Caroles Fabric Bold Adventure Once Again Teal

Remember how we envisioned modern and cheerful green leather parsons chairs around a mesomorphic wood table from pretty much the moment we moved in? And how we decided that dyed-green slipcovers were pretty much the same thing when nosotros found chairs for $25 and slipcovers for $23? Well, we were wrong. I dyed ii of the chairs green and they were just not "information technology" (even if we contradistinct the shade of green, nosotros just knew it was the wrong way to get for us as soon every bit we saw these babies):

Especially considering that there would be seven or eight of them around the tabular array at all times (and we have the bold congenital-ins going on in the background and dreams of chichi patterned defunction, a huge cut out opening to the kitchen, a giant chandelier in a higher place the table, etc). Information technology suddenly dawned on me that of all the things in the room that there were going to exist there, the chairs were not the things that I wanted everyone to be staring at. In fact, I decided that I wanted the chairs to blend in. To become all-time supporting actors items to a few other things that we'd dear to be the stars (namely the built-ins, the bold patterned defunction, and the showstopping chandelier that nosotros can't wait to bring in).

Merely permit'south rewind to two of the iv colors that we considered before we reached for the dye at all. First we thought long and difficult about whether we wanted to dye them in the beginning identify. We mentioned that the off-white tone of the covers looked dingy in contrast to the sleeky white trim and built-in shelving, but even then nosotros still wanted to live with them a while before doing anything rash.

So nosotros did. And we definitely didn't similar the clashy fair tone any ameliorate after the weeks ticked by. It was time for action.

Side by side we considered trying to somehow bleach them white. That manner they wouldn't look dingy and would necktie right into the white trim and those white born shelves. Simply the more we idea about one of our major goals (for this house to exist kid-proof and not make us into uptight fearful hosts) we realized that fifty-fifty though white slipcovers can be bleached they'd yet show dirt more than on a daily basis. Even nighttime denim could exit a blue tint behind on them (which is something that we never thought of, only some lite googling brought to our attending). And if something a piddling darker could hide a scrap more dirt (resulting in less frequent washings and kid-related heartburn) we'd take information technology. Function first. Plus nosotros felt similar white covers would terminate the eye and call attention to themselves since they'd be and then dissimilarity-y next to the tabular array (which wouldn't fulfill the blend-right-in goal that I'd eventually come to achieve anyway).

So information technology was back to the green chair thought that John and I thought would be just the ticket (and later learned… not and then much). I'm actually a dye novice. In fact I've only dyed one thing before (besides my hair throughout centre school and high school- yes I one time was a blonde). That matter that I've dyed? Oh yeah, it was my wedding wearing apparel (then I could wear it over again, similar to other weddings):

I can't believe I had the guts merely it worked out then I approximate I have a soft spot for dye. It hasn't let me down yet. Anyway, here's how I dyed those 2 slipcovers only in case you're about to take the d-y-due east plunge. Information technology was actually really piece of cake cheers to the blazon that I used this time. A agglomeration of readers and even a few relatives recommended iDye (nosotros found information technology at JoAnn). It was under $three for each pack (and I could employ each pack to dye two slipcovers at once). It's meant for natural fibers similar linen and cotton wool and silk (jackpot: our slipcovers are linen and cotton wool). When information technology came to picking the colour, in that location were a ton to choose from (which is soooo much nicer than just 1 tone of green or blue, which is the case with a few other dye brands). In fact there were at least five different dark-green tones (dark-green, olive, kelly green, emerald, chartreuse, etc) so we narrowed it down to these two:

Nosotros liked that chartreuse would exist modern and fun, but worried that information technology might end up looking a little as well neon and highlighter-ish. And nosotros liked that kelly dark-green would probably exist a bit more light-green and less yellow, and so we ultimately decided it was the way to get for that apple green look that I wanted from day 1.

Although there were some simple directions on the pack, I'm waaaaay too neurotic to settle for those. And so I went to their site for a lot more didactics (aka: hand property). The fact that this dye worked with front end loading washers was a huuuuge perk for me. And it was simple. Burger could have done it if he could reach the dryer buttons.

Start I put two cups of hottest-possible-from-the-tap water into a big bowl. Then I dropped in the dissolving dye envelope from the dye kit. And I stirred it up.

Then I added ane cup of common salt (since that's what they recommended on the dye site for cotton & linen fabrics, which is what the slipcovers are).

And so I stirred once again. Oh and I used a paint stick.

The next stride was to pre-wet two slipcovers before adding anything to our front loader (this shot shows how not-white the slipcovers were – sort of oat-meal-ish in person).

And so came the heart-stopping step. Pouring my bowl of hot water and dye and salt into the bottom of our front loading washer. Is it weird that it made me a lilliputian queasy?

Then I tossed the pre-wet slipcovers into the washer and started things up right away. The dye instructions on the site said to wash them in hot water and mentioned that adding an actress rinse cycle would help the color develop more. And then I set information technology on "heavy duty" (which used hot water) and clicked the "extra rinse" button earlier striking beginning.

Most an hour later things were looking pretty green! Happily they were super even and there weren't whatsoever streaks or dark spots (which was my worry). They looked like green slipcovers you lot'd buy in a shop. Sidenote: how much fun would a store completely devoted to slipcovers be? I'chiliad picturing roaming aisles of every color and shape imaginable. Similar the big wall of flip flops at Old Navy.

