurking out from behind another light with a clearance sticker, and had to take it with a price tag of $60.

Slowly but surely, the little additions to our bedroom are making it a complete space.  I still need to decide on my decor to fill this wall, but other than that it's almost done!

Any suggestions? 

~PW

Frenchy sofa worth the drive

It's been a long day for me.  I have been searching on ksl for a French or Victorian sofa, but haven't been able to find one that was just what I wanted, and within the price range that I wanted to pay (I'm kind of a tightwad if you haven't already gathered that).  So, I was ecstatic when I finally found this baby the other night during my evening browse.

Here's the best part.  The owner intended to reupholster it, but decided that she was in over her head and changed her mind.  BUT not before she stripped the whole thing!  YES!  I can't tell you how much I dislike pulling a billion staples out and have yet to do it on a full 7' long sofa, so I was just tickled pink.  The only bad news was that she lived pretty far away from me....like 3 hours away.  Fortunately, her hubbs met me about half way so it was an hour and a half drive for me. 

Here are a few shots of her close up as soon as I got her home.

Little Trav loves it just the way it is!  He was pretty sad when I took it straight downstairs...

Here are a few inspiration pics I have found recently on pinterest that may aid in my final decision for this sofa's upcoming makeover:

Source

I love the cream linen, the nailhead trim, and the two large cushions.

Source

I am absolutely smitten with everything about this one... the creamy frame, the light gray fabric, the plump single cushion... ahhh beauty.

Source

I love the charcoal fabric, single plump cushion and original wood tone on the frame.

I have to be honest, this project isn't going to happen very soon because we're working on our custom built in unit for my living room right now as top priority, but I'm really excited that I finally have the bones to create a piece that we'll love.

Lastly, I want to thank Apartment Therapy for the feature this week on my Easy and Affordable DIY Table Transformation.  I was thrilled with the recognition, but kinda bummed that my shining moment was on a project that I'm not all that proud of.  It was certainly not my finest piece.  Also it's pretty amazing to me how rude some people can be.  Apparently they didn't ever watch Bambi as a child... Thumper wisely taught, "If you can't say nothin' nice, don't say nothin' at all".  Amen, Thumper.  Amen.

Thank you so much for your support and kind words.  I can't tell you how much they brighten my day.  I appreciate you all dearly.

XO

~Penny Wenny