It’s the second Wednesday of the month, so you know what that means – it’s time for another edition of The Monthly DIY Challenge!  Every month some of my best blogger buddies and I team up to create projects based on a common item or theme.  In the past we’ve all used things like stencils or air dry clay, and this month we’re all sharing projects that use leather!

You’ll find links to all of these projects at the bottom of this post as well as a link to The Leather Hide Store’s Leather & Fabric Reupholstery Guide, but first take a look at my beautiful refinished and reupholstered chair with a gorgeous new leather seat!  

Thank you to Leather Hide Store for providing product used in this post.  The project and opinions expressed herein are all my own.  Also, this post contains affiliate links for your convenience.  To read my full disclosure policy, please click here.

Isn’t she cute?  I cannot even tell you how sorry and depressing this chair was when I got it at Goodwill.  It was so drab, and it looked like an animal had been gnawing at it before it found its way into my home.  

B-O-R-I-N-G.  The finish was ugly, and the chair seat was even uglier.  It was stained and dirty burlap fabric.  No wonder someone donated it.  I painted it with gray chalky finish paint and then gave it a topcoat of coral chalky finish paint.  I let some of the gray chalky paint peek out underneath to give it a slightly distressed look, and then I sealed it up with an awesome finishing wax that has virtually no odor (translation: you can use it inside, unlike my other favorite finishing wax).  

Once I had the chair refinished, I got to work reupholstering the seat with the most gorgeous, buttery-soft gray leather I have ever seen or felt.  

This large swath of storm gray distressed leather came from Leather Hide Store, which is a family-owned upholstery leather supplier that sells gorgeous, top-quality leather at wholesale prices.  You will definitely want to check them out for your leather upholstery needs.  There were so many options of upholstery leather to choose from, I had a hard time narrowing it down.  I’m glad I picked the gray distressed leather though, because I think it ended up being perfect for this project!  

I removed the fabric from the seat (I found three layers of fabric on there, including this ugly and stained faux silk – gah!), and cut my leather to be slightly larger than the entire seat.  I made sure to use extra sharp fabric scissors to cut the leather because regular craft scissors would not have done the trick.

Then I used my heavy duty staple gun to adhere the leather to the chair seat.  I started in a corner, went to the opposite diagonal corner, and repeated that process.  Then I did the middle of each side.

Then I stapled all around the seat, making sure to pull the leather nice and tight.  Once I had all of my staples in place, I trimmed as much excess leather as I could.

The seat reupholstering process went smoothly (thank goodness!), and I didn’t ruin the leather in the process.  Phew!  

I re-screwed the seat onto the chair, and was so happy to see that the ugly duckling chair had such a pretty new look!  

The leather seat is so soft and comfortable, and really brings this once plain jane chair up a notch in style points.  

I cannot get over the difference some paint and a gorgeous new upholstered leather seat made for this chair.  It just shows you that with good materials, you can make anything pretty again!  (I’m gonna use that line with my husband next time I go clothes shopping, too.)  

Now that you’ve seen my refinished and reupholstered leather seat chair, I bet you’ll want to try your hand at reupholstering with leather, too!  Check out The Leather Hide Store’s Ultimate Leather and Fabric Reupholstery Guide, which will give you exact amounts of material needed to refinish over 200 types of furniture!  

-Bre

I was lucky enough (?) to get a weird little dresser / nightstand on a local resale website for $10.  From the posted photos it looked really cute!  But once I actually got it home, I found that it had strange holes all over it, was missing trim from the right side, and was filled with cat hair and other strange substances.  Short story – it was gross.  

It sat in my garage until my sister mentioned that she needed a little nightstand next to her bed.  Perfect!  I told her she could have this one.  All she had to do was buy the paint and hardware and I would do the makeover for her.

Last weekend this dresser and I spent some quality time together on the patio, and now she’s a bold turquoise beauty!  

