~the never-ending chair story~

Well friends, these chairs were a while in the making. Let me start at the beginning…

{this could be a longish post, grab a coffee}

Many years ago Mr RGV and I bought a handcrafted wooden farmtable and chairs. They have stood up to multiple moves and family dinners, but one by one the chairs were falling apart, literally. It was time to replace the chairs.

But new chairs are very, very expensive, and I’m not overly fond of new furniture anyways. So began the search, I had a budget of $100 and I wanted Queen Anne style chairs. Solid wood with tall backs and shapely legs.

Easy right? Not really, I found plenty on craiglist and such but they were either way overpriced or sold with the table, which we did not need.

Finally, finally around 18 months ago (yes really!) I found a set of four chairs while out treasure hunting one day with my friend Janis, they were $24.99 each. Even better, they were reduced to half price. $12.99 each. 

Perfect. Well within the budget. They started out looking like this:

Good solid bones, shouldn’t take long. Only I had never actually completely refinished chairs before!

First step was sanding, BIG job, and I couldn’t figure out how to get the seats off them so eventually just pulled them off. BIG MISTAKE! In the process I basically stripped the screws right out the wood and wrecked the bases.

Soooo, Mr RGV decided we needed new wooden bases and kindly cut them for me. Then when I removed the fabric to reuse the foam cushions, the foam disintegrated into powder. So then I had to get new foam cut. My budget chairs were starting to get expensive.

Then on a whim I decided to use oil based paint, what a nightmare (this was before ASCP hit our shores, my BFF). Just my opinion and I know oil based paint has it’s place, but honestly it took forever to dry between coats and ruined my brushes. You get the picture. Now me and ASCP, we get along just fine!

Anyway, you get the picture, lots of work and extra steps along the way. To be honest around this stage they kinda got put on hold, the staple gun wasn’t holding the fabric and I was about done with the chairs. 

Only problem was we were down to 3 of the originals, the situation was dire! I’d already pulled the bench in from the hallway and pretty soon we’d be perched on the floor!

So finally Mr RGV bought me a new staple gun, we upholstered them with a layer of osnaburg covered with a layer of burlap, so they’ll be easy and inexpensive to recover.

Now I totally love them! They have that classic french country look I was after and I love the touch the ruffles and ties give. 

I ordered these awesome chair covers from Paula and Erika's etsy store {Check out their store, the quality of their work is awesome and their pricing very reasonable.}

Don’t they look fab!! Now if Mr RGV would just agree to me painting the table legs white it would be perfect, don’t you think….

I’m sure we’ve all had projects we start that become larger than life and we just have to walk away for a while. It was so worth finishing this one up! Plus now we don’t have to sit on the floor to eat dinner!!

Hope you enjoyed the never-ending chair story!!

linking up to Feathered Nest Friday 
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday 
Furniture Feature Friday 
Show and Tell Friday
Frugal Friday
Piece of work Wednesday furniture

Tracey

~ruffley lavender petals~

So, how was your weekend? Mine was wet, wet, wet!! At least it is washing the snow away. I didn't find any peonies like I had hoped, well who looks for peonies in the middle of winter? A gal can always hope, right!

o

I did find these beautiful baby ruffley roses though, in the most gorgeous shade of pinky lavender, with raggedy, ruffley petals, which I love, and I thought I would share them with you! 

Aren't they pretty!

Tracey

~to brighten the day~

Hello peeps, we’ve had a lot of this around this week

and this

and while it’s pretty at first, after a while it does get me thinking about summer and warmth and pretty things….

Pretty things like peonies, my most favorite flower in the whole wide world.

 dreamy whites via paperbowlsnlemons

I love how full the flower heads are, layer upon layer of petals. Sometimes they look almost ruffled.

 via arosynote

The pink ones are pretty, but the white are breathtaking.

Reasonstobreathe via Megan Foster Corbett

In my own garden I have two peony plants, a pink and a white! I love to cut the blooms and bring them inside.

Don’t peonies make the most beautiful bouquets?

1.hanafloraldesign via Alexia Kedves

2.stylemepretty via Alanna Slusher

3.stylemepretty via Jocelyn Turcotte

Thinking pretty peony thoughts!

Tracey

~blog header problem resolved~

Okay, I have my header back.
Mr RGV worked his magic.
Thanks sweetie:-)

If you missed the drama, my header disappeared from my blog. Vanished, just like that, all that was left there was this:

"403 Forbidden
This file removed due to violation of Imageshack Terms of service or by user request"

It would appear my header was deleted from the site the designer had uploaded it to, and hence it disappeared from my blog.


Which reminds me, I really need to back up my blog, have you done that yet?


Here's a link to a tutorial on how to back up your blog by Donna from Funky Junk Interiors.


Thanks for your comments, emails and advice, I appreciate you!

Tracey

~making french decor bottles~

Hello peeps,

I wanted to show you a really easy and effective way you can transform ordinary thrift store glass bottles into elegant french bottles. I had fun making these ones up for a vintage market. 

I don’t have step-by-step photos for you, but I’ll describe how I did it.

