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Classroom Chairs

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I just realized that I never actually pushed the “post” button on this one!    We’re heading way back to the lazy days of Summer when I had time to redo some old furniture!
What’s the first thing you do when you get the keys to your classroom?  Spruce up the furniture with paint and fabric, and get ready to move in!  I’ve been waiting all Summer to get the keys to my classroom and now that I finally have them, I have to overcome my fear of the security system at the school and move in.  One more little project needs to get finished up before I take the plunge. My chairs need a makeover.  Today, I hit the fabric store, bought myself some chevron, and purchased a couple cans of black paint.  

My friend, Crystal, gave me these chairs a few years ago.  They needed paint and new seats.  They’ve been a perfect “homey” addition to my classroom, but the fabric finally gave out last year.  I’m always impressed with the difference paint and fabric can have on a chair.  
Happy chair sprucing!

Kitchen Barstools – My Deal of the Day

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I’ve been thinking about getting new barstools lately.
I’ve been contemplating it for 9 years to be exact.
When we moved into our house, over 9 years ago, we had 2 barstools for our long kitchen counter.  The counter begged for 3 stools, and I knew that “one of these days” I’d get around to purchasing a new set.  Well, have you ever seen the price of barstools?  They are SO expensive!  So, I contemplated getting new stools… for NINE YEARS!
When my friends at LeapFrog sent a video crew to my house, I was embarrassed by chipped paint, barstools that I purchased in 1998.  There aren’t too many things in my house that “bother” me, but for some reason I cringe when I look at my old stools. To make things worse, they wanted to use them in the videos.  Ugh!
This weekend, I’d finally had enough.  I knew what I wanted, I had a gift card, and I was ready to take the plunge.  I knew I was going to have to spend at least $100 per stool, but it was time.  We’ve been in our house for almost 10 years and this was supposed to be one of my first purchases!  These were the stools I was going to buy.
I tried putting them into my shopping cart, and they were no longer available!  I could have cried.  I couldn’t afford the stools at Ballard Designs.  The stools at Cost Plus were just not quite right, and now these were no longer in stock.  So sad.
Well, there is a happy ending to this story, Friends!  You see, as I was browsing around, I happened to run across these pretty stools at Lowes. They aren’t the rustic, industrial, look I was going for, but I thought they were very pretty.  They were a great color, very solid, and swiveled (which I knew my kids would love).

Ok, are you ready for the price?  If you’ve looked around at barstools, you know that stools like these sell for around $135 each.  When I entered my zipcode into the Lowes site to access prices, this stool popped up for $35.  Ummm… hold on.  Did you hear me?  $35 DOLLARS!!!  I quickly put three of these into my shopping cart, paid for them online, and they were ready for pick up at my local Lowes.  Holy cow!  That is an incredible deal!

We did have to assemble them, but it was pretty easy.  I’m so happy to have these in my house!  I’ll be painting and selling the old stools.  I’m sure someone can use a nice, 1998, set of barstools.  Aside from the price, my other piece of good news was that we had some family members over for dinner, gave them a good test, and only one screw fell out!  Not bad!
I have no idea if these are available at all Lowes locations, but they were available at the Mill Creek location and they were a screaming deal!!
Happy shopping!

Puppet Theater Makeover

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I usually don’t share many school projects on this blog, but I had a lot of fun with this little makeover.

I inherited this puppet theater from another teacher in my building. It had seen better days. The curtain was a little dingy and the green chalkboard had some permanent marker on it. I was thrilled when I saw this coming through my door, because my old puppet theater had just broken, beyond repair.


A little chalkboard paint and a new curtain (with a little black rick-rack to cheer it up a bit) and it has a whole new life.

Puppet theater love!!!

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New Life For Old Chairs

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I bought these chairs, last week, at Goodwill for $2.99 each.  They were pretty beat up and had a lovely mauve/floral pattern on the seat cushions.  (Do you hear the sarcasm in my voice?) Ok, they weren’t very lovely.


I’ve been on the lookout for some fun chairs for the art area outside of my classroom.

We have two chairs along the back desk, so I was looking for a pair of old wooden chairs I could use here instead.

Taking inspiration from last month’s BHG magazine, I decided to try covering the chairs with painted drop cloths.  I had lots of extra drop cloth fabric on hand, so I started by covering the chairs and then taping off the pattern I wanted.

I also used paper to cover off any other area I did not want to get paint on.  Looking back, I should have used a stronger tape.  The tape directly on the drop cloth worked perfectly.  The tape that was taped to the tape did not stick as well.


Then, I just started painting, using light coats of paint.  I used brown spray paint.  I’m aiming for a natural feel for the art area.  I’d like to use wood tones, natural materials, flowers and leaves, wooden containers, glass bottles, etc, in this area.  I think it’s soothing and relaxing.  This is a calm, quiet, place for kids to go during the day.  So, although brown isn’t usually the color I go with when I’m working with kids’ spaces, it seemed to fit in this area.

My initial thought was that I would paint the chairs cream and then distress them a little.  Thinking about all of the paint, markers, and other art materials, I decided against cream paint.  I decided to stick with the chipped up brown stain the chairs came with.  I spent a little time with the sander, distressing the finish a little more.  I wanted it to look like I did the distressing on purpose, not because I was too lazy to paint.


  I used Minwax Wood Wax over the top of the wood for a little extra protection.  The paint on the drop cloth didn’t leak or run into the taped off portion at all.  The only problem was where the tape was taped onto tape. (That was a mouthful.) It didn’t stick well and I had a little overspray.  Oh, well.  It’s for the art area and I’m sure the kids will get more paint of them and never even notice.

I love the way the chairs turned out.  Hmmmm.  I do need two more chairs for my dining room. 

Happy painting!

