Handpainted Houndstooth Pattern

 I do love a great before and after set of photos!
We found this great little piece on a recent trip to an outdoor fair...

It had lots of wear and tear ---unfortunately one piece of the corner trim was completely missing.  So I had to take all the trim off...

I bought some milk paint at the Country Living fair in September and this was the perfect piece to try it out on...

 I mixed half French Gray and half Cream for the body of the piece and used straight Cream for the details....

 The gold color is acrylic paint....

 Originally I planned to only do the cream thinking that the pale gray would be enough of a contrast...

But once I got it done I just wasn't happy with the way it looked

...something just wasn't quite right.

 The gold was just the thing it needed to really make it all come together.

I love doing this kind of stuff....

It just feeds my need to create 

--and when I see it all finished up like this it is so satisfying.

Hopefully this lovely little piece will have a whole new life for many more years to come

Table and Feed Sack Chairs

 Waaaaay back in the summer I started working on this dining set.  I did a whole post on creating a pattern on the table top with stain.  I think it's kind of a unique look.  
A twist on the painted harlequin style I did on another dining room set and an old victrola....

 And here is the post I did recently about the chairs.....

I originally wanted to use some blue-green leather on the seats but that didn't work out so well...

 This is the complete set before heading off to the shop....

 I'm happy with the way it all looks together even though it's not what I originally had in mind...

 I like the combination of wood and paint together and the feed sacks go well with the whole look...

 It would make a very unique set for a breakfast nook, a small eat-in kitchen area, or a screened porch....

Or even a nice desk in a study or craft room....

Reupholstering Seats missing caning

These two beauties came from my sister-in-law who picked them up for a song at a local flea market this summer....

I decided to stain these and upholster them

--it kind of looked like they had a caned inset of some sort at one time.

I love painting furniture---the way it looks all distressed but I have an appreciation for stained wood furniture too....

I tacked in some webbing for support and added some thin, 1 inch thick foam on top.

I really had my heart set on using this pale blue green leather with nail heads but the piece I had was just too narrow, and I had trouble getting the nails to go in straight.  

Probably because the oak is a harder wood...

I finally gave up and decided to use a feed sack I had on hand with some nice blue stripes and stenciled numbers...

 I think some lightweight,flexible stabilizer would have helped give the seats a smoother finish and I may try that if I ever did this type of seat again....

 It's very hard to keep it all straight with the feed sacks being a looser woven canvas 

 And you're trying to keep the two sides similar and straight but the feed sacks aren't perfectly symmetrical....

Some trim to hide the staples and finish them off  

--I'm pairing these up with a table I did in a harlequin pattern with some dark stain.

And they're ready to go off to the shop...

Necktie Wristlets

 Here are my first ten necktie wristlets...

I try to "document" all the things I make so I have photos to look back on later.  I posted the other day about the first one (the brown with the large cream dots near the middle)...but thought it was fun to see them together like this!

 This weekend is a huge Sauerkraut Festival in Waynesville, Ohio.  

 I was hoping to get a nice little group of these done to take up to the shop that sells our things.

 I have been using mine like crazy and I've already been thinking about how I could improve them....

 Just another thing to mess around with making!  And of course I love the variety of colors and styles of fabric.

I'll never look at neckties the same way again!!!!

Reupholstered Chair--FINISHED!

She's DONE!!!

 Get ready for photo overload ---I have been working on this piece (above) for quite awhile and I'm SO excited to have it done!!!!!

 This is the biggest piece I've reupholstered so far....I'd love to do more of this.  I think because it's all different skills combined.  Painting, sewing, fabric choices....all the fun stuff....

 I decided to try to use fabrics I had on hand since I have a lot left over from my purse making days.  

I had the brown linen but not enough for the whole chair so I decided to mix in some feed sack for contrast ---and I really like the way it turned out....

 The tufting was also a new step for me, and I did a separate post on that you can see here if you're interested....

 This is Duck Egg blue with a dry brushed coat of Old White and clear wax to finish....I also dry brushed pretty much all of the caned sections instead of trying to distress those with sanding or even water.

 It is so satisfying to see this piece come together...this is how it looked in my head from the start.

But being able to take it there from start to finish is so much fun for me....

 I'm on the hunt for my next piece :) and would even like to try replacing all the foam and cushions.

 The whole thing just works together...all those little details adding to the whole piece...

 We took her up to the shop this weekend and as we carried it in the door there were already some shoppers admiring her....

 nice to see some reaction to your work and know that others appreciate it!

 My husband is trying to finish up a few things for us...a chicken coop and a new kitchen island that is very industrial...

And of course we have a bathroom to remodel and our house is for sale and.....