I inherited this chair:

It had been stored in the garage and in Florida hot climate nothing survives this, especially upholstered furniture. So only thing to do was to recover it with new fabric.

I gave myself a very low budget, as times are hard, but was able to come way under the budget because I got the fabric so cheap from WalMart, paid just $ 2.00 per yard. But lets not get ahead of us.

First I needed to take the chair apart and get the old, ruined fabric off. First came off the bottom cross shown above.

This was pretty much that held the whole chair together. During the process of taking the fabric off, I discovered that this was already a 2nd layer of fabric on this chair. This made my job so much easier.

I was able to use the fabric I took off as pattern for the new pieces. First I laid it on my tile floor to get an idea how much of the new material I needed. Later I also used it as my cutting board.

As I needed several pieces as two opposite pieces and not to by accident cut 2 the same side, I cut out one piece first and then used that as a pattern for the second one.

I also added additional batting to make the chair softer and more comfortable.

and even more so where it counts the most

Then it was time to sew the pieces together and put it all back together again.

As you will see from the finished photo, I introduced the middle button back to the chair. Getting this button there was the biggest ordeal of the whole project. I ended up using a knitting needle to get the whole through all this batting and fabric and used very thin wire to attach the button to the chair. You see here the wire stapled in place.

To assemble the chair, I had to do it in reverse order. First I put the cross back. Then I slid the chair back in and tightened all the screws.

I am very pleased with the end result. I think the button adds quite a bit to it. I have plenty of fabric left over, so my next plan is to make some decorative pillows to add even more charm to the whole ensemble.

Let me know if you have any questions about this project

This is one of my very favorite projects. Not only because it came out well, if I may say so myself, but because 95% + work was done by me. The only help I had, was for were two people where required – one to hold and the other to cut or install.
So lets start the story with couple of before photos:

The inspiration for this room came from Biltmore Estate Oak sitting room:

Of cause I was not able to do as elaborate job, nor would it really fit in regular house, but you will see how my interpretation came out.

After drawing out every weird corner and problem area on paper, I started by building the frame:

Before I could start installing the paneling, I had to decide what color I wanted to use for the stencil that I was going to do on some of the panels. Here is little test I did to make this decision:

As the black stain looked too dark under the dark stain I was going to use as the main stain and as I had used the dark stained stencils previously in my great room projects, I decided to use gold this time.

Once this was decided, I was able to stencil the desings to the panels and install them:

As you can see, the only thing that was stainde before installation, was the crown molding. Once the paneling was all installed, the only thing left to do was to stain it all.

Here are some final photos with the room done:

Here is a close up of the panel with design:

One more finished photo:

This project took me little over two months to complete, but it was fun all throughout.

Once the Great room ceiling was done

, the bar counter wall looked plain and ugly.

I decided to use same technique and materials to finish the wall like I did on the ceiling, to make sure that these two work together in the same room.

The designs was painted with the dark stain before the main stain was applied. The corbels were from eBay and I got an incredible deal on them. Everything was stained before assembled and afterward only some touch up was required. Here is the close up of the finished wall:

Since we built the house, the front door had been plain. I picked the plain door because I knew I wanted wrought iron grill and I wanted to do my own design. I also knew that many times going local is not more but often less expensive than ordering ready made from some place else.

Here is the door before:

Although I had an idea and drawing what I was thinking of achieving, the true designing happened at the shop on the table, playing with available pieces:

Originally I had not even dreamed of using glass accents. But as the supplier had Murano glass inserts available, I am a huge fan of Murano glass and they had the blue that ties into the fountain and the pool, I could have not been happier to incorporate the glass in my design.

I was lucky to find such great grafts people who were very patient and understanding in my guest for perfect door grills. In the end, I think the results are outstanding.