Lessons Learned

Ya'll....Riverwalk chair is in serious progress and it's goooood! Duh! We knew it would be. I chose coral...just saying! I didn't realize how many people voted turq until I already applied the first coat. I'm sorry to disappoint, I just went with the original gut....always the way to go with paint swatches...right?!?!?!?

Besides the chair, I've also ripped off the lampshade bandaid. I was nervous to attempt it even after I read about 500 tutorials telling me how to recover a shade, make a new shade, revamp an old shade and I have sort of created a combo to make the mother of all tutorials! It ended like everything else usually does...listen to everyone give their opinion and then just make up my own way in the end. There was one major problem though...as there always is when you go your own way instead of listening to the people who have gone before you. The problem is geometric print fabrics. They are sooooooooo hard to line up, which is why every tutorial says to use a forgiving fabric. I didn't. I used a repeating geometric print. I'm going to finish the one I started and call it a learning curve.

I've already spent time on Hawthorne Threads, searching for "forgiving fabrics." This is like my new fav store times a million! With every fabric, there are links to projects made with the print....go on and see it...you'll love it!

What do you think of these? Forgiving?

Also, has anyone heard of polypropylene? Do we think maybe it's the same as plexi-glass?? Let me know!

Something to think about...

A couple months ago we had to nix the glass, pointy cornered coffee table from our living room. We got away with it for a long time, making excuses like "the girls know to be careful around the edges"....ha! Finally, the week came when both girls went face first into the corners and out went the table. Conveniently Josh had a huge ottoman just waiting in the wings for me to give the signal. Home it came! However, like most things that come out of the Southwest Surplus warehouse, there is a large style dilemma involved with this piece. It's extra large and cushiony and practical for two toddling 1 year olds, but it is ugggggggly! The wood finish is fine, but the worn out mustardy/camely leather fabric has to go! So, I now have 2 jobs.

#1-find a fabric that makes me feel good all over, but also doesn't clash with the rug that Josh won't let me send to storage.

#2- Normally it is really easy to pop off the top to a piece of furniture. This big thing isn't so easy. No screws, just lots and lots and lots of serious serious staples. So, #2 is to figure out how to do this. Has anyone ever recovered something like this??? I"ll take any ideas! Check out these pics of our issues.

Meanwhile...here are some shots of O & L and their friend Edie playing in jail while I scoped out the staple situation.

Let's Vote

My old Riverwalk chair is ready for some paint! Woohooo!!! I love both colors I have. Both are Valspar...one is blaze orange 1008-1A and the other is La Fonda Turquoise 5006-10C. Also...how much do we love this black and white fabric?!?! I'm so jealous of the person who ends up with this chair...maybe even chairs! A set of four would be perfection in someone's breakfast area.

OOOOOk....let's vote! Orangey coral or turq???

Project 1

Oooooooook!

I put the girls down for their nap this morning and skipped out to the garage to start work on the first official Milkweed project. Here's the chair....remember it??

It was probably in a suite at the Doubletree on the Riverwalk in San Antonio. I made that up...but it sounds real good! The first step was simple...pop off the cushion. I was bummed when I realized that the battery in our drill was dead, but the sadness faded when I saw that there were only 4 screws! It took less than a minute with a manual phillips head. Less than a minute...exaggeration!! It probably took 5.

I have to strip off the shiny finish. There were three kinds of strippers to choose from at Lowes. I picked the one that was all purpose and made for vertical objects. I followed all the directions on the bottle....apply liberally, start at the bottom, let sit for 30 minutes. Then it was time to scrape, but I didn't get one satisfying scrape...just a few flecks. Soooooo....Project 1 is still in progress. Tomorrow I'm gonna go for round 2. I'm going to try to strip again, applying the gel even more liberally than the first time. If it still doesn't work, I'm going to just sand that puppy down and then I'll be able to put on the paint that I am soo soo soooo so so excited to use. It might be turquoise-ish...it might be flamingo...ahahhahahah....how will I choose????

Stand by........

Here we go!

When I gave up my job as a Kindergarten teacher a few months ago, I was so sure I made the right decision to stay home with my girls...SO SURE!!! Then yesterday came...the LAST day of school! I expected to be ecstatic as I ran out of the school doors and never look back, but that's not what happened! I made it home smiling, but I boo-hooed myself to sleep! Josh pretended not to think I'm CRAZY! Ha! Here's the truth. I'm not crazy, I'm just sad to leave. It just took leaving to realize I'm sad. I'll miss the kids, but I will especially miss my friends and coworkers. Amazing teachers. Amazing women. Done for now!

Now....the excitement!! I am sooooooooooo soooo soooooooo so so so so excited to use this time away from the classroom to first of all, love on my baby girls all day everyday...ha! I'll let you know how long this fantasy lasts! Second, I'm going try to make something out of doing what I love. My favorite parts of teaching were the days when there was time for art and special projects...letting my kids create a mess and then be so proud of what they made.

So, that's what I'm going to do! Create a mess each day. I'm going to make my messes out of furniture I rescue from Josh's store and fabrics that I love and paint colors that I dream of using in my own house and I'm calling it Milkweed!

I went to the warehouse a couple of weeks ago for my first "pick." Raise your hand if you watch American Pickers on the History Channel. We do!!! I felt just like Frank and Mike while I wandered up and down the aisles searching for the perfect shining stars hiding behind worn fabrics and less desirable wood finishes. Here's what I found!

Which pieces are you excited about? Have any good ideas???? I DO!!!!!! Next stop was the fabric store(excellent finds), and finally Lowes to grab all essential supplies. I'm ready!

Can't wait to show you what I can do! Meanwhile...you should go ahead a follow the blog, then you should tell all of your friends to follow the blog. Next, you should go on over to my etsy store. There are only 3 items. They are things that I made, but are already being used in my house. They are really just there because I needed some placeholders. So, favorite a few things and visit often!