Master Bedroom Updates and Nadeau Furniture Browsing

I gotta say, as much as I've enjoyed showing off our bathroom makeover, I'm so glad to be moving on to other neglected rooms in our house.  One of them being our master bedroom that, sadly, still has builder primer walls.  It's as blank as it gets besides having a bed and ceiling fan in it.  Thankfully, Nadeau Furniture came along to work with me and provide a pair of nightstands for our lonely space.  

Still kind of blank though right?  It's okay.  We'll get there. (But how cool are our new nightstands?)

We were more concerned with getting the downstairs in order last year as that's where we usually entertain.  And even though we're certainly not finished in the downstairs rooms either, we felt like we needed to at least furnish the rest of our bedroom.  (No exaggeration.  We had just our mattress on the floor last January as we saved up for our bed.)

A few months ago, I posted about the 3 Move In Mistakes I Made, and one of them was not measuring our room to ensure a king size bed would fit.  We just assumed and were stuck with very limited solutions for nightstands.  

They had to be tall enough for our big bed, but most we found were too wide or insanely out of our price range.  The ones that were skinny enough were too short or looked completely dwarfed next to our gigantic bed.  (And sorry, I'm keeping the bed because ours is amazingly comfy.)

So off to Nadeau we went!

I had visited Nadeau before and both times, I walked out in a trance.  I'd probably come more often if I didn't have a toddler wreaking havoc everywhere.  So many amazing pieces and their prices are really good. (Coming from this thrift store junkie, that's saying something).  

This was the view when I walked into our Charlotte location.  Helloooo gorgeous.  I was tempted to get one of those child-sized industrial chairs for Olivia already.

This zinc topped trestle table at the front of the store was a stunner and already had a sold sign on it.  The cane back chairs with it had a beautiful finish too.

And I loved the detail on the glass doors of this china cabinet.

Shopping in Nadeau is like walking through a museum or an art gallery.  Every piece is so different, and it's easy to forget what you're looking for when you're in awe over everything else.  Their selection changes every week, so every time I come here is a new adventure.

This console table is definitely for someone more daring in the distressed look.  I would have snapped it up in a heartbeat!

Hello, pretty patina!

While I practically had my tongue hanging out of my mouth looking at all the goodies, this was what Robert was doing behind me.  I can't take him anywhere. ;)

Before we found our current nightstands, these were a close second.  These babies were hand crafted! And actually most of their items are.  I'll paint furniture all day to my heart's content, but building something like that is incredible.  And since not everyone is fully confident in their abilities to paint furniture, Nadeau is a great place to find handpainted pieces that are done beautifully.

If you've been following this blog for a while, you probably know by now that I love pieces that have stories to tell and are unique.  And when I read the backstory behind how Nadeau got started, I loved it even more.  

Nadeau started out by just word of mouth when the founder, Tom Nadeau, brought furniture he found during his travels home with him to the U.S.  

The company still predominantly grows through word of mouth.  I found out about my local store through a friend who raved about it.  

I'm often checking in to my local Nadeau's online photo gallery of their latest shipments, even if it is just to look.

What started out as a curating hobby for the founder has now turned into a full-blown business with 25 retail locations open to the public and over 4,000 one-of-a-kind furniture and home decor items.  

Have you ever seen a buffet like this one?!  It was just under $500.  I'm sure I couldn't find one this gorgeous on Craigslist for that.  

My husband kept circling back to these wood and metal chairs.  I really wish I had flipped that price tag around so I could remember how much they were because we might have been tempted to go back for them.  Their prices rivaled how much I normally pay for furniture pieces in thrift stores and paint for making them over.  Definitely would require less time and effort on my end if I just bought them here.

This floor pouf was already sold, but I thought it was cute.

I really liked the newspaper fabric and detail on this bench.

And I loved the detail work on the legs of this little table.  Nadeau is known as "Furniture with a Soul".  I'd say it fits.  There's tons of personality in this place.

Then, after admiring the entire store for about an hour, we found these babies!  The manager told me that the wood inserts on the drawers and doors were repurposed old signs.  Both nightstands are a little bit different from each other.

