Upcycling a Watering Can

After a whole bunch of upcycling furniture, I have been on a Pinterest craze. While scoping out some other projects to eventually dive into, I stumbled upon this one - A Watering Can that Pours Crystals I immediately clicked the image! I had a whole bunch of crystals I got from the Gardiner Transfer Station while helping Wendy and was totally waiting to do something with them. This was definitely the opportunity. I stopped by HomeGoods while I was in Kingston, found a cheap galvanized watering can, bought it and brought it home. It was a little tricky trying to remove the perforated part, but after a lot of patience and the handy work of some needle-nosed pliers, I was able to get wire through and the crystals drawn on! And ta-da!!!! A new hanging decoration for our backyard and another home for a plant friend! Amazing!

TheChristyBel

Watering the Garden with Crystals!

Windchime Upcycle

I went back to Delaware a few months ago and brought back the windchime centerpiece that my grandmother painted for me when I was a little girl. My grandfather helped cut the glass for her. Back in the day, he would also cut pipes he would get from work, rig them with chains, and together, would make windchimes. My grandmother would paint all sorts of things on the centerpiece glass - from plants, birds, whatever. She knew I loved cats and so for my windchime, I was getting a cat. We never did complete it into a chime. I just had the glass hanging in my room.

While I was home, I saw it hanging and after recent events of my grandfather, I decided to bring it up to New Paltz and complete the windchime. My friend, Wendy, had an old windchime lying around and gave it to me. So I spent the day painting the wood, restringing the pipes, and giving this windchime a second life.

Now I feel I have something from my grandfather (and my grandmother) up here with me. It's very comforting in this time of grieving.

TheChristyBel

The Old Chime

Time to Give it a Second Life

Removing the Strings

Our Backyard has some color now!
And memory of my Grandfather.

Upcycling Bar Stools

After seeing my upcycled arm chair, my friend, Wendy, convinced me to re-purpose two bar stools she was trying to sell at her yard sale. So I literally spent the entire day working on these stools in front of her customers. It was actually pretty cool when people would come up and ask questions about what I was doing. Not to mention, when I finished, the compliments I got and the bids! Unfortunately, no one bit on the chairs, so I got to take them home...for Free!

TheChristyBel

Upcycling an Arm Chair

The other day, I picked up a very hideous chair from the Mountain House that the hotel was giving away. Besides having a broken arm, I thought this chair still had potential for a second life. I thought, "Hey, I could take it home and totally add some new fabric, and a paint job, and it could totally be my new chair..." Little did I know how hard, stressful, painful, and challenging this project would be.

Let me guide you through this challenging project's journey:

Step 1: Examine this chair and determine what needs to be done. Remove all studs, rip off all fabric, unstaple everything, paint wooden exposed areas, will it need new padding, clean every nook and cranny! Ugh...this is going to suck, I just know it!

Step 2: After removing over 50 studs and several hundred staples, there is a skeleton to this chair. Kinda gross underneath! Please note this was my LEAST FAVORITE part! Not to mention, my hands are so much closer to being arthritic.

Step 3: Pick out some fabric and start to pinch, clamp, pull, and re-staple said fabric on a freshly painted and dried chair skeleton. Also note, make sure you put geometry into consideration. Clearly, I did not...as many of the images were not centered.

Step 4: The bottom...added a fresh, new pad. I had to cut it to the shape of the seat of the chair. Once pads were set, stretch fabric, pull fabric, clamp, make it tight, staple, and staple!

Step 5: And covering the undercarriage...using some mesh fabric, making sure you seal and cover all the mess. Yes, this was a messy process, but once you cover it all and conceal it in the seat, it turns into a....

Step 6: Beautiful, new chair for the house!

What do you think?!