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Furniture Makeover

My First Experience as a Craft Vendor

This past weekend I had my first booth at a crafts/antiques fair. I wanted to share with y’all a little bit about my first experience doing this, since it was such a big deal for me. I worked really hard on my booth, and really hard on all the items that went into it. I definitely learned a lot this weekend, and I’m so thankful for it.

The biggest thing for me was at some point during that day, I realized I can do this. Having my items sold at a craft fair or market of some kind has been something I’ve wanted to do for a while, but never really thought I could. There were a million reasons why I wasn’t going to be able to do something like this, and so a few projects sat unfinished in my garage for a year or so. When this opportunity came along, I knew I couldn’t say no. The event was just one day, in our town, and I didn’t need to go through a lengthy application process, and wouldn’t have to take the day off from my real job. For these reasons, I felt like I couldn’t say no. The cards were stacked in my favor for getting my foot in the door to these types of things.

On the actual day of the event, I had so much fun setting up my booth. When I’m shopping at other flea markets and fairs, I enjoy but don’t really think deeply about the set up of the booth. It was like staging a mini room, and duh, what could be more fun?! I didn’t have a ton of items for sale in my booth, but I think I had just the right amount of stuff to accommodate my first attempt.

Here are some closeup shots of my booth:

The actual number of sales were pretty disappointing, and whether that can be blamed on the size of the event, the venue, the clientele, or whatever – it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that I got the first one down, and now I feel a lot more confident about applying for more upscale and prestigious markets. I got the self-assurance I needed to realize that this is something I really can do, and actually enjoy. I don’t feel so afraid of these types of events anymore, and the if I could only… thoughts are gone. This day was both disappointing and encouraging. I’m glad I had this experience, and I feel like this event is my jumping point for other things to come in the future.

I really feel like God was telling me this weekend (despite the disappointing number of sales) that the creative desires I have in my heart aren’t for naught. I know He has bigger and better things for me, and I can’t wait to see what happens in the future. I’ll let you know where you can find me next.

That’s all for today friends, have a fabulous day!

October 12, 2015 by Fawn Rumfield

DIY Projects, Furniture Makeover, Home Decor, Tutorials

Cane Chair Makeover…again

Have you ever done a project and just hated the results? You work hard on something, and when it’s finished, it’s just not what you thought it would be? This is what I’m sharing today. About two years ago I bought a pair of cane chairs from a thrift store for $20. I was so excited to work on them. Like, SO excited. Unfortunately, I don’t have the original picture anymore, but they were dark wood, with a gross blue fabric. I knew I wanted to make them over, but I had no idea how.

I picked some fabric out for the chairs with no thought to how it might lay on the chair. I learned a lot from this first makeover, but they just weren’t doing it for me. Here’s how they looked after makeover number one (and don’t judge me):

First of all, if you look close enough, you can see that the back legs aren’t even painted. How did I miss that?! I don’t know. I also don’t know how I lived with this for so long. Ugh.

This is a wider shot of the chairs. They are convenient, really. Ethan puts his shoes on here, and they are pretty comfortable. I like to sit here and read on occasion as well. Sidenote, our dresser is my husband’s childhood dresser (a family heirloom), deemed untouchable by the paintbrush. Anyway, looking at these chairs just makes me cringe. I’ve wanted to do something about them for so long, but the amount of work I did the first time around was torturous, and I couldn’t imagine going through that again. So I put it off for a while, thinking that since I had done it, I’d have to live with it.

But that’s just not true. I did these chairs before I got married, before I was making a home, and WAY before I started figuring out what my style was. There’s no rule out there saying you have to live with your DIY mistakes. So, I decided to take the plunge. This time, with a few ground rules. I had to do this the easiest way possible. Because last time was awful.

So let’s go through it, step by step.

I didn’t want to go through the hassle of all the buttons, so I stuffed them with stuffing. A little hot glue on top of the button, and some stuffing. Easy peasy.

I bought a $4 drop cloth and placed the seat bottom face down on the fabric.

