Another French Chair

I can't help myself.  I spent years searching for a French chair and now they seem to find me.  A sweet local reader, Allie, sent me a picture of four chairs to see if I wanted them.  They were gorgeous antique wood-framed French chairs.  Yes please.  They were upholstered in cream canvas, but it was dingy and they needed to be reupholstered.  Today, I worked on two of them to take to Lucketts tomorrow. 

I left the beautiful wood frames alone (see, I don't paint everything) and I upholstered the back and seat with antique European grain sacks.  Gorgeous, huh?

I'm selling two and I'll probably keep two for myself. 

Today, I also finished a dining set, a beautiful buffet, an oversized chalk board, a gold leaf mirror and a dresser.  I painted the dresser with a new-to-me ASCP color, Greek Blue.  It's shocking when it goes on, but it is yummy now that it's been distressed and waxed.  I can't wait to snap some pictures of those pieces tomorrow in my space and share them with you. 


Thanks again for all of the amazing comments from my "Losing and finding myself" post.  I've been going blind reading through all of them, but it's been so worth it.  Some of you shared very touching stories and I feel a connection with them all.  You're an amazing bunch of ladies.  There was a guy in there, too.  His comment was a riot in contrast to the rest.  It was basically a shoulder shrug and a thumbs up.  That's what you get when you come wading in the deep end of an estrogen pool. 

yet another French chair

If you are not fond of French chairs, you have unfortunately found yourself at a blog that is not for you at all.  If you are a Francophile and enjoy armchairs...well, you are a kindred spirit and you will want to read on.  If you don't have a strong opinion about French chairs (How could one not?), you can probably handle it, too. 

I found this chair at a yard sale a few weeks ago.  The details, shape and frame were great, but the avocado burlap was the "fly in the ointment", so to speak, and it was a little hard to overlook. 

I painted the frame in ASCP's Old White and upholstered it in a nubby canvas drop cloth with bright white gimp trim. 

A slight distressing of the paint brings out the details on the arms and legs...which are yummy.  I'm definitely into furniture appendages.  Some chicks like shoes, I like chair arms...

...and legs.  No cat calls, please.  This is a respectable chair. 

I'm taking it to my new room on the third floor at The Old Lucketts Store along with a china cabinet/curio, two dressers, a side chair, side table, farm table and some accessories.  I am excited about getting settled in.  There's still a lot I want to do, but it's going to take me a few weeks to get caught up and fully "nested" in the room.  I did order some more gorgeous lavender bunches that should be in next week and I am going to start carrying Vintage Skye clay knobs as well. 

See you tomorrow for furniture Friday!

French Daybed Makeover

I mentioned in passing a few months ago that a family from our church gave me a French daybed for free.  It was in their basement playroom and I spotted it when we were over at their house one day.  I have a habit (and I'm not sure if it's good or bad) of commenting on the decor and furniture in people's homes.  So, in classic Marian fashion, I just spewed out, "This is a really, really great piece." 

A few weeks later, my friend called with a "proposition for me", as she put it.  She gives me the French daybed for free and I get a free French daybed.  That's the kind of trade I cannot refuse.  It's been sitting in my family room since then, waiting for a makeover, and the lure became too strong to resist this weekend. 

This is sort of how it looked when I got it.  It had different pillows on it and fewer holes in the caning, but you get the general idea.  It is wood, but it was painted in a faux graining, so I really wanted to repaint it. 

And here is how it looks now...

The first thing I had to tackle was the holes in the caning.  I was planning to recane the piece, but after my kids kicked additional holes in it and picked at them until they were ridiculously large, I decided that would be a source of frustration for me.

Although I really, really wanted to have a cane back, I decided to upholster it instead.  I removed the old cane by cutting it with an Xacto knife. 

 
Once the cane was removed, I painted the frame in Annie Sloan's Old White.  The "bed" part of the daybed was removable, so it made the painting step very simple.  I decided to upholster it in ultra durable antique grain sacks, so I cut them and patched them together to fit in a way that looked nice.  I then stapled the fabric to the underside of the frame. 
 

