A Tale of Two Chairs

For those of you who follow Homegrown Photography on Facebook, you know that I posted a month or so ago about some chairs that I found on the roadside.  They were being thrown out for trash and as soon as I came up on them, I slammed on the brakes and high-tailed back up the road to pick those puppies up.  (For those of you who do not know about this and do not follow me on Facebook - shame on you! What are you waiting for?) 

Today, Brad and I decided to bring those pitiful chairs back to life!  We started by sanding with a pretty coarse grit sandpaper.  You want to make sure to sand so that the paint adheres to the surface well.

After sanding, Addyson and I wiped down the chair with a damp cloth to get all the dust off so that it wouldn't leave a funky texture when the paint went on.  (Pay no attention to the crazy hair!)

Then on this chair, we decided to use some spray paint that we picked up at HD.  This has a satin finish, and it worked like a charm.  I sure wish they would come out with a bigger variety of colors and I would never use regular paint again!

Now look at the difference between the chair before and after in this side by side shot - pretty snazzy!

Meanwhile - Daisy and Homer decided to start digging their way to China - too bad for Daisy...Homer already decided to lay down and take a break

On the next chair I wanted to use this turquoise ocean color...ain't it purty? 

Unfortunately, it did not come in a spray can, so I had to brush it on.  Thank goodness I keep Brad around, he finished it for me...AND decided that we should give it a shabby-chic finish like this.  We only put one coat on and went back with the brush so that you could see the streak marks from the brush...he's so crafty I tell you!

While I had him sweating over there with the paint, I was tackling the cushions.  These suckers had been sitting in the rain the day I got them and they were covered in nasty stains and a little mildew, so I wanted to get the fabric off and see if I could salvage the cushion.  A tip on getting these old staples out is to use a flat-head screwdriver to pull up on the staple enough so that you can grip it with pliers.  Then just pull those suckers out.  Please use caution when using the screwdriver forcefully so that you don't stab your hand like I did :)

The good news was that the cushions were in really good condition, minus a little mildew, so I sprayed both the cushions with some Clorox Clean up spray.  Not too heavy, just a light mist to kill any gross organisms that may be lurking there.  Let that dry completly so you don't mess up your fabric - okay?

Now, cut your fabric so that you have about 3-4 inches around the perimeter of the seat.  Then you get your husband to pretend like he is an upholstery guru.  We used a regular staple gun and it worked pretty well.  You want to make sure to pull the fabric pretty taut, but not to much that it distorts the cushion.  The corners are a little tricky, so they may not have a professional finish.  We treated the corners similar to the creases you would use when wrapping a present, but first we had to have an argument to figure out which one of us knew the right way to do it. 

We are so very pleased with the way these turned out!

Bow chicka bow wow! Right? Bueller? Bueller?

So now these chairs are going to be members of my ever-growing prop collection...and those Senior Reps are going to get the honors of being the first clients to use these killer chairs!  I cannot wait!

Before you go, I have to show you what my super duper talented husband made....LOOK

Yes, he made that bench...and painted it that cool turqouise color...you know you want one right?  Well, he's going to start selling them soon...so if you want to get your hot hands on one, give us a shout! (By the way, that isn't some super funky cool white design on top of the seat...that's just dappled sunlight through the trees reflecting on there - didn't have alot of time for the perfect picture - don't hate lol)

Peace out!
Britney & Brad