I love it so much... I don't know what to say!! With an Update

Tweet

Oh the things I do while L.O.V.E. is away hunting...  It all started with a picture I found on the world wide web. I became obsessed with this chair... but where would I put it? AND my budget was not letting me purchase such a lovely statement piece :( RAWHIDE Western Culture  Then I saw this beauty Source My wheels got turning!! I was so excited. I knew exactly what I was going to do... then I got a little nervous. It's been a while since I trusted my artistic side. With a little encouragement from L.O.V.E and a TON of help from the oldest punk, we began the project. We went from this sad little dining set. To this thing of beauty. I am so pleased with the results!! I don't know what to say. So I am going to post the LONG process with pictures, because, well aren't they worth a thousand words anyway? Remember we started with this ripped and tattered thing. That had layers, upon layers of fabric. AND one very sad layer of  cushion. So we decided to add a f.a.b. new piece of cushion. Then we added the incredible cowhide. Don't worry it's not real cowhide... I couldn't afford it :) that and it might shed. Like a friends  moose hide that she kept on her bed...  That was day 1. The next day while the punks were away at school and L.O.V.E was at work, I started the sanding. When L.O.V.E. heard I was sanding it IN the house... I was in trouble. He explained that the dust will get into the electronics and places I would never even imagine. Good thing I was already done.  Next, I aged the top of the table. I got a bag of screws and started banging the top. Making all sorts of little notches and dings. It was so FUN. Really it was and when I was all done and stood back, I started to cry. What had I done to our table?  To late now. I can't turn back. I told myself, finish it!!  We started painting late that night, right after little punk and L.O.V.E left to hunt the great Elk. We called it a night at 1 A.M.  I was a tired and weepy and grouchy ( for those of you who know me, 11o'clock is my usual cut off time) It looked very retro and not what I had imagined. Oldest punk starts giving me some advice. It went something like this " you know if you want to be successful you have to finish what you start. Even if you don't like it. When you are all through you have learned something. Who knows', in the morning you might really like it." Wow he is wise. He is going to be one amazing man when he grows up... Well,  we woke up and started on our project again. He aged the chairs, while I aged the table. Then we stain washed it and let it dry. I also stain washed the top. It brought out all of the little details and it REALLY did look like old barn wood. I am in love with it!! It's just as I imagined. Now we just have to put a nice finish on the top !! We found these great little knobs on an antique dresser years ago. We saved them for projects like this. Come on now, did you really think I would be at a loss for words? UPDATE*UPDATE*UPDATE*UPDATE I have had a few people ask me what color I used on the table and just what is stain washing. I used the color SWIM found in the Valspar paint section at Lowe's, in semi-gloss The Stain is Minwax in Dark walnut As far as stain wash goes.... well I am not sure if it's the real technical term. It is just what I thought of while doing it. It goes a little something like this. You get a brush, I used a cheap little brush, and you dip just the tip into the stain. Then you brush it on and push it into the little cracks. Then right away with a wet rag, one that you don't mind ruining, you wipe it off.Leaving just a trace on your surface. At some point your rag is going to to be covered in diluted stain. I then just rub it on the spots that I desire to have a little touch of color. I hope that makes sense.

Oh the things I do while L.O.V.E. is away hunting...

 It all started with a picture I found on the world wide web. I became obsessed with this chair... but where would I put it? AND my budget was not letting me purchase such a lovely statement piece :(

RAWHIDE Western Culture

 Then I saw this beauty

Source

My wheels got turning!! I was so excited. I knew exactly what I was going to do... then I got a little nervous. It's been a while since I trusted my artistic side. With a little encouragement from L.O.V.E and a TON of help from the oldest punk, we began the project. We went from this sad little dining set.

To this thing of beauty. I am so pleased with the results!! I don't know what to say. So I am going to post the LONG process with pictures, because, well aren't they worth a thousand words anyway?

Remember we started with this ripped and tattered thing. That had layers, upon layers of fabric. AND one very sad layer of  cushion.

So we decided to add a f.a.b. new piece of cushion.

Then we added the incredible cowhide. Don't worry it's not real cowhide... I couldn't afford it :) that and it might shed. Like a friends  moose hide that she kept on her bed... 

That was day 1.

The next day while the punks were away at school and L.O.V.E was at work, I started the sanding. When L.O.V.E. heard I was sanding it IN the house... I was in trouble. He explained that the dust will get into the electronics and places I would never even imagine. Good thing I was already done. 

Next, I aged the top of the table. I got a bag of screws and started banging the top. Making all sorts of little notches and dings. It was so FUN. Really it was and when I was all done and stood back, I started to cry. What had I done to our table? 

To late now. I can't turn back. I told myself, finish it!!

 We started painting late that night, right after little punk and L.O.V.E left to hunt the great Elk. We called it a night at 1 A.M. 

I was a tired and weepy and grouchy ( for those of you who know me, 11o'clock is my usual cut off time) It looked very retro and not what I had imagined. Oldest punk starts giving me some advice. It went something like this " you know if you want to be successful you have to finish what you start. Even if you don't like it. When you are all through you have learned something. Who knows', in the morning you might really like it." Wow he is wise. He is going to be one amazing man when he grows up...

Well,  we woke up and started on our project again. He aged the chairs, while I aged the table. Then we stain washed it and let it dry. I also stain washed the top. It brought out all of the little details and it REALLY did look like old barn wood.

I am in love with it!! It's just as I imagined. Now we just have to put a nice finish on the top !!

We found these great little knobs on an antique dresser years ago. We saved them for projects like this.

Come on now, did you really think I would be at a loss for words?

UPDATE*UPDATE*UPDATE*UPDATE

I have had a few people ask me what color I used on the table and just what is stain washing.

• I used the color SWIM found in the Valspar paint section at Lowe's, in semi-gloss
• The Stain is Minwax in Dark walnut
• As far as stain wash goes.... well I am not sure if it's the real technical term. It is just what I thought of while doing it. It goes a little something like this. You get a brush, I used a cheap little brush, and you dip just the tip into the stain. Then you brush it on and push it into the little cracks. Then right away with a wet rag, one that you don't mind ruining, you wipe it off.Leaving just a trace on your surface. At some point your rag is going to to be covered in diluted stain. I then just rub it on the spots that I desire to have a little touch of color. I hope that makes sense.