The pink was truly gross up close and I’m sorry I didn’t capture it better.

There were a lot of staples in these babies (aren’t there always?) so I made a magnetic sculpture out of them to amuse myself amid the drudgery of removing them.

These were in great shape structurally, so a little fresh batting and fabric was all that was needed. THAT makes a nice change.

We don’t need them, so I’ve listed these on Craigslist. I’m not putting them on e-bay for a few more days. While I haven’t seen any currently for sale by Keller in this particular style, I did see this Keller chair for sale:

Here on Etsy

I’m offering two for the price of her one!

Would you rather I perdiodically post the photos as a recap on the blog, or is the weekly tweet recap good enough? This is a poll, without my having to activate a poll plug-in, so I’ll be looking for some piping up from you fine people.

Here’s just a very little of what’s been going on…some have been on Instagram and some never quite made it.

We had another evening of treehouse glamping, where there might have been a jedi lightsaber show.

I don’t know anything about editing and resizing video, or I’d show you some moves, but the file is too big to upload here.

The lightcube glowing through the treehouse window was our nightlight.

Otto spent half an hour staring down this deer one day, and will watch them as long as they hang around. He seems cool with them, and doesn’t bark often. It’s the chipmunks that seem to piss him off.

These are two projects currently in progress.  The CC is building a firewood shelter/shed which will also hide our ugly air conditioning units when finished.

I am working on a pair of Keller chairs. The CC doesn’t think I am we are ready for the living room chairs yet, since the bottoms might be a bit complicated for newbies like us.

Otherwise it’s been cooking, digging, mulching, weeding and hanging by campfires. Y’know,  springtime stuff.

One of our favorite farmers markets opened today, so that makes us happy…but the humidity started to roll in this week, which makes us sad..and sweaty.

Don’t forget to let me know what you think about my attempts to integrate the different media. If you want to follow me on Instagram, I’m @modfrugal, same as Twitter.

Let’s take a step back to see where we started.

If you remember, the frame was broken, so the CC cobbled it back together like a pro.

How many celebrities have furry chair namesakes?

You’re welcome, David Beckham and Justin Bieber.

Becks

…and Bieber

Otto photobomb!

They are for sale here. Once it gets too hot to work outside much, we’ll get started on those other chairs.

UPDATE: I have heeded your advice and re-shot he chairs in the dining room…and raised the price to $300. It was a LOT of work, for the CC especially.

]]> http://modfrugal.com/2012/04/becks-and-bieber/feed/ 10 http://modfrugal.com/2012/04/craigstweeting/ http://modfrugal.com/2012/04/craigstweeting/#comments Thu, 19 Apr 2012 22:28:09 +0000 ModFruGal http://modfrugal.com/?p=10022 While Craigstweeting today, I found something I couldn’t resist.

WHAT?! More chairs? Ummm…Yes.

*holds head in shame*

As for rehab- it’s mostly surface rust, so I brought out my trusty and crusty friends to help.

Once I got to work, I found a few spots that required the cola treatment. Sigh. That just added another hour to the job. The not-leather, but pleather had only one tiny nick on the backside, so yeah for that!

They cleaned up pretty well!

Currently, they are in the dining room heading up the table. I’ve now got my Burke/Saarinen knock offs as side chairs ever since the galvanized ones have moved outside.

I’ve been hunting for the perfect set of 8 Baughman beauties for almost 2 years now, but those don’t come cheap, so patience is been a virtue I must pretend to have.

Have a great weekend!

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that while I was in Brimfield last Summer, I fell for a pair of these, but they were $495 for the pair.

Am I shocked? Not really.

Am I resentful? Absolutely.

Our dining room table was bought on sale at Pottery Barn, and I think I know why the clearance price was so good. The finish has the life span of a fly. It’s called Sandrift Gray and it started chipping only 6 months after we got it. Now, this is what we see all over…little nicks and chips.

I contacted Pottery Barn right away when the first nicks appeared to see if they sold a touch up kit or something that would match the finish…NO. So now I throw a canvas dropcloth over it if I have guests coming because it’s at the point now where it’s just looking…shabby.

I love the lines…I wanted a Parson’s table, and still do, plus it has a leaf, so that we can seat 10-12 for special occasions.  I want to fix the table finish, but how?  The “finish” is textured, as you might be able to tell in the photos. Because of that, an opaque paint color might highlight the chips in the texture. If I did some kind of overglaze, would that be enough to hide it? I don’t know that I have it in me to sand off the finish completely and start over…but it’s a last ditch option. I tried a silver paint pen on one spot that I promptly wiped off…sigh.

This will be a big project either way and I’m open to suggestions on how to hide these blemishes…I don’t want to have to live with tablecloths forever.

We forgot to take pics of the chairs before taking them down to the frames, so I tried to dig up a few snaps of them from days of yore.

They had button tufting on the back. Yikes… my dining room when we first moved in! Ew!

