Occasional Chair Make Over

The Sweetwater Daughter scored these 4 chairs and huge table on Craig'sList....all for $250!

She bought them to use as the "guest chairs" in her new law office....
They sat in the Sweetwater garage all summer waiting for a facelift!
 

Maybe you remember reading my post about A New Way to Fabric Shop!

After lots and lots of discussion....this is the gorgeous fabric they chose!

Don't you just love it?  And it was only $8 a yard!

We were ready to get started....
I would love to tell you that this was a simple and fast project.....
I would love to tell you that we finished in couple of hours....

NOT SO MUCH!!!!  
We probably spent about 2 hours on EACH chair....but truly it was worth it!
Lots of Mother/Daughter bonding!!!

Whenever I start an upholstery project, it seems to take me a long time to figure out exactly how to proceed!
In this case.....one night the Sweetwater Daughter and I spent one whole evening....(and one whole bottle of wine) figuring out the construction of the chairs....AND...how to work with the design/pattern of the fabric!!!

The Seats came off easily with the loosening of a few screws....


They would be easy to just wrap and staple....


right????


Not so much....but more about that later! 

 In the case of these chairs it was a bit complicated because of the chair backs....

 We couldn't easily figure out how the chairs were actually put together.....and until we figured that out...we couldn't take them apart...




We even got Mr. S. involved and he couldn't solve the puzzle either....



 So.....

In true "Sweetwater Style" we started by ripping off the welting that was glued in place!

Then we ripped off the fabric....and this is what we found!

We decided to treat the front and back separately!

First the back!  We wanted the large circle to be centered.....easier said than done!!!

After some trial and error we figured out how the pattern worked so that we could make all the chairs look alike!

The circle was cut with a 1/2 inch allowance that was pressed under.

Then we sprayed adhesive on the wrong side of the fabric and smoothed it right over the existing fabric.

 Then the edge was simply pushed into the frame.














 Almost tooo simple.....but it worked and looks great!

The technique for the front of the seat back was a little "trickier"!

Yikes....look at all the staples that were used....there was just NO way we could remove them.  

So...if all those staples stayed there....we wouldn't be able to use the staple gun without hitting them....

EUREKA!!!  We remembered how I embellished this little Faux Leather Side Table with nailhead trim!!!  This stuff is amazing!


So the project went on hold until the trim arrived in the mail!

In the meantime....I used the trusty compressor and stapler to finish covering the chair seats!

What should have been a 10 minute job for each chair turned into a much longer "ordeal"!
Why???
.....the darn pattern had to be matched not just so the circle was in the center....but that the whole thing was straight....
AND
Each chair needed to look the same!!!!
Needless to say....I am awfully glad to have a "mighty fine" staple puller!!!

 Once the trim arrived we were ready to get back to work...

We decided NOT to have the large circle be the center of the seat backs...

When we tried that.....it kinda made you dizzy!!!


Note that the circles are on the sides...


We smoothed the fabric in place and pinned it so that it was straight and then used chalk to go around on the edge.....


I cut it to size with enough extra to fold under.

We used pins to hold the fabric in place and to keep it straight....







We then did the nailhead trim on the seat cushion

and around the front edge of the seat back. It was easy to nail the tacks in and avoid all those staples!!  The nails hold the fabric nice and tight!



NO pictures while this was going on....all 4 of our hands were occupied!!!

But this is a close up of the nailhead detail!











There were a "few" pitfalls....a couple of redos......but FINALLY the chairs were DONE!

They stayed in the garage until the exciting day when they could move into the new office!!!

 Awsome....!!!

We think our time was WELL Spent!

 Isn't the Sweetwater Daughter's Office inviting?

If you can't tell.... the Sweetwater MOM is pretty proud of her girl!

Someday soon I will post about recovering the sectional pieces for the office seating area!

In the meantime...Have a GREAT Day!

Link Parties
Kammy's Korner  

Virtual Glasses Shopping Adventure!

