Musical Chairs with Amber Schamel

Blogger: Amber Schamel

 Who loved musical chairs as a young'un? Here's some music. Shall we play? We could all get up and walk around our chairs.

Okay, I'm sorta kidding, though it would be good exercise. Today, I'm not talking about the game of musical chairs, but musically decorated/themed chairs. But we can still enjoy some nice music for the post, right?

Lately, I've been busy remodeling my bedroom. I picked an "old hymn" type of theme with antique paper and music notes. While looking for inspiration on Pinterest (one of my all time favorite social medias) I found this chair.

Pinterest Inspiration

I really liked this idea, and thought it would be perfect for my writing desk chair. So for today's post, I'm inviting you to come along with me as I make my attempt.

BEFORE

Above is my original chair. I found some cream colored fabric and cut out a piece that was big enough for the chair seat, leaving some room to fold it under and tack it. Then, I laid the fabric out on the chair and traced the design that I wanted with a pencil. Look closely in the image below and you can see it.



For the treble clef, I found a clip art piece and printed it out on regular paper, cut it out and traced it onto the fabric. Then I used a ruler to make the lines.

Next, I purchased some black fabric paint, and laid the fabric out on a piece of cardboard. I painted the traced design, very carefully, using a small brush. I used a piece of paper in my attempt to make the lines clear and straight, although I think some scotch tape would have worked better.

I had to let the paint dry several times between the painting of the lines so that I wouldn't smear what was still wet.

Here's the design once I finished painting it. Not perfect. But for a gal who is artistically challenged and apparently incapable of drawing a straight line, acceptable.

The next step, or course, is to remove the cushion from the chair frame. I did this by turning it upside down and unscrewing it from the frame. Then I painted the frame of the chair in the same cream color I used on my walls. I decided on two coats.

While I was waiting for the paint to dry, I went back to the seat cushion. Once I had the design painted and dried, I used a stapler (or staple gun) to tack the fabric into place. Fold it very carefully so that the edges look tidy.

Here's the finished seat cushion.
As a finishing touch, I painted some musical note wood decals (found at Hobby Lobby) black. I glued one to the back of the chair frame.
Finally, reattach the seat cushion and VOILA!

That's my most recent project.

Now it's your turn. Tell me about your most recent DIY or craft project, or tell me about the last time you played musical chairs.  :)