Goodwill Chair Makeover

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This weekend my friend and I braved the Midwest weather to try and find her a dresser for her new flat screen to sit on. We struck out on the dresser but I did find myself a couple of cute cane back chairs at goodwill for$ 4.99 each!  

About 4 years ago my dad made me a six foot long farmhouse table (yup, he's awesome) and benches to match.  I have been on the lookout for a couple of chairs to go at the head of the table for a dog's age, so I was super excited to find these guys!

They were a little beat up but the canning was all intact, they just needed a little pep talk.  I removed the seat and spray painted the chairs with a primer.  It took pretty much an entire can of Rustoleum's Heirloom white to cover both chairs. 

I sanded down the edges and any areas that might be distressed with natural wear and tear. 

 I painted some glaze onto the chairs wiping it off almost as soon as it went on.  The glaze just gives it that extra, gritty, old effect.  

Since my children beat the holy Hades out of everything, I have just decided I'm going for the "shabby, distressed, beat to hell" look (that's a thing right?).

I polished them up with furniture wax just to add some extra protection.

 I recovered the cushions in a black and cream fabric I bought at hobby lobby awhile back and viola!  

Chairs for my kitchen table.  Whew, that only took 4 years!

We are obsessed with honey badger around our house so my mom got me the pillow from etsy for Christmas.  I giggle every time I look at that little stinker in his crown.  

Our new little little kitty approves.  

One last before and after:

 

P.S. I'm linking up with these awesome blogs:

savvy southern style - wow us Wednesdays #103

skip to my lou - made by you monday
thrifty decor chick - february-before-and-after

Easter Egg Traditions

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When my oldest was just a peanut and we began dying Easter eggs he didn't like hard boiled eggs.  So I would dye raw eggs and use the eggs in cooking or baking.


Then I remembered a really fun tradition I saw a lot of when we lived in South Texas.  Cascarones!  Cascarones are egg shells filled with confetti and broken over people's heads for good luck on Easter morning.  


So I began cutting a  hole in the bottoms of the eggs (each time I needed an egg for baking) and then the kids fill the shells with bird seed using a funnel.   Cover the hole with tissue paper and glue when the egg is done.  You can buy Cascarones at stores like Walmart but I figured, hey, I have the eggs, why not?


As you can tell from the glorious picture below we used to use the traditional confetti but trust me it makes a gawd awful mess, and with bird seed the birdies are happy too.  

As the kids got older I was forced to come up with a second activity (never a dull moment), because each kiddo always has their "favorite" egg that they can't bear to turn into a Cascarone.
So we began turning our favorites  into a diorama egg to display every year.  Here is how:


Step one:
Agonizingly decide which egg is the favorite

Step two:
Spray the dyed egg with a sealant to protect the color, because your fingerprints will lift the color right off the egg.  I use Aleene's sealer (bought it at Michael's), but I'm sure any will do. Oh, and I don't cook with this egg. Because of the sealant this egg just goes down the drain.

Step three:
Cut a hole in the front of the egg.  I have found that a pair of sharp embroidery scissors work best.

Step four: 
Agonizingly choose how to decorate the inside.  We have glitter, glitter glue, little glass animals, flocked Easter bunnies, you name it.  Sister choose these cuties:

Step five:
Hot glue your fingers to egg sustaining multiple burns chicks into egg.  Carefully.


Step six:
Glue ribbon around egg opening.

Step seven:
I always glue a flat bottomed "guy" with a string to the top of the egg as the hanger.  They usually come in a package (I think they are for mini trees) at Michael's or Hobby Lobby.


My mom uses ribbon tied with a knot inside the egg.  That is just more than my blistered fingers can handle.

The kids love going through all their old eggs.  And remembering what their "favorites" were each year

Happy Easter egg dying!

P.S. 
I'm linking up to these awesome parties:


project queen-turning the daunting into the do able #27
skip to my lou- made by you monday #93
savvy southern style-wow us wednesdays #59
home stories a to z-tutorials tip link party #54