My First Furniture Projects! (Insert Fear Here.)

How was your Valentine's Day?

(She didn't like wearing the shoes, but they just had to be in the pic!)

With 3 young kids, our Valentine's Days are always simple these days...this year it was Panda takeout and a movie. But my husband always gets me flowers! I hope your V-day was fun, relaxing, romantic, or a combination of all of those. =)

I wish I had taken some time and used my new-found motivation for craftiness to make some cute Valentine's decor this year. After the Christmas decorations come down (actually, there are still a few left up at my house! Gotta get on that...) I always feel like the house is empty, and I have next to nothing to put up until spring. I pinned a bunch of fabulous Valentine's Day ideas on Pinterest, but never got anything started! Guess I'll have to get on it for Easter.

Would love to incorporate this DIY wreath into Kara's birthday party, 

but I have about 20 other projects I wanna do for her party too!

(By the way, are you on Pinterest? You can follow me if ya wanna...just click on the little green "P" at the very top left of my blog to see my boards!)

I'm getting ready to work on my first ever furniture repainting projects, and it has me pretty intimidated. I keep hyping myself up and telling myself it's no impossible feat, and that everyone was a beginner at some point!

So apparently I have a thing for benches. I picked up these two cuties over the last couple of months and I get so excited when I think about my vision for them!

I got this one from a funky little flea-market in Salt Lake City called the Old Flamingo. I love its lines, and the color of the paint isn't too horrible, but that upholstery??? BLEH. I think brown and blue can be lovely together in some cases, but I definitely can't say that in this case.

And the glaze they put on over the paint looks sooooo dirty. I know that's kind of the point of glaze, but I think this was a little bit overdone.

So, I'm probably going to repaint it. Probably a lighter, brighter aqua...it looks aqua in the photo, but it's really more of a teal or turquoise. And that little seat is going to be my first ever reupholstery project! I think it will be pretty easy. The bench comes right out if you pound on the bottom a little, and the fabric is just stapled underneath. I haven't purchased a replacement fabric yet, so I figure I can't decide on the paint color for *sure* until I choose a fabric.

The lady who owned my 2nd bench said it was "Early American", but I have no idea how old it really is. I love the arms and all the details on this!

I almost feel bad thinking about painting it, because it's in pretty great shape, but I think I want it in a shabby white, with a little distressing. I keep picturing an adorable photoshoot with this bench in my head...I'd cover it in cute, colorful pillows, put it in the middle of a blooming orchard in springtime, and top it off with a cute little girl in a sundress. Can't you picture it?! I am so taking that photo in a few months!

And last but most certainly not least, my most favorite project: my beloved, tufted wingback chair!

Pretty much the same photo as my previous post, but I had to show it to ya'll again! =)

 I had the legs painted a creamy white and distressed, and I loved how they turned out!

Before...

...After!!!

(Still in my van. With the upholstery around the legs cut off. My upholsterer suggested
trimming around the legs before painting them. Even though the fabric is going to be completely replaced, it killed me to watch my husband take a razor to this baby!)

Since I really want the chair to turn out perfect and I have no experience whatsoever painting furniture yet (plus, hiring someone to do such a small job would be cheap...), I decided to forgo doing it myself. I had them painted by my new friend Sausha at Sweet Pickins...she is a miracle worker with furniture of all ages and conditions! Discovering her blog was definitely one thing that really opened my eyes to the potential that old furniture has! And lucky for me, she just so happens to live just 40 minutes from me! She was featured on the Nate Berkus show last year and she has had clients come to her from all over since then.

Tomorrow I'll be dropping the chair off to be reupholstered, and I am crazy with anticipation to see how it turns out! Though I'm very interested in learning how to reupholster myself, my upholsterer...who is a neighbor and friend...pretty much said that a chair like this, with the complicated diamond-tufts, is not a good project for a novice. Which I pretty much already suspected. And I really want this chair to be perfect, and an heirloom....so, this baby is getting the full-on professional treatment! It's going to be gorgeous! I'm tempted to make it a surprise, but here's what the new color is going to be:

Eeeeek! It's gonna be the prettiest chair ever! I love that the color is called "Petal."

Would any of you like a photoshoot with my chair? I am thinking about doing some free (or super-DUPER cheap) photoshoots this spring/summer to get some practice with my photography skills! I have a dream of beautifying old furniture and using it to create some beautiful photography! (And eventually, someday, sewing beautiful dresses, clothing and blankets to use as well!!!)

I have a plan to take my daughter's picture with this chair for her birthday, and again every year...including when she gets married. A bridal shoot with this chair would be to die for! But, I'll have to wait for her time as a bride for a couple more decades or so, and I just dunno if I can wait that long! Can't you see this sitting in the middle of a beautiful garden with a lovely bride?!

(...and some really cute shoes???)

I can.  =)