The old Loved chairs.

This is the short story about how I did not refurbish these old, well used gems that I bought one day for 60 dollars. It is not that I think they would look good when they get some new and fresh, perhaps even stylish fabric onto them, no, I am quite sure they will look fabulous when refurbished, but I am loving them for the way they look right now.

Please forgive the photobombing of toys,
laundry basketand other items that some people just
 left behind. These pictures
were never meant for internet.

Make note of the armrests thrown in a pile on the
right side there.

The two pictures show you how they looked at first and once the first layer was stripped off. (I still have that floral fabric hidden. *shrugs* you never know…). The chairs look very similar, but they are different on the top of their backs, and their arms are shaped differently.

The white fabric was worn down and had plenty of holes in them, that’s how much they’ve been sat in, and they weren’t really clean so I tried my best to make them clean so we could use them for the upcoming ‘40 year birthday/ baby princess is born/ meet my family from Norway / we got married / family party’, party. We needed chairs.

I knew that they were probably very retro underneath it all, but I dared not start to pluck the nails that held the fabric in place, in case it would show to be even worse than the white. And the fact that mom wanted to help making them pretty made me leave them alone. They lived under some knitted blankets for a while. This blanket is especially dear to me, as it was knitted by my now late Granny.

And so we fast forward in time. Mom is here, (yay *cheers*) and we started to study the way the fabric had been put on, thinking we would use that knowledge to make the new covers. (Yes, I still have the white fabric somewhere too.)

We made sure to document said corners and the likes, and as we revealed the fabric underneath we started to get very excited. It was almost perfectly flawless on both chairs.

This is where my heart started to beat a little faster, I do love old and retro stuff. Mom appreciated the quality, even if she had lived with items of this sort previously in her life and felt a bit bored with it, she thought it was too sad to cover them back up again, when they are in such a good condition.

Note that this one is a bit
flat on top of the back.

Note that this one is more curved
ontop of its back.

And even if they are a bit different from each other, the fabric is still the same. We do not know if they were bought different like this, and that the fabric is original, or if they were bought with different fabric as well and had someone change the upholstery sometime along the way. It looks very professional.

Mom found some of my yarn to match the colour of the chairs and patched up the hole. I had a hard time finding it to show you, it is quite well done. She spent a while doing this.

The chairs came with some big pillows the previous owners used to sit on top of, or use as back supports. We washed them in the machine and made new, very durable, pillowcases, and they are now being used in the rumpus room as extra seating or whatever the kids  might come up with. 

I might show them later sometime.

And that was the whole story really. The fabric we bought for the chars are still unused. Perhaps one day we will make those covers as first intended, but until then they will be as is. 

I think they are gorgeous.

It starts with one step forward.

I don’t even know where to start. I’ve been doing crafty things since I could first hold a pencil, and before that I would whistle and sing as just a wee’ baby. But here goes, some sort of introduction I guess.

I made a Facebook page, with the same name as the blog, a good while ago, and every now and again I publish pictures there of what I make. Mostly knitting and that sort, to be honest, but that is not all what I do. I am pretty casual with it all, and to this date I have 59 likes. I haven’t been hunting for likes, or spent lots of time promoting myself and my gems, most of those likes are friends on Facebook that like to see what I come  up with, that and or feel obligated to. *small amused snicker*

I am very interested in the science of refurbing furniture. It is a science right? Some seems to have it down to a T and it is very inspiring to see what they come up with. It is fantastic to see someone take an outdated, even damaged, piece of furniture (or whatever else, nothing is excluded), and turn them into something usable and beautiful.

I have no prior experience in this matter, when it comes to furniture that is, other than sewing a few pillows, knitting some blankets, making a few bits of clothing, but not actual furniture. The closes thing to remake, or update a piece of furniture, are the old chairs I fell in love with and bought for 60 or so dollars, with the intent of putting new fabric on them to make them be pretty. Mom came visiting all the way from Norway and we even bought the new fabric to go onto them, saving this project for her visit so we could do it together. Mom is, as you might have guessed, very creative herself, and a source of knowledge as she sat by her mom as a child growing up learning tricks and tips well worthwhile.

Anyway.

The chairs have some history that I know of, told to me by their previous owner’s nephew and son. The elderly couple, who probably owned these chairs from new, were too old to live in their small home, and already moved out and they had left it to their family to get rid of the items they no longer could have. The chairs had been loved and well looked after, and over the years plenty of new upholstery had been made, and covers to fit over there, to update them to the new current style. This thrifty woman had loved her chairs, spent time keeping them up to date, and in style. That made me love the chairs even more, and even if I never met her I feel a connection through the creativity she invested.

There were several layers on these chairs. I will show them in their glory later.

I must mention in this post, that I also love retro stuff. I think old is cool, and beautiful, odd but stylish at the same time. This applies to certain old stuff, I do have my limits. Things were made to last back then, and that is valuable. You might get to see some interesting choices.

Not only do I have this creative flow that comes over me regularly, I have but a thousand projects in the making, at any given time. I admit to being bored easily, or, I love to start new projects, well, I want to angle it this way: 
I am quickly inspired, which takes my creative curiosity to new tasks. 
And this loops once I’ve had some space from a particular thing, I will come back to it, and eventually finish it. 

There has been times where I have been determined to finish all my UFO’s (Un Finished Objects), and perhaps it holds for a while until something new and shiny inspiration tempts me away.

Can anyone out there relate? 

I like to save money, and spend money on stuff that is important. Like yarn, and stuff to be creative with, and not to exclude… games. I am a bit of a nerd, though, it balances out the craftiness and makes me balanced. 

(I am also balanced by the loves of my life, husband and children, they are important, I’m just talking about something different for a change. *clears throat*)

Thrift store shopping, or as they are called here down under, Opportunity shops, or plainly op’shops, are one of my favourite things to do! You can find some really nice finds, cheap finds, expensive but need to have things. Things that still have a lot to give, that are new and unused. The sky is the limit! And here in Australia there are so many op’shops and markets, I just know I am in heaven! I hope that there will be more dollars available in the near future for my craft ideas, and whatnots, I think I need to make my husband feel safe that the junk I bring home will be treasures shortly after.

It was expensive to move from Norway to Australia, and we bought a new house and had a baby just 9 months after landing in our new country. Yes, we wasted no time and got pregnant before we even left. Not planned but very welcome. So, with me being homemaker, and husband out earning the dollars, we don’t have much extra to throw around. Our home contains furniture’s bought second-hand, or given to us for free, and what hubby had before he got me and the kids to worry about. I want a pretty house, not that it is important for me to show it off. That’s not why I make this blog, the blog is to share the knowledge, and give me the little extra push to make something nice, and perhaps learn how to make a pretty home my family and I can enjoy.

Let’s see what we can do, DIY!