a new chair

Way back when we first got to Denver, we picked up our table and two miscellaneous chairs from the Craigslist free section. One of those chairs was this one:

Since that day long ago, I have been slowly plotting and pulling together the necessary items to give it a new life. I didn't mind the color the wood was painted, but it was pretty beat up and really needed a fresh coat. And the fabric, well, that's just hideous.

Step 1 was to remove all the fabric and layers of crazy batting and cushion. My original plan was to re-use the cushion but upon seeing it, I decided some less-than-20-year-old foam might be a better choice. Also, the seat part of the chair didn't have a hard base, but instead was supported by these crazy springs that stretched from the front to the back. Shawn helped me get those off (miraculously without losing an eye) and I started brainstorming on what to use to restructure it.

Step 2 was sanding. Sanding sanding sanding. Until it looked like this:

Sometime between steps 1 and 2, we ended up at an estate sale where the man had been a furniture upholsterer. What luck! And it was half-off day so I ended up getting some fabric for $2.50. Not my absolute favorite #1 choice ever for fabric, but considering this is my first attempt, I figured it would do.

Eventually, I ended up buying some high density foam from the craft store along with some extra stuffing to fill in any gaps. Probably the most expensive part of this whole project. I decided to just do a piece of plywood across the seat to serve as the base and kept my eyes peeled in the alleys and dumpsters for a while. After weeks of no luck, I thought perhaps I should just see how much a piece might cost from Lowe's. Even their smallest piece was more than I wanted to spend, but luckily I spotted the scraps next to the giant lumber cutting machine. I pulled out a piece of thick MDF that was close enough to the size I needed and asked a friendly Lowe's guy how much they would sell it for. "You can just have it," he replied. Music to my thrifty ears :)

So the only missing piece to the chair puzzle was the paint. I was wanting a glossy mahogany but didn't have any luck finding it in a quart size or even in spray paint. On a trip to Lowe's, Shawn found a quart of "oops" paint that, priced at $2.50, was surely close enough.

Then the long, often procrastinated, process of putting all the pieces together ensued. I had kept the old pieces of fabric to use as a pattern and discovered that the bolt I had bought had literally just enough cloth to replicate the pieces. Phew! The seat was cut to size thanks to the borrowed saw from the resident construction workers (turns out they are good for something...) And a couple of coats on the wood frame  had the chair looking fresher already. The paint color did turn out a bit more orange-y than I had originally wanted, but I'm considering adding a tinted glaze on top to give it a bit more gloss. One day. I also painted the blue table legs in the same color to pull them together somewhat. An estate sale staple gun came in handy for the actual upholstering, and I'm happy to say I think it came out rather well!

I must admit that the back is not fully finished, as I'm debating if I want to do visible nailheads or use the tiny ones that disappear for the last panel. Perhaps something will pop up and inspire me!

Here's one more before and after:

    

sale-ing away

 It seems as though missing the garage sales last week just made it even better this week. We usually start our excursion with a quick check of estatesales.net. I pulled it up on Wednesday just to see what was in store for the weekend and discovered that there were actual a couple starting on Thursday which means now I could be estate sale-ing more days during the week than not. An awesome and scary thought.

So Thursday morning we headed a bit south of Denver to potentially one of the oddest estate sales I’ve ever been to. Also one of the most severely overpriced. We made a pact to never go to another sale run by the company who was in charge of that one.  Just as an example, a cross-stitch wall hanging to commemorate the couple’s wedding day (circa 1985) was priced at $15. Heh? We spent a lot of time pondering what had happened to the people who lived there. They were definitely not old, probably my parent’s age judging by the stuff and the wedding date. There was a full house of furniture, including a kid’s room. Very strange. Divorce? Tragic accident? Murder/suicide? I’ve been using homegirl’s Big Sexy Root Pump Mousse for the past few days though so hopefully it’s not anything too creepy.

Luckily we managed to find another sale that was pretty much amazing. A bunch of retro 60’s furniture and fun kitchen stuff. It was there that I found this awesome ottoman which I think is going to become a side table.

I also found this little oddity for $6 but decided it would make a perfect coffee table with the right piece of glass on top. 

I have no idea what its real purpose is. But it’s $193 less than my dream West Elm table, so I will definitely make it work! I also snagged these candle holders and we got these hilarious bottles for the bar.

Which is good since we don’t exactly stock top-shelf liquor in this thrifty establishment. The little charm things just crack me up. Kind of gangster.

On Saturday we hit up a couple different Goodwills. The ones in the Denver area are 50% off one or two Saturdays a month. So it’s kind of a madhouse but you can get some really good deals.  Such as… the perfect glass for my new coffee table! Major score for $6.50. The glass part for the coffee table and the base I think I’ll paint and use for a nightstand once I find it a new top. So the living room is coming together.

The pillows are some bo-bo ones I got at the 60’s sale and tied scarves around. One scarf from a thrift store and the other I already had. Although, let’s be serious, I’m sure it’s from a thrift store as well :) So they cost me about 3 bucks. Me likey.

weekends = garage sales

This past weekend’s estate sales did a pretty good job at filling in the existing gaps in our home furnishings. Well, Friday and Sunday’s. Saturday Shawn had to work and I was laid up after our Friday evening adventure with Evan Williams and Diablo-tinis. We did have a fantastic evening experimenting with our new printer/scanner/copier.