Every good librarian needs to wear eyeglasses to give her SHHH!!! a little more authority!
I have lots and lots of cheaters lying around everywhere....I buy the cheapies and don't worry much about taking care of them.

I also wear glasses for distance....my last pair at cost more than $400 dollars....and alas I didn't worry too much about taking care of THEM....and now they have some scratches on the lenses...

And then....on Thursday night...I was out for the evening and I only had my prescription sunglasses with me.....and by now it was too dark to wear them to drive home.....so I needed to dig  around in the console for the extra pair I keep in there....found 'em.....

Yikes....one bow had fallen off and I spent the whole drive home trying to keep them on my face!

I couldn't  put it off any longer....to me trying on eye glasses at the store is kind of like shopping for jeans or a new swimsuit....only instead of being in the privacy of the dressing room....you are out there for everyone to see!!!









As luck would have it...the good folks at GlassesUSA.com contacted me about writing a post for them with even a little compensation!  I decided to check it out!

Do any of you have experience with ordering glasses on-line?

The Sweetwater Daughter swears by it....I guess it is time for me to "just do it" and order glasses using all the cool features on the website....especially the chance to try all the choices using the virtual mirror!



I embedded the virtual mirror from the GlassesUSA.com website so you can try it too!
If you get hooked....and find a pair of eyeglasses you just can't live without....use the  discounts below to make them even less expensive!!

STOREWIDE OFFER - Take 15% off your entire order amount + FREE shipping (orders over $50). Code: FS15

Take 10% off any order of prescription glasses. Code: Blog10

I decided that I would try to find something in the under $100 range, since I plan on using them to replace the broken glasses I keep in the car console....

Which ones....hmmmmmmm!!!!

Oh....decisions-decisions!  But at least I get to decide in the comfort of home!!!

Back To School-Do You Have A Reluctant Reader?

I have been busy getting the Media Center in my school ready for those excited young faces who will arrive next Tuesday morning.

Oh.....those books lined up waiting for kids to check them out!
It warms the heart of a "Librarian"


 Then....
I've been reading all the fun "Back-to-School" posts that show all kinds of crafts, teacher gifts, posters, etc.


Well....since I have been "going back to school" for a whole lot of years, I thought I would do a couple of posts about  "Back to School".....but from the perspective of a long time educator and the mom of grown children!

As much as I love crafts, fun recipes and cute school clothe.....that is something you all can find on other blogs!

I want to focus on ways you can  help your child (and you) connect school and home....
It will be sort of your own little Parent Information Night....except you can come in your jammies and you don't have to sit in those little chairs!

This is essentially a repost of something I wrote last year at this time!
I have also written a bunch of posts about children's books!
If you search Sweetwater Style with the search term books you can read them....you will find lots of suggestions for great books with annotations! (WOW....do I ever sound like a LIBRARIAN!!!)

We all want our students to be readers!

We know that the more kids read the more they know!

Some kids naturally LOVE to read....

AND....

if you are a parent of one of THOSE kids....you don't have too much to worry about.

Kids who love to read will read all the time and get better and better at reading!

Some kids DO NOT LOVE to read....if you are a parent of one of THOSE kids....you worry ALL the time!

And I bet all that worrying doesn't help much....


 Your child still fights you about reading!


I KNOW that you are always looking for concrete suggestions to help with the dilemma of the reluctant reader!

Here is my Five Cents Worth of Advice!

1. ....STOP worrying, fussing and begging....When you do these things it makes reading a battleground....and the "kid" doing the refusing....WINS!!! j










2. .... DISCOVER your child's passion and look for books, magazines or Internet sites that are about the things your child loves.

Soccer, Earthquakes, Wars, Legos, Skateboarding.....There are great books about all of these things.

This Reading List Works with Kids Who Love Reading and Those Who Don't

Guys Read a great site with book lists on all kinds of subjects that GUYS (and some girls) will love.

3. .....REMEMBER that reading is reading! Your child does NOT have to read stories or novels!  If YOU are reading this....you are READING and it isn't a novel!

