Chairs

So when I finished the desk project, I jokingly mentioned that I needed to find some cool chairs to put with it. Really, I never imagined I would actually find some. Well, a couple of weeks ago I spotted two diamonds in the rough in a pile of bulk pick-up on the side of the road (Gotta love bulk pick-up.) I also said I don't make a habit of dumpster diving, but I think it just may have turned into one. I have to have something to do in my "spare" time since I don't have school projects anymore.

I was on my way to pick up the babysitter and I didn't have much time to maneuver them to fit, so the back of the van kept opening mid-route. It was kind of funny. But these are the measures that must be taken if you are going to scrounge through somebody else's garbage and take stuff home.

Here is the before:
And here is the after:

Yes, I painted them purple. I must be in my "purple" phase, but I assure you, I've got plenty of other colors in store for my future projects. I just felt like purple would add the right color pop to this part of the house. And hey, you can't go wrong with free chairs--if nothing else I can just put them back on the curb.

Okay I didn't just paint them purple, first I sanded them, spray painted them yellow, then spray painted them purple, and then I sanded parts of the purple to expose the yellow. At this point I felt that the purple I did was a little too bright and glossy. I still wanted to stick with purple though, so I got a slightly different shade, then painted and sanded again. Way more work then it should have been, but like I said, I need something to do. Then I put on some poly-urethane and called the paint job good. I like how the color turned out and how you can see the details in the yellow.

Here is a close up of some of the details (Okay, seriously though, don't look too closely. It is so far from perfect):
I got the upholstery fabric on sale at JoAnn's. I know it's a light fabric and that my kids will probably smear spaghetti sauce and pudding all over them in a matter of weeks, but I'm going to scotch gaurd them and hope for the best. I'd never upholstered anything before so it was a bit of a learning curve. The seat cover? No problem. For the back, I covered a piece of cardboard in the shape of the chair with quilt batting and fabric, then glued it on. The front was the most tricky because I had to use upholstery tacks which by the way are sharper than they look. I unwittingly sliced my pinky while doing one and didn't realize it till I saw blood all over the fabric. It came out thanks to Oxy-clean. I cut another finger doing the second one too, but they're done.

Here they are at the computer desk:...our comfy, purple, re-purposed roadkill rescues. I love them!