Kitchen chair reupholstering (autumn 2012)

Before, fabric is dingy and padding is wimpy

After, fresh fabric and a lot more padding

I've been bothered by our dining room chairs for years. At first, it was the sea foam fabric with grape leaves... but I have no experience recovering chairs so we lived with it. But now they are stained, after years with little goopy kids. And my Mom tightened up the joints on a recent visit, so it seemed like a good time to give them a face lift.

Marker, oatmeal, grape juice - you name it - plus there is a very hard edge 

I started by flipping over the chairs. Only 4 screws kept the seats in place; one on each corner. 

Screws were easy to find and remove

All of the seats have a hard piece of wood holding up the cushion, although the old strap supports are still visible underneath some.

Wooden support that someone used to replace the original straps

Next, I stripped all of the existing layers off of the seats. A pair of pliers was all I needed - I tugged onto the old fabric, not caring if it ripped, and the old staples gave way. Note: gloves would have been wise, as I got scratched by staples a few times.

All of the pieces are ready to go: fabric, foam, batting, seat

Next, I cut out 1" thick foam from a roll I bought at a local fabric store (www.gstreetfabrics.com). I used the seat as a guide and hoped the foam would soften the wooden ledge created by the supporting pieces. I traced a seat over and over with a sharpie pen. Then I used a pair of scissors to cut out the shapes.

Seat shape traced onto foam, exactly the size of the seat

Next I laid out the fabric. I had this leftover from last year, when I thought I could use it for curtains. It was way too heavy and ripped the curtain rods brackets out of the wall! I liked the pattern but the neutral colors and thick texture made it sort of blah for any large expanse. Recently, I started looking at chevrons and other geometric patterns for the kitchen chairs... and after burning several hours online, noticed how much color I already have in the kitchen. Anything more would be overkill. Thankfully I remembered this fabric before hunting down anything new. In small doses, within each chair's frame, it is perfect! Just enough pattern.

I added roughly 2" of buffer for the fabric, so I'd have enough to secure around the seat

I was not too careful with the sharpie pen or with my cutting. All edges would be hidden beneath the chair. That was a relief, as this is a tedious project. Not too hard, but lots of repetition. (My hands are sore!)

Batting is a critical step the last chair owners skipped

I then used the fabric pieces as a guide for the batting. I wanted about an inch less than the fabric, so I could staple just the fabric and not a big blob of material. Again, a quick preliminary trace and some quick cutting sufficed.

A seat cushion has many layers... I'm hoping this onion ends up more like a parfait

Next I started stacking the pieces and grabbed my staple gun. I had 3/8" staples, which worked fine. I had to hammer some down but they were long enough to hold the bigger folds of fabric on the seat corners.

Luckily I had experience stretching canvases for painting, when I was a broke art student. The concept is the same: staple the midpoint of one side of the fabric, then the opposite side, pulling so the fabric is reasonably taut. Repeat on the remaining 2 sides. Inspect your work - is anything askew? If so, rip out the staples and try again. If not, continue by adding another staple on opposing sides again. Doing this piecemeal ensures that you do not yank the fabric too far to one side, which could cause buckling or a cockeyed pattern - or worse yet, you might find you did not leave enough fabric to cover the last side.

Stapling alternating sides is key

The hardest part of the stapling was squeezing the staple gun's trigger. I'm not a tiny person and I am strong, but my hands took a beating and are currently throbbing a bit. If you have a helper, you can use both of your hands to squeeze - but the person holding the fabric needs to be very trusting when you come near!

Corners have way too much bulk and need to be trimmed

After the first chair or two, I got a sense for how much fabric I could remove on the corners so they would fold over neatly. Or neatly enough - corners are tough. The fabric needs to be pulled, tucked and stapled simultaneously. Of course, any failed attempts can be easily re-tried.

When all the stapling is done, the underside may not be perfect but it'll be hidden

It was so satisfying to see something that looked like real cushion emerge.

With new foam and batting, this cushion is much more robust than before

Next I put this cushion face down on the dining room table and flipped the chair over on top of it. I wanted to finish one chair completely before moving on to the others.

I suddenly wondered how to screw the cushion back on. Will the screws line up? Do I screw them right through the fabric? Not having a better idea, I tried to line up the cushion to the frame, then started with the first screw. It went right in, through the fabric and grabbed. This was actually the easiest step. Finding a replacement for a missing screw wasn't fun, but I found something workable.

