I’ve been avoiding my computer all weekend.  Like the plague.  I know when I sit down with my laptop I’ll be busy for at least a couple hours.  And the longer I avoid opening my laptop the longer I know it will take me when I do open it and the longer I know it will take the more I avoid it.  Vicious circle to be sure.  I even avoided it Sunday evening and I almost never miss writing a blog post on Sunday to be published on Monday morning.  And those Sunday posts I’d been writing?  Yeah, I have been avoiding them too.  It’s not that I don’t have thoughts to write about – I do!  I have so many thoughts swirling through my brain that when they finally make their way out onto a page of print it will be such an explosion you won’t want to be anywhere near!  I’ve been avoiding it for various reasons  – but hopefully soon I will pull myself out of my writing slump and make my voice heard again 😀

For now how about a little furniture makeover?  Painting an upholstered chair!  And a few other projects thrown in just for fun.

This is the before.  It really didn’t need much and I debated doing anything at all to it.  But the fabric was just a bit dingy in areas – just enough to make it ho-hum instead of really awesome.  And the wood was a bit tired looking in areas too.

The first thing I did was to paint all the upholstery with AS Pure White Chalk Paint.  I dipped my brush in the paint, then into a cup of water and then brushed the paint into the fibers of the upholstery.  I used more water to thin and spread the paint till I had the coverage and consistency I wanted.  I let it dry overnight and it looked beautiful the next morning!  I brushed over it to remove any stiffness and it was like brand new.  Because this fabric was such a light color to start with and wasn’t heavily soiled I was able to freshen it with just the one coat of paint and water.  Had it been a darker color or pattern it would have taken several coats of paint and then  a coat of wax buffed well to get the feel and consistency I wanted.  For more instruction on painting uphostered furniture go here – Kristy has an extensive list of painted upholstery posts all in one place!

After the paint on the upholstered parts had dried completely I used Frog Tape to tape off all the edges of the upholstery that were touching the wood.  At first I painted the wood Paris Grey because I was thinking grey and white.  But because I only needed one coat of white to freshen the fabric – the creamy tone of the fabric was still there instead of changing it to Pure White.  So after they Paris Grey dried I repainted the wood in CoCo.  And when the CoCo was dry I used dark wax to darken the paint color.  I used the dark wax by itself and put it on heavy because I wanted it to darken.  I loved the result!

The chair was cute before but now I think she is just adorable!  So bright and fresh and clean looking, all ready to be added to someone’s Christmas living room 🙂  She is was for sale at Midwest Memories – I just checked online and she sold over the weekend!

Honestly, I’m amazed at what paint can do to upholstery when you use the right paint, the right technique, and spend a bit of time at it!  

I bought these ramekins at goodwill several months ago with this idea in mind.  I finally got them made and they went to Midwest Memories too.

Want to add a pop of red to your Christmas decor?  Or all year round would be cute too.  Grab some frames from your stash or buy some cheap wooden frames in different sizes at your local thrift store and paint them red.  I used AS Empire Silk but you could use any red you have on hand.  I took this pile to Midwest Memories too.

This brass lamp got a coat of AS Empire Silk too and got added to the pile of shop goods.  An Edison bulb makes it a fun piece even without a shade.

I made a few pillows recently too – this one almost stayed at my house to hang out on my couch.  But it ended up in the pile that went to Pickerington last week.  I can always make myself another one 😀

This one I painted with craft paint using a stencil from Royal Design Studio.  I love their stencils.

And my ‘joyeux’ banners.  All three shops got some of these.  I had a friend cut me the stencil using her Silhouette.  I’m thinking a Silhouette machine will soon be living at my house – there are just too many things I could do with one and so many ideas I can’t get them all translated from the hard drive of my brain to the hard copy in my hands!

Christmas is going to appear earlier than ever here this year.  Thanksgiving is late in November and waiting till after just doesn’t give me enough time to enjoy the decor, the prep, the hoopla, and everything else I love about the Season.  Don’t worry, I will still be able to be thankful amidst the glitter, tinsel, red, white, bows, greenery and everything else that Christmas decor entails!  I hope you will follow along with me as I deck the halls!

Jill