Painting on Fabric

I have this huge Duncan Phyfe dining room set that's in impeccable shape aside from the upholstery on the chairs. I was going to reupholster them (a job that's usually pretty simple), but they have nail-head trim all the way around. The thought of popping off hundreds of nail-heads is NOT my idea of fun. Fabric paint crossed my mind, but I was also curious about how acrylic paint would fare. It's a much cheaper option than buying new fabric, so with nothing to lose, I bought some inexpensive, black acrylic paint and some cheap foam brushes. No frills here. Taliila, my two year old, even got in on the action. I think it turned out pretty nice. The striped design on the fabric still shows through, and now it just looks like it was meant to be a sleek, black fabric. I'm probably going to hand-sand the black paint off the nail-heads to bring the brass accents back. Then I'll rub some Old English furniture polish on the wood, and they should look good as new. *Side note: if you've never used Old English, you should. And once you do, I guarantee you'll be touching up all your wood furniture.
The end result- the fabric is slightly rougher with the paint on it, but I've read a couple places about setting the paint with an iron, and I think this might help with the roughness. I'll let you know either way. But for now, I'm quite please with this so-easy-even-a-two-year-old-can-do-it option.
How about you guys? Have you ever tried fabric paint on your upholstered furniture? Or even acrylic paint? What do you think?

Notice how old/yellowed the fabric is?

I think I'll use painter's tape around the edges of the wood next time.
The paint does wipe off, but it dries super fast so you have to catch it right away. 

Voila! Good as new. 

Already the dedicated painter. 

I think I'm going to get creative with the captain's chairs on the end and paint some classic black and white stripes. We'll see... 

My inspiration. 

Real Estate Monday: Convert a Church

Convert a person

Save a person

Convert a church

Save a building?

Ok, I know I'm no good at bumper sticker-esque jokes, but in the spirit of redesigning, let's look at a couple of churches for sale for Real Estate Monday. 

First stop: 1023-1033 Talbot Avenue, Braddock, Pa 15104

I have no idea where the website went where I fist saw pictures of this church. It was months ago, my apologies, but the inside looked pretty awesome. Huge, cathedral ceilings, an alter, very typical church. Yes, it's in Braddock, but I'm a big proponent of moving in urban areas and reclaiming them! I met a man named Mark Harvey (he probably doesn't even remember me) that wrote a book specifically about this and he specializes in realty in these areas. You can check out his website here. Anyways, here's the one picture I could find. I did do a drive by, but completely forgot to get a picture of my own. It's on the flat part of Braddock, close to the river. A little Lord of the Rings down there, but still fun to look at. 

$78,000!!!

And if you're not into doing the converting yourself, just up the hill in Swissvale is an old church that has already been split into condos. I believe there's one left and you can see it here. This 2 bedroom, 1.5 bath condo is for sale for $85,000. 

Love the architectural windows. 

Here are two more links for two other already-converted church listings I found, if you're interested. 314 Hill St. and 1 Pius St.

The Great Gatsby's Bedroom

In preparation for The Great Gatsby last weekend, I dug out my old copy from high school and reread it. For some reason, I loathed reading in high school (sorry high school English teachers). I even had my mom help me with some of the reading. I know, I know, gasp, shock, awe. I blame it on my eyes. I got glasses somewhere around my senior year, and finally in college, I learned to LOVE reading. That said, I never really got into the full swing of Gatsby (pun intended). But I've always liked period pieces and the roaring 20's, so this time around it was much more exciting. My mom was telling me about a book called The Paris Wife, that I can't wait to pick up next.
My husband and I made a date of it last Friday, and let me tell you, the movie did not disappoint! It was pretty close to the original text-I hate when movies take liberty to add different plot twists just for the sake of drama- even one of my favorite quotes was in there. And boy was it LAVISH! The colors, the music, the cars, and yes, the decor! I was glued. Did you see Gatsby's bed? In the center of his room? If my room were big enough, I'd totally throw our platform bed smack-dab in the middle. These pictures I snatched off Architectural Digest don't even do it justice...just do yourself a favor and go see the movie!

Real Estate Monday: Aspinwall

I found this cute, little house in Aspinwall for today's Real Estate Monday. It was built in 1987, which is basically a baby in the Pittsburgh market. It has 3 bedrooms. plus what looks like a den, and 1 and a half bathrooms. I'd repaint the 80's oak kitchen cabinets something lush/ redo countertops & appliances, but other than that it's pretty clean and fresh on its own. The nice thing about Aspinwall is the Fox Chapel school district without the price tag of a Fox Chapel house!
Take a look here, or click on the zillow link for more info.

This reminds me of San Fran even though I've never been there.

Plenty of space in this eat in kitchen.

Two car attached garage.

Large living room. 

Real Estate Monday: Wilkinsburg

Just another manic Monday, whoa-ooh. 

