Custom Box of Arrow Fastener Tools Giveaway!

Earlier today, I told you the saga of my stolen staple gun.  Turns out some of you have ‘accidentally forgotten to return’ a few items yourselves, and have things like a stolen VHS of She’s All That on your consciences too.  Ha! So glad I’m not alone.

But to recap, Arrow Fastener recently sent me some new staple guns to try out, and so I thought this little thrift-store chair would be the perfect piece to play with.  It had some cool lines and a straightforward design that seemed easy enough to recover.  And I wasn’t at all sad to see that original crusty fabric go.

Oooh la la!  Do you like that snakeskin embossed leather?  So glam! It’s from the Leather Hide Store, and I’ll be sharing more about it next week.

But back to the chair. I was browsing the thrift-store one day when this little guy caught my eye.  Peeking through the usual motley line-up of chairs, it was halfway hidden behind a broken folding chair and a wheelchair.  I wrangled it out of the mix and was dismayed to discover it cost $39.99!  Woah woah woah.  Back it up.  That was crazy overpriced!  Looking closer, the tag showed that the price was for a set of two.  I looked and looked, but the other chair was nowhere to be found.  I asked a worker if they could reprice it since there was only one, but they would only cut the price in half.  So, it was $20, which STILL seems way overpriced to me. Don’t you think? Humbug.

But I bought it anyway, obviously, and it looks pretty cute in its new home, which is next to this old record player that I got to keep from my Grandma’s house after we moved her into an assisted living home. I have so many fond memories of dancing around in front of it when I was little, listening to my grandma’s old records, which definitely explains my affinity for Roger Whitaker and Marty Robbins. Yes, I am an 80-year-old woman at heart.  It still sounds awesome too!  They really don’t make them like they used to.

Unfortunately, during this project I discovered another thing they don’t make like they used to, which is STAPLES.  If you read my last post, you’ll know that the staple gun Arrow Fastener sent me is a model that I’ve used and loved for years.  However, the staples I used for this project gave me all kinds of trouble.

I chalked it up to the fact that I was trying to go through two layers of fabric, one being leather, and also because the board beneath them was some sort of super hard material too. I tried several different sizes of staples, and had the same results. They weren’t entirely useless though, they basically got the job done, but it sure isn’t pretty under there. Truthfully, that doesn’t bother me, but if you were recovering furniture to sell or something, I can understand why it would be a problem.

Would I recommend Arrow Fastener tools?  Absolutely yes.  I’ve been loyal to the brand for years now.

Would I recommend Arrow Fastener staples?  Hmmm. I had a frustrating experience this time, and I’ve received some comments from people with the same feelings. I’m sure they’d be fine on a job less intensive than this, as I said, I was giving them quite a workout on this project.

Would I recover a chair with leather again?  Yes, because I love the look! But it’s certainly not the easiest material to work with. This particular leather was very thick, so getting around those corners was a bear, but it also has a surprising amount of stretch, which helped hide some of my mistakes.

Would you like to win a custom box of tools from Arrow Fastener? A big box of free tools?! Let me answer that for you. YES!  Entering is easy!  Simply use the Rafflecopter widget below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

All in all, I’m so happy with the way this little chair turned out. I thought of re-staining the wood, but it happened to match the record player perfectly already, so that worked out nicely.  Oh yeah, and it has a surprise too!  I didn’t find this out until I had brought it home from the thrift-store:

Fun, huh?  I think it was an old sewing chair.  Still not sure how it was originally part of a set in that case.

Anway, happy weekend friend!  Good luck on the giveaway, I hope you win!  Giveaway ends and winners will be announced next Thursday, July 3rd.

<<<This post is in collaboration with Arrow Fastener, all opinions are, as always 100% my own.