CHAIR...By Michelle

I love all the Haverty commercials (and another especially good one) starring Emily.
  This month I am Emily.

(This is a long post, get a cup of coffee and settle in for a long read)

I have this big overstuffed chair that I bought second hand.  I'm embarrassed to say that I think I bought it about ten years ago...with the intention of recovering it.  It is wonderfully comfortable and it used to reside in my master bedroom, where I sat in it all the time.  It didn't go with anything else in the room.  Since we moved to the farm, this chair has become a guest room chair.  It still doesn't go with anything in the room, or, in the whole house for that matter.

Really, the chair was pretty nasty.  At some point, years ago, someone spilled something on it, but this was under the cushion and you couldn't see it.  What you could see was the stained, discolored, faded, and ripped fabric of the arms and back.  Ugh.

I have found that if I have something long enough and live with it day after day, I sort of quit seeing it as it is.  Here's a tip...try seeing your things or your home through someone else's eyes.  Or, ask someone else what they see, or smell, when they come into your house.  You'll need an honest person.  Or, maybe just not a Southern Lady who will go to great lengths to give no offense.

Or, I'll lend you my husband or a member of his family.

My husband's sister, whom I love dearly, came for a visit.  She stayed in this particular guest room with this chair.  So, she said to me, "What's up with that... chair?  I mean, everything in the room is so perfect and coordinated and then there's that...chair."

OK, so I am adequately shamed into action.

Really, it is sooo expensive to have a chair reupholstered and it's hard to pick and commit to fabric.  At one point I was determined to have it upholstered in RED velvet.  What was I thinking?  I never do red.  It's a good thing I didn't commit at that time.  So, you see, procrastination can be a good thing.  Anyway, the guest room is cream, black and green.  So, I picked cream and black (I bought the fabric on-line and it turns out the "cream" is more of a taupe, but...it'll do) and I plunge head first into my first real reupholstery project.

And, was it a doozy.  On some areas, this chair had four layers of fabric - not reupholstery jobs, but the original upholstery was four layers.  Each layer was stapled out the wahzoo.  I think I removed a million staples.

It took a long time.  Not only because there were so many staples in so much fabric, but because I also have another furniture project running concurrently; I'm getting the garden ready for springtime planting; and the barn ready for kidding season.

I make it sound like I'm so busy and noble, but the real reason is that it's winter time, it's cold, and when it's cold, all I want to do is snuggle up with a cuppa and read a book.  And, I need frequent breaks from this kind of labor that I really don't like.

If you're thinking about tackling a furniture reupholstery project, let me warn you, the deconstruction is the worst thing about it.  Honestly, I hated the process.  You can't just rip it off.  You have to take each piece off carefully to save it as a pattern.  And, you have to get all of the staples and tacks out so that you have a clear surface to restaple and tack.

The only thing getting me through it was the knowledge of how much money I was saving and that, after deconstruction, if I thought I wouldn't be able to put it back together, I could take it to a professional and it wouldn't cost as much to finish it.

But, I got all the fabric off.  Finally.  And, by seeing first hand how it was all put together, I found I had the confidence that I could put the new fabric on.  Really good professional upholsterers will also remove all that batting and cushioning and start new with just the frame.  I didn't think twice about doing that.  It would have been way too much.  I decided the foam and batting was just fine the way it was.

Now the real fun begins.  I made the seat bottom by sewing a strip of the new fabric to a piece of muslin that I had cut out using the old stained seat fabric as a pattern.  I doubled the seam over and sewed it again to make a good strong line to attach the fabric to the springs underneath.  I used a curved needle and just whipstitched it all the way across.  

I pulled the fabric through the back and stapled it onto the frame, on which I had made written notes so that I'd remember where everything should be reattached.  Then I turned the chair over and stapled the printed fabric to the bottom of the frame, pulling everything very taut as I stapled.

Next up, the arms.   I'm recovering the chair exactly as it was with the only exception being no "dressmakers skirt".  The fabric will all be attached tight on the underside of the frame and the legs will show.  Fortunately, it has nice legs.

Following the pattern of the old chair fabric, I just folded and tucked real tight, then stapled.

Then the back.  It is button tufted, so I made covered buttons and went to work.  My other furniture project (which I'm still working on and will post when I finish) has some button tufting, so I kind of knew what to do with this part.

I had even saved and reused the wads of batting that were originally used for the tufting.

The back of the chair has this heavy, kind of plastic, fabric that covers the springs.  I used a six inch needle, pushing it through the wad, through the heavy fabric, springs, then printed fabric, looped it through the button, then back through the way it came.  The wad of batting is used so that the thread has something to attach to.  You have to pull really, really hard to get the button tight enough for a tuft.  I even braced my feet against the back and wore my gardening gloves because it hurts to pull so hard on the thread. 

One tuft.  Nine to go.

After the tufting was complete, I pulled the fabric very taut over the back and stapled it to the frame.  I've discovered that upholstering involves a whole lot of pulling.  Everything has to be tight, tight, tight.  And, you can't keep long fingernails looking nice.  I finally gave up and cut mine all off.

The back fabric is also pulled down through the same space the seat fabric is pulled, then stapled to the frame in the same place.

After getting all the fabric on the front of the chair, I replaced the gauzy underlayment, stapling it to the frame, and restuffed the innards.  Then I got to work on the seat cushion.

I bought a new piece of foam from an upholstery shop, then using an electric knife, cut it to fit the seat, using the old cushion as a pattern.  Seriously, this is the best DIY way to cut thick foam.  Scissors just won't get the job done right.

I needed welting for the cushion and for a couple of places on the chair.  So, for welting, I need bias tape.  Here, I have cut some fabric on the bias to make the tape.  There is a quicker easier way to make bias tape, but it requires a good size square of fabric, which I didn't have.  I had barely enough to cut out all the major pieces, so I waited until I had everything cut out, then I used the scraps to cut the bias tape.  Rumor has it that one should cut off the selvage because it stretches different than the rest of the fabric.  It seemed like a waste of perfectly good inches, especially since I was running short on fabric, but I didn't want to risk messing up, so I cut it off.

Since I'm covering the back and sides of the chair in black velvet, and I have plenty of that fabric, I made the welting to go around the back of the chair with that.  Here, I'm attaching the welting around the back.

I so wanted to finish the chair this day because all that is left to do is attach the metal tack strip starting at the front bottom edge, on the underside of the rolled arm, up around the back top edge all the way to the other side.  Then, attach the velvet to that.  But, alas, my electric stapler is not up to the task.  It barely will staple the fabric on and I've probably removed as many mangled staples from the chair as I have left solidly attached staples in it.  So, I had to wait while Tom went to town to buy me a new staple gun that attaches to our air compressor.

One word.  Uh.Maz.Ing.

With the new compressor staple gun, I was able to attach the tack strip lickety split.  Well, I got it halfway on, realized I had it on backward, took it off (more staple prying), and then lickety split.  Look at that sssinuous, sssnaky curve.  This is deeply satisfying to a person like me who likes to see crisp, clean edges.

After attaching the tack strip, you pull the fabric tight over the edge, slip it into the groove, then hammer the two sides closed.  It holds the fabric tight so you can pull it down and staple it on the underside, which I did. 

Finished chair!

Black velvet sides.

Smooth, sleek back!

No more 80's pink Waverly.

I'm holding my breath just a little bit, in fear of the chair somehow busting a gut and the fabric popping off.  Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Piglette

Piglette has grown considerably.  Unfortunately, she is also getting kind of affectionate.  I'm trying not to make a pet of her, but she really seeks out our company.  She's very vocal and wants attention and rubs.

I've never seen a pig snout close up.  It's amazing thing, really.  Somehow that snout can dig big holes.  She can use it almost like a plow.  It feels like rubber to the touch.