This weekend I toured a house that my husband and I seriously considered buying. If the timing were right (i.e. our house now was already sold) we probably would have. It's in the almost Regent Square area of Wilkinsburg. 411 Rebecca Ave.  Listed at $78,000. I'm not going to lie- it needs a lot of work, but there are a lot of positives about the house that don't need touched. It's not listed by a realtor yet, so if you'd like the owner's information send me an email at shopredesignation@gmail.com.

Selling Features:  

• The hardwood floors throughout the house are in really good shape. I wouldn't touch them. 
• The original wood paneling on the staircase and banisters are still in tact, and gorgeous-something extremely rare in a house that was previously stripped and sold in a sheriff sale. 
• The original front door is in tact. 
• Newer windows were installed in the house 9 yrs. ago, as well as a furnace, new toilet stack, and water pipes to the road. 
• It's walking distance to Frick Park.
• The bathrooms are a decent size (for me) as to not require knocking out walls to expand. 

Needed Renovations:

• I personally would want the converted sunroom in the front to be turned back into an outdoor porch ( see pictures below).
• The kitchen. Hello dropped ceiling and porcelain Italian tile on every wall. The 70's called and wants its kitchen back. This would be the most expensive part of the house to renovate. 
• Both bathrooms on the second and third floor need updated. I wouldn't touch the one in the basement, only to shut off the water and never go down again. Who wants to shower in a cellar anyways? 
• The whole place could use a fresh coat of paint, maybe some new plaster in areas where there was previous water damage. 

With a $78,000 price tag, I'm confident if you did a lot of the grunt work yourself you could get away with spending $30k on a reno, and have a beautiful house to show for it, in an up-and-coming area. Here are the pics- I took a lot this time:

Front door

Kitchen

Looking at back door in kitchen

Kitchen

I'd make this the living room, and take out the wall to the left to make it open to the kitchen. 

Outdoor sun room/ originally the porch

Sun room

Dining Room w/ two sets of french doors.

2nd floor Master Bedroom

 (was originally two rooms, but someone took a wall down).

2nd floor bedroom #2

2nd floor. Bedroom #3 

2nd floor bathroom

Hallway

3rd floor bathroom

3rd floor bathroom

3rd floor bedroom #4 walk in closet

bedroom #4

3rd floor. Bedroom #5 

Back, there is a 2 car garage as well.

The neighbor's fixed up backyard 

Simple Reupholstering Tips

I'm no good at real upholstery jobs. And by real I mean anything having to do with sewing. When something requires a stitch I either leave it alone, use iron-on hem tape, or take it to a professional (usually I leave it alone). BUT, there are simple jobs, like dining room chairs (without piping) that are really easy to do and I have a few tricks to help encourage you to try.
I replaced a screen door on our kitchen island with fabric. It's not a chair, but it's the same concept. Here's my first tip: Fabric is expensive, especially heavy, durable fabric, so I've found that using 100% cotton shower curtains are an inexpensive alternative. You can cover at least four dining chairs with one shower curtain. Just make sure it's not polyester- the extra stretch isn't good when you're trying to pull something taut. To redo a chair's upholstery, you'd just unscrew the chair pad from the base. You can rip off the old fabric, or if it isn't gross and it's neutral in color, you can just leave it on. Here's a picture of the screen door I popped out to replace. I've been using a manual stapler I bought off Amazon, although I'm sure you can find the same one at Home Depot. When you first start out, I find that it works best to pop a staple in the middle of every side. I lay the fabric out, then pull it up over the lip of the frame and staple on the back side- first putting one staple in each spot marked by the x on the picture.

Next, I pick one side and work out from the middle, as shown by the arrows. I go all the way over to the right, pulling tight with my thumb and finger on my left hand, while stapling with my right hand. Staples are pretty close together. When I get to the corners, I leave about a half inch, and address this later. 

 After doing one side (minus the corner), I jump across to the opposite side. This is where you're going to have to pull the hardest to make sure there are no wrinkles. Once I'm finished with that, I start again with the adjacent side, working my way from the middle to the edge. Now, when I'm finished with all the stapling on the sides, I pinch the corners up into a triangle, pull it over the lip, and staple it down. It feels a lot like wrapping a present, and should look pretty smooth. Sometimes I have to cut excess fabric so that the chair pad will lay flat against the base. The corners have a habit of being bulky. Don't be afraid to snip a bit off, just be sure you have enough left so you can pull it really tight. Like everything, practice makes perfect, but I assure you it's not as hard as it looks. If you have carpal-tunnel-hands like me, be sure to take multiple breaks or your wrists will be super sore the rest of the day.
Side story: My 2 yr.old daughter found my leftover paint from this project, and was sobbing hysterically that she just had to paint something (hysteria + a wet paint roller + toddler does not usually end well). I'd been meaning to paint this island anyway, so I let her have at it, and I'm really glad I did. I love the contrast of the color against the fabric and it breaks up the monotony of our maple cabinets. Here's the before and after: