Around the House

A long while back Mom picked up these gems at a garage sale and then decided that they didn't work with her tables, for whatever reason. Knowing I was in need of kitchen chairs, she brought them to me. They sat in our basement for a long while until I finally got a chance to pull out a few and spruce them up.

BEFORE:

The seat cover was really stained and dirty--gross!

AFTER:

I used white satin spray paint and recovered the cushions using a fabric shower curtain from World Market. I am not 100% sold on the fabric, but for now it is certainly much better. I also sprayed the cushions with a fabric protector to help with the little jam hands around here. :-)

Since I had the spray paint out, I gave our previously black PB candle holders a little love. The black was too dark against the navy wall. Much better! I used white again for these, but went with a gloss finish instead of satin.

I also found this pouf on clearance at Target! It works great with this chair. I only wish they'd had two because we have two of these chairs. Eventually I'll prob buy two matching poufs/ottomans for these chairs and move this one to go with the office chair. Meanwhile, Ben really enjoys jumping off it.

Last but not least, on a whim I decided to go ahead and make the oversized chalkboard for the dining room. I was in Home Depot for more spray paint when I saw the prefinished 2x4 chalkboard ($10!). So I picked up 2 boards and had them cut down. I liked the look of these rustic, weathered boards. I just screwed the boards to the chalkboard, and we were in business.

This is the closest to the true color.

But in this one you can see the problem--when they cut the boards, the finish chipped off on the ends. No bueno.

I hung it anyway and it was a big hit with all! Mike and Ben both drew turkeys on the board, so Liv wanted in on the fun--she just scribbled all over. (Where are her pants? Great question.)

Later that week I went to Home Depot in search of a stain to match so that I could fix the chips. It looked like a perfect match from the can, but when it went on it was much too gray. All I could do was cover all the boards in it.

Now it almost matches the wall color. Not sure if I like the minimalist, monotone look or if I need to paint it white or some such. I'm going to live with it a while and then decide.

Clearly my chalkboard lettering needs work.

That's it for now!