Bosom Buddy Friday

Junk January is now in full swing around the Tillys' homes. When deciding who to bring for today's Bosom Buddy post, I knew from the beginning of January exactly who I should have! I met Kenz while working at Oakcrest Girl's Camp back in 2009. I have really enjoyed following her throughout the years to see her growth-in family life by getting hitched, buying their home, and now with her AMAZING blog about how she designs her home. She is becoming a queen at making others' junk into true treasures. We are so grateful that she wants to be our Bosom Buddy!

Take it away Kenz!

Hello readers of Tasteful Tillys!  I am excited to be hanging out with you guys today.

I'm Kenz, the rowdy voice behind Interiors By Kenz. I run a  DIY Home Decor blog.  My motto is "extreme humiliation should not keep us from creating beautiful things."  So, we have a lot of fun being outrageous.

I was really excited when Jeanette asked me to guest post and told me the theme was Junk January.  Why?  Because I love to refunk junk like it's nobody's business.  I love to hit up thrift stores and the classifieds to find things to transform.  It's cheaper than buying new, and it's fun.

I was thinking about what, of my many junks I could show you today.  If you have some free time, I have a tutorial on painting furniture without sanding (it works for laminate too!) if you want to paint something.  There's information about my favorite primer.  So if you're interested in painting, go check that out. 

But today, I want to show you a more unique piece of junk that I transformed.

I love Restoration Hardware.  Something about rustic meeting quirky speaks to my design desires.  It's unique and classic at the same time.  But if you know anything about Restoration Hardware, you know their prices for furniture cost about 3x what my house payment is.  So yeah, that will never happen.

One day I was at the thrift store, and I saw this tiki chair.

Everyone I was with said, "Wow Kenz,  that is so ugly.  DONT BUY IT!"  And I said, "No you guys.  I am going to make this like Restoration Hardware esque... like the Versailles chair!"  And NO ONE BELIEVED ME.  ("Don't you hate that?")

So I proceeded, without any moral support.  

First I watered down a gray paint sample I had laying around, so I could give the wood a nice gray wash.  I wanted to see the wood grain through the paint.  So it would look "drift wood ish."

Then came the fun part for me, adding upholstery.  Not reupholstering... adding it to places where there was none.  You might be thinking "That worked for her, but I have no upholstery skills or tools."  But, guess what, neither do I!  I have zero experience in this field, so if I can do it, you can too.  

I know this sounds weird, but I used hot glue.  And it was STRONG!  Did you know there are two types of glue sticks you can buy?  I bought the extra strength sticks and I tugged and pulled and tugged, and it didn't budge.  

I would run a bead of hot glue, fold the burlap, and press it down.  Filling it with batting as I went.  And it worked!

After I added upholstery in all the tiki-esque spots, I added some nail-head trim around the top.  I feel like it was the crowning jewel to my masterpiece.  

This chair was such a fun project for me.  It was more than just "reupholstering" or "repainting" furniture.  It was re-creating something with MY vision.  It's completely unique.  I know not everyone will love it, but I do.  And I know that it isn't going to be in anyone else's family room.  If you'd like to see the entire tutorial in more detail, make sure to check it out {here}.

Thanks again Tillys for letting me share one of my favorite ever projects with you.  You all have a standing invitation to snoop around Interiors by Kenz anytime you want!  And make sure to say hello.

(If you don't check out Interiors by Kenz, you are sorely missing out on some of the coolest home designs I've seen. Don't say I didn't warn you!)