COLOR!! Reinventing with Bright Textiles

I treated myself to a little shopping spree on Saturday.  

I was in lovely downtown Short Pump, 

so popped into Hobby Lobby and HomeGoods, 

two of my favorite stores for supplies!!!!!!

I've had this chair in my garage for about six months 

and finally pulled it out....

 And while I really like the existing upholstery, 

there are rust stains all over the seat cushion...

 Besides, I want to use the poppy new fabrics I purchased at Hobby Lobby....

Take a look!!!!!! 

This fabric is a nice weight printed cotton duck, 

and when I bought it, 

I figured I'd make some pillows or tea towels...

and I only got 1 yard of each......

 So I had to get creative.  

But I love how this turned out - the sides use the contrasting fabric...

You know how I like to mix it up! So fun.

 This is going in my West End Antiques booth for $168.

Let me know if I can deliver it to your house;)

Next up, these tired ole stair treads. 

The wooden stairs coming down from my rooftop deck 

were getting so damaged that a few years ago, 

I bought an expensive area mat, cut it up and nailed to each step.

 But how nasty they have gotten and they were never much to look at...

 I bought a small Indian printed canvas rug at HomeGoods, 

and cut it up, sewed the raw edges...

and used upholstery cardboard nailing strips to staple 

to the front underside lip of each stair.

Stair treads are usually $25-35 a piece and not much to look at...  

My six treads cost $5 each. 

I love a deal!

Eventually I want to paint all my stairs 

in a variety of greens and blues, 

but for now, this works.

Making Over the Makeover

Here's a set of chairs I reinvented a couple of years ago....

When I bought them, they looked like this....

 I painted the frames in a silvery blue grey, and added stain.

Love the cane backs......

 And then I covered the seats in this frenchy "The de Provence" linen.

But they never sold......

I've had them in two different booths, 

and I finally pulled them and brought them back home to use in my own dining room. 

(This is why everything in my house wears a price tag...)

Today, I decided to "take another whack at them."

Goodbye neutral....hello flower power!

 So here they are, all colorful and poppy and looking very vintage 70's

and ready to go back in the booth for autumn.
I added another layer of batting to plump them up a bit.

Wonder if they'll sell now?? 

Yep, sometimes you've got to make over the makeover.

"Bohemian Swirl" Slipcover for a tired old chair...

Another slipcover has just come off the SheSheassembly line....

Take a look at this old club chair before:

 But my client, Nancy, LOVES this chair. 

She says it's the most comfortable chair she's ever had 

and she wants to keep it............

And keep it she shall!

 But definitely with a makeover.

 I shopped around for fabric and found this Waverly print 

called "Bohemian Swirl" at Artee. 

I used a natural linen for the piping, but first, 

I rebuilt the back of the chair to square it off a bit 

and make it have cleaner lines for slipcovering.

Here it is all ready to go to it's new home....

(I'm bypassing the three days of torture it took me to make this baby.)

 Oh, and surprise! 

For the back, I used a thicker linen tweed, 

and then used mismatched buttons down a middle seam.

 It looks great......

...with the linen Restoration Hardware sofa and the pillows I just made.

Along with this other sweet little chair I recently redid in linen and cheetah chenille.

It's coming together!!! 

Next up, we're painting the walls, baby! 

And ordering a flokati rug.

Woohoo!

Spray Paint Transformations

I don't typically use spray paint for my furniture transformations, but there are some times when it's without doubt the best medium...

For instance.........

Outdoor metal furniture......

With all those nooks and crannies, I save a ton of time by using spray primer and paint. 

And they come in such fun colors...

Here are some recent SheShe spray paint transformations........

Mismatched rusty patio furniture..

 ...becomes an oasis of color on Daisey's back deck! 

I painted the table purple and the chairs turquoise.  

Then whipped up some punchy orange chair pads, 

and added a small outdoor rug I purchased online from One King's Lane.

 I also like to use spray paint  when I'm doing metallic finishes.

Here's a piece I found in the trash...

 First I spraypainted it in a metallic silver finish.

 Then I distress sanded and added layers of stain to give it a old world pewter finish. 

It didn't last long in my booth;)

 Here's a maple console I did recently for a client..

It started like this.

 I used a combination of Annie Sloan chalk paint in Chateau gray,

 and some metallic craft paints....layered with some stains....

 But on the top, 

i used a felt placemat as a stencil 

and lightly spray painted it with silver...

 I didn't want it too crisp because I wanted to look like it was faded with age.

 And while I was at my friend Bonita's awesome Bethany beach townhouse this summer....

(here's my beautiful hostess on the beach)...

I really got a spraypaint workout!!! 

She had found a few pieces in the trash, 

that looked all rusty and crusty, like this...

 So off to the local hardware store we went for some poppy spraypaint....

 and I got to work...

Ooooh, Mr. Orange Sun...

 ...this citron striped gecko now graces the outdoor shower.

 And a blue fish rises above the flower pots.

And then Bonita said, "Do the ducks."  

The decoy ducks painted by her Dad?? 

Really?

 Who I am to question a client?

Ta Dah! Love them...

Signs for Tara and SheShe!

Wow, talk about blogger's block, 

I've had it...

It started out with a sick mom.........

then I got behind,,,

then I got really really busy...

and then, well, it had been so long, I didn't know how to start up again!!!!!!

So I didn't.

As with everything, we must take little baby steps....and so, I'm taking one today.

Just a little one.

To show you a couple of signs I've made this week.

This one is for my friend, Tara. 

Like me, she's a dealer at Greenwood Antiques and Uniques...and the name of her company is...well guess..

I had made some pillows for her a couple months ago, out of some old feed sacks.  

I decided to take one of the images and use for a fun sign.

I used a piece of  plywood I had rescued from an alley. 

I painted it in Annie Sloan Old Ochre. 

Next, using carbon paper, I traced out the design, along with type I printed from my computer. 

And then hand painted everything in chalk paint.  

Afterwards, I sanded and added stains and some dark wax to age it...

(Yes, I know it's a rooster.....he's admiring.....2 cool chicks!)

 So now my creative juices were flowing. 

And I had been wondering what to do with a couple of these old mannequins...

And an idea blossomed.  

I love when that happens....

First I drybrushed some Versailles chalkpaint over the mannequins.

 Then I used the same technique - traced letters and painted them in chalk paints.

 And look!  

They're now nontraditional signage!!

Here they are at the top of my booth at Greenwood.

I love them.

It's like they're standing guard.