All she needed was some TCL

Most would say TLC. But in this case due to a quick mis arrangement of letters we will say TCL. 

This is a special piece. Most of the time I find the unloved, unwanted, rejected. (Suck in your insecurities here. Push them down. That's the healthiest thing- I'm positive). However, I feel differently about this piece. I feel that it has been well loved. I am positive it has a story. 

It came from a thrift store and was a mere $30. I wish you could feel the grains of the wood. Beautiful. Simply beautiful.  

My goal in flipping furniture is to let each piece reach its full potential. Sometimes reaching its potential means doing very little and looking beautiful. 

This is how I feel about make up. That may be laziness. I just want to snuggle in my bed. I don't care that my face looks busted. The kids love me anyways- they just don't know any better. Why give unrealistic expectations? I will not be a part of that. 

Here is how the piece came home

Simply beautiful. I have worked my hardest to not get attached because this piece is not staying with me. She is going to be the star of a new home. A new home that I have the privilege of helping decorate. 

Here is a picture of the wood burned signature...

Do you know this signature? If you do I want you to tell me about it. I need to know. Also, look at the drawer liner.

 Unreal. 

Again, not getting attached. 

Who am I kidding? Not get attached? I am attached to many things. What could a person be attached to? Dr. Pepper, my mother, my Rubbie (no, I am not ashamed that I still sleep with a blanket. After this is posted I might be. However, that will not stop me from sleeping in peace). 

I am attached. However, when you love something, sometimes you need to let it go.  

All this piece needed was some new hardware (Martha Stewart from  Home Depot) and some goo-be-gone. Now it has finally reached its full potential. 

Side note- I watch awesome tv shows while flipping furniture and this flip was no exception. I want to be Tammy Taylor when I grow up. 

Snow, snow, snow... The Crosby way

All I needed was a snow day ( the white Christmas song playing in your head now) I would like to say that I used this day as a productive day of cleaning and organizing and making my bed ( I regretted not making my bed the second I got in it last night). That didn't happen. 

I instead decided to tackle my fears. I have a lot of fears. Sleeping in my building alone, cats, watching SVU alone- Olivia Benson is not going to save me.  Today's fear to overcome? This thing... 

I stared at it. I turned it around.

I ignored it. I watched Boy Meets World- if you didn't immediately notice Angela on the TV I feel for your deprived childhood. What did you do on Friday nights? Were there other things besides TGIF? .... Don't think so. 

I have ignored this chair for months. If you look back at my first post and play I spy you can find this in the pit that I call my laundry room. It was time for this chair to have an identity. It needed to know that it did not belong on the side of the road where we found it. - take me back to that day- 90 degrees, laying out, People Magazine. Snap back to snow day.

I did my fair share of reading on how to recover a chair. Did this come into play as I covered it? Not really. I just remembered a few things pull the fabric tight and cut your hand off- I mean get all the staples out. 

This is what that process looked like. 

Picture caption? A million bazillion staples. 

So after I pulled all the staples out and pulled all the fabric off ( that makes it sound so easy and nice- that would be a lie. I challenge you to tell me climbing Mount Everest is harder* I realize this is too dramatic* I just want you to get the picture) I realized that the chair could be separated into two pieces. Maybe for a professional that would be obvious. But we are all aware that I am no professional. 

Disclaimer- you can be anything you want to be and you can get a trophy for it. 

Once the chair was in pieces I cut the fabric in the shape of the original (nasty) pieces. I did give a couple inches extra on each side because I knew I needed some wiggle room. Then it was just a matter of pulling tight and stapling. 

* I will be asking for power tools for my birthday. I am a woman ( and your gonna hear me roar). One of those tools will be a power stapler. This project would not have made my hand look like so... 

... If I would have had power tools. 

I finished the seat of the chair first. It looked like so. 

It's hard to hold a chair up with two legs and take a photo. Just in case you were questioning my picture taking abilities. 

