Showing posts with label DIY. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DIY. Show all posts

Thursday, 6 February 2014

Fabulous Fabric: Upholstery

Since my small but wonderful art studio is finished end of last year I'm spending time in there regularly whether it's preparing for my workshops I organise every Monday and Tuesday, preparing for the life drawing class at Grays School of Art I attend myself or just working out concepts for new creative projects.

One of these projects was already getting shape the moment I finished the interior. The colour scheme of the office chair (black plastic and red furnishing) was really bothering me in the light interior and it made my wee studio even smaller!


Office chair before revamp

My collection of scraps and purchased fabric is gradually growing so it didn't take long to find the right combination. After I dismantled the furnishing from the plastic backing I measured the amount of fabric needed by covering it with a newspaper, traced around with a pen and cut it out. This was my pattern. Then I put the various pieces of fabric on to the newspaper pattern, moved them around to get the right design, cut some pieces to fit properly and sewed them all together.


Close-up of  sewed pieces of fabric

With a staple gun I fitted the fabric around the furnishing surfaces tightly (without taking off the old furnishing) and kept them apart. For the plastic parts of the chair I used Plastikote Antique White spraypaint. Several layers were needed to make a good covering. Et voilĂ , this is the result; a great revamp of an old office, if I may say so myself.



Revamped office chair


Top view revamped office chair

I used the app Instamag to create a professional look of my "new" chair, almost as if it was published in a real magazine!!

Magazine lay-out of revamped office chair with app Instamag

Wednesday, 30 October 2013

Art Studio

It took about 5 months all together but my art studio is now finished! With thanks to my lovely supporting husband who stripped the bothy, made frames for the walls and insulated them, put in new plasterboard, made the shelves and hung the lights and roller blinds. I painted the walls, ceiling and furniture. We only used a taper for finishing off the walls, a plumber to connect our old kitchen unit and an electricien for the wiring.




Front of bothy/art studio with new door and window

Hubby working hard for me!

Insulation is in place

Walls have been professionally taped

Pimping my old yellow bookcase

I used special crackle glaze to create this effect on my furniture


What a transformation! With the new electric heating it's also very cosy inside, just in time before the winter comes.

Lots of storage and plenty of space to create art

More storage for my mixed media materials


New vinyl floor

View towards house

The office chair will soon be reupholstered by myself

Shortened and pimped old kitchen unit

Leftover tiles from sunlounge as splashboard

Nice light even when the rollerblinds are down

Right after the studio was finished I had my first visitor; my father who wanted to learn more about how to use mixed media in paintings during a two day one-to-one workshop I organised!