Terry's Favorite Chair

When we moved, we had several pieces of furniture that we just could not part with, even though we knew they had seen better days. One of these items was my husband Terry's favorite office chair. This leather chair was the most comfortable chair to sit in while surfing the net. A small tear in the seat ended up as full blown rip right down the middle of the seat. Unwilling to throw it away, it made the move with us only to find a new home in the basement...in cue with about six other chairs on my "to be reupholstered" list...

Last weekend, I visited the chair graveyard in the basement determined to give one of the chairs there a new life...and so I chose the leather office chair. With the help of Layton, we ripped the seat right down to the springs.



This took about two hours...why so many staples...why...why...why...

I decided not to take the leather off of the top part of the chair because it was still in good shape. I was going to slipcover the chair with use paint drop cloth so that I can wash the slipcover when needed (kind of a necessity...three kids...need I say more). I added new foam and wrapped the foam with batting and covered with drop cloth fabric. I then stapled tightly to the bottom of the chair. This was the only part that was upholstered. Next, I cut the fabric to size and pinned the fabric together over the chair. I included piping in between the layers. I made a fitted skirt for the bottom, to cover the upholstered seat. (For a great tutorial dvd on making slipcovers check out Shelley's blog.)

After the pinning was complete, I sewed an edge on the bottom of the top slipcover and added a ruffle and ties to the bottom fitted skirt.

I still have to spray paint the bottom,and remove the sticker... Can you see it there?... but I think it came out great...What do you think?

Furniture...Gone White...before and after

I thought it was about time I shared with everyone the reason why I have been seen with white paint on my hands for the last six months...I have been painting the world white...After moving into my new house, I decided my dining room set (that was pieced together from various places over the years) needed an update...I can't count how many people have come in and asked me when I got a new dining room set...a little white paint goes a long way!


SO here it goes...here is the buffet...(sorry for the poor picture I took it in the garage on a sunny day) before...


And AFTER...
Dining room table...BEFORE...(notice the green walls...they got a coat of white too!)
and AFTER...
China cabinet...BEFORE...

and AFTER...(notice the white walls?)


Looks like new furniture, doesn't it?