Oh but earlier I could take them out and dry them, I did one concluding launder with cold water and a bit of mild detergent (equally recommended by the dye site) which basically entailed clicking it to "normal" (and making sure it was cold water) and calculation a smidge of Seventh Generation detergent. The 2d wash with cold water locked in the colour and rinsed out whatever backlog dye. And so I stale the covers on delicate (low oestrus) so they didn't take likewise much of a beating since they were originally dry clean only and I didn't want to press my luck (like I did here).

As for the colour that they came out vs. the color on the pack, I thought it was a pretty practiced representation. My vision was flawed, just the kelly green pack actually did produce a nice kelly green-ish (or apple green-ish) color.

Sadly it just wasn't "the 1." Onward!

The fourth (and final!) color that nosotros contemplated was good old fashioned mocha. Or equally the dye pack called it: brownish. We went back to JoAnn and stared at about twenty options and it just seemed like the best fashion to go. They'd agree up to stains and fall dorsum nicely to let other items in the room exist the stars. And the contrast of a mesomorphic woods table and upholstered chairs is a sugariness little casual choice (we worried the room would await likewise formal with 8 wood chairs pulled effectually a matching wood table). Then even though it would be chocolate-brown covers with a brown table nosotros knew the plush chairs vs. hard carved table would exist a squeamish pairing. And by going with the same tone as the tabular array they'd sideslip in and accept less of a "hiya-we're-a-whole-bunch-of-chairs-so-look-at-united states of america!" vibe (which would have been an upshot with green, off-white, or white in the end).

When it came to the actual dying process, again it was the aforementioned dealio. Except I used a brown pack to dye ii slipcovers at a fourth dimension instead of a kelly green one.

In went the dissolving pack into ii cups of hot water…

… followed by a cup of salt…

… which was then mixed and tossed into the wash with 2 pre-wet slipcovers. I hot wash and one cold one subsequently, I had yummy mocha covers to bask. Oh and information technology's worth noting that many fabrics take to dye meliorate than the most-probable-synthetic stitching (which often remains the color information technology always was). Luckily, white stitching with the mocha = cool with us.

Once over again our covers came out looking completely even and didn't have any dark or light spots or streaking. And after the warm and common cold wash the color was fix (the color doesn't rub off at all or anything, even if yous're wet and you sit down on the chairs). Oh but one quick note about cleaning your washer after you're done dying everything: mine was sparkly make clean (after one extra rinse cycle equally advised past the iDye folks) except for the rubber band that'due south right adjacent to the door, and then I simply ran a few newspaper towels across it until they were no longer slightly tinted brown.

Ta da (don't mind the wrinkles, I allow them sit in the dryer far too long before tossing them on the chairs and quickly snapping these pics this forenoon):

Nosotros dear how they constrict right into the room (no more of that await-at-all-the-chairs thing is going on) and how they don't blend too much cheers to the subtle variation in color and of course the hard vs. soft thing cheers to the carved table and the fabric slipcovers:

Almost of all I think we'll love how much dirt they'll hibernate when compared to lighter slipcovers.

What about those two "extra" slipcovers that we dyed green (remember we got ten even though nosotros only have eight chairs thanks to John's genius suggestion since he worried about dye issues)? Well, we figured nosotros had nil to lose by trying to overdye them with dark-brown (thinking they'd probably turn out a dirty olive tone, but it was worth a shot).

In a sweeeet turn of dye-related events, the brown totally took over and produced the identical color to the other brown covers (even with the green dye nether it). So we have two actress brown covers on hand in case something catastrophic (sharpie, scissors, claret…) happens to any of the eight everyday covers that we have. Oh happy dye day.

In the cease, information technology all came down to some basic math. Bold congenital-ins + patterned futurity curtains + a large view into the part + a big future chandelier/pendant + a large future punched out view into the kitchen + bright chairs = too ca-razy. So we're down with brown. And we're excited to permit things similar the built-ins and the future curtains/low-cal fixture steal the prove. Speaking of which, check out the designer cloth we snagged at a deep discount cheers to a slight imperfection that we tin work around:

We love that it has brown tones (to necktie into the table and chairs), white tones (to tie into the trim and built-in shelving), deep teal tones (which relate to the back of the built-ins) and pops of cheerful apple tree green (if it wasn't right for the chairs, at least I'll get it in the defunction). So it's safe to say that we're excited to get down to pall making business shortly. But most of all, we're thankful that our chairs don't look like this anymore:

Hallelujah. Oh and when it comes to the whole chair budget breakdown, here nosotros become:

• Each chair: $25 (for a total of $200 spent for 8 of them)
• Failed painting supplies: $10
• Each slipcover: $23 (for a total of $232 spent for 10 of them)
• 6 iDye packets from JoAnn (one green i and five brown ones): $18
• Full cost per chair: $57.50 (which also includes two spare slipcovers)

Have you guys dyed something around the house? Curtains? Pillow covers? Fabric napkins? Or are you a dye virgin who dreams of giving it a shot? I'd love to hear what you lot've been up to (or what y'all've been dyeing to exercise – har har).

Psst- Nosotros've had some pretty weird adventures with our $25 chairs. Here's the mail service where we found them and here'southward the post where I tried to pigment one, and here'southward the post about finding and shrinking the slipcovers.

Update: Cheque out how our dining room is meeting thanks to those defunction that we finally made here. Woot.

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