The hardest part of the covering process is making sure the corners look the same. Disclaimer 2- I am not a perfectionist. Not even close. So I felt no stress that the corners weren't exactly the same. If you are a perfectionist, I applaud you. And would like to see what your corners look like. 

Finally, it was time to put tho chair together. I sliced holes in the fabric where the bolts should have easily fit back in. That was not the case. I don't know why the chair wouldn't easily go back together but it led to my RA Keara taking this picture. 

I was thankful she was there for many reasons. 1. It prevented me from cussing at the chair ( it had already been abandoned, it didn't need hate talk from me- too far?) 2. I was watching SVU   3. I had to finish it- I had to prove to her that I could get over my recovering fear. 

So, after 2 episodes of Boy Meets World, 4 episodes of The Middle, and 2

Episodes of SVU, the chair is done!! 

 

Well close... I haven't put the cording on the back where the staples show... That will be as simple as hot gluing. I just don't really love the cord I have so I am going to check out Walmart for some more options. But here is the back as of this moment...

We should all overcome our fears. Especially if you can do them in one day and make some progress in cleaning out your laundry room at the same time. We should also be thankful for the people that throw out furniture for me to pick up. Without them I would still be afraid. 

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Where's Waldo

 No extravagant projects here today. If only I would be given some snow days I could do great things. Things like paint projects, go for a run- yeah right, clean my home- filth, or snuggle in my bed until  someone forces me to get up. I am praying for this day. Until then this is all I have done. 

I bought this thing-

To the hundreds of people that walked by this gem at the thrift store I say to them- I win and you lose. To those who came in after me- you should know better than to 1. Go to a thrift store on Saturday afternoon 2. Expect to find wonderful treasures when you go on Saturday afternoon. Moral of the story- if you want to act like you never find anything in a thrift store then you are probably one of the Saturday afternoon goers- lifestyle change. I want you to love your goodwill and thrift experiences so just don't go on Saturday afternoon! 

Here is another picture of the treasure 

Do you see why it is a treasure?! Look close!!!! Here is another!

A birds nest people! A birds nest in the mist of ugliness!! I didn't want the ugly but I for sure wanted the birds nest so I used those handy scissors to prod and pull and make some what of an unnecessary mess ( I prefer the mess to make me feel that I have accomplished something great- even if it is just a birds nest). 

Now, I have moved this nest to 3 different places. She ( being the nest she gets an identity- accept it) needs a place that I feel connected with. Here are some options- 

Cute. Notice the bomb shelter cinderblock- gives the eggs character- lies. 

This nook needs work- just give me a snow day already. I have plans, dreams. 

In the light of the afternoon glow? A Thomas Kinkade moment really. I can't commit. I'm not usually one with commitment problems- I have plenty of other problems. 

Feelings? Thoughts? Visitors? I'm serious come to Tennessee. 

Treasures too good for Johnny Depp

 Leaving one home and going back to another can cause someone ( don't assume me- or you can that's more accurate than thinking it is someone else) to feel sadness. What does said someone do when she is sad? She busies herself with projects that create more projects and then I am not sad anymore. Genius. 

This project started at the goodwill. No shame. I will not apologize for going to the goodwill 4 times in a week. I will not apologize for going to 3 goodwills 4 times a week. 

Well actually I believe this project started with a wall fountain. Yes, a fountain that led me to the goodwill. 

The "project" I am referring to would be the complete changing of the blue room. I never could click with the blue room. I didn't know what to do with her. She did a great job at hiding my junk and served me well for making me look like I don't have clutter.  Lies. 

Here are some pictures of her before:

That door goes into the hall of the dorm. Useless to me. Just pretend it is not there.

So sad looking. So lifeless. Those ikea mirrors need to go. I need to part with them. Do you want them? 

I love coral. I still couldn't make it work. 

