More Trash Sorcery

I have thus completed a a long running project involving three junky items that originally belonged to my grandmother and were more recently rejected by my parents.  I salvaged them from the familial trash and envisioned them as outdoor furniture.

Here are some of the befores...

A neat (by neat I mean, interestingly shaped and most importantly, free; the damn thing was rotting and covered in paint) triangle table, hauled from the bowels of my family's attic.

Old window, taken from the side of the road.

In my determination, I forgot the original BEFORE pictures.  I took one about half way through.

I splurged on some brand new fabric to fashion a seat cushion out of:

For my birthday my parents bought and helped me install a sweet yellow hammock.

(Enjoy the teaser for the rocker).

Here it is in it's full solo glory:

The outdoor space came together nicely with free and found (and gifted items).  There is also a sweet charcoal grill off camera that I saved from my neighbors bulk trash offering.

All done.  

$3.00 Floor Lamp

Upon completion of the kitchen chair, I was armed with a new sense of purpose.

 I perused the pile of junk pieces that had begun to gather like an angry mob in the Yoga Room.

I mean, Yoga Room is a strong name for a room that functions more like an attic, a collection space for free shit that I acquire and intend to fix or restore 

My next project seemed to be a simple one.  I picked up a steel floor lamp with a bridge at a flea market.
Priced at $3.00, the only acceptable way to walk away was dragging a $3.00 cast iron floor lamp.

This is how I acquired it.

The first step was, naturally, to electrocute myself.

Beyond that, I replaced the wire and the bulb socket.  

The second thing I did was buy some powerful stripper at the Home Depot.  A grumpy, silent type thrust a can of paint stripper at me and suggested that I not get it on my skin.

Clearly, he has no idea who I am.  

I took it home and slathered it onto the stand with a cheap paint brush.  You really have never lived until you step barefoot into a puddle of paint thinner.

I discovered (while performing a very graceful pain dance) that the stand came apart (by which I mean, I knocked it over and the pieces came apart).  

Make sure you clean the stripper off before you paint.  Mineral spirits works well.  

With hind sight, I did not have to strip the blue paint off.  I could have sanded it down and painted right over it but, I wanted to see if the original metal could be restored.  The answer was, yes, it could but it would take more effort that I was willing to give it.

So, after the stripping effort some black spray paint renovated (not restored) the piece and I pretty much lost interest.  Still, vast improvement.

Grandma's Kitchen Stool

I completed my first recycle-refurbish project.  I hauled grandma's vintage kitchen stool out of the basement.  This is what it looked like when I began:

From this picture, I did what I am often inclined to do... take it all apart and abandon it for weeks.  

The thing was covered in rust and parrot shit. However, I am unreasonably attached to this junky chair; if grandma's parrot shat on it, then Grandma has some DNA o this chair (that bird routinely bit people).  

My guru, some chick at Home Depot, suggested to me once that if you are ever unsure about where a project is going.... step away from it for awhile.

I can do that.  I can step away like a boss. 

So, there it sat, disassembled, in my kitchen recycling bin for a lo-o-ng time while I taught Yoga, retreated from civilized society and watched an unreasonable amount of Supernatural.  

Finally, when my sloth generated sufficient amounts of self hatred, I set off for the Home Depot. 

Supplies

Steel wool

mineral spirits

spray primer 

metallic spray paint. 

When I pulled the vinyl off, it revealed nests of ants in the horsehair cushion.  Joy.  I liberated them with a garden hose and allowed the chair to dry.  

I replaced the horsehair with a 1/2 inch foam cushion and purchased some shiny new vinyl from Joann Fabrics. 

 It was unreasonably difficult not to buy a shit ton of fabric that was unnecessary to this project.  

Anyways, finally, a finished project.  The first of many.   

The result: 

I do love prettying up old junk.  Grandma would approve.