do it yourself divas: October 2010

DIY: Stripping Paint, Stain, and Varnish off of Wooden Furniture

11:05 PM

Refinishing Wooden Furniture 101

FIRST=STRIPPING:

Stripping paint, stain or varnish from wooden furniture is a simple process that is essential for any refinishing project, especially if you wish to stain the wooden piece that you are working with.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU STRIP FURNITURE OUTSIDE SO THAT YOU DON'T GET SICK FROM INHALING TOO MANY FUMES!!!

In order to ensure proper stripping technique you will need to follow the instructions below!

1. Get your wooden piece of furniture (in my case it was this AWESOME solid wood highchair that I mentioned "HERE"):

3. Remove all hardware or other accessories that may get in the way. Here I removed the seat belt with a screw driver.

4. Use newspaper to place under your wooden piece of furniture and to protect the floor that you will be working on. (OUTSIDE!)

5. Put on Rubber Gloves. This will protect your hands from the powerful chemicals found in the paint stripper.

6. Get your paint and varnish stripper ready, and pour it into a metal painting tin. The tin must be metal due to it's powerful stripping power!

I chose to use the above paint stripper for my project. The fumes were not as strong as many of the other paint and varnish strippers on the market, yet it had marvelous stripping results.

7. Get your paintbrushes out! I had a variety of sizes due to the different sized surfaces that I would be working with. You don't need the most expensive paintbrush for this part... just something to get the job done.

Now it is time to get started.

Simply use the paintbrush of your choice to "paint" on the stripper. In my case the stripping gel that I used came out very thick and a little lumpy.. NO WORRIES!! Be sure to paint the stripper in the direction of the grain!

Cover all the surfaces of wood on the piece of furniture that you are stripping.

Let the stripping gel set in for 30 min or more. I waited an hour.

8. When the orange stripping gel turns hard, dry and whiteish in color it is time for the plastic stripping tool and small stripping steel wire brush.

This tool is very handy indeed. Use it to scrap away all the hardened stripping gel. Along with the stripping gel you will automatically scrape away any paint, varnish or stain that was on the piece of furniture that you are working on. It is like MAGIC!

I used this brush for smaller areas, such as the spindles on the back of my highchair and the small crevices that the plastic scrapper couldn't reach. It worked wonderfully.
Be sure to scrap the stripper off in the direction of the grain of the wood.

9. Last but not least, wipe all the excess stripper gel off with a warm washcloth. If that doesn't do the job you can use a little bit of paint thinner to the stubborn areas.

Congratulations, your furniture is stripped!

Tomorrow - SANDING!

Megan

Before and After

DIY: Reupholster An Old La-Z-Boy Recliner

12:12 PM

**All images are property of Do It Yourself Divas. Please do not use without permission. You are welcome to pin. **

DIY

Reupholster an old lazy boy recliner

Here it is before

After!

Total Price: $40

This old sucker has been in my family for years; in fact I think it is as old as I am. This was the first reupholstering project I have ever done and I did it because I am nesting and I have to get the baby's room done! After searching on KSL.com for months without finding anything, and not wanting to spend hundreds of dollars on a brand new rocking chair, I decided to ask my parents if I could have their old La-Z-Boy recliner. My husband and I got to work right away.

Since every chair is different, I can't really say how you can reupholster your very own chair, but this is basically what we did.

Step 1: Take the chair apart! It is helpful to have a handyman around if this is not your thing. Make sure you keep all hardware. You would not believe what I found inside this chair. Clumps of dust, sunflower seeds, and yes, a butter knife.

Step 2: Measure all parts covered in fabric and estimate how much fabric you need. Add extra fabric for seam allowances, or in other words, staple allowances. No sewing required. :) I used about 5 yards of very wide upholstery fabric.

Step 3: Rip off old fabric and cover with new fabric! Or you could even cover the old fabric with new fabric. I cut squares of fabric that cover the area of the piece I was working on and went at it. This takes a lot of tugging, pulling, folding and stapling. (Note to self and those reading: An electric stapler would be awesome for the next project. )I even used a hot glue gun to attach the fabric to the cardboard pieces. I didn't realize just how much cardboard was used to make this recliner until I gutted it. You would be surprised at how easy it is to just follow what the manufacturer did. Once the chair is in pieces, it is clear to see how the chair was upholstered in the first place.

Step 4: The hardest part about this particular chair were these buttons. I bought hardware called Cover Button Refill. This allowed me to use the same fabric as the rest of the chair for my buttons. The hard part was putting the buttons on the chair. It would have been nice to have a super extra long needle with a very wide eye to string these buttons on, but we didn't have one and I don't even know if they exist, so we got creative. We used a long skinny screwdriver to stab through the thick chair. We then taped the button parts onto the screwdriver and pulled it back through to the back of the chair and into place. Hard work! If there is an easier way, I would love to know.

