Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf?

Not me!  My friend snagged these chairs for me last summer while doing a local mission project.  They were headed to the dump and she thought, "Trish, can do something with them."  Although I tend to steer away from mid-century style, I thought they were pretty cool and that they would look great in our playroom.  They are low to the ground which is perfect for kiddos and 5'-2" mommas.  Like most of my projects, they sat around for a while until I decided what I wanted to do with them.  I hate rushing into a project only to be dissatisfied with the end results due to poor planning or rash decision making.  Last year, The Nester blogged about a fur ottoman and I filed it in my noggin (I would have "pinned it" but I hadn't sold my soul to that craze yet).  These chairs seemed like a perfect opportunity to remove said inspiration from my imaginary file cabinet so I began...

It was October and Hancock's had their fur on sale for 50% off.  Since that stuff costs $20/yd and I knew I'd need around 2 to 3 yards I figured this would be the time to grab it.  I went to the store that was most convenient to me and found the color fur I liked best; described as "the big bad wolf" by the lady at the cutting table.  Unfortunately they only had 1 yard left.  I bought what they had and started recovering the bottoms that afternoon (legs had been spray painted a few days before).  Big mistake.  After several trips to other Hancocks, I came up empty handed on the matching fur and here I was with my chairs 1/2 finished.  Doh!

I waited a few weeks to see if they would get another shipment and when I went back they told me, "Oh that fur was for Halloween we don't keep it in stock.  We'll probably have something different next year.  If you have your receipt, we can use the number to locate some."  Riiiight.  I never keep those things.  Discouraged, I went home and tried to think of another idea (1/2 fur, 1/2 something else??) and started moving things around in my junk craft room.  To my delight, I found a receipt under a pile of randomness!  Not just any receipt but a receipt that had the words "faux fur" written on it!  Seeing as this isn't something I buy on a regular basis I knew it was my ticket to finishing my chairs.  I took the receipt to Hancocks and a kind man tracked down the last bit of fur in Memphis.  Yeehaw.

After all this fur tracking, I dropped one of the chairs, breaking its back leg but Papa Clarence came to the rescue and helped me fix it with his super-clamps and wood glue. 

Now they are done and I love them and I need to vacuum my craft room.  Hope you enjoy!

Furniture: White Clad Ice Box End Table

Jacob and I bought this little White Clad Ice Box at an antique store several years ago for only $30.  We used it on our front porch at our last house for him to store his roller blades in.  As you can tell in the "before" picture, the weather took it's toll on it.  When we moved to our new house we decided it was too nice of a piece to let go to waste so we refinished it.  Although I couldn't get all of the dark spots out of the doors, I think it turned out really beautiful.  It now makes a great little end table in our living room.  I tried doing some research on this piece of furniture and found that it is a popular item for reproductions.  I have seen pictures of originals and the reproductions and I'm not sure how to tell which mine is.  Either way (original or repro) they sell for over $100 so I think we got a steal (it didn't look like the "before" picture when we bought it).  There was a tacky lamp attached to the back of ours (completely out of style) that we yanked off and told the dealer to keep, that is why there is a small hole drilled in the top.  Anyway, my guess would be ours is a reproduction but I still like the look of it for our house.  It will always be one of those little pieces that Jacob and I bought early in our marriage and put a little love into to make it better.

Sewing: Table Runner?

I finally got around to sewing a treat for myself and our new (if we've been here 6 months is it still new??) home.  I want to write a whole post about our house even if it is a little late.  Some of you may not know the whole story of why we ended up moving where we did, why we didn't build and why we sold our other property.  I want to make sure I document it though because it's a beautiful story of God's providence and protection and love for our little family.  I'll put it on my to-do list for next week.  How's that?? 

Anyway, Jacob and I love antiques, we love hand-me-downs, we love refurbishing junk and we love hand-crafted pieces (especially James Cartner originals!).  Since this house is one we plan on being in as long as God has us in Memphis we are trying to consciously fill it with furniture we really adore, furniture that means something to us or furniture that has a story.

The first piece I am sharing with you is my mom's old sewing machine table that is now serving as my bedside table.  This table is special because a) it belong to my mother and I want to hold on to her as long as possible and b) it housed the sewing machine (a 1970's Singer) that I learned on about 6 years ago.  When it needed a good (and costly) servicing I decided to upgrade since I knew this was a hobby I would stick with.  Jacob and I refinished the wood when we moved to Memphis and I love the honey color and the simplicity of the form and hardware.

Ok, so I started rambling about the furniture but really this post was to show you my little project that I made for the table.  I have a slight obsession with fabric so when I find something I love, I like to buy a small amount and figure something out to do with it.  Most of my "me" fabric is still waiting to be used since I usually don't have time to make myself anything (wah,wah,wah).  I finally set some other projects aside and treated myself to a little thingy (pretty sure that's an official term) for under my lamp.  Critterbug and Cricket is available to make small, custom, home decor items for you too.  Always looking to expand my repertoire!