So now they have a home in our now less empty master bedroom!  And I finally don't have to fumble around on the window sill there to find my glasses.  I'm already half blind.  That little game has been no fun.

I haven't decided if I want to keep our current bedside lamps or switch them out for task lamps instead.  (You like my mad Picmonkey skills there?)

What do you think?  Current lamps or switch to task lamps?  I'm glad they're at least not sitting on the floor anymore.  And I love that our nightstands make a unique statement in the room.  

The drawer and door will make for good storage too.  (Former English teachers have to have room for books beside the bed, ya know.)

If you're wanting to know if a Nadeau is located in your area, you can find their full list of store locations on their website: Furniture with a Soul

Do you have a favorite from any you saw on my visit?  It's worth the trip.

This is a sponsored post in which I was provided product for sharing my experiences.  I will always always provide my 100% honest opinion because friends don't let friends make bad shopping decisions.  Sponsored posts keep this little blog moving.

Blessings,

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Savvy Southern Style

Knock Off No Sew Dining Chairs

I thought this day would NEVER come.  If there has ever been a post where I wanted to do cartwheels across my front yard from revealing the "after" of a challenging makeover, this would be it.  

I have a tendency to bite off more than I can chew.  I see a fixer upper project, my wheels start turning with ideas to make it something amazing, I hit a major snag, I realize that my dreams often exceed my abilities, and I end up shoving it to the bottom of my to-do pile in my garage never to see the light of day again.  (Am I alone in this?  Please tell me you have a when-I-get-the-nerve pile too.)  

But y'all.  Oh my GOSH, I am so ecstatic to show you that my abilities finally caught up to my wild DIY-driven imagination...this time at least.  So I'll save you the time of scrolling to the bottom of this post to see the final reveal:

Just so you know where this big undertaking started, this was how it looked before my upholstery-inexperienced self could get a hold of it.

Well hello, Harvest Gold.  Haven't seen you in a while.  

When I first started envisioning what I wanted in our still very bare dining room, I kept coming back to the same criteria in dining chairs- light linen/canvas, statement-making nailhead trim, and interesting weathered oak legs.  

This one from Restoration Hardware was an absolute dream:

Restoration Hardware Baroque Upholstered Side Chair- $449

And this one from Pottery Barn:

Pottery Barn Calais Chair $349

And this one from Ballard Designs:

Ballard Designs Capistrano Dining Chair- $429

But there was one minor little problem.  There was no way on God's green earth that my stay-at-home-mom one-income household could shell out $2400 for a set of 6 chairs.  So I swooned and dreamed until I stumbled upon these babies for $20 each on Craigslist. (Which was all the way back in March and then sat in my garage as I tried and failed at this project multiple times.)

They needed some lovin' and a good bit of updating, and they looked nothing like my inspirations.  But they had good bones.  I simply couldn't walk away from them.  So my wonderful dad, who has worked in the furniture business for over 30 years, made the trek with me to pick them up.  

Not only did they have good bones, they were made by American Drew, a very high quality company, and they were incredibly sturdy.  Huge plus!

So here is what we used for our big chair overhaul:

• Jigsaw
• Pneumatic staple gun
• Mouse sander
• Electric drill
• Kilz primer
• Valspar paint in Montpelier Ashlar Gray (flat)
• Minwax stain in Dark Walnut
• Several rags
• 2 1/2" paint brush
• Sponge brush
• Mattress egg crate foam 
• Blue Hawk canvas drop cloth 
• Spray upholstery adhesive
• Scissors
• Staples
• Sharpie marker
• Medium sized cardboard box from Lowe's
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks
• DAP Contact Cement
• Dritz Home 5/8 inch nailheads in antique gold
• Tape measure
• Pencil

Thankfully, I had a lot of the supplies already on hand in my workshop and could borrow the staple gun.  In the end, I only had to pay for the nailheads, drop cloth, spray adhesive, cardboard, and egg crate foam.  

My final cost: $40 per chair! (Craigslist cost included)  

Even without having a lot of the supplies, it's still a bargain.  My entire set of 6 chairs combined cost way less than even 1 Pottery Barn chair.