Step 5: Once you have everything covered, put it back together. What do you think? Since this was my first reupholstering project, I would have to say that I am satisfied. This chair even has moving parts and it still worked out. :)

And if your not completely happy with the way it turned out, add a pillow. It may add a little something and make you feel all better. So have no fear with your reupholstering project. Hack away at that old Lazy Boy chair and create a beautiful new one.

Stephanie
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Before and After

DIY: Refinishing a Solid Wood Highchair

1:37 PM

Oh my goodness look what I found on KSL.com (kind of like a craigslist from where I live)!!!'

$40

I have been wanting to buy a solid wood highchair for a long time now, but didn't have the funds to buy what I really wanted........ (price tag over $200)

After sanding the crap out of my ksl find and staining it, the stain came out very blotchy. I was devastated to think that I would have to start from scratch. After researching all night online I was inspired to venture to Home Depot and see if any one there would be of assistance. Thanks the heavens above for Erik and Allison!!!!

Well, as I sit here typing there is a very powerful stripper stripping the stain off.

Here are the steps I am going to take to get my highchair looking like new:

Strip (I might have to do this twice)
Sand (Starting with 100 and working up 220)
Condition
Stain (2-3 coats)
High Gloss Finish

Updates are on their way! Please let this work!!!!!!!!

Megan

Before and After

DIY: Reupholster That Ugly Office Chair

10:33 PM

This is the easiest thing to do!

1. Get an ugly office chair that needs some serious help.

2. Find a fabric you love to cover the ugliness. (For this chair I found this fabric at the local Walmart. It is heavy duty fabric specifically meant for home decor. I bought three yards to cover all my bases and ended up with extra.)

3. Take the ugly chair apart! Unscrew EVERY screw you see. Keep your screws in a safe place.

4. After taking the entire chair apart I was left with three pieces that needed to be covered. Just like how I Reupholstered my kitchen chairs I got my staple gun out and went crazy. Click "HERE" to see how I covered my kitchen chairs. Use this same concept to cover the ugliness of the office chair.

5. After covering all of the office chair pieces with your favorite fabric put your chair back together again. Make sure to replace all the screws.

6. After I put my chair back together I decided to add a little piping along the side. For this you need the following:

* Piping (found some at my local Walmart.. love that store! They sell it in the craft section by the yard or in a bag. I bought the bag for good measure.)

* A long piece of matching fabric to cover the piping

* Your sewing machine to sew the fabric on the piping

* A hot glue gun to set the piping in place

That pretty much sums that up.

Here is a close up of how great the piping looks.

Your chair is FINISHED!!!

Good Luck!! If you have any question about ANYTHING just ask!! I will be more than happy to assist you in making your ugly office chair look AMAZING!

Megan

Baby and Kids

DIY: Jack Skellington Shirt

12:43 AM

Check out my very talented friend's blog to see how to make this adorable "Jack Skellington" shirt! Just click HERE!!!! Let the Nightmare Before Christmas Begin!!!

Megan

Baby and Kids

Ballerina Tutu

8:21 PM

You've seen these before right? Along with an expensive price tag. I made this tutu for my daughter for about $5. What a cheap Halloween costume! This should fit your 2-4 yr old just right. All you need to make a ballerina tutu is:

-4 yards of tulle. I bought 2 yards of each color of pink to spice it up a little. You could even choose four colors and buy one yard of each.

-60 inches of ribbon

-Scissors

-Ruler

Step 1: Fold your tulle in half

Step 2: Start with the folded edge and begin rolling to the other end. Try and keep wrinkles out as best you can but don't worry if it's not perfect.

Step 3: Cut off a little on both ends so you have an even edge. Then cut 3 inch chunks of rolled up tulle.

This is what you should end up with.

Step 4: Since my tulle was 2 yards long, I cut it in half to get the right length. So basically you want each strip of tulle to be a yard in length.

This is what you will end up with

Step 5: Tie knots in your ribbon. I used really skinny ribbon because that is what I had around the house, but it would be really cute with thick satin ribbon. Cut 60 inches of ribbon and tie two knots in it at every 20 inches. The space in between the two knots is where you will attach the tulle. The ribbon on the other side of the knots is used for tying a bow around your child's waist.

Step 6: Take a strip of tulle and fold it in half like this, leaving room at the fold so you can tie it onto the ribbon. We will call it a loop.

Step 7: Place your folded tulle behind the middle section of the ribbon, close to the knot. The loop is still there :)

Step 8: Take the end of the tulle and tie it through the the loop. The ribbon is in the middle of all of this. That is how you attach it.

Pull it tight

Slide it right next to the knot.

Now continue on. I did a pattern alternating dark pink then light pink. Pull them tight and slide them next to each other. You should have enough tulle strips to fill in the entire middle section of the ribbon.