Not so Hobbyless...

I have noticed, as I am sure you have also, that Im not doing very well at posting new stuff for you guys. I guess that I have been too consumed with doing some of my projects that I forget to come back and write. Which was the whole point of this blog initially, anyways.

I've got about 146 projects on the to-do list.... or so Josh says. I'd say I really only have about 60! But that's what happens when people start finding out that you are capable of making things, refinishing things, painting things, etc. And I can't help it that I WANT to do it all... for everybody who wants it. In fact, I try to get people to let me make stuff for them, because it makes me happy to do it, and it's fun to use my creativity for people other than just myself! 

So needless to say, I have 1 project that I am going to be helping my mom with (refinishing her dining room table and chairs), I am making a suitcase chair for a friend of mine, and I am refinishing 3 large wooden furniture pieces for my grandma as well as painting some of her kitchen items (knife block, mirror, mug rack). On top of that, I plan to refinish that bench of mine, make a whiskey bar, and reupholster an old lazy boy chair we found on the street.

So here is something new! 

I did finish the vintage suitcase chair that I told you about 2? blogs back... and it turned out amazingly! I am absolutely in love with it and have already gone out and bought another suitcase to make another chair soon. I am looking into renting a small space in someone's shop where I can sell some of my things, now. And I have a list of stuff that I will be able to make consistently as well as some of my pieces that I will probably only ever have one of. 

The thing I think I'll like about making these suitcase chairs is that you can find so many different colors, and styles of suitcases, and in turn you can have tons of different material print options and color combinations, etc. Not to mention making some accent pillows for the chairs, which also adds some character and makes it all just kind of pop!

I was fairly impressed with myself to have been able to figure out how to construct this chair and all it's parts (along with the help of my husband's ideas) without ever having found someone else's tutorial on how to do it. It all started with a picture I saw of one a girl had made, but it was ONLY a picture. And hers was done sort of crappily, where she just added some legs and kind of stuffed a couple of large pillows in the suitcase and called it a chair. I am not entirely sure it was made to hold any substantial amount of body weight... ever. Maybe it was meant to be a clothes rack for her bedroom?

It looks like a little pet or something! My 4 day old pet... the cool thing is that it can be closed with a cushion in it. Take the legs off, throw them into the suitcase, and you have a very easily transportable chair!

We walked around home depot for about an hour trying to figure out what to use to brace the bottom to the top, when we came across this yellow chain link- that an employee cut off and gave to us for FREE! Apparently I didn't need enough to make it worthwhile to charge. I'll take it!

All in all, I think I did spend about $80 in all the materials to make this. And I put in about 12-14 hours of work. I spent about 4 days on it, with a few hours each day. That sounds like a lot, but because it was my first I ran into unexpected issues, and had to figure out how to get around them. Now that I have done one, I think the next ones will be breezy! And I plan to shop a lot more thriftily for the next ones, too. I'd love to be able to make one for about half the cost if I plan to sell them and make any sort of profit. I didn't mind spending $80 for what I plan to keep for myself. And my own time doesn't cost me anything!

This is the suitcase I bought a couple of days ago. It should be a ton of fun to make! 

I'm still working on getting everything in order so that I can post a step-by-step on how this project was completed.

Until next time!