meet alice

 . . . . well, her chair, that is.

alice is a good friend of mine (and arguably the best kind of coworker a girl could ask for. . . . sigh . . . i miss her daily office antics) and she sent me an email awhile back with a photo attached of a chair just begging for renewal.

and it's a pretty awesome chair at at that.

we were in chicago saturday visiting friends we miss dearly and it was the perfect opportunity to pick up this little guy and bring it back to milwaukee to get started.

 . . . . and, by 10am the next morning, the fabric was gone.

(This, unfortunately, is the only photo I took - it was a quick shot on my phone to text my progress back to chicago)

I spent most of my Sunday morning stripping it down, replacing padding, gluing some weak spots, and prepping her for fabric.

she's looking so refreshed already, if i do say so myself.

i've also basically fallen in love with the chair. it's hard to tell from my less-than-professional photos but the woodwork is pretty awesome and with just a little more love it will make for a really great side chair. and i secretly wish i could keep it for myself (don't worry . . . it'll make it's way back down there eventually!!)

I got to work quickly on this chair . . . . perhaps because the other chairs I've been working on have been staring at me for months (and even years . . . ) and so it was exciting to have something new to work with. even more likely: it's currently reading a balmy 93 degrees in my living room, giving me the perfect excuse to spend countless hours in the much cooler basement.

that's sort of a masculine sentiment, no?

That doesn't mean I've forgotten my turquoise love.

This is about how far we've come though. The color combination is growing on me.

Both the back and seat are tufted and are taking a little bit of time but are prepped and will be ready to go soon. Despite my somewhat busy work week, I'm hoping to get both of these in sitting condition by early next week at the latest (provided there are no disasters involved). 

I'll keep you posted on my progress. For real this time.