I'm still working out the pillows, but I will definitely be using some of my new Ralph Lauren green pillows that two wonderful readers found and shipped to me. 

More to come this week on my kitchen sources, paint colors, and the answer to the question that has been burning in the minds of many readers...

"Did you paint the inside of your cabinets and cabinet doors?" 

grain sack chair - before & almost after

I'm stingy with a few of my finds...ironstone, grain sacks and French chairs mainly.  I do part with them, but it's always tough.  If you ever buy a piece of ironstone or a French chair or something made out of a European grain sack from me, you can know I really, really loved it and it was very tough for me to put a tag on it. 

Today, I took two of my favorite things and made something for myself. 

Two European grain sacks...

...one French chair...

...and voila!  (Well, almost.  I ran out of trim and I need to touch up the paint in some places, but I was too excited to save this reveal.)

I painted the frame of the chair in one sloppy coat of Annie Sloan's Old White and distressed it.  I wanted a soft, worn look, so I didn't wax it.  I then upholstered the chair using only two grain sacks.  One of them covered the seat, back and arms and the other covered the seat back and wings of the chair.

I finished it all off with some bright white trim.  I've had some doubters about the white gimp I like to use on my furniture.  It's just a personal preference.  I think it frames out the flax colored grain sack fabric, but that's just my take.  If you like your trim to blend in with the fabric, then go for it!  You have my blessing. 

So, where to put the fabulous chair?  I slid it around my house and tucked it in a few places, but it looked best in my living room.  The problem is that I already have a great pair of French chairs for the living room.  I slid one of my new yard sale chairs into the room to pair with my new grain sack chair.  It worked.  I love the eclectic, somewhat quirky look of it, so I'm going to live with it for a while.  Don't get in line to buy my other French chairs, yet.  I put one in my guest room and one in the home office.  I told you I'm greedy with them. 

So, what do you think?  A little quirky? (Above.)

Or a little more traditional? 

I linked up to Sarah's Before and After Party.  It's a hoppin' place.

Frenchy Chair Makeover

When I spot French chairs that have never been rescued from their 1970's splattered wood and harvest gold or burnt orange velvety upholstery, I get giddy.  Most people won't give them a second look and most people don't see the potential.  Seeing potential in furniture is one of the things I do best.

When I spotted a pair of these old girls on Craig's List...

...I knew I could give them the attention they needed.  I took off those tufted cushions the minute they came in the door.  Behind them was a great caned back.  One was intact, but unfortunately, the other wasn't.  I stripped the chairs down, painted the frames and then reupholstered them...making the detached tufted cushions one attached cushion.  It's still cushy, but has a more refined look.  I upholstered the back of the chair with the broken caning and left the intact one painted. 

The frames are painted in Paris Gray by Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint.  I then distressed and waxed them. 

Of course these are coming with me to the fair to sell.  I'll be honest, though.  My heart won't be broken if they don't sell.  I'm a sucker for a French chair with pretty legs. 

Tomorrow I'm getting a hair cut, picking up some more furniture from my Northern Virginia picker, running some errands and then it's back to painting.  My parents are here to help and I have a babysitter lined up for the next few days. 

It's crunch time!

French Feed Sack Chair

This is the post where I take a perfectly good chair, rip it to pieces and make it something that is totally "me". 

This is the perfectly good chair.

This is me ripping apart said chair.

...and this is the chair now.  Totally me.  Frenchiness.  Feed-sack-ish-ness.

I know this won't be everyones cup of tea, but it's my cup of tea.

I painted it in Louis Blue chalk paint followed by a "dry brushing" of Old White and a coat of clear wax. 

The piece is upholstered in faded American feed sacks with a bright white gimp trim to frame it out. 

I love the traditional-meets-quirky look of it. 

