DIY Deconstructed Style... Furniture Makeover

I found this wood chair frame on Craigslist for $5. It was partially painted with navy blue and purple spray paint. The wood was old and dry so the glossy spray paint had soaked into the wood in spots and sat on the surface in spots and it was just not a good thing. It was someone's project chair that didn't go quite how they had invisioned. But we've all been there right? Anyway I was happy to take on this abandoned project and make it my own....

 

I've been a fan of deconstructed furniture for a while now because I love the textures. So I've been searching for a piece of furniture I could try it on without breaking the bank in case it failed lol. 

 

 The little thing was a bit wobbly when I got her so I pulled out some of my favorite tools. Some L brackets and screws, some Gorilla Glue, and my Bosch rechargeable pocket driver. (this is not a sponsored post, I just LOVE this driver!)

I start by putting L brackets on the bottom attaching them to seat and legs. I don't put these under the chair arms or anywhere they are likely to be noticed. Since I will be painted this chair they will blend into the chair. Now I wouldn't use these on a nice chair but a nice chair isn't likely to need them and if it was I would spend the time to pull the chair apart and reglue all the connections.

I then added Gorilla Glue to the joints and any cracks in the wood. This glue expands and fills cracks and holes in the wood so a little goes a long way.

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After making sure the  glue was dry and the chair was sturdy I mixed up some home made chalk paint using white latex paint and some nonsanded tile grout. I wanted the paint to be a little chunky since I was planning to added brown wax and wanted lots of texture to hold the wax. 

After the paint dried I sanded here and there to distress the finish.

 Next I started adding the wax. Brush on, wipe off, etc, etc.

I used Americana Decor Creme Wax in Deep Brown. I had never used their wax before but when I was at Home Depot looking for Ooops Paint I found a jar of that on the clearance rack because it had a cracked lid. There was no price so the guy at the paint counter told me $2. I grabbed it and then later saw it on the shelf at $19! WOW! Sweet! I took it home and put some plastic wrap under the cracked lid. its really easy to work with, very thin so its easy to brush on and wipe off and it gives good coverage. It's also easy to add layers to get darker areas using a dry brush paint technique.

The next step in this process was creating some upholstery that was rough around the edges, deconstructed style!~

 I worded a piece of muslin in behind the burlap strips and stapled it in place to cover the back of the chair.

 Next I layered natural quilt batting and then muslin and stapled them in place and trimmed off the excess fabric in the shape of the chair back. Deconstructed style is really easy because you can leave all your raw edges exposed.

The cushions...

 I gathered muslin, natural quilt batting (because I want it to show!) an old tea sack, stencils, and paint.

 I also picked up a couple fluffy pillows at the thrift store to make some cushions.

 I stenciled the word relax onto some textured cotton fabric and let it dry.

I tore a square from the old tea sack and layered it with the Relax painted piece torn from the cotton.

 Pin the pieces in place and then sew around the edges.

 Layer the top that you just created with natural quilt batting and sew around three edges. Slide the pillow inside and sew down the fourth side leaving all the raw edges exposed.

 I added some extra stitching here and there to add interest.

 And something I forgot to take a detail shot of but you can see here is the sewn strips of muslin and batting that I hot glued over the staples. It covers them in a nice way while keeping that raw edge deconstructed look.

And...Relax

Paper Poinsettia Tutorial

This tutorial was inspired by the Paper Poinsettia's at Bloomingdale's  (you can find pics of them online or on Pinterest)

 I made my own pattern to make some in a similar style. 

So today I want to show you what I did and share my pattern with you. 

The pattern and tutorial are free for personal use.

Happy Holidays!

To use the pattern you can right click and save the image to your computer and then print it out, OR you can right click and select "View Image" to see it on your computer screen (zoom in by holding down ctrl + to get it to the size you like), you then treat your computer screen like a light box, hold a piece of printer paper against it and "lightly" trace the pattern pieces with a pencil. (I say "lightly" because you don't want to damage your screen especially if it's an LCD screen) (sorry guys, I'm not buying anyone a new screen :)

1. Cut the pattern pieces out and trace them onto vintage paper. (I like to use lots of different patterns and papers from old books etc.) I stack 2 sheets together and cut 2 pieces out at a time. You need 2 pieces to make 1 petal.

 2. Next cut some wire about 2-3 inches longer than your petal. You need 1 piece of wire per petal.
I used some steel wire from the hardware store but you can use any wire (floral wire, jewelry wire, etc)

 3. Open up to two halves of each petal and apply glue down the center of each and all over one half.

4. Place the piece of wire in the center and flip the opposite petal half onto it and press over the entire surface with your fingers to seal.

One petal down....

lots more to go....

 Make lots of petals ( I made 20 small & 18 large to make two large flowers)

 5. Tear apart a Christmas pick from the floral dept at your local craft store. They tear apart easily so you can use the small pieces as stamens in the middle of your poinsettia.

 6. Now gather some of those pieces and tape them together. You can use floral tape but I didn't have any so I used some freezer tape I had on hand. Plus the color goes with my flower. :)

 7. Now it's time for bling. Put some tacky glue in a small container and mix it with a few drops of water. Not enough to make it thin but just enough so that it brushes on well. (you can also use mod podge, or gel medium but I prefer tacky glue for the glass glitter as it has a strong bond) Brush the glue onto each petal.

 8. Pour German Glass Glitter onto the glued petal and shake off the excess onto a piece of paper or a paper plate.

 9. Let your petals dry.

 

 10. Now gather some small petals, large petals, and glittered petals along with the center stamens and tape all the wires together. You can add more petals on the outside if you didn't gather enough to start with. You will know when you open them out and it doesn't look full.

 11. Slowly open out all your petals and bend them, the wire in the center of each petal will hold it's shape.

 This is what the back will look like.

 as you can see this pattern will make a pretty large flower

I can image making a bunch of these and decorating a Christmas tree with them.

I hope you like them and I would love to see the ones you make.

Enjoy!