From Shabby Eeeek to Mod

Shabby Eeeek or Shabby Chic               Mod Make-over

One thing I will need to admit is the fact that I can't resist a good art gallery, museum, flea market, yard sale or auction. 

Let's not forget to mention the hidden treasures that are ready to be discovered in antique shops and thrift shops.  Important things I carry: anti-bacterial gel and magnifying lens, and a list of needed items.

Boy, was I thrilled when I ran across this old vanity swivel chair on "the FREE table" at a local shed sale.

Shabby Chic or Shabby Eeeek!

I admit, I peeked under the skirt.  And once I saw its sexy legs, I knew I was in love.  So home she came.  And off came her skirt.

Mid-Century

First I thought the original covering was vinyl.  My hopes were up!  It was fabric, though durable, there was staining and one button had popped through the fabric.  Not to mention, the swivel was broken.

Broken swivel? No worry.  Use a metal Lazy Susan

I remembered that I had a Lazy Susan swivel leftover from when my girls were small.  The intended use was so their doll house could rotate, but it really wasn't necessary.

Ta Da!  ( Lazy Susans cost about $9 )

The most challenging thing I found was removing the old swivel.  Here's what I did.  Use the broken swivel image and the Lazy Susan image above as a guide.

1. Unscrew the mechanism from the seat base by removing visible screws that are attached to the base.
2. When these screws are removed you can lift the legs and swivel.  Stand it up so the swivel is on top.
3. Look at the swivel (or any lazy susan) there are large and small holes.
4. Rotate the LARGE hole until you see a screw beneath it. 
5. Remove that screw and rotate to where the others should be attached to the legs.
6. Once all the screws are removed, reverse the procedure to attach the new swivel/Lazy Susan

Now it was time to "Make it Mine".  A friend had recently given me some leftover paint.  And the pink can was calling my name.

The leftover pink paint attacked a piece of wicker too!

Remembering a local fabric store (Hancock Fabrics).  I immediately went to their website and printed off a coupon with full intentions of buying new fabric for this chair.  Instead, I found that their upholstery vinyl was on clearance for $3 a yard!!   I then stopped by Home Depot to get some amo for my staple gun.

A designers gun and amo.

Guess what!  This was my 1st upholstery project!  I may not have the best technique, but here's what I did:

1. Re-used the lining/cusion that came with the chair and stapled it down.
2. Next center the chair seat on the underside of the vinyl upholstery fabric.
3. Fold over and staple down 4 sections of the fabric. North, east, south & west.
4. Starting nearest to each of these 1st four staples, gently pull & fold enough fabric to take a staple.
5. One on each side of these 1st four staples. 
6. Then firmly & gently pull, fold and staple the remaining space.
7. Trim off the extra vinyl.

My finished project!

This was a perfect addition to my youngest daughter's room.

Black Light Rave in my lil cave

Tonight we celebrated our babys 17th birthday.

Woo-hoo!

(Well OK, it was more like we let her celebrate it).

She went from a luau theme to a rave theme...that's my girl!

I love a challenge (creatively).

But, she actually didn't want to paint herself and spray herself. And technically, I wasn't invited for playtime with the kids...so I couldn't paint and spray myself (sigh).

I did get to play interior decorator and head chef. So that was cool. Because I like to play Betty Crocker ( after all I was raised on playing with my easy bake oven).

Wanna know the menu? Suicide punch & mini pizza's and she sprung or sprang fer da chips n candy.

• Suicide punch: Ginger Ale, Lemon Lime Soda, Orange Soda, Strawberry Soda and Strawberry Margarita syrup mix.
• Pizza's CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP!!!: Sliced french bread from Walmart $1.50 x 3 loaves and lotsa Motsarella cheese (no spell check...it had to go with the "lotsa") and an institutional size jug of ketchup...yup! I said ketchsup. I added 1/4 cup dried oregano, 1 small container of parmesan cheese, 7 or more good dashes of garlic powder, even more dashes of pepper, about 2 cups of water, 1 cup of wine (once it boils the alcohol is gone...this was for kids afterall) and a few tablespoons of brown sugar and 2 bay leaves which I removed afterwards. Lay the frenchbread slices on a cookie sheet spoon 2 TBS of sauce on the bread then cover lightly with cheese. Even the shy ones can't resist eating these!

Decor:

• Drag out the Christmas lights and lava lamps for visiting area and dining area. I used alot of black velvet in the dining area...it helped the colors of the candy POP. (sorry, I only took the picture of my table with a wine cloth...but the other's had black)
• The sucker tree is a clip picture holder (that's why I used this pic)
• I hung a white shower curtain to block off my hubby's study and my art room.
• We exchanged the hall light for a RED light bulb....exposed it bare!
• Her dance studio (ok..here's the story on this one. Her older brother painted his room dark blue and painted his floor and ceiling black, then he moved out) So...we added large mirrors (left over from old large dressers) hung a disco ball and borrowed A TON of black lights and lined them along the walls on the floor.

And what was even cooler..we found that blue florescent hair spray virtually disappeared on our blue walls in daylight, but under a black light?


BAM! We had our graffiti! --->

We also had our old ghetto Christmas tree...it was once white...we got it yellowed in parts and missing a branch, so we spraypainted orange florescent hairspray on it. And under the blacklights....oh yea...it was fun! Can you believe I saved the tree and plan to add more colors later?

And her best gift ever? It was from one of her classmates. Hungry Hippo! It was so much fun to have these 15-20 year olds playing and having fun.
Just like when they were (ahem) kids.









Hungry Hippo--->