Swoon worthy bar stools.

Mmm, finally some more prettiness in the kitchen.  We were excited to start a phase 1 makeover of the kitchen area and when the walls and shelf were painted, it was very clear that the orange and yellow bar stools needed some love and colour change- orange and yellow really didn't work. The photo below shows the chairs originally in the kitchen (before the paint changes).

These chairs were made by an Australian designer and have been living in my parents shed for the past 20 years (except the yellow covered chair which I reupholstered previously to use in our country house when using my art eisle). In fact these chairs were originally left behind by the old owners of my parents house when they sold it to them. They were in pretty good condition as they had not had a lot of use.

As you can see these (well all three but one orange one is missing from the photo) are some funky chairs. I love their style and their height and comfort is perfect too. There is no way I was going to paint them so the easiest way to change them was to reupholster the seats with some white vinyl. From spotlight I got enough for the three chairs for $17 which is worth it to give these chairs some new life. The range at spotlight only had plain colours and white seemed like the best choice for a white painted kitchen. I also prefer to upholster most items in neutral fabrics as then they go with everything and don't age. While bright orange may have been all the rage once upon a time, they were looking too dated in the kitchen. My theory when tacking expensive to renovate spaces, like kitchens and bathrooms- keep it neutral and add accessories for the splash of colour. Now back to the chair process...

When we (Grandpa and I) got underneath the original vinyl we were pleased to find that the old school foam underneath was still in great condition and we could reuse it which would save us a bit as foam is always the most expensive part of reupholstering anything. I think the foam was in okay condition as the chairs haven't really been used much for the last 20 years.
After removing the original vinyl, we cut the white vinyl to size and carefully attached it to the chairs, using the original base fabric as well to keep down costs. The chairs were given a quick coat of estapol and I am blown away with how excellent they look. They really are now exactly what I wanted for the kitchen and while white was a safe choice, it works well and pops against the existing bench.

Another old item upcycled and just right for our house now! Home renovation on a tight budget is working our better than I thought, especially as I am blessed with finding free bench seats and some handy help. Let's hope this upcycling obsession of mine continues to help me find and make some more special items for the house. Will I ever be able say no to old furniture with potential when upcycling is so fun and successful? :)

Lisa x

Baroque style library chairs.

I'm loving working on the library at the moment (like fixing up this library bookcase ) and have been thinking about ways to mix crisp white furniture with some baroque style vintage furniture.I have plans for built ins, a window seat and a chaise.

I love baroque style furniture and am aiming to find some more as it's so beautiful, fancy and special. In the past I got a baroque style armchair from my mother in law and recently my parents found an old baroque style chair on the side of the road while out walking. It was in quite dismal condition with a floral print over it but good, fancy bones. My Grandpa lovingly repaired the chair. He has so much skill and the chair now looks new and just so pretty.

Choosing material is always a bit tricky as it needs to go with everything else in the room and there isn't always the best range at the local material shop.
However after much debate I chose a pretty green spotted print upholstery fabric and some matching trim for the chair. The material ended up costing $14.20 but I still have lots left over for future projects- maybe one more fancy chair or a matching bench?

We'll see what furniture turns up for me to up cycle in the future. For now I am very happy with having a second baroque style chair and look forward to finding other items over time to finish off this room- oh and finishing painting the walls which have only had one coat of white on the main wall so far- the rest of the walls are still a delightful dark pink. I do really like how the chairs connect with the original fireplace and a curved coffee table I picked up for free the other day. It's great to be able to see change and the room evolving on a very tight budget.

Lisa x

Put your feet up.

 

I was given an old ottoman for free and knew it would be easy to fix up and make it work in our home. I'd been looking for one for a while as it's always nice to have somewhere to put your feet up (and depending how it works I'm thinking this chair may be a good nursery chair for late night feeds). And I do quite love the cushion; from the lovely shop society 6.

Back to the ottoman- the fabric was in awful condition, torn, faded and smelly but  the foam lining was in great condition (which is the expensive bit to buy). The fabric had the been attached using a staple gun so I cut off the fabric and used pliers to pull out the stapled edges.

 I looked through my fabric stash and didn't really have any great upholstery fabrics left so I chose the same grey material I'd used on my quilt. This fabric is a bit thicker than your regular cotton fabric and I had plenty left over to cover the ottoman.
I cut the material to size and pulled it tightly over the underneath foam and batting. Then I used a staple gun to hold the fabric in place. The corners were the only tricky bit and while I'm not expert at upholstery, I found that pulling the fabric tight and smoothing it out nicely meant I ended up with four near corners. I ended up pulling out the corners a few times and trying over and over again to get the corners even tighter and am happy with the end result, especially as this little ottoman and the upgrade process cost me nothing since I already had the fabric on hand. That's my kind of thrifty project.

I can't wait till the walls are white and the dirty carpet is gone but I'm living with it and one day can look forward to a blanker, cleaner canvas to add furniture too. Now it's time to put up my feet and relax. 

Happy thrifting and DIYing.

Lisa x

P.S I'm linking up with
Live Laugh Rowe
A Glimpse Inside
Seven Alive
Bloom Designs

Office chair updating.

 I'm currently in the process of rearranging our dining/study room to have a little work space for me. 

My parents had this old typical office chair on their porch collecting dust and I thought it'd be a nice little DIY project for me to tackle on the weekend. It's truly amazing how easy it is to turn an office chair from boring to great. I forgot to take an initial before picture- I just wanted to get into it but it looked exactly like the below picture except with a few spider webs here and there:)

source

You will need:
1 cheapo old office chair
A screwdriver
Scissors
A staple gun and staples
Nice fabric ( I tried to get some that matched my new-to-me yellow desk).

How to:
I began by removing all the screws and storing them safely.
I then pulled the black plastic from the back of the seats and was left with plywood covered with foam and material.

I removed the staples and material (which was slightly harder than I imagined and involved using scissors and having patience).
I then cut the fabric to size and stapled it to the plywood using a staple gun.
Once this was completed I reattached the black plastic backing.
Then I screwed it back together and it was complete.
This was a super easy DIY and I think the end product looks much better.

Say tuned for a post about my complete office area in a few days.
 P.s I'm linking up with
The Taylor House
At The Picket Fence
Live Laugh Rowe
A Glimpse Inside
Seven Alive
52 Mantles
Bloom Designs
House of Hepworths
Momnivores Dilemma
Two Sasters

Lisa x

A hallway bench.

before

On this blog I will be showing you how I find old things cheaply and give them a new lease of life.
This phone table cost $2 from a garage sale.
It was the perfect size for our hallway and I thought it would make an excellent hallway bench.

during

How to:
I removed the draw and the seat.
Then I gave it 2 coats of white paint.
A kind friend cut some plywood to size for me (plywood was $13 from the hardware store but I have some left over) and lent me his staple gun.
I got some upholstery material from a friend that was just a bit bigger than the plywood and cut up some foam cushions I had lying around to create a foam seat.
Then I put the foam on the plywood and wrapped the material around using a staple gun to hold it in place.
 And voila...