UsedEverywhere.com

Easy Isn't Always Easy

Sometimes life presents us with challenges. Sometimes they are obvious, and sometimes they reveal themselves slowly and painfully. I’ve recently been lucky enough to experience the latter while working on some chairs that I’m refinishing. I am sure that anyone who has attempted “an easy job” has had one of these experiences too.

I try to remember that every challenge is a learning opportunity. I learn new techniques, new problem solving tools, new curses to bestow upon wood and metal and fabric that does not want to do what I want it to do.

Here are the problems I encountered, and the solutions. May you also learn from these and carry that information forward with you in your memory.

THE SITUATION: I found three teak chairs in varying states of disrepair at a local thrift store. They had yellowy brown Naugahyde straight out of the early 80s. My brain says “OMG this is a great deal and refinishing them is going to be EASY”

Ha. Ha. Ha. Riiiiight.

stacking unstackable chairs is an art form, people.

 

PROBLEM: the chairs had been refinished in the 80s, they are much older than that. Whoever did it used a massive amount of staples, which did not want to come out of the wood. I tried prying them with a precision screwdriver, which tends to be a useful staple removal tool in my house. Not so much this time around.

SOLUTION: I didn’t bother taking the staples out of the seat bottoms, it would have taken me a year and I would have damaged the wood. So I cut the vinyl off, staying as close to the staples as possible. For the back piece, I had to get a special side-cutter that was small enough to help me pry out the staples. The precision screwdriver did end up helping me in the end. I am now a certified Staple Dentist.

look at all those staples. they were so snug to the wood I couldn’t pry them off to save my life.

PROBLEM: the grooves in the back pieces were too deep to use a staple gun.

SOLUTION: I found some dainty and mostly flat headed escutcheon nails in brass and used my little tack hammer and a nail punch to nail the fabric into the grooves. The next person to upholster these chairs may curse my name but I can’t go out and buy a professional staple gun with a narrow bottom!

these nails are nice and shiny and have enough of a head on them to hold down the fabric nicely

PROBLEM: I used a few longer nails on the sides of the back pieces. I thought I had checked to make sure they all went in straight. I didn’t. Two nails were poking out, and I didn’t see (or rather, feel) them until I had the whole thing done. I tried to stick the nails in, through the fabric, very carefully. I made two small holes. SUB-PROBLEM: I bought material at a liquidation store. They were all out.

SOLUTION: do-over on one back piece. Much more carefully!!! Luckily I had enough extra material to cover another piece. I was almost S.O.L.

you can’t see in this picture, and barely in real life, that there are holes in that black fabric. I know they are there and they must be fixed!

PROBLEM: the place I chose to put teak oil on the chairs was well ventilated but turns out, infested with cat hair. I didn’t notice until it was time to rub the excess oil off and all of a sudden hair was everywhere, sticking to my chairs. To be honest at this point I’d had a few gin and tonics (it was a nice day!) so I went to bed and figured I’d deal with it in the morning

SOLUTION: I am a lucky lucky girl. All the hair rubbed right off after the chairs had sat over night. It could have been disastrous. It wasn’t. Thank you good karma (next time, a drop cloth is being used no matter what).

not oiled, oiled. this room was ripped down the next day. I thought it would be a good place to do some teak oiling, which smells a lot. Should have used a drop cloth…

PROBLEM: one of the chairs is different than the other two. It has two screws that hold the seat on, that come up through the bottom. One was missing, the other was too long. I went to the hardware store already and had bought a second matching screw so now there are two lumps coming up through the seat instead of one… or none.

SOLUTION: there are no screws made at the length I needed for this chair. The next smallest is too short. So they went with my husband to work, where he used a hack saw or something to cut a bit off the end of the screws to make them the right length.

some of the tools I use on a project. Movies are a good soundtrack.

SUMMARY: easy is never easy. Ever. If you think otherwise, you have yet to challenge yourself. Sometimes the smallest issues can cause you the longest headaches. And while it is impossible to completely assess a situation before you jump into it, I have learned a few more things to keep an eye on when surveying potential projects. I’ve also acquired some new tools at the hardware store.

So, dear readers, learn from this story. It can apply to anything, not just working on a furniture project. Even when we are most careful, something can (and probably will) go wrong somewhere along the way. We must learn from these things so we are better able to deal with them if it happens again.

What projects have you learned a good (or hard) lesson from? Please share in the comments!