1. Keep a look out for nicely shaped glass bottles on your thrifting adventures. I especially like bottles with a squareish shape, but you can use any really. Give them a really good wash, I run mine through the dishwasher.

2. Make friends with someone who has an awesome vinyl cutter or buy yourself an awesome vinyl cutter. As I don’t own an awesome vinyl cutter I went the friend route! Decide what you want and pick out your fonts, sizes etc. I chose eiffel towers, fleur de lis, paris…..You could also use premade vinyl stickers if you find some you like.

3. Apply the vinyls to the bottles.

4. Wind jute tightly around the bottle neck and secure with a knot. I also added some wrinkled seam binding to some of mine for a more romantic look.

And that’s it, they look great with a couple of different sizes grouped together, or a single bottle on a mantel, and they also make a fab gift!

Have a great weekend!

Tracey

linking up to Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
wow-us-Wednesdays
Good Life Wednesdays

~a few random thoughts~

Today was an interesting day, it was my day off, which really just means I get to come home and work! But I am very thankful that I only work part time as it’s busy, busy keeping on top of family life right now.

source unknown

On my day off I run errands, pick up groceries, all the usual stuff, and then my guilty treat, a SB! My reward. For something, not sure what. You probably think from my posts that I visit SB all the time, when actually it’s my weekly treat, and thankfully my habit is well supported by kind family and friends who buy me giftcards! Just as well…

So, a few random thoughts from my ordinary day:

1. I had a good hair day, why is that? On my day off? Why can’t we have good hair days when we need them. Well it was such a good hair day I decided to take a quick photo on my way out the door. Have you ever tried doing that, no tripod, no mirror, just an outstretched arm. It is hilarious, I was laughing my head off. The photos are all out of proportion! Doesn’t take much to amuse me.

2. My good hair day was over quickly once I stepped outside the door, it was a blustery day, as Winnie the Pooh would say.

3. I left my visa in the chip reader, second time in a couple weeks. Same store. Bad, bad girl. Had to go all the way back. Didn’t even buy anything nice, returned a sweater and bought micorfiber cloths to clean my kitchen cupboards. Good girl. HOWEVER, my local deli tell me their registers won’t allow them to complete the transaction if the client’s card is still in the reader, so maybe it’s not just me.

4. The microfiber cloths look so pretty in their package, I can’t bear to open them up, just yet. Sorry kitchen cupboards.

5. I actually kinda like being on my own on my day off, is that strange? Sometimes I’ll go for lunch with a friend, but I am really content pottering around doing my thing.

6.I bought a pomegranate, just so I can cut it open for a photo shoot. Ever done something like that? It’s good for the kids to try new fruit, right. Even if it is a little dried out by the time I’m done. Come on, ‘fess up, I know you’ve done it too.

7. Sun just peeked out, gotta run grab my camera and shoot those chairs I’m dying to show you, might not see the sun for another month or so round here.

8. Drat, it’s gone. Come back sunshine…

If you made it to the end, you earned yourself a SB too!

Tracey

~SB and fresh air~

Hello peeps,

Happy New Year to you all! I am never too sure how to address my posts, and usually start with a “Hi Peeps”, but then my Mom was reading my blog and said that didn’t sound like me, which perturbed me as this blog is the real me!! What do you think?

Anyhoo, my vacation week was not quite what I had planned as the sniffles descended on our home and I basically only dragged my sorry self out of bed to feed the family or drive the kids where they needed to go. It was rough! So not much accomplished on the “to-do” list front, but I did get to spend tons of time reading all your lovely blogs, being inspired and amazed all over again.

I also played around a bit with Windows Live Writer so we’ll see how that goes, and I installed Picasa, which is so much more user friendly than I remembered, so we’ll see how that goes! And I got to think and think some more, sometimes life gets so busy there just isn’t much time to “think”!! Oh, and there was lots chocolate around being Christmas and all…

~~~~~~

Well we did manage to see the New Year in despite the sniffles, and by noon today when we were all still mooching around in our pjs Mr RGV decided we all needed to get some fresh air. What!!! Eventually with the bribe of a steaming SB I dressed my sorry self and off we went.

I’m so glad we did! We headed out to our local river, which is about 10 mins drive away. Okay, 15 if you factor in SB stop on the way  Ooh look, Windows Live just did that smiley thing for me. {I think we’re going to get along just fine}. It’s a really popular spot in the summer, but today it was quiet, just a few folks out walking their dogs and kids. It was clear and mild and NOT RAINING and of course the boys all headed for the water to skip rocks while I wandered around snapping photos and taking in my fresh air, as ordered.

Picasa put my SB in the centre there, I promise. I do love my family, really. And my steaming SB. Isn’t that a cute shot of the guys all gazing out across the water, I think they were choosing their target. First the water. Then the log. Then the hole in the log. High tech stuff like that. It was the fresh air I think.

We headed back for a late lunch with my parents and brother and SIL, where we played some intense boggle. Good thing I’d had my fresh air. Then we ate more chocolate and to-die-for turtle cheesecake left over from last night. There was other stuff too but I’m sticking to the important details.

Hope your January is off to a great start!

Tracey