Week Six

This week I started on my upholstery, instead of what the planning sheet says I am doing. So my patterns are cut and we are moving on! So first thing I did was cut out my cushion, which my mom says looks like a saber tooth tiger attacked. I suppose I can see her point.
Anyways after I attacked the cushion you cover it with batting, the spanx of upholstery it just smooths everything out. Apparently this will make everything look good. Next staple that piece to the wooden frame. 
Then you cover the cushion with the fabric that is cut several extra inches on each side and staple. Pulling the fabric taunt as you go.

 Next week I will work on the back of my chair and attaching the cushion to my chair. It is going to be interesting!

Week 5

So last week I stretched the truth just a little bit. I actually was not done with my staining at the time of my blog post and did not finish until the weekend after. So for the majority of this past week I have stained my chair my chair which is now completely stained and polyurethane it.

My staining is not perfect

because sometimes I put on a coat in a hurry I wasn’t super careful about wiping everything down before I let the coat sink in. So there are a few spots which are darker and a bit more rough looking than they should look. I used a high gloss poly on top of the stain so now my chair is much darker and way more shiny than it was originally.

So for what I was actually supposed to do this week was to work on my patterns and buttons. My buttons are completely done. My mom’s friend did them with a machine and sent them back to me. I have discussed with my mom how to cut out the patterns and will do that next week. So here’s to next week actually doing what I say I am going to do.

For the Love of Stain

This week I stained my chair. On my chair I have wicker which apparently you are supposed dye rather than stain but why listen to those who have experience? I chose not to dye the wicker because I did not strip the original finish off instead I just lightly sanded the finish and went for it. I have done about four coats and a final coat of polyurethane for added shine. After doing all of this I think I should have probably stripped the chair but then I would have had to scrape it all off. My chair had some scratches where I wasn’t too nice to it on the concrete floor but, I left them because I did not strip my chair. Now it looks likes it has been part of a home rather than living in some grandmother’s house for many years.

Next week I am going to create a pattern for my chair and my buttons are already done. My moms friend has a machine which makes doing buttons a breeze, apparently because I didn’t actually do anything other than cut out a rectangle and sent it off. My pattern I think is going to be a bit more difficult because I am going to alter how my chair looked originally and make it a bit more modern. More on that next week!