Bergere Pair {French Chairs Before & After}

A little before & after action for you today... 

I found this pair of Bergere chairs in really good condition at a thrift store last summer. I had been on the lookout for a pair of French chairs like this for a while, so when I saw the price, I grabbed the tag and ran right up to the register. I wasn't sure exactly how I was going to make them over at that point, but after reading through Jenny's awesome tutorial for reupholstering this type of chair, I knew it was something I wanted to tackle.

I'm really thrilled with how they turned out. I bought the fabric last fall, but didn't start in on this project until about a month ago. So when I pulled it back out, I started second-guessing myself. But I love it!

Here are some close-up shots:

 

 

 

By far the most difficult part of this entire thing was just getting myself motivated to get to work.

Oh, and sanding. I hate sanding.

 

 

So what do you think??
I'm still on the fence as to whether I'm going to keep these or sell them at Lilac Row. However, one certain little somebody has made herself (and her tea party) right at home with the chairs. :)

 

Linking up:

Thrifty Décor Chick

Miss Mustard Seed



A Desk {Before & After}

A few weekends ago, we set out to hit up a few neighborhood garage sales and I scored this desk for a song.

Aren't neighborhood garage sales the best, by the way? So much less driving around aimlessly, looking for a driveway full of stuff to search through.

I offered the lady $5 less than she was asking and we had ourselves a deal. I knew I wanted to get started on making this piece over right away, because as you can see, my garage is quickly becoming filled with stuff for the upcoming Vintage Market Days event and half-completed projects I need to tend to. Story of my life.

So here's the desk in it's original state. Not too shabby and I knew it could easily be made over. I mixed up some paint from my growing stash and then did a light distressing and stain. I thought the original hardware looked okay, so I just kept it. If I were planning to keep the desk for our home, I would have switched it up, though.

So that's it. The ohsoexciting story behind this latest before & after desk action. There was no wad of money taped to the bottom of one of the drawers or treasure map scribbled in coal on the bottom of the desk. You know I would have put that kind of info up in the title.

Enjoy.

Linking up to Thrifty Decor Chick's Before & After Party.

Frenchy, aka my new dresser {Before & After}

A little Before & After action for your Monday. 

BEFORE

AFTER

I found this great French Proverbial dresser on Craigslist a few weeks ago. I was a little surprised that hubby agreed to it, because of the curvy lines, but was really excited that he did. So home it came, and I got to work. 

The biggest bonus of this piece? The guy who sold it to us had already sanded the whole thing down! That saved me a TON of time. I actually really like the way the wood looks like this, but it wasn't what I was going for in our room, where this beast will live. If I had bought it to use as a buffet somewhere else in the house, I might have just sealed it and left it all beat up like this! 

  

Here's Frenchy in our room:

It must be noted that the lighting in our master bedroom is awful. Our whole house, really. This is why I can't keep a house plant alive, no matter what I do. Soo, the color is slightly off in these pics.

I didn't prime it, but I started off with a light coat of white, so that some if it would peek through when I distressed it. Then I used this great greige color I found in my stash. It was a mistint, so I couldn't tell you the color, but I LOVE it. It matches so perfectly in our weirdly "decorated" bedroom.

I swear, this room has been so tough for me. I did nothing in order, had no sort of real plan.. ugh. Not the way to do things. But with the addition of this dresser, it does continue to help lighten things up in here with our dark slate walls. You can see a peek of our bed below. It goes great with it, without being to matchy-matchy.

After two light coats of the greige, I lightly distressed the whole piece and then did a light stain- Ralph Lauren's Smoke Glaze. I didn't want the distressing to be too heavy, so this was perfect.

I also switched out the hardware and lined the drawers with some textured grasscloth liner. 

So what do you think? I love it!

Maybe someday (before we eventually move) I'll show you our whole room. Don't hold your breath, though! :)

Linking up:

DIY Project Parade

Winging It {Before & After Wingback Chairs}

Sound the alarm, people, they're done!

After much toil, tribulation... blood, sweat and tears, my Twinkie Wingbacks are finally finished and just waiting on you to come over and sit on them! They've actually been done for some time.. (story of my life, right?).. but I was hesitating on the nail head trim on the arms. Why, I don't really know. I think I was nervous that they wouldn't turn out right. But I love it! Perfect? No. But I challenge you to come to my house and find any project that I've taken on and call it perfect. :) 

A little Before & After action for you:

BEFORE

AFTER

What do you think??

How did I do it?? HA! See above blood, sweat and tears rant! If you're thinking of taking on a similar project, I HIGHLY recommend this great tutorial. And this one. I looked all around on Pinterest for ideas for these chairs. Here's one of my first pins, from the tutorial I used by Remodelaholic.com.

A few more action shots:

Ooooh, shiny!

I'm SO glad to have these crossed off my list!


Linking up:
DIY Showoff
Home Stories A2Z


I'm also linking up the super awesome Pinterest Challenge happening at these fun blogs:
Bower Power
Young House Love
House of Earnest
Ana White

Be sure to go check out all of the aMAZing things people are making/crafting/creating from Pinterest!

Wingback Progress

I thought I'd share a little sneak peak/update on my twin chairs:

What do you think???

Twinkies

 I'm working on these babies this week:

Don't you just love their pinky gold goodness??

I scored them on Craigslist last week after searching on and off for a pair of chairs all summer. 



My grand master plan is to reupholster them using this great tutorial. With some pointers from this tutorial.

And a whole lot of my typical flybytheseatofmypantsandjustfigureitoutandDOIT. 

Pinterest (oh pinterest, how do I love thee) has been great for finding and storing my inspiration for these chairs. Here are a few I've pinned:

All images via Pinterest 

I had a hard time trying to decide on a fabric.. I LOVE the fun prints some of these chairs have, and I'm also really drawn to the simple white upholstery. But after choosing a white slipcovered glider for Evie's room, I'm definitely NOT going that route again. 

I'm a little more than halfway done taking apart the first chair, which means I've removed approximately 637 staples. Gah.

Hopefully I'll have some progress to show you soon! I can't wait!

Nursery 0.5: Dresser

I've been working very hard lately, trying to get all of the last details finished on this baby girl's room! It just seems never ending... but that's clearly my own fault. :)

So a few things to share..

Dresser/Changing Table

We scored this dresser off of Craigslist, oh, about 4 or 5 months ago.. maybe even longer. I knew I could refinish it and make it into what we needed. It just took me a while! It's been finished for a long time, just hadn't made it's blog debut until now!

Before:

After:

I sanded her all down, mixed up my own paint color with paint I had on hand in the garage, then distressed it and used a glaze to get the look I wanted. I'm really pleased with how it turned out!

I switched out the hardware with cheap pulls I found at Hobby Lobby and then spray painted.

I lined the drawers with some grass cloth wallpaper that I found at Goodwill.

$3 for an enormous roll!

My total cost for this dresser re-do was about $65-70. Not bad!

Another sneak peek..

I made these tissue paper poufs to hang above the crib as Tiny Dancer's mobile! I was hoping to incorporate a few more colors, but I looked everywhere trying to find just the right colors.

And by everywhere, I mean I looked all 3 times I was at Target this week.

But I love how they turned out!

Linking to: DIY Show Off