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Duck Creek DIY: Antique Dining Room Chair Makeover {With Tutorial}

We have a beautiful dining set given to us by Jed’s dad.  It is 80-100 years old and has been passed down through several generations.  The seats have been recovered several times with some pretty unfortunate fabric.  The latest was a tan vinyl that has probably been there for 30+ years.  It was time for a change.  We love the color of the wood and the set is very well made.  The wood is in great shape, but the seats were struggling.  We have five chairs, a table, and a buffet.

Before = Struggling

This was our first time recovering chairs, so it took a little trial and error, a few Youtube videos, and quite a few Pinterest links to get through the adventure.  We’ll walk you through it, so you can learn from our mistakes and save yourself a little pain and suffering.  I highly recommend checking for coupons online before you buy your fabric and foam.  You can save a bundle with a 40% off coupon at Joann’s.  We originally bought a stripped linen home decor fabric, but it didn’t work out.  We went back and found an awesome Ikat outdoor fabric that will be perfect for the spills and thrills that come with small children using furniture.

Here’s what you need:
sheet of plywood
circular saw
foam (enough to cover your chairs + a little extra)
outdoor weight fabric (or another thick fabric, at least home decor weight)
staple gun
staples (We used 5/16 size.)
sharp fabric scissors
exacto knife or utility scissors

Make it happen:
1) Take your chairs apart.  Unscrew your seat from the chair and remove the padding and fabric.  If you can salvage the padding, go for it because it will save you about half the cost of this project.  If your seats are still in good condition, you can skip down to step three from here.

2) Create new seat bases from your plywood sheet.  Use the existing seat to cut out a new one using your circular saw.  Create your pattern by tracing the old seat, then cut out each new seat carefully.

3) Use the previous fabric seat cover to trace a pattern on your new fabric.  Make sure you check to see that all of your seat cover are the same size (end chairs are often larger).  Use fabric scissors so that the least amount of damage is done while cutting the fabric.

4) Cut out your foam if needed.  Again, salvage the old foam if you can.  We used a 1 1/2 inch thick green foam material because the density will help with wear and tear.  Use the seat as a template for cutting out your foam.  Don’t use your fabric scissors on the foam or they will no longer be sharp.  Use an exacto knife or utility scissors.

5) Assemble!  Place the foam on top of the wooden seat, then wrap the fabric tightly around it.  Starting in the back, pull the fabric tightly over to the bottom of the seat.  Staple that bad boy down.  This is where we ran into trouble with our first fabric choice.  The linen couldn’t handle being pulled tightly and started to run.  Disaster!  The outdoor weight fabric worked MUCH better.  After you staple down the back, move to the front and repeat on all four sides.  Do not be afraid to use a LOT of staples.  Seriously.  Get after it.

6) Reattach your seat to the chair.  Done!

I’m obsessed with this fabric, and I think the grey and green goes really well with our teal walls.  What do you think?

I love linking my ideas at these blog parties.  Click the links to check them out and find crafty inspiration.  If you’ve never visited a blog party, you will be blown away by the creativity shared and imaginative ideas.
Monday: CraftOManiacMad in CraftsSew Chatty,  Keeping It SimpleC.R.A.F.T.Boogie Board Cottage, and Sumo’s Sweet Stuff   
Tuesday:  Hope StudiosToday’s Creative BlogCoastal Charm, and New Nostalgia
Wednesday: The Trendy TreehousePolka Dots on ParadeLil Luna, and The Thrifty Home
Thursday: All Things with Purpose, Somewhat SimpleThe Shabby Creek CottageThe Girl Creative, and House of Hepworths
Friday: Sugar and SpiceKojo DesignsDiana Rambles Pin Me Party, and The Shabby Nest
Weekends: Sweet Tea Social @ Texas Women Bloggers, Tatertots and Jello, Serenity Now
Buttercream Bakehouseand Candace Creations 

Easy DIY Instagram Magnets {Make 6 for $3}

I heart Instagram.  For ages I used it just to add fun filters to my phone photos but finally started using it socially a few months ago.  Now I’m addicted.  You can follow me on Instagram here.  The big drawback of taking pictures on your phone has always been the difficulty in printing and displaying them in real life.  My friend Sarah who blogs here shared a tutorial for creating Instagram magnets using the Walgreens app, and I thought it sounded like a fabulous idea.  When I went to Joann’s to looks for magnet strips, I found something exciting – a whole magnetic sheet!  I’d never seen one before and thought it would be perfect for this little project.  I used a coupon at both Joann’s and Walgreens so the total cost of this project was only $3 for 6 magnets.  If you print off your pics in a 3×3 format instead of the 4×4 using the app, you could get 12 magnets out of a sheet instead of 6.  Bonus!  Here’s how I did it:

Materials needed:
1 8×12 magnetic sheet (use your mobile craft store coupon)
6 4×4 Instagram prints (or 12 if get them printed 3×3)
Exacto knife or box cutter
piece of cardboard

Make it:
Get your pictures printed through the Walgreens app, or format and print yourself at home.  Strip the adhesive backing off of your magnetic sheet.  This is the hardest part.  That backing was not trying to come off for me.  Lay out your photos on the magnetic sheet.  Put a piece of cardboard underneath to protect your work surface from your cutting implement.  Cut them out.  Done.

