Fun with "Junk": Inpsired by Some Friends

There are these two fun gals I know who LOVE to take old stuff and make it into new, fun stuff.  They are pretty awesome, and all to often make me think "I can do that" or worse "I HAVE to do that."  Lately, they have both been crafty crazies and it seems like every. time. I. turn. around. they are tackling another one of their great ideas, transforming some glorious piece of yesterday into an awesome item in their home.

Who are these masters of disaster?  Enter Suzi from Purpose ReDesign has just picked her keyboard back up to share some of her home projects with the great WorldWideWeb, and Ashley from Goodwillionaire who has been rockin the thrifty scene for quite some time and recently has earned top honors on my husband's list of people who inspire me to do bad things (like go out and acquire other people's things).   The antics of these two ladies were all I needed to result in my encounter with this awesome piece and bring it home.

It was labeled "Gossip Chair" and I found it at a local store called "GoodFinds," a place I had to check out after reading Suzi's last post.  This store is chock full of good stuff just waiting for a new home.  Despite the ragged looking bandana covering the seat and slightly shabby paint job, I had a feeling this would quickly become my four-year olds favorite resting spot.  (Her newest past-time is pretend talking on the phone, and she will do this for minutes on end, a pretty long time for a four-year old)

Knowing myself and the number of projects I have piled up, like this other awesome table for my playroom that Ashley "made me" buy, I didn't let this one sit still very long.  I quickly dug through my fabric stash and settled on one with retro looking birds.  Then, the fun stuff began.

A few washdowns with a healthy dosing of lysol and the paint still looked shabby, and not the shabby-chic kindof shabby either.  So, outside we went to the handheld electric sander and my magic eraser.  Before long, we had the finish looking better and just needed to recover the seat pad.

(Caroline took this fun picture)

The finished Gossip Chair is now resting in our entryway and has already been the perfect place for quite a few conversations.  I even caught her lecturing her brother on how she is on a very important phone call and would appreciate if he would play quieter.  I'm still laughing that she handled him gently and didn't just yell!

Chair seat recover details:

Chair seats that simply screw onto the frame and probably one of the easiest things to recover, as I reminded by Suzi's post where she uses the same techniques to cover a shelf for a coffee table.

Take off the extra fabric, trim any extra fabric from the original seat and safely remove any extra or dangerous hardware (this seat had a nail sticking out).

I used my seat as a template to cut my fabrics.
1. Cut two layers of quilters batting the same size as the top of the seat.
2. Spray glue the top of the seat and adhere the batting.
3. Lay the seat on top of your fabric.
4. Cut the fabric about 3" larger on each side than the seat.
5. Staple your fabric to the seat.  I fold each edge under so I am stapling through two layers (also it makes the finished underside look nicer, not that anyone but you will care).   I start in the middle of one side with the first staple, then staple the opposite side.  Then I go back and forth between the two sides to make sure I keep the fabric pulled equally and don't overstretch in any place.
6. Secure the seat back onto the frame.

To Suzi and Ashley, thank you for your posts that led me to take on this fun little project that keeps making me smile.

Go forth and find something to improve this weekend!

If you want to check out the crafty awesomeness, swing on over to visit Suzi's blog Purpose ReDesign and Ashley's blog Goodwillionaire.  These are two crafty fun mamas!