Sweet Headboard Before and After

                                                                        

I found this adorable headboard on one of  my recent trips to Goodwill and grabbed it right away. The finish was in rough shape but I loved the curves and routed edges. I envisioned it painted off white and distressed and knew, when finished, it would be a really beautiful piece for a little girls room.

Once I got it home and started looking at the center of the headboard, I realized how pretty the grain of the wood was. The grain angles out in both directions from the center, something I haven't seen very often.  I was torn, to paint or not to paint? As much as I like painted furniture I couldn't bring myself to cover up that beautiful wood in the center. So, I sanded the middle and stained it with two coats of Minwax Dark Walnut and topped that with two coats of wipe on Minwax satin poly.

The rest of the piece is painted off white, distressed and topped with a paste wax finish.
                                

                                             
  The white really frames the beauty of the wood now!  I love the mix of paint and wood tones together to highlight a piece that has a beautiful wood grain.
                                      

                                     
I am wishing I had a little girl at home who could dream under this pretty headboard. My little girl is all grown up now so it will be finding a new home. At least I'll have pictures!

 Jodie

I am joining Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday

Pottery Barn Look Alike Tutorial

I fell in love with this Pottery Barn horse when I saw it at Nydia's blog, Evolution of Home. You should take a visit to her blog if you haven't been there and see her knock off version and instructions. She does some great projects. Thanks to her inspiration I tried making one of my own.

Pottery Barn's horse wall art

Here is my version and this is how I did it.

I found some inexpensive lightweight plank paneling at Lowe's. It fits together kind of like wood flooring but is very light.

 I  used 9 boards and cut them 25 inches long, so my background ended up being 22.5 inches wide and 25 inches tall. I then fit the boards together.

I cut 2 1x2 boards and used Liquid Nails to glue on the back across the planks about 2 inches from each side securing the boards together. Be safe, use your protective gear!

 I added some weight to make sure the boards had good contact, and waited until the next day to move on to the next step.

Now to the fun part! I used Minwax Pre-Stain wood conditioner first, it helps soft wood absorb stain more uniformly.

Then I applied Minwax stain in English Chestnut. Be sure to allow recommended dry time before beginning the next step.

I had drawn a horse and taken it to Kinko's where they enlarged it for me. I think horses are one of the most difficult animals to draw and get the proportions right. The drawing I took to Kinko's was cut in several places where I decided I needed adjustment, and all taped together. The lady looked at me like I was kind of kooky. I transferred my pattern to contact paper which I then secured to my stained board.

Make sure the contact paper is securely pressed down to avoid paint seeping under. 

Brush from the top of the contact paper out toward the edges to reduce the chances

of seeping.

I used some latex enamel paint I had on hand and lightly brushed over the entire piece. It is better to do several thin coats with dry time in between. You can  leave as much wood grain showing as you like. After it dried I sanded the edges and did some distressing. A coat of paste wax and that's it!

   Here he is, my version.

Have a great weekend

Jodie

I am joining in on these parties

Show and Tell Friday at Cindy's My Romantic Home

Fridays Unfoldedat Stuff and Nonsense

Flaunt it Fridays at Chic on a Shoestring Decorating

Inspiration Friday At the Picket Fence

Newbie Party at Debbie Doo's Blogging and Blabbing

Holy Cow Chair!

For a long time, I've had a cow chair on my wish list. After pricing a few coming in at at least $1,000,  I decided to take action and make my own, even though I had never reupholstered before. My friends and family know I'm crazy like that. I've covered seat cushions and made a couple of slipcovers but never reupholstered an entire chair. But that wasn't going to stop me. As usual I was so excited to start the project that I neglected to take a picture of the chair before I started taking it apart and I didn't take any pics of the cowhide, shucky darn. It would have made a great tutorial.

 This great chair came from Revival, a consignment shop in my area. At $80.00 it was actually more than I normally pay for a chair to redo but it had great bones,was hand tied, and I fell in love with the style. Looking past the burgandy vinyl I could see a diamond in the rough.

Once I took it apart, I found it was in good condition.  I did have to retie a few of the springs and I added a little more padding to the seat but that was all the prep work I had to do. I  looked on line at several videos on how to reupholster and got lots of good tips on how to proceed. I am a visual learner so that worked for me.

There was one little medical mishap with the project. I almost had all the old staples out when I slipped with the screwdriver and punctured my palm with it. It was a big gash and was bleeding bad. I am not good with the sight of blood and I thought I was going to pass out. I covered it with paper towels, and layed down on the floor and called my husband. Guess I dialed the wrong number and I got some man on the phone who was wondering what I was babbling about. I gave up and just layed there since I knew h would be home soon. I was alright and I didn't get stitches, but my injury did make the rest of the project a little more difficult.

I purchased a Stanley electric staple gun for the project and it was both a lifesaver and fun to use. With my old manual one the staples would never go completely in and I would have to hammer them down.  I did take pictures as I took the chair apart so I would know how to put it back together, and I used the old vinyl as a pattern to cut out the cow hide.

We purchased our hide at Nebraska Furniture Mart, they had a promotion going and the hides were on sale for $179.00. I had looked on line for one but I wanted to see it in person before buying. From my research you need to be sure to purchase a quality hide, it should be soft and pliable. Stiff hard hides are not good as they can eventually crack. The hide was easy to cut with regular sewing scissors and just a little of the hair around the edges fell off after cutting it. Each section of the chair is stapled except the back and that is attached with the nailhead trim. I  sewed all the cording on the sewing machine.

I hardly had any hide left after the project, just a few small pieces that I made into a pillow. I  would recommend that if you plan on doing this project that you carefully measure how much you need. Cowhides vary in size and you have to take into consideration that the pieces have to be symmetrical for a chair.

 I knew I wasn't going to have enough hide to do the back of the chair so I got some basket weave vinyl that looks like leather to do that part. I have to say vinyl has really improved over the years, I found this at JoAnn's, and it really does resemble leather. The back of the chair was the final step. It covers up the staples from the front piece and cording. To attach the back,center the fabric at the top and work your way around both sides folding the edges under and using the decorative nail heads to hold it in place then tuck the bottom part under the chair and staple.

This is where the cow chair normally sits, in the family room, but it is on the north and the room is kind of  dark so I was having trouble getting good pictures. I need to get a new camera.

I moved the chair to the living room for better picture taking light and I think he looks kind of cute there.

 I spent $80.00 on the chair, $179.00 for the hide and probably $25.00 for upholstery supplies plus the new stapler, so for a little over $300.00 and some hard work, I got my cow chair! 

Jodie

I am joining in on these parties

Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday

Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Inspiration Friday At the Picket Fence

                                                      Fridays Unfolded at Stuff and Nonsense
                                                       The DIY Project Parade at The DIY Showoff
                                                Deborah Jean's Dandelion House Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop