Remaking a Chair

I found her at DI (thrift store) for $15. She was too stinkin’ awesome to pass up at that price. I’ve been keeping my eye out for a chair to reupholster for our new (in progress) Master Bedroom and she fit the bill.

I actually liked the fabric on her, but it was in really bad shape. The seat was scruffed up pretty bad and the wood just wasn’t the right color for me.

Check her out!

I started by priming and painting the wood…in spray form. I LOVE SPRAY PAINT!!! I then sanded her into submission and went over all of her with some stain I had from another project. I had to wipe off quite a bit of it but it worked out pretty well. I was going for a shabby chic (but not dirty) look.

Then came the re-upholstery challenge. I looked, and looked, and looked for some really great home dec fabric for her…to no avail. I wasn’t willing to spend $20+ per yard so I had to find an alternative. Instead I used painter’s canvas drop cloth. I’ve seen various people use it online, and decided that was the way to go. So I bought 2 and bleached them out a few times.

It was surprisingly easy to work with. I can think of a bunch of things to do with the left overs. The back of the chair had fabric stapled across it and originally had double piping to hide the staples. That wasn’t gonna happen so I just bought some trim and hot glued it down. Its a bit of a fancier trim than I originally wanted, but I figure it’s just hot glued down so if I want to change it out later it won’t be so hard. It works for now.

She’s just as pretty from behind.

Oh, how I love her. I keep calling it a her, so I guess I should name her…something old and classic, but pretty, and with a bit of spunk… how about Lucille.

Here’s the back of the pillow…not sure if I’ll add a button or not, maybe. This was such a score. The pillow form and fabric both came from the NPS store. If you haven’t been there yet, go NOW! It is so stinking awesome. The form was $6 (tag says its PB for $12) and the fabric was from their remnant bin so I got 1/2 yd of wide home dec fabric for $.99…that’s right, less than a dollar. I will definitely be looking for more fabric there!