That DIY Spirit

         OK YES! We've seen this type of thing a MILLION times by now-using BURLAP to recover something-to give a piece new life-but this is an old project of mine from 2012, and I don't think I ever shared it's story. It's not just a story of a CHAIR, it's much more than that. It's about that whole DIY spirit and the need to repurpose, reuse, redo, relove, you get what I mean. AND it's also a story of the relationship between a husband and wife, and I always hear similar stories and it makes me laugh every time!  (photo credit Robin Stubbert)

Driving home from town one day we passed this chair on the side of the road, at the end of someones laneway. You know, a curbside find. (I call it road kill.) I immediately looked at my husband-he looked at me-I gave him THOSE EYES-he shook his head NO and we continued to drive and drive AND DRIVE.  Hmmmmm?  yep! driving further and further away from something that all I wanted to do was stop and get a better look at!

 Now, I don't know about the rest of you ladies but this is the face I give when I don't get what I want. No, this is not my actual face, but the expression is pretty darn close!! So I don't say a word, I just sit there with THIS FACE. And not even looking directly at him-no just looking out the window-because I know he can still see this face even at side view.

 Now, as you already know-and can tell by that expression on my face-that's not really MY face-but you know-we had turned around and went back so I could get that better look at it and YEP! it ended up coming home with us!

I started out by washing it off with soapy water and the garden hose and left it outside to dry for a few days. I applied 2 coats of Old White ASCP, distressed it with a sanding block and then applied both clear and dark AS waxes.

I then got out my reupholstery stapler and applied some burlap coffee sacks on the seat and the backside. For the backrest I applied a plain burlap material and I then STENCILED the lettering on with Graphite ASCP to match the seat!! Bet you didn't know THAT!!! And as you can see from the beautiful top photo taken of the chair with our Himalayan Smeagol, that stenciling turned out pretty darn nice!

Even though you've seen this type of thing a million times-what do you think?

Mel