The Kerouac Table

This is table number 4 and I actually remembered to snap some photos before, during, and after. 
Here's the table I found at a local thrift store a few months back:

Step One:  Paint it black.

Step Two: glue the background papers.

Step Three: stamp until your fingers feel numb.

Step Four: cut out stamped words and arrange them, and then you're ready for Step Five: glue the words.  Step Six: apply a coat or two of polyeurethane or a sealant, and you're done. Looks like this:

I like the simplicity of the white tones of the vintage dictionary pages against the black.  And I love this quote from On The Road.  Good thing I love it, because that's a lot of stamping!

This table is traveling with me this weekend to beautiful Winterset, Iowa for the Winterset Art Festival this weekend.  It runs all day Saturday and Sunday, from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.  This will also be our first family camping trip.  Should be interesting.  FYI, I am not a camper.  I have camped exactly once in my life, many years ago.  No, we're not camping in a tent, but rather in the camper that has been adorning our property since it's (unauthorized) purchase several months ago.  There's a good possibility this may be my last camping trip as well.  We'll see how it goes. 

DIY Recycled Chair

Five years ago this summer, I was out jogging one morning and discovered four chairs sitting on the curb, just about a mile or so away from my house. (Coincidentally, it turns out that these chairs were discarded by my friend Lisa of Abba's Hand Mosaics; I curbed her trash before we ever met.) Obviously I couldn't carry four chairs, so I finished my jog and then drove back in the hubby's monster truck to see if the chairs were still there.  They were.  Just waiting for me, which I took as a sign that they were meant to come home with me.  Which, naturally, did not make the hubby too happy.  My first attempt at repainting one of them was not so successful.  One chair wasn't in such good shape so it ended up in the trash, I think.  A couple sat around in the garage and eventually met the same end. 
But one chair remained.  This is what I did with it.  A few coats of paint to make it pretty.  The chenille pom-pom fabric is a remnant of an old bedspread that belonged to my grandma; I've had it for years and wasn't sure what to do with it, but of course I couldn't throw it away (I still have a good-sized piece left).  As far as recovering the seat, I didn't follow any instructions, I just got out my handy staple gun (love that thing!) and went to work.  I think it turned out all right.  There's another chair waiting for me at my mom's just begging for a makeover.  Stay tuned.