How to dress for DIY success

Step 1. Be TOTALLY comfortable to go anywhere in crusty, paint covered sweats. 

Probably unshowered. Possibly with your teeth brushed. 

Step 2. Face it that your kiddo either looks about as put together as you do, or more often then not- better.

Step 3: Forget the bra. 

If you're like me it doesn't really matter anyway. 

Step 4: Wear a shirt that reminds you where you live and hence why it's a bazillion degrees in your garage. 

Step 5: Multitask and work on your soon-to-be-amazing dreadlocks with an awesome Mulan inspired nappy bun. 

Step 6: Roll your sweats up to make a fantastic waist band. 

 This will help prevent sweat pant shredding around your ankles. 

(Obviously, I learned this too late.) 

Step 7: Make sure your pants make your backside look completely nonexistent. 

You don't want to risk being to bootylicious while using primer.

Step 8: Skip painting your nails, and go for the hobbit/man foot look with a little overspray on your toes.

Step 9: Let your kiddo play with the hose while you work. 

He'll make mud, track it into the house and on to the carpet giving you a new DIY project. Woot!

Step 10: Debate whether you should actually shower when your little one takes a nap or watch the Bachelorette. 

Usually the Bachelorette wins for me. :)

Linking this to Mandi at Vintage Revivals FFA Challenge. 

ULTIMATE Reupholstering Tutorial Guide

Guys, this is the last post for chair week.

I have SO enjoyed sharing these chairs with you, and want to give all of you a sincere THANK YOU for all your sweet comments. :) 

Today, as promised, I am going to share the ULTIMATE Reupholstering Tutorial Guide, with tutorials I used and others I found along the way that I thought were awesome. 

But for all the tutorials you will have to head over to Primitive and Proper because I am guest posting there today!

 I ADORE Cassie and I feel like posting on her blog is like being on Nate Berkus or something. 

Seriously I'm so happy to be there. :)

So click HERE to head over to Primitive and Proper to get all the details and the ULTIMATE Reupholstering Tutorial Guide!

And as a recap, here are all the chairs I revealed this week.

The Ikat french arm chair.

Click HERE to see more.

The retro, burlap arm chair.

Click HERE to see more.

The black velvet, tufted wingback.

Click HERE to see more.

And two of these sweet bamboo chairs.

Click HERE to see more.

Thanks again to each of you for following along this week!

Chair Week Day 4: Sweet Bamboo Chairs

Welcome to day FOUR of Chair Week here at 551 East!

For those of you who are just joining the party I took on a massive reupholstering project of reupholstering 4 chairs in 7 weeks. 

So far I've showed you the Ikat French Provincial arm chair, Retro Burlap arm chair and a tufted black velvet wingback. 

Click HERE , HERE and HERE  to see them. 

Today is the last day of reveals before the ULTIMATE REUPHOLSTERING TUTORIAL LIST (read that in a booming voice) that I'll have for you tomorrow.  

These are two little chairs I found at Goodwill.

They were kind of...well ugly.

Here's the before:

And here's the after:

These were some rickety little chairs when we brought them home. 

After lots of clamping and glue they were in great shape. 

The frame is painted in Innocence by Behr.

The binding was just cord that I hot glued into place. 

When reupholstering, hot glue can be a very good friend. :) 

Here are the tutorials for this chair.

Clamping/glueing: Click HERE

Seat: Click HERE

Pillow: Click HERE and HERE

One chair is SOLD, the other is still available. 

Click on The SHOP tab at the top of the page for more info.

Chair Week Day 3: Tufted Black Velvet

Welcome to day THREE of Chair Week here at 551 East!

For those of you who are just joining the party I took on a massive reupholstering project of reupholstering 4 chairs in 7 weeks. 

So far I've showed you the Ikat French Provincial arm chair and a Retro Burlap arm chair.

Click HERE and HERE to see them.

Today I am showing you probably my favorite chair and I'm thrilled to be sharing it over at Chi Chi Studios!

You'll have to head over to her place for all the pictures and tutorials, but I'll leave with with a sneak peak. :)

Here's the before:

And here's the after.

Black, velvet, tufted, gold leafed LOVE.

Click HERE to see the rest!

This chair has sold. 

Chair Week Day 2: Retro Burlap

Welcome to day TWO of of Chair Week here at 551 EAST! 

For those of you are just joining the party,  I took on a massive reupholstering project of reupholstering 4 chairs in 5 weeks.

Yesterday I showed you my Ikat French Provincial arm chair.

Click HERE to see it. 

Today I am going to show you my retro, Anthropologie inspired, burlap chair.

