Look What My Husband Dragged In:

Look What My Husband Dragged In:

He was driving down the street, minding his own business, when he noticed someone putting these chairs out by the curb with a sign that read

"FREE TO A GOOD HOME". 

There are five chairs including a Captain's chair AND a dining table with three leaves!!!

(You can just barely see the corner of the table in the above picture).   Yes, you heard me right, five chairs and a dining table that can seat 8 comfortably.   Wow.   ALL. FOR. FREE.    Talk about being in the right place at the right time!

Check out this Captains chair:

Isn't it amazing? I love it!

And here is The Man of the Hour ~ cleaning all the gunk and grunge off the chairs so they can be painted a nice fresh white.  He doesn't even blink anymore when I say I want to paint something white.  He always gets this cute little twinkle in his eye when he asks what color or finish I might want to do a piece of furniture in.  Hmmm, wonder what that is all about?  I think I'll have to branch out and pick some new colors ~ just to throw him off a little!  I talked him into letting me use spray paint.  I keep seeing amazing photos of spray paint transformations in blogland and on Pinterest and I just wanted  to try it for myself.  He is reluctant to let me have my way with them but he hesitantly gives me full artistic reign...

Here is the fabric I chose to recover the seats:

Check out the old fabric (below)!  I had to use it as a template to cut the first one...yuck..ugh...blah...pfff...

This is just the first layer I removed.  Underneath this was another disgustingly bad layer in a horrid gold color.  STINKY!!!

I removed both layers of fabric and used one of them as a template to cut the rest. There's a very large print I wanted to center on the seat cushions. Maybe doing a print like this was a bit risky for me to tackle...especially since I am a beginner and havent recovered anything in a long time.  Once I had the design centered I pinned the template to the new fabric and cut it out.  After the first one was cut I used it to cut the rest; lining up the design to ensure that the chair cushions matched instead of having the print randomly placed. 

First one cut ~ only four more to go!

All five cut and ready to be attached!!!

Tools for recovering the seat cushions.

                                                                                                      

Here I am (below) stretching and stapling.  I put one staple in the center of each side first.  This allowed me to get the fabric right where I wanted it and make sure that it was stretched nice and tight before finishing the rest of the stapling.  Better to check the placement now than to wait until all the staples are in and have to remove them all later!   (I probably could have pulled it even tighter than I did.)

Stretching and pulling


TA ~ DA!!!

Stapling - what fun!

The first cushion is finished...not exactly centered but good enough...

(I had to plop it down on the chair to see how it looks!)

Aren't they adorable?

Spray Paint Time!!!!

Next they got a fresh coat of spray paint.  This was nowhere near as easy as it sounded!  I learned I need a lot of practice at spray painting furniture.  The Man just kept peeking out the window at me and shaking his head.  Poor guy.  I have to give him credit for not coming out and confiscating the spray can!  I would probably have done that to him if I saw him doing what I did.  It was hard not to get too close and when I did it just caused the paint to run.  Not only that, but it seemed I wanted to do a complete finish in one coat.  That's just not going to happen!  Eventually The Patient One came out and gave me a little spray paint tutorial right there on our deck.  I really tried to do it like he showed me:  keep the spray can about 10 inches from what you are painting and use short, light, even strokes.  (And that's about what the directions on the back of the can suggested too.)  Ha.  I just wanted to spray the whole thing as quickly as possible and be done with it!  I never claimed to have a lot of patience!!!

They still need another coat of paint. I think I will add some glaze to bring out the beautiful details in the legs.  It might be a good idea for me to watch a tutorial (or two) before tackling the glazing step...just sayin'...

AREN'T THEY GORGEOUS???

Can't wait to show you what the table looks like once we get it done!  Soon I hope...

Enjoy your projects!

Sherry