My Flat: The Dining Room Chairs "After" Edition

A project that has been a year in the making is finally done...my dining room chairs. You probably don't remember the miracle that lead me to find these chairs. But here is a quick recap:

I had been obsessed with these Bamboo Chippendale Chairs by Jonathan Adler. But $550 dollars a piece wasn't going to cut it. But I happened to be walking by my favorite consignment store one night after work. I looked through the window and I saw them. My bamboo chairs! I come to find out they had four chairs at $75 each. The heavens opened right then and there and angels began to sing the Hallelujah chorus. I bought the lot and took them home that day. They need some TLC, some repainting, and definitely some new upholstery, but other than that, they are perfect.

Fast forward to very recently and they were still in their original state. I'd even purchased the fabric for the chairs back in February. Darn my laziness! But I ran out of excuses two weeks ago. Winter's a coming and I needed to be able to paint them outside. So Erin and I, with help from my parents, decided to get these babies painted. We sanded them, primed them, and then spray painted them. After a couple of coats, I sent them off to the upholster to recover them and to redo the seat cushions. They were just delivered today...voila!

BEFORE:


AFTER:


Their original color was a dirty creme with brown distressed marks. So I really wanted them to be a high-gloss white. I thought that would look really chic and pop against the walls. And I think the fabric matches the color scheme I have going on pretty perfectly. (It is Joel Dewberry's Spade Damask fabric in Ivory from his Ginseng Collection.)

I think these chairs made my dining room very happy.

Kitchens deserve cute accessories too.

Well, I guess I took an unscheduled blog break. But I know you guys get it. It just happens, doesn't it? But I haven't been completely idle. I've been doing some craftiness here and there. Take my new kitchen accessory as proof.


It's a tea towel I embroidered using the Dutch-Russian pattern from Sublime Stitching. Don't you just love how folky-fab it is?


And of course I just had to embroider a little babushka on the back. Could you blame me?

(I know that Russian nesting dolls are not really called "Babushkas" but it is just a lot more fun to say than "Matryoshka.")

I always forget that I love a bit of embroidery. And it's so much cheaper than all my other crafty interests. So to keep the proverbial ball rolling, I already have the next embroidery project "on the hoop." (See, I've got the lexicon down and everything.) I'm doing a pillow with four "Babushkas" on it. I think it's going to be super adorbs. So keep posted.

Mendocino Sundress...again.

Is anyone else getting a little deja vu?


I told you I could live in these things.

Stats (again)...
Pattern: Mendocino Sundress
Source: Heather Ross
Fabric: Shanghai Edition from Art Gallery Fabrics
Yardage: 2 1/2 yards
Made for: Moi
Date Started and Completed: August 1, 2009 (Can crank one of these babies out in about 3 1/2 hours)
Mods: No mods this time. Just did the regular length of the pattern and shorter amount of shirred rows for that empire waistline look.

Somewhere over the rainbow.

Since it's almost August, I say it's high-time I made a summer dress. Don't you think?

I think I might be channeling Dorothy from "The Wizard of Oz."

What better summer dress than Heather Ross's Mendocino Sundress (free pattern here). I have seen so many of these cute dresses all over blogland, and here's the kicker...not one of them was a dud. They looked fabulous on everyone! Now that's my kind of pattern. Another fabulous thing, there are only two pattern pieces. How can you not love that?

As for the shirring, well, I'm not going to pretend like we didn't have our growing pains. After a lot of frustrating test runs and practice swatches I finally figured how to load the elastic thread properly and set the right stitch length (on my machine it was a 4). It was a crazy journey, but we eventually got there, didn't we, shirring?

So here are some stats...

Pattern: Mendocino Sundress
Source: Heather Ross
Fabric: Seeds in Royal from Amy Butler's Belle Collection
Yardage: Little less than 3 yards
Made for: Moi
Date Started: June 13, 2009
Date Completed: June 20, 2009
Mods: I added about 3 inches to the length. Remember I'm one of those tall girls.

You know, I think I could make a dozen of these dresses and live in them all summer. Too bad fall will be here before you know it.

Mad about Mad Men

I love Mad Men. It is a show that makes me giddy with anticipation from week to week. I've especially loved watching Peggy, a girl who starts off as a receptionist and eventually works her way up to a copywriter. As a female copywriter in an ad agency who started as the receptionist, let's just say that story hits VERY close to home.

So really, how could I resist the chance to be one of them?


So go ahead, Mad Men Yourself. And get excited for the start of season 3 next month!

(Thanks Karen for the link!)