Spontaneity at its Best

When it comes to shopping (or anything really), Tony and I are complete opposites in terms of decision making.  When I find something that I love, I immediately decide to buy it, because I know if I think too long about it I will walk away with nothing.  If I walk around the store too long, I will end up putting everything back.  So, once I make a decision to purchase something I know there is a very short time frame that I need to purchase it, or else I will end up wavering and not getting it.  Tony, on the other hand, takes his time...lots of it.  In fact, had the bedroom furniture purchase been completely up to me, it would have been ordered the first night I found it (I was *this* close to doing it that night, too).  3 or 4 months later, we still liked the same furniture after endless searching and researching and contemplating and convincing and begging and ended up buying it anyway.

However, I really do love being spontaneous...it makes purchases so much more fun.  Plus, I love getting an idea, buying whatever I need and finishing the project before Tony even knows I'm starting it.  I love surprises...and he sometimes loves surprises :)

So, the other night I'm at Hancock Fabrics looking through the scraps bins when I see a familiar fabric.  I pull it out from the bottom and sure enough, it is the same fabric my mom ordered a sample of a few weeks ago.  It is the Dwell Studio Bella Porte Citrine fabric by Robert Allen Home.  Only, instead of being $16+/yd, I got it for $4/yd.  There were only 3.5 yds, but hey...I figured I could do something with it.

Dwell Studio Bella Porte Citrine fabric by Robert Allen Home

So, I look around the house and see the chair...well, both of the chairs.

this guy...there are two of them

When Tony purchased the house, just because he decided to include a few of the pieces of furniture in the contract.  The previous owner had passed away and it was her children selling the home, so he thought he might as well try.  They turned down a few items, but he did end up getting the kitchen table and chairs, two of the above chair, the den coffee table and I think that might be it.

So, it's always been up in the air what exactly we were going to do with the chairs...and we thought we might only end up wanting to use one of them in the den.  So, a few months back I decided to paint them the blue wall color we used in the kitchen and entry...they were VERY blue...and I wasn't a big fan.  So, I took some water down black paint and rubbed it over the chair to darken it a little.  We didn't really need the chairs, so I wasn't too worried about doing something and regretting it.  After I darkened up the blue a little, I applied a glossy lacquer finish and they have been in the basement since then.

Fast forward to this week, and I had the grand idea to reupholster the chair by myself, without a sewing machine and without ANY knowledge or experience with any of the above.  So, I grab some left over hem tape that I used on the bedroom curtains and the iron and just started guessing...which is always a great idea.  the back part is a pillow, the top of the seat is a pillow and the only part that really needed to be taken apart on the chair was the bottom most seat cushion (luckily).

So, I recover the two cushions with the fabric and hem tape, and am so proud of myself.  The bottom cushion was still red, but I planned to tackle that later.  I e-mailed a picture to my mom, who is an interior designer, and was expecting her to be so proud of me as well (obviously).  Here are the pictures I sent her:

I was wrong...she wasn't impressed.  She asked where the zipper was...why I didn't add any cording and on and on...I really had no idea what she was talking about and ignored it.  Then, I came home from work the next day...looked at it again and realized she was right, it looked bad.  So, I headed back to Hancock Fabric (which is luckily a minute drive away).  I still had no idea what I was doing, but I hate asking for help and I could have googled it, but I wanted to see what I could do on my own... :)

I picked up an assortment of things, hoping something would work.  And decided to continue going sans sewing machine, because well...I don't have one.

So, I began...without having any idea what I was doing.  First off, my zipper was way too long...I totally guessed on it, so I ended up having to cut it in half.  It actually ended up working just using the hem tape to attach the zipper...I figured it would fall apart, but was happily surprised when it did not.

All edges and bottom done

And finally, I had my cushion cover!

By the time I got to reupholstering the bottom cushion that is attached to the chair I was exhausted, it was late and I just wanted to get it done. (Another bad habit I have is not wanting to start and stop projects...if I'm going to do something, I have to do it all in one sitting which can sometimes lead to poor results)  So, I started hacking away at the chair trying to remove the staples and red velvet fabric, and look what I found underneath...

The chair was originally green (not gold like it was when we received them) and not a bad green either...almost the same color green as the bathroom walls we painted Bay Leaf Green.  And the seat cushion was an interesting yellow and green flower pattern that, while dated, I really don't hate as much as the red velvet.

What's really funny to me, is that while working on this house we have done so many things and time and again, we do something only to uncover that we are using the same colors as were once in the home many years ago like the blue paint we discovered in the kitchen under the wallpaper (the house was built in 1962 and was sold in 1969 and those owners had the home from 1969 until Tony purchased it in 2011, and there are 3 very distinct layers of paint/wallpaper/etc on everything.  It appears one layer is all original, the next was an update and the third was an update in the early 90's, and all of the paint used in that update is still in the basement with carefully placed labels and notes).

I'm getting sidetracked, anyhow...I love finding little things like this, and just for fun I kept the original fabric underneath the new fabric :D

So, I know the chair is FAR from perfect, and I have a few spots where I ran out of cord, but I think it turned out not too bad.  It's in a low traffic area, and will do for now.

It is in the den next to the yellow Silhouette sofa and I think it looks pretty good next to it, but what do I know.  I will take some better pictures later.

In the same vein, I was spontaneous over my lunch hour today and decided to purchase this great 7 drawer dresser at Locust Street Marketplace antique store in North Lawrence for only $150.  It was made at Mount Saint Scholastica in Atchison, Kansas, is adorable and I think it will be a great office/craft supply storage area in the office.  Until then, I will be dreaming about what color this dresser will end up...