DIY- a sexy zebra chair on the CHEAP!

Okay ladies, and MAYBE gents... I am redoing my house, as many of you know. I have a love for vintage-ish stuff, toile, french provincial, and a splash of modern amidst the vintage-ish. I was DEAD SET on having something with zebra fabric in my house. Why? Well-because I like it! It's sassy. It's bold, it creates tension against my Waverly toile. ITS AWESOME! as this inspirational photo does so well illustrate!
I couldn't find zebra fabric when I wanted it. Okay, okay, I couldn't find CHEAP zebra fabric when I wanted it. i was not about to pay $29.99 a yard for fabric only to wait 2 weeks for it to arrive, and then hack it to bits. No thanks! I almost settled for hounds tooth when I realized that EVERY thrift store on the planet has enough hounds tooth print skirts to reupholster a store of couches Ashley sized. But as I was digging through a rack one day I squealed with glee! A zebra skirt! size 10, CREAM AND BLACK, not white and black,(which meant no tea dying needed). it was blue tagged- that meant half off that day. I paid a whopping $3.00 for the skirt. Thank you Isaac Mizrahi, Target and whatever women was ludicrous enough to buy the thing to only later realize a zebra- pencil- stretch- corduroy skirt is no good, then to the same dear woman who donated it! Now I only needed something to transform! I found my lovely lil' footstool at a garage sale for $5.00. It is perfect! (Please ignore hideous green upholstery in the background- it WILL get redone of of these days when i am brave enough to take it on!)
After this project I had over 1/2 a skirt left! I bagged an tagged it and added it to my pile of things for future projects. I really Do need a whole room dedicated to my uh-stuff *sigh*
Anyways- I was garage sale-ing this past Saturday with my in-laws and found 2 gems! Chairs- a matching pair, that were begging for paint and new upholstery. I'm a dork for not taking before pics- they were brown wood, red, and gold striped with purple and green threads running through on the seats. UCK! I thought one would go in our bedroom and be a combination of white/blue/gold-ish. the other my living room! And look at that!
Seriously- isn't that chair AWESOME!?!?!?!?!

(Please ignore funky colored walls- really it's not that bright- and after paying for a painter, and trying a bajillion paint samples my hubby will shoot me on spot if I dare ask to repaint it before the year is up!)

Okay- let's break this down.

Funky corduroy stretch zebra Skirt $3.00
Footstool $5.00
Paint already in garage $0.00
Chair $10.00
More black Paint $2.97.
Already had the staple gun and staples.

Total cost $20.97 $20.97! FOR BOTH PIECES!

Here are a few other options This is $270.00 at Overstock.com This beauty is over $400.00 at Thomasville


how about $699.00 for the 'Jennifer" at Horchow?
Methinks I'll take mine for the $20.97, couple hours of work, and help of this
very sweet young man!

How bout you? Do any funky chairs on the cheap?
P.S. I promise I'll post the other one when it's done! And yes, my Hubby did in fact ask 'Whatever posessed you to buy more chairs?!"

Sweatin'

It has been HOT lately. Like 90 degrees hot, with such a thick, muggy humidity you could cut it with a knife! As the heat has about killed my kids, especially the youngest, my 'fragile' asthmatic, we have been LOVING the new pool! Pool you say? YEs pool! One of the great advantages to living behind the in-laws. A newly installed MASSIVE pool. I mean I can actually float in a raft and not bump into things(or people!). We have also been biking in the evenings. Daddy decided last week that we needed bikes- so off tothe store we went. Quintin got a new big boy bike with training wheels. He ALMOST wiped out an old lady at Wal-mart as he was tryign it out. But hey- thats what you get cruising byt he bike aisle at Wally-World. He was so proud of that bike he was doing a dance as daddy was checking it out and adding more air to the tires. Look at that sweet lil face!
I actually misted up as I saw him riding it. He is my last, and well, no more tricycles is kind of a sad thing to me. Shaun asked why I was crying and his reply? "Yeah, I know, isn't it GREAT!? We can be riding trails soon as a family!" Not exactly my train of thought, but oh well. They gotta grow up sometime!
Shauns brother Brad, his wife Sara, and their daughter Addie left this morning after being in town for a month. It was great to see Addie, 2, and her cousins play together, and so nice to have Brad back safe and sound from another tour of duty in Iraq. Not much else is up- just the day to day. Weve halted our house remoddeling for now as Shaun is helping his dad put in the pool/deck, etc. I will post pics eventually of that ridiculously large project. As our neighbor put it "they like to bite off a big chunk and do EVERYTHING themselves, don't they?" Yep, yep they do. If you look up the definition of Sweat equity you would see my hubby and his father next to it.

What we've been up to

Did you realize that you cannot clean baseboards? No really- plywood cannot really be cleaned. It can be bleached, but you can't tell what was cleaned and what hasn't. What's a stain, and what's well, character... So- I swept them, and vacumed them and praised the Lord that soon I shall have new hardwoods, not plywood. Shaun has been laying tile, and it looks beautiful even though it's only half way done. I have been working on a shower curtain... and having dilemmas... As in I love the fabric but am not sold on the hanging of it
Whats it need folks? HELP! Or shall I scrap the fabric I love and buy one at the store??? I painted my mirror today, bought the clips to hang the pesky fabric, and painted my shutter white. The ugly ole Goodwill find shutter that was too charming to pass up and shall be adorned with hooks for a towel bar thingy. I LOVe this process! Really, I do. I love taking something and making it beautiful I love redoing the ugly, the worn out, or the plain ole hideous and finding the value within it. Kind of like my Saviour has done with me. I still have lots of peeling chipped junk on me and he keeps plowing through, exposing whats underneath. I'm glad He isnt done with me yet! I don't think Ive posted pics of whats been done so far so here you go!






OKAY! I have no skill yet on EBlogger... hence the many pictures repeated and in odd spots. SORRY! The couch is in the process- my $5, 000 Yes I MEANT THOUSAND!)piece I snagged for twenty bucks, and lots of time with a steamer! It will all be taupe eventually, the toss pillows and back cushions I made. The lil Zebra footstool... it used to be cherry-ish, with bad old folks home upholstery until me, a skirt from Goodwill, a stable gun, scissors and a can of Krylon attacked it. I wanted something modern amidst the vintage. see Aunt Dale- I TOLD you it would be cute! ;-)
The chandelier I scored for a buck, and also hit it up with some krylon, and made shades for it- can't wait to get it in my kitchen! The lil antique table was a salvation army fine, and the GORGEOUS! black and white piece you see? Well- $10.00, and LOTS of prying on rusted knobs, some vinegar soaks, sandpaper, sticker removal(red hearts to be exact) and 3 cans of Krylon later it is a beautiful telephone table. As Shaun hammers, nails, pries, and lays tile I spray paint, clean, and sew... Sounds like a nice trade off, don't ya think?