 

 

 

My Garbage Chair

I’ve always loved the idea of finding great furniture in the dumpster (although, still not sure why people don’t list the items for free on their UsedEverywhere.com city site). For so many years I’ve seen chairs and stools and tables rescued from the curb and made into something spectacular. I’ve always been a fan of the people who pull over and take someone’s junk to make it useful again. I have just never felt comfortable doing that myself.

So, when I saw this chair on the top of a large pile of discarded household furnishings (someone moved out) I drove around the block to take a better look. Then I drove around again, wondering if I should stop and get it. Then I kept going and got almost home, but turned around and went back. I drove past reeeal slow. I felt like a stalker. I pulled off on a side street and told myself I was being ridiculous and garbage day was the next day and it would get crushed up for no good reason. So, I went back. I pulled into the driveway and took that chair and put it in my car. Of course neighbours were out raking and getting their mail and they totally stopped and looked at me (and in my head they were judging me something fierce) but I had my prize and I took it home and looked at it for a while. I am so glad I stopped!

 

The chair is a mid-century piece but it’s a knock off of a designer chair. Not the best quality. However, under the fabric that had been nailed to the legs, was the original cushion (orange. So perfect) and it was FREE. It was missing a leg support and the finish was cracking all over but these were easy fixes. I sanded it down all over, just a quick sand but I paid attention to the rougher spots. I got a 3/4″ dowel and cut it to size, glued the ends and put it between the legs where the old one was cut off. Those got a nail in each end. Then, I painted.

 

A paint that I find really useful for these kinds of projects is Tremclad. They have a paint that’s for wood and metal, and it comes in flat, gloss, and high gloss. I used the regular gloss because that is what I had at home already. It dries quickly and has a really great sheen on it. It is also water soluble so it’s easy for clean-up.

 

For the cushion, I used a remnant I had picked up at the textile store a few months ago. It cost me a whole $1. I put it right on top of the old cushion, as it was clean plus I like to keep old fabric underneath when I can for someone else to discover somewhere down the road. I always like finding the original fabric on something! Staple guns make this kind of job much easier. I use a hand powered one, not an air compressor or electric one. One day I would like to get a fancy staple gun, but for now my father-in-laws will do.

 

So, that is really all that it took to take a $1 chair from the garbage back from the brink and into the modern world. I really love this chair, and am glad it was an easy fix. Sometimes a coat of paint and a piece of printed cotton can really work wonders. I am definitely stopping to pick up treasures again.

UsedEverywhere.com is encouraging it’s users to snap pictures of discarded future-treasures and post the pictures to Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #ShouldaUsedOttawa (#ShouldaUsedVictoria, #ShouldaUsedVancouver, or #ShouldaUsedRegina etc. – depends on the city you live in of course). It’s much easier to find free stuff on a UsedEverywhere.com site than driving around searching for unloved items that could already be damaged by the elements.

 

Has anyone else rescued something from the curb and put it to good use?

DIY Beds for Spring

Valentines day is supposed to be the symbolic day of Love. I, among many others, think that one day just isn’t enough. And no offense, February… you are kind of a stinky month. Do you know what gets me in the mood? SPRING.

Yes that’s right. I get spring fever. All the melting of snow and the bursting forth of flowers…well I’ll leave the imagery alone cause this is a PG blog but you get the drift.

I always feel romantic in springtime. I like spending as much time outdoors as I can. But when I come inside there’s got to be a continuation of that feeling. I like to buy hothouse bulbs, or cut tulips, or go to the woods and chop a few pussywillow brnaches down. I get cleaning out the dusty crammed corners of my kitchen. I want to move.

After all that moving is done, I am exhausted. Which brings me to bed. I also like to spend a lot of time in there. (Yes just sleeping).

A long time ago, people bedded down beside each other under and on top of furs. Eventually we moved on to bigger and better things, beds. Where they better? Well that is up for debate. I recently watched a program care of the BBC that spoke all about the history and anthropological niche of beds. It got me thinking: in society today, a bed is a real symbol of love. Whether it is carnal love or domestic bliss or even chasteness, beds are an important fixture in our homes. So I thought I’d look at a few examples of fantastic beds that might stir the fire inside you. And they are all things you can make!

First off, is this awesome LED panelled headboard. How cute is this? The directions are here if you want to know a bit more, but all I know is its sparkly and big and i like it!

