March is Women’s History Month.  It wasn’t always a whole month.  It started off as a day (March 8th), it then turned to a week, and then, thanks to Jimmy Carter in ’87, we got a month.  Way to go, ladies! After the recent election, I think some of us were thinking a lot more about women’s rights and equality.  (Side note: it’s hard not to get a little political on this, I apologize.)  I think Hilary Clinton opened our eyes to what we are able to accomplish.  If it wasn’t what she has done, there was something that resounded in me within her concession speech.  More on that in a moment.  Another thing I was particularly drawn to was her consistent attire color choice.  Ok, ok, I know it sounds crazy, but she always was selective on the color of her pantsuit.  Colors have meaning.  White and purple are the colors of the Women’s Suffrage Movement. Pair that with this quote from her concession speech,

“And to all of the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams.”

This quote gets me every time.  It got me thinking.  I know what I go through every day regarding self-doubt, fear of not achieving my goals, etc.  We cannot pass this on to future generations.  So, my contribution for Furniture for the Fight this month is this dresser.  A percentage of the proceeds will go to Running Start.  An organization that helps young girls to become leaders.

A little back story:

This dresser was donated to me by a super rad lady friend.  She is always the first to stand up and be vocal on behalf of all women and minorities, call her representatives, and, overall, just a bad ass babe. That being said, I knew this piece already had some good juju.  In order to get to the core of that juju though, I had to use a little elbow grease and sand down the already peeling finish.  This piece had a little structual work that needed to be done so I made sure get the joints strong again, fill in some wholes, put in some extra braces.  After, I painted her, in honor of women’s suffrage, antique white.  I applied walnut wax finish and buffed it off to give it an antique finish.  I applied Danish oil to the inside of the drawers to give the wood a natural golden glow.  I then replaced the traditional drawer pulls with mercury gold knobs and line the drawer with white and gold paper.  And vioala!

After

Before

Before: drawer pulls

Before: inside of drawer

Before: finish

After: finish

After: drawer liner (screws have been cut down since)

After: drawer pulls

After: finish

Drawer Liner

This dresser is FOR SALE.  it is $435 (after tax) and 25% will go to Running Start.

Please contact me at lauralee (at) madebylauralee (dot) com

I feel that this, like many women, is our mantra.  It always has been, we just never really embraced it like we do now.  This is not meant to be a hyped up political rant, but an appreciation for what we do on the daily.  To the women that have children and still work 40+hrs a week and keep a family together, to my single lady friends who are pursuing their dreams and don’t let anything stop them, to my friends that are married and work crazy hours and are still able to be the perfect wife, the list could go on forever.

We all continue on.  We get knocked down and fall on our face and still get up looking just as fabulous. So in honor or Elizabeth Warren and all my fierce fellow female warriors, I stitched up a little something special for the Musicians Artist Fair at One-2-One Bar yesterday.

Let me just say, these little ladies were a hit.  To be honest, I didn’t expect to sell so many, so I will be stitching up more as fast as I can.  If you are interested in one of these, shoot me an email, comment below, whatever you’d like, and I’ll make sure to get one to you!

Thanks ya’ll!  Keep persisting!

Another month of 2017 has come and gone.  This month is Black History Month.  I have refinished a 1940’s vanity stool to donate a percentage of the proceeds to go to National Association of the Advancement of Colored People.

Here is a little backstory on the stool:

I found this stool in a thrift shop in South Austin.  It seemed unassuming and like a quick easy project for the shortest month of the year. Undecided, I carried around the store while I continued browsing.  I was quickly approached by three other women for the stool. “Are you going to buy that, honey?” Third time was the charm and swayed my decision to bring it home with me.

There was nothing quick and easy about refinishing this stool.  Nothing.  After removing the cushion, which was hard as a rock, I began on stripping the paint.  It took 12 hours, multiple studio trips, half of quart of paint stripper, and 5 sheets of sandpaper to remove the 7 layers of paint! There were multiple shades of blue, white, black, grey, and green.  After sanding it down, patching up scrapes, and using dremel tool to redefine some of the wood work on the legs, I was finally able to start painting.

I chose a royal blue paint, gold accents, and, of course, walnut stain.  The royal blue I thought would be an excellent contrast to the gold and orange fabric I found for the seat cushion.  Oh, and this seat cushion!  Reupholstering this was no joke.  I began removing the layer of fabric expecting to find the batting and cushion form underneath.  I was very wrong.  There was another layer of fabric underneath, I pulled back to find yet another, and another.  Seven layers of fabric total, each individually nailed to the seat.  I stopped counting upholstery nails after about 175 of them.  I added padding to the seat and put her back together.

Here she is….   I will be making a pair of pillows with the remaining fabric.  More on that next week.