A Before and After Upholstery Project

A while ago, I picked up this little wooden booth and its matching table. I didn't notice the signature until I got it home, but it turned out to be a Mark Stockton set. The piece was nicely made, but there were a few problems. The wood was terribly dried out, and the sides of the booth had out of scale wood grain. But a little lemon oil fixed the first problem, and I thought I'd be able to easily create tufted leather cushions to cover the big grain.

I originally was planning to cover back and seat of the booth with brown tufted leather. But while I was going through my leather supplies, I found this dark red (faux) leather which seemed more interesting than plain brown.  A little red leather goes a long way, and by the time I had the seat backs finished, I was questioning the seat cushions.

A few weeks before, I'd received some silk scraps. It just so happened that one of those pieces perfectly matched the leather, and the over sized pattern was exactly the width of the seat.   Last of all, I finished the outer walls of the booth, which had more graining to hide. I added some board and batten to the backs of the seats using strip wood, painted it out in a somber shade of brown, and called it a day.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take photos of the outer sides of the booth, but I'll slip after photos  of the board and batten in to the next post.

New Paper Projects

I haven't had all that much to share lately. I've done a few paper projects, and one furniture makeover which I will post soon, but other than that it's been pretty quiet. I did manage to organize my workspace, including sorting out the bank of small drawers on my desk. Frankly, they were an absolute mess, since I've acquired many more supplies since starting the drawer system. The one drawer of seed beads and rhinestones which I started with somehow became four over the past few years!

In the mean time, here are some new paper projects. I love doing putting together these vintage paper scenes. I was a little worried that the tall thin streetlights on this one would be too fragile. I thought I might have to brace them with a little thin wire, but they ended up being sturdy enough on their own.

I also made a toy theater. I've been fascinated by toy theaters ever since reading the book Roller Skates by Ruth Sawyer as a little girl.  In the book, the main character Lucinda puts on a production of The Tempest, but my theater is in the middle of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.