Dining Chair Redo

*I've linked this post to That DIY Party on the DIY Show Off blog

The weather here in North Dakota is terrible right now and not springlike at all.  It makes me feel like Easter is never coming but I know that it is so I must press on with my dining set update.  This is part two of the project: the chairs.  You can see part one: the table here.  Here is what I started with.  My original thought was to stain them like the table but there was a lot of chipping of veneer on these chairs so I decided to opt for paint instead.  I kind of dug the vintage fabric but the colors were kind of clashing with my dining room.

I thought that I had come up with the perfect plan.  I would paint them grey since I still had grey semigloss leftover from the dining room walls.  I painted three of the chairs and ended up hating it.  The wall color has blue undertones and for some reason the color on the chairs was reading grey with green undertones.  I let the chair sit at the table for several days to see if it grew on me but I just wasn't satisfied.

So then it was back to the drawing board.  I decided to go with black and then I got the brilliant idea to add a stenciled patten on the fronts.

The process was the same as other furniture that I have painted.  Sand, prime, paint, then poly.  Pretty basic stuff.  I also reupholstered the seats with a purple velvety fabric to go with my Pier One chairs.  Reupholstering seats pads is a really simple process.  I used the old fabric to cut out the new pieces and then stapled them with my upholstery stapler.  I made sure to pull the fabric tight all the way around.

Now for a look at the stenciling process.  I actually used my Silhouette Portrait to make my own reusable stencil.  Silhouette has some new stenciling material that you can purchase here.  I didn't have any on hand though so after some research I discovered that you can use transparency sheets to make stencils.  Since I am a teacher I had easy access to transparency sheets so I picked a few up from school.  My original stencil idea was a damask pattern but it kept getting caught in the machine while it was being cut so I decided to go with the lattice design instead.  I set my Silhouette blade to 6 and set the machine at a thickness of 33 and a speed of 2.  My mat is getting old so I sprayed some Krylon adhesive on to help hold the transparency sheet in place.  

The stencil came out perfectly.  I used spray adhesive to hold it on the chair back as I painted.  I used a foam brush to apply the paint (which is Behr Suede by the way) to the stencil.  It took three moves of the stencil to fill the back.  I waited for it to dry to the touch in between so that made it take some time.  Later I went back and touched it up with some art brushes.  I wanted it to stay a little imperfect however so that I could get that Ikat look.  

After putting the chair seats back on the chairs look like this.

Here is a detail shot of the stenciling:

And finally here is a look at the chairs at the table:

At the end of the table you can see a peek at my next project: Easter/spring table decor.  Make sure to stop back in a week or so to check it out!

Handmade Baby Shower Gifts

I can't believe that it is March already!  This school year has been flying by. It will be Easter before we know it which means that I have got to get those dining chairs finished for when we host Easter dinner at our house. I painted 3 of them gray, the same gray that is on our dining room walls and I hated it so now I am going in a new direction and I am very excited about it.  I can't wait to share those with you but I have got quite a ways to go yet.

For now, I have some small projects to share with you.  Yesterday I attended a baby shower in Bismarck, ND and it was a blast.  I also had a blast making the gifts for the baby.  I gave a joint gift off of the registry with a friend but I also decided to make a few things as well.  

I made some onesies with fabric appliques using my Silhouette Portrait, heat transfer fabric interfacing and fabric scraps from my stash.  There are two types of heat transfer interfacing: one that is lighter hold that is used if you want to stitch around the edges of the applique and a stronger hold one that is made for just ironing on the appliques without using the sewing machine at all.  I had the latter kind on hand so I did not stitch around my appliques. The fox shape and North Dakota shape both came from the Silhouette online store.

The North Dakota one is definitely my favorite!

I also made a card to go with my gift.  The cut file was a freebie from this post from The Thinking Closet.  

Lauren used Silhouette's new washi paper for hers.  It is a really cute new product and I really want to get some eventually but I just used some cardstock that I had on hand instead.  I used a sketch pen to print the writing on the front.

And of course I had to throw in a set of burp cloths.  I should have taken a picture of the second one in the stack because it had cute jungle animals on it.  The theme of the shower was safari so it went perfectly with that.  

I hope you enjoyed my cute shower gifts.  P.S. I won one of the shower games by not saying the word cute during the gift opening.  That was no easy task my friends!