A Love For Color

As one can tell from the title of my at home business, "Pigment of Your Imagination", I have a love for color.  Whether it is painting or my new love, quilting, color plays a big part in the design.  Neutral or white backgrounds with pops of color make my heart sing.  The only color I'm not in love with is that pink countertop beneath all that wonderful color in the image below.  You can read about those countertops at my blog post "Living With Pink Kitchen Countertops".

In that post I was amazed at the people who loved my pink countertops as you can see from the comments.    I've learned to deal  love them and simply tie them in with other colors.  One thing I've learned over the years is don't be afraid of color.  Color is generally easy to fix and inexpensive to change (except when it comes to countertops with a built-in hutch sitting on top of them).

These pinwheels are so fun and easy to make using precut charm packs.  Simply sew a solid color and a printed five inch square with right sides together around all four sides.  Then using a rotary cutter, ruler, and cutting mat, cut them on the diagonal both ways (like a big "X"). Press the seams to the dark side.  Arrange the four sections into a pinwheel and sew together.  I plan to sew all these pinwheels into another lap quilt and will share as I go along.  

On another thought, we survived another horrible storm yesterday with tornado sirens blasting their warning.  I'm thinking fall looks pretty good right now.  I don't want to sound like a whiner so I will thank the good Lord for seeing us through this wild ride this summer.  What are you thankful for today?  Oh, and I'm also thankful for all this beautiful color in my life!

Montgomery Ward Chair Trash to Treasure

Just in case you think that bloggers have got it all together, let me give you a little background on this project.  I started this back in January and this is July.  I'm very good at putting things off, also known as procrastinating.

I usually finish my projects once I start them, but will make no promises as to when that will be.

Here is the chair that was given to me by a dear friend.  I have a collection of chairs that come in handy when we have a large dinner and I run around the house collecting them to put around our dining table.

This chair closely matches my buffet which I hope to paint sometime in the future.  (Note the Christmas decorations on the buffet.  I told you I procrastinate.  This photo was taken in early January.)

My husband had to cut a new plywood seat.  Even though this one was terribly cracked it was sturdy (more likely petrified) beyond belief.  But, to be safe we replaced the wood.

This is the Mongomery Ward tag that was attached to the bottom of the seat.

If you read my blog you know that the table did get finished way before this chair and I blogged about it here.

This was the dingy/dirty chair cover that I removed.

Nasty/stinky padding was removed.

I used left over fabric from my window coverings to replace the old chair fabric (please ignore the dirty window)...

and cut new padding...

The chair was painted as per the instructions for the side table above.  You can check out the link for the "Side Table Transformation" for that information.

I found some blue and white checked fabric napkins in my buffet that I used to cover the chair back and added a button in the center.

What do you think?  Should I paint the buffet?  What year do you think I might get that done?  

I'm linking today with:

Fabulously Creative Friday... Linky party!

Side Table Makeover Transformation

Today I finally, after procrastinating for a few weeks, have finished my table makeover.  The chair is almost finished and I'll share it soon.

Sorry for this blurry photo, but I didn't have my tripod within easy reach.  I used Polyvine Create Paint Effects glaze.  This is an old standby from my wall finishing days.  It's sold through Benjamin Moore (hopefully it still is) and is my favorite because of the very slow dry time.  I mixed 6 parts glaze with 1 part acrylic gray paint.  You can use wall paint with this glaze too.  I mixed a very small amount in this tiny plastic tub that I can seal up when I'm finished.  You will also need a small chip brush or a sponge brush.

I prefer the chip brush for getting into all the grooves of the carving.

The table and chair before painting....

One coat of primer....  

 Two coats of Seashell in my all time favorite paint, Benjamin Moore Advance Satin... 

