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

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

My Favorites from 2011

Happy New Years, friends!  I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that this New Years Eve was the first I can remember where I actually didn't even pay attention to the time, and realized it was a new year when our movie ended around 12:30.  Is that a sign that I'm getting old, or just boring???  Don't answer that...

It dawned on me after I realized that I had missed the ball drop, the kiss, the excitement of the New Year that I am so happy to be where I am in my life.  I certainly enjoyed my single and even married but without kids years, but I don't miss the constant feeling of being let down after setting such high expectations for holidays like New Years in particular.  It was a great feeling to know that I am so content where I am in my life right now.  I am blessed with an incredible and loving husband, a hilarious and tender hearted little boy, wonderful friends and supportive neighbors.  Who could ask for more? 

So, I thought it would be fun to take a walk down memory lane and share some of my favorite projects from this past year. 

Hands down the biggest and possibly craziest project I undertook was our Master Bedroom Makeover. I did this entire makeover in about two weeks time in order to enter it into a design contest, and thanks to the support of so many wonderful readers and fellow bloggers I took second place in the contest.

We did a LOT of work in a short amount of time, but I am absolutely smitten with the end result.  It quickly became my favorite room in the house.

The matching Faux Mirrored Metallic Nightstands from my Master Bedroom were a project and a half themselves, but also worth the effort and mistakes learned along the way.

I shared some fun baby shower ideas from this Nautical Themed Baby Shower that I hosted for one of my good friends.

I feel like my biggest growth this year in the project world has been in reupholstery.  I've learned a lot, and continue to get better with practice and experience.  My Reupholstery series shares some of the tips and tricks I have learned for those who are interested in tackling upholstery projects themselves.

This Chevron Chair was another crowd pleaser and one that I really enjoyed doing.

Another insane project for me was the Dining Room Set that I transformed for my own kitchen.  It also required a ridiculous amount of time and elbow grease, but I am so in love with how it turned out. 

This Antique Dresser that I refinished was a great learning experience for me and turned out to be beautiful and timeless.

I did several different dressers this year, but my personal favorite by far was this Heavily Distressed Desk.  It was a quick and experimental one day project that turned out to be one of the hardest pieces for me to let go of when it sold.  I'm still a little bit sad that I didn't keep it for myself...

And for the foodies like me out there a few of my favorite recipes I shared are Peanut Curried Chicken,

Easter Bunny Shortbread Cookies,

and the BEST Salsa ever,

So there you have it my friends.  It was a fun filled year for me with lots of projects.  I have big plans for next year and will share some of my goals with you this week.  Bring it on, 2012.  I'm ready for you...

XO

~Penny Wenny

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