DIY Antique Rocking Chair Recover

I apologize in advance for not taking anywhere near the amount of photos I should have for this project! I promise lots of description instead.

First, a little background about this great rockin chair and footstool. According to my mother, her grandmother (my great-grandmother, Yiayia Maria), brought this over from Greece (or may have purchased it shortly after her arrival in America -- details are a little hazy) in the mid 1920s. There are unfortunately no markings that I have found to indicate Greek or American origination.

When I was in middle school (mid-1990s), my mother had this rocking chair restored from the tatters it was in to this state:

I remember finding the footstool in my parents' attic sometime while I was in college (early 2000s) and decided to adopt it to my dorm afte a little recover. After the rocking chair came to live with me in Chicago around 2006, I found a scrap of fabric in mom's storage that matched the chair and recovered the footstool. Score!

Today, we are going to recover both pieces. Confession: When I did this project, I had only ever recovered the footstool -- no other pieces of furniture. I watched a couple of reupholstering YouTube videos to make me think I knew what I was doing, then I started to demo the pieces.

I lucked ou that, since mom had the chair professionally restored in the 1990s, I had a great base fabric to work with under the other layer:

As I pulled apart the chair, I left the lower layer of muslin intact to be my base for the new fabric. I used the old pieces of fabric I was removing as a pattern for the new pieces I was going to cut.

I found this great fabric in the "expensive section" (re: upholstering fabric section) of Hobby Lobby. 40% off coupon? Don't mind if I do. I ended up purchasing 3 yards of fabric for this project. Original price was $16.99/yard, but I had my 40% off coupon and ended up paying about $30.00 for all of the fabric.

I cut only three pieces of fabric for this whole project. 1) The front piece, which extends down the front and seat of the chair (see photo below); 2) The back piece which was one flat piece to cover the back side of the chair; and 3) the small piece for the footstool.

To attach the fabric to the base, you guessed it -- staple gun.

Seriously folks, do NOT separate me from my staple gun. I couldn't find it for the Motorola redo this past Monday and called The Captain in a panic while I searched. Crisis averted though. It was under the Master Bathroom sink. Exactly where you would expect to find it.

Back to the rocking chair. I stapled the fabric in a fairly neat line of staples only 1/2 between each so that I could create a flat surface to glue on the edging ribbon.

I also found this great white/gray ribbon at Hobby Lobby ($3.99/50 ft. spool) and used fabric glue to 'finish' the look around the front and back of the chair. I did not use the ribbon on the footstool.

Do you not LOVE this fabric? The background is a light gray and the printing is white and olive green. Which is a pain to try and match up for other upholstered furniture in the room -- this will likely result in a white sofa slipcover down the road, but that's OK, because I love this fabric that much.

Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meat Sauce

Raise your hand if you LOVE washing dishes? Yes? Then this recipe isn't for you. Because dinner is done in one pot. Set it and forget it while you change into something more comfortable after a long day. Ingredients: 1 lb. ground beef 1/2 onion, diced 2 c broth or water 3 c (24 ounces) pasta sauce (marinara or tomato sauce recommended) 1 lb. any pasta (I used whole wheat high protein spaghetti) 2 T Italian Seasoning 1 t Onion Powder 1 t Garlic Powder 1/2 t salt 1/4 t black pepper Instructions: Set your pot to "Saute" and cook the ground beef, breaking up with a wooden spoon as it cooks. Add the onion to the ground beef and they will cook together. Once it is cooked through (about 4-5 min), do not drain out the fat. **If you prefer to use frozen meatballs, skip the above steps, start with the meatballs in the bottom of your pot, then go from here: Mix in all seasoning (Italian seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper) Layer in ...

Creamy Tomato Sauce

This is my best low point tomato sauce concoction yet! Let's get to it: Ingredients: 2 cans diced tomatoes (do not drain) 4 t EVOO 1/4 c fat free sour cream 2 T Italian Seasoning 2 t garlic salt 1 t dill 1 t thyme Combine all ingredients except the corn starch. Bring to a boil and simmer on med-low for 15-20 minutes to begin the thickening process. Transfer about 1/4 c of the liquid from the tomatoes to a small bowl and mix well with corn starch to create a roux. Once free of lumps, add the roux to the tomatoes and stir well. Continue to simmer for another 5-10 minutes on low until ready to serve. Stir periodically to ensure the sauce doesn't get too thick or begin to dry (add a little water of this occurs). PP+ 2 for 1/4 of the tomato mixture Serve over pasta (I served it over beef ravioli). Enjoy!

DIY Burlap Placemats

BLOG UPDATE! These placemats are now available on my Etsy store TheSundayPaperie Customize with any words you'd like! I saw this picture on Pinterest, courtesy of the design blog, Cottage and Vine , and fell in love with the simplicity and quirkiness of these placemats. The original poster advises some basic burlap and just using a Sharpie for the lettering. A great afternoon DIY project. I set out to make 6 to use on my kitchen table when it's fully set. Now, for what the write? Here were a few options: 6 synonyms for 'eat': eat, nourish, chow, bite, dine, devour 6 ways to say 'eat' in various languages: eat (English), φάω (Greek), comer (Spanish), manger (French), essen (German), jeść (Polish) Or I was thinking to just write out the works one through six. After a little survey of friends online, the concesus was to write it out in various languages. So here is how it went down: I wanted each placemat to be 14" x 20", so I p...

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