Monday, July 6, 2015

Our Steampunk Chair Redo... DONE

Remember those zingy green/teal chairs we bought for the steampunk room last month?

 I told you guys I wanted to add faux brass ferrules to the feet, and maybe a decorative nailhead trim on the seat edges.

Well, we had to wait a while for the upholstery tacks to arrive, and then we actually had to do everything, but at long last:


They're done!

Like the pattern? I saw something similar on a chest of drawers, and John was able to size it to fit.

Here's a before and after:

I think you'll agree the feline addition makes the area 68% more cozy.

 The right pic is brighter, of course, but I still think those gold feet stand out nicely on the dark floor.

The legs were pretty simple: John just taped them off, primed, and spray-painted 2 heavy coats of metallic gold.

The nailheads were trickier. For that, John made a custom template in Illustrator, sized exactly to the tacks we ordered:


He poked through the paper with a sharp pen to mark the seat underneath, and then used those marks as a guide when nailing in the tacks.


A lot of the nails are only stuck through the fabric and a heavy canvas backing - no wood - so to secure them further, John globbed hot glue over the nail points inside the chair:

 (Luckily these chairs have a zippered cover that lets us get to the inside.)

I'm sure you could still pop out a nail if you were determined, but at least they won't be falling out.


We stopped there for a few days, but eventually I decided the back needed a nail outline, too, to tie the whole thing together. So John said *I* could do it. Ha! But I did:

 
 I just winged it on the back, so it's far from perfect. It looks ok from a distance, though, and I really like the look! Definitely ties in the front design, and at night the nails gleam quite prettily in the low light.


 We found our antique brass nailheads on ebay for $4.50 per 100 tacks, and we used just over 700 for both chairs, front and back. (Here's the auction, if you want the same ones.) So with the cost of the chairs themselves ($90), that puts us around $130 total for our new steampunk chairs. My inner penny-pincher is pleased. :)


And now... LILY PHOTOSHOOT.


 "You're a tiger! You're a sexy tiger!"


Don't let that look fool you; she's a total ham for the camera.

 And finally, I call this one, "MONDAY."

SO been there. 

(Heck, I *AM* there.)

Stay tuned for more Supercon cosplay!

52 comments:

  1. Beautiful! And the chairs are awesome, too.

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  2. These came out awesome! I'm so jealous!

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  3. Can you come renovate my house? You guys are simply amazing at all this stuff.

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  4. Lily definitely adds that extra special touch.

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  5. Beautiful work. Brava! I like Lily's roaring picture. Very fierce :-)

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  6. LOVE Lily and the chairs. (But you might want to blur out your phone number on that photo of Lily yawning - on her collar.)

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    1. Ack, good catch! Thanks for the heads up. :)

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    2. The original photo is still showing via Feedly (which is odd because when you pull a Cake Wreck I can't see it via Feedly), I can send you the URL if that would be helpful.

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    3. Yes, could you? (In the meantime, I told John to expect some strange phone calls. Ha!)

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  7. Lovely! I agree that the back design really pulls it all together. Great job both of you!

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  8. Lily looks so relaxed! How's she doing?

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    1. She's gained half a pound, which is awesome, but we're still waiting for that bad spot to heal - finally had to put her on steroids to stop the itch. :( Her post-radiation checkup is this week, so we'll get a better idea then. And thanks for asking. :)

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  9. Lily is pleased with the new addition to her chairs. I hate it when Mondays linger over into another day of the week but the good part about Monday is they eventually end.....even if it takes 2-3 days. Hugs to the Yates house and you both did a terrific job on the chairs!

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  10. They look awesome. And Lily looks fantastic!

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  11. Love the chairs! They look great with all the extra details. And Lily looks like she's doing better (hopefully? she seems pretty content in the pictures at least), so that's good :)
    Hopefully you didn't have too rough a Monday! Mine started out badly - one of my cats puked on the bathroom floor as I was exiting the shower, my basement has some minor flooding from yesterday's rain (thanks to a terrible foundation that my landlord refuses to fix, that's a fairly common occurrence), and I'm having some headaches at work - but things were a little better this afternoon. Hopefully they are getting better for you as well

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  12. You and John did your usual fantastic job! Love the look of those finishes. {waving} Hi, Lilly!
    Maureen S

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  13. Snazzy! They look gorgeous, especially for the end price.

