Wednesday, May 19, 2010

One man's trash...

I wanted a wingback chair for this corner.  A nice tall one.  One with some age to it, didn't have to be early American or anything, just a little vintage.  There were a few at the auction on Saturday night.  So I planned on heading out there.  HOWEVER, sometimes if you are observant enough, exactly what you want jumps right out in front of you and makes itself yours.  This was the case of my wingback chair.  On my way to deposit kids where kids need to be, I saw this chair on the side of the road.  Oh, don't judge me.  It was fate, I tell you, fate. 

It will get new upholstery once I am done with the slipcover for my couch.  It is nice and solid, probably made in the 50's, and it meets my most stringent criteria for furniture fished out of the garbage, it doesn't smell like pee!  I'm very picky about these things you know.

So what else about this corner... Oh the print is an older one, probably 30's.  I paid $1.00 for it at the auction thinking that it was a new print in an old frame, but happily I discovered it is an old print in an old frame.  I love that.  Of course there is a story to it.  I actually got all the way home from the auction and realized that I had left it there and had to go all the way back.  So my $1.00 print probably cost $15.00 in gas.  Still a good deal. 


The lines are a reflection-it is in very nice condition.

Then I guess we need to read the writing on the wall.  I have looked at all the ready-made wall decal thingys at Target, the wall paper store and online.  They are expensive and none of them really said what I wanted to say.  So what did I do?  Well I thought of carbon paper and paint and well I didn't do that.  I printed the saying out on clear waterslide decal paper.  Then I cut carefully around each word.  Then I carefully soaked the decals, slid them on the wall and two tedious hours later I had my trendy wall art.  Now I already had the paper in my crafty stash so this didn't cost anything and I had ink in my printer. Word of advise if you want to do this, take a deep breath and work slowly.  The decal paper, when you use such large amounts of it, is slippery and it folds onto itself and is a huge pain.  But if you have patience, you can do this for almost nothing.  You can find the paper on eBay.   



So this corner cost me $1.00 plus gas.  Now if I had to buy the decal paper it would probably add another $10.00 and I am going to spend about $50.00 on fabric to recover the chair, but right now this will do. 






Smiles,
Lisa

10 comments:

  1. Oh you are so feeding my craving for vintage and I'm so glad the chair didn't smell like pee either! I did not know about that special paper and I'm always learning new things from you (like the carbon paper trick for lettering too). Your new room is so amazing Lisa! BTW, you're partly to blame for my wanting to live in an older home again, you vintage diva you. But fiddle dee dee, I'll worry about that tomorrow! ~Lili

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  2. Oh Lisa, it's all coming along and looks so beautiful. What a pleasure and joy it must be to know you are getting exactly what you want and for a song. Perfect!
    The wingback is great and I would not have passed it up either. Some people just have no idea what they are throwing out, and that's a good thing for the rest of us, Char

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  3. Oh your room is looking so upscale and elegant. Love the words on the wall, you did a great job. Are you going to the 10 mile yard sale in Cornville on Sat? If you are, you might see me somewhere along the route.

    Hugs, Kathleen

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  4. Love the after picture, much better!

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  5. That's incredible! From now on, you will be my corner interior decorator. Or at least a consultant via phone, because even if your fee were $1.00, it would cost me $4,300 in gas to get you out here.

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  6. I'm not sure how I found your blog, probably on a lazy Sunday when I click my way through dozens of sites, waiting for something to pique my interest. And I stopped on yours. You have a great way with words. The topic of remodelling is awesome, as I just bought my first home and am looking to do much of that myself. Your blog is genuine, funny, and informative. Just thought I'd pop out of the woodwork and tell you this. Thanks! :)

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  7. Love it !! my favorite kind of decorating!! have a great weekend-black fly free!!??--rain

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  8. Haven't been by in awhile, but what a great job you did with that corner! You reminded me we have a chair almost exactly like your "new" one, but it's buried in a corner of the office....I must get busy and resurrect it. Thanks for the inspiration.

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