LED lights create a fairytale look

Next is a romantic metal bed with swirls of chiffon. Now, this particular bed is a four poster canopy. But, if you made a frame as big as you wanted it out of either metal or wood, and attached it to you ceiling, you could definitely recreate this look with the bed that you already have. Soft yellows and whites are very dreamy (and springy!). There are even canopy frames that you can buy. Alternately you could do something a little simpler, like hang a circle over the bed for a neat and crafty look. Who doesn’t like being romanced behind closed curtains? I personally think I’d get a better sleep behind chiffon.

an easy to recreate look, if you’re crafty! not just for a doggy to enjoy!

This next bed is super easy and looks very beautiful. I like a simple, woodland fantasy look. Get a few big sticks from the woods, attach some twinkle lights, voila! You have a super awesome starry bed.

using a feature from nature with some twinkle lights

Next up is a good use of pallets. Now, do be careful as some pallets are treated with some pretty nasty chemicals. If your pallets are good to go, you can make a platform bed very easily. This example shows them in a raw wood form, but I have seen ones that are painted as well. I would probably seal the pallets, and maybe give them a sanding, just to make sure they wont snag your linens or your toes. But this would give you lots of room for candles and whatever else you’d want by a sexy bed.

pallets: usually untreated pine that’s very sturdy. Be careful with fire and wood, readers!

I could show you a million beds that are easy to make and are super awesome. However, I like to leave something to the imagination. What kind of things would you do to your bed if you could, to make it a little more sexy? Me, I’d make a whole bunch of pretty pillows and get some cool old vintage quilts to put on it for snuggling in.

Getting creative with furniture restoration

Something that I always try to be, whether it is fashion, housewares or furniture, is original. Having something different is fun, to me at least. Vintage clothing is usually fairly unique and different. You won’t have to worry about someone else showing up to the office party wearing the same dress as you! Awkward moment avoided!

I like thrifting. A lot. A lot a lot a lot. My house is a veritable treasure trove of weird and wonderful things. Nobody else has my candlesticks or place mats or chair covers. And I like that. It is fun to tailor your home to be something that is totally unique and awesome. And while it does take some time, your creativity and You-ness can really shine.

It is really easy to make furniture be a centrepiece of this identity. Its usually big, you probably actually use it, someone besides yourself will sit on a chair or couch. What are some things that you can do, you ask. Well, I am so glad that you want to know

Cushions: probably the easiest thing you can do is get cushions, or even make them, that either blend in to your style or contrast with it, depending on what you like. A simple throw cushion can take a boring beige chair from frumpy to fabulous in mere moments. And because cushions generally don’t cost too much, you can replace them whenever you want to mix it up a bit. I know some people that bring out new combinations of cushions with each season. While that is a bit much for me, it is a great way to refresh your living space. And if you sew, making cushions is super duper simple.

These chairs would look quite boring without some awesome bright cushions. Look at how they really pop against the neutral decor.

Paint: while I generally cringe at the idea of painting wood furniture, sometimes it needs to be done. A fresh coat of paint on a tired old plant stand can make your plant pop out of the woodwork so to speak. Have an old broken kitchen chair languishing in the basement? Pull it out, paint it, you have a new plant stand for indoors or out. You can paint a chair, couch legs, picture frames, really anything. You can even paint fabric (click here to see some instructions. It sounds like a lot of trouble but hey who am I to tell you what not to do). Paint is usually fairly inexpensive and if you go to your local home improvement store often you can troll for cheap mis-tint paint like I do.

sick of looking at your faded scratched wood table and chairs? look how cute this is!

Fabric: it isn’t that hard to make slipcovers, if you know your way around a sewing machine. You can pick any fabric you’d like, and if you can’t sew it, you can have someone else do it. This way you are reusing your existing furniture but giving it new life. Dining chairs are easy to redo, and you can really let your creativity shine here. I am currently fixing an old chair up and using a cable knit sweater for the cushion! You could sew together old doilies and layer that over a contrasting fabric for a really cool effect. The possibilities are really endless when it comes to chair bottoms. I change mine all the time. I think my husband believes I have some commitment issues!

look at this great refinishing project! see how to do it here

Using things that aren’t intended for that purpose: an old barrel with a cushion on top becomes a fabulous chair. An old door mounted on the wall becomes a headboard for your bed. An old office credenza becomes hallway storage. Old fabric remnants can be framed and hung for a cool and vintage look. An old dining table can be an office desk. There are so many things you can use in different ways, just thinking about it makes me excited. If you want some inspiration click here and have a Re-Imagining Weekend; fun for the whole family!

an old ladder hangs down for a great small space reuse pot rack

What sorts of creative things have you done in your home? Let us know!

