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?

My Twins...

SO I wanted to share my recent finds and new projects...I have been scouring Craigslist and asking all who would listen... to find two matching chairs (twins). On Monday I found a listing for two vinyl chairs for $25... I was not thrilled about the vinyl and they looked small, but I was recovering them anyway...so I decided to drive out and take a look...
...And I was pleasantly surprised!!! They not only were larger than I thought, but they were really nice quality...heavy chairs...and for only $12.50 a piece.. I can't wait to reupholster these!!!

Don't you just love them??Layton does...stay tuned...for before and after...

Adventures in Reupholstery...Kelly and Bob's Chair Part II

The next part of this project involved the refinishing of the arms/legs and the final assembly of the chair. I do not even have a photo of the original chair with the arms, because it has been so long since they were on the chair.The arms had old stain and had been painted brown. So the first thing I did was sand, sand, sand...then I sanded some more...


You can see in the picture above the brown paint on the legs...but after only a short four hours...the legs were ready for spraying...



I painted the arms and legs in Rustoleum Satin Black. I put three coats on them over three days.



Last but not least...I screwed the arms/legs to the chair...and there you have it... a brand new chair!! Lawson agree it looks "much better mom".

Adventures in Reupholstery...Kelly and Bob's Chair Part I

So I have to admit...this was a new adventure for me. It all started when I stashed a chair (which my husband purchased for 50 cents at a yard sale) in my barn and held on to it for five years swearing I would someday recover it. One day while digging in the barn I found the chair and pulled it out. As it is nearly impossible to get anything accomplished while watching three children, I called my mother and she suggested that I get started and just start ripping it apart first...Little did I know that pulling out nails, tacks and staples would be such a therapeutic task.

So, I ripped the chair down to nothing...see...


I had no intentions of reupholstering on my own... in fact, the next week my mother came up and we bought all of the materials and I sent it home with her, completely content to find a new chair to dismantle. (Check out my mother's story about the chair on her blog After I Finish This Row).

So, I continued on with my dismantle therapy...I was hooked...One day I remembered that I had an old favorite chair somewhere in the barn. When I asked my husband he said he had thrown it out...but I found it. This chair was a hand-me-down from my husband's sister Kelly and brother-in-law Bob. By the time we were done with it, it looked like this:


I know...scary...but I got to work and in the end it looked like this...
But this time I did not stop here...and put the frame in my mother's car. I decided I was going to give this a try... So I went to Joann's, and bought fabric and foam..determined to give this a try.

First, I used a staple gun to add fresh burlap. Then I used this upholstery "stuff" and weaved it together to make the back. The chair had cardboard there previously, but I didn't think it would last very long, so I used the weave method instead...Here is the chair after these additions:


Looks so much better doesn't it?? Next came the foam and organic cotton batting...


Completely foamed and batted...


One "How to make bias tape" tutorial, thanks to Erin at Patchwork Underground, one "How to make cording" tutorial, thanks to Jen at Just Another Day in the Lives of... and a little sewing later and ....

Voila!!! A New Chair...Or should I say...a new old chair!



Not too bad, huh? I would be lying if I said I wasn't ecstatic that this project will not be added to my new found favorite blog CraftFail, my mother and I laughed until we cried last night looking at some of the mishaps on this site. Stay tuned for Part 2...after I sand the legs and put this chair back together...