She sits like a dog and wants to be petted.  I'm taking pictures from outside the fence because I'm trying to get her to go away from me so I can get a better picture of her.  She won't go away.

It's hard to make eye contact with her because she seems to be always looking down.  It's probably just that her eyes are so little and on the sides of her head.  They can't be seen when you're standing looking down at her.

Pigs have weird long mouths, too.  Sometimes she licks me, which is what she has done here.  In this picture there is a small tusk visible.  I always wonder if she's going to bite me, but she's never tried, even though sometimes she does bite my boots.

Ugh, Winter Garden Work

The worst part of gardening, for me, is the clean up after the growing and harvesting season.  I put it off far too long.  I read about other gardeners "putting their garden to bed", but I let mine stay up all winter like a rebellious teenager.  There is no tucking in or a last drink of water for my garden.  I try to ignore it or procrastinate until nearly spring every year and I'm always sorry.

This year, I've had a pretty good excuse.  We had an early freeze before Thanksgiving.  Of course, I couldn't work out there when it was freezing.  Then there was Thanksgiving itself.  Who has time for gardening when cooking and prepping for the prime holiday is approaching?  Then there was more freezing and raining, then Christmas, then more freezing and raining and freezing and raining.

Today is the first sunny, not freezing day (and by "freezing", I mean "not above 50") we've had in months.  My excuses won't fly.  I must get out there and clean it up.  Except for the mounds of taller green in the center of the picture, which is arugula that is living on and on, every other green thing in sight is weeds that must be pulled.  ugh.

The eggplant and tomato vines have to be pulled out and the asparagus has to be cut back.

I only want to stay in the warm house, drink coffee, eat cookies, snuggle up with a book, and/or work on my upholstery projects.

But, we have a bunch of free mulch waiting on us.  Tom doesn't even have to chip wood this year.  So, the heat is on.

Kitchen Reno XVIII, Finished!

I bet y'all thought I had forgotten about the kitchen reno.  Nope.  It's finally finished and the homeowners have moved in.

Remember what it used to look like?

Click on the pictures to enlarge them and get a better look.  The vintage green lamp on the far right is an Etsy purchase.  I painted the bronze metal frame white because the bronze was just too dull.

The hickory butcher block countertops were the last big project and built by Nephew (in the picture).

Aren't they gorgeous?  He bought the rough lumber and turned them into this.

Lovely edges mimic the simple concrete countertop edge.

He also made the window seat top.

And a new sill for the window above the stove.

The view from the living room.  Sorry about the crookedness of some of the pictures.  For some reason, I tend to lean the camera to the left when I take pictures.  I'm trying to correct that.

When the sink is in the island, there are a few things that have to be done differently because there are no walls to put electricity into.  Our solution was to run the electricity under the house and under the base of the cabinets and put electrical outlets in each end of the cabinet.  There is also a GFI plug in the sink base to plug in the disposal and dishwasher.  I was thinking that we'd have to put the disposal switch under the sink also, but Tom came up with the idea of a button (like this) on the sink.  Aside from his engineering feats that kept the house from completely caving in under all the weight from the concrete, the disposal button was his best design contribution to this kitchen.  I didn't even know they existed.  But, we had an extra hole in the kitchen sink and it worked out perfectly.

Flea market vintage pendants.

Ideally, I'd have liked the crown moulding on the pantry cabinet and above the refrigerator to touch the ceiling, but with the old ceiling being so uneven, it didn't make sense to try to do it that way. Huge amounts of caulk would have been involved.

Another view from the living room.

The Polar Express

Our Christmas gift to Liam this year was a ride on the Polar Express.  It departs from Palestine, Texas and goes to the North Pole *wink, wink*.  We had read the reviews ahead of time and were a little nervous about it.  They ranged from "the greatest thing ever and we'll do it again every year" to "the worst, stupidest thing ever and will never do it again".  It's expensive and non-refundable, so quite a risky commitment.  But, the theme throughout the reviews, which are, of course, written by adults, said that the kids loved it even if the parents thought it was horrible.  So, I figured even if the rest of it was hokey, it would at least be fun for Liam to take a train ride since he's so into Thomas the Tank Engine.  And, I was so right.  He loved every bit of it.