It took a while but I realized it doesn't work because I am a shabby girl. Coral and blue? Ain't shabby- beautiful but not shabby. 

Also- I live in cinderblocks- you can also call it a bomb shelter. Have you ever tried to paint cinder blocks? - insert cuss words here.  

I had an idea about what color to paint the room based on a color that was used in other rooms in my house. So over 2 weeks of Christmas break I bought everything shabby that I could that would highlight the new color to be. 

This is a terrible picture of the color and of the inspirational wall fountain but retaking pictures is out of the question- I will not get out of my recliner. However, this picture is the beginning of everything good in the new blue room. I can't help the name of the room. It will forever still be the blue room. 

I did not buy the fountain at the goodwill- however almost everything else in this room came from there. Or my attic. The fountain and a piece later to come came from the cutest boutique called Bougique. Check it out. Great prices. Great treasures. 

I wanted everything to scream shabby and maybe make someone that likes clean lines to feel uncomfortable with all the patterns. 

I think I accomplished that. And I love it. The pictures above the bed are from goodwill. I have dreams that they will take me places. That they will pay my student loans. That they will take me to Seaworld and let me dine with Shamu all day ( I don't care about Blackfish. You can not change my mind. I will forever love Seaworld- judging inserted here). 

The photos are prints by Degas. Are they worth anything? Probably not. But the thought of them being worth something and the beauty of the old frames made them worth the $8.25.  The shelves still need little gems on them- I will get there. The room is still young.

Are you stressed by all the prints yet? Good. This mirror began as a brown heavy piece of mess. I used cream spray paint on the outside and looking glass spray paint on the inside and changed this baby. 

On a side note- the sweet man that helped me hang this asked me if I wanted to clean it before he hung it for me. I told him I made it dirty on purpose. Bless him. And bless all the Maintaince men that help me drill into the cinderblocks- it is much harder than one would think.

This table cost all of five dollars and I love it. I just painted it a cute blue and it made itself at home. It also holds some of my favorite things- a beautiful basin from Bougique, the hunger games(I will finish it soon for the love of Gail), and bossy paints- no explanation needed for Tina. 

This nook is a work in progress. Like the rest of my life. Give me time to work on it and then I will allow you to come over and sit in this little chair and read your favorite book while drinking tea. Some of my favorite things on this shelf? My moms flute from her youth, frames with special messages from my dad, and decorations from their wedding. Bam. 

Also, worth pointing out are the flowers in the white holder on the wall. I went to walmart to buy flowers for it- dumb. Did I doubt myself? No. I just wanted instant gratification. Be patient grasshopper. I was brought back to reality when I realized the cost of flowers from Walmart. I will not do it. I will not. Then a day later while thrifting I found these. Well I found them in their original form- as gravestone flowers. Rest in peace. 

Side story- as I was taking them apart in the tub ( thanks to Kate for that advice) a spider came out of them. A spider the size of a quarter with hairy legs. I screamed. I jumped. I drowned it.

This is my new favorite place to sit in my home. The dresser has been kept wood where it will be for all eternity. It is stunning and was $10. On it has books that were spray painted gold and my current life changing read- Not a Fan. Read it. Also a picture of me and my dad on a roller coaster sits here. That picture did not come from the goodwill. 

Side story- that happened. A picture of me was found at the goodwill-not from a frame that came from my house. An old friend took a picture of it. It said I was worth $3.25.  Lesson to learn? Don't leave your pictures in things that you are sending to the Goodwill. Especially if they have other people in them.

This is the end of the new updates. Do you recognize this? Refer to previous post. Woah. She is a beaut. She also holds special things. One being the doll house my pawpaw built for me on my first birthday. The doll house has been home to many dolls and beanie babies. It now deserves to be given a special place for all to love. The second is a poem my dad wrote for me my freshman year of college. Finally a picture of me and Pig with my first love, Santa. 

This is where you can sing like Julie Andrews, "these are a few of my favorite things."