Last step was to scotchgaurd the fabric, a must for people with kids or pets. I hauled all 6 chairs outside and sprayed them down, then left them for awhile.

Now that the chairs are back in I can finally see how they look in action, around the table.

Love the chairs... now I've got to do something about the worn finish on our table

Costs:
$50 for roll of foam
$15 for batting
Fabric might have been $8/yard on sale? (It's been a long time).

Time to complete: approximately 3 hours

Old ragged pavers to checkerboard yard (spring 2012)

After a mowing or two

Something strange went on in our yard during the 30+ years that the previous owners occupied this space. There's plenty of yard but they did some really strange things with bricks, pavers and concrete. Last weekend I decided to tackle one of them, an eyesore along the side of our house near a covered concrete patio. (The patio's no looker but can be concealed with an outdoor carpet during nicer weather).

Uneven, patchy paver area was a complete eyesor

This area is warped looking, with large faux brick squares. One of my biggest aesthetic pet peeves if faux anything. Maybe it's the influence of so many references to 'poseurs' by my high school friends in the late 80s. But I can't look at a chimney swathed in siding (really, why would anyone want a chimney to resemble wood??) or a formica countertop with a marbled design (like ours, unfortunately). Why can't we stand behind the materials we use and make the best of them? That's what I set out to do here.

In progress look at the checkerboard DIY fix for an awful group of pavers

Using a pitchfork, I pried up one paver at a time. That was pretty easy - as you can see there were enough gaps where crab grass and weeds had horned their way in. Once up, I slid the paver onto an abutting section of the lawn. I traced the outline of the square with my pitchfork, moved the paver to the side, and used a shovel to pry up that section of the turf. Then I slid the sod chunk over into the space left behind by the paver.

Gap left by a pried-up paver, before it was filled with grass

I learned during this process is that the grass roots probably don't need more clearance than what was left by the paver. At first I carved out a deeper hole, assuming the clods of mud on the grass roots would create a bump that might trip people. But when I tamped down the grass with my foot (my daughter also helped jump on them), they sunk too far down. So I ended up filling the gaps back in. By the fourth or so try, I just moved the grass over without doing anything special with the hole.

Paver on the left is flipped over to reveal a smooth surface that I prefer to the fake brick imprint

I took a gamble that the grass would last... I don't know much about its root system, what it needs in terms of sun, etc. This is a fairly shady area of the house, with only morning sun. But a week later and so far so good... it's still very green and healthy looking.

The pavers as they start to creep over into the yard...

Once I got going, each paver took about 10 minutes to replace - quite doable for the number that I was dealing with. It's not a professional job (level, sand under each paver, etc.) but it looks pretty good. I didn't really  know if it would look ridiculous but for the cost - an afternoon of my time - it was definitely worth the gamble. This section of our yard was such a shambles, there was very little risk that a mess-up would make it look worse. I'll have to take another shot from a distance this weekend.

Cost: $0
Time to complete: 2 hours for approx. 10 pavers, including some ramp-up time

Medicine cabinet decoupage (spring 2012)

Late-night transformation of a stock medicine cabinet into something more personal

For some reason, near midnight on a Thursday I thought it would be a good idea to try out an idea that had been rattling around my head for awhile. When the mood strikes, I guess... What I wanted to do was take a stock white medicine cabinet and paper the interior with something colorful and patterned.

In its original state

I wasn't sure if I should try wallpaper; I did not need a lot of material, and I don't know of any local shop where I could see the patterns in person. I saw mention of scrap booking paper for decoupage cut-outs. So when I had a free moment I ducked into a Michaels store. Turns out the scrap booking craze has left some detritus in its wake, in the form of a clearance section with heavy, almost card stock patterned paper. I found a few books of about 20 sheets for less than $3 each and figured that was an investment I could safely make - even if I completely screwed up this project.

Supplies (plus Mod Podge)

When I was a kid, my Mom always had a pot of Mod Podge nearby, which we used all the time. I was glad to see they still make it (and have not changed the label in 30 years, so it was easy to spot). This would serve as adhesive and water-proofing, so the paper would not absorb steam from the shower and buckle. Of course, this is a permanent solution - if I wallpapered, I believe the paste is more forgiving. But I figured that this could always be covered over again.

