The Girls of Summer

A couple of years ago, I found these heavy iron chairs at a barn sale.  For those of you who don't have barns in your area, it's like a garage, only bigger, dustier, more likely to make you sneeze if you have allergies,  and its day job is to house tractors and cows,

 not BMWs and golf clubs.

As a nod to their humble beginnings, I spray painted them with a color that is actually named

 "John Deere Green".

Then, after some creative engineering and woodworking from my hubby, I upholstered them in a fun, summery fabric. 

They'll be great on a covered patio or porch.

The future's so bright I gotta wear shades

Sophie is my constant companion.  Had I known she would become so attached to me, instead of naming her Sophie, I would have just called her what she is...Underfoot.  She's my shop dog and even the roar of air compressors, staple guns, and my occasional swearing doesn't faze her a bit.  She's cool with it.

I love the look of mattress ticking.  I "need" to do a chair like this.

Dangerous with a GPS

I recieved a Garmin GPS for Christmas (thanks, Mickey) and I'm at risk of having my husband hide it from me. 

I peruse craigslist every morning to see if there's a piece of furniture waiting for me to back into someone's driveway, load the shabby-and-not-at-all-chic chair into my vehicle, and give it a glamorous makeover.

Hence, the risk of Mike hiding the GPS.  It has made it so much easier to find my way to all those craigslist  sellers. Too easy, says he.

I scored a vintage Kroehler foot stool the other day and had trouble finding a place for it in my studio, which currently looks like a used furniture store. See below...

 The "Waiting"  Room.  As in "Waiting for some attention".

 Inspiration Station

This isn't the worst of it. I should be down there now, sanding something instead of writing this a 1:30 a.m.

Physician, heal thyself

It's true.

The carpenter's house has an unfinished deck.
The painter's house still has a 1980s color scheme.

And the upholsterer's furniture is stained and dated.

Well, this week I started on a campaign to update my own house.

Since down-sizing to a smaller home a few years ago, and choosing an open floorplan,
you can see everything we own as soon as you come through the (only recently painted) front door.

At least in the old house, you only saw tragedy one room at a time...

So here are my 30-year-old kitchen chairs, complete with butt-saving new foam.

work in progress

Ta-Da!

detail