These make a fun and very personal gift.  I gave the set of 5 to Jed for Father’s Day to take to his classroom, and saved one for our fridge at home.  My goal is to make these once a month so that we have our Instagrams on display in real life and have a festive fridge.

How do you display your phone pictures?

Be sure to follow me on Instagram at Bare Feet on the Dashboard.  

I love linking my ideas at these blog parties.  Click the links to check them out and find crafty inspiration.  If you’ve never visited a blog party, you will be blown away by the creativity shared and imaginative ideas.
Monday: CraftOManiacMad in CraftsIt’s So Very CheriSew ChattyThe Girl CreativeKeeping It SimpleC.R.A.F.T.Boogie Board Cottage, and Sumo’s Sweet Stuff   
Tuesday: Raising 4 PrincessesThe Kurtz CornerHope StudiosToday’s Creative BlogCoastal Charm, and New Nostalgia 
Wednesday: The Trendy TreehousePolka Dots on ParadeLil Luna, and The Thrifty Home
Thursday: All Things with Purpose, Somewhat SimpleThe Shabby Creek Cottage, and House of Hepworths
Friday: Sugar and SpiceKojo Designs, and The Shabby Nest
Weekends: Tatertots and Jello, Serenity Now, and Candace Creations 

Summer Mantle and a Cheap Giant Photo

I love to change up my fireplace mantle, but I don’t like to spend money.  I have to look at it constantly, so I want it to be something I enjoy.  Often I repurpose items from around the house.  I used one of my Meme’s vintage blue mason jars to hold up 3 fun pinwheels I found on clearance at Hobby Lobby last year.  I also used 3 red candles from around the house for the other side.  The giant photo in the middle is my masterpiece.  I saw a great post on Pinterest about blowing up photos for under $5 and decided to put it to the test.  I edited my photo by adding text, then took the file to Kinko’s on a thumb drive.  I asked them to blow it up to a 2×3 engineer’s print.  It cost $3.  Total.  The quality is not the same as when you pay for a more expensive print, but I love the look of it and the fact that I can change it out at will.    

My husband cut out a piece of foam insulation to fit the print, and I painted the edges aqua to match other accents in my living room and disguise the ugly foam insulation.  I mounted the print using spray adhesive.  Easy.

Have you tried the giant print trick yet?
I made 2 others; one for Jed’s classroom and one for the 
ugly mirrored closet doors in The Bear’s room.  
So fun and so frugal.  Go for it!
I love linking my ideas at these blog parties.  Click the links to check them out and find crafty inspiration.  If you’ve never visited a blog party, you will be blown away by the creativity shared and imaginative ideas.  
Monday: CraftOManiacMad in CraftsIt’s So Very CheriSew ChattyThe Girl CreativeKeeping It SimpleC.R.A.F.T.Boogie Board Cottage, and Sumo’s Sweet Stuff   
Tuesday: Raising 4 PrincessesThe Kurtz CornerHope StudiosToday’s Creative BlogCoastal Charm, and New Nostalgia 
Wednesday: The Trendy TreehousePolka Dots on ParadeLil Luna, and The Thrifty Home
Thursday: Somewhat SimpleTales from BloggeritavilleThe Shabby Creek Cottage, and House of Hepworths
Friday: Sugar and SpiceKojo Designs, and The Shabby Nest
Weekends: Tatertots and Jello, Serenity Now, and Candace Creations 

Burlap and Pinwheels – A Summer Wreath

I’m still in love with my interchangeable burlap wreath.  It just makes switching out seasonal decorations so easy.  For summer I left the grass and flowers in from my spring wreath and added pinwheels from Dollar Tree that were 3/$1.  They happened to match the ribbon I used in the spring wreath.  Click here to see my spring/Easter version and here to see the Valentine’s Day version.  

 Getting the pinwheels to stick in the wreath was far more difficult than I thought it would be.  I thought the stakes would poke through and make the pinwheels stand up.  Nope.  They broke off instead.  I weaved each stake through the grass a little bit and then used straight pins to secure the stakes onto the back of the wreath.  Because the wreath is on our front door and gets opened and shut a lot, I’ve had to readjust the pinwheels several times.  I’m ok with that.  I love the whimsical look of this wreath and the fact that it cost only $1 to switch to a summer version.