In progress (a single piece would not fit the entire back so I opted for a collage)

I started by choosing a few sheets that had the watery colors already in the bathroom. Then I cut up the sheets into more manageable chunks. Intact, they were not wide or long enough to span the back of the medicine cabinet, and I did not want a noticeable seam. I figured, why not go for a collage, as the patterned pieces I chose were already busy. By layering them willy-nilly, there would be little expectation that things would line up perfectly.

Finished product

It was fun to slop on the mod podge and stick the triangles of paper on the background. It went up fast - immediate gratification. I'm not sure it is as attractive as I'd hoped, but I like it much better than the blank white background.

Now the odds and ends that collect in here sort of merge with the background...

Cost: <$5
Time to complete: a few hours

Sea glass mosaic window frame (spring 2012)

Before

After

I had what I thought was a great idea: cover the wooden window frame in our shower with a mosaic of sea glass. I was always afraid to leave anything there lest I damage the wood, and it looked sort of dingy. And mosaics... how awesome would it be to have a Gaudi-esque area in my home?

So I stopped by our local hardware store, where they know everything - I can go in there with a list of odds & ends I've been needing for months, and within minutes a brusk sales clerk will have zig-zagged me through every aisle, collecting exactly what I hoped for, and I'm done. This time, I was trying to find some sort of adhesive for the glass, figuring that would suffice and then I could grout around it. I had seen some tiling videos and there seemed to be more supplies required than I wanted to hassle with (a notched trowel etc.). Turns out I can use an all-in-one product and use the tool I spread spackle with to smear this stuff on.

Next I found a stash of sea glass I had gathered last summer in Maine with my daughter and friend. I sifted out some flat pieces and got started. In retrospect: I should have laid out a pattern. Did I really think I could fit a puzzle of random colors and sizes together and actually stumble upon an interesting design? Ridiculous. In my attempt to to fit each puzzle piece of glass, rushing so the grout wouldn't dry up before I was done with a section, I made something really ho-hum.

When I was done with the ledge, I thought climbing up the sides of the frame might improve the design. Alas, it still did not look very good. When my husband came home he said it looked "dangerous", although each piece of glass is worn smooth. From a distance, it looked jagged. Also, it looks a little too similar to the shower floor, which is a pattern of muted stones. Similar, but not unified... maybe even a bit 'matchy-matchy'.

Shower floor has similar pattern, which is a problem

I was not sure what to do next. I didn't want to tear it down - there would be repair to the sill, I was sure, plus what a waste of glass! It really is beautiful stuff. So I charged ahead with another layer of grout. What a mess - I really should have stopped to read instructions. With all of the slight curves of the glass, this was not a smooth surface, so grout caught in so many nooks and crannies the glass was barely visible anymore. I tried scraping away some, and the grout looked pitted. What a mess. I found some rags and used them to smear away the excess, to again expose the glass. That worked decently but I ended up smoothing out the surface with my fingers.

In-process mess of grout

After wiping excess and smoothing grout

In the end, this was not a successful project. I put this off for months because tile work seemed daunting, but I fully expected to get swept up in the process. That did not happen. And you can tell; the end result is uninspired. There is nothing of the Gaudi or other organic, beautiful mosaics in this.

Ah well, perhaps this project will serve as a cautionary tale... I don't think it should have been difficult, but my impatience did me a disservice in this case.

Cost: <$10 for a bucket of grout and a cheap spreading tool
Time to complete: several hours over two nights

Alley in Richmond, VA 4'x5' painting (spring 2012)

Garages across the street (week of 4/9/12)

Garages with more detail (week of 4/16/12)

For the first time that I can remember - maybe ever - I am able to paint from life and keep my stuff set up. My kids are scared of the room that I'm using; they think it's haunted. I'm not exactly keen on the room either but hey, this is the only way I can keep toxic stuff out 24/7. And while the view is not exactly inspiring, it's growing on me. I love industrial landscapes and a dingy old alley... well, it has a lot of the shapes I am drawn to, when I look close enough.

Starting to flesh out the initial sketch a bit (week of 4/9)

The alleyways Richmond are pretty interesting. Some are still dirt roads and all are narrow. It's startling to discover one of these alleys the hard way, when a car flies out while you're walking by. Many of the houses on this street have garages and small backyards. The structures presumably date back 100 years, like the houses.

