Monday, October 21, 2013

Get to WORK!!!

Finally starting to feel settled in our new location, The Woodlands, TEXAS and we LOVE it so far.  Southern hospitality does exist!  In fact, I have noticed that when folks say "how are you doing?" here in Texas, they ACTUALLY want to know HOW YOU ARE DOING!  That being said, it can take an extra 15 minutes in line at the grocery store!!! 

So now on to the fun stuff, decorating!!!!
This is going to be a bit challenging for me since we will be renting a house for the next year.  Kurt and I haven't rented a place since the first year we were married, 21 years ago, so it's hard for us to not knock walls down and tear up flooring. 

The first place to get put together is my work space so I can, well, GET TO WORK!  The only furniture we brought from the old house was a huge antique store hutch and a large, square table...that's it!  
There wasn't much to do to the hutch except fill it with all my materials.

Then I was having such an issue with finding stools for my table.  Nothing I was seeing for sale was getting me too excited.  When I did see something I liked, the price tag was wayyyyyy out of what I wanted to spend.  I love pottery barn, but come on, $299.00 per chair?  Not happening with me.

When I stumbled upon these 4 chairs at a antique/resale shop I thought they would work just fine.  They were solid wood at least, pretty sturdy and actually a do-able color.  The price was just right too, $120.00 for all 4.  Of course the sales girl was all over us on how great they were and what a nice antique set....I didn't have the heart to tell her there was a Target sales tag on the bottom of each of them, lol!  I didn't really care much that they were antique or not, just that they would work.

As soon we got them in the truck, I turned to Kurt and when I went to open my mouth he said, "yes, just paint them or do whatever you are going top do to them."  He KNOWS ME!

I have been inspired by all the natural wood out there lately, like in Restoration Hardware.  It is very unlike me to not paint something, but I'm giving this a shot.  The chairs were painted black with a faux suede seat cover, not awful but could be better.
I sanded off almost all of the paint.  The first chair was actually fun to sand, the second I could have done without the chair back....the third, "why the hell did I decide to do this!!!", the fourth, thanks Kurty for helping me :)  
Once they were all sanded and the wood was just raw, I really liked them. I'm not going to put any finish on them at all.

 Now the cushions needed some work.  I love all the flour sack covered furniture, so I did my own spin on it.  Since there were no flour sacks immediatly available, and I wanted to finish this project in a weekend, I made due with what I could find.
A canvas drop cloth from the hardware store.  Its very durable and very affordable material...$9.00, plus plenty of extra material.

I decided to be extra clever and print Kurt, Kayla and my birthdays on each of the cushions and then the extra one has our wedding day.  I know, corny, but hey it works!

I'm in love with how they turned out!  In fact, I may have to go online and order a couple more "antique" stools from Target so that I can have a couple more in the kitchen.

Happy Monday!
Jillian