Apply the glaze with a chip brush and make sure to get in all the crevices.  I worked the glaze into this section between the legs and then with a cotton rag (husband's old t-shirt works great) rubbed off the excess, leaving the glaze in the crevices.  Only work a small section at a time.  If you apply glaze to the entire piece it will be too tacky to work with and to rub off.   I then took an artist's mop brush or you can use a small Purdy paint brush to gently stroke and soften the glaze that clings in the recessed areas.  Don't brush hard or you'll pull all the glaze out.  Once again lightly buff with a cotton rag.  If you rub too much glaze off, just reapply and repeat until you are happy.

I wanted just a very subtle glazing to bring out the detailing on this table.  

Very subtle...

By the way, notice the vinyl table cloth under my table?  These are cheap and make great drop cloths for projects like this.

I'm linking up with Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday...

Table and Chair Makeover Beginning Stages

I've finally started my furniture makeover that I had planned for January.  There's nothing like waiting until the end of the month to do a monthly project.  If I hadn't mentioned in my blog that I was going to paint these two pieces, it would still be on my list of things to do.   Once I start a project though, I finish it.

I started by taking the seat off the chair and giving it a good sanding.   The table I did not sand because I'm doing a test to see how well my primer adheres without sanding first.  I used Zinsser Bullseye 1-2-3 Primer.  It is supposed to work on glossy surfaces without sanding.  An end table doesn't get as much abuse as a chair plus with all the detail it would not have been much fun to sand.  I'm not lazy; this is a test.  Just keep that in mind.  I've used a deglosser before and don't like using products that require ventilation in the middle of winter.

The above photo shows the pieces with one coat of primer.  Today I decided to add a second coat of primer and one coat of paint and will share that with you soon.  

Laundry Room Curtain Tutorial

Last week I shared with you my "Laundry Room Makeover".  I had a lace curtain hanging in the window that I needed  wanted to replace and I'll show you with all my wonderful limited sewing skills, how you can do the same.  If like me, you can make pillows and curtains with the help of a sewing machine, than that is all the sewing machine skill you will need for this project.  I used a left over piece of  "tea toweling by the yard" that I had purchased to make pillows for our porch.  This wonderful fabric is available at Fabric Essentials online store.  Pre-wash the fabric ahead of time.  This toweling comes already hemmed along the edges, so you only have to hem the two short ends on your sewing machine.  This is the only time you will need your machine.  

Using safety pins, I pinned some white plastic rings found in the craft department at Walmart, along the top edge (make sure they are large enough to slip over your curtain rod). I started by putting one at each end, folded the fabric in half, and put one in the middle. Fold and put one halfway between the end ring and the middle ring and repeat until you have the amount of rings you think you will need.

I then pinned some fabric yo yo's that I had made last year and pinned these along the bottom egde of the fabric.  Heather Bailey has an easy tutorial on how to make these here.  I connected each yo yo with hand stitching before hand sewing to the curtain.  Now you can simply slip the rings at the top of the curtain to a cafe curtain rod and hang it in the window to see if you like the way it hangs.  If you need more rings to make it hang properly, you can add more.

You can see the pins holding the rings in the upper photo and the pins holding the yo yo's in place in the lower photo.

Now, simply hand sew the rings to the top of the curtain and the yo yo's to the bottom.

Slip the curtain back on the rod and you are ready to go!

Most of our company comes through the back garden gate and to our back door.  They have to pass by this window as they come up on our porch.  I have been scared too many time to mention while folding clothes in this room or the UPS guy comes up to to leave a package at our back door.  I felt the need to make a lower curtain to save my sanity and my heart.  I used one of the fabrics from the yo yo's so it would coordinate.  Being the cheap thrifty person that I am, I only bought one yard which really isn't enough to make the curtain correctly.  Here is the problem since I'm cheap thrifty;  I'm not sure I like it enough to buy another yard to make two panels so that they can be slid back so a breeze can come in when the window is open.  Maybe I should put the mini blind back up (I hate dislike cleaning blinds).  Any ideas or opinions would be appreciated. 

I can always make this lower curtain into a cute apron if I decide not to use it!

I'm linking this to The Lettered Cottage

"How To'sday" post here.

Common Ground Vintage here.

Stuff and Nonsense here.

Chick and Crafty Thursdays here.