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  14. I LOVE the look. Very nice indeed. I already thought they were very nice chairs, but the tacks make such an improvement!! Lily looks fahbulous, dahling!

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  15. The WHOLE steampunk room is looking wonderful! And each piece is amazing, as usual!

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  16. Love them, they look amazing! The tacks look so nice against the colour of the chairs. And of course everything is improved by a cat, hope she's doing better.

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  17. Those are super cute!! I am a sucker for chairs with tacks/nails/rivets.

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  18. These look great! The brass color definitely adds a lot. Great idea on the "ferrules," too.

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  19. Wow the nail heads look great! Lily's addition makes the area 100% more cozy. She is really looking good her eyes are so bright now.

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  20. I love the chairs even more than I did before. Well done! Also, I think Lily is pretty much the most photogenic cat in the world.

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  21. I told you guys I wanted to add faux brass ferrules to the feet, and maybe a decorative nailhead trim on the seat edges

    And Lily wanted to add a layer of cat fur...

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    1. Of course; it's her signature touch. ;)

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  22. Love how you picked a color to highlight Lily's eye color. Well done! Now, what about Tonks?

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  23. Your chairs looks fantastic! By far my favorite thing you've created yet. Those brass nailheads look incredible.

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  24. These look so good!! You guys have such awesome creative talent. :-)

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  25. Fantastic job on the chairs, you guys! They look gorgeous! I am so jealous of your entire room, but those chairs are da bomb!

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  26. The chairs look so wonderful, as does Lily! Such a regal mistress kitty.

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  27. the additions totally make the chairs. they were lacking something before, and now they're perfect.

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  28. Love the chairs!! And I am pleased Lily is gaining some weight! Good news!

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  29. Awww, beautiful chairs, beautiful Lily! Glad she's gaining weight and doing better!

    KW

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  30. LOL that last shot is priceless. You really upped the ante on those chairs, love the pop the gold brings!

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  31. Our Lillie likes to sit crossty-paws, too!

    I continue to have difficulty posting to this site--didn't used to but the last few times I've tried to post, it disappears. Anyone else having that trouble? I like to post by Name/URL but it won't let me do that any more.
    --FM

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    1. The first time I posted it "ate" the post while it logged me in. The 2nd try (when I had a name in the "reply as" field) seemed to go without trouble. :)

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    2. Thanks! I don't know what's going on but I've now tried to reply at least 6 times. It won't bring me to the "prove you're not a robot" thing. Then it just disappears. I didn't used to have trouble posting. Is it a Safari thing?
      --FM

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    3. The first time I posted it "ate" the post while it logged me in. The 2nd try (when I had a name in the "reply as" field) seemed to go without trouble. :)

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  32. The chairs look amazing. And the kitty definitely is the finishing touch.

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  33. Love the "new" chairs. You guys amaze me with your skills.
    On another note...I'm on my laptop checking Epbot and watching Zoo on tv. Lily could be a guest on that show with these shots. She looks quite "wild waiting to get out" here.

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  34. So pretry! You did an amazing job.

    I love it when our cats cross their paws like that. So lady-like. Then they roll over spread eagle. Oh well. :)

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  35. Lily is quite the model, isn't she! And beautiful too. The chairs, you ask? Yeah, the chairs are cool. But only because Lily is in most of the shots! :::said the crazy for cats lady!:::

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  36. BEAUTIFUL!
    They chairs turned out AMAZING, Jen! The tacks really were the way to go!
    Now, good luck getting Lilly to move so you can actually enjoy them. :)
    Glad she's doing better by the way, keep us all updated.

    --Piper P from Washington State

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  37. Geez Louise, I wish MY cats would pose for a camera... instead of just looking annoyed and walking away. I'm Totally a Lily Fan; you should take some of your best shots of her and Disney (there's been so many good ones, though...) and put together a calendar to sell.

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  38. Absolutely love them! They really POP now!

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  39. Those chairs are just the perfect foils for the beauteous Lily, and I love the cushion that matches her colouring on the other chair. That teal is so lovely! I'm currently doing a granny square afghan with teal as one of the colours and loving it so much that I have to remember to balance it out with the other less zingy colours.

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  40. Holy crap, that's AMAZING!!! You and John are so good at knowing how to add that certain touch. So pretty! And pet Lily and Tonks for me!

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