Before and After: Ladder-back Chair + Fall Decor

I feel like kind of a slacker lately. I haven't been feeling very well for a couple of months and it's taken its toll on my furniture refinishing motivation. Truth is, I haven't really felt like doing much of anything for what feels like an eternity, so I have to force myself to get things done a little at a time.

So, I only have one "before and after" for you today, but I'll also share a couple of the fall decor projects I've been working on.

This chair came from a thrift store and was in great shape, just looking kind of sad and well, ugly. I knew right away what I was going to do with it. (I love when that happens!)


It was begging to be black.

I'd had this idea for a seat cushion for a few weeks and this was the perfect chair for it. I bought some old doilies at a thrift store and first glued them to my taupe linen fabric.

After the glue dried I used matching thread to stitch each one securely to the fabric so they won't come off.

A few embroidered leaves add just a little more detail and finishes it off sweetly.

Makes me wish I had some black furniture in my house...

My space at the shop is going to be sporting some new fall and Halloween decor soon, and the crafting bug has bitten me hard. The past couple of days have found me parked in front of the TV watching "Monk" on Netflix while I craft and craft and craft. So far I've made 3 wreaths, 2 hand painted banners, 2 garlands, and 2 little Halloween projects. It's been so much fun! Anyway, I won't inundate you with all of them at once, so here's a look at one of the wreaths and banners.

This wreath is built on one of those flat wire forms that you'd find in the floral section. I think they're for making memorial wreaths. The one I used is about 18" wide, so it's a pretty big one.

I cut my burlap strips nice and wide, probably about 6" or so and gathered them into ruffles. I hot-glued each one end to end onto the wreath form until the whole thing was covered.

Next I added a narrower strip of ruffled wool felt and embellished it with some other little found fabrics and fall-ish objects.

It still needed a little something, so I made a tiny "welcome" banner that I strung across the middle.


Looks pretty fall-ish to me- don't you agree?

Okay, so this next project can't exactly be categorized as "fall decor", but I'm pleased with how it turned out so I'm going to share it anyway.

This is one of the hand painted banners I made using Miss Mustard Seed's tutorial found on HGTV.com.

I love the one she has hanging in her space (seen here), so I tried making one of my own.

This is a tutorial you really ought to try. It doesn't require any special equipment or talent, just tracing, filling in and gluing. Seriously- suuuuuper easy.


There's plenty more fall and Halloween projects coming- I promise!