Mystery Chair Reupholsering

Check out this $5 find at a G-sale. It almost didn't make it in our car, but Todd was determined and I'm so glad he was!

Pretty bad rip, Right!

I removed all the wicker and made sure it was all smooth.

First I had to start backwards and put the green back on with a heavy duty staple gun. Then I added a little padding and started nailing down the webbing. This was my first time doing this and it really was not that hard.


You nail 3 nails in the webbing then trun the webbing back and nail 2 more nails.

More padding. This foam is about 1 1/2" thick.

Staple down muslin to curve out all the foam. Make sure you start from the middle and then work your way out to the corners. The curve of this chair made it a little challenging to get it smooth.

I wanted it to be really comfy. So more padding!

Nailing down the fabric.

Finally the nail heads.

And here it is! So here is why I called it a mystery chair. See under the arms of the chair there is another piece of wood. Well that piece actually swings all the way out. So...Our guess is that it might be an old birthing chair. Any ideas on what it is for we would love to know.

Recovering Dining Room Chairs

First step is to unscrew the chair pad off the chair. Then get the nasty old fabric off as fast as you can!

Cut out your new fabric giving it about 4 inches on all side to be folded over. You want to start in the middle on all side and then do the corners. Make sure you pull as tight as you can and staple it until you feel every inch is secure.

I was able to reuse the old black bottom cover. They sale this at any fabric store if yours is in bad shape. Staple it down making sure all the other staples are covered for a clean finish.

Flip it over and you have a brand new chair!

Lola always likes to be in the center of attention.

Furniture Transformations- Dining Table

I searched all over and we ended up getting this table from a lady on craigslist. We payed $300 and that included the table and 8 chairs.



Sanding down and getting rid of all the varnish was the hard part. We bought a rotary sander and used 120 grit sand paper. After a full day of sanding I was a little impatient and thought I got most of it off and started to stain using Minwax poly shade. I let it set for 3 days and the dang thing would never get dry. So I had to start the whole process again. Using a stripper this time and really making sure I got all the varnish and stain off I decided to stain the right way. I used Minwax again but the regular mahogany stain. Then I used Poly top coat. Tip- On the last layer of the brush on top coat. Use 600 grit wet sand paper on the surface and then finish it off with a spray can of poly. This will eliminate any bumps.





Here is the finished product! And do you remember the mirror that was Gold to White? Well here it is Black matching the table.

Yard Sale Finds

I dont know what it is about Washington, but they have the best yard sales ever! Todd and I went to a neighborhood G-sale and we pretty much cleaned up. About 3 or 4 truck loads later, we had a fully furnished house and lots of refinishing to do.

This is going to be Todd's man chair. He has all kinds of ideas for it.




Here it is in it's original state. Kinda hard to see the potential though all the gold.Here it is spray painted white. I then brushed stain on it and then rubbed it off with a towel. It stayed in all the cracks leaving a cool antique finish. Although, once we put it in our dinning room it didn't fit. So it is now black and fabulous!

The big purchase

We had a few issues going through escrow, but it was all worth it!!!


Notice the huge TV. Todd is making do with ours for now. Now I could really care less about the TV size, but seriously the wall swallows ours up. Pictures of ours to follow!


Kitchen! We Love all the space.
This is our dinning room.

Master Bedroom

There's no place like home

My Parents came out to pick us up from the airport. They came for just a few short days. It was so great having family there.

My Dad made this sign. Lola strangely resembled George Washington.

I think Lola was getting even with me for shoving her in her box for 12 hours by farting up a storm in the truck.

Our Last hurrah of Europe; Spain!

Todd and I met up with Emily and Cameron in Madrid. We then rented a car and went to Portugal where we then traveled the coast back around into Spain. It was a blast until we heard about the Volcano in Iceland and that flights were being canceled. Normally this might not have been such a big deal. But, we planned this trip dangerously close to our flight back to the States. Our flight did end up getting canceled. So what did we do? We did what our parents told us never to do. We picked up 2 hitch hikers to pay for the cost and made the 18 hour drive straight back to Germany. From there we grabbed Lola and then went another 3 hours up to Frankfurt to catch our flight home. Here are some pictures of our trip below.

Ronda, Spain
This was the most beautiful town.

We had to get the full experience of Spain. I think I had my eyes closed most of the time and Todd was cheering for the bull.

Emily: "Where is Todd and Jess"
Cameron: "Just look for the only boat out there where the guy is not leisurely rowing."
Todd did make it to the other end and back in 5 minutes. Pretty impressive when other boats are crashing into yours and vice-versa.

Em and Todd being silly. Not really sure now what was so funny, but at the time it was hilarious.

Awkward!