Nothing A Coffee Bag Won't Fix

I have a confession. My name is Carrie and I am a coffee bag addict.

I found myself another padded ottoman recently at the Goodwill that needed an update. These have been a great seller for me in my booth, the last few have sold in a matter of days. The before was pretty typical; beige and BORING. At least in wasn't mauve!

I grabbed another of the fabulous coffee bags that I've been hoarding from my local coffee roasting connection. This particular one had a more vivid image so I decided to use black on the wooden legs instead of white like the last two.

I couldn't remove the legs as I had on the previous ones, so it made the upholstering a little tough. I decided to just use some upholstery binding that I had from another project to make the leg area look a little more polished. I used some left over upholstery tacks for accent and it was done.

Typically I don't like to repeat projects, but as the saying goes "if it aint' broke, don't fix it".
Besides this one came out much less shabby chic and more rustic primitive. I'm happy with the finished project, just grungy enough to be considered stylish.




Linking up with these lovely ladies:

I Pledge Allegiance

Hello! I am recovering from the second annual Wade Creek House Flea Market which we held in the garden at the shop yesterday. It was 90 plus degrees outside...which is uber hot here in Oregon. Thank goodness I had my fabulous hubby there with me because I ended up having to go home ill a few hours in. I don't know what it was, but I managed to sleep it off in a few hours time and head back to help him out.

In the few days prior to the sale I had been working on one of those freebie projects I acquired from a friend of mine. Now sometimes even free things aren't really worth the price. Do you know what I mean? I don't know about you, but my blood, sweat and tears are pretty valuable. This is the first project since the "9 lives dresser" that I had to strip to the bare bones. I've always wondered what provokes people to paint layer after layer of drippy, gloppy paint on something. Maybe they think if they apply enough layers the paint will eventually equal the drips? IDK...

I decided from the get go this would be my American Flag dresser. Maybe it was the Olympics and all the patriotism that put me over the edge? This dresser had pretty straight lines and the little drawers on the top seemed to be the perfect width for "the star" section.

As I mentioned, it was rough. So rough in fact that I decided to cover all of the cracks and chunks on the bottom with moulding rather than $100 worth of wood putty. Two coats of primer followed by two coats of white base paint and I was ready to start laying out my stripes. It took me a couple tries to get the math right, but eventually I ended up with a pretty accurate division and used a level to make sure they remained straight from drawer to drawer.

Now it was time for my go-to product, Scotch Blue Tape to make sure all that math wasn't  spoiled by messy lines. I used regular red acrylic paint for the stripes.  It took me three coats to get the true red color. I had some oops paint in the perfect blue that I used to paint the star section.

After the paint was dry it was time for my favorite part...removing the tape! Ta-da...only a few tiny touch ups needed. I roughed up and distressed the edges and accented them with my brown shoe polish. I waxed the whole piece with clear wax, except for the blue sections. I first had to glue on my white wooden stars. I had to get a little creative here though, I didn't want to be known as the American who wrongly depicted her own flag. Fitting 50 stars was a little rough but I did it.

I can't wait to show the finished dresser to the gal I got it from. I'd venture to say if I didn't tell her it was the same piece, she'd never know.




Linking up with these lovely ladies:

Creative Chaos...And A Chair

Whipping up a quick post in the midst of my creative chaos. Am I the only one who accumulates so many pieces in my to-do pile that it becomes daunting? It's a fine line for me between enough to work on and enough to terrify me.

In addition to the pieces I create for my booth, we are encouraged to also teach classes or workshops in the shop classroom. I recently decided that I would teach my first class. I am planning to hold a vintage chair painting workshop. I have limited it to 8 people and plan to go over the basics of priming, painting, and distressing. In the end they will end up with a finished chair complete with monogram and coffee bag upholstered seat.

Now I don't want to share ALL of my tricks...I don't want to put myself out of business! I'm excited about it, but also horribly nervous. It isn't until September 22nd so I've got some time to get used to the idea. Time to get busy!