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Tutorials
Tutorials

missmustardseed-19 (640×352)

I finished painting, staining and slip covering the four Craig’s List chairs for the dining room a fewweeks ago and have been on the hunt for chairs to use for the ends of the table.  As it happens, I’ve had two other French cane chairs that are almost identical to the Craig’s List ones in my basement stash.  I bought them at Lucketts for $50/each, but haven’t been excited to work on them.  The seats on both of them are broken and I wasn’t sure how to deal with that.  The caning isn’t in sheets, but hand done, so I wasn’t about to try repairing the cane!  So, they’ve been sitting in my basement for over two years.  The ones I bought off Craig’s List had pretty good seats, but at some point, an upholstered seat was made for them, so I used that as my inspiration for “fixing” these

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December 6, 2013 27 Comments
Furniture Makeovers

“fixing” a broken cane seat

I finished painting, staining and slip covering the four Craig’s List chairs for the dining room a fewweeks ago and have been on the hunt for chairs to use for the ends of the table.  As it happens, I’ve had two other French cane chairs that are almost identical to the Craig’s List ones in my basement stash.  I bought them at Lucketts for $50/each, but haven’t been excited to work on them.  The seats on both of them are broken and I wasn’t sure how to deal with that.  The caning isn’t in sheets, but hand done, so I wasn’t about to try repairing the cane!  So, they’ve been sitting in my basement for over two years.  The ones I bought off Craig’s List had pretty good seats, but at some point, an upholstered seat was made for them, so I used that as my inspiration for “fixing” these

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December 6, 2013 No Comments
Before and Afters

upholsterygallery

 Several people asked for a tutorial on the part upholstered/part slipcovered French chair I revealed yesterday, so this is it!  This isn’t a comprehensive upholstery post, but it will give you an idea of what’s involved in upholstering the back and arms of a chair in this style. To get you started, you can read THIS POST on stripping upholstery.  I didn’t strip the upholstery off the seat and cushion, because I’m going to make a slipcover instead.  I had to take everything off of the back and I stripped the arms down to the muslin.  There just wasn’t a reason to strip them down beyond that. I salvaged the batting, webbing and burlap to reuse and used the fabric pieces I removed as templates for the new fabric pieces.  I cut all of my pieces and set them out so I was all ready to go. When upholstering a chair like

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December 4, 2013 62 Comments
Before and Afters

Upholstery Tutorial

 Several people asked for a tutorial on the part upholstered/part slipcovered French chair I revealed yesterday, so this is it!  This isn’t a comprehensive upholstery post, but it will give you an idea of what’s involved in upholstering the back and arms of a chair in this style. To get you started, you can read THIS POST on stripping upholstery.  I didn’t strip the upholstery off the seat and cushion, because I’m going to make a slipcover instead.  I had to take everything off of the back and I stripped the arms down to the muslin.  There just wasn’t a reason to strip them down beyond that. I salvaged the batting, webbing and burlap to reuse and used the fabric pieces I removed as templates for the new fabric pieces.  I cut all of my pieces and set them out so I was all ready to go. When upholstering a chair like

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December 4, 2013 5 Comments
crafts

HGTV.com Christmas Tutorials

The Christmas tutorials I wrote for HGTV.com are live now!  I know a lot of people have been waiting for these, especially the preserved boxwood wreath.  I promised I would link to them when they became available, so here they are… Preserved Boxwood Wreath Boxwood Topiaries Boxwood Kissing Ball I bought all of the preserved boxwood in bunches from a wholesale floral supply website, but they are currently sold out of the bulk boxes.  I’ll keep an eye out for them to come available again and order some for my online shop.  You can preserve your own boxwood…I just didn’t have any bushes to clip branches from!  I found THIS TUTORIAL on preserving your own, which is a much more economical option.  While purchased preserved boxwood is expensive, it will last for years if kept away from direct light and intense heat.  I give mine a spritz maybe once a

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October 29, 2013 24 Comments
Furniture Makeovers

Furniture Wax vs. Hemp Oil

I have received a bunch of questions lately about Furniture Wax and Hemp Oil, the difference between the two and how I choose which one to use, so I thought it was time to write a post about it.  Let’s dive right in. Furniture Wax Why I started using it… I read an article about finishing painted furniture with wax a few years ago, so I went to the hardware store and bought a can of Johnson’s Paste Wax.  That was really the only wax I was familiar with, so I started using it on some of my painted and stained pieces.  I had a few problems with it.  It was very stinky and the consistency made it difficult to move well on a piece of furniture.  I also couldn’t get it into fine nooks and crannies of pieces.  So, I started looking for other types of wax and found

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October 14, 2013 12 Comments
Hand Painted Furniture

hemp oil gallery (550×275)

I have received a bunch of questions lately about Furniture Wax and Hemp Oil, the difference between the two and how I choose which one to use, so I thought it was time to write a post about it.  Let’s dive right in. Furniture Wax Why I started using it… I read an article about finishing painted furniture with wax a few years ago, so I went to the hardware store and bought a can of Johnson’s Paste Wax.  That was really the only wax I was familiar with, so I started using it on some of my painted and stained pieces.  I had a few problems with it.  It was very stinky and the consistency made it difficult to move well on a piece of furniture.  I also couldn’t get it into fine nooks and crannies of pieces.  So, I started looking for other types of wax and found

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October 13, 2013 73 Comments
Furniture Makeovers

Dealing with Bleed Through

When I bought this piece, I thought I might have some trouble with the stain bleeding through.   Unfortunately, I was right. The piece looked like this…  …I sanded it to give the surface some tooth… …painted it in MMSMP Trophy… …which is supposed to look like the color shown above – a tarnished silver sort of color.  I left it to dry, came back and it was gray-ish purple.  Not exactly what I had in mind. If you’ve painted even a little bit of vintage furniture, I’m sure you’ve come across it.  You paint the piece, go make some dinner, come back an hour later and the color is not what you painted it.  It’s turned more red or pink or yellow or orange.  That is known not-so-affectionately as “the dreaded bleed through.”   (This quirk that sometimes rears it’s ugly head when painting pre-finished pieces can happen with

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October 8, 2013 73 Comments

I’m Marian, a painter, writer, and lover of all things creative. From art and antiques to home projects and everyday life, I share my journey in hopes of inspiring you to embrace your own creativity and make beauty in the spaces you live.

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