Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Like Spray on Hair?

Right after college I went over seas for about two and a half months, and while I was overseas I got an offer to work at Teen Mania. So, what was a mission’s lovin’ girl supposed to do but pack all of her recently unpacked stuff up and move a thousand miles away from her home town…technically only a few hundred miles more than she was living in college.

I moved to Tyler, TX (recently known for the cannibalist murdering boyfriend) with a pick up load of stuff and myself. I moved into a little studio apartment with my bed, a futon, and an ikea like fold up kitchen table. I think that pretty much sums up my furniture.

Soon after I got there I found a cheap overstuffed white chair that I loved. At that time, I thought it was super top notch. My sole piece of real post dormitory furniture. Ten years later, and several moves, this white chair is DINGY but still in fairly good shape(you can see the out of place chair in the picture here). It’s in our bedroom…even though it matches nothing. I keep a throw over it, and have even tried the occasional chair cover but I hate chair covers. And I loathe the idea of getting rid of the chair…my first non-futon furniture! Even tho I don’t use it often…it’s my Quiet Time Chair! I love this chair.

Then I got a book on upholstering your own furniture. I thought, I’ll salvage the chair with beautiful new material from JoAnn Fabric! I know Ruthie Stenner does it all the time. But when I got the book, it lost me at Step 1: Measure the arm of the chair. So check that option off of the list.

Then I found, on line….paint your own furniture. Seriously, PAINT your own furniture. The ad says, choose a color darker than your upholstery, spray on a couple of layers, leave it for 72 hours and voila, beautiful like-new furniture. It even stays “soft.” Seriously, PAINT your own furniture. I was laughing out loud when I found this, but now I’m thinking, what have I got to lose? Should I try it, it seems a little like spray on hair!?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh the memories of the places you lived in Tyler and visiting you there (because of course I was still 1000 miles away from home too, but only a couple hundred from my favorite sister). I have never heard of painting a chair, but why not give it a shot. What can it hurt? I remember the chair being very comfortable. Hope it stays that way after the spraying.

JaydensJourney said...

I forwarded your blog link (again) on to Ruthie hoping that she will weigh in on the painting of furniture. She's in a painting mode right now so she may be a little biased towards trying it.

JaydensJourney said...

Also, I'll break the news gently to Willie that you are painting his chair. Have you thought about a nice chocolate brown color to match his coat?

Anonymous said...

Hmmm, that's interesting. Maybe you could buy some to try out first, on some other material like a sheet or something before you do your whole chair. I'd be curious to see if it rubs off at all too. Let me know if you try it!

Natalie

Unknown said...

I've painted a lot of furniture, but never fabric furniture. If you try it let me know how it goes. I've done a lot of fabric projects to my furniture, and they are kinda fun and easy. With your creative mind you could probably come up with all kinds of things to give your chair a new look.

Emily Jade said...

It'll be easier to recover it. Painting it leaves a lasting stink!

The Shenks said...

You are so funny! After all the fun you make of me for all the stuff I keep! LOL! Seriously though, LOVE that chair! I don't think I'd risk it...can't you just get a good steam cleaner?