I wanted to write a review for those who might be looking for something fun to do with their children or grandchildren and are wondering what this ride is all about.

I booked our tickets for the day after Christmas on-line at EastTexasPolarExpressRide.com about six weeks in advance because it sells out early.  There are three classes.  I bought "Standard Class" which was the cheapest.  Some of the more expensive options include double decker cars, heated cars, and cars with tables.  I didn't figure we needed any of those.  The weather turned out to be very mild, but we brought blankets and coats just in case it got cold.  We didn't need them, but if the forecast is for cold weather, be sure to bundle up. To have something to give to Liam as his gift, I found some printable tickets on this website and had Tom print them out on card stock.

I cut out three of them.  Liam's parents had primed him by reading to him The Polar Express, so he knew what the tickets looked like and he was very excited about it.  We were nervous that it would be a let down after all the excitement.  

The information on the website encourages the wearing of pajamas.  "Pops" thought he'd get away with not wearing any because he didn't have any decent ones to wear, but I took care of that by secretly buying him some as a Christmas gift.  It took some persuading, but he was a good sport and we all donned our pajamas for the trip.  I hated to laugh, but it was pretty hilarious to see Tom walking around in public with these brightly colored pajamas on.

He almost chickened out when we got there and he didn't immediately see other men in pajamas.  The man parked next to us was wearing pajamas bottoms, which stopped Tom from immediately ripping his off and just wearing his jeans.  When we arrived at the depot, which was quite a long walk from where we parked, we saw that there were many adults, men included, with various parts of pajamas on.  There were some families all dressed in the same pajamas - kids, parents, and grandkids, so we were, by far, not the only ones.  I would encourage everyone to enter into the whole spirit of the experience and wear their PJs.  

We had to wait in a line to pick up our tickets.  It was quite a long wait and there was no shelter, so I was glad it wasn't raining.

Tom wore our Go-Pro on his head, which, in hindsight, was a mistake because the video is very jerky and mostly aimed above our heads and the lighting is dim.  But, he did get the important bits filmed and you can see what the ride is like...sort of.

Here's the train depot before it got very crowded.

It was very exciting for the kids to watch the train arrive.

After boarding, the conductor comes down the aisle and punches the the children's "golden ticket", which they receive at the ticket booth when we check in.  There is plenty of warning on the website to allow enough time to park, get your ticket and whatever else you want to do before time to board.  So, please don't arrive late like these people did.  Getting the ticket punched is exciting for the kids and having late-comers herding down the aisle kind of messed with our experience.

After about 20-30 minutes of train-riding, drinking hot chocolate, eating cookies, listening to Liam Neesom reading The Polar Express, and singing, we arrived at the "North Pole".  Santa and his elves were visible from the train and were waving at us.  The lights were dimmed in the car so that we could see outside better.

We stopped briefly just past the North Pole so that the train could reverse.  Apparently, we picked up Santa.

On the way back to the depot, the chefs and waitstaff danced with the kids in the aisles.  Liam loved it and really wanted to dance, but he had also heard that Santa was on the train and was very intent upon watching the door to see him enter.

Santa took time to speak with each child individually and gave them each a bell from his sleigh.  Finally, it was Liam's turn.  He was thrilled when Santa told him, "I'll see you next Christmas!"

The rest of the trip, the children paraded up and down the aisle ringing their bells and singing Christmas carols.  We all waved to the people waiting on the platform as we arrived back at the station.  Even disembarking was fun for the kids because the chef stood at the door helping us navigate the steep steps and bidding us farewell.

Some of the reviewers on the website complained that the cookie was some horrible packaged sugar cookie.  We took our own cookies because Liam and I eat gluten free, so we asked our chef to give our share of cookies to the children across the aisle from us.  From what we saw, the cookies looked pretty good.  They were not packaged, but were chocolate chip and on a platter.

