Moderncat.

I am signed up for Moderncat emails, because sometimes they feature pretty awesome cat products, like scratchers or beds or bowls. Of course, most of it is ridiculously expensive, but a girl can dream.

Last week I got an email with my dining room post from Saucy Dwellings, featured here.

Kind of cool, I guess, although they totally ignored the comments about those IKEA shelves coming out within a few days of install because she ripped one out of the wall. Which reminds me that I should do an updated post on the dining room.

Armchairs, Part One: Strip and Stain

So I've been planning on redoing our living room armchairs since we got them. I love the shape of these, but I really don't know anything about them. The brown vinyl is really not my thing though. It also has some nicks in the vinyl and odd black staining on the seat of one of the chairs. Initially I wanted to have them professionally reupholstered, but then we had some unexpected expenses (*cough*stupidmoneypitcar*cough*) and there went my chair upholstery fund.

Then I realized I could just paint them with vinyl spray paint. It would help fill in the nicked areas, since it contains actual vinyl particles in it. And it's way cheaper, at least for now. Except then my white vinyl spray paint was out of stock on Home Depot's website (the only place I could find it that wasn't ridiculously overpriced). Now it's discontinued. Seriously?

But I decided I didn't want to paint them white anyways. I think I want a light sandy beige, because I'm going for this natural sort of neutral thing in the living room now. Since vinyl spray paint is generally used for automotive and boat upholstery, it tends to come in a lot of shades of tan, so that should make it easier to find the particular shade I want.

Still haven't actually gotten the paint, but I had to strip and restain the arms first anyways. Which is really the point of this post. The arms were also not in the greatest shape: some mystery paint on the legs, along with a weird and obviously intentional pictogram thingy scratched onto the arm of one chair. And a somewhat garish orange tone that really didn't work well with the 70's drab brown vinyl.

Before

So I stripped them, which didn't end up doing a whole lot, then sanded them down with a mouse sander using a medium grit then a fine grit sandpaper. This was definitely the most time consuming part, due to the serpentine shape of the wood. I actually really liked the bare wood, and if I were keeping the brown or going with a darker color for the upholstery, I would have simply treated it with some oil and been done with it.

Stripped and sanded

The rest was pretty straightforward. Treat with wood pre-conditioner (this is to help the wood stain evenly), allowing the wood to absorb for 5-15 minutes. Afterwards you are supposed to wipe off any excess with a rag, but the wood completely absorbed the two coats I put on.

After wood conditioner.

Then three coats of stain, wiping off any excess with a rag. If I want it darker, I can apply more stain. I used a roughly 1:1 ratio of Minwax Dark Walnut and English Chestnut. I thought it would have more of a red tone to it with the English Chestnut, but it really didn't seem to pick up much at all. That's okay though. I like how it looks.

Stained

And the grain really came out pretty lovely in some spots.

Grain

Fireplace Renovation, Finale.

We finished this a couple weeks ago, but I'm just now getting around to posting. Lots of stuff going on around here lately, including my mother moving in for a couple weeks since she's about to close on the contract to sell her house, and us ripping out nearly all the landscaping in the front yard to redo it (which I will get around to posting pictures of soon, hopefully). Oh and it's my last semester of undergrad. Yeah, sh!t's been insane.

Before. Not terrible, just kinda boring.

After trying to remove the paint. The orange tint is dried on Citristrip.

Down to the frame.

New MDF, before we decided to replace the tile also. Legs are 1.5 inches wider on each side.

Mantle #1. I hated it, the proportions were wrong. And it was ugly.

New 2" x 2" travertine mosaic tile.

Tile after grouting.

Using painters tape to decide if I wanted to do detail trim on the front.

Finished fireplace!

Ta-da! Sure it took 5 months instead of two weeks, but overall I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Midas Touch.

So, I primed Shiva, then gave him a coat of gold Rub N' Buff. I was really liking the matte pale grey of the primer. I'm kinda iffy on the gold. Maybe because it's not the uber shiny gold like polished brass. I've always been kind iffy on gold anyways.

Primed

Gold

He's currently chilling on the fireplace mantel. Fireplace is still not finished. Hubby has been procrastinating on the trim installation (3 months!), which is really the last step besides a final coat of paint. Even in its unfinished state, it's still pretty fab though.

Shiva.

My mother is selling her house. The sale is finalized on March 15th, and she's in the process of getting rid of all the extra stuff that won't fit in her new apartment. This is one of the things I took, a Shiva (or possibly Indian Buddha?) figurine that's been hanging outside for several years.

He's really dirty, although the paint hides it well. I want to give him a new coat of paint. Not quite sure what I want to paint him though. I'm not really sure where I'm going to keep him, which is probably the cause of my indecisiveness. I was thinking maybe white, but now I'm thinking gold? Hmm. Or some crazy neon green.

Also, we redid the cat shelves awhile back, but the kitty was reluctant to use them at first. So I bribed her with wheat grass. Now she hangs out there munching on grass and spying on the neighbors.