 

Why Repurposing and Refinishing is Awesome

I’m a self-confessed thrifting addict. I spend a lot of time cruising online ads looking for “vintage” “retro” and “antique” stuff. I go to every thrift store I see. The ones I like, I go to often. So often the furniture people know my voice before they see me. Well, I’ve always wanted recognition….

I’ve been feeling wistful lately. I’ve written a lot on how to refinish things, here and on my home blog, and I don’t ever really go into the “why’s” of thrifting. Why it’s fun and why it’s economical. And why it’s “green”.

I’m pretty passionate about these things!

Thrifting in itself is a lot of fun. I’ve always loved going through piles of stuff. My grandparents were antiquers, they always had crazy weird relics from the past and as a kid I would spend days taking each piece of china out of the cupboards to inspect them. It was fascinating. Where did this stuff come from? What was its story? Who loved this vase before I did? Well sometimes you get to know and that is very special, but mostly you don’t and the fantasies you can create are also part of the fun.

Loving eyes for a vintage vase. This is not me, by the way

 

I’ve turned my heart to furniture lately, and one thing that really sticks out in my mind is that modern furniture is not made like it used to be. High end stuff is obviously better, but the mass market furniture you buy now is not. That is why I don’t bother trying to refinish newer stuff. It isn’t constructed with long term durability in mind. Older stuff though, has. Maybe its just that all the cheap stuff has already hit the landfill, that the pieces that didn’t stand the test of time are already forgotten and the stuff that’s left is better. I don’t know, and really one could wax philosophical about this for hours, but I think that if you take a look at a modern furniture flyer from a big store, and go though it, you will see what I mean!

This couch is at least 50 years old. And built to last! And also really really really cute 

 

One of the most important things about reusing old stuff or refinishing it, is that you are not consuming any new resources (save for maybe some paint or fabric). Not buying something new saves you on materials, shipping, packaging waste, deforestation, landfill waste; throwing out things has its environmental bad points but so does buying new things. Where was your chair made? What is that country’s wood industry like? How does it treat its workers? As a global economy it is important to ask these questions. Most of the furniture that I refinish is from the 60′s and before and it is all made in Canada or the USA. And I didn’t have to cut down another tree to get it! Score for everybody.

 

Boxes and packaging cause so much waste that doesn’t need to be made in the first place!

 

Lastly is the cool factor. Isn’t it great to have something totally unique that no one else has? In a style that isn’t trendy but is timeless. And cool! I don’t know how many times people, who have fabulous modern and trendy homes of their own, come to my thrifted estate sale furnished house and love it. Like, really really love it. My style is definitely not for everyone in their own home, but you can have one or two old pieces that fit in to your current decor. I’ll bet it cost you less than something new too (unless you’re talking about teak ’cause that is a whole other ball game, my friends)

 

Are you Rock n Roll? Are you Indie? Vintage couches suit many aesthetics!

 

Okay well, I think it’s pretty clear that I like hunting down old furniture like a wild Amazon woman, spear (aka wallet) in hand ready to pounce on my next victim. May that image stick in your mind next time you’re at the Sally Ann or browsing UsedOttawa. You can be an Amazon woman or dude too, creating your little cave of wondrous reused and refinished furniture among a forest full of jaguars and philodendrons and work life balance and family obligations. It’s fun!! And totally unique. I recommend it!

 

The author’s natural habitat.

Chair Makeover or When Your Plans Find a Mind of their Own

OK. I think that a lot of you guys have probably had this happen to you. You have a plan in your head. You gather materials and information. You’re finally good to go. Something happens, your plans are shot, do you forge ahead regardless, or do you let your project take the direction it wants?

I’m going to tell you a story of how this happened to me. Or rather, is happening to me.

As you may be able to tell from my last couple of posts (did you read them yet? Feel free to check them out, the wit and intelligence will blow you away) I refinish furniture for fun and sometimes profit. I found this cool old chair that needed love. I brought it home and stared at it for a few hours. Then, I was inspired! I would give it a new leather seat. I would paint it up. It would be sleek and modern but still have that vintage charm.

