Chair via Anthropologie

I’d seen the above chair in the Anthropologie catalog and thought it was pretty effing sharp.  Now, I can barely justify buying clearance dresses from Anthropolgie, let alone giant pieces of furniture, but I kept the image in the back of my mind, thinking it would be easy enough to make something sort of like it.  So when this little chair came into my life I knew exactly what to do with it.  Luckily, my infinitely helpful friend Steph decided to come over and help with the makeover.  We had all but one of the materials on hand, but even if you had to buy everything, I’d estimate this would cost you less than $20 to complete.  And it’s totally doable in a day.

The chair before

Chair Makeover

Materials:

• old chair with removable seat
• sandpaper
• 2 cans gold spray paint
• sealer (we used polyurithane)
• white latex or acyrlic paint
• paintbrush
• masking tape

Step 1: Remove base of chair and prime seat cushion

First we took the seat of the chair off the frame.  In our case this was easy; we just had to unscrew four screws from the bottom and it was free.  The difficulty of this will vary with the type of chair you’re revamping.

Since it was clear someone had already taken a stab at revamping the chair by reupholstering the seat, we removed the fabric they had tacked onto it to reveal the seriously dirty original seat cushion.

Removing previous revamp attemps

Gross

Next we coated the cushion with a sealer to make sure it wasn’t too absorbent when we painted it.  If you’re dealing with a cushion that’s upholstered with cotton or some other super absorbent fabric, you’ll probably have to recover it with something sturdier, like canvas. While we waited for the sealer to dry, we moved to step 2.

Step 2: Sand down frame and spray paint it gold.

The chair was made of metal, but it had sort of a slick, glossy finish and we weren’t sure than spray paint would take to it, so we took sheets of sandpaper and sanded the entire frame to scuff it up a little.  Make sure to wipe it down when you’re done, since it will be dusty (in our case, it was a gross black metallic dust), and wait for it to dry before starting to spray paint.

Sandpapering Steph

Next we spray painted the frame of the chair, making sure to spray evenly and to catch all the nooks and crannies.  We sprayed it thoroughly with one coat, ran out of spray paint, went to the store for more, came back and added a second coat.  Depending on the shape of your chair, you may need to turn it upside down after it had dried and make sure you’ve gotten every spot.

By this time, the sealer had dried on our cushion, so we spray painted that gold as well, waited for it to dry and sprayed another coat.  Once the frame and cushion was dry, we moved to step three.

gold!

Step 3: Paint the seat

Once the seat was dry, we taped off zig-zaggy lines where we wanted the gold to show throw and painted it with white wall paint we had in the attic.

Chevron masking tape

Immediately after painting, we removed the tape strips.  We didn’t wait for it to dry because we worried if we did, the paint would dry to the masking tape and could pull off some of the gold paint with it.  Once the wall paint dried, we sprayed it with a matte finish spray paint and sealer to prevent cracking and moved on the the final step.

Finished seat

Step 4: Reassemble the Chair

Finally, we screwed the base back on the the frame and reveled in the fanciness of our newly madeover chair.

Fin

Fin

For more projects like this one, check out the home section of the Domesticity Page.

Lavender Simple Syrup
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 stalks lavender

Combine all ingredients in small pot and warm over medium heat until sugar dissolves.  Simmer for 15 minutes, remove lavender and store in an airtight jar in the refrigerator.  Add a teaspoon or so to hot tea.

Date Night Dirty Martini

2 oz Vodka
1/4 oz  Dry Vermouth
1/4 oz  olive brine
2 green olives

Into a cocktail shaker, pour the vodka, Dry Vermouth and olive brine. Add ice. Shake well. Strain into a martini glass. Drop the olives into the martini before serving.

Some things I love: cucumbers, sour cream, red pepper, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, paprika.  Oh my, it JUST SO HAPPENS that this little list is identical to the ingredients list for Slovenian cucumber salad.  This is a “salad” like in the way that jello salad is a salad– it’s cold and it has some roughage in it.  I usually prefer my salads to contain leafy greens and not be slathered in cream, but for this salad I make an exception.  It’s creamy and garlicky and spicy and fresh, and I can only make it every so often because I promptly eat the entire recipe upon completing it.

Slovenian Cucumber Salad (adapted from Bob Schneiger’s Famous Recipe)

• 2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 1 red pepper, seeded and chopped
• 2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1/4 onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• salt and pepper to taste
• paprika to taste (I prefer smoked paprika to add a little heat)

Combine all ingredients and stir.

For more recipes like this one, check out the Domesticity Page.

I spent Christmas and New Year’s in Chicago, land of my birth, home of my history.  It was the longest I’ve been back since college and while it was nice to spend so much time with family and friends, I did find myself feeling lonesome for Knoxville by the end of he trip.  Chicago is lovely, but it’s cold and expensive and I don’t run into people I know everywhere I go.  I’m happy I live in Knoxville, but am thrilled to have a home base in Chicago, which is a fantastic place to visit.  I was so busy with running around and meeting up that I failed to leave the poem anywhere except the Drake Hotel, where my friend Jenny took me for a holiday High Tea.  I’ve always loved going to tea- I’m a sucker for tiny sandwiches, little pastries and fancy places.  I left the 53rd section of the poem tucked creepily close to the crotch of the little naked fountain boy we sat next to.

You shall not heap up what is call’d riches,
You shall scatter with lavish hand all that you earn or achieve,
You but arrive at the city to which you were destin’d, you hardly
settle yourself to satisfaction before you are call’d by an
irresistible call to depart

swan cream puff. nice.

fountain boy

Fancy Jello Shots

• 2/3 cup frozen pink lemonade concentrate, thawed
• 2 envelopes (1/4 oz. each) gelatin
• 2/3 cup vodka
• edible glitter, for garnish (available online)

Directions:

1. In a large measuring cup, combine the lemonade concentrate and 2/3 cup water; strain into a medium saucepan. Sprinkle the gelatin over the liquid and let soften for 2 minutes. Heat over low heat, stirring constantly, until the gelatin is dissolved, about 5 minutes; stir in the vodka.
2. Pour the mixture into a 4-by-8-inch loaf pan and refrigerate until firm, about 4 hours. Cut into 24 pieces. Garnish each piece with the lemon zest.

Maple Chipotle Maple Roasted Nuts

• Vegetable oil
• 3 cups whole roasted unsalted cashews (14 ounces)
• 2 cups whole walnut halves (7 ounces)
• 2 cups whole pecan halves (7 ounces)
• 1/2 cup whole almonds (3 ounces)
• 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
• 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
• 2 teaspoons ground chipotle powder
• 4 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary leaves
• Kosher salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Brush a sheet pan generously with vegetable oil. Combine the cashews, walnuts, pecans, almonds, 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil, the maple syrup, brown sugar, orange juice and chipotle powder on the sheet pan; toss to coat. Add 2 tablespoons of the rosemary and 2 teaspoons of salt and toss again.

Spread the nuts in one layer. Roast for 25 minutes, stirring twice with a large metal spatula, until the nuts are glazed and golden brown. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with 2 more teaspoons of salt and the remaining 2 tablespoons of rosemary. Toss well and set aside at room temperature, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking as they cool. Taste for seasoning. Serve warm or cool completely and store in airtight containers at room temperature for up to a week.

For more recipes like this one, check out the Domesticity page.