Reupholstered Chairs Project

So, we have owned these chairs for almost a year now.  They have been used many times in their sorry condition.

I have had plans to reupholster them for a very long time.  Well, since we got them actually.  I picked up some fabric at a thrift sale earlier this summer, and have just been waiting for some time to get this project done.  Once I got started, it didn't take any longer than a couple of hours.  It's a very easy project to do, but I thought that in case you've never done something like this before, I would put together a little tutorial, just for fun.

Supplies needed:
*Chairs
*New foam padding (if needed)
*New fabric
*Screwdriver
*Pliers
*Sharpie
*Scissors
*Staple gun

Step 1:  Take the seat off of the chair.  Mine had four screws underneath and it popped off quite easily.

Step 2: Take the old fabric off.  This is where I used the screwdriver again (flat head) to pry the staples up, and then pulled them the rest of the way out with the pliers.  Pay attention as to how the fabric was put on i.e. which sides were stapled down first, how the corners were folded etc.  This will be important in step 7.

 Step 3: Determine the condition of the padding underneath, and throw away what can't be used.  For my chairs, the top white padding part was falling apart, but the straw type padding part underneath was in great shape.  I decided to keep the bottom layer and go from there.

 Step 4: Trace the board on the new foam with a sharpie for the correct size.

 Step 5: Cut out the foam using a scissors, and place on top of the other padding, on top of the board.

 Step 6: Cut out your fabric using the old fabric you took off as a pattern.  I cut mine slightly bigger than the old one because the foam I added was thicker than what was originally there. Lay the fabric face down (wrong side up) and flip your setup from step five onto the fabric.

 Step 7: Staple the new fabric onto the board using a staple gun.  I put the fabric back on the same way I took it off.  Sides first and then the ends.  Make sure you pull the fabric tight, as it will keep the fabric from being loose and floppy once it's on the chair.

 Step 8: Now flip it over and you're ready to screw it back onto the chair.

 Voila!  A brand new chair!

 I'm very happy with how my chairs turned out.  The only thing that perplexes me is that I am positive we had four chairs, but I can only find three in my house.  I have searched my house many times over, had other people search my house, and still only 3.  Oh well, maybe I'm just going crazy.

acTivity Tuesday

This week snuck up on me.  After last week, I was planning to prepare a little better for today's activities, and then I prepared nothing.  It's a good thing there is a long list of activities that we can do without any pre-planning.

This morning we did three activities.  We started off with a combination of 'Cruising' and 'House Tour' both from the Early One-Year Old list.  Cruising involves dragging them around the house on a blanket, and house tour is telling the names of each room in the house.  We did both.  The only rooms Evelyn could remember every time were her bedroom, our bedroom, and the kitchen.  She's doing pretty good, and I think a little more repetition of the name of the living room and entry way, and she'll know those too.

Cruising on their house tour.

Next we decided to play winter dress up.  This was my variation of 'Put on Your Jacket' from the Middle Two-Year Old list.  We went down in the basement (which is the coolest part of the house) and pulled out the totes of hats, boots, mittens, and coats.  Evelyn thought it was pretty fun to put all her stuff on, but didn't want mittens so she could still suck her thumb.  Elsie only let me put a hat on her, but she thought she was pretty cool too!

Elsie toddling around with her winter hat on.

I think the picture says it all.  This one is definitely going in the photo albums!

Our last 'tivavee' as Evelyn now calls it, was 'Painting the Sidewalk' from the Late Infant list.  Even though it was from a younger child list, Evelyn loved this just as much as Elsie did.  I took them both outside with yogurt containers full of water and 2 paintbrushes each, and let them paint the steps and driveway with water.  .

Evelyn got so into it, she was painting the storm door, the railing, the plants, her face, our name rock, and was having a blast.  They really surprised me with this one. I thought they'd dump their tubs so fast, but they were actually very into what they were doing.  It was so cute to see them both in their own ways learning the hand-eye coordination needed to use a paintbrush.

We had a lot of fun today.  Can't wait until next week!

acTivity Tuesday

Yesterday as I was browsing pinterest, I discovered a website that a friend had pinned called productiveparenting.com.  The pin had this caption, "Wow this site has HUNDREDS of activities for newborns to 5 year olds that are organized by 1/2 of their age all the way! Perfect for EVERY stage!!!"  It intrigued me.  So, I put the pin on my "Mommy Things" board and later went back to browse through it.  Wow.  There are literally hundreds and possibly thousands of activities to do with your kids.  They are divided by age.  I printed off the 'Early One-Year Old' list for Elsie, and the 'Middle Two-Year Old' list for Evelyn.  There are about 125 activities on each list.  Not all of them are necessarily perfect for every child of that age range, but most of them are.  They range from very little prep work involved i.e. singing songs to a lot of prep work involved i.e. making a balance beam, or a family picture book.

I realized that if I don't have a schedule for blogging, it tends (more often than not) not to happen.  So, I decided to start acTivity Tuesday.  Starting today, and every Tuesday following, we will do activities in the mornings.  Then, hopefully I can blog about them in the afternoons.  Because I didn't have any prep time for this week, we did a couple of activities that didn't require any prep work.

First Evelyn did two activities in one.  They're called Loose Change and Piggy Bank from the Middle Two-Year Old list.  Loose change involves sorting the change by putting each type in a different bowl.  Evelyn wasn't real enthused about this one.  The only coin that she could pick out on her own was the penny, and even then, she asked me each time before she put it in the right bowl.  She was more excited about the Piggy Bank.  This involved simply dumping out the coins and letting her put them back in.  She didn't finish all of the coins by the time we went to run errands, and the first thing she wanted to do when we got back was keep working on her "tivtee" (activity).  With the Loose Change activity, it's something we can keep coming back to until she gets it.  It's a learning and teaching activity as much as it is for fun. 

The other activity I took from the Early One-Year Old list.  It's called Kitchen Band.  I pulled out bowls, lids, pots and spoons and put them on the floor.  Each girl was armed with two spoons and started banging away as soon as I showed them what to do.  Here's a couple photos of the girls enjoying their 'band'. 

Evelyn actually banged on her pot so hard, she broke one of the spoons. I think I am going to enjoy these mornings as much as the girls are.  I can't wait to start working on next week!

HTCI Overview

After going through and organizing our entire house, I ended up with quite the pile of things to get rid of.

Not long after I finished my organizing, my neighbor stopped by to invite me to join the thrift sale she was going to have the last weekend in May.  Awesome!  It turned out to be the best thrift sale experience of my life.  I priced all of my stuff.  There were a few bigger items, but most things were marked around the $0.25 - .50 range.  I brought all my stuff over to her house a couple of days before the sale.  All I did was drop my boxes off and she set everything up.  She's really particular about how her sale is run, so she wanted to do it all herself.  Fine with me.  I went over the first morning of the sale to help run things.  I stayed for about 2 hours and didn't feel like much of a help as I had both girls with me, but we had fun.  And that's all I did.  I went back the day after the sale and collected my unsold items.  We dropped off two pickup beds full of stuff and brought home one big box plus a few other items.  We made $130.00 too.  So I got paid to get rid of my junk and hardly had to do anything.  It feels so good to have all of that stuff gone. The only problem is that I have another pile started already. 

At any rate, it feels so great to have my entire house organized.  If I need to quickly pick up the house for an occasion, I know where everything goes.  If Kevin asks me where something is, I usually know right where to find it.  Of course the organizer in me is constantly looking for areas that need improvement, but for the most part, my home is functioning smoothly because of all the organizing I did.