Cath Kidston Style Chair Makeover?!

As a lover of most things vintage and 'those' french looking furniture legs, when I spied these at the charity shop I was helpless to resist.  I could instantly envisage a lovely shabby chic upcycling... I was with a friend at the time who didn't share my enthusiasm but I was not to be deterred!

These are 1940's beauties (it says so underneath the seats!):

I bought the set with a table and a sideboard for a very reasonable price - plus, with the added bonus that funds go to the hospice and the environment benefits in my recycling I can easily convince myself that the purchase was completely and utterly necessary.....

I LoVE painted furniture - I LoVED it before it was classed as vintage cool.  It's just my personal preference.  So despite these being nice walnut and in relatively good condition for their age, I'm not a fan of dark wood so with a couple coats of paint and a cath kidston style seat replacement the following can be revealed in my first blog - ta da!!

I painted each chair in eggshells of varying pastel blues and greens - they're not as differing shades as I might have liked, but I used the paint we had in the shed so can't complain!!  The idea was to create a mis matched tonal upcycle (sorry about the quality of the photo below - I was interrupting some serious hot wheels play and couldn't clear the area properly!!). 

I was inspired to paint them different colours from a previous Cath Kidston photoshoot in a magazine, although the red and yellow would stand out ridiculously in my house so opted for the more muted ice cream shades. Original image found here.



The old chair fabric was removed and I stapled some lovely Cath Kidston oilcloth over the seats and reinserted the newly prettified bases.

The table I painted a cream called "buttermilk" and as I didn't have enough of the same oilcloth I chose another of Cath K's pattern from my stash.  The table does extend but I chose to staple the cloth to the underside as I really wanted to show off the Queen Anne style legs that are the look I soooo love.  I then added a couple applications of clear wax to finish them off.

It's been complete since July and each time I pass it my heart skips a little and I do like to stroke it!! It's my visual dream of how I'd like my whole house to be -  my own spot of Floral Utopia.

So, there we go - my first ta dah!! 

Now I've done this I'll be sharing some more of my creative goings on.  I'm addicted to granny squares now I've mastered them and am loving how portable they are - squares have been made in a number of parks, on a couple of beaches and by the side of a swimming pool so far this week.  Not sure what I'll do with them, but it's fun for now!

Have a good weekend,

J9 x