The Process

Upcycling appeals to my rather impatient nature. I have the attention span of a sleepy clam. I wouldn't
stick with a hobby that involved lengthy tasks. Transforming a piece goes from glum to glamorous in a relatively short span of time--and that's why I love it=)

Take these chairs I just finished as an example. Filthy, rickety, and covered with hideous red flower-print fabric. The bones and the soul of the chairs, however, were perfect.

So I stripped (the chairs) and sanded (the chairs and my knuckles). And primed. The cushions were de-covered, revealing a shocking grandmother print on one and a distasteful fake leather on the other.

Peacock blue is back to shine again. And what pairs better with this blue than a dramatic black glaze? Notice the difference the glaze makes when I put a glazed and unglazed model side-by-side.

Then comes recovering the seat cushions. I chose a bold black-and-white to balance all that color and to draw the black glaze out even more. To again highlight how far from professional I am, I had to get the Home Depot guy show me how to load more staples into my old-school staple gun. "They still make those?" he asked.

Talk about drama. From glum to glam in about a week of evenings with Mr. Darcy smoldering from the nearby screen. This transformation left me impatient for more--just as a perfect upcycle should do. Be sure to come back for the Big Reveal tomorrow!