Shabby Chic White Chair ( How One Man's Trash Became My Treasure )

 

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, one of my neighbours had left an armoire, side table and T.V. on the end of his driveway, with a sign saying "free". I, of course grabbed them up with the intention of transforming them into something " awsome," at a later date. The T.V. is happily living in my husband's " man-cave" in the basement (this room will one day ,of course, be redecorated). But for now, it holds an assortment of mismatched furniture no longer wanted upstairs, and my "found" treasures. I will be revamping the armoire and side- table soon, in a future post, but for today I have another tale of a discarded treasure

It seems this same neighbour is moving, and as I was driving by the abandoned house, I spied a little white chair sitting out by the side of the road.... in the dark.... all alone. I stopped the car and got out. Could it be a hidden treasure? Upon closer inspection, I saw that it was indeed made of wood- a little rickety, and definately in wrough shape. The paint was chipping off ( bonus in my books), and it looked a little grungy. And it was covered in snow. But no matter- I took that lonely little chair home with me.

This is what the chair looked like when I found it ( after a good cleaning with TSP). Oh, and I had to put a little wood glue between the two front legs and the seat cuz it was a little wobbly.

  It already looks kind of Shabby Chic, but I can do better !!!!!!

 Here's the chair in it's original condition.

These are the original cracked and chipped areas of the chair. Close-up detail of the front.

Here's a close-up of the back. It's already chipping- so I don't have to do much to it.

Took out the handy-dandy palm sander ( in freezing,snowy weather)

Thank god we have a car-port for shelter)

I really should have warn gloves- my hands were freezing.  But I did wear the oh-so-fashionable dust-mask and safety goggles!!!! ( Sorry- no pics as the hubby was at work)

Then I sanded some more areas that still looked to shiny.  I went right to the bare wood in some spots, and in other spots I just smoothed out the really rough chips and cracks.  Don't worry- I left plenty of chippy paint for that lovely Shabby Chic look.

See the nice big chips toward the back of the chair!!!!!! Now that I'm thoroughly freezing, I dust off the chair and take it back into my work area for some final touches.

I hot-glued some antique-finish furniture tacks over the exposed steel screws, after clipping off the part that sticks into the wood.

Then I added  more antique- finish furniture tacks to the front for some extra detail.  Now, all I had to do was go over the whole chair with a light coat of brown shoe polish ( I read about this technique on an

 e-how posting on the web).  It gives  the painted wood an aged look, darkens the newly sanded areas, and protects the chair all in one.  Great, cheap idea !!!!!!

Now she's ready to go to her new home in my living room.  I decided to use it as a display table/plant stand since it's pretty rough for sitting on.  I can just see my mother sitting on it and ripping her pants ( Youch!!!!)

And here she is in all her Shabby Glory!!!!!!

I really love this option with the blue hydrangeas and the birdhouse, but I already have two bunches of

 off-white hydrangeas in the ajoining living/dining room.

This blue vase is really pretty too!!!!

 

And here's the third option.

  I'm not really sure yet what is going to perch on the chair- maybe one of my readers can make a suggestion.  My living/dining room is antique white and a soft grey/blue combo.  My husband suggested a live trailing plant of some sort- maybe with white flowers. 

Well, there she is......rescued from a life of being thrown in the trash.  I'm really happy with it, and best of all- it was free and very quick to do.

Bye til next time.  Au Revoir!!!!!

 

I'm linking up to Metamorphisis Monday at

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Faux Vintage Plaster Plaque- Do-it-Yourself

I've been wanting a vintage plaster architectural piece for over my bathroom window for some time now, but didn't want  to spend money on anything that we don't absolutely need.  So my challenge was to make one, from things that I already have around the house.  I have so many odds and ends of things, that I figured I could come up with something.  Here are some ideas that inspired me.

