Make Me Over

I love it when I get to sit down and watch an episode of TLC's show Trading Spaces. For those of you who aren't familiar with the show, it is mostly about renovation. The host, Paige Davis, takes two sets of people who switch homes for 48 hours and a budget of $1000 to improve their home. They're usually friends, family, or some other type of acquaintance who swap places, so the upgrades can be done knowing what the owner's likes and dislikes are. My favorite part is watching the team of designers work with the materials at hand, mindfully using their $1000 budget. The results are almost always amazing, and their creativity does a fine job stretching the dollar to its best.

Watching the different techniques the team uses to transform ordinary furniture into interesting pieces to showcase in a room is what I enjoy most. I feel like it is a more challenging task to change the aesthetic appeal of an already finished product than it is to go buy material to make exactly what it is you want to have. After seeing many different episodes and picking up tips on different techniques, my mind likes to imagine improvements of pieces as well as ways to make something more useful.

Awhile back, I came across an armchair somebody no longer wanted. The seat had very feminine curves to the shape, like the one from Pixar's film Up. The curves continued down to the chair's wooden base, which was really what had caught my eye in the first place. It had a shell motif carved out in the center, and Rococo style legs in the front. The previous owner did not want the chair because the wooden base was loose and unattached to the actual seat, and the fabric was getting old. I decided to take the wooden base to start a DIY-project of transforming it into either a low side table or an ottoman type of seat.

The seat base after being painted and sanded down. Photo taken by me.

The shell motif in the center. Photo taken by me.

The Rococo style legs. Photo taken by me.

As of now, I have only had the time to sand down some areas and paint it over with a white paint. My plans for the next step are to purchase a sheet of plywood to cut down to the correct size, and make a final decision on whether I would like an ottoman or side table. I'm leaning towards making an ottoman, since the base isn't completely parallel with the floor, so if I were to set a drink on it, the possibility of spilling is a bit higher, whereas the tilt doesnt matter quite as much for a seat. To make the cushion I plan to buy some fabric and use the filling from my old pillows, staple punch it neatly to the plywood and attach it to the base. I am also considering adding some accents to the base using some gold acrylic paint and a stippling technique I picked up from Trading Spaces, but I will decide on that later as well.

When I shared my ideas with my friends they thought it was incredibly creative, but I feel that my idea is not very unique at all. Many have been doing these projects for a long time now, and mines was the result of inspiration from these people and their work. I feel that this highlights the wide possibilities of these techniques, and this way of thinking. Much can be done with the materials that others label as "junk" and it is time we look that way for resources. I believe it is a new way of designing that requires more thought, because of the constraints of the original piece provides, but it is a challenge that is resulting in new looks. I especially appreciate the work of those who use old furniture that captures older styles, maintaining that essence of the old in their renovation and giving it a more modern aesthetic.