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New to You Outdoor Furniture – Part 2

June 3rd, 2011

It’s finally done! But before I reveal the finished product, let’s continue with the tutorial!

In my last post, I got you all the way up to wrapping the plastic around the wood and cushion to secure the cushioning to the wood. Next, you want to repeat the same steps you completed with the plastic, but with your outdoor fabric.

Here’s mine finished. And don’t worry if it’s not pretty – no one can see it anyways.

Then you want to take your existing seats off of your chairs.

The easiest way to do this is to flip it upside and rest on a bar or table. And I would recommend using a power drill.

Next, center your chair frame over your new seat cushion. *Note – be sure that your fabric pattern is going in the correct direction!

Again, it’s much easier to do this part if you use the existing screws and a power drill. All finished!

Flip them over – and enjoy!

I simply LOVE them! Perfect for upcoming summer parties!

What do you think?

Have you redone any furniture lately? I would LOVE to see! Post pics of your projects on my Facebook wall!

And don’t forget to check back next week for my first set of tutorials for the Summer Love series! See you Monday!

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ikea redo, outdoor chairs, outdoor furniture

New to You Outdoor Furniture – Part 1

June 1st, 2011

So I had every intention of finishing this project last night, but after working out and profusely sweating, and playing with the dogs outside and profusely sweating, I found that as I worked on this project after my nice cold shower, I was just continuing to sweat. Needless to say I hate sweating, especially after just taking a shower, and so I quit about half way through haha.

Now that I have grossed you out – let’s move on to part 1 of this tutorial!

Here are the outdoor chairs that I have (accompanying iron, glass-topped table not shown).

Some of you might recognize these from Ikea – part of the Granas Table and 2 Chairs set. In their prime, they were perfect for the front deck. But, as you can see, the weather has taken a toll rubberwood seats.

Seeing this gave me the perfect opportunity to embark on one last final project for the New to You series! If you would also like to revamp your Granas chairs, or ones similar to them, here’s what you gotta do:

First, take the existing seat off of the chair, and measure the length and width of the frame. Mine was 16″ x 15″.

Second, find a super great friend who works at Home Depot, and have them cut you two 16″ x 15″ pieces of 1/2″ plywood. *Side note: You don’t have to have a super great friend who works at Home Depot, most of the lovely fellas there will cut the wood for you for free any time. I just happen to have a super great friend who does work at Home Depot – it’s ok to be jealous!

Third, you’ll need 2 cushions – about 2 inches wider and longer than your wood. I recycled a pair that I already had, but you can buy outdoor upholstery foam or other cushioning from Joann’s or your local hardware store.

And finally, you’ll need some cavas or outdoor fabric to cover the seats with. Mine is outdoor canvas from Joann’s – leftover from the tennis bag I made my Mom last year.

I also picked up a lightweight plastic drop cloth to help secure the padding to the wood, and deter moisture from settling into the wood and padding. (This is optional.)

You’ll also need a staple gun – which I did not photograph (duh) – and I used 3/8″ staples (also not shown).

Next, I cut the plastic down into 2 pieces so that it was 12 inches large than the width and length of the wood = 28″ x 27″.

After cutting my plastic pieces, I stapled them to one edge of each wood piece – allows about a 3 inch overhang.

Then, I lined the wooden pieces up on top of the cushion, centering them. Pull the plastic so that it taught and staple into place on the opposite side.

Continue stapling the other two sides until fully secured.

This is where I got too hot and gave up. Check back tomorrow for the finished results!

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furniture revamp, ikea redo, outdoor furniture

Mason Jar Soap Dispenser

May 23rd, 2011

I know that turning a vintage mason jar into a soap dispenser is nothing new to the crafting world. But, I’ve always wanted to do this, and have held on to mason jars just for this very reason, so I figured I would include it in the New to You series.

All you need is:

Large Soap Dispenser w/ Pump – you can pick one of these up at the dollar store for $1.
Mason Jar w/ Lid – you can find these at thrift stores, or certain spaghetti sauce companies (like Classico) still jar their sauces in Bell or Atlas mason jars.
Drill with large drill bit.
Pliers
Sand Paper
Acrylic Paint and Sponge Brush

I had all of these supplies just laying around my house, so this project was completely free for me!

First, you need to select your soap dispenser, and make sure that it is approximately the same height as your mason jar. I had this one in my bathroom, with another hiding under my sink.

Yeah, pretty gross. It was time for a new dispenser, lol.

Go ahead and unscrew the pump from the bottle, and clean it. Or, if it’s new, just rinse it off.