And lounging on the new couch we found Friday morning. Strangely, the estate sale we went to was all half off, which usually happens on Sunday. Not sure when this one had started but the tremendous price cut did result in us finally getting a couch for $12.50! And I actually like the fabric as it is so I don’t need to start plotting how I’ll scrounge up the money to reupholster it. Kind of reminds me of a men’s suit. 

I was seriously stressing how this thing was gonna get home but Shawn assured me our girl could do it. Luckily the rope just stays in the car now for these emergency furniture hauling situations.

As we were pulling away, three old men were walking up to the sale. They were of course checking out the freak show and we heard one of them say to the other “I don’t think she has it on there right..” They clearly didn’t know what kind of professionals they were observing.

Sunday we did something I haven’t yet done in my garage sale experience—we went back to a sale to see what was left for half off.  After hitting up one sale and finding a sweet set of cordless Black & Decker power tools: saw, sander, and drill; we went back to one we had visited on Friday that had a ton of tools to see if we could find some drill bits and whatnot. Whoa. That place was wiped out. We managed to scrounge up a bucket for Shawn to wash our fine steed with and a jar of upholstery nails for a grand total of 50 cents. And on the way out, they had a box of free donuts for the shoppers. A plain glazed and a blueberry cake? Yes and yes.

Our final stop yielded this super fantastic headboard:

We’ve been needing one but the bedroom is preeetty small so I didn’t want something that would fill up the room. This one should do nicely. I might end up painting it but right now I’m enjoying the way it catches the light that filters through those fabulous vertical blinds.

deals and steals

Saturday morning brought a bit of sadness at the thought of missing out on garage sale day with Sara and my mom. Quite possibly one of my favorite activities while in Jacksonville. But now I have a place to fill, so I wiped my tears and hit up my boy Craig to find where the local deals would be. 

The first stop of the day was right down the street. They were barely set up but mentioned a chair inside that was for sale. Jackpot! We strapped that sucker into the trunk with our handy rope (aka the best purchase we ever made) and poked on home to unload and make room for more. I made sure to ask the hostess of the sale where the best area was for good deals, seeing as how we had similar taste. Other than the strange hairpiece she had attached to the top of her head as a sort of shitzu-like ponytail. But that’s neither here nor there. 

So we headed in the direction she had told us and proceeded to find countless sales, both estate and run-of-the-mill yards. At one particular stop, we spent a grand total of $1 and ended up with a Lazy Susan spice rack, complete with spices from the 1970s, a glass decanter, and two decorative pots for the herb garden I’m planning in my mind. Another estate sale yielded this little vignette

along with a set of solid white dishes to round out my collection. Next was s quick stop by the Goodwill for some shoes Shawn had scoped out previously but had waited for the 50% off sale (!) that all the local Goodwills were having that day. We hit up another estate sale where we found this little guy.

 Who can turn down an orange beehive canister? Then it all sort of became a blur as my hunger and full bladder took over. (Shawn didn’t know he was supposed to pack me an apple to munch on mid-morning like Mom does). Little did I know I had created a monster. “Oh wait, there’s two in a row!” “Ooh, should we just drive by?” “AH! There’s another one!” But we finally made it to a crazy little burger shack to grab a quick snack—which turned into 3 corndogs for Shawn, thanks to the free ones he kept winning from their lucky stick giveaway—and then home to unload our finds.

fill 'er up

Wednesday night we went for tapas at the 9^th Door downtown. We had just finished enjoying our dinner and drinks when the girl who had parked behind us came over to remind us that the 2 hour meter was up. We cashed out in a hurry and turned the corner to see the meter maid slowly making his way down the row. (Their new vehicles are called chariots, true story.) We kicked our scallop and wine-filled selves into high gear and got to the car just in time. Not gettin’ my $25 today, busta!

Thursday we signed the lease (and also signed over our life’s savings..) and got to move in to our humble abode. Ahh, having my clothes in a closet again instead of in my trunk. What luxury. I also got an email back about possible work with a local florist. So Thursday was a good day. And since we moved with no furniture, that meant that the upcoming weekend would be full of garage sales and Craigslist. Oh yeah! 

I had signed up for the Denver Gypsy Boys mailing list before we even got to Denver—they’re a company that hosts estate sales. And one of the awesome perks of unemployment is getting to hit up the sales on Friday morning before they get picked over. So Friday morning, we were on the prowl. 

The sale was in a huge two story house with an attic, a basement, and an outside shed. And it was PACKED. With both stuff and shoppers. Shawn “officially does not like estate sales” after that experience, FYI. But we did end up with some good finds.. an old plant stand that has now become our bar, some funny hooks that I will soon be making into a key holder and a toaster oven that was actually brand new. Not too shabby. We packed up the Civ and started looking for more sales. 

I should also mention at this point that we spent the first night in our new place sleeping on a “palette” which conjured up memories in my head of Jess and I sleeping on an air mattress in our empty $1900 apartment for a week in New York while we waited for our furniture to arrive. Only this time there was no furniture on its way, so if we wanted good sleep we’d have to find it ourselves. After a few calls and stops at some rather creepy mattress stores, I spoke with a guy who seemed normal enough. A few hours later.. the old girl was loaded up again. 

Shawn was working that night so I went with Robyn and some of her friends to the Santa Fe Art Walk. Very cool stuff. Unfortunately art is rather far down the list of things to buy at this moment.. but it was nice to walk around and see the sights. Definitely a serious art scene here.