The first thing I did was go through my craft room and house, to see what I could use to accomplish this. I already had several  scrap pieces of MDF board from previous projects, and I was lucky enought to have one piece that was already the exact size as the finished piece I  wanted.  I decided on a long, narrow plaque:  4 inches high by 24 inches wide.  This would fit perfectly over the window in my bathroom.  If you don't have this, it's relatively inexpensive at any home improvement store, and they will cut it for you to any size you want .  I had some 1/4 inch dowels , and a couple of pairs of old earrings from the 1990's that I could use for some of the detail.  I did have to buy one large wooden applique for the main body of the plaque, but this only cost around $8.00 at Home Depot. 

I took the earrings apart, and will later glue them down into the overall pattern.  It looks kind of weird at first, but the finished products looks authentic.

Next, I glued the wooden applique' to the MDF board.  Make sure it's centered and there's a boarder all around the outside of the applique'.

Now you glue the dowels around the edges, and if you want, make an interesting pattern with smaller pieces of dowel in any bare spots on the MDF board.

I hot- glued the earring pieces into place- looks really weird now!!!!!!!  But the real fun is about to start.  Are you ready?  Here we go.........................

Dip your fingers into the spackling compound and just start smushing it in all over the place.  Get it into all the cracks and spaces between the earrings and MDF board.  Put a thin layer over all the wood dowels and the wooden applique". And a thin layer overr the earrings (not too much or you'll lose the detail).

I got smart and put on gloves after a while, although it did feel good to get that stuff all over my fingers- just like a kid doing paper mache' or finger painting!!!!!

Once you get the first layer on, let it dry over night.

If there are any areas where there is too much spackling compound, just wipe it off with a damp paper towel- BEFORE IT DRIES.  When it's completely dry, add another thin layer or two, depending on how thick you want the end result.  Don't smooth it out too much because you want it to look a little rough.

If there are any areas that are too wrough, you can give it a light sanding.

Then with a wooden barbeque scewer, I scratched out any areas that were too built up with spackling compound.  You want the design to be visable in relief.  Next , prime and paint the whole piece a flat white color and let dry thoroughly.

I used a creamy white latex paint that I had left from another project.  You could use acrylic craft paint as well, if the piece isn't too large.

Now, mix equal parts of a darker color craft paint with faux- finish medium.  I used soft sage/grey color called Stonehedge Green by Ceramicoat.  This green matches some of the colors in my bathroom, and besides blue, is my very favourite color.

Paint this mixture all over the piece, getting into all the cracks and crevices, then quickly wipe off the excess on top with a damp lint-free cloth.  Use a light circular motion so that the color stays in the crevices.

With a damp sea sponge, gently dab over some areas to leave more texture, and some sort of bubbly looking areas.  You want it to look really old and crusty.  Then let the whole thing dry thoroughly- I left it over night.

Here it is all dry- sorry for the bad lighting- I took these pictures at night.

Now for even more fun!!!!!!!

Take a flat-head screw driver and start to gouge out areas of the hardened "faux plaster"

When you like the effect you've got, dab in some straight craft paint into the gouged- out areas ( the same color as you used with the faux- finish medium), and take off any excess.  The paint will be absorbed into the cracked areas and look like old cracked,  painted plaster.  I'm hanging mine in my bathroom, so I sprayed it with two coats of flat arylic sealer.   I decided it was a little too clean and bright looking, so, then I went over the whole thing with brown shoe polish, just very lightly, and it gave it an even older, more interesting look.

Then for even more interest, I hammered an antique finish upholstery tack into each corner. To hang it, I used my staple gun and stapled picture hanging wire to each side.  The plaque wasn't thick enough for a nail or a wood screw, and I didn't want to risk going through to the front and ruining it



Here it is over my bathroom window.  I just noticed that it's a little crooked in the picture

Here's a close-up of it.  I think it turned out pretty good- and it only cost me $8.00  Let me know what you think!!!! 

Well, that's it for now.  Hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and will be inspired to try making something from items you have around your house. 

My next posting will be all about my Spa's-  since I just went to a lovely spa called Ste. Annes.  I'll tell you all about it next time, and show you some cute projects and ideas you can do at home for the  "Spa" experience.

Til next time.  Au Revoir!!!!!