This was a fun makeover because it involved a lot of troubleshooting and I got to use this brand of paint (affiliate link – see my disclosure statement here), which I had never tried before.  

I didn’t plan for the dresser to be two-tone, but after I started painting, I knew I wouldn’t have enough paint to cover the entire dresser with the color my sister chose.  So, I added some of this paint (affiliate link), to the original and made a lighter version, which I used on the body of the dresser.  

I think it was a happy accident to run out of paint, because I actually really like the subtle two-tone look!  

We got the awesome hardware at Hobby Lobby, which I just LOVE.  The brass and acrylic really updates the piece, in my opinion!  

I added some fun gold metallic paper as a drawer liner, and it helps bring the beauty inside the dresser as well!  

Now . . . I just hope my sister comes and picks up her new nightstand soon.  I need it out of my house!  My kids are determined to destroy it.  I found them blowing bubbles all over it the other day (insert mad face here).  Luckily they wiped right off.

What do you think of this dresser’s bold new look?  Too bright or just right?

-Bre

A couple of weeks ago I stumbled upon a new-to-me thrift store, and I was like a kid in a candy store.  My son . . . not so much.  He couldn’t wait to get out of there.  But I had really good luck and found this AMAZING end table from Ethan Allen for a bargain price.  It was a little outdated, scratchy, and worn, but I knew I could make it pretty again!
I let it sit for a few days before deciding what to do with it. And then . . . in the middle of the night . . . it came to me that I needed to give it a weathered wood look with some hints of coastal charm thrown in.  I had never tried a finish like that before, so I was excited to get to work.  I’m happy to say that it turned out great and I now have lots of tips for you on how to get a weathered wood look with paint!  
In case you’d like to replicate this look, I have included affiliate links in this post for your convenience. You can read my full disclosure policy here.

First up, I gave the top of the table and the bottom shelf a good sanding because they were quite glossy.  Like super high gloss that did not match the rest of the table.  Not sure what was up with that.  Once that was done and I wiped it all down, I mixed up some leftover Americana Decor Chalky Finish Paint in Yesteryear and Americana Decor Chalky Finish Paint in Relic, and then I watered it down by about 30-percent.  (You may recognize this color combo from the dresser makeover I did for my son’s big boy bedroom.)  If you want less of a coastal look with a bluish/gray hue, you could achieve a weathered wood look with a different base color, such as a mix of browns and creams.

I applied it to the table with a really cheap and bristly chip brush.  This is important because it gave a really uneven and streaky finish, which is what I wanted.  
Here you can see how the first coat of paint went on – really brushy and with original wood showing underneath.  
Once I’d covered the entire table like that, I took the mix of Vintage and Relic paint and added in some Americana Chalky Finish Paint in Everlasting (white). Then I watered the mixture down to about 50-percent of it’s original consistency.  This stuff was really watery, which is exactly what I needed.
I dipped another chip brush in it to just barely get some color on there, and gently applied it to part of the table.
I let it sit like that for a few seconds, and then I wiped it off with a paper towel, making sure to remove much of the watered down paint, but leaving some.  (Sidenote: it’s hard to wipe paint with one hand and take a photo with the other.  Talent, people.  Talent.)
It really gave a streaky and weathered look – just what I wanted!  
Once the entire table dried, I sealed the top and bottom shelf with Americana Decor Varnish in Ultra Matte in order to really protect the finish. Then I sealed the entire table (including the top and bottom shelf), with a coat of Americana Decor Creme Wax. Once that dried, I buffed it and revealed a beautiful, subtle shine that looks perfect with the faux weathered wood finish.
But that’s not all. Oh no. I had to give my table a little something extra to put my stamp on it. So I found an adorable placemat at Target . . . and cut it up.
And wouldn’t you know it’s the perfect drawer liner for my new table?
I think this little table that got a weathered wood look with paint is so cute now.

So what do you think of this table makeover and my attempt at a new painting technique?  Don’t you think it’s fresh and happy now?  

-Bre