Friday, June 29, 2012

Recover Bar Stools

These are my cheap $50 Craigslist bar stools. My children destroyed the fabric on them, I went to Joann's got some cheap pleather and recovered them. It only took me all together about 3 hours, however if the stupid staple gun hadn't jammed up those 3 hours would have been all in 1 day! Remarkably I remember to capture step by step how easy it really is to do.

Fabric and children don't get along!


They started off like this.
Now they look like this!









What you will need:
Power cord, scissors, needle-nose pliers, staple gun, staples,
screw driver or gun, hammer, and sharpie.


Lay chair on side.


Unscrew all screws holding seat to the frame.


Set frame aside


and seat in front of you.


Use pliers to remove staples.
Be careful not to tear lining to much.


Set lining aside.


Remove remaining staples.


Pull fabric from board and padding,
leave padding attached to board and set aside.


Use old fabric as a pattern for the new fabric.


Cut new fabric a little bigger than the old.


Place the fabric face down (the side you want to see),
then place padding and board on fabric.


Fold up fabric on front and back sides.
Hold slightly snug and put one staple in each side.


Along one side put a row of staple.
Keeping the fabric slightly pulled.


Then do the same along the other side,
while pulling more firmly.


Fold fabric over the other two sides.
Hold slightly snug and put one staple in each side.
The just as before staple along one side, while pulling.
And then the other side, pulling even more.


Cut off access fabric.
Not too short around the corners.


To do the corners, fold down and pull.
You only want 2 fold lines so it should look like a rectangle.


Put one staple in to hold it in place.
Make sure you pulling it firmly.


Add a few more staples to each corner.


Ready for lining to be replaced.


Place one staple in each corner of lining.
Smoothing lining out and holding firm.


Staple along each side.
Remember to pound in any staples
not in all the way.


Hold the seat firmly against the
frame and replace screws.


There you have it!

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Tuesday, June 19, 2012

First real post of the blog and I want to scream!

Tuesday, July 31, 2012


It's been one of those mornings. I need a minute to defuse.

I didn't go to sleep until after 3 am because like most mothers, after everyone is in bed is the only time I have to work on anything for "me". My therapist says I shouldn't do this to myself, that I should go to bed at a descent hour. I find myself wondering if she has or has had children while she's telling me this. This is what I worked on, this blog. I designed it myself, did all the links and logo's. The redirect has been a real pain in the... But I was in the mode last night, you know how that one goes... just one more thing, OK let me get this one thing working and I'll go to bed, oh it's 12, 12:30, 1, 1:30, 2, 2:30... I should really go to bed, but when am I really ever going to have time to sit here and work on this stuff. The CD (yes I was actually listen to a CD, my hubs just bought me "The Lumineers") was on repeat and by this point I had probably listen to it for the thirty times. Every time it would start again, I would think to myself there goes another half hour. Oh well, the design of the blog got done.

Before getting in bed I went to check on the Dormouse like I always do, only to discover she had gotten up at some point and changed her clothes. Including taking off her diaper and putting panties on! Well she is potty trained just not at night. So when I went to cover her back up with her blanky's, you guessed it, everything was soaked! Fun stuff, waking up the two year old to change her and the bed.

So this morning, I'm still laying in bed in one of those conscience but not awake states, when little miss comes running in. She gets on the bed, jumps on me, gets right in my face and says "Wake up mommy! I went poop!" Part of me laughs at how cute she is and the other part says great is there a mess in the bathroom now?

I get up and somehow in a matter of 15 minutes, make coffee, start dinner, feed the dog, fish and Dormouse. Thank goodness the March Hare is with the Queen of Hearts today otherwise I'm sure he would have some snappy words to spit at me, in which case my mood may already be at the bottom of the hill! The Dormouse puts on some play princess shoes and goes outback to play.

I sit down at my computer, haven't even gotten through my first cup of coffee when I hear crying. She comes in hysterical, holding her mouth. My first thought, Oh not again! Let me explain, we have very intensely hot pepper plants on our side yard. Not of my planting, my land lord is Asian and they would cook with them. Anyway, we have a baby gate blocking the side yard to keep her and the dog from getting over there. Well this is the second day in a row she has climbed over the gate, picked some and eaten them.


Red Hot Chili Peppers

As I'm taking off her shoes so she can sit in my lap, I feel something soft on the bottom of her shoe, yep just grabbed dog poop. That's awesome. I wash my hands, clean her up, try to comfort her, then sternly tell her again not to eat the peppers. Yesterday she cried and whimpered for over an hour. Today was nothing short of dramatic as well. Now she's calming watching TV and keeps coming in to tell me her mouth is better... Wonder if she will eat the peppers again. After yesterday's episode I didn't think so, but kids just don't learn. I hate to admit this, but my mother was right, pay back is a B and my kids aren't even teenagers yet. How do mothers survive? Oh that's right we write blogs.


Thanks for sharing another adventure with me!

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