rocking chair rescue #2

My very first furniture project was a rocking chair with no seat that I dragged from the curb to my mint green rental house in Somerville, Mass, so I have a bit of a soft spot for rockers.  Sorry there's no "before" shot.  I didn't realize at the time that I was going to blog about projects.  Wait, blog wasn't even a word back then...  Here's the chair in its current state, after its second renovation.  

close-up of the nice shaker tape job 

(joint project with the husband)

Fast forward to a beautiful fall day last year, en route to Quonquont Farm to pick apples.  We passed a tag sale, and as is its wont, my car pulled off the road and shut off its engine.  Despite (or perhaps because of) the decrepit shape of the rocker, I had to have it.  

check out those awesome bright yellow thumbtacks

holding the seat down

olive green is the kindest way to 

describe the seat color

when I got up from my first rock in the chair,

my back was covered in flaking white paint

My first thought (not surprising to those who know me, or even just you blog readers) was to scrape and paint blue.  But then I started scraping and sanding, and some beautiful layers of gray, blue and green paint were revealed.  So instead I gave it a few layers of exterior poly and set to work on the seat.  I had already chosen one of our fabulous vintage fabrics in a riot of colorful flowers.  I upscaled the upholstery job by using actual furniture tacks instead of thumb tacks.  It was slow and painstaking, but not as hard as I expected.  But don't look TOO closely at the upholstery job, please.  

nice legs

seriously, this was the wallpaper 

in my childhood kitchen

nice staging, huh?

note the United Farmers box and the 

beautiful pansies

more staging - white chair from local junk shop

and wooden industrial chair $1 at a tag sale

hitting the tag sale ground running

Tons of tag sales, tons of balls and trucks.  Alas, Gus is finally at the age where he realizes that he, too, can buy stuff at tag sales.  I did manage to score a few items for myself, though, including a vintage suitcase for free, my favorite price.
The most fun was visiting a found objects artist's studio and pawing through all of the treasures that were up for grab.  I scored all three letters in Gus' name (another good reason for choosing a single syllable name) and turned around a project in no time flat, which makes my husband very happy.


Here they are in their original form:

sturdy, wooden, boring

Then I quickly repurposed the 1970's Massachusetts map I scored around the corner from our house (tip:  better to trace on the right side of the map, so you actually get the part of the map you want.  Unless you're more talented than I am, and can see through the paper).  At first I obsessed about a perfect trace, but then it occurred to me:  Gus is three.  And to quote honey badger, he don't care.  Quick layer of mod podge, some cute stamps, a layer of poly, and done.  All in a perfect spring weekend (insert pat on the back here).

or Sug, if you prefer

or those ugly boots minus a "g"

boat detail on the Cape

cycling detail in the Berkshires

car in the happy valley

Gus is THREE

Gus is 3.  I'd be surprised if you hadn't already heard; he's been telling everyone.  Naturally, he needed a shirt with his name, his age and a truck.

scored a bunch of stencil books curbside!

Gus the Builder

Gus the Fireman (alongside adoring Pop Pop)

clothes hanger + vintage bobbin = picture hanger

Upcycling wooden pant hangers to hang other things.  Not an original idea by any stretch of the imagination, but I did manage to put my own twist on it. First, I scored a bunch of them for free at a tag sale.  Then, I decided it was time to give my Sarah Ahearn Bellemare print the love and respect it deserved.  Since it is entitled "by the sea", it seemed appropriate to use the cool nautical maps that Laurie scored last tag sale season for the decoupage.  Add half of a vintage wooden spool scored from a Brimfield long ago, and voila!