One of the fastest, easiest and most rewarding 'furniture renewal' projects is the simple side chair. You get a stunning makeover with very little effort. We've split the steps into two days: today for refinishing and tomorrow for the new cushion. My husband, Bob and I did this project together, and he gets all the credit for these great step-by-step instructions. "Thanks, Bob!" Depending on drying time in between your coats of paint, this is a great weekend project. When we started, we were a bit uncertain how it would all turn out since we didn't have much experience with glaze and sponge painting. However, we discovered sponging paint is very forgiving and quite fun. The different color blends, layers, and textures you can create are limitless; it's a true blank canvas for whatever you envision.

It's day four of our Joel Dewberry Artist Trio Series with Free Spirit Fabrics. Today, we present a set of mix-and-match placemats that are fussy cut to make full use of the striking motifs of Joel's Heirloom collection. For those of you new to sewing, 'fussy cutting' is not pitching a fit in the barber chair when one side of your bangs is longer than the other. Although that is perfectly justifiable behavior. To fussy cut in sewing is to select and cut out a specific motif from a printed fabric or center your pattern piece directly over a design within your fabric that you want to feature. This is what we did to perfectly center the beautiful designs on each of our coordinated yet distinctive placemats.