Pinwheels, flip flops, Americana, beach flair… 
How do you decorate for summer?  
I love linking my ideas at these blog parties.  Click the links to check them out and find crafty inspiration.  If you’ve never visited a blog party, you will be blown away by the creativity shared and imaginative ideas.  
Monday: CraftOManiacMad in CraftsIt’s So Very CheriSew ChattyThe Girl CreativeKeeping It SimpleC.R.A.F.T.Boogie Board Cottage, and Sumo’s Sweet Stuff   
Tuesday: Raising 4 PrincessesThe Kurtz CornerHope StudiosToday’s Creative BlogCoastal Charm, and New Nostalgia 
Wednesday: The Trendy TreehousePolka Dots on ParadeLil Luna, and The Thrifty Home
Thursday: Somewhat SimpleTales from BloggeritavilleThe Shabby Creek Cottage, and House of Hepworths
Friday: Sugar and SpiceKojo Designs, and The Shabby Nest
Weekends: Tatertots and Jello, Serenity Now, and Candace Creations 

Decorating an Easter Mantle

Spring is here and Easter is one of my favorite holidays.  
Ok, I say that about all the holidays.
But seriously, Easter is my favorite.
I love that it represents the risen Jesus and the hope of new life.
To decorate our mantle, I took inspiration from Pinterest and used lots of items found around our house.  The cute sign I bought on sale last summer at my favorite shop in Little Rock, The Full Moon.  They have an assortment of fabulous things that is ever changing, and they have really great sales a couple of times each year.  I even registered there for my wedding.    

The bunnies were inspired by a few Pinterest finds like this one, but I couldn’t find a pattern that was the right size.  I sketched one out and used it to cut the design out from several different colors of cardstock.  Then I glued little puff ball tails onto my bunnies and glued the bunnies onto a brown ribbon measured to hang across the mantle.

Super cute little baby bunny.  

I brought in 2 giant flowers that we’ve had since our wedding.  They decorated the gift table at our rustic barn reception.  I filled 2 of my Meme’s old blue mason jars with plastic eggs, inspired by this Pinterest find.  I added artificial flowers leftover from last year, and a sweet flocked bunny I won from a blog giveaway at Goodbye House, Hello Home a few years ago.

I love the color the eggs and bunnies and flowers bring into the room.  It feels like spring.

Our wedding and engagement pictures have been on our mantle for a while now, and I’m feeling it is time for a change.  I’ve searched for ideas and landed on a few that I’m working on.

If you are looking for more Easter ideas, here is my Pinterest inspired Easter wreath.  
How do you celebrate Easter? 
Check out the fun craft parties I link to on my right sidebar.  

Our Handmade Felt Christmas Stockings

I am loving the fireplace at our new rent house. It makes us feel so cozy and at home, and it has been trying to decorate it for Christmas. We had some fancy velvet stockings that didn’t really go with our style or decor so I decided to make some felt ones that were much more us. As many of you know, I don’t own a sewing machine (though it is one my Christmas list) and don’t really know how to sew. I definitely prefer glue to a needle and thread, so I used it heavily in this project, with a little needle and embroidery floss thrown in for good measure. This project started at my friend Betsy’s Christmas craft night a few weeks ago. She had a bunch of inspirational ideas cut out of magazines for us to check out. I loved an idea from Land of Nod that I’ve attached at the bottom of this post, and it inspired me to make these stockings with a few touches of my own.
Here are our stockings. I think they are super cute. I cut them out of thick felt, on the fold so that the bottom would be reinforced.


I embroidered our names on white felt and then stitched them onto the top of the stockings.
I cut out the circles of many different colors of felt using pinking shears for a unique look. I made them three different sizes for variety. The color schemes are different for each stocking, but with a few repetitive colors. I glued the dots to the stockings using 3-in-1 Advanced Craft Glue. Then I glued thick ric rac over the dots.
After the glue dried, I hand stitched around each stocking with the embroidery floss that matched the name stitching. Hopefully they will hold up when filled with goodness.
The last step was attaching polka dot grosgrain ribbon with both glue and a few stitches to the top right corner of each stocking to hang them by the chimney with care.
Here are the finished products above, along with Jackson’s stocking that I featured earlier this week. I need another stocking holder but I don’t mind sharing with the pup.

Here is the inspiration stocking from Land of Nod. They have such fun stuff, but it is mostly out of the budget. I saved about $50 dollars by making the stockings myself, though it did take a LOT of time. At one point I almost decided to just finish one this year, but decided to go for it. Next year I’ll need to make one for our little Bun that is baking in my oven.
What is inspiring you this Christmas season?
I’m linking up to some great parties. Check them out on my sidebar and join the fun.