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Saturday, April 16, 2011

Take A Seat, Kiddo!


 My nephew and niece both celebrate their birthdays in April, two years and a few days apart!  Last fall the hubby's side of the family had a large yard sale.  My sister-in-law was selling a small table and chair set for her mother-in-law.  It ended up not selling, so she kept two of the chairs with the hopes of making them over for the kids.  Fast forward a few months and we decided I would refinish them for their birthday!

They weren't terrible before, but definately not cute.


I cleaned them both up real good and prepped Emma's chair by priming it.


I had an idea of what color I wanted Emma's chair to be, so I grabbed a close color in my collection and added white until it was pale enough.

(I knew I would use those cans!)

I wanted to do Logan's chair in blue, which is a pretty generic color, so I used Valspar spray paint on his.


I wanted to add fabric to Emma's chair, so I didn't paint the seat of hers.


Emma's chair required a little more attention since I had to hand paint it, but her's ended up being the easiest of the two.  For some reason Logan's chair was super tacky and I thought I was going to have to strip it. 

Since I knew this was my likely option, I figured it wouldn't hurt anything to try paint thinner on it.  I bundled up some cheesecloth and started wiping the whole chair.  This took all of the tackiness out, and also reduced the shine.  An unintended result was that the wood began to show through in some areas.  So I just went with it and decided to have Logan's chair look a little more used look.

After both chairs were painted it was time to put on the embellishments.  I used a similar paper technique as I did on my cheap wall art.  I found some scrapbook paper I like at Hobby Lobby and printed a reversed image of the names and dinosaur on the back.  I used my exacto knife to cut them out. 

I then used ModPodge to apply the embellishments.


Logan loves dinosaurs, so I put a dinosaur on his seat.


Emma has been really into owls, so I cut out shapes from the scrapbook paper and assembled an owl on her chair.


I used coordinating colors to make their names.


They both got a protective coat of poly, then I upholstered Emma's seat.  I wanted her chair to look more sweet and feminine. Here is a close-up of the fabric. I adore it!



Here they are all ready for the party!


Logan immediately checked out his dinosaur, and Emma tried to climb up in her chair.



They paused for a brief photo op, then moved on to the rest of their goodies!


I was so rushed to get to the party I never got good pictures, so I took a few minutes to take some photos by the flower bed! So pretty!




One more before and after!


Cost Breakdown:
Fabric - $2.50
Scrapbook Paper - $2.50
Spraypaint - $4

Everything else I had already!
Now I'm ready for some Harry Potter and a nap! 

28 comments:

  1. they turned out great.. what a wonderful idea..

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  2. LOVE these chairs! I'm loving the Mod Podged fabric on them, great idea!

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  3. Very cute!! I love to makeover little people furniture!!

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  4. lovin that dinosour!! great job!
    thanks for linking up at Sister Sunday
    Amy
    www.SistersoftheWildWest.blogspot.com

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  5. So cute!!! They turned out great! I love them both. My boys would LOVE the dinosaur chair. And the owl u made is adorable, and great touch w/ the fabric. Wow!

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  6. Love them! They turned out so sweet and I know they'll get well used :) Thanks for your tip on my wreath- I'll definitely have to do that!!

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  7. The chairs are so cute and adorable!....Christine

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  8. Holly, molly! The chairs turned out perfect for the kids. Thank you for sharing this at the Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop :)

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  9. You did a fantastic job, they both look so cute!

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  10. These are soo stinkin adorable and the price tag is unbelievable! Love the dino and the owl! Great job!

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  11. those are adorable! i love the dinosaur especially. sawyer would LOVE that chair!

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  12. What super makeovers! I love all the details you did to personalize the chairs. The dinosaur is cool!

    Thanks so much for linking up to Terrific Under Ten today!

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  13. I rarely see things for boys- this is a great idea I will have to borrow it! Come and link to my Workshop Wednesday- these would make a great additon! goobyecityhellosuburbs

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  14. I love the dinosaur chair!

    Do check out the Urban Walls giveaway! A chance to win $40 store credit to get a vinyl decal of your choice.
    http://houseonashwelllane.blogspot.com/2011/04/40-store-credit-from-urban-walls-to-get.html

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  15. These are seriously adorable! Love them and the pics of the cuties sitting in them:)

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  16. They are sooo cute! I love the color on Emma's! :)

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  17. CUTE! I love this. glad I found your blog. so great.

    new follower!
    kathryn
    www.thedragonsfairytail.blogspot.com

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  18. I have the honor of being your "linky neighbor" over at French Country Cottage, stopping by to admire your beautiful chair makeover!
    They look amazing, and such a sweet sentimental gift.

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  19. I love refurbishing and think that the pieces make the BEST gifts! From the heart and handmade with love!

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  20. Adorable chairs! You did a fabulous job =) Thanks for the comment on my green owl. Happy weekend to you!

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  21. the chairs turned out great! They'll last for several years before they out grow them!
    cute!
    gail

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  22. Those look absolutely adorable Katie! What a great auntie you are. :-) Thanks so much for sharing this last weekend at Inspiration Friday!
    Vanessa

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  23. Thanks for linking this up to our Wicked awesome wed. party.

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  24. Emma and Logan are lucky to have such a creative auntie.

    Those chairs are quite the after!

    Thanks for linking up to Creative Juice. Hope to see you back again this week!

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  25. Oh how lovely!! I'm totally stunned to see those chairs.. I've got two little ones.. and will probably do this as a summer project with the kiddies.. Im so pleased I found your blog..

    I'm not your newest follower!! Please do come visit me at http://coloursdekor.blogspot.com/

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  26. Loving that you recycled these into something new! They are both so different and have their own unique flar.

    Thanks for sharing at "Meet Me On Monday"....

    Take care,
    Lisa

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I love all your sweet comments! If you don't hear back from me, make sure your no-reply setting is disabled! I always write back!