a vase full of climbing roses from my yard. If you knew how inept I am in the garden you could appreciate how truly happy this makes me!

Love, yes?

I seem to have quite a number of these image obsessions lately, this one has been on my mind for a while now. The lovely and talented Anna Spiro of Absolutely Beautiful Things blog posted this image of an orange botanical fabric she was preparing to put in the window of her Brisbane based shop Black & Spiro. Could there be a more perfect fabric? I doubt it.

Look at that color palette. And what other fabric has printed hedgehogs and snails and foxgloves and dahlias and tiny frogs and still looks so sophisticated? None that I know of. Just google “hedgehog fabric” and see what I mean.

The only thing left to do is dust off the sewing machine and prepare for the ginormous bolster pillows I plan to sew with this gorgeousness. First I have to save my dollars and order a few metres. Oh and pray that Anna Spiro still has some metres left in stock….can we say Happy Mother’s Day to me?

I don’t want to sound like a stalker, but one look at the March edition of House Beautiful and you will say the same.

I love EVERYTHING about this room: the velvet sofa (mohair?), the Greek key trim on those glorious red curtains, grasscloth walls, that chartreuse leather wingback near the fireplace, the pair of x benches in a raspberry Les Touches fabric, the Chinoiserie patterned armchairs, the leather tufted club chairs, seagrass rug, tiger pillow, the lacquered linen chow leg coffee table…must I continue?

Plus, she’s from the South which makes me heart her even more y’all.

This is what it looks like when you don’t give your design assistant enough to do.

Bad news: This photo stinks.

Good news: I have solved the mystery of how to upholster ottomans with semi-attached cushions. Have I got a tutorial for you!

Stay tuned…

When does a $10 chair transition from a bargain to a curse? I’d say somewhere between the removal the 50 bajillion staples; the three failed attempts to remove the yellowed varnish and crackling peach (yes I said “peach”, not “pink” or “orange”) paint; the puttying of ALL the staple holes; the hand sanding; the mouse sanding; painting of two primer coats followed by two top coats; a failed attempt at wax coat; a pretend-to-know-how-to-reproduce-an-antique-finish coat; having cleaned the original upholstery and reassembly of the bleepin’ thing, I’d say. Maybe I should have listened more clearly to the salesman after I asked the price. He said something about how the previous owners had given up on refurbishing this chair, blah blah blah. I heard “Ten dollars” and I laughed at the foolishness of those less-than-die-hard DIY-ers seeing the hidden gem that would be revealed once the job was finished. Who’s laughing now?

The other part of the blah blah blah from the salesperson included mention of this chair’s trusted companion (also $10) who was sent to the same chopping block by the offending DIY-ers. Here it is. In the store I was all “two for only $20″ and “oh! why on earth would someone upholster over that beautifully detailed interlaced back slat?” and “peacocks, what?!”. Now that I’ve been to hell and back, the thought of doing it all a second time makes me want to give the store their stinkin’ twenty bucks and say thank you but no thank you. I know you want to see the suffering that was this project so here it is.

I know you will see what I saw: peacocks and potential. In that order.

Man I was blinded by those darn birds. Just look at this nonsense, that paint color is bad enough, but the aged varnish is gross! the color is awful. Blindness, I tell you.

This didn’t phase me either. But it should have. Here’s why.

Staplefest 2011. Tip of the proverbial iceberg. When I said 50 bajillion staples, I wasn’t kidding.

More of the peach crackled loveliness. Behold!

This is a shot post staple removal. This is what I was left with. Still undeterred, I powered on. (It was early). I figured a little wood putty and I’d be good to go.

I think it was at this point that it began to dawn on me that this chair may not have been the bargain I had originally thought. This was the state of the chair after two coats of organic, nicety-nice paint stripper. DID NOT WORK. And after two coats of the don’t-get-this-on-your-work-gloves-cause-it-will-melt-the-rubber kind of paint stripper. ALSO DID NOT WORK. I am sure it had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that it was 90 degrees around here and that the stripper was drying up before it had a chance to do its job. No matter. I gave up on the paint stripper idea and grabbed a sanding block, then another and then one more. When that wasn’t achieving the desired effect (removal of the stupid cracks in the paint along the arms of the chair) I broke out the little Mouse sander. As you sit wondering how bad could it possibly have been by the time I resorted to the electric tools? Let’s just say that the sander has this auto shut-off setting so that when it overheats it turns off automatically. Sort of like my curling iron. And it was off more than it was on. Also pretty much like my curling iron. What, who has time to do their hair when they are stuck in the yard for days on end trying to rehabilitate old furniture?

That’s when I abandoned all the things that weren’t working for something with tried and true positive results, spray paint! I figured the paint would cover a multitude of sins.

Wrong! All that flat primer coat did was remind me of my lost $20 dollars. It highlighted all the imperfections of the wood.

That’s when I reached for my top coat. I figured where the flat paint highlighted the problems, the gloss would shine right across them. I should stop right here and say that normally I am all about the weathered and worn and storied vintage finds, but this chair was for a client. I wanted high drama, high gloss…I wanted lacquer!