I've been working on this on and off for three weeks. I'm not quite sure what the background will look like so whatever seems most interesting gets my attention at this point. It's also tough to see a lot of what's through the foliage behind the garages - it is getting thicker every day.

Progression (week of 4/16)

The right side of this composition needed some height, and I always have a hankering to paint sycamore trees, so I threw one in here. There is a tree in loosely the same area, but it's nowhere near as interesting. Some sort of scraggly oak.

There's a telephone pole with a mess of wires and boxes on it that I want to include. Today I roughed in the shape - can't wait to get the snarl in there as well, but that will need to be more of a finishing touch.

There is quite a bit of foliage that wasn't there when I started painting a few weeks ago, so I've got to figure out how much of it to include.

As of the start of the week, 4/3/0

By end of day 5/2/12

Each garage has obviously evolved over the years. I like to see the impact of time on a place, especially man-made structures. It's strange how many differences there are just in this small view: some roofs have tar, others tin, and others shingles. Some structures are stone, others brick, and some have siding over them. The shapes are pretty interesting, how they mash together.

Each garage roof top is a bit different (week of 4/9/12)

It's been a bit of a challenge to get all of these lines straight, but I like going back over and over until they look right. I keep reminding myself to step back before I commit to an angle that is just not right. Do others keep levels on hand??

A few more details (week of 4/16/12)

More details (as of 5/2/12)

I did not want to paint each brick. No way... completely boring. But then I found myself on endless conference calls where I was not writing anything but needed to keep focused on the conversation. If my hands were not occupied, I'd start checking for urgent emails and then my mind would wander... so I brought my laptop upstairs and slowly started fleshing out this wall. 

The bricked-over window is not in this location but I could see it through another window so I added it. The bricks veered off erratically so I had to re-paint them a few times, but I think this works pretty well.... other than the cartoony left side, which needs a bit more texture or something.

Tree updates early week of 4/30, inspired by a tree in a nearby park

Tree as of 5/2/12, fleshed out a bit more

There is a tree in this location - but it was not particularly inspiring. But I've wanted to paint sycamore trees for awhile so I figured I could do a swap. I googled several images to get some examples of their twists and turns, and sketched in the general size and shape of the trunk.

The branches should sweep over the garages, though, and I got stuck. Then I saw a tree in a nearby park that had large, sweeping, overlapping "arms". It was not a sycamore but it had a great shape. I grabbed my phone, took a photo, and got back to work. So now this is a Frankentree.

Part of the reason for this tree, other than to have some height int he composition on that side, is to cover an obscured part of my view. I did not want to guess at what the outlying buildings and their rooftops looked like, because I could not see them. Foliage obscures my view, so I figured it should in the painting as well... but I haven't painted leaves since some Bob Ross-esque attempts in high school. Gritty factory scenes and figure studies have been more intriguing... and easier. But I'm pretty happy with this so far.

I'll continue to update this with photos as I progress.
Update 2013: We don't have a rental in Richmond anymore and my house doesn't have an alley... so no progress or hope of progress on this one at the moment.

What I did with Washington Post 'House Calls' design advice (autumn 2011)

Gone are the days I can watch hard-hitting news and documentaries that tug at my heartstrings. Since having kids, I've become a complete wimp, and the highlight of my week in the newspaper is its Thursday home section. Each week a designer gives advice to someone that writes in, asking for help with their home. I wrote in last year and the Post sent a photographer to capture the problem room on film. A designer worked within my budget to suggest decor changes (I didn't want to sound cheap so I said $5K was our budget, which was really $0).

The room is on the top floor and looked barren -- after moving everything else into the house, our own room just was not the priority. I spent little time in there -- I'm not sure if I was avoiding it, or if it lacked attention because I was rarely there. But either way, when an opportunity for free advice came along, I jumped at it.

Photo from the house's listing page - nice room, but awkward to fit furniture into, and very bright at 6AM!

During the first year, we did not even occupy this room. It had a few kids' toys in it, but not much else. We put a Christmas tree up there the first year. Then, as our kids got a bit older, we decided to make that our bedroom. The bed can either fit under the window or under an eave -- but neither configuration clicked with us, probably because we did not put up curtains or artwork or anything to make the room feel cozy. And the chance of sleeping in on a weekend was slim -- even if we didn't have kids, the sun pours in from every angle and is impossible to ignore. (I still have not found a solution for the skylights).

