Sep 29

Old Grandma Footrest – Rehabilitated!

What? Two rehabilitated projects in one week?! aaaand I actually have one more project that I’m planning on finishing in the next few days too. Yup. I was busy this weekend.

A friend of mine had this footstool, let’s call her Grandma Footrest, she is depressed and in need of some attention. It looks like she might have been attacked by a pit bull at some point, plus her outfit is sooo not fabulous, I decided to help her out.

Grandma is going to mostly be used by a three year old named Christian so he can reach the bathroom sink to brush his teeth. It will be kept in the master bedroom (of a bachelor pad). I covered the stripped-down footrest with new cushion, chose a masculine pattern for the bachelors and a fabric that will hold up to a rompin’ 3-year-old for years.

I painted the legs a glossy black to match the rest of the furniture in the bedroom…and because I’ve been dying to paint something glossy black, don’t ask me why. I also found this gorgeous, sturdy upholstery grade fabric, perfect! Now that’s gonna make for a nice bachelor pad accessory, wouldn’t you say? Classy.

Oh and see that set of shiny, square pillows on the chair? They are going to be given away in a few weeks, I’ll post details soon. Keep your eyes peeled!

Filed under: Blog, Uncategorized — Tags: fabric, furniture, ottoman, rehabilitated, retro, sewing maching, vintage — admin @ 1:58 pm

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Aug 03

Andy’s “Friend” – Rehabilitated

Can you believe he went from this sad, rundown, pea-soup-lookin’ old man…to this new and improved awesome guy (plus entourage)? It’s like he saw the God of Style and couldn’t help but be reformed.

What a turnaround, and I couldn’t have done it without help from Sally “The Slayer Seamstress ” Hauser. I first started by stripping the green layer, and found that, woohoo, there was another layer beneath it! I thought about leaving it, for padding, and I tried shampooing it, but seriously, it was dirty. So, I stripped the orange layer as well. This guy has had a colorful past.

Okay, so next step, pull out nails (pulling out twenty of these 5-inch, thirty-year-old nails reminds me that I should probably get a tetanus shot soon). I am now left with a box, some springs, wooden feet, metal plates and buttons that will need to be recovered.

After staining the wooden feet a dark, chocolaty brown and painting the brass to silver, I drag all the remaining parts over to “The Seamstress Slayer’s” house. She is a vetted reupholsterer and I’m hoping she can help me out with the piping around the top ledge. Of course she does, plus much more. But I have to beware because she is the dangerous type and does “accidentally” shoot me with the staple gun, though I should be lucky that it’s not a rattlesnake this time.

After my near-death experience, we covered the wooden box and springs with new batting and muslin so it’s nice and clean. Sally suspects that, because of the style of the orange fabric, that this ottoman may have originated in the 1930’s or 40’s. So it is probably a good thing that I decided to replace it rather than cleaning this 80-year-old (wow) fabric.

I am pretty happy with how he turned out. Clean and off the red chicken.

I had some leftover pieces and I’m not about to throw away this awesome fabric. So pillows to go on the couch where the ottoman will be is just what needs to be done to pull everything together.