Restoring a Thrift Store Chair

Hey guys! I’m trying to keep up with a blog entry a week and a craft a week. This week I finished a project I started months ago. I didn’t want to spend money on fabric and batting, so I put it off. But this week I did some creative shopping and finished this project on the cheap.

The Chair
I found this chair at Habitat for Humanity Restore and fell in love...not with the condition of it, but the shape. It had beautiful, clean, mid-century lines. I knew it could be as beautiful as it once was.

Step One: Sanding
I used a small detail sander on the flat parts of this chair, which went quickly. But.....most of this chair was not flat. I used 80 grit sandpaper to sand the rest by hand. This was not a fun task. When that was done (days later), I went over the chair with a finer grit sandpaper, again by hand. This is what it looked like when it was done. The cat approved.

Step Two: Staining

This was the difficult part. I just couldn’t decide what color I wanted. I almost chose to wax it because I loved the natural color of the wood, but decided on using some stain I had on hand, Minwax in Early American. After testing the stain on different parts of the chair, I realized that the back of the chair, which was covered with a wood veneer, was darker than the rest of the chair. When I used just a water-based polyurethane, it almost perfectly matched the stained wood on the rest of the chair. Here is what it looked like after staining. 

From here, all that was left was to upholster! I thought about so many fabrics. I could choose a pattern, colors, or something simple. Since I didn’t want to do it again in the future, I landed on something simple. I’ve told you before that I’m cheap and this was no exception. I already had some foam from an old mattress topper, but I saw the prices of fabric and batting, and just said no. So I put it off...for months. Finally, I made it a priority again, but insisted that I would not spend more than $10 on the fabric and batting. I searched the fabric section at my local Walmart, and found a fabric remnants section. I bought a faux suede-like fabric at 2 yards for $3. This was much more than I needed. I checked the prices of the cotton batting and really didn’t want to pay $7 a yard. So I felt of the cotton batting and thought I could get away with using a fleece blanket for $2.50 instead. 

The fleece throw worked just fine. I stapled it onto the seat of the chair over the foam. Then added the fabric. I don’t know if this was the correct way to do it, but it worked for me on this project. I was thrilled with the final result.

 

This won’t be staying in my bedroom, but will be moved to the office/guest room when that room is finished. I’m so excited for upcoming projects for that room and I can’t wait to share them with you! 

Affordable Eyeglasses

Fashion Options on a Grad School Budget

Affording Eyeglasses

I have been entirely obsessed with buying new glasses since I got my new prescription (it only changed by a quarter). Since that day, I have done a lot of research about buying glasses and settled on making an online purchase...then I made three more online purchases. Before I get started with a review of these websites, I should mention that I bought single vision distance lenses and my prescription was -5.25 with a slight astigmatism in my right eye and -5.50 with a slight astigmatism in my left eye.  This is a fairly strong prescription, but some people have much worse.  

The first site that I visited to make an eyeglasses purchase was goggles4u.com. I chose a very cheap frames and polycarbonate lenses. When I ordered these frames, I did not measure the size of my old glasses, so I didn't know how large or small the glasses should be. I chose a large frame and when they arrived they were too large. When I look down while wearing them, they literally fall off of my face. I can wear them. Luckily I only spent $24.90 including the polycarbonate lenses. Shipping was $9.95, but I also ordered a pair for my husband so it wasn't completely wasted. These glasses are shown in the pictures below (yes, I added nose pads to try to keep them in place...it didn't work). It took a little less than two weeks to receive my glasses after I placed my order.  

 

 

Since I could see out of the glasses from goggles4u.com, I felt more comfortable ordering glasses online. I decided to give eyebuydirect.com a try. I chose a $6.00 frame and spent an extra $10 on the 1.57 lenses . Before I ordered these glasses, I went to optical stores in my town to try on glasses. When I found pairs that fit well, I remembered the numbers. Most of these glasses will have three numbers (there are more than that on the websites). It'll look something like 53[] 16 -140. The first number, before the square, is the width of the lens. The middle number is the width of the bridge (the part that goes across the nose) and the last number is the length of the temple arms. When I ordered my glasses from eyebuydirect.com, the dimensions were listed as 52[] 18 -143. I expected that they would fit because the full length of the front of the glasses was listed as 129mm (all of these numbers are in millimeters). When I got them, they were slightly too large for my taste, but did not slide down my nose. But when I measured them, they were closer to 135mm than 129mm in length. I was still happy with my purchase and I wear these glasses sometimes. They took about two weeks to arrive.

 

 

These are Medford in tortoiseshell from eyebuydirect.com 

 

The lenses are thin for my prescription. I chose 1.57 mid-index lenses.

 

Finally, I ordered from zennioptical.com. I placed two orders. First, I ordered a pair of sunglasses. They were exactly the size that was listed on the website and they were a perfect fit! When they started their buy 2 get 1 sale, I had to buy more. I bought two pairs of glasses and one pair of prescription sunglasses. Two of them were the size listed on the website and one was a little larger. For all but one of the glasses, I got the free 1.57 plastic lenses. For the other pair, I got the 1.61 high index lenses and an anti-reflective (AR) coating. The AR coating is now necessary. I NEED it. My first order took almost two weeks to arrive and the second order took a little over a week.    

 

Here I'm wearing the sunglasses in my first order

 

A close-up view of those sunglasses. They're an 80% tint. The style number is 270416.

 

 

Yep, no makeup. These are 1.57 mid-index. I didn't get anti-reflective coating.

 

The style number is 282221.

 

Love the wood-grain look on the temple arms.

 

Bad picture, but I like these. They're frame #604625. These have spring hinges.

 

These did arrive with a small chip, but it is not very noticeable. I could return them, but I don't feel that it is worth the return shipping cost and extra wait time for such a small flaw. The frames still feel sturdy.

 

The lenses in these glasses (with high index 1.61 was very thin, thinner than the ones from the eye doctor with 1.74 high index lenses).

 

These may just be my favorites. They're frame #419011. I thought that they would be too big, but they fit perfect. They were only $6.95 on Zenni Optical. The tint it gray and 80% which was an extra $4.95. They also have spring hinges.

 

These are definitely thicker than the others, but they are larger (larger frames tend to have thicker lenses...plus these had mid-index 1.57 lenses).

 

 

 

Over all, I am very happy with my purchases. I like being able to change my look and that was not possible for me when I was paying ~$400 a pair. I had been wearing my glasses from my Walmart Vision Center for about three years and they were beginning to get scratched, and the glass was turning a sort-of yellow color. The only experience I had with customer service with these online companies was with goggles4u.com. After being shipped, it took several days to get a tracking number. I did eventually get the tracking number and got the glasses without a problem. The customer service representatives were friendly, but did not seem to be able to help much. They could only tell me that it could take a few more days. I took the last two pairs of glasses pictured above to an optician to make sure that the lenses matched the prescription. They were both perfect. I have another order on the way of my first cat-eye glasses. I added them to my mom's order. She needs bifocals and chose progressive lenses. My dad also ordered some glasses for his very weak prescription, and he got photochromic lenses. When our order arrives, I'll make sure to update.