A Lampshade Project

Last weekend Country Mouse and I got together at her house for some major sewing and managed to squeeze in a project for ourselves. Even though I reduced my hours at my day job for the summer, time has gone by faster than it ever has. Someone told me as we get older, time goes by faster. That seems true....I need to do something about that.

I have so many pictures to sort through and a new computer which is wonderful, but it's taking me longer to do computer things...changing from a pc to a mac = learning new technical things.

So bear with us as the summer posts have been few, but we hope you have been out enjoying summer rather than being online.

Back to the original thought in this post, the lampshade! A project that has been on the to-do list for months :) Above is the before picture, just a plain old shade and some vintage doilies. Add a late night with a hot glue gun this can be dangerous! and you have a pretty shade.

I used a light kit from ikea to hang above my work table. There was no direct lighting over the table which is a must for late night projects! This last picture was taken at night so you can see how pretty the doilies show through the glowing shade. 

Hope you find time for something creative this weekend!

Ikea Chair - Before and After

This week I started my new Summer schedule at my day job.  I'll be working 3 10-hour days per week and having 4 day weekends! I am so happy that I made this change. I had been thinking about it for so long and finally decided I needed to take the opportunity and use the time to focus on things that are more important to me than pushing paperwork and punching numbers all day in a dysfunctional office environment!

So for the next 10 weeks I'll be spending my extra time working on things for City Chic Country Mouse and enjoying Summer! Of course, I have a long list of projects I would like to work on including giving some of my furniture pieces a facelift.  

Last time Country Mouse was here, we tackled my red ikea chair that desperately needed a new cover. 

Before...

After...

 

 

What do you think? Do you have any fun Summer projects you'd like to tackle? Summer is the perfect time to bring jars, frames, and furniture outside and give them a facelift with some pretty colored spray paint.  I'm hoping to do that this weekend if the weather cooperates! Hope your Summer is off to a great start!

Table & Chairs - Before & After

Here's a little before and after project Country Mouse and I tackled the other weekend. Country Mouse has this old folding table and chairs set from 1970 or so. And it had seen better days...

Nothing that a few cans of spray paint, oilcloth fabric, and a stable gun can't fix! Here's how we made this sad looking table and chairs set happy again.

First we dug around in the man room (garage) where nothing is organized how we would organize it, so it takes a bit of time until we find the perfect fitting tool, yay! We take these little guys off all the chairs and the table so that the table top and chair seats are removed and ready to be covered with lovely new fabric. Then we removed all of the old staples holding on the 1970's cloth with a flathead screwdriver. Then it went in the trash, bye-bye 1970!

With the tabletop and chair seats removed and staples out, we just needed to wash and sand any rusty spots and we were ready to paint. We found a great color to match our fabric - Watermelon by Krylon (indoor/outdoor - metal-wood-wicker-all purpose spray paint).

How to spray paint...Country Mouse reminded me that the key is to apply light coats so it doesn't get all drippy looking. If you end up with a few drips, just let it dry and then sand it and try again. No biggie. It happened to me a few times. We had to apply several coats to get a nice even looking color.

While you wait for the paint to dry in between coats of spray paint, admire your fabric and imagine how glorious this will look when you are all done!

After admiring the fabric, grab your scissors. Lay the seat over the fabric (think about the fabric placement and how you would like it to show) and cut the fabric, leaving enough to fold over and staple.


Stapling...make sure you have the correct size of staples for the gun as well as for when you staple (make sure they are not too long and end up going through to the other side!) You don't want any sharp staples sticking up through your table top or worse yet - your seat!!

We stapled one time on the middle edge of each side and made sure the fabric laid nicely before stapling around the entire perimeter.

Once you are satisfied with your paint job and it has dried, attach your tabletop and seats. And step back to admire...

So what do you think? Are you inspired to break out the spray paint? There are so many colors to choose from, so don't worry if pink isn't your favorite color. Let's just say the boys won't be using this one for their poker games :) We will be using this at our show near the Itasca Country Fairgrounds in Grand Rapids on July 25th and 26th. There will be a vintage car show as well. Come say hi if you're in the area, we'd love to meet you in person!