Upholstery ……New look – New life part 1

I am so excited as last night I started a course I have wanted to do for ages……UPHOLSTERY….I especially wanted to do this as I bought these (2) wonderful little chairs at St Vinnies – they were an absolute bargain.  They are in great condition, think around from 1950’s but need a new fresh exciting look.  

Another reason I have wanted to do an upholstery course is that I love watching Sarah Richardson and some of the things she has done is out of this world.   I also wanted to start making upholstered bed heads and reupholster piece for others…..

I have found a fabulous course held at Padghams in East Moorabbin, so for the next eight weeks every Tuesday night is Padgham night…last night was fun and the class is all women. I must say we were all pretty focused in our task and there wasn’t a lot of chatter happening. I’m sure that will change over time. Adrian and Dianne that run the class are brilliant.

Last night was stripping back our chairs so that we can start to rebuild them and make them look wonderful.   I, like all the ladies in class never knew that an upholstered chair has so many staples and tacks, there seemed to be no end in sight.  It had to be the quickest two hours of my life, but I am glad to say that after two hours of lots of hammering, pulling out staples and some help from Adrian I am nearly there……..This is what my chair looks like now  – not so pretty, but in a few weeks time that will all change!!  

I am going to use two fabrics in the chair, one is a large multi coloured paisley/floral (for the front of the chair) and on the back I will use a complimentary stripe – aren’t these just fabulous.  

 




 Stay tuned for next weeks installment

Cleaning Candle Jars

Are you like me and love the scent of candles burning around the house.  Candles today come in all types of wonderful containers and if like me you buy quality long burning candles  - they are not cheap.

So what can you do with the containers - throw they out - such a waste.  Why not clean them and then reuse them for other purposes - hold cotton balls, buds, paper clips.  New uses are only limited to your imagination...

Let's get started cleaning your containers.  Supplies:

• used candle jar,
• freezer,
• blunt knife,
• old newspaper,
• paper towel,
• vinegar.

Place used candle jar in the freezer for approximately 1 hour to harden the soy wax.

Remove candle from the freezer and with a blunt knife remove excess wax from the bottom and sides of the candle jar.

Empty container of any excess candle wax.

Take clean paper towel and wipes inside of container to remove any wax residue and soot from the container.

Once the jar has been wiped clean, place some white vinegar on a clean paper towel and white all surfaces inside and out to remove any sticky residue.

Lastly, place the container in sink of warm soapy water and thoroughly clean.

Rinse and dry the containers and you are now ready to reuse them......

Chevron Art

I love the clean lines of the chevron design and wanted to include a piece at home.  Here is how I made my Chevron canvas.

Step 1

A plain canvas with a coat of white acrylic paint.

Step 2 

Divide the canvas into even sections - I divided the canvas into 8 (horizontal)  I then cut out triangle template.

Trace the template across each of the lines.

 Step 3

Using painters tape, start to create the lines that will transform into the Chevron pattern.

I found the easiest way to get a clean sharp point is to overlap the tape at each point.

  Using the outline of the tape  - trim the tape to create a clean sharp point.

Step 4 - Now for the fun stuff 

I wanted to create a bright multi coloured chevron canvas and used a range of acrylic paint colours that i picked up from the Reject Shop for $4...

now start painting...  randomly apply the different colours.

Don't be afraid to overlap the colours. The canvas completely covered with paint. 

Step 5 

Let the paint dry and slowly remove the tape.......to reveal an original piece of art.. 

The finished product