Painting a FREE Chair!!

I know, I know.....ANOTHER CHAIR!!! But hey, when we moved in the previous owner left a bunch of them and I couldn't help myself. So anyhow, she left this wingback chair, who doesn't love a wingback chair? The problem I had was that it was an outdated burgundy 1990's color (not to offend anyone who has one, or loves that color, but it is just not for me)! Now we all know I love to reupholster chairs, but I thought that taking on a wingback for the first time, wasn't something I was ready to do. So I had a problem,....A chair that wasn't my style and what to do with it.....I came across this post about using paint and a textile medium!! Hey why not, the chair was free and anything would be better than it's current state! So I ran to Hobby Lobby, bought textile medium and two bottles of black acrylic paint (I didn't want to try and go lighter because I was sure that would end in heartbreak and a lot of frustration and tears). I mixed according to the textile medium directions and then watered it down to just a little thicker than water consistency, took a foam brush and went to town!!!



It was really easy and the final product speaks for itself. I really hope it lasts though! It did turn out a little stiffer than it was, but it's a fair trade for how much better it looks. Plus I'm hoping that after a little time and wear, it will soften up! It is definitely not as stiff as it would have been had I not used the textile medium. I still need to make a pillow for this chair for now I just stole the pillow I made for the chair I reupholstered downstairs)



I'm working on trying to get the nailhead trim to work. The nails don't reach the wood so it falls out. I could hot glue or super glue them, but I don't know how they will hold up. Well see......

Cafe Rio Sweet Pork Salad

Ok so I know that this blog is for documenting my home DIY projects, BUT I don't think anyone will complain that I am craving Cafe Rio right now, so I decided to post this. I didn't make this tonight because my husband is on night float and I don't ever see him, and 2 of my 3 boys are sick.... I just found myself thinking of all the yummy food I wished I could be eating right now. Unfortunately, Cafe Rio kept popping into my head. I say unfortunately because we don't have Cafe Rio out here!!! To make a long story short, I'm just reposting a post I did on our family blog (which is on private settings do to spammers) a while back, It is resparking my love and I WILL make it again in a few weeks when we have dinner guests over. If I have any readers who don't know what Cafe Rio is or have never tried it, YOU WILL LOVE THIS.....MAKE IT TONIGHT, AND YOU WILL BE A CAFE RIO BELIEVER FOR LIFE!!!


My husband and I love the Sweet Pork Salad from Café Rio. I did some looking around and found some close recipe's and then tweaked them a bit to get a salad that tastes EXACTLY like Café Rio's.

Sweet Pork

1 pork roast (2-3lbs)
salt & pepper
1 garlic clove (minced)
water
enchilada sauce (to taste)
brown sugar (to taste)
2 cans Dr. Pepper
1 small can green chilies

Salt and pepper roast to taste, put roast and garlic in a crockpot, add water (fill a small crockpot about half full) and cook on low for about 5 hours. Remove roast, drain water (and remove any fat or drippings), and return roast to crock pot. Add 1 can of Dr. Pepper and 1/2 c. of brown sugar (to start off with). Let roast cook on low 3 more hours (at this point you can pull your pork apart, break it into 3 or 4 chunks but don't shred or pull it completely). Transfer roast (including any liquid) to a large skillet and pull apart. At this point it all becomes your tastes. Add green chilies, enchilada sauce, more brown sugar and Dr. Pepper (obviously the more b. sugar and Dr. Pepper you add the sweeter it is and by adding more enchilada sauce it becomes less sweet).

Rice

4 t chicken bouillon
4 t garlic –minced
½ bunch cilantro
1 can green chiles—or equivalent fresh
¾ t salt
1 T butter
½ onion


Chop cilantro and onions (very fine). Add all ingredients with your rice and make your rice according to your rice package (make 3-4 servings).

Café Rio (Yummy) Tomatillo Dressing

1 buttermilk ranch dressing packet (make as per recipe, reduce buttermilk and mayo by 3/4 c if you want a thicker dressing)
2 tomatillos (I like to use 3 for a little more tomatillo flavor)
½ bunch of cilantro
1 clove garlic
Juice of 1 lime
1 jalapeño (remove seeds if you don't want it spicy)

Put all ingredients in food processor or blender and then refrigerate for at least 30 min so dressing can thicken.

Extra Things Needed
Black beans, Tortillas, Guacamole, Pico de gallo, Cheese, and Romaine lettuce

Okay those are the main ingredients. I bought some tins from the store (so it would really feel like Café Rio), and wrap style tortillas (I used sun dried tomato wrap tortillas because they are really thin like Café Rio's tortillas). Sprinkle a little cheese on the tortillas and then warm in the oven (just until cheese is beginning to melt), remove and place in tin, add rice some black beans, and pork. Top with lettuce, pico de gallo, guacamole, slice of lime, and tortilla strips ( couldn't find any so I made my own). Put as much or as little of the tomatillo dressing as you like and ENJOY!!!!

My husband absolutely loved every bite!


Also if you want to be a real go getter you can make your own tortillas, I found this on pintrest

Never Pass Up an Old Ugly Chair!!!

Ok ok, my husband may disagree with the title of this post because I am acquiring quite a collection downstairs in our basement, but seriously this is one of the cheapest things in the world!!! Find FREE chairs, they seem to be everywhere, curbs, craigslist, or already in your home. And we ALL have old drapes, dresses, or table clothes that can be used instead of thrown out! I am a firm believer in working with what you got! Sure some times I really want a nice chair so I have to buy things like trim and fabric (for my last chair) but still it can be done very inexpensively!! With this chair (free because it was left here by the previous owner of our new home), it only took as much time as it takes for a can of paint to dry!! I found a can of spray paint that I already had and used some old curtains that I had made when my 5 year old was a baby! I gave the old chair a coat of paint and while I waited for it to dry I reupholstered the chair (I will be doing a tutorial on this later in the week and once you can reupholster 1 chair, you can do almost any simple chair).

NailHead Trim Chair For $10

So I will post a tutorial on this chair and maybe even the pillow a little later in the week. I was just so excited to be done with this chair because I really love it!! I got the chair for free, the previous owner of our new home left it here. The fabric was from Walmart at $1.50 a yard and I used 2 yards ($3.00 for fabric). The nailhead trim was $18 bucks for 10 yards but I only used 2 yards ($3.60 for trim) I had the paint and primer on hand already. The fabric for the pillow was also $1.50/yd and I used 2 yards. The actual pillow was just an old bed pillow we had that I cut to size! Seriously it is so fun to try and make or repurpose things for as cheap as possible!!! I lOVE IT!!!

Here is a cropped close up, sorry about the poor quality, I'm only able to use my cell phone at the moment!