Happy Halloween Everyone!

Hope your Halloween is filled with only treats and lots of fun!

A couple more chairs.

Things are getting a little busy here, so I don't know when I'll be able to give these chairs some TLC, but I hope to fix them up nice. This chair only cost me $2, so I should be able to do something neat with it. I'm thinking of going with a bit of a western theme. Any thoughts? I have denim for the seat, so I thought that would be nice. I don't even think I'll have to paint this little number.

I love this funky number. I'm really not sure what I'll do with it. I'd like to refinish the wood because I think it's nice, but I have a certain fabric in mind that would look great with white, so we'll see!

Yeah, good stuff!

I found this adorable lamp at Fratz consignment and I plan to sell it in my Etsy shop once I get it up and running. I just think it is too cute. You actually can twist the little dog in front of the train and it plays music. So clever.
I fell in love with this plate as soon as I saw it and as one who loves to decorate seasonally, I'm excited to have something festive like this that I can leave out year round. It was also from Fratz consignment www.fratzconsignment.com.

Both these chairs came from St. Vincent DePaul. I bought them at different times. I bought the chair on the right first and recovered it in a light aqua color, but then I brought the other chair home and couldn't find any fabric that I thought went with aqua and the striped fabric began to grow on me so I decided to recover the other chair...again. Not to worry, I think I did a better job the second time. I'm thinking of investing in a new staple gun though, I'm getting too many blisters recovering these items... my hands look like Scarlett O'Hara's after the dirty Yankees came to Tara.

The Tale of a Trio

I've always had a thing for children's chair and was thrilled when I received a red painted one, with a rush seat, as a Christmas present from my husband. Later, I found a full-size painted chair that looked very similar at Fratz Consignment www.fratzconsignment.com (Simply the greatest consignment store I've ever been too.) I loved how my little chair looked sitting stacked on the seat of the big chair, but I always wanted to make the duo a trio. I thought there must be a doll chair out there, but I never found one until a recent trip to the Goodwill, when I found this ... Not, quite what you pictured, huh? Me neither. Can you believe I paid a whole $1 for this? But I thought it had potential. I decided to make the chair I had dreamed of finding.

I'm really happy with how it turned out. I think the trio is happy too.

Another Chair rescue

As always, I forgot to take a before picture of this chair, but let's just say it had seen better days. It was in better shape than its companions, however, who were reluctantly left behind at the Goodwill. (Maybe I'll go back and check on them.) I painted the chair black because, let's face it, stripping furniture with any detail is not a fun job. I also thought black would be good contrast with this dreamy fabric that depicts scenes of Italy.

I'm giving the chair to a friend and I thought she needed a mirror to pair with it, so the search was on. I found this sorry looking number at another Goodwill.

Notice my weak tree pose. (That's about the extent of my Yoga moves.) Now it's as good as new. I added some hooks to the bottom because I think this might end up in an entry way and I thought it might be nice for her to have some extra hooks for scarves and such.

Latest painting

Here's my latest painting. I had a blast doing this painting because I've always adored this cat. Gypsy has a very distinct personality. She's loving but in a aloof way and I think this painting captured that. Her owners loved it.

No word yet on what Gypsy thought, but she always plays her cards close to the vest.

Chair Recovery Project

Rescuing chairs began simply enough, we needed furniture after moving into a new house and couldn't afford new. I started looking for chairs I could recover and a I was hooked. Here are some of my favorite projects.

This chair was rescued from the side of the road and it had clearly seen better days. I liked the shape of it because it reminded me of an old chair I had as a kid. (Remember those old step-stool chairs.)
With a little TLC the chair is looking very cheerful now and it works perfectly as a play-doh chair for my son.
This little child's rocker was rescued from an antique store and a life spent in awful vinyl. It's now awaiting a dear friend's little one and is excited about being one of the first pieces of furniture in the nursery!
I love the elegant lines of this chair. I got it off of freecycle.com after requesting a chair that wouldn't be too difficult to recover. It really worked out well. Currently it's been displaced from our family room by a doggy bed. It would be grateful for a new home, but I don't think I'm ready to part with it because it was one of my first projects.

Getting Paddywack Designs off the ground

Selling my work is a dream that was born when my son was born. I painted two pictures for his room because I just couldn't find anything that I wanted for him.
I first painted pictures of our dogs, a Jack Russel named Buddy and a Dachshund named Shamus. I discovered I really loved doing it and wanted to be able to paint more of these "naive" offerings.

I'm hoping to launch an Etsy shop soon. I can only hope that these paintings will appeal to others (I'm running out of pets to immortalize).
I have some other projects up my sleeve too. I'm currently addicted to "rescuing" ugly chairs and giving them a second chance.
It's in its beginning stages but you can visit my shop at paddywackdesigns.etsy.com
Be take a look at the other offerings on Etsy ... it is inspiring to see the art and craft of so many talented people.
This Holiday Season consider buying Handmade ... Etsy.com makes it really easy to do.