Then I carefully pulled the corners over and stapled the dropcloth material to the bottom. The key here is to pull as tight as you can, and keep everything as neat as possible.

The seat bottom took probably a total of ten minutes, but the top section was a bit more involved.

I cut a piece of material the size of the chair back and stapled starting at the top. I found that the best way to keep it tight and even is to start at the top, then staple the bottom, and finish with the sides.

I then wrapped the chair back in quilting batting. I did this to make it a bit more comfy, and to conceal the buttons.

I then wrapped the seat back in the material, and hotglued the extra material to the backside.

I then put the seat back up against the frame, and stapled as closely to the top as possible. This is tricky, and my staple gun was not kind to my hands.

I then covered the staples with trim. I make the trim by wrapping the existing trim in the material and hotgluing it. Hot glue for the win.

The new chairs are still not perfect, but they’re much simpler, and I can live with them now. This was only my second time with reupholstery (on the same set of chairs). I still don’t have it down, but I definitely appreciate these chairs a bit more now.

Overall, they just look cleaner, smoother, and more natural.

The neutral look will allow them to be moved anywhere around our home and work.

So the moral of this story is: if you don’t like something, change it! And if you still don’t like it, change it again! I can’t say that these are perfect, but they’re working SO MUCH BETTER than before.

Have you ever done something you hated? What did you do? I’d love to hear about it! That’s all for today, friends. Have a fabulous day!

July 2, 2015 by Fawn Rumfield

DIY Projects, Furniture Makeover

Coffee Table Makeover

Hello all! Happy Monday from me to you! I hope you’re having a fantastic morning. Are you drinking your coffee as you’re reading this? I hope so!

Summer is in full swing for me here. I’m a teacher, and even though my summer break started a few weeks back, I spent the first bit of that away from home visiting different family members. I didn’t feel like my summer break had fully begun until this last week. I don’t have any kiddos to keep me busy (that is definitely not a complaint), so my days range between mindlessly watching Netflix for an embarrassing number of hours and finding odd projects around the house to keep me busy.

This week these old tables we have in our living room became the object of choice (I swear, nothing is safe from the paintbrush in this house. Except for the walls, because, landlords). These two tables were my husband, Ethan’s from his bachelor days. Who knows how old they are or where in the world they came from. Classic newlyweds, amiright?

I painted the bases white when we first got married, and that was good for a while. But you can see how scratched and janky (I can use that word right?) they are. They weren’t looking so hot.

So obviously I had to do something about it (which if you’re reading this and you still haven’t figured out that I am about to paint this table, then I’m sorry I ruined the surprise for you).

The first thing I did was put a fresh coat of Annie Sloan Old White over both tables. I’ve written previously more details about using this paint, which you can find here.

Don’t mind this background of this picture. It’s our totally-unfinished-not-fully-furnished-guestroom/paint studio. We all have that one room we don’t want anyone to see. Except you just saw mine. Don’t judge me, please keep reading.

I wanted to go for a “farmhouse style” look, so I wanted to paint a grainsack stripe on each of the tables. I spaced a four inch wide line in the center, and a one inch wide line on either side.

I then painted in the areas I had taped off. The color is Pencil Sketch by Behr. I bought a sample jar of it at Home Depot in a flat finish and had plenty left over. The paintbrush is the 2″ Wooster Shortcut. This is the first time using this brush and I can tell you that I absolutely loved it! It’s inexpensive and easy to use.

After painting my stripes, I got around to distressing lightly the edges of my table. I also sanded down over the gray stripes so that a bit of the white would show through. I wanted to give the stripes a bit of a worn look.

After distressing, removing tape, adding a finishing wax, and making a huge mess, my tables were done!

They make the room so much brighter, which I absolutely love. I also am really digging the rustic vibe they have. The best part about this project is that I had everything on hand except for the $3 paint sample I bought. That’s what I call a thrifty project! My favorite kind! That’s all for today. Have a fabulous day, friends!

June 15, 2015 by Fawn Rumfield

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