We saw port-a-potties lined up outside the depot, which we weren't thrilled about, but when we got inside, we found that there were restrooms inside the depot as well.  When we first went in, there was a line out the door, but after a while, everyone cleared out and there was no wait for the restroom.  I don't know if there were any restrooms on the train cars.  I didn't see them if there were, so it's a good idea to go before if there's any question of needing that facility.

They have daytime rides, too, and I can see an advantage to being able to look out the windows and see the passing countryside.  But, I opted for the night time ride so that we could see the lights and I suspected that the North Pole would look a little less magical during the day time.

Although, it seems that they could make a better effort at making the North Pole a little more North Pole-ish, a little more magical, I really have no complaints about this event and I would recommend it for anyone with children.  We thought it was great and were so happy that Liam enjoyed it so much.

Successful Trapification and Disposalization

Tom bought a trap and set it up carefully in the barn to catch the skunk that we suspected had taken up residence.  We think it was enjoying the cat's food during the night and cozying up between the barn walls during the day.  So, he baited it with cat food and locked Alice the cat away so she wouldn't spring the trap.

He put a rope on the latch mechanism so that he could open the cage from a distance, and also a rope attached to a broom so he could drag the cage out of the barn if it contained the skunk.  The plan was for him to throw a towel over the top to keep the skunk from spraying, put the cage in the truck, take it to a remote place, then pull the string to open the cage.

Unfortunately, during the night, the skunk pulled all of the rope into the cage and entangled itself.  Tom was able to pull the larger rope, because it was attached to the broom, and drag the cage out of the barn, but he couldn't pull the other one out because it was so tangled with the skunk's feet.  There was no way to open the cage without getting sprayed.

I took on the role of defense attorney and tried to save it's life.  After all, it is a beautiful creature and why does it have to die just because it chose the wrong place to reside?  In the end, though, there was no way to safely free it, so Tom disposed of it...I didn't ask how.

Farewell to Evil

Finally sold Evil the Kiko nanny goat.  Actually, I sold both the Kiko nannies.  I was so tired of not being able to go amongst the goats without having to constantly keep my eye on this one.

I told the man who bought them that he had to transport them in something with a top on it, so to come prepared because I won't let them leave the property in an unsafe vehicle.  He told me he had a goat cage for the back of his pickup.  Well, I don't know what happened, but he just showed up with a pick-up truck that had a hard top on the bed.  He ended up tying them both up by the legs and rigging a halter for the heads, tying that to the side of the truck.  He laid them on their sides in the bed of the truck and put the top down.  

If it was any other goat and if I wasn't so glad to see her gone, I never would have allowed my goats to be transported that way.  I hope they have a good home, but mine is so much better with her in particular, gone.

See how nicely all the other goats are lined up, each eating from their own dish.  It was a rare occurrence with Evil running amok from dish to dish shoving everyone else out of the way and me running from dish to dish trying to fill them before she got to me.

I am so relieved.  And I bet the rest of the goats are, too.

Varmint

This is what I opened the barn door to this morning.  There must be a varmint in the barn, probably a skunk because there is lingering skunk smell.  I know it wasn't the dogs because the barn door was shut all the way and the cat doesn't dig like this.

It's quite a hole.  

We haven't found the varmint yet, but I must admit, we haven't looked very hard because we don't want to come upon it suddenly and get sprayed.  I left the door open a little tonight in hopes that it will leave on it's own.  I think it was trying to dig it's way out.

Pinecones Galore

We have loads of pinecones on our property.  The squirrels eat a lot of them, but so many are left on the ground, which is a problem when it's time to start mowing again in the spring.  They shoot out like bullets from under the mower.

So, I stole this awesome idea from someone on pinterest.

I gathered them all up and put them in the entryway flowerbed as mulch.  It's freshened up the bed quite a lot.

I even went and gathered up the neighbor's pinecones, for which he was grateful.  It takes way more pinecones than you'd think to cover this area.