Reuphosltering a Painted Chair

Remember the chair I painted?

Well, I ripped it up. 

I loved the way the chair looked, but unfortunately, painted velvet is kind of rough and sticks to some fabrics. So, I couldn't sit in the chair if I was wearing something made of delicate fabric, like most dresses. Or anything dry clean only. So I ripped up the fabric and decided to take a swing at reupholstering it myself. 

Keep in mind, this was my first time to reupholster. I had no clue what I was doing. I'm not really one to look up and read instructions and how-to's though. I'm more of a get-your-hands-dirty and learn-as-you-go kind of girl. It's more exciting that way. ;) 

Here is the final result. 

It is not perfect, but I am happy with it. I know I can only get better the more I practice. I have planned to leave the original tufted look, but decided I liked the look of the smooth back better. And now, the chair gets used more! (A very important feature of any chair is that people actually want to sit in it). ;)

Painting an Upholstered Chair

I keep seeing and hearing about painted upholstered chairs and thought it would be a good option for someone who can't reupholster (i.e. ME). Then, once I saw my friend's chairs she painted, I loved how they looked and decided to go for it. Look how cute hers are!

 

 

Adorable, right?

 

I used a chair I bought at a resell shop that I have been meaning to reupholster. I liked the look of the chair, but the velvet fabric was a little outdated and had some small stains on it.

 

Here is the chair before:

 

 

Here is another picture that shows the color more accurately.

 

 

You may remember it from this post.

 

 I was a little nervous to paint a chair I already liked, but once I got started, I liked the way the white looked. It provided more of a contrast to the color of the wood.

 

 

Here you can see the difference between the white painted part and the original.

 

 

 I thought about leaving the pins and the trim in the original color, but in the end, I wanted to keep it simple. I'm really glad I did.

 

I used white fabric paint from Michael's. The fabric paint makes the paint not as rough as wall paint would. I knew the paint would make the fabric more stiff, but I did not realize how quickly the fabric soaks up the paint. I probably used about six bottles of fabric paint on this one chair.

 

Here is the final product:

 

 

I like it much more in the white than the original faded gold-ish velvet fabric. Overall, it was a fairly quick and easy update!

 

 

(One of) My Best Friend's Wedding

Remember that movie? Gotta love Julia.


                               Kit & Kaboodle

When writing this post, I couldn't help but think of that title. In October, I had the honor of being a bridesmaid of one of my college roommate's wedding. The wedding was adorable. The bride made, planned, and designed all the decorations herself (with a little help from her parents). She is basically Martha Stewart, but younger and without all the legal problems. ;)

Here are a few pictures that show off her creativity and craftiness.






She made all the bunting flags, chalkboard signs, and put together all the decorations. She also made these Kraft paper and burlap programs, complete with their wedding logo.

She made these burlap wreaths featuring cotton and Anthropologie letters.




Instead of petals, her flower girl sprinkled these paper hearts down the aisle.






She used an old mattress frame as a picture holder. (Aren't they such a cute couple?!)






Her wedding sign in table- all in chalkboards, ribbon, cotton, and wood.



Their legacy table





The wedding was in October. Cute little pumpkins lined the walkway to the chapel. The bride made those cute burlap flags.









She designed their invitation suite





and put fun stamps on every envelope.





Cotton and burlap lined the aisles. Aren't these so cute and simple?





She also made these wedding streamers to wave after they said "I Do."







She made these centerpieces with tea lights, branches, glass jars, and galvanized hearts.











Her dad made those crates to give the centerpieces height. :)

She also made this chalkboard tray for their champagne toast.





She is very talented with chalk.















Monogrammed burlap signs for their chairs.





Fun sunglasses, maracas, and tambourines were provided for guests and kids at the reception as well as glow sticks :)









and you gotta have a photo booth!





They made toffee for the wedding guests and sealed it with stickers with their wedding logo






as well as koozies




Cookies made by the Mother of the Bride




Cake table










Textured cakes decorated with cotton for her and a Texas map for him




These are the cookies she sent all the BM's. They were delicious. :)




She also made each of us these shirts. She tie-dyed and screen printed them herself. You can see more about this here.




Didn't she do an amazing job?!?! (Great job, Dell!)

If you love her stuff, you are in luck! She now sells just some of her creative work. Check it out here!