The leather on the seat was total dry and cracking

 

the back of the infamous chair, pre-refinishing

 

However, the plans involved leather that was either turquoise or yellow. Why? Because those are my favourite colours right now. I think they are favourite colours for a lot of people. So, where the heck was I going to find turquoise or yellow leather? Another inspiration: I’d repurpose an old leather jacket!!! Way cheaper than buying a new chunk of leather and where does one get one of those anyway?? I asked the kind folks on FullCircles Ottawa. No one had an old leather jacket to give me. I scoured the halls of all the local Value Villages. I looked on my favourite buy and sell sites. Finally I found it: a teal leather coat, large, in good shape.

I made a new seat for the chair. I had to take out all the nails from the old leather. I found the newspaper that was used as filler and tried to date the chair. This was a nice distraction and I’m pretty sure it was made in 1922. There was a lawsuit at the Wheat Board, the trains were having issues and a baby was abandoned at the train station in a suitcase. So I get this leather seat finished and it’s time to paint the frame.

Teal leather for the seat

 

old upholstery nails Baby in a suitcase! Scandal!

 

I get stumped. Should the frame be black or white or brown? I decide “white”. I buy paint. I second guess myself. I poll my Facebook friends. I poll my Instagram friends. I go to Pinterest. This chair becomes a social media darling, a celebrity among the moms I know and my long lost high school buddies. Finally, I decide. White paint for you, chair.

And this, my friends, is where my plans said, “That’s what YOU think, sister”.

As I am sanding down the layers of paint, my chair begins to unfold like a flower. A very shabby chic, flea market kind of flower. The kind of look that you can watch online tutorials about replicating but it never really looks authentic. It was like the proverbial angels singing from the parting clouds, sunlight streaming down into my laundry room/workshop. After all that groaning online to an Australian doctor/mother, the other refinisher from Kentucky, random people on Pintrest who liked my ideas, was I willing to scrap all my plans and let this chair be what it clearly wanted to be??

the revelation pretty colours waiting to be found the one side sanded to get the full effect

 

The answer is “yes”. Yes, I will scrap my plans. I will sand down some layers. The colours are really perfect. Walnut, cream, Tiffany blue, more walnut. History has given me a little slice and I just can’t bring myself to put a coat of paint on top of that. While shabby chic/flea market/”antiqued” is not my usual style, I am so very glad to let this one little chair, who has lived through so much, be who it wants to be. I’ve found a new seat fabric ($1 in the remnants bin score!)  and the leather will come off and be part of a project down the road. In fact, I think I have the perfect chair up in my attic…..

 

Has anyone else had a project take the lead on it’s own? Please share in the comments!!

Reupholstering and Painting: Reinventing a Tired, Chipped Chair

Recently I was out on a thrifting day (I have about three of those a week) when I came across a cute little Duncan Phyfe style chair at the Salvation Army that wanted to come home with me. Naturally, as the kind of person who just can’t say no to a chair, I loaded it up in the station wagon and began dreaming.

New paint and fabric, please?

 

Ripped front seat, dead batting

 

I’ve refinished many chairs in my lifetime, and for the most part, they’re pretty easy. Any chair that made of wood can be painted. Any chair with a removable seat can be reupholstered fairly simply. This particular chair needed both, with the added bonus of requiring new foam.

As you can see in the picture, the padding was the older style cotton batting type that you find pretty frequently in later mid century (yes this is a period, at least in my mind) furniture redo’s. This was not the first time someone had made this chair pretty again. The fabric was probably from the late 60′s judging by the aged colour and pattern and well it just smelled like the 60′s.

The seat is made of wood strips glued together, but one had broken. I used bar clamps (care of my father-in-law) and wood glue to stick it back together. It was easier than I thought it would be!

A broken seat is an easy fix with the right tools!

 

I went to Rockland Textiles as per usual and bought a half yard of ½ inch foam. I also bought the fabric I wanted there. It was one I’d seen on a previous visit and was hoping to be able to use one day. Yeay! Convincing the lady who was helping me that I really only needed 1/2” foam took some work, but it is really important to keep the original silhouette, in my opinion, and the seats in these chairs are always pretty flush with the sides.

Look at all those poor mutilated staples!

 

Pulling out the staples from the 60′s, quite frankly, sucked. I think that the person who came before me used a regular stapler with regular staples. They did not want to come out, but were also smashed so hard into the wood that they were deformed and there was also a million of them. So, take note future chair reupholsterers, use or borrow a staple gun, it will be so much easier for you and for whomever might inherit your project!!