Because the room was not horrible, we did not have the incentive to attack it and make it comfortable

I thought we could chip away a bit by adding furniture. Our poster bed was too tall for this room, with overhead beams and a ceiling fan. The room is also a bit shallow, so a foot board would be bumped into. I stalked Overstock.com until I found a reasonable sleigh bed (my husband's request) without a foot board, that was cheap enough (I can't stomach anything over an IKEA price range, despite my age). Note: I measured once instead of twice, as usual, and messed up. As you can see, the headboard is too high, and creates wasted space behind it. I'm still not sure how I could have made such a big mistake. But I was not going to return it -- what a pain.

This is as far as we got: my husband wanted a sleigh bed, and the room demanded it be platform style

So in comes the Washington Post-selected designer. They had some good suggestions -- a door, for one. And we immediately moved our bed under the window, hung curtains and put an area rug under the foot of the bed. Interestingly, a lot of negative feedback came from readers on this design -- particularly those that used feng shui principles -- apparently a bed under a window is a big energy-killer. I think it's called "the coffin position" -- eek! Still, we tried it and the configuration really seemed to work for a little while.

Washington Post's team came up with this design (numbers call out specific products or suggestions)

What we didn't do (I should point out that only ADVICE was given for free):

The chaise that is pictured in the bottom right was vetoed by my husband immediately. He predicted that we would not use it, and that it would become a laundry pile. I had to agree -- we are constantly fighting clutter and trying to find homes for things. A big flat surface would be too tempting.

The biggest "no way!" was the lamps. They look fine, and I'd be happy with the style, but the price tag was eye-popping: $1,990 each! I'm cheap; I can't justify that. So I hit Home Goods a few times, and finally settled on a pair of brushed nickel orbs with drum shades; I think they were $20 each.

I liked the neutral paint that the article suggested, but kept thinking about more of a cocoon-y color, that would make waking up on a sunny day less jarring. I took a day off of work and hit Home Depot first thing, picked out one of Behr's"ultra" paints (they claim primer is not necessary) and a few drop cloths. By the end of the morning, I had the walls covered and after lunch I did a little touch-up. By the time my husband was home, the room was re-arranged.

White walls were covered with Behr Ultra in Macchiato (UL170-2)

Original purc, now in our family room

The rug I bought for the floor was great, but not great in this space. It was very large, larger than we needed, and most was covered by the bed. So I dragged it downstairs to our family room and - voila! - it immediately made that room feel more welcoming, and we all hunker down on the floor quite a bit now. In the meantime, the worn beige carpet was looking desolate. I happened to be in Target of all places one evening, picking up diapers or something, and saw a thick pile rug with a damask-esque pattern on it. I've wanted that pattern, and here was a great, cheap excuse to try it out. It was tough dragging this & my other purchases out to the car solo, but I muscled through.

I wouldn't have thought of going to Target for a rug, but it has really worked out. So squishy under foot, fun for the kids to bury their toys in (hopefully I won't step on a matchbox car one morning) -- and it brings in the pattern, but in the same neutral colors so it doesn't overwhelm anyone.

The curtains are on their 3rd iteration and will be a blog post of their own, I suspect.

After painting, I dragged the bed back under one of the eaves so we would have ample room for a desk along the other wall. The bed just ate up too much of the room when it was under the window. And the "corpse position" thing did sort of creep me out. This also gives us at least a tiny bit of respite from the window glare.

"After" shot of the bed in its current location, back under one of the eaves, with the new rug

I was not completely sold on the idea of a desk, so I bought relatively inexpensive pieces from IKEA (their EXPEDIT line) and and a top (from GALANT line). I figured if this doesn't work, I can re-purpose the pieces elsewhere in the house. So far they really have not been used, I am sad to report.

Desk area with shelves along the length of one of the eaves

We have yet to add a door, because I have no idea how to hang one, and my father warned that a half-asleep guest that opens a door at the top of a stairway may go plummeting down by accident. I'd like to put a sliding barn-style door over this opening -- that's on my wish list of projects (I need to do some research).   

Time to complete: one day plus many months of fiddling

Approximate cost: $600? Here is the breakdown from memory:

- can of paint, roller, drop cloths ($50)

- shelving ($400 for all of the pieces; $69 per shelving unit and $110 for the top)

- rug ($50)

- bedspread ($40?)

- curtains ($30, failed attempts not included)