Friday, April 9, 2010

Arm Chair Makeover

Perhaps you remember this little guy, who we snagged from a lady as she was about to unload him into the landfill.
Well he was in perfect condition (yes objects in my life have genders.) but was very sun faded. And next to our other couch which wasn't sun faded, our yellow table, and our funky rug it was just a little too much color for me.
Well we bought leather dye a long time ago, I just never got around to it.
Well I was in the middle of scrubbing baseboards, and about to scratch my eyeballs out I hated it so bad. I decided, no time like the present to dye our chair. And because, like my sister says, I have the attention span of a Yorkie puppy, I couldn't be bothered with trying to find gloves. Big mistake... More on that later. So I applied the dye in fast circular motions and BAM it's like a new chair!
I love it... I'm just sitting here admiring it in our living room!! It was too easy! But with every project comes a battle scar.
Just hope I can find a way to get it off before Wednesday for Drew's sister's wedding. Yikes.
Maybe I'll just tell people it's frostbite. Look at Drew's toes, sneaking into my pictures!

30 comments:

  1. You are teaching me all kinds of new tricks, just so you know! I had NO idea you could dye a leather chair! That is so awesome! Congrats on the lovely piece of furniture!

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  2. Oh my LINDSAY!! That looks SOOOOOO great! WOW! You are so SMART.... well... you DID use dye without gloves.... let's just say you are so creative!
    Really though that chair looks UH-MAAAAZING!

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  3. WOW. Please oh please keep it for Abby's wedding!!!

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  4. hahaha your hand! oh my gosh!! that chair looks amazing, hope you got the stuff off your hand, but frostbite sounds good to me! :)

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  5. Hilarious! But the chair looks soooo good!

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  6. Oh my. That is absolutely fabulous. I love the after. And totally worth a little hand discoloration.

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  7. The chair is fabulous! I think you will have the dye until a new layer of skin grows, since your hand sucked up that dye just like the chair did. Maybe wear gloves to the wedding?!?

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  8. Wow, the chair is totally fabulous. What a great idea. I havn't ever heard of leather dye. Lucky find. Hugs, Marty

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  9. Who KNEW! This is a great tip and it did wonders on your chair (and your hands).

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  10. That is unbelievable. Can't believe how great that dye did on the chair. I have to know. Did you have any issue with it rubbing off on clothes later after you sat on it or is it pretty set in.

    Hope your new skin has come in.
    :)
    ♥ Joy

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  11. Just found your blog -- that chair turned out great!! But your hand? Oh my!! Maybe some lemon juice or something will help? Good luck!

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  12. I found you through Better After, and the chair looks fabulous. I too am too impatient to go get gloves, so pardon me if I stifle a giggle-snort with a turquoise splattered hand!

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  13. Thanks for the compliments! I am glad you all stopped by! Good news is the stain wore off for the most part in 3 days. And for good after a week!! haha it was a fun conversation started for a few days! THanks for the comments!

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  14. I just saw this at Better After and couldn't believe my eyes. I didn't know leather dye was available to consumers. A couple questions:

    1. How long do you have to wait before sitting on the piece after dying?

    2. Will it work for leather that has been worn?

    3. Where can I find this product?

    My dog has scratched up one cushion of our sofa and I'd love to try this. I'm just wondering if I could match the color.

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  15. Looks beautiful! Has the dye worn off on your clothes at all?

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  16. Hi Karen! We dyed the chair around 9 o'clock at night and then just left it over night. My husband sat on it early the next morning and it was fine. It is dry to the touch after about 15 minutes. Our leather was pretty worn and it worked really well. I'm not 100% sure about the scratches, I used some leather glue to seal cracks and it worked great. I'm sure that dying the leather will hide the scratches for sure! We got our leather dye at a store called Roberts arts and crafts. Any craft store I'm sure would carry it. There were a lot of color choices.

    Hi Fi, nope! No dye has worn of! The stuffs pretty amazing! Thanks for your comments!

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  17. Just hopped over form another site, this is awesome! I would love to feature it. Come and check out my blog if you get the chance and email me if you would be interested.

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  18. See, I'm the crazy person that would be throwing out something like that. I've got so much to learn... some a little too late! ;) Great job!

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  19. What a terrific idea! That gives me great opportunities on my craiglist buys!!!

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  20. THis is an awesome idea, who knew, hopping over from a blog that featured this. I do have a question, how much dye did it take to do the chair?
    texasmonkeyboutique@gmail.com

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  21. Hi shayna! The bottles I bought were 4 fl oz. And it took a bottle to coat it. I did a little bit out of the second one just to test the color. But a little goes a long way.

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    Replies
    1. Hi, I live in Bend, Or, have the same sun bleached chairs and really need some help! Where can I buy this?
      Thank you!!
      Pam

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    2. Hi, I have two of those sun bleached chairs...looks like fun! Where do I buy this please?
      Thank you!

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  22. I just have to know how long did it take for it to dry? I really want to do this to my leather couch.

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  23. Hi Jenny, I started the dye around 7 at night, and then my husband sat on it the next morning and it was perfectly dry. It was dry to the touch in about 30 minutes. Thanks for your comment!

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  24. Can I ask what colour of the eco-flo you used? Your finished product is what my couch used to look like, but it's faded quite a bit. Is it just mahogany, or dark mahogany. I'd love to return my couch to it's formly glory ;) Great job and thanks for the tip!

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  25. I'm not sure if my comment wasn't submitted, or if it hasn't been moderated yet. Just in case, can you tell me what colour of the Eco-Flo you used? There's mahogany and dark mahogany available. My chair was originally the same colour as your completed project, and I'd love to restore it to it's former glory.

    Amazing job! Thanks for the tip!

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  26. Hi sorry for the delay. I actually used brun chene

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  27. Oops, sorry for the double post, can you tell I really want to dye my chair? ;) I appreciate you updating and letting me in on the colour. Now I'm off to buy some dye. I think I'm going to buy a few different colours and try to match best. Happy Holidays!

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  28. Hi,

    I just found this post and am wanting to do a couch. I am very impressed with your results but had some questions.

    Did you do any prep to the chair?
    clean it somehow and if so what did you use?
    was the leather dampened with water while you stained?
    did you put any finish on it the next day like a sealer or conditioner.

    I would appreciate any feed back. I can stain wood so I figured I could save the $1500 I was told would be the fee to do my couch with some research and info.

    Thanks Wendy

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