Once that was done I cut out the foam using the seat as a guide. I left a bit of foam overhang so that the fabric would pull over nicely and there would be cushion for the back of your legs on the front of the seat. I used a spray adhesive to keep the foam steady while I placed the fabric on. This part was a little tricky as well, because the pattern needed to line up perfectly. Once that was done, I just stapled around the edges of the bottom of the seat, pulling on the fabric to keep the line nice and straight across the front. This was also tricky and took some practise to get used to. I pulled out a lot of staples in frustration on this chair!

Pretty chippy

 

After being sanded

 

In the meantime I used a melamine paint in “Espresso Bean” to paint the frame. I sanded down the chipped areas but it was the original finish on them and it was pretty much stuck on the wood like glue so I just painted over the whole thing. It took two coats plus a few touchups to get it nice and even.

Next all I had to do was screw the seat back on and voila! A cute, modern chair with some art nouveau influences! Doesn’t the harp look good with the chain type pattern on the seat? I really think so! And so does my friend Lianne who now has a cute office chair for her birthday.

All done! gleaming and new. Look at the nice lines on this chair!

 

Meet Lars or How I found and refurbished an amazing Mid-Century Modern couch

It all started on a fateful civic holiday weekend, when Value Village was open but no one really knew that. We stopped by and came across a neglected and beaten, Danish,  mid-century modern, teak three-seater couch. The seat strapping was missing and the previous owners had put in pieces of plywood instead. The arm on one side was badly faded and water stained. The rest of the couch was in pretty good shape! AND… it had original cushions!

I did not take any “before” pictures of the couch, which was silly of me, but we pretty much dove into refinishing it the day after we brought it home.

By the way, when I say “we refinished” I should say “my husband mostly refinished” because he is way better at this stuff than I am, plus I am way better at entertaining the kids while he sands and oils. It works for us. But he insists I give him the credit. He deserves it.

 

Anyway, if you are wondering how to refinish teak wood, it’s actually quite easy! Teak is naturally water resistant and is quite a hard wood so it is easy to sand and oil and looks glowing and magnificent in no time at all. For example, the arm that was weather beaten wound up being the nicest arm on the couch! And all Husband had to do was use a little medium and then fine sandpaper. There were a few vacuum cleaner dings underneath, so those got sanded, and really that was all that was needed. Husband gave it a quick all-over sanding with the fine paper, just to keep it all matchy matchy.

Then, he followed the directions on the can of teak oil. Basically you do a coat, wait X amount of minutes, wipe it off, then repeat. Let it stand for 24 hours. The end! Teak oil is sort of pink looking and is very red-orange when applied. It’s the colour of, well, teak! Its warm and radiant and beautiful.

The cushions on the couch were a little more involved. I washed the fabric in a cold water rinse with my baby detergent, on delicate. This was a bit nerve wracking. However, they came out nice and clean and refreshed, so I hung them on my clothesline to dry. I then took them in to Rockland Textiles here in Ottawa and they ordered me some new high density foam. Here is where I learned something. When you are doing cushions for the bottom, high density good quality foam is important. However, the back cushions should be less dense, so that your back is more comfortable. Well, this couch has high density on the bottom and the back, which really doesn’t make it look any different but it did seem a tad stiff on the back. Lesson learned!

 

We also had to put strapping, or webbing, in the seats. There were slats in the frame, and these little toothy metal clips that fit in them to hold the straps. These were all purchased at Rockland Textiles as well. They do a lot of weird reupholstering I think, in any case the staff that helped me were quite knowledgeable which is nice because when you deal with vintage items it can be hard to find people who are familiar with the materials you are using. This part was also very easy to do. It was just straight across, I know some couches weave from all sides and I’m sure there are tutorials online on how to do that.

This couch looks naked

 

All strapped up and ready for sitting!

 

Once the couch was reoiled and restuffed we placed an ad online and passed it on to UsedEverywhere for use in their booth at Blissdom Canada in Toronto on October 20th.

Lars all done up and ready for the ball

 

I named the couch “Lars” and wrote about him in my new blog  Furniture Of A Certain Disposition. And that has led me to writing here for Used, giving me an opportunity to share my (somewhat limited, but hilarious) knowledge of refinishing furniture and how to reuse pieces that might otherwise be overlooked. I’m all about reuse here at Sara’s Midcentury Modest Palace of Oddities, so look forward to new projects by yours truly!

If you’re attending Blissdom this year, please take a moment to rest your bottoms on the lovely Lars. Man, if those cushions could talk! And if you live in Ottawa keep a keen eye open for the UsedOttawa Living Room at events – Lars will likely be there, too!