Faithful Shoes

It is time to say goodbye to these shoes. I bought them about 18 years ago when I was a nanny, and I loved them. I was on my feet a lot, so I decided I needed some really good quality shoes. I also wanted shoes I could slip on and off easily.

These shoes were so comfortable. They convinced me that spending a chunk of money on really good shoes was a worthwhile investment.

I remember one day I had them off while making a bed in the little girl's room. She put them on and announced "I'm the nanny!"

After I no longer was a nanny, I wore them less and less, but I kept them because I liked them so much. When living in Baltimore and fixing up our house there, they became my go-to work shoe because I could slip them on and off when leaving the dirty areas and entering the clean. I continued to use them here as well for house projects and would slip them on when I needed to go outside briefly. But the soles have now cracked and moisture gets in if I wear them in wet grass, and they are no longer as comfortable. After not wearing them for most of this summer and fall, I finally decided I need to let them go. I think 18 years is a good life span for a well-worn shoe, don't you?

Adventures in Chair Reupholstery

Has it really been since mid-summer since I last posted?? Since it has been so long, it is high time for another project update.

This has been on my to-do list for almost two years, and I only recently started working on it. But since it's a big job and I like to break projects into chunks, I've been working on this for over two months. I found two matching chairs at our local Habitat Restore almost two years ago, and decided they would be good chairs for me to practice more involved upholstery skills.

Here it is before I took it apart. Sorry the picture is blurry. 

During...I had a lot of nail head trim to remove as well as upholstery tacks. I 

kept a plastic container nearby to put them in because I didn't want to accidentally 

step on any. 

I labeled each fabric piece and saved it to use as a pattern when cutting out the new fabric. I kept the padding and only added a little extra to the seat.

Before reupholstering, I painted the wooden parts of the chair.

Then I had Dan show me how to use the air compressor so I could use the staple gun

to apply the upholstery. No tacks for me, thank you! Staple guns with air compressors 

are a wonderful invention.

And here is the (mostly) finished chair. Nail head trim is really

hard to put on nicely - at least for me. I still need to put some around the arm rests. but

I am waiting for motivation to tackle that last bit. I also need to fix up

some parts of the paint where I messed it up while hammering in the 

nail head trim. And when I had to remove some because they got bent.

But, all challenges aside, I think I found a home for this chair:

in the sewing room. Facing the windows. It's a great spot

to sit with a book and hot tea in the afternoon