Believe it or not, I'm going to let it go.  I'm taking it to my pavilion at Lucketts on Saturday to sell.  Sniff-sniff.  This job is getting harder and harder.

See you tonight at 10:00 EST for Furniture Feature Friday and our special slipcover show-off. 

Video Slipcover Series Part 1 - Custom Piping

It's finally here!!  At long last!  I know I have been dragging my feet on this one and I finally took the time to make the first segment in my promised video slipcover series.  (I told you I would get a lot done with my mom here!)

We're going to start this journey where I always start when making a slipcover - sewing the custom piping. 

If you'd like more information on working with drop cloths, check out these posts...

Working with drop cloths

More on drop cloths

Since writing the posts above, I have stopped bleaching the drop cloths I work with.  I have found that I don't mind the natural color and it saves a whole lot of bleach and wash cycles, but bleaching definitely does lighten them, if that's the look you want. 

Up next in the series... 

I have two Parsons' chairs and a wing chair I will be walking you through, so purchase your drop cloths and get ready!

I suffer from SDAS - Short Design Attention Span

Mitzi left this comment today:

"Marian, I think a lot of your readers, including me, would like to know how long it takes you to upholster a chair, such as the one in this post. I have a feeling you work very fast. I fear that if I attempt real upholstering on a real piece of furniture, it would take me a couple months to complete!"

Yes.  I work fast and efficient, which sounds great, but it has some down sides.  You see, I suffer from SDAS (Short Design Attention Span.)  I get bored and impatient if something takes me too long to finish.  I will never in my life make a quilt or a cross stitch sampler or anything that is a lengthy labor of love.  I will only make things that can be whipped out in a few hours.  Maybe something that spans a few days, but that's my limit. 


To answer the question directly, an upholstery job takes me about 3-5 hours from before picture to after.  A piece of painted furniture can take about 1-4 hours, depending on what kind of repair work it needs, what kind of techniques or finish I use and if I can use my sprayer or not.  I can turn out a pillow or a hand painted sign in under an hour. 


Don't compare yourself to how I work, though.  Work at your own pace and if it takes you a year to finish a piece, that's ok.  I have to work fast.  I have three retail spaces to feed, I'm writing tutorials for HGTV.com and Cottages and Bungalows (so you're only seeing a fraction of the projects I'm working on right now) and everything else that comes with having a family, little kids, a house, etc.  I can't take on projects that are going to suck a bunch of my time and I keep that in mind when I'm buying pieces to work on.  Don't think I don't have pieces and projects that sit for a long time, though.  But once I decide to pull a piece out of the stash, I finish it quickly. 


This leads me to my latest French chair that I shared with you yesterday...


Ta da!

As I mentioned yesterday, it's not perfect, but this was a challenging chair and I am really proud of how it turned out.  I know I'll have the upholstery thing perfected in time, but this is at a level I feel comfortable putting my name on.

The frame was painted Aria Ivory (right over the wood), followed by a light coat of Light French Grey.  I then distressed the high points with sand paper and antiqued the piece with my special glaze formula.  I used a wet brush in this case to keep the glaze light.  I did not put a top coat on this chair frame.  It's not the kind of piece that is going to take a beating and it's distressed, so any dings will just add to the character.   

The cushion is down-filled, so it was a tricky one to cover.  It's squishy and doesn't hold its shape very well, so I used a gathered edge to disguise that a bit.  The seat cover is removable and machine washable. 

Can you tell I love the arms on chairs?  I am always taking "arm shots."  I just can't resist.

This chair is making the trip to Lucketts tomorrow.  I may sniff a little bit, but I know someone will think she's fabulous and will take good care of my little chair. 

Are you getting your projects ready for the "Copy Me Challenge"?  Well, here's a bit of your competition...

LeAnne from Mossy Rock Interiors shared this sneak peek with me today and I was blown away.  That crackled finish was achieved by taking advantage of the old bubbled finish and painting directly over it without sanding.  Isn't is perfection?  I'm putting together a good prize for the winner, so get to work on those projects!