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SOLD!

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Last week I blogged about my Craigslist dining table and chairs.

It started with 4 padded chairs that had seen better days – $20 for all four.

Next came the $15 sturdy table. (I forgot to take a picture before I painted it.) New fabric, black paint, and a little poly brought this dining set to life.

 

I had the yellow check fabric at home. When I found the black fabric, I knew it was a match made in Heaven. I love the way the two fabrics work together.

 
 

 

This set was never meant for my house. As much as I love the finished product, I already have a dining set and a kitchen set. I knew I was making this to resell on Craigslist (which I’ve never done before). I decided to ask $150 for the set. I spent about $50 purchasing furniture and materials, so $100 profit sounded fair to me. I listed it on Craigslist on Thursday night. By Friday morning I had a buyer! I had a lot of fun with this project. I’ve never reupholstered chairs that had padded backs like these. It was a learning experience and the quality of my work was no where near the quality I see at Calico Corners… but oh-so-rewarding to have $150 in my pocket and a large dining set out of my garage!

Here are a few linky parties I’m joining!

Dining Room (or kitchen) Table and Chairs

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This project has been a long time in the making. Last January I found these chairs on Craigslist.

I’ve always wanted to try working on chairs like these. I decided this would be a perfect set of chairs to fix up and sell.

They needed to be completely taken apart so I could add fabric to the backs. My friends at Calico Corners have been trying to convince me to use two different fabrics when I’m working on chairs. I’ve always loved the idea, but never had enough confidence to try it. Since these chairs weren’t actually for my house, I suddenly got the confidence to try.

 

I had the yellow check fabric at home. When I found the black fabric, I knew it was a match made in Heaven. I love the way the two fabrics work together.

 

I found a table on Craigslist as well. I painted it in the same black paint that I painted the chairs. There you have it! I whole new dining set. I’m excited to see what I can get for it on Craigslist! I paid $5 each for the chairs and $15 for the table.

 

 

So what do you think? How much do you think I should list this set for?

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Dr. Seuss Rocking Chair

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Here’s a little background to this story:

My Friend Debbie: “Hey, I saw on your blog that you like to redo furniture.”

Me: “Yep, I’ve been searching Craigslist for some small pieces to work on this Summer.”

Debbie: “Do you want a rocking chair to redo? I have one that I started to paint in my kids’ playroom. I never got around to finishing it. I’m sure you could do something cute with it.”

Me: (Thinking- Ohhhhh, I could paint it the cute pale blue that I see all over Bloggland and then find the perfect pale blue and red fabric to make a chair pad. I’ve always wanted to do that color combination, but it just wouldn’t work in my house.)

Me: “Sure, I’d love it.” It came out in a very calm tone, but inside I was jumping up and down with excitement about my new project!

The next day Debbie brought it to school with her (we’re both teachers at the same school). She pulled it out of her truck and I fell in love with this totally adorable work of art. She had painted the chair white, added a Dr. Seuss hat to the seat, and then painted the dowels and knobs in black and red. She said she had done one coat of paint and lost steam. (We all know that three coats of red paint are a minimum.) It was the greatest chair it just needed a little more time put into it! Debbie is the busiest working mom I know, so I don’t know how she even got the first coat done.

I took the chair home, knowing full well that there was no way I could paint this chair pale blue and ruin all of that hard work. I scrapped the dream of the blue rocker with the cute red fabric and instead went to work on finishing the Dr. Seuss chair she had started. Debbie had done all of the hard work. She had done the artistic piece that there was no way I could have done. I carefully added a second coat, then a third coat. Finally, I added a few coats of poly over the top. It is beautiful, shiny, and ready for a classroom or playroom! I hope it’s the chair she was always hoping it would become.


So, Debbie, here’s my proposal. I can’t possibly take this chair and put it in my own classroom. It’s like a piece of artwork and I can’t possibly subject it to the abuse of a kindergarten classroom.

So, here are our options:

a: You take it home to your boys and your playroom and continue to read stories in it every night.

b: If you really want it out of your playroom, then I think we should give it to the library where all of the kids will enjoy it!

I hope you love the shiny finished look!

Here are a few linky parties I’m joining!

My New Favorite Product

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About ten years ago I spotted this piece of furniture in my Mother-in-law’s garage and fell in love with it. My Father-in-law had been in the process of sanding it and making a few repairs, when he passed away unexpectedly. The hutch found its way to my dining room, scratches and all. I have every intention of having it professionally refinished someday. I’ve refinished furniture in the past, but nothing as nice as this piece. I’d like to have it brought to the condition my Father-in-law was hoping for.

 

It’s not in horrible condition, but you can tell that it’s been sanded and the wood on the top needs to be replaced. Here are a few more pictures so you can see the scratches and dings.

 

 
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My friend Diane and I went antiquing the other day, while the kids were at summer day camp. (Side Note: Summer Day Camp is the best invention ever! I LOVE my kids, but 3 hours of mommy-time is HEAVEN!) While we were shopping, Diane spotted this:

She told me she uses Howard Restor-a-finsih on her antique piano and it works wonders. For $5.00, I decided to give it a try.

Check this out! The left side is before, and the right is after.

The top before:

The top after:

It still needs to be professionally refinished, but for $5.00, I think I have found a new favorite product!

Here’s the after:

My Craigslist Find

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I had every intention of finding a great piece of furniture, painting it, adding new hardware, and then selling it. (Life In the Fun Lane is a new blog I found and she has the greatest painted furniture for sale.) Then I found this great little dresser. It has great lines, good size, and is perfect for a new project. It’s just too perfect! I can’t see painting a beautiful antique. Now it’s living in my family room. So much for fixing things up and selling them! Here’s the best part, though, it was only $3.00!