Not exactly lacquer.

So I abandoned my grand plans completely and reluctantly embraced the mess that was this chair. I tried a wax finish, long story short, I know very little about wax finishes.

I layered a wash of thinned latex color (leftover from this project) over the top coat of paint which resulted in this antiquey finish. Turns out I also know very little about antiquey finishes but I realized there was nothing more I could do for this one. It was time to let this baby go and be what it had become. Let’s remind ourselves where it all began…

Before: yuck.

After: A definite improvement, but perhaps a bit meh? (shoulders shrugging). I can’t seem to let go of the visions of that lacquer finish! Whatever, it makes pretty shadows in the yard. And it’s all about the client who coincidentally happened to show up at my house about 30 minutes after this photo was taken. I gave the chair to her willingly (!#$$%&*!!). She called later to say it looked and felt great in her guest room as the desk chair we had planned it to be. Glad your enjoying it mom.

Now for the rest of the story. Should I be happy or sad that I have to do this all over again? I’m still on the fence…with those darn peacocks.

I’m going to link up again to Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday. Now there’s a gal who knows a ton about waxes and finishes of all kinds. Go and learn from a professional!

Remember this project from May 2010?  I am linking up today with Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday.

She is awesome and I love a good link party! Check her out.

I have got to get back into the rhythm of this blog somehow.  Maybe short and sweet will do the trick. Here goes.

Once I was a mom totally immersed in teddy bears and baby blue and nursery rhymes.  Between finishing kindergarten, seasons of soccer playing and losing teeth however, my two boys are now worlds away from lullabies.  I fear we have ventured too far into Bakugan and Beyblade and Transformers Prime to ever return to those beautiful days of pure wonder and simple amusement.  When I spied this stool in the Goodwill last fall I thought: “boys room. reading corner”.

The $3 investment was a small price to pay for the return to a simpler time in my boys’ youth, right?  Reading is good after all.

Maybe a different fabric would have yielded different results?  I was thinking plush leopard would be awesome as everybody loves plush leopard.  Perhaps if I had chosen a more library-esque fabric, it would have invited contemplation, quietude and the expansion of their minds through their inspired (by me) love for reading.  Want to know what this stool has turned out to be used for? It is simple, I’ll give them that.

A launch pad for their reenactment of the 2011 World Wrestling Federation Championship.  Nothing more.

I know in my last post I said thank you to the boys for keeping it real, for keeping me real.  I guess I was just hoping to provide them with a tool for getting back to basics.   Now this guy, Sir Charles, is a man after my own heart.  He uses the stool for the noble pastime of occasional birdwatching.  Good cat.

I am the first to admit I have lofty goals, but I stand behind my investment.  I say, never overlook a perfectly good shag mushroom at the Goodwill.

Our youngest son’s 4th birthday happened to fall on Mother’s Day this year.  At some point during the afternoon a neighbor asked if my celebration had been overshadowed by his special day.  It was really no big sacrifice seeing as were it not for the day of his birth (and his brother’s) I wouldn’t be a mother who had a day to celebrate.  Naps are overrated anyway.

There was an abundance of ice cream cake and bags of juice, bubbles and TRON spaceships and hours of running in circles as they laughed and laughed until they passed out from sheer exhaustion.  While it can be easy to lose sight of the wonders of motherhood in the heat of the moment, days like yesterday restore my faith in the universe and the role I play in it.  Here is a typical exchange between this mom and her boys…

Me: “Hey, can I take your picture?” Them: “Did she say something?”

Me: “I said, can I take your picture?” Them: “What?!?”

Me “I’m taking the picture.” Them: “Picture? This is a picture?”

Its just better not to ask.  Forget the poses and the smiles, if I can get their eyes focused in my general direction I consider it a victory.  Thank you boys for putting everything in perspective and for keeping me real.  I love being your mom.

Here’s an after photo of my budget entry. Don’t judge me on the lack of styling, I was eager to post the photo!

Painted wallpaper: $2 mistint quart from Ace Hardware. Amazing tutorial for the pattern available through the talented Emily of Jones Design Company. Template available here.

Lamps: $40 for the pair from the Habitat ReStore. Read about them here.

Lampshades: $24 for the pair from Lowes, on sale.

Vases: $6 for the pair, Goodwill.

Silver tray: $2, Goodwill.

Console: $12.50 from a local consignment store, glass cost me more, a whopping $27.

Ottomans: $6 for the pair, where else? Goodwill, of course. Read about them here.

Fabric for ottomans: $3 from Hancock Fabrics remnant table.

Landscape painting and frame: $31. Art ($11) via Goodwill, frame ($20 on super sale) from Michaels’s craft store, read about them here.

Grand total for my budget entry? $153.50. Not too bad, would’t you agree? Head over to Emily’s blog today to see other reader projects inspired by her tutorial, I have shared mine there. Enjoy!