Cute Little Settee

My friend Beth emailed me and asked if I would like to drive to a local antique mall and look at a settee that she saw on Craigslist and me, being the "junk-oholic" that I am, tagged along with her. Beth is a photographer and was in search of something light weight that she could lift and carry by herself to use as a prop in her photo shoots and this little settee was perfect for the job.

Beth loved the piece and planned to remove the old fabric and give it a bright new look with a fresh coat of paint. I convinced her to bring it over to my house and we would tackle the job together because my garage is set up as my paint workshop and I also have a pneumatic staple gun that worked great...after we figured out how to load more staples, that is.

Beth had already removed the old fabric at her home the night before "mission re-vamp the settee" which was quite the job as there were a GAH-zillion little staples that needed to be removed. Not fun. We started by giving the piece a light sanding and cleaned her up with some TSP. We then painted her with Frenche Farmhouse furniture paint in a beautiful color called Creamy Linen and lightly distressed. (I'll be writing a separate blog on this NEW wonderful paint a bit later so please stay tuned!)

We decided to run out and grab a bite to eat while the paint dried and on our way we stopped by Hobby Lobby to take a peek at their fabric selection. Beth had already purchased a very pretty piece of light tan crushed-velvet-like material, but it did have a bit of a sheen to it and she was concerned it might be too shiny in a photo. She found a gorgeous simple linen fabric at Hobby Lobby that matched the trim piece she had already purchased perfectly and ended up using it on the settee. It really did suit the piece much better.

This was my first attempt, Beth's second, at upholstery work on something larger than a dining room seat cushion so I was excited to jump in and get started, but also a tad bit nervous. We took our time and very slowly began the process of cutting foam, batting, and fabric to fit. Cutting the fabric was a bit nerve-wracking. Very, actually.

There was giggling. Lots of giggling. And chocolate. Lots of chocolate. Oh, and sweet tea. Gallons of sweet tea. The three must haves for a fun day of completing a project with a gal pal!

I have to say, in the end, ten long sweaty hours later, we were both very tired, but absolutely tickled with the finished project! (Yes. TEN hours...I did mention we were upholstery newbies, didn't I?) We learned a lot and would do a couple things differently next time, but over all it turned out great, don't you think?