Halloween to NYE

With no luck finding a dress for New Years Eve this year I decided to attempt to alter a dress I wore for Halloween a few years ago. It was a "flapper" type dress I had bought at Wet Seal for $15-20. It had fringe down the middle of the front and was covered in black sequins. It also had spaghetti straps & a square neckline. I removed the straps (with a scalpel to snip the stitches of course since I'm a surg tech, but you could also use a seam ripper), used a needle and thread to scrunch the front into a sweetheart neckline and ta-da: a new dress in a matter of 5 minutes. 

Easy Chair Makeover

Very simple (& cheap) way to make a one-of-a kind accent chair. 

What you need: 

•Chair :)

•Durable fabric 

•Paint & brush (or stain & staining supplies)

•Stapler  

•Screwdriver 

•Pliers 

I found a chair at Salvation Army. It looked pretty rough, but luckily this store didn't see it's potential and it was only $2.99. Score! 

Start by removing the seat by unscrewing the screws underneath. 

For a small chair like this, you should only need 1-1.5 yd of fabric. I always buy more than I need just in case I mess something up. My favorite type of fabric for reupholstering chairs is printed duck. 

The fabric on this chair is Waverly brand from Joann Fabrics, normally $19.99/yd but was half off...so I paid about $7 for 1.75 yd). It's softer than canvas but still very durable. 

You can remove the old fabric or just put your new fabric directly over it. I always remove fabric with used furniture. I've reupholstered over existing fabric with items that were already mine. 

To remove the fabric, use a flat head screwdriver and/or pliers to pull out staples (or upholstery tacks). Sometimes you have to use the screwdriver to lift a staple before you can pull it out with the pliers.

To apply your new fabric, all you have to do is put your fabric over the cushion then flip upside down and staple! Make sure you are keeping your fabric tight while stapling. If you make a mistake, just remove the last staple or two, adjust fabric, and restaple. 

Corners can be tricky, there are many ways to do them so just play with it until you find a look you like. On an old chair like mine, you may want to add a little more to cushion. I used some cushion foam I already had from Walmart and cut it to fit on top of the cushion.  

If you are painting or staining the frame of your chair, do this while the cushion is off. I used Annie Sloan Chalk paint in Old White that I already had at home. 

Once your chair frame is dry, screw the  seat back on and you're done! 

Restyled vintage telephone table

Materials used: $7 Goodwill table, stencil, 2 colors of spray paint 

 

Simple Dresser Makeover

This is a cheap and easy way to change the entire look of your dresser 

I have had the same dresser for over 25 years and I just finally replaced the handles on them. 

I bought some cast iron ones from Hobby Lobby for $2 each (knobs/pulls/handles are half of every other week!). 

I painted them a light yellow & I love the result! 

Reupholstered Chair Before & After

 
$5 Salvation Army chair + $5 spray paint + $16 fabric + TONS of staples = an awesome new chair.

 

Retro Kitchen Cansiters Redone

I found this piece at a flea market at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. It was covered in rust but I saw potential :)

Before doing anything, I removed the knobs so that I would not damage them.

I also took out each drawer to work on them individually. 

Ways to remove rust-

Chemicals such as CLR (this method did nothing for this piece)

Wire brushes

Sandpaper

Foil- This is that I used to get a great deal of the rust off of the front. You just wad a piece of foil into a ball, wet it with water, and scrub at the rust! It took a good majority off of the drawer faces.

There was no help for removing the rust on the outer body of the canisters and the insides of the drawers, they were far too corroded so covered the chrome faces and I used Rustoleum Rust Reformer, this makes a very rusty surface paintable. I wanted to paint it with something very durable, I found that Rustoleum also makes a spray on appliance epoxy. Both of these sprays have a 24 hour dry-time, so it's not a quick job but the outcome was very nice.

 

Easy Homemade Centerpiece

What you need:
•A wooden tray with an edge of at least 2 inches, I used a round one but any shape would work
•Lace that is a little narrower than tray's edge or lace that can be cut down (I used an old lace table cloth that I've used other pieces from for other projects)
•Scrapbook flowers
•Hot glue gun
•Scissors




-Make sure tray is clean or else the glue may not stick for long.

-Cut lace to right length and glue into place, if you put the glue in dots on the thicker areas of the lace it will help hide the glue

-Glue flowers over the seam where the two edge of the lace meet. And you're done :)

 


I put glass bottles of various shapes/sizes/colors in mine and set it on my dresser. It would also be cute on a small kitchen table