If your child likes the computer....try these sites:

StoryLine On-Line

Celebrities read favorite books to your student....then go to the library and check the book out.


James Earl Jones, Betty White and others...you will love them too.










KOL Jr. Stories 
Lots of stories....listen and read along to lots of favorites including some of the Arthur books

National Geographic Online Edition




Read Articles, play games and enjoy photos from on this high quality site.
The articles are short non-fiction snippets that kids will enjoy!












4. ....Let your child SAMPLE a book using Amazon

This is something that kids LOVE to do....log into Amazon Children's Books

Look through the colorful illustrated book suggestions or search a topic that your child likes and use the LOOK INSIDE! feature....your child will be able to read a few pages of a book to decide if it something worth reading...then off to the library to check it out....if it isn't a favorite....sneaky you....you still got some reading time in.

5.  .....WRITE something for your child to read!

Many of you READING this are WRITERS!  Many of you WRITE on your blogs every day!  Write a personal story about your child or something you remember from when you were little....Read it out loud to your child....add some pictures.

You can even publish it using any number publishing tools like Snapfish, iPhoto, Walgreens! I PROMISE you that your child will read it over and over again!

Now...I have to get some things ready for my last workshop day before kids come to school next week.
AND
I am one of those people who LOVE to read....so I need to find some time to read some of your wonderful blogs....


Have a Great Day!

Link Parties
Potpourri Friday  Happy Hour Friday     Serenity You  A Little Inspiration Trendy Treehouse
Sugar and Dots 

Back To School Table Decor!

I have been going "Back To School" for a lot of years!

First as a student....

Yep...that is me by the teacher with the amazing legs!!!  

I am sure that he reason I am standing by the teacher is so that she could keep me QUIET for the picture!!!

Then as a teacher....

Can you imagine....

20 years old and they let me go in a room and try to "educate" this group of 5 year olds! "What were they thinking?"  At least by this time, I had learned to cover up my "amazing legs"!  Although in these "olden days"....I was pretty "fashion forward" to be wearing PANTS at school!

Now it is "a few" years later and still....going back to school never  loses that sense of excitement and possibilities!

One of the great things about teaching is that you have a "clean slate" and a chance to "start over every September! That is a luxury that is not available in many jobs!

My school is fortunate to have this whole week set aside for teachers to get ready for those kiddos next week!

Lots of meetings....and almost all of them are in the Media Center....(MY SPACE)!

Since the meetings are in "my space"....it just seems like I need to  "decorate" and "entertain"!!!

Nobody really expects me to do this....but you know me!!!!

I will make the coffee.....

My Marvelous Principal has arranged for the food!!!

And here are the cute little flower arrangements for each table!

 They were so simple and very very inexpensive!

When I was buying flowers at the Farmer's Market for the party that we had on Friday...I knew I could use the "leftovers for these little bouquets!

I took apart a couple of arrangements....

Gathered some other "stuff" from the garden.....

I had the little white pails from another event....

I used floral foam so the bouquets last a long time....

Then it all went together....with some ribbon and raffia of course.....

 I wanted the centerpieces to have a "teaching theme"....
I didn't want to spend money...

So....

Using my My Memories Scrapbook software I created these "mini-posters".
I found some fun clipart and inspirational quotes about teaching and teachers.
I printed them as 4x6 photos at Walgreens.. (19 cents each)

We put the the iPads on the tables for people to take candid photos of each other!!!!

I want the staff to start thinking of the iPads as digital cameras...but any camera will work...even encouraging people to use the cameras on their phones.

At the end of the week we collect all the photos and make a great slide show!

All of this made for a very festive and fun atmosphere as we greeted one another after a summer apart!

We are certainly off to a great start for our year!

and a little decorating and food didn't hurt!!!

Link Parties
Blackberry Vine  Debbie Does Creations  Sugar Bee Crafts   
Create With Joy  Made In A Day DYI Dreamer  The Answer is Chocolate
Stuff and Nonsense  Bowdabra