Absence and Crazy Project - YouLookFab Forum

Good morning Fabbers,
I took last Friday off to get a break after year-end in finance but got a call from my mother on the way home on Thursday. My father wasn't feeling well and was in the hospital. We spent the evening at the hospital and then got a call from the hospital at 4:00 am to let us know he was being transferred. He had emergency surgery at 9:00 that morning to remove a piece of the small intestine. The poor old guy has cardiac issues and had a bit of trouble during surgery so he was on a respirator for a bit after and pretty high doses of meds to stabilize his BP. He is still in the hospital and just got moved to a ward yesterday. My mom has early symptoms of alzheimers and can't get to the hospital on her own so I took the week off to drive her back and forth and make sure she eats. He is improving but slowly. He reacts poorly to narcotics and had hallucinations a few times. Ripped out all his lines one night including the one that was sutured in. Poor thing.

As a diversion, I picked up an old chair to try out a process of painting upholstery. I read a few DIYs and most used fabric medium with the paint but some didn't and instead gave it a light sanding to soften after painting and then used paste wax to give the piece a subtle sheen and further soften. I pondered and debated on the paint color thinking about a deep plum or teal and then chickened out and bought a griege with a mauve/maroon undertone. Here are pics of the before and after the first coat of paint. Crazy?? I am still undecided about the wood. I am leaning towards getting a darker brown stain/poly and just darkening them a bit.

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9 years ago

Louise

Veteran

Goodness what an awful week I hope your dad is on the mend soon. Your new chair looks great x

Firecracker (Sharan)

Cheryle, my heart goes out to you! I hope your dad recovers well. It will take a while, after that much shock to his body, so just keep thinking healing thoughts.
Your chair is looking very cool and shabby-chic, like something out of the Anthropologie catalog. Maybe keep the green and go over it with a white wash that you streak or sand down? A friend of mine did that with a table, and it came out so cool-looking. She used a really bright pink-red, with white over it.

Inge

(website)

Moderator

What a week, Cheryle -(( I am sorry to hear about your Mum having Alzheimers, and your Dad gave you guys quite the scare. I am holding thumbs for a very speedy recovery. And hurrah for finding a side (chair) project to keep you distracted.

rachylou

Oh a seriously rough week. And the weeks ahead will also be tiring. Your family will be in my thoughts and prayers.

I have never heard of paste wax. You're funny, talking of chickening out. That sounds very brave to use something called 'paste wax.' I'm afraid of regular wood stain... and thus have an unfinished three panel screen. Lol.

p.s. For quite a few minutes I thought you'd painted the chair frame green... Hahaha! I'm *like* to myself, That doesn't seem very Cheryle...

carter

Cheryle, so sorry your folks are having a rough time. My father had Parkinson's. Seeing a parent struggle is so very difficult. Your crazy project is actually a sanity-saving project. You do as many of those as you want/need.

Take care of yourself. Thoughts and prayers are with you.

Anonymous

Oh, goodness. I'm so sorry to hear about your father and I hope he makes a good recovery. It's a difficult time to get through especially when you have to look after your mum too. The distraction of the chair is a big success, it looks great! Nice job!

Diana

I'm so sorry to hear about your dad's health problems. Hopefully the worst is behind him.

I am a big proponent of having crazy projects at times like these. Something to focus on and not spend so much time obsessing over things you can't control. Your chair looks fantastic!

Eliza

Cheryle- hope your father is on the mend. My ever so non-Alzheimer's mother would get knocked for a loop cognitively by surgeries and health challenges; it is painful to see.

Glad you worked in some creativity at this stressful time. I think that chair has real potential. I like the color you chose. Hard to know about the wood options without knowing where you want to use it, though I wonder about a creamy top finish, perhaps with a bit of sanding on the edges of the piece to reveal hints of the original surface.

Best with everything.

UmmLila (Lisa)

Good thoughts your way ... It's so difficult to start to become responsible for your parents.

So sorry to read this. My heart goes out to you and I'm sending good thoughts your way too. Glad you found some distraction. Well done. Looks great.

Aziraphale

Oh no, what a difficult week! Your poor dad. I hope he is feeling better soon. And your poor mom, too! I hope she's not too panicky.

On a more cheerful note, that's neat what you did with the chair. I've never heard of painting upholstery! I like the colour you chose. I would go with a dark stain for the wood parts.

Angie

Fashion Stylist

OH, how grotty, Cheryle. Really hope your Papa feels better soon. Good job keeping busy with the fun new chair. Hang in there, and much love to you.

Debbie

I am so sorry about your father. Hopefully he gets back to his old self soon.
The chair is really cool. Extremely resourceful.

Sveta

You definitely had your hands full. So sorry to hear about the health issues with your father - hope is on the mend now.
Fun project and a good distraction. I have never heard about painting the upholstery - have to look it up.

OK, I checked the painting upholstery on Internet and it sounds promising for my old dining chairs. Thank you for the inspiration!

Jeanie

Sending healing thoughts for you dad. What a stressful week! The chair turned out really nice. I've never heard of this wax method...interesting. The green has its merits and looks like something you would see in a magazine. If you prefer neutrals maybe just paint the wood a sandy beige (I like gray and beige together). Then you could distress it like Eliza mentioned and sand of a bit of the paint on the edges (or not).

donnat

Sorry to hear about your Dad. I hope he recovers quickly.
What a great project.

Summer

You've had a tough week for sure, Cheryle. I hope your father is making some progress, and that things are settling down.

Distraction is a perfect foil for stress, and I hope renovating your chair brought a little relief. I like what you've done, by the way.

cheryle (Dianthus)

Thank you all so very much for the thoughts, prayers, and empathy. My dad is still in the hospital but doing much better. He had a bad day and I was quite worried but the next day he had perked up quite a bit and was gaining a bit of strength. He seems to have gotten past the drug-induced mental impairment which was quite frightening. We are hoping he will be out of the hospital mid-week this week and maybe as early as tomorrow.

I am almost finished my chair. The green is painters tape and not the finish. Not that I wouldn't use green but it would likely be a cooler green. I am going to add a coat of minwax polyshades to brighten up the wood and wax the rest of the piece and then move on. I bought a little bench the other day that has upholstered legs. I started peeling back the upholstery and the legs should be fairly easy to remove and replace. Now I just need a color and I am good to go.

I am scheduled to be in Vancouver for 6 days in two weeks and am going to try to reassign the work so I can stick around home for a little longer in case there is need of my help. I have to get mom to a doctor for an assessment and start making arrangements to get their house in order so the parents can find more appropriate accommodations.

Sveta, I will send you a few links to tutorials and projects if you are interested.

jackiec

I'm glad your dad is on the mend. Nonetheless take care of yourself during these stressful times. Love your chair - I'd never heard of painting upholstery. If you end up in town and feel like meeting for a coffee or something just let me know.

Ledonna N.

Yours will be added to my prayer list. You become creative with stress oh what a good way to channel that energy. How beautiful is that chair so very creative.

8 years ago

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