Terrible shots, but you get the idea…a pair of upholstered tufted klismos style chairs from the 40′s-50′s I’d guess. The only ones I found like them online are attributed to Parzinger, here.

So, the Things were a little rough with them, and the frame snapped on one, so up to the attic they went to await repair. I had planned to reupholster them anyway, but knew we’d have to fix the frame first. Once we got them stripped down, both frames actually needed some structural repair.

The CC likes the woodworking repair aspect…*yawn* and now that he’s almost done, it’s time for me to get to work and sand down the legs, paint them and start upholstering them. I’ve decided to go a little crazy, OK a LOT crazy with these chairs.

Behold what I plan to cover them with….

Scary, huh? That’s several yards of faux grey and white Mongolian fur, and if it ends up looking like a pair of ugly trolls, I can just redo it. THIS is the fun part of trying to tackle this on my own-the risks aren’t so risky. Would I do this if I were paying someone else to do it? Probably not, I’d go with something “safer”.

So that’s one of the many unfinished things happening around the house…I’m hoping for a full reveal sooner rather than later.

So…. when I scored some bedside tables on Craigslist last week, the asian tables were back in flux, and with the sale approaching, I started to worry the CC might push the subject of selling them.  I simply wasn’t ready for that.  My solution?  Find a place in the house for them QUICKLIKE.  I became a rearranging ninja, and after many room redos, I managed to save them…for now. They are pushed together to serve as a long table between the rattan at the fireplace.

So they are safe…. for the moment.  The next time a favorite household item is threatened, I will quietly emerge from the walls….

via cellardoor

via 8wayrun

…and will silently and stealthily rescue the defenseless.

That’s right, he SWIVELS his layers….shall we call him the Swinger?

I also found a place for the Sexophone…..

Oh, and remember my pair of vintage chairs that I love love love so much? Turns out they are a bit dangerous in the house.

Yup.  Those front support bars blend in with the dark floors and had become a huge maiming hazard.  I can’t have pretty chairs that hurt my people, so they moved out and we have enjoyed them on the deck where we can see those bars better.

In their place is a pair of swiveling rattan chairs that had been in Thing Two’s bedroom.  Not as pretty as the others, but far friendlier on the toes and way more practical for the upcoming fire season.  Now we can swivel towards the flames, or the couch…flames, couch…

So, I think that’s it for now.  I’ve updated the tour with the latest changes.

Remember how I wanted some fancy outdoor fabric for my patio furniture here?  And how I wanted to sew them myself to save the ludicrous expense here?

Well, neither of those things happened.

What I did manage was a no-sew fabric origami contraption that is the most unprofessional DIY ever, so don’t blame me if you do this and get laughed out of your neighborhood…K?  Just sayin’.

Joann was having a 50% upholstery foam sale, so I knew it was time.  Just as well I got there early too, since the cutting table was 6 deep with peeps and foam.  I got 2 inch Nu-Foam for boats and outdoors along with some iron on velcro, and my cheap fabric.

Rather than cramp my hand for life attempting to cut the stuff, I splashed out on a $20 electric knife…trust me on this…you need it if you have foam to cut…period.

So…now it’s cardboard template and cutting time….

Then comes some tricky folding of the fabric to make it look as neat as possible…..then attach the velcro to your key places.

Then you’re done…all told, materials cost was $58 for foam and velcro (I got enough foam for 2 long sofas and I have 2 yards left-6 yards total) $12 for fabric and $20 for the knife.  $90 total.

You won’t wow anyone with this ramshackle upholstery job, but your tush will have some cush that’s inexpensive and easy to wash.  Down the road, we’ll get something done right, but the weather is glorious and un-saunaesque so it’s time to enjoy the deck…NOW.

Their humble beginnings seemed to cry for a bit of orange lacquer, but that’s too much work for an impatient one like myself.  Let’s start sanding!

I decided to cheat and use spray primer instead of brushing it on because of all the thin areas…and because I’m lazy.

Then, it was paint time!  We have an HPLV (high pressure, low volume) spray gun attachment for the air compressor that we used for painting.  I bought a high gloss, oil based enamel (a Ralph Lauren color matched in Glidden since Ralph didn’t have high gloss enamel.)  At first we thinned the paint with paint thinner, but it was still clogging in the nozzle.  After a little research and polling of paint pros…I needed Naptha.  It was still early spring and weather made these stages go by in weeks rather than days.

Now, if we were professional-like, we’d set up a spray booth in the garage or something…but nooooo….

….So you get this…now it has to dry, and that bug has to be sanded off…crap!  At least there are multiple coats of paint so it will disappear.

Then after sitting around without glass for a couple of months..I finally got it done.  Glass inserts in…and NO WHERE TO PUT THEM.  I’m sad.  I really want to keep them, but they aren’t working anywhere right now.  If I don’t figure out a place soon, I guess they’ll have to go to the booth…which makes me sad….maybe the attic for future rearranging possibilities?

Sad…and lazy….did I mention the sad?