Here's the before:

It was retro- but in a short-squatty, I have no legs and look like I belong in a disco way.

And here's the overhaul!

This chair is deep; you can sink back into it, pull your legs up and snuggle. 

And isn't that the best kind of chair. :) 

Since it is such a deep chair, I wanted to make it compatible for any style or color of throw pillow, so I switched from the coral fabric I originally showed you to this faux burlap.

It has a the look of burlap, but it actually is quite soft and much more durable.

The tufted buttons and piping are done with cream canvas.

The chair had no legs when it was given to me, so we added those.

They were purchased from Home Depot and I stained them with Minwax Mission Oak using a sponge brush to achieve the uneven, aged look.

And do you want to know a secret? 

This chair was upholstered as if I was making a slipcover, but not quite. 

It's all stapled to the chair, which means it's not removable for washing, but it doesn't shift or need to be adjusted like most slipcovers.

I wouldn't have been able to do this chair without the amazing sewing skills of my friend Kayla. 

We semi followed some tutorials, but really we made a lot of our own modifications. 

That would be the biggest tip I could give you about reupholstering.

It's important to do your research, but no two chairs are the same so be ready to experiment till you get it right. 

Here are the tutorials I found most helpful for this chair.

Slipcover: Click HERE

Piping: Click HERE and HERE

Legs: Click HERE

(Most of the tutorials I'll be sharing are from other amazing blogs and websites that I followed and found the be the best out there. Because of the tight time frame (and self-induced stress) I was under, I didn't feel like I could give you amazing tutorials and amazing chairs. :))

See you tomorrow!

For more info look under THE SHOP tab at the top of the page.

Chair Week Day 1: Ikat French Arm Chair

Welcome to day one of of Chair Week here at 551 EAST! 

For those of you are just joining the party,  I took on a massive reupholstering project of reupholstering 4 chairs in 5 weeks.

And the chairs are DONE; so this week I am going to be revealing a chair a day with tons of tutorials, tips and advice.

(Side note: Most of the tutorials I'll be sharing are from other amazing blogs and websites that I followed and found the be the best out there. Because of the tight time frame (and self-induced stress) I was under, I didn't feel like I could give you amazing tutorials and amazing chairs. :))

So are you ready for the first reveal?!

Here's the before:

Faded, dated, and musty.

And here's the after!

Gray, white and yellow Ikat fabric.

Perfection. :)

This chair had great bones.

The wood frame was solid, in great condition, and just needed a little refinishing with my beloved Watco Danish Oil (see more HERE and HERE).

The existing batting was mostly in great shape and just needed a little help. 

I found the fabric at Joann's even before I found the chair and L.O.V.E.D it. 

So when scored the chair from Craigslist, I headed to Joann's with my trusty coupon, brought the fabric home and started taking this baby apart. 

The best tutorials I found for French chairs with similar frames to this Ikat chair came from Little Green Notebook.

For those tutorials click HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

Like what you saw today?

Make sure to come back all week!

Also, if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment and I'll do my best to answer them. :)

This chair has already SOLD.

Chair Week starts TOMORROW!

I have WAITING for this week to come!

Remember when I took on Mission: (hopefully not) Impossible, of reupholstering 4 chairs in 5 weeks?

Well it took almost 7 weeks, but who's counting? :)

Starting on Monday, I'll be revealing a chair each day with tutorials, tips, and answering any questions you may have.  

And on Friday I'll have an ultimate list of some of the best reupholstering tutorials out there.

Just for you guys.

Because I love you. :)

Are you SO excited?! 

I know am!

Mid-Century Tortoise Shell Secretary

About a month ago I was online scoring ads for upcoming local auctions when I found this secretary. 

I wanted it SO bad and thankfully no one else did.

Awesome possum. 

It came home with ME. 

When I bid on it, I didn't realize it had a leather inlay, so I had grand plans to paint it old Hollywood style with black lacquer and gold details. 

But the leather was too beautiful to paint so I turned to plan B.

Watco Danish Oil in Light Maple. 

It worked it's magic beautifully. 

I'm so glad I didn't paint it. 

The tortoise shell in the wood grain is killer.

The original hardware is some of my favorite I've ever seen.

I spent a lot of time obsessing over some of the scratches and little dings I couldn't refinish with the oil and a stain pen. 

I tried all my tricks and then decided to let the little dings be. 

They add character and who says it has to be perfect to be beautiful.

For more info on this piece, including dimensions and price, click on The Shop tab at the top of the page.

Also, how about these brass candle sticks my mom thrifted for me?!

 I'll show you how to clean up old brass later this week. :)