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Thursday, September 18, 2008

Hard times?....Get creative!!

Did you know that the cottage style that we love so much was born during very hard economical times? Expensive, 'grand' furniture was built from costly woods such as mahogany, satinwood, cherry or walnut. Cottage style furniture was made from local timbers like maple, pine and birch and was then painted to 'disguise' the poorer character and make it more durable.
The less privileged turned to their gardens for color inspiration. Soft yellows, blue, pink and white pigments gave furniture a new life and made dark cottages cheerful and cozy. Remember that glass was a luxury and pane windows and doors were far in between!

Just like then, today can be a little challenging as far as budget goes, but one thing remains the same: most of us have a need to keep an inviting, warm nest. To help you achieve that, we will be posting fun, easy to conquer projects that hopefully you will try and brag about!

Here's our first: is the back of your chair looking old and tired? Is the cane on the back broken like ours?
Don't throw it away...just dress it up!

We painted our chair crisp white (you can brush or spray it) and using a vintage monogrammed guest towel we covered the back. Satin ribbon on each side (you can sew or hot glue gun it) tied in pretty bows, keeps it in place and makes it very feminine!




The chair went from the dumsper to Clara's office in less than a couple of hours and no money was involved!...You can add your own twist: an old tablecloth, remmants from your last project, a vintage cutter chenille bedspread, they all can work!

Remember "re-imagine, re-create, re-purpose, re-new" are a lot more than just words these days!

1 comment:

Caroline said...

Great idea for the slipcover on the chair...however the caning on that chair is pretty easy to repair, and its such a pretty chair!! I'm a sucker for chairs with caning.