~raggygirlvintage french farmhouse stylin’~burlap~

Hello friends,

Well enough about blogger issues, let’s get back to the fun stuff! Ready for some more ~french farmhouse stylin’~ 

raggygirlvintage syle?

We can’t talk about ~french farmhouse stylin’~ without including a feature on burlap. Burlap is one of the most versatile decor fabrics. Of course if you can get your hands on authentic burlap sacks all the better, but there are also great burlap fabrics out there that still have that rustic, vintage feel and look.

I haven’t yet been able to bring myself to cut up the few vintage sacks I do own, but they make great “props” folded or rolled and tucked here and there in your decor. {I think they are going to look awesome hanging on my whitewashed ladder when I am brave enough to smuggle it inside the house!}

You know how I love burlap table runners, and if my etsy sales are anything to go by, I’m not the only one! I love to make plain burlap runners, runners with white ruffles, ticking ruffles, vintage ruffles and runners with french graphics. They have all featured in my home decor at one time or another.

Whilst I am a big fan of decorating with burlap, I have to tell you I don’t enjoy working with it. If you’ve worked with burlap you will know what I am talking about!! By the end of a sewing session both my home and I are covered in fluff. and I have itchy eyes and skin for days. But every now and then I roll up my sleeves and work with burlap, ‘cos it’s worth it for the final product!

This is a pillow I recently made out of a printed burlap, it has french script and graphics all over it.

I backed it with plain burlap, but next time I would back it with a heavy cotton. It is hard to sew burlap on burlap and not have the seams part, as it is a very loosely woven fabric. For this reason it is not my favorite fabric for pillows, and for this same reason this pillow resides in my home : it did not pass my somewhat perfectionist standards for sale!! I’m okay with that, it looks kinda cute on my little bench, don’t you think!

The great thing about burlap is the neutral color goes with pretty much anything, and it adds that rustic lived-in touch in a home. You can get it in a variety of colors nowadays, but I prefer the traditional light brown burlap, or the off white.

 

 This is a small runner I made in the off white, with white ruffles and broderie anglaise lace. 

It fits well on a bench or end table and looks equally cute folded up.

And of course you may remember my Queen Anne chairs which I painted white and reupholstered with burlap.

So there you have it, ~rgv french farmhouse stylin’ a la burlap~

How about you, do you like to decorate with burlap?

linking up to:
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Primp your Stuff Wednesday
We Did It! Wednesday
Wow Us Wednesdays 
Wednesday Wowzers 
White Wednesday

Tracey

for more posts on ~rgv french farmhouse stylin’~ see here:

vintage milk carrier

ticking and lavender

~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

three reasons I'm a happy junker!

three reasons today was a totally amazing day!

reason no. 1: I got to go thrifting with "Rust and Ruffles" Janis for the whole day, that's right, the WHOLE day!

...and we found lots of treasures today, we almost couldn't see out the back of my van!

reason no. 2:  Janis greeted me with this gorgeous gift for my birthday, don't you love birthdays that just keep going!

(it was all nicely tied together but of course I had at it right away...)

yummy burlap sacks that I have so been wanting to get my hands on

this gorgeous necklace Janis made 'specially for me, I wore it all day of course!

this cute vintagey tile " I bought only two gowns in Paris"

(ha, ha, not likely)

all tied up with a little birdy tag

now is that a great way to start the day or what!

reason no. 3: I found the best chairs ever. I have been looking for around 6 months for kitchen table chairs. The ones we have we bought almost 20 years ago when we were first married (yes, I was a young bride), and one by one they are falling apart on us, or more like under us (hmmmm....)

anyway, I digress, we've gone from 8 chairs down to 41/2, and since there are 5 of us on a daily basis = problem

...but I wouldn't settle for just anything, I knew exactly what I wanted, something Queen Anneish,  but only had a budget of $100 for four chairs

so I found these, nice and sturdy and a compromise as I couldn't find exactly what I wanted in my price range

so bought the three for $30

well, wouldn't you know, the very next stop I found my dream chairs, four of them...

Me : Janis, I have a  problem

Janis: What??!!

Me: I just found chairs I like better than the others

Janis: Where?

Me: Here across the store, see, they're exactly what I want!

Janis: Well, you'll have to buy them

Me: We don't have enough space

Janis: Sure we do....

Well, we squeezed two in, (remember I already had three chairs and a ladder in there), I have to go back for the other two tomorrow, but aren't they beauties!!

look at those scroll backs and shapely legs

picture them white, with white upholstered seats....

sigh...

oh, did I mention they were on for half price!!!!!!!!!!!!

yup, so came in under budget

so now I have 3 + 4 = 7 chairs

what do you think bloggers?

I was kinda thinking 4 chairs + a bench

do you think I should mix and match them all, or return/sell the first 3?

of course, Mr Keeper hasn't actually been in the garage yet........

but for now i'm one happy junker!!

happy days,

Tracey