Chair Makeover: Our First Reupholstery Project

Over the weekend Brad and I recovered the bottom of this chair, it's our first attempt at reupholstering a piece and I am thrilled by how it turned out.

Here's how it looked, it was s a nice basic chair with good lines, but definitely could use some help. We''ve been using it in our office as my crafting chair. But it hasn't been the most comfortable for quite some time. When it was given to us, there was already a small tear but the kitties quickly made it a lot worse. ER likes to sit on it, busily crafting while I use the computer. So we picked out outdoor fabric, which is extra sturdy and durable to recover it. Since it's the end of the season, it was sale and a great deal. Plus it goes well with the colors of the chair and it's black leather top part. The top is double sided and I wasn't too sure we were ready for such an advanced project the first time so we just recovered the bottom. To start with Brad took the bottom off the chair base and removed all the staples from it. There were A LOT!

Then he carefully folded up the fabric and stapled it into place and cutting off excess fabric while working. It was slow going because of the curved shape of the seat.

Originally there was felt on the bottom to finish the seat but it was pretty old and stained, the chair is over 30 years old after all! I used it to trace a new bottom out of the fabric and Brad stapled it on too. No one will really see it much, but it's nice to have a finished bottom.
Volia! Eventually, it will go in our basement, when Brad gets it finished. That's our really big up project. We've been planning it for awhile now. I'm planning on doing a beach inspired decor, to remind me of California so it will fit in great there. We love it and now we're anxious to recover our kitchen chairs too!


Shared at: Today's Creative Blog and Fingerprints on the Fridge