Monday, July 2, 2012

Opportunities in work clothes.

Sorry I have been so busy! I know y’all have missed me. Well summer is finally here and I am home Ole Miss to be with my family and catch up on some projects I have in mind.  Two of my favorite things are to make money and to spend it; and what better way to do both and craft at the same time! So for my big summer project I am working on refinishing and recovering a vintage couch and chair set.  My precious mama found this set for me on the side of the road! Who would throw away such a thing?? Being the wonderful mother she is, she bought it for me for $50! Shocking I know, it really was a great deal!
Since this is my first major recovering project, I wanted to take baby steps and tackle the chair first.  The couch and chair itself were in fairly good condition except for the fact a litter of roaches scurried from under the cushions and totally freaked me out.  I knew then I had to gut them down to the wood so no babies would lurk out once I was done.  Yuck!

With a little coat of black paint she turned into a beauty! I was so excited and couldn’t wait to find just the right fabric to give the chair a bold look! That was until I looked for fabric.  My excitement went down the drain as soon as I started pricing fabrics.  I found the most beautiful black and cream pattern that was so perfect, until I saw that it was $39.99 a yard. What a buzz kill.

Discouraged I gave up looking and was positive that I was never going to find anything inexpensive to cover my chair. I mean hello, it would have cost more for three yards of fabric than it did to buy the entire furniture set.  But good ole Ya Ya came to the rescue with such a clever idea. 

Her pack rat hording ways can 99% of the time be a negative trait, but this time she gave me the best idea. She recently ventured to a discount store and bought fabric table cloths with bright flowers and bold patterns, just the look I was going for but only $4 per table cloth! A fabric is a fabric and you gotta do what you gotta do.  This was the perfect solution to my fabric nightmare and I was back on track!!
Ecstatic, I am back on the project and have learned that I if I think outside of the box, I can have everything I want.  I can’t wait to show y’all the finished product!

"Problems are only opportunities in work clothes."
—Henri Kaiser