for all things creative!

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Fashion Arizona with Nneka Saran 3/11/2011- VIDEO

Check out an interview I did during my trunk show in Phoenix! This is my first time doing an interview on camera so bare with me! :)

My SUPER FIND at Micheals yesterday!

So while browsing Michaels yesterday, I came across a few SUPER deals of some things I can use in my office space! I got two of these storage towers regularly $89.99 on clearance for $8.99 a piece!! I couldn't believe my eyes! Not sure why the regular price was so much though....

Then I got this little station regularly $34.99 on clearance for $3.49! Im not even sure what I will do with this yet..but I couldn't pass it up for $3.49! lol

And the kicker is this lovely little craft table I got regularly $109.99 on clearance for $10.99! Yes you read right...$10.99! How great is that! I LOVE a deal! :)

Thats like 90% off...they are practically giving this stuff away! I hope no one bought any of these pieces at full price! Check your local Michaels and see what you can find!

Monday, March 28, 2011

Bag of the Day!

Today's Bag of the Day is the Miah! Anyone who orders this today gets 10% off the price and FREE shipping!

Miah Clutch, ~~$119~~ $107

The colorful material I used to make this bag is simply beautiful! The picture doesn't quite give it its full justice. The fabric has a beautiful shimmer to it that you can't see in photo. It is my signature fold over style clutch accented with ruched fabric on the front. It can be worn casually with jeans and a top or dressed up for a nighttime look. Not to mention, its super spacious and has an inside pocket. This bag is definitely a head turner! Place your order today!

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Shelves for Office

So today I have decided I am going to build the shelves I originally planned to purchase for my office space! I am SUPER excited about this! Some of you know that I have always dreamed of being a carpenter in another life..LOL. So with the help of my wonderful hubby, we will get started on this project as soon as we get a warm and sunny day here in Philly next month! Stay tuned! :)

DIY for LIFE! :)

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Before and After: Thrift Store Chair! (And TUTORIAL)

So Im finally finished my thrift store chair re-do and I couldn't be more pleased with the outcome! It went from this old ugly chair BEFORE:

To this fabulous chair AFTER:

Here is an up close view of the back of the chair. I used silver nailhead trim around the edges to give it a more polished and funky look. Initially I was planning on doing double welt cording, but decided I would like this look better and I'm glad I went with it.

So lets see how much this project cost me:

Thrift Store Chair $7.50

Spray Paint (2 cans) $10

Fabric (1/2 yd) $22.50

Nailhead Trim (the kit was $30--including shipping-- but I only used about $2.00 worth of it and still have alot of it left to use on other projects)

Batting ($8.00 for a bag of it but just like the Nailhead trim, I only used a little and still have alot left over for other projects so lets just say I used about $2.00 worth of it for this chair)

---------------------------------------

All together this chair cost me about $44 to paint and reupholster! Not bad at all especially when something like this could easily run anywhere from $129 to $199 at Home Goods and even more at a high end furniture store!!

I still have to do the twin of this chair.... check them out side by side. Big difference right?

So how did I do this? Well here is my tutorial on it:
First thing you want to do is gather all your supplies:
Chair
Fabric
Spray Paint- I recommend Rust-Oleum Lacquer from Home Depot
Sanding paper (optional)
Staple Gun
Spray glue
Rubber Mallet
Batting - Here is a picture of the batting I used but you can use any kind:

Purchased at Joanns

Nailhead Trim kit or some type of trim - Here is a picture of how the kit looks..it comes with the nails and trim:

Purchased online www.diyupholsterysupply.com

Next thing you want to do is remove your seat from the chair frame. This is easy... just flip chair over and use screw driver to unscrew nails that are holding seat cushion in place. So now your chair should look like this:

After this, you can sand down your chair a little. I didn't do this but it is good to do because it will help remove any polyurethane and dirt on chair which will help the spray paint stick better. I plan to do a little sanding on the other chair.

Now its time to paint! Take your chair to a well ventilated area (preferably outside) and get to painting! Your chair may need a couple of coats. My chair used 2 cans of spray paint.

Now pull out your chair cushion. If its in bad shape, you may need to add some extra batting to your cushion. My cushion was in good condition so I was able to get away without adding anything extra. Get your fabric and cut a piece big enough to cover the cushion. Flip fabric on opposite side and then place cushion face down. Get your staple gun out and start stapling fabric around your cushion tightly.

Once you are done, you can attach your cushion back on the chair frame (once paint has thoroughly dried). It should look like this:

If you are happy with the outcome of your chair at this point, you are done!! BUT if not, this is where it gets a little tricky. If you decide, as I did, that you also want to cover the back of the chair as well, this next part isn't really hard but just not quite as easy as what we just went over. I'm sure there are tons of different ways to do this but this is how I did it.

Measure out a piece of fabric thats big enough to cover the back of your chair. Now this part may be a little hard for me to explain so bare with me. Basically I just used some spray glue and sprayed the center of the fabric and stuck it to the back of chair. Then I used a needle and thread to sew the fabric at the top in place a little.

Next I got my batting out and cut a piece out and repeated the spray glue step. I sprayed some glue in the center and stuck it on the back of chair under the fabric I just sewed to the chair at the top:

Then I took scissors and cut around it to fit the area i was covering like this:

I used a little more spray glue and stuck the fabric to the batting. Then I got my nailhead trim set out and started putting that on like this:

This trim is really cool because every 5th stud, there is a hole and thats where you put the individual nailhead. If you look closely at the pic above, you can see the hole where the nailhead goes.

Half way done with the nailhead trim...see below:

Finally, ALL DONE! Hope my tutorial helps someone out a bit!

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Phoenix Trunk Show PICTURES

Check out a few of the pictures from my Phoenix trunk show! Special thanks to Icon Status Entertainment for putting everything together & special thanks to Phoenix Fashion & White House!