My mason jar still had some label stuck to it, so if yours is clean you can skip this next step. But for those with bits of paper still stuck to the sides, fill your sink with hot water and let your jar soak for about 10 minutes.

After letting it soak, you should easily be able to remove the left over label and glue by simply rubbing off with a wash cloth.

All clean!

Now it’s time to make a whole in the lid of your jar, so start by screwing the lid back onto your mason jar. Take your drill and the largest drill bit and drill a hole in the center of the lid. Then, using your pliers, pull the sides of the hole back until the base of your pump fits snug into it.

Now that your pump fits properly, remove it so that you can paint the lid a pretty color. But before painting, take your sandpaper and rough up the surface of the top and sides of the lid. Towel off the lid to get any residue off, and paint.

I used an acrylic paint in a soft purple color, and applied 3 coats for even color.

Once your paint is dry, pour your soap into the dispenser, screw the lid back onto the jar, pop your pump into the lid, and VOILA!

You have a new vintage inspired mason jar soap dispenser!

Much better than that crusty old dispenser!

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to tune in on Wednesday for a guest post for the New to You series from Emily at The Rubber Punkin!

Until next time!

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mason jar soap dispenser, mason jar tutorial, soap dispenser tutorial

New Love for an Old Window

May 18th, 2011

Emily over at The Rubber Punkin just posted her latest installment for the New to You series, and I am seriously jealous. Check out this fabulous calendar she created with an old window and vinyl cutouts.

Anyone who knows me will agree that I am a total organizing/planning freak, and I would l-o-v-e to have one of these in my house. And now that I have a Silhouette, it’s totally doable. Looks like I have another project to add to my ever-growing list!

Have any of you been following along with us during the New to You series? I’d love to see your thrifty projects! Please share them on my Facebook wall!

See you on Monday!

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Thrifty Plastic Bag Dispenser

May 16th, 2011

The apartment complex that I’ve been living in for the past year and a half has really begun cracking down on how the community properly disposes of our pet’s ‘messes’. I have always complied with this rule (cough, cough – ok, maybe once or twice I ignored one of Bruce’s ‘messes’), but now that I’m REALLY focusing on complying, I’ve noticed the price in doggie disposal bags are rising. So, I’ve opted to start reusing plastic shopping bags I acquire when I go shopping. Only problem with that was that I had no proper storage area for the bags, so they were just getting thrown into a drawer. And then every time I went to retrieve one of these said bags, I could never just grab one, they all had to come out. Annoying.

The answer? A Plastic Bag Dispenser!

So, to keep along with the New to You series, I decided to take this shirt I had recently discovered a hole in, and revamp it for my new dispenser!

First step, I a large rectangular shape (as large as I could) from the back panel. I didn’t measure, but just be sure that one edge is longer than the other. I also cut two smaller rectangular pieces for the ties – just guestimate it.

Take your tie pieces, and press them in half lengthwise.

Open your pressed pieces and fold the long edges in towards the center fold.

Open again, and press one of the short ends in about a 1/4 inch.

Close again, press well, and sew along the two finished edges. Set aside.

Next, take your main piece and on one of the short endges, press in 1/2 inch.

Fold over another 1/2 inch and press again. This will be your encasing for the elastic band.

Then, on the other short end, fold and press in 1/2 inch, and repeat.

At your sewing machine, unfold both of the short ends that you just pressed, fold in half to form a long rectangle with right sides together, and stitch along the long edge.

(unfold ends)

(stitch long edge)

Now you should have a tube with two open ends. Re-fold your elastic edge (1/2 inch, 2 times).

Edge stitch to close the elastic casing, leaving a 1 inch opening.

Using a safety pin, feed a piece of elastic through the tube you just created. Make sure your elastic is 2 – 3 inches shorter than the diameter of the bag dispenser to create ruffling effect. Stitch edges of elastic together, and finish off the edge stitching to close the elastic tube.

Now we want to attach the ties to the body of the bag. To do so, find the center of your bag and pin one of the ties in center of the other end of the bag. Note – the edge should still be unfolded! And you want to pin the tie so that the raw edge of the tie is flush to the first fold line from the edge of the bag.

Sew into place.

Repeat with second tie on other side of bag.

Refold these edges along fold lines (1/2 inch, 2 times), pin in place, and edge stitch around the entire tube.

Press well, then fold the ties up so that they are coming out of the open end of your dispenser. Pin in place, and restitch along your edge stitching from the step before, but just over the ties. This is to double secure the ties. (Sorry this one came out a little blurry!)