Trash To Treasure: Time Out Chair

Over the weekend one of my neighbors had an estate sale, and you should have seen all the people that turned out for it. I could barely make it out of my driveway. After it was all said and done the un-purchased items were left on the curb for anyone that wanted to have at em'. Of course, I moseyed on over and as luck would have it I came across these two little brown chairs:

Pic taken as the chairs were drying in the sun from an intense cleaning...cause that's a MUST ;-)

I could kind of see why the chairs had been overlooked; at first glance they really wasn't much to look at. However, upon further inspection I found that they were sturdy, and I also thought that the shape was pretty cool too. In a 'almost but not quite sort of way' they reminded me of ghost chairs:

Although I tend not to follow trends ghost chairs are hot right now in the décor world

Besides the scuffed up legs the brown chairs were just perfect for a DIY project I'd been considering for a while, what you might ask? A time out chair!
So as you know I have a 3 year old, and let me tell you he is absolutely AWESOME! Nonetheless, when he gets into one of his moods things can go left pretty quick. Spankings do absolutely nothing for him, but put him in the corner and he can write the 'Devine Revelations from Hell'. However, sitting in the designated 'naughty spot' isn't that simple, because, of course, he is dramatic. Sitting in the corner soon turns into wallowing on the floor, and I imagine that it couldn't be comfortable. I hope that providing him with an actual "seating area" it will eliminate the floor time. Knowing him though, he'll probably just slide from the chair to the floor in a near Oscar Winning performance. Doesn't hurt to try though...wish me luck!

I came across this time out chair a while back and I liked the concept. However, the price tag served as a deterrent.

So happening upon the two brown chairs, for me, was like a godsend. I ignored the irritated look on the hubby's face as I drug them across the street and completely tuned him out as he complained about me "collecting junk". As the old saying goes, one man's junk is another man's treasure. I can see beauty in anything, and I LOVE creative projects. Stress relief? Therapy? Don't need it. Give me something to recreate/make and I'm instantly in a happy place.

Since I had the opportunity to upcycle the chairs any way that my little heart desired, I figured why not make something that matched my home décor? The bright, kid inspired chairs on the market are nice, but this isn't supposed to be fun! Nope. If the chair was going to be hanging around easily accessible then it could at least match the rest of my house. So I grabbed my gold and metallic spray paints and went to work.
For the record, this is the brand that I used:

This project would had been absolutely free if I hadn't run out of spray paint, a can of gold and a can of silver set me back about seven bucks. It also took several sessions of spraying because every time I thought that I was done I noticed a spot that needed just a little more paint. But even after I was "finished" those old ragged legs were giving me the blues. I mean, for free I really couldn't complain, but I just didn't like the look of it.

One of the last times my little guy will enjoy sitting in either one of these chairs

Can you see what I mean about the legs? That had to go!

So I went searching through my creative drawers--which in reality is just one of these:

By the way, I love my little bin, so much crafty goodness in there!

 

I grabbed my left over rope from my container project (a few post back) and began wrapping. Because I had two chairs and not enough rope, I decided to only wrap the front legs (since they were most prominent). To wrap the legs I began with a dab of hot glue, held the rope in in place for a moment, and then continued to wrap the rope normally around the chair legs. When I reached the end mark I added another dab of glue to the rope and held it into place until secure...ta-dah! Easy peasy.
Now it was time to add the self-adhesive letters to the chair to make it all cutesy. OMG, that was the hardest part! You would think that since I wasn't actually drawing the letters by hand that it would make the task that much simpler, not so. I had to try several times to get the letters to align without looking lopsided. Then, there was the issue of not having enough of the same size letters to write 'time out' on both chairs. So I had to actually think about what other phrases I could say that I had enough letters for. At this point, even the hubby got involved as we giggled over what could be put on the chair. In the end I went with his suggestion of 'Chill Out'. And here's a pic of both chairs, one for home and one for Nana's house.

I plan to add a timer to the back of the chairs soon. So let's recap on the price I spent on not one, but two time out chairs:

2 chairs--FREE
2 cans of spray paint--7 bucks
Rope--FREE (in stash)
Adhesive Letters--FREE (in stash)

$7 for two time-out chairs that are personalized to match my décor...I think that's an awesome score! ;-) After this, I'll be sure to keep my eyes peeled for other junkyard bound goodies (only things I can use of course). So there you have it, from trash to treasure, the time out chair. What type of things have you salvaged?