Here's what we did:

Since I wanted to upholster the entire backs of the chairs, I knew the curves were going to be tricky.  So Robert and I cut off the finials first.

From there, my father-in-law, the woodworking master, gave us a few pointers, and we decided to cut straight edges marked with a level.

We avoided cutting into the caning.

Then ran the jigsaw over the straight marks.

We sanded the edges down for good measure.  (Side note: I love this hardworking man.)

Yay! No more tricky curvy top!  From there, I primed the bottom half of the chairs.

Then I painted on two coats of Valspar Montpelier Ashlar Gray.

Once the paint was dry, I used a sponge brush to put on a coat of the stain.  I let the stain sit for about 10 minutes before wiping it off with a rag, and I worked in sections.

And I was left with this rich wood tone with just enough gray peeking through to give it that weathered look.  The wood grain texture on these chairs are amazing!

Once the chairs were dried, this was where the hard part began.

By the way, mattress foam toppers are way cheaper than specialty upholstery batting.  And so so comfy!

We went ahead and traced the back of the chair onto a piece of cardboard with a Sharpie.  (I promise I did way more work than stand around taking pictures of Robert.)

And cut out the traced shape.

Using the cardboard as a template, I traced the egg crate foam as the batting.

And cut it out with scissors.

Then we sprayed the front of the chairback with upholstery adhesive.

We pressed the batting onto the adhered chairback.

And it was ready for fabric!  (We stapled the drop cloth fabric to the seat while the chairs dried before.)

To decide on the amount of drop cloth fabric we needed, we measured the width and height of the chairback and added 4 inches all around to be on the safe side.  Our chairs were 16"x28", so we marked the fabric to be 24"x36" for the front piece.  

And cut them out.

To create a panel for the back of the chairs, we used the cardboard template and traced around it, leaving an allowance of about 2 inches.  We put these back fabric pieces aside for later.

Once we started positioning the front piece of the fabric, it took some time to work with.  We started by stapling the bottom center first.

For the sides, I started by folding the bottom flap under to make it straight and stapled it around to the back of the chair.

This was definitely a two-person job.  As we worked our way up to staple the sides, I stretched the fabric up while Robert pulled the fabric tightly around the side and stapled, making sure the front was smooth with no puckering.

Tricky stuff, I tell ya but it worked.

At the top, I was thanking my lucky stars that we went with cutting straight edges.  We started on the sides by folding the corners and cut a little at any places we needed to pull more tightly.  

And then we breathed a sigh of relief because the hard part was done!

We went over the staples with a hammer and cut off any excess fabric on the back.

To make a back panel, I hot glued the edges of the cardboard cut-out and pulled the fabric tightly, starting at the bottom.

For the top I cut the corners and pulled them to glue down.

The edges of the panel and the stapled edges of the back of the chair got a good brushing of contact cement.

After waiting about 10 minutes, I pressed the panel to the back of the chair.  I applied hot glue under the edges too.

Hey, look! An upholstered chair!  Not bad for someone who is making this up as she goes along.  I pressed out the wrinkles afterward too (this photo was a dead giveaway that it needed it).

For the nailheads, we used a tape measure and a pencil to mark every 1.75 inches.

Since the wood of these chairs was so hard, we had to use a small drill bit first.

Then, we hammered away on the nailheads.

Lucky for us, my parents and grandmother offered to take Olivia on an outing while we knocked out this project.  But she got to help for the last step. :)

She insisted on handing the nailheads to her daddy the entire time.

And that was it!

It's definitely not perfect, and I have a lot of learning to do in the upholstery department, like how to wield a needle and thread for once.  But I'm so proud of how it turned out.  

So now my dining room is looking a little more furnished.

2 chairs down and 4 more to go.  The rest have arms so those will be a little more tricky.  The goal is to have them all finished by Thanksgiving so our family can fill them. :)

I still can't believe how far we came on this project.

What do you think?  Convincing?  

If you're a Restoration Hardware junkie like me too, here are a few more: (Just click the image to find the post.)

I think I have an addiction. ;)

Blessings,

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Thrifty Decor Chick