Cheap Designer Accent

$10 retro starburst mirror at Family Dollar! Thought this would be cool in a grouping on a designer color wall.

Sean Wells via iPhone

an oldie revisited

While visiting my crafty companion in DC (featured in ‘feed me seymore!’ article), I got to spend a moment with one of my early refinishing projects.  This bureau was actually being thrown away on what we Alexandrian’s refer to as “Big Trash Day,”  a mecca for cheapskates and do-it-yourselfers.  We would find everything from bicycles to swings, benches, couches, and anything else you might want to sit on.  I even once found a knock-off Eames office lounge chair!  Well-to-do doctors, lawyers and politicians would use the city’s yearly front yard oversized trash pickup offer to unload their half-finished projects by simply dragging them to the curb.  It was a great tradition for the people with more time than money to gather in cars, trucks and vans in the dark with flashlights in hand and patrol the streets of Del Ray for goodies.  We used to do the stroll in my old mustang with the top down, heat blasting and hot chocolates in hand.  We’d nod knowingly at fellow scourers and sometimes share some hot spots.  We would fill my ride until it was bursting with furniture and we looked like some urban Santa Claus in our modern sleigh.  We’d spend the next few weeks restoring what we could.  Great memories.

This bureau was a fun project.  It was painted with three different color cans of leftover spray paint which meant I didn’t have enough of any one color to paint the whole thing.  I love the sea-loving shades.  I was worried how the painted metal pulls would hold up, but they looked great.

It was actually this object that brought Audrey Anne and I together.  I put it out at a yard sale and she bought it, after lavishing me in compliments (no bigger compliment than buying the thing).  It kicked off a wonderful relationship started from love of crafting and growing into a truly meaningful friendship.  She uses it as a catch all, but has a secret compartment that holds an old record player and records that she will, upon request, play for guests who are in the know.

Anyway, I love this idea, to use the natural breaks of the furniture and use it to play with color.   It’s hard to go wrong with the colors.  Just stay away from anything that could be mistaken for a football fan color set.  ~Sean

i see a white light…

BEFORE

I love these quick little projects to get my craft fix while boys are jumping on the trampoline.  They are finally at an age where they are enjoying seeing transformations of projects, too!  So, I picked up these wrought iron candle sconces at a yard sale for the bargain price of $1 for the pair!  At the same yard sale, I walked away with a box of 25¢ spray paint cans.  I could hardly wait to get home and paint those candle holders.  I toyed with several colors, but eventually decided their feminine shape insisted on being white.  It took a full can of  both primer and paint to cover them because they had so much surface area.  I put a good coat of acrylic sealer to top them off.  I found a six pack of ’emergency candles’ at the Dollar Store.  I wrapped them in colored paper to give them some contrast for the photo.  I hung them using ribbon on my son’s headboard for contrast and he was VERY disappointed they weren’t staying there.

AFTER

So excited to report I just successfully dropped off several pieces at the furniture consignment store!  They priced the cream-orange-chrome chair at $100 and the Broadway bench at a whopping $150!  The candle holders were impressively marked at $30.  My cut will be 50% of final sale price.  Finger’s crossed!    ~Sean

faux friend is new again

BEFORE

I picked this vinyl chair up in the clearance center of Goodwill for $2 a couple of years ago because it had this wonderful chrome base and an appealing shape to the chair.  It was in dire need of reupholstering, but I kept putting it off because I never felt my upholstery skills were up to honoring the complex, clean shape of the chair.  Upon starting this blog, I was reinvigorated to try to tackle my little chair.

I found an inspiring scarlet-sketch print at Walmart for $1.50/yd.  I began to pull and coax the fabric around the chair back.  The only way I could maintain the clean lines of the original upholstery was to sew the cover to custom fit the back.  But, I knew I would be disappointed with the results if I attempted that–too many places for imperfection.  So I conceded to do a no-sew project that would have to incorporate exposed upholstery nails somewhere.  Once I accepted that fact, the covering went quickly.

I used all the existing foam supplemented with some thin quilter’s batting.  I used an electric staple gun to anchor everything and tidied up the arm area using small dome shaped chrome upholstery tacks anchored by the dainty blow of an upholstery hammer (If you don’t own one, get one–they are fun).  The fabric has a good tooth to it, so I sealed the whole chair (especially parts that will be exposed to a lot of handling) with a water-resistant stain guard.  I was apprehensive about the upholstery looking amateur, but I’m pleased with the results.  ~Sean

AFTER 1

AFTER 2

Q Project: mid-century modern recliner

Last summer my sister was kind enough to give me one of her unused mid-century modern recliner chairs.  I loved the simple lines of the chair but couldn’t move past the black painted frame.  One afternoon while my dh took the kids out for a treat at The Frontier Mart in Corrales, I decided to grab my nifty palm sander and gave this classic chair a much-needed face-lift.  My intuition told me that once the paint was removed I would expose a beautiful wood.  Come to find out, I was right!

Initially, I was thinking of reupholstering the chair with a funky fabric pattern similar to the re-upholstered Milo Baughman chair posted in Apartment Therapy.    What do you think?

~Beth

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first Q project!

BEFORE $10

Picked up this sweet little beauty (chair;) at a yard sale for $10.  It’s hydraulic and heavy, but was in good condition.  My family goes back 5 generations in the Spanish Colonial Arts.  My brother is a tinsmith and I’ve trained as a retablo artist (icons of the saints painted on wood boards).  I love the art and I also love juxtaposing the iconography with modern themes.  The image from this chair is the one that appears in our banner.

The chair is currently  at a furniture consignment house frequented by Hollywood studio types retailing for $400 🙂  So maybe you’ll see it again In Plain Site 😉

~ Sean

hand painted acrylic "Our Lady of Guadalupe" icon.

Our Lady